Greetings seniors,

There are virtually countless resources for studying Shakespeare’s plays, so please don’t view this as a complete list. Also, remember that in college it is expected that you will be doing research and bringing your ideas to the class discussion.

1. Please select one or more of these resources to read and discuss

DIAGNOSING AND TREATING THE OPHELIA SYNDROME

Essay on Hamlet as a Tragic Hero

The Tragedy According to Aristotle

The Tragedy of Hamlet

Folger Theater Hamlet Overview

Questions the play Hamlet asks

Reading plays

Symbolism in Hamlet

Psychoanalysis of Hamlet

2. Which ideas from the above resources specifically has shaped your understanding or interpretation of the play?

3. Provide a comment on this post with specific references to the resource and to specific examples from the play

4. Reply to one or more of your classmates’ comments.

Due: Monday, February 20th @ 8pm

Neruda, Pablo. The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems. Ed. Mark Eisner. San Francisco: City Lights, 2004. Print.

Ninh, Bao. The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam. Trans. Frank Palmos. New York: Pantheon, 1995. Print.

Murakami, Haruki. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Trans. Jay Rubin. New York: Vintage International, 1998. Print.

Use one of the above citations for your works cited page.

Dear seniors,

Last week (Thursday and Friday) I asked you to read your junior year IB written assignment that you wrote for either Ms. Synhorst or me. From that reading, you were asked to create a new outline with an emphasis on “making a point” in each of your topic sentences. Also, I asked you to identify your thesis statement. I’m going to assume that you are still working on your outline, which is a good thing! Once you have your outline and thesis, please use it to revise and develop your IB written assignment about either Murakami, Ninh, or Neruda.

Remember, your junior year essay is worth 25% of your final IB grade, so it behooves you to give it a thorough review and possible revision.

Here you will find the Written assignment Rubric HL. Please read this and consider its descriptions when revising your essay. Per the IB rules, I am only allowed to read and comment on your essay one time, which I did last year. However, you are able to continue revising as long as I can verify that the essay is ALL YOURS and no part of it is plagiarized.

Given that all of the essays will be uploaded as digital files, the IB organization now automatically scans all essays and runs them through a sophisticated plagiarism checker. DO NOT plagiarize, or your IB essay will be invalid and not count towards your grade! OUCH!

Tuesday-Friday you have access to the computer lab in F8A (front section), so that should be ample time to revisit your essay.

Tuesday: Thesis, outline, reflective statement (300-400 words) Review the sample reflective statement, which demonstrates a high degree of thinking about how the research shared with the student shaped his/her interpretation of the work.

Wednesday: Work on your body paragraphs with an emphasis on “making a point,” context, concrete details that support your point, and commentary about the author’s choices. Use the “advanced paragraph” as a guide for organizing and developing your paragraphs.

Thursday: Using effective transitions, active voice VerbsforLiteraryEssays, Compound Sentences with Coordinating Conjunctions, parallel structure, and correct pronoun references.

Friday: Formatting your essay in MLA style (your candidate number goes in the upper right header, page number will go bottom/center of the page, a works cited page is required for the work you are writing about) MLA style from Purdue University.

You’ll need a Google Docs version of this essay for our final on Tuesday. The plan is to have small groups read and comment on each others’ papers. After that, perhaps additional revision will be warranted. We will convert the Google Doc to a pdf file (I’ll show you how) and then upload the file to the IB eCoursework page.

Resources to support you in the computer lab will be forthcoming!

In the meantime, I expect you to give your best effort while I am out of the office, and I’ll see you all very soon, perhaps even this Friday!

Kind Regards,

Mr. Coey

Seniors,

Please arrive at room A9 for your scheduled commentary. When you enter, you’ll find a table with resources for preparing your commentary. You’ll also find several manila envelopes. Please select only one manila envelope, which contains your poem and instructions for the commentary.

I expect you to study for this assessment. That includes rereading portions of The Great Gatsby and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Look over your notes and the study guides you are compiling. There are additional resources on this website if you choose to further research the biographical and historical context.

My last bit of advice is to relax! You’ve all worked very hard to develop your powers of analysis and organization, so I’m sure you’ll do just fine. Have fun with this commentary; now you’re the teacher!

Kind Regards,

Coey

Dear Seniors,

Here you will find the

individual-oral-commentary-schedule-2017

for January 12-19. There will not be a reschedule; you’ll need to arrive at the specific date and time indicated. Thanks for all of your hard work, and I look forward to your best ideas!

Kind Regards,

Mr. Coey

Nikki Giovanni’s Language, Style, Technique, and Structure

Language:
“Black”
“Honkies”
“Revolution”

Style:
Colloquial language
profanity
Irony (verbal)
Hyperbole
Prose poems
Allusions to black artists/leaders
Cathartic, purging of emotions
Motif of Black beauty and Black Power
Racism
Feminism, poems about women’s issues
Angry, reflective tones
Dedication of poems
Black vs. white conflict
Black vs. negro
Black beauty

Techniques:
Enjamb lines (Enjambment)
Ellipses
Prose
Capitalization vs. lower case
Imagery (violent, dark, humorous, social class, gender)
Alliteration
Repetition (Anaphora)
Figures of speech

Structures:
Prose poetry
Enjamb lines
Free Verse

Greeting all!

We continue to have thought-provoking discussions and insightful observations about African-American poet, Nikki Giovanni, and the historical times in which she wrote and published. To further support our research of her, I would like to offer these resources:

Nikki Giovanni Biography on Poetry Foundation

Giovanni reads her poems

Giovanni reads her poems and is interviewed by Bill Moyers

Thank you for all of your valuable contributions each day.

Warm Regards,

Mr. Coey

Greetings Seniors,

For Monday and Tuesday of next week, we are practicing our IOC discussion using these questions:

the-great-gatsby-discussion-questions-for-the-ioc

Please come prepared with an 1 1/2 page formal outline of your commentary (like we have practiced in class). Include the following:

Thesis statement

Topics

Concrete details

Commentary

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Coey

Dear Seniors,

The “Roaring 20’s” was a time of great wealth for some privileged Americans, and a time of great hardship for others. Wall Street speculation led to a series of financial market collapses that eventually led to the great economic crash of 1929, a time that marks the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Below are several resources to help you understand the historical context of The Great Gatsby.

Fitzgerald-biography

Fitzgerald-and-his-other-works

Fitzgerald-and-the-jazz-age

Echoes of The Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Prohibition

Gatsby’s Guide to Manhood

Harlem in the Jazz Age

Plot summary, characters, and themes

Dear seniors,

As we begin our study of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there are a variety of important ancillary resources I would like for you to read and be able to discuss within the historical context of the 19th century.

reading-schedule

19th-century-american-history-timeline

characteristics-of-the-slave-narrative

frederick-douglass-and-the-art-of-persuasion

frederick-douglass-summary-and-character-list

narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-summary

slave-narrative-samples

timeline-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass

understanding-racism-to-end-its-effects

vocabulary-related-to-study-of-frederick-douglass

It is my expectation that you not only come to class having read the assigned chapters, but also that you are doing research on Frederick Douglass OUTSIDE of class without direction from me. This is what is expected when you attend a top college or university.

I look forward to your insights, comments, and questions!

Kind Regards,

Mr. Coey