Family Background and Social Environment

In the first few chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee spends some time giving details of her family's ancestry and how they came to be living in Maycomb County. She also gives details about they types of people living in Maycomb in order to give the reader a clear picture of the setting. Through the details of the Finch family history and the way Scout and her family interact with other characters in the town the reader can make important inferences about the social environment of the book's setting.

For the first part of this blog post, consider how you came to be living in Olympia. How did your parent(s) end up in Olympia? Does your family have deep roots in this town, going back several generations, or did an outside force bring them here? Talk to your parents about this and write a paragraph about how you came to be living in our community.

For the second paragraph of the post, describe how you view our social environment. What is it like to be living in Olympia, Washington in October 2015? When an author chooses a setting for a story, she considers the way of life, way of talking and behaving, clothing, gender roles, traditions, values attitudes, customs and beliefs of the people who inhabit the setting. What is the cultural backdrop in our town? How does it effect you? Write a paragraph about the social environment in modern-day Olympia.

Due Monday, October 4.

Introduction and Symbolism

Welcome to Honors English! I'm so excited to be your teacher this year. Throughout both semesters, I will post weekly or semi-weekly assignments on this blog and you will need to read the assignments and respond to them on your own personal English blog.

For your first blog post, introduce yourself to your readers. While your main audience will be me (your teacher) other classmates or other literature enthusiasts may be reading your blog periodically. What should your readers know about you? What makes you unique? What do you like to do in your free time? The majority of your blog posts will be responses to the reading we do in class. What type of a reader are you? What types of books do you enjoy? When and where do you like to read? Write a paragraph or so as an introduction to you, your blog, and yourself as a reader.

For the second paragraph, write about a book that you read recently that you enjoyed. The first literary term we discussed in class is symbolism. As your notes recall, a symbol is something that is itself and also stands for something else. Find and post an image that is symbolic of something important from the book you are writing about. Discuss why this is an important symbol.

I hope you enjoy keeping your blog for English. I know I will enjoy reading your posts. Please see me in class or email me if you have any trouble with your personal blog.

This first post is due Monday, September 21.