The Conclusion to Your Blog

To prepare for you final blog post, read over every blog you have posted over the course of the 2015-2016 school year.  Look back on your writing: what have you learned, what have you written, what is your blog all about and how have you evolved as a writer?

Write a comprehensive conclusion to your blog - consider your English blog as a body of work and reflect on the meaning and significance of it all. How do your blog posts reflect who you are as a student and as a writer? What have you learned this year and how have you grown since September? This should be a creative, complex, and encompassing post: the more you write and the more you reflect on, the better your grade will be. This blog will be assessed for quality and content rather than just completion. Consider a minimum of 500 words as a guideline for length. 

Also, include a quotation that supports your message as to the meaning and conclusion of your blog. This quotation can be from anywhere - a novel, a poem, a lyric from a song...anything that reflects the meaning of the body of work that is your blog. Be sure to embed your quotation in a way that clarifies its relevance to your message.

This blog post is meant to give a clear, reflective conclusion to the year-long blog assignment. The more reflecting you do on your posts, the higher your grade will be. If you have fewer posts than were required, go into more detail to compensate for your lack of assignments on which to reflect. Be sure to comment on how you have grown as a student and as a writer throughout this past school year. Feel free to include photos, videos, or other enhancements to wrap up the blog with a bang!

This post is worth 10 points in Evaluation and will be assessed for quality, content, complexity and thoughtfulness. Due no later than Tuesday, June 14. This assignment will not be graded if completed late. Any and all late blogs are all due no later than Tuesday, June 14 to receive credit for this semester.

Something Really Funny

One of the treats in store for you before the school year ends is reading Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Reading comedy is new to us and I want to make sure you get the jokes. In class we briefly researched different types of comedy.

Think of a funny tv show, movie, book, play etc. that you particularly enjoy and write about what type of comedy it includes. Most movies or tv shows have features of many types of comedy. For example, a romantic comedy may also be slapstick or satirical. What features does your favorite movie, etc. include? Why is it funny?

Write two paragraphs for this post. The first paragraph should discuss a tv show, movie, etc. that you find funny and write about which features of comedy it includes. What is the funniest part or what makes it funny in general? For the second paragraph, write about The Importance of Being Earnest. What features of comedy have you noticed thus far? What are some funny parts or lines that you enjoyed? How is reading comedy different from reading drama?

Due Monday, May, 23.

What Makes a House a Home?

For this week's blog post, enter the "What Makes a House a Home?" scholarship essay contest. Then, copy and paste your 500 words or less essay into the body of your blog post. For a complete listing of rules and eligibility, visit: www.cbolympia.com/scholarship

One of the judging criteria for this contest is correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar - be sure to proofread and edit your essay before posting!

The entry period ends on May 8. Post your essay on your blog by May 8.

What's on Your Mind?

This is a free blog post! Write about whatever you want! However, you must have a topic and write something cohesive. This post needs to be organized and proofread. Think beginning, middle and end. Write at least two paragraphs.

Due Monday, April 18.

Reading Stamina!

One of the goals of the Great Expectations unit is to see a long, complex novel through to the end and to develop reading stamina. It's not easy to keep reading a book that is long, challenging, and has many characters and sub plots that might not always keep your attention. We're more than halfway through the book and we've got less than two weeks worth of reading assignments left. How are you doing? Are you persevering? If you stopped reading at some point, are you ready to pick it back up again and see it through to the end? You can do it! And when you finish, you'll have a sense of satisfaction that will stay with you throughout the challenging years of advanced high school English that lay ahead...

Write two paragraphs for this post. In your first paragraph, write about how you're doing with keeping up with the reading. If you're keeping up, how are you doing it? Do you listen while you read? Do you read each assignment after school or do you read a few reading assignments at a time so you can take days off? Explain how the reading is going for you. If you're not keeping up, what can you do to get back into it? Explain your plan for finishing the novel.

For the second paragraph, write about something compelling that's keeping you interested. Maybe you're not feeling so interested...then what is something that you like enough about the book to get you back into it.  Describe what you consider to be the most compelling aspect of the novel and write about what draws you to it.

It is a Most Miserable Thing...

As Stage 1 of Great Expectations draws to a close, Pip's inner self becomes more complicated as he realizes the life he leads and the life he wants to lead are very different. Pip wants to be a gentleman. He feels ashamed of home. He agonizes over what Estella might think if she were to peek in the windows of the forge and see him covered in soot.

Think of a time in your life when you experienced feelings similar to those of Pip. Write about how it feels to want your life to be different. Make sure to make a clear connection between how you felt and how Pip feels in Great Expectations. You need only write one paragraph for this post.

Please proofread your paragraph before you post. Read your paragraph out loud to make sure you have no poorly constructed sentences. Do not publish your post until you are sure you're publishing something free from errors in capitalization, punctuation and grammar. 

Due Monday, March 7.

Earliest Memory

Great Expectations begins with Pip's earliest memory. This memory is important in establishing many of Pip's character traits and sets off a chain of events that impact the rest of the story.

Write a paragraph analyzing how Dickens creates Pip's character through this early memory: what are Pip's thoughts and actions concerning this event and how do they help you understand this character?

Then think back to your earlier memories - can you think of something that you experienced when you were very young that had an impact on your development? How does your reaction in this early experience show your personality?

Write two paragraphs for this post. The first paragraph should be about how Dickens creates Pip through his earliest memory and the aftermath (you can refer to anything in chapters 1-4); the second paragraph should describe one of your earliest memories and remark on how that memory helped shape you.

Due Monday, February 22.

Wrapping Up First Semester

As we begin the new semester, take a moment to reflect on the first half of your freshman year. You are older and have more life experiences - how have those experiences changed you?

Chose an important experience from the first half of the school year and write about its impact on your development. I would prefer that you choose something that happened at school, or something that impacted your development at school. When you started school in September, you had never been a part of high school before - how have you changed?

Write two paragraphs for this post: the first should detail the experience. Give the context: when was this? Where where you? What happened? Write it as if you are telling a story - be sure to include a beginning, middle and end.  The second paragraph should remark on this experience's significance: how have you changed as a result?

This blog post is due Monday, February 8.

Poetry Out Loud Research

Our Poetry Out Loud competition is Thursday, January 14. As you memorize your poem and prepare to recite, it's a good idea to get to know a little about the poet who created it. It's also a good idea to hear your poem read out loud.

For this post, research your poet and find a reading/performance of your poem on the Internet. Using Wikipedia is okay for this assignment as the goal here is just to find out some information about your poet rather than to do an in-depth research project. Find out about your poet's life: what else did/does he/she do besides write poetry? What kind of education did he/she have? What is his/her family life like? Answer these questions and remark on why you think he/she would've written the poem that you are working on for Poetry Out Loud.

For the reading or performance part of this post, watch someone else read/perform the poem. You can usually find a reading on YouTube or another website. Write about which words/lines were given emphasis and what you think the tone of the speaker's voice conveyed about the poem.

Due Monday, January 11.