In-Class Discussion Notes.

In the comment box below, please respond to a classmate's ideas from our in-class discussion of The Crucible Acts 1&2.  You can extend the idea, offer an alternative idea, reshape it, appreciate it, etc.  Since two of the honors blocks were not able to complete their discussion, and we have a half-day tomorrow which will further complicates things, let's set the due date for this post on Wednesday night.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.

Assertions and Evidence

Assertions and Evidence.

In class on Thursday, we discussed the importance of thesis statements as bold assertions that are insightful, meaningful, and essential.  In pairs, you developed provisional statements -- or assertions -- in which you attempted to diagnose the deep social sickness that grips Salem, and the assertions you came up with were very shrewd and well-phrased.  On Friday, we selected quotes that support your ideas.

In the comment box below, share your quote from Act I and explain how it supports your assertion and why you think it is unique or significant.  Please have your post in the post box by the end of the day on Monday. Thanks, Mr. Telles.

Dracula Writing Assignment. Due Tuesday, Sept. 17th.

English 10

Mr. Telles

Dracula Writing Assignment

Our next few units will be exploring the ways in which people respond to threat and what we imagine “evil” to be.  In Dracula, Bram Stoker creates a creature and a world that plays upon our deepest fears and desires, and the story he created has stuck with us as one of the most vivid and unforgettable horror tales ever told.

What does Stoker’s novel reveal to us about our deepest fears and desires?  Why is the story so disturbing and fascinating to people?  Make a bold, insightful assertion about what you think the novel reveals about our fears and desires (individually or culturally) and choose two or three important scenes which illustrate what you mean.  Close-read the scenes as we have practiced in class and explain how the scenes back up your main assertion.

Format:

500 word minimum.

Double Spaced.

1” Margins.

Quotations need only a page number in parentheses.  I.e. Dracula said “hi” (128).

Grading: See rubric for “Expository / Explanatory Essays” on the blog, side tab.

Other notes: The scenes you choose should come from different parts of the novel.  Two or three scenes from the beginning of the novel will not demonstrate that you have read the novel.  If you refer to other parts of the novel while discussing the scene you are close reading will help demonstrate that you have read the novel.

Terror and Tragedy

Over the next week we will be exploring how Bram Stoker carefully arranges Dracula to play upon our deepest fears and desires, and we will also consider what Stoker's novel reveals to us about deep human conflicts and preoccupations that we all share (see notes on "The Human Condition" to be given on Monday).  After a short unit on Dracula, we will be moving on to The Crucible, which is a tragedy.

Given the material we will be reading, it's worth asking ourselves a simple question: why are people so attracted to stories designed to terrify us or make us sob in despair?  What brings hoards of people to the theater to watch The Conjuring or watch Titanic on repeat?  What does this say about us?

Please respond with a standard open response, due on Tuesday.  Thanks, and don't forget to hang some garlic in your room before bed.

First Post

Hi Everyone: In the comment section below, please write an open response in which you describe a) what you think a "great essay" is like and what its elements are, according to what you think and what you have been taught, and b) how you cope with difficult-to-read texts, addressing both what you have been taught to do as well as what you actually do.  See the "Procedures" sheet for format and grading information.  Thanks, Mr. Telles.