Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year

Hi and welcome to the new school year!

Home work and assignments for will be posted on this blog. We will also be using Edmodo where students can print off copies of handouts given to them in class as well. This way they can keep a copy at home or if they lose a copy they will always have access to what was given in class.( Most times- as long as it is something I have on my computer and am able to upload.)  Also this helps if they are away and they are able to see what they have missed.

I have created a confidential brief form to collect parent emails using Google docs. If you could please take Two minutes to fill it out, I would appreciate it.  Thank you in advance and I look forward to meeting you!
(If you click on form/email it should work).
Mrs. Caldwell
Form/email

My Glogster

My Glogster, it's late, I know.

http://kringaz.glogster.com/violence/

The Slayer background was there because the band's lyrics often deal with themes of violence and death.
"And so it goes" -- Kurt Vonnegut is there because in the novel where that phrase is said, Slaughterhouse-Five, the phrase is mentioned only at instances of death. The "cute" character that surrounds the words is there because of the irony and sarcasm of it.
The decoration with the words "Violence by Brendan Murray" is flowery is because of the irony and sarcasm of it.
The quote by Ernest Hemingway is there because my feelings about violence and war are the same. I hate it, and I feel like it's a waste of life and time, among other things.
The final quote by Kurt Vonnegut is there because of the sarcasm. Vonnegut was saying (sarcastically) that soldiers wouldn't have done anything with their lives anyways, so why not fight?
The song in the centre of the glog is "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden. The song is about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. A soldier rides into battle, only to be shot and then die.

Indep novel update

You should be reading your novels(You should almost be finished your novel by now) and you should have developed your thesis for class on Tues.

my glogster

http://eng11mike.glogster.com/eng11-4276/

I gave my glog a red background to represent blood, this is because when you see blood it usually reminds people of pain and I really wanted to get the feeling across when you first look at my glog. I then made the main word look unpleasant because no one really likes pain that much. I did that by putting it on a brick wall because usually when you see a brick wall now days it is run down and falling apart, so when you see a sight like that it does not make things very pleasant. Also I put the word in a dingy orange color, which gives the impression that it is old and faded.

            Next for the denotation of the word I decided to put t in a speech bubble coming out from the word because it is the literal meaning so its like that it is being said.  The speech bubble also represents pain being there because it is actually physically there.  I also gave it a not so nice color because no one really likes the feel of pain so I decided that the color should match as well. I then put a picture of someone feeling physical pain. For the connotation I put some examples in a thought bubble because it’s more in your head then actually there. That is also why I kept the bubble white because it’s all in your head.  I then also put a picture of someone who is suffering from emotional pain.

I then added the video in the top right, which gives you a strong representation of what it was probably like for the shoulder in the trenches.  You can see both the mental and physical pain of what they had to go through every single day just to stay alive themselves.

Finally I added “Mad World” by Gary Jules because if you listen to the lyrics you can imagine just what kind of conditions they had to deal with. Also on lines 1-4 you can imagine that like every morning you wake up with the same people, in the same destructed environment, and you can never tell if you will be going to sleep with the same people at night.I gave my glog a red background to represent blood, this is because when you see blood it usually reminds people of pain and I really wanted to get the feeling across when you first look at my glog. I then made the main word look unpleasant because no one really likes pain that much. I did that by putting it on a brick wall because usually when you see a brick wall now days it is run down and falling apart, so when you see a sight like that it does not make things very pleasant. Also I put the word in a dingy orange color, which gives the impression that it is old and faded.

            Next for the denotation of the word I decided to put in a speech bubble coming out from the word because it is the literal meaning so its like that it is being said.  The speech bubble also represents pain being there because it is actually physically there.  I also gave it a not so nice color because no one really likes the feel of pain so I decided that the color should match as well. I then put a picture of someone feeling physical pain. For the connotation I put some examples in a thought bubble because it’s more in your head then actually there. That is also why I kept the bubble white because it’s all in your head.  I then also put a picture of someone who is suffering from emotional pain.

I then added the video in the top right, which gives you a strong representation of what it was probably like for the shoulder in the trenches.  You can see both the mental and physical pain of what they had to go through every single day just to stay alive themselves.

Finally I added “Mad World” by Gary Jules because if you listen to the lyrics you can imagine just what kind of conditions they had to deal with. Also on lines 1-4 you can imagine that like every morning you wake up with the same people, in the same destructed environment, and you can never tell if you will be going to sleep with the same people at night.

summative journal Lord of the Flies

During this lit circles, we had some discussions that went well, and some that weren't as good. Most of the time we were able to make good connections and find good quotes to represent darkness, illusion, etc. Our connections were probably the strongest part for our group, all of us were able to make precise and insightful connections. A couple days we went off task and didn't get a whole lot done, however most of the time we were focused. In the book we found that the darkness of the imaginary beast tore them apart, and led them to complete destruction. "Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along. Ralph saw it first, and watched until the intentness of his gaze drew all eyes that way. Then the creature stepped from mirage onto clear sand, and they saw that the darkness was not all shadow but mostly clothing. The creature was a party of boys". They turned into the thing they feared most and went from a civilized bunch of boys to savages. I connect this beast idea to the terrorists hiding, we don't have a clue where they are and they make us scared and make us fuss about it. The only difference between the two is that the terrorists are real and have attacked, no one on the island had ever experience the beast first hand(T-W). All in all I think our group was able to get through this lit. circles assignment and get something out of it.

New Essential Questions Decisions

Essential Questions

How do we analyze poems to understand the author's purpose?

How do one’s decisions affect them and those around them?

What is a decision?

Are all decisions the same?

How does the environment affect one’s decision?

How do one’s decisions impact others?

What factors determine one’s choices and decisions?

How does our context impact the choices we have or the choices we make?

Are decisions part of human nature?

How are decisions represented?

What are the consequences of decisions?

How does the context impact the choices we have on the choices we make?

2-2 what makes a good poem

Has a message
Has a structure
Open to interpretation
Has emotion
Has a focus
View of world
Layers
Theme
Connections
Rhymes sometimes
Flows together
Use of symbols
Imagery
It has a voice
It has a moral
It has a relatable message
Rhythm
Evokes an emotion in you
Use of poetic devices
Can have a conflict
Has a tone
Sets a mood

poetry terms

Glossary of Poetry Terms
This is a list of common poetry terms—from alliteration to verse—will take the mystery out of the art form. There are many more terms that you can look up on the internet.
alliteration
The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words: “What would the world be, once bereft/Of wet and wildness?” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Inversnaid”)

allusion
a reference made to another literary work, historical event, work of art, or a famous person's quote that adds more depth to the poet's/author's meaning. In fact, all poems retelling old stories are allusive.***See allusion handout

apostrophe
Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea. The poem God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay begins with an apostrophe: “O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!/Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!/Thy mists that roll and rise!”
assonance
The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds: “Thou still unravished bride of quietness,/Thou foster child of silence and slow time” (“Ode to a Grecian Urn,” John Keats).
carpe diem
A Latin expression that means “seize the day.” Carpe diem poems urge the reader (or the person to whom they are addressed) to live for today and enjoy the pleasures of the moment. A famous carpe diem poem by Robert Herrick begins “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…”
consonance
The repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the ends of words, as in lost and past or confess and dismiss.
enjambment
The continuation of a complete idea (a sentence or clause) from one line or couplet of a poem to the next line or couplet without a pause. An example of enjambment can be found in the first line of Joyce Kilmer's poem Trees: “I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as a tree.” Enjambment comes from the French word for “to straddle.”
hyperbole
A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of tears, etc. Hyperbole is the opposite of litotes.
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litotes
A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. Some examples of litotes: no small victory, not a bad idea, not unhappy. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole.
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metaphor
A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.
metonymy
A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. For example, in the expression The pen is mightier than the sword, the word pen is used for “the written word,” and sword is used for “military power.”
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onomatopoeia
A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words are buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, and tick-tock. Keats's “Ode to a Nightingale” not only uses onomatopoeia, but calls our attention to it: “Forlorn! The very word is like a bell/To toll me back from thee to my sole self!” Another example of onomatopoeia is found in this line from Tennyson's Come Down, O Maid: “The moan of doves in immemorial elms,/And murmuring of innumerable bees.” The repeated “m/n” sounds reinforce the idea of “murmuring” by imitating the hum of insects on a warm summer day.

paradox
a statement that appears to be absurd, untrue, or contradictory, but may actually be true.

personification
A figure of speech in which things or abstract ideas are given human attributes: dead leaves dance in the wind, blind justice.
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quatrain
A stanza or poem of four lines.
refrain
A line or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.
rhyme
The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. When the rhyme occurs in a final stressed syllable, it is said to be masculine: cat/hat, desire/fire, observe/deserve. When the rhyme occurs in a final unstressed syllable, it is said to be feminine: longing/yearning. The pattern of rhyme in a stanza or poem is shown usually by using a different letter for each final sound. In a poem with an aabba rhyme scheme, the first, second, and fifth lines end in one sound, and the third and fourth lines end in another.
scansion
The analysis of a poem's meter. This is usually done by marking the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line and then, based on the pattern of the stresses, dividing the line into feet.
simile
A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word “like” or “as.” An example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem “Harlem”: “What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?”
sonnet
A lyric poem that is 14 lines long. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line “sestet,” with the rhyme scheme abba abba cdecde (or cdcdcd). English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a final couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. English sonnets are written generally in iambic pentameter.
stanza
Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme.
synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used to designate the whole or the whole is used to designate a part. For example, the phrase “all hands on deck” means “all men on deck,” not just their hands. The reverse situation, in which the whole is used for a part, occurs in the sentence “The U.S. beat Russia in the final game,” where the U.S. and Russia stand for “the U.S. team” and “the Russian team,” respectively.
verse
A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose).
Retreived and modified from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903237.html

2-1 What Makes A Good Poem

• Emotions
• Story
• Meaning
• Message
• Imagery
• Layers
• Flow
• Arrangement
• Literacy Technique
• Connections
• Tone
• Perspective
• Voice
• Literary Devices
• Resonance
• Connotation
• Theme
• Originality
• Ideals
• Punctuation (Sometimes)
• Deepness
• Personal Beliefs and Experiences
• Hook

My Glog

http://jtoews1.glogster.com/glog/

Sorry it's late.

Glogster

http://mstokes35.glogster.com/glog-9012-9858/

Lord of the Flies Glog #2

http://uphoreal.glogster.com/false-4565/

The theme of my glog is dark, and there is a reason as to why it is that way. My glog is based around the 2 words violence and darkness. I have 2 images, one of a black heart, and one of a scary looking pig mask. The black heart is to represent the darkness inside all of us, and particularly the characters Jack and Roger within the novel. The pig mask is to represent the Lord of the Flies as well as the face paint that the tribe puts on. There is a difference in nature when the hunters put on the face paint. They feel more safe with the face paint on so they do not get seen by the pigs when they hunt. However, the hunters seem to be possessed by the Lord of the Flies to do ill-intended deeds when they have this sense of security. What I mean by this is that they aren't afraid to do things that they wouldn't normally do because the face paint disguises them, and they can no longer be identified. It kind of brainwashes themselves to act without thinking - all caught up in the mentality to hunt. This is actually similar to why people where make up. It has the intention to allow someone to look better. The make up gives security to people much like how the face paint gives security to the hunters. Lastly, there is a video clip of Piggy's death. The video clip shows how fast this act of violence happened. You can see that the other boys that witnessed it were in shock and were dumbfounded. This is a very symbolic scene because when Roger kills Piggy, Piggy is still holding the conch shell that represents order.

Lord of the Flies Glogster Project

http://prooo.glogster.com/violence-lord-of-the-flies-connection/

In my glog, I was trying to show how violence affects people, not just in specific situations like Lord of the Flies, but in everyday life. The video about bullying represents that we are usually only bullied when we are alone and when the bully is backed up. In Lord of the Flies, Jack always bullied Piggy when he had a large group around him to give him the satisfaction of hearing laughter from his peers. There is no point in bullying when people aren't there to see how big and tough you are although I believe that bullying is only a way of covering up other weaknesses. The second video I did ,which is Mad World by Gary Jules, represents how hard it is to do the same thing everyday and not get any progress. In Lord of the Flies, if the kids had not been rescued, Ralph would have had be on the run for the rest of his life or else Jack would have killed him. Ralph was trying to talk some sense into Jack but Jack was beyond the point of listening. Ralph knew that he would eventually face an early death. The poem that I posted is related to Piggy's death. Piggy was different from the rest so he was alone by himself most of the time. Piggy was ridiculed and abused and eventually it got so out of hand that someone finally killed him. His death connects perfectly with the last five sentences of the poem. For the rest of the images I wanted to show how it doesn't matter how young you are, you can still be abused. In these times you will feel alone and feel like the rest of the world is against you just like when Ralph had to hide in the brush by himself like an animal.

Lord of the Flies Glogster Chris Clute

http://cluter.glogster.com/lord-of-the-flies/

Glogster thingy

http://ntotherizzo.glogster.com/lord-of-the-flies/

explanation handed in at class.

Journal #5

This week our groups discussions went down compared to our last few weeks. This is for a few reasons. The first is that with the break we forgot what a good discussion looks like so we didn't exactly do the best discussing. The other main problem that i noticed was that some of our members had not read enough of the book to let us discuss what the rest of us had read and analyzed.

To improve our discussions for next week i think that our whole group just needs to read to the point we all decided on. Doing this will allow us to discuss what we have all read and thought about, and wont make the people who have read try to think back to what they read a long time ago.

Journal

So this week in our Lit. circles our group have a couple good talks and a decent one.  Two of our talks were very interactive and involving.  The third one we strayed off topic more and didn't get very much done.  We talked more about characters and were able to have a good discussion about what we think is going to happen to each one.  We weren't able to talk about certain things though, but that is because some of our group members just aren't there in the book but should be soon.  On the last Lit. circle for the week we assigned a page date that we would finish up to during spring break so after the break we will be able to have a great discussion and will all be able to talk about everything that has happened.

Explanation of My Glog (Lord of the Flies)

http://uphoreal.glogster.com/lord-of-the-flies/
My glog has a layout with clear blue skies which shows the kind of whether that you would expect on the tropical island that the boys are on. I also have three pictures. One of the pictures is the picture of the "beastie" that strikes fear in the group of boys on the island, the other of a conch shell that represents law and order. And lastly, a picture of the island that the boys are stranded on. My glog does not show that it revolves around a word. However, the story does revolve around the word: conflict. The theme of the novel is conflict, and there are plenty of examples of this. For example, the boys on a stranded island shows the conflict between the innocent and the wilderness. The conch shell displays order while the "beastie" displays fear. This kind of evidence is through symbolism and we see a lot of symbolism throughout the novel.

Comparing the two articles on the genocide

Today I read two stories The Rwandan Girl Who Refused to Die and 10 Years Later in Rwanda the Dead Are Ever Present.    The Rwandan Girl Who Refused to Die is about a girl who was 13 when the genocide happened and how she had to fight to stay alive, while people she knew murdered her family and friends.   10 Years Later in Rwanda the Dead Are Ever Present is about how all over the country people are building memorials to respect the dead and remind people of the horrors that happened.  Both of these stories connect to the essential question “what do we mean by evil?”

            The people in these stories have experienced evil first hand and each of these authors describes evil using different techniques. For example the Rwanda girl is  told more like a story, and uses very strong imagery to portray the tragic events and the setting.  The story starts with this powerful image, “she seemed more shadowlike than human, a skeletal apparition lying on a camp bed” (p.1) These images get stronger throughout the story and get you emotionally involved, especially since this is a true story.  Having this presented in a story makes you care more about the characters then a straight up documentary or newspaper.   You feel the evil through the little girls eyes, as she sees the murder of her family and community as she struggles to survive through the horrors around her.

            The second story 10 years later is more like a documentary, but is still powerful and the images are still strong: “ woman has her arms over her face, as if protecting herself from attack. One of her forearms has been hacked off.” (p.4) The information in this article is more straightforward such that an estimated 800,000 people died.  In this one you can sense the evil through the evidence that remains behind, such as “…the partially preserved remains of hundreds of those who were killed…”

            Both of these articles display evil in their own great ways through imagery and information. Although both had great point that were very interesting I enjoyed the Rwandan girl better because it was more of a story where you ended up having many feelings for the character as you heard how she had to struggle to survive. 

My Summative Project

Conflict and Darkness

Glogster project by Rigel Pascual

• For both conflict and darkness, I chose to add two notes that describes the word in form of denotation and connotation. The denotation for the word, was literally pulled out from it's dictionary meaning. Whereas the connotation of the word, is a bit harder to decipher, and will take quite a bit more effort from the reader's part, to understand, much like how connotations are in real life, and how one must not only see it's meaning from literal understanding, but also from it's context

• The pictures I chose for the theme of conflict are "The Fall of Rome", "World War 2 from the Ukrainian/Russian Point of view", and the cover of Romeo Dallaire's new book "They Fight like Soldiers, They Die like Children" because of the fact I believe these are excellent visuals that tie in with the relation of conflict and how much they can oppress people; much like how Elie Wiesel has been oppressed through his experiences within the Jewish concentration camps

•  The text written on the far upper right side of the word "Conflict" is a poem by Owen Wilson called the "Anthem for Doomed Youth"; It explains the loss of innocence and life within youth due to war and conflict. It also shows us that even though one may still be breathing and living, it does not necessarily mean they are still "alive". Much like how Elie Wiesel's innocence and life has been tarnished through war and bitterness.

•  The video on the far upper left of the word "Conflict" is a song by Gary Jules, entitled "Mad World". I think it explains of how one lives in a world full of unavoidable tension and conflict, and how one can be lead to just accept this state of humanity as just "a part of everyday life", which I will expand on shortly..

• The background picture surrounding the word "Darkness" is a painting by William Turner, called: "Snow Storm, Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps", and within the painting, we see a gigantic storm engulfing the sun, and Hannibal's army. Much like how darkness can make a man lose sight of the "light" and its' hope; engulfing them, and making them into nothing but a mere shell of the man they once were. Based on this statement, I can relate this situation as to how Elie Wiesel had lose his faith in God, during his time in the Jewish concentration camps

• In the theme of "Darkness" I chose 2 other pictures:
• "Death is the rider on the pale horse" from Gustave Dore - Depicting the coming of death during the day of judgement based on the book of revelations: Giving forth a sense of uncertainty and fear of the days to come...
• The all-seeing eye within the dollar bill of the United States of America: Which has been said to be a symbol of Illuminati: A secret society allegedly controlling world affairs through present day governments and corporations. Giving us once, more a sense of the unknown and a feeling of uncertainty within ourselves, and the world we live in

• The wall of text within the theme of "Darkness" is a quote from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven", and it details the start of a man's descent to insanity and sorrow, as he mourns for a deceased love: Making us remember much of how each individual have their own inner demons to battle within themselves

•  Last and not the least, The video I respectively chose for the theme of "Darkness" is a short film by Arthur Lipsett; simply called "Very Nice, Very Nice". This film, in my opinion, perfectly represents the state of our human condition, and the living breathing movement of our humanity. Within the film, are short clips, pieces, images, and excerpts from different people, of varying backgrounds, and social status. All of whom have stories to tell, and things to say, that lie within them deep context and meaning of the world around us. While all the while, there is a man within the film, clapping, and saying "very nice, very nice". I think this is a sign of how we, as a society tend to dismiss what we, as individuals, see, feel, hear, and experience, and how one is lead, as a member of society, to simply just accept the current state of things, as, once again, "just another part of life"