Assignments due for the week of January 16th, 2023

Winter cottage

Quick Looks at Great Books

We are now oriented to Cyrano and his situation. Complete the play by reading Acts IV and V. You were to do page 6 in the study guide, and all the rest of the guide, we will do together in class. Have your questions ready on these two acts before we take the quiz. Also, be sure to have your Literary Terms notebook in class.

Watch this close-up of the duel scene that we watched in class today. Cyrano is fighting Valvert after his insult to Cyrano’s nose.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

Today, we covered the things to remember for an actual test day.
We also read actual writing essays on an ACT test and noted how that particular essay would have been scored. For homework, compose a writing plan with things you could use in any essay or writing assignment you may have. Include the following items:

10 Vocal words you could use in any writing situation
2 Personal experiences which could apply to many situations
2 Historical or Literature-based incidents you could use to illustrate your points. You could have 2 historical ones, 2 literature-related ones, or one of each.

Email me if you have any questions at all.

American History

We reviewed the lives of the four Presidents in Chapters 14 and 15 and then went over the events in Chapter 15 that you will need to know for our test. Tensions were high, and in Chapter 16, the War between the States finally broke out. Read Chapter 16, and we will cover the events that you need to know for our next test.

Watch the following video on President James Buchanan.

Watch this video on the life of one of our greatest Presidents—Abraham Lincoln.

U.S. Government

Today, we finished the lessons you completed for your last assignment. We went through State Government, City Government, and the Post Office. Since we have not had a quiz on these lessons or the four branches of the U.S. Military, I gave you the few terms in each lesson that you would need to know for the final exam. Next week is the last day of the first semester. Study for the final exam by reviewing your past quizzes and particularly the two major tests we had. We will do a review game next week before we take the exam. We covered the branches of the military in class, but if you missed last week or this week, here are the Crossword answers to pages 81, 85, 89, and 93, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Make up any work you are missing and watch the following video of the popular songs of the U.S, Military branches.

Adventures in American Literature

Today, we had our quiz on the story the students read online—Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. We also watched a summary of Irving’s other most famous work, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We also looked at Sleepy Hollow today and the Halloween celebrations that characterize the town. (Tarrytown, New York)

We also discussed Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Black Cat”. We covered pages 70-72 in your notebooks by comparing the two Poe stories—“The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. We determined which narrator might more likely be truly insane. It was sad to see Poe’s tragic life illustrated in “The Black Cat”.

For next week, read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay entitled “Self-Reliance” on page 75 and answer the questions on page 76. We will discuss the influence of Emerson and his dedicated student, Henry David Thoreau. Then read the excerpt from Melville’s Redburn and answer the questions that follow on pages 79-84.

The following students were assigned a Poe short story to read and give an oral report to the class as to what the story was about. The rest of the class will also read a story and report to us on stories by other famous American authors.

The following are the stories due next week.

“The Fall of the House of Usher”—Ana Agapidis
“The Masque of the Red Death—Hadley Broyles
“The Pit and the Pendulum”—Colin Huyck
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue—Elizabeth Newton
“The Purloined Letter”—John Weger
“The Gold Bug”—Caroline Bates

Literature Alive

Making literature come alive

Assignments for 01/16/2023