There was music... Chapter 3

Good morning,
   We are moving fast. Start with your chapter 2 quiz.

Link to chapter 3 text.

Then put your chapter 3 questions in your English Journal. There are only seven this time.

1. How does Fitzgerald show us how rich Gatsby is?
2. What kind of people come to Gatsby's parties?
3. Why did Nick go to Gatsby's party?
4. How does Nick meet Gatsby?
5. What are all the stories about Gatsby?
6. How are some ways you might describe Gatsby?
7. Describe Nick's relationship with Jordan?

The Valley of Ashes: The Great Gatsby Chapter 2

Good morning,
Get started on your chapter 1 quiz.   Quiz for chapter 1


Also check out this cool book list Mrs. Sine made based on the things some of you were asking for.  Book List from Mrs Sine.

Put these questions about chapter 2 in your English Journal.  Link to chapter 2

1. What is the valley of ashes?
2. What are the "eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg"?
3. Who did Tom take Nick to meet?
4. Who are George and Myrtle Wilson?
5. What did Mrs. Wilson buy while she was out with Nick and Tom?
6. Where did they go? What was at 158th Street?
7. Who are Catherine and Mr. and Mrs. McKee?
8. What does Mr. McKee tell Nick about Gatsby?
9. What reason does Myrtle give for marrying George Wilson?
10. What did Tom do to Myrtle when she mentioned Daisy's name?

Homework: Read the end of chapter 2. (The more we read in class the less homework you have.) Then write a diary entry about the events of chapter 2 from another point of view. You can pretend you are any character but not Nick. (Write on paper, or type and print.) You must turn in a hard copy. 

"...the advantages that you've had..." The Great Gatsby: Chapter 1

The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920's in a part of New York known as Long Island and also Manhattan. The map above shows a detailed view of the area. The map is also in your book on page 206.

The text is accessible online. Please click this link to go to Chapter 1. I will also link to the whole book in the Important Links section on the right.

Open your English Journal now and copy and paste the questions below into it. We will answer them as we read chapter one.

1. How does the narrator describe Gatsby?
2. From where does the narrator come and why?
3. Describe the narrator's house.
4. Describe the Buchannans' house.
5. How does Nick know Tom and Daisy?
6. Describe Tom. What is our impression of him in chapter 1?

And for those of you working on your homework: 1. Good job checking the blog. 2. Here are the last four questions from chapter 1 for your quiz on Monday.

7. What kind of person is Daisy?

8. What did Miss Baker tell Nick about Tom?

9. What did Daisy say about her daughter?

10. How is Gatsby introduced in the novel?

Preparing for The Great Gatsby

Good morning,
  By now you should have your very own (checked out) copy of The Great Gatsby. Please take it out and leave it on your desk while you work today. Also, bring it to class daily.
  Before we start reading you need to assure me (and yourself) that you have sufficient background knowledge to tackle this book.
   Please take the Pre Gatsby Quiz.  This is an "open net" quiz, meaning that if you don't already know an answer I encourage you to go find out. There are a few tricks on the quiz so read the directions and the questions carefully.

ENGLISH JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT:
After you finish your quiz I want you to do some deeper thinking about the questions we worked with on Monday.  Choose ONE of the questions below and add it to your English Journal. Write a three paragraph answer to the question you chose. (200+ words) Include examples, elaborate on your thinking. If the question you are answering has more than one 'side' write about why the other 'side' is wrong.

Here are the questions. Remember to choose only ONE.

1. Which is more important, love or money? Explain why.
2. Do you think you would continue to love someone if you found out that person had lied to you about their past?
3. Do rich people have a responsibility to the rest of society?
4. How much money would you need to be rich?
5. If your boyfriend or girlfriend cheats on you is it alright for you to cheat on them?
6. Have you ever wanted something that you could not have?  Explain.
7. How do rich people get rich?

Women of the 1920's -A Flappers's Appeal to Parents

Good morning, I have something very cool I want you to read today, but before we get to that I want you to talk. Specifically, I want you and a partner to discuss the questions below.


1. "Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new."  -Thoreau   What did Thoreau mean? What was he talking about? Is this only about clothing?

2. Look carefully at this picture of a woman. It was taken about 1900. Your discussion questions are below the woman.

What can you tell about her from her clothing and hairstyle? How old do you think she is? Would you say she follows the rules?  Flash forward 25 years; the woman has a daughter. What do you think her daughter would be like?

Reading: A Flapper's Appeal to Parents   Read on your own or take turns, but everyone needs to have their own answers in their English Journal.

1. What genre is this?

2. What is her point?

3. What advice does she give to parents?

4. What surprised you?

5. Can you make any personal connections to her point?

Crowd Accelerated Innovation and The Harlem Renaissance

Good afternoon,

This morning I asked you to write in your English Journal about how you would learn something if you couldn't or didn't learn it in school. For example: How to build a kite, how to change a tire, how to put on makeup, bake and souffle, iron a shirt, re-enact a civil war battle etc.

Your answers generally included the following categories, use the internet, read something, ask another person or watch a video. Video and internet were popular answers.


I also asked you to list three to five things you were interested in, but would not likely learn about in school.

Then we watched a TED talk on Crowd Accelerated Innovation: The big idea being that ideas are spreading and people are innovating faster now in more subject areas because of the wider availability of high speed internet and online video.

I want you to understand that this kind of innovation has happened several times in history, specifically during the Harlem Renaissance (and the Italian Renaissance). The difference being that geography is no longer important to the spread of ideas and innovation the way it used to be. How will you become a part of this new renaissance?

Response Language

Lets look at some ways you can write about other people's ideas.

Finding Theme

Good morning,
 We are still working on figuring out what a story says about life. Just to recap we have looked at three short stories so far to help us with this task.
The Flowers
The Masque of the Red Death 
and On the Bridge (You read this one on paper while I was gone.)

You are now quite good at having an opinion about what the story says about life, but can you back it up?
Can you give me evidence from the story to prove your point?
View this page as we work on it together.

The Run-On Epidemic of 2010

Good morning,

1. Go to THIS LINK
2. Copy the SECOND paragraph into your English Journal (date it today)
3. Correct it: periods, commas, capitals.
4. Open your Origins Story.
5. Correct it too. 

AFTER you have done the things above visit THIS SITE. Answer the questions below in your English Journal.

1. What did you find there?
2. What happened to "you"?
3. Why do you think this is relevant?

Analysis- Word choice in Of Plymouth Plantation

Good morning,
Over the past few days you have been reading a very challenging text, Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, who came to North America on The Mayflower in 1620.
What strategies did you use for reading a hard text like that?

Of Plymouth Plantation is an example of a PRIMARY SOURCE. Even though it was written down years after the events, the person writing it was actually there and tells about what happened in his own words.

Now that you know what Bradford said, it's time to look more deeply at HOW his said it. His choice of words and tone affect the way his story is perceived.

(This is part of the next standard we are going to be working on: RL 3.3  Analysis: Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the author's style, and the "sound" of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes or both)

Your task:

1. Select ONE of the HIGHLIGHTED phrases in the text.
2. Copy that phrase (and perhaps the whole sentence) into your ENGLISH JOURNAL.
3. Explain in your own words WHY you think Bradford used the words he did or included that phrase in his writing. What was the effect on his audience? What was he trying to make people think?

And you HAVE HOMEWORK tonight. I'll explain it in class and it will be posted on the homework page later.

Extension: If you finished explaining Bradford's word choices go read this. It was written in 1641.  What does it tell you about Puritan values, justice, and lifestyle?