Responses were excellent: "The Road to Somewhere," "The Circus," "The Roller Coaster," Between Two Worlds,"...
Students were told to consider this activity carefully as it would be officially assigned for a major grade on Monday. The options for the assignment, as outlined in the last post, were discussed.
Some handouts were returned signed. Many were not. Monday will be the last day to return for credit.
All classes were given the definition of irony:
Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an clash or discordance between what a speaker / writer /actor says or does, and what he or she means or what is generally understood.
Breakdown by Grade:
Grade 10:
First short story of the year was read: "The Last Unicorn" by Howard Koch. Language which implied the story's tone was discussed. We'll do a little more with this on Monday.
Grade 11:
Read the excerpt of "The Iroquois Confederacy" in the anthology with particular attention to the last paragraph:
"We now do crown you with the sacred emblem of the deer's antlers, the emblem of your Lordship. You shall now become a mentor of the people of the Five Nations. The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans -- which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground -- the unborn of the future Nation."
Tone and theme were discussed. (Anyone interested can find the full text of the Constitution HERE.)
We'll wrap this piece up on Monday.
Grade 12:
We continued reading "The Seafarer," an Old English, Anglo-Saxon poem, the existence of which goes back to the oral tradition of pre-Christian northern Europe. For those interested, you can view the work in the original HERE.
