English I Archives Week of 11/01/04

Marigolds tells the story of an incident during the adolescence of a young
African-American girl, Lizabeth, growing up in Maryland. Marigolds is not
autobiographical, but many people think it is. Collier explains that her
adolescence was much easier than that of the story?s narrator.

Synopsis:

Lizabeth could be called the leader in her group of friends. So naturally, they
follow her example. When the children take part in throwing stones at Ms.
Lottie's flowerbed of marigolds, Lizabeth sees it as her last act of childhood.
Unfortunately, Lizabeth lives during the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s,
and the times are hard for Lizabeth's family. Her father has been out of work for years,
and that night, Lizabeth hears him cry for the first time. Amid the stress and fighting with
her brother, Joey, Lizabeth returns to the flowerbed. There, she tramples on them violently.
She now sees herself as no longer a child: I know that that moment marked the end of
innocence. Lizabeth is horrified to learn that Ms. Lottie woke up and snuck up on the
teenager while the latter destroyed the flowers.

-----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 3, 2004

I. Complete August Heat Packet

II. Share your new "August Heat" story endings

III. If time permits, finish watching films

(Period 3 "The Most Dangerous Game" )
(Period 6 "Fahrenheit 451")

-----------------------------------------------

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

I. Based on yesterday's internet research on
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books &
Utopias / Dystopias, discuss which novels you
identified as censored books that you are familiar
with or have read. Then, write a short explanation
of why you feel these books were banned.

Please explain the difference between
Utopias and Dystopias. Write 1/2 page

Click on the link below to view
a list of recommended books
that exhibit ................

Orwellian Visions of the Future


II. Read August Heat by William Fryer Harvey

Complete August Heat Packet and write your
own ending to the story which currently has
an ambiguous finale.

Example ending:

Geez! This is very weird! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Charles
Atkinson, and I have had one weird day! It all started when I was, as
usual given my occupation, making a tombstone—a sample tombstone
I could show to prospective clients. I wasn’t planning to choose a realistic
name to engrave onto the tombstone; I was planning to engrave a name like
‘John Doe’—but I didn’t. I started to daydream while I was chiseling, for it was
a boring, hot day. When I emerged from my daydream, I looked down and saw
a name I had never heard or seen before. I didn’t know how long I had
daydreamed, but it must have been a while. I was just starting to put today’s
date—August 20, 1900—on the tombstone when I man entered my garden.
He was a skinny man, but very tall--about six feet, three inches. As the man
came closer, he seemed to be in shock as he looked at me. I asked him why
he was staring at me, and what his name was. All he said was, "Come over here,
and look at this paper!" I looked at the paper and almost fainted. I asked him how
he had acquired a picture of me. He said he had no idea that he was drawing
a real person. After he said that, I asked him what his name was. He replied,
"James Clarence Withencroft, Sir." That name sounded familiar. I tried to
remember where I had seen or heard it.

I was still pondering when I looked over at the headstone
on which I had been working and saw the name I had chiseled into the marble.
I ran over to the stone and read the name slowly again. I was sure it was the poor
fellow’s name, so I told him to come over to the tombstone and see if it was.
He yelled, "Yes!" Then he got a terrified look on his face, the same look it had
borne before. "That’s my name, and that’s when I was born," he cried, gesturing
to the date of birth I had carved into the marble. "Oh, no! It says there that I am to
die today!" I started to get scared. We had a discussion, which ended with our
concluding that we had had no way to know one another’s names or what each
other looked like. He also had no idea what had led him to my gate. "Must have
been a coincidence," he said. I had no idea. "Would you like to stay here until
midnight, just in case you would get hit by a carriage or murdered by someone
on your walk home?" I asked him. He said yes. It was becoming muggy out, so
I told him that we would eat some supper and then sit upstairs in my indoor
workshop until midnight. We ate and went upstairs. The other man, James,
seemed to like writing very much and began writing on a piece of paper on one
of the tables in the room. The table on which he was working was wobbly, and I
had told him a few minutes before that I would fix it. I was sharpening my chisel,
since it had gotten dull while I was engraving letters and numbers into the tombstone
a few hours before. I was just about finished sharpening the tool when James jumped
up from his seat and told me to change the letters on the tombstone so they would not
spell his name. I agreed Then I told him to erase my face from his sketch, which he
promptly did.

We went downstairs, and I started chiseling away the letters. When I got to the
dates, the clock struck twelve. I started shaking because right next to me was
a man I feared was about to die. I mean, blimey—who wouldn’t go loony? I was
so scared I didn’t notice that the chisel had flown from my hand. I looked around
but did not see the chisel anywhere. I looked about me one more time, and there
—in the throat of James—was the chisel. I checked to see if James was stil
l breathing. He wasn’t. I summoned our sheriff, who came to take the body away.
"How in the world did he accidentally get stabbed in the throat?" the sheriff questioned.
I told him the whole story, but he didn’t believe me. "Well, Sir, you’re going to be held
responsible for this, you know," he said. I was put in jail, and eventually I went on trial
for murder. I was asked a lot of questions, and I answered them successfully. In the end,
I was declared "not guilty." The one question that I still could not answer was, "Why did
James die?" I knew I had erased everything. Oh, no! I hadn’t! The date was still on
there: August 20, 1900. . . .

Monday, November 1, 2004

Bradbury advocates the idea that men should think for themselves, not let
the government or the television do their thinking for them. The easiest way,
Bradbury argues, to think for oneself is to expand one’s knowledge of history
and politics and religion. This can only be achieved through the study of books.
Though this study may cause discomfort, all in all, it is necessary for any society
that doesn’t wish to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I. Warm-Up - D.O.L.

II. Attach Newspaper/Magazine projects to colored (Per. 3 Only)
construction paper and display them on the classroom wall.

III. F-451 Web Quest - Visit the Web Sites listed below

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2001

Learn online about Utopias and Dystopias:

http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/3/6/t6-401-e.html

http://www.howhist.com/fraser/utopia%20definition.htm

http://utopia.nypl.org/Pt1exhibit.html

http://www.euro.net/mark-space/glosUtopia.html http://utopia.nypl.org/I_dream.html

Period 6 Only!

Current Event Presentaion:

Meet with group members to determine which newspaper/
Magazine article your group will present. Select one
individual to speak for your group. Have them share your
favorite article with the class.

HOMEWORK

REMINDERS:

I. Book Report & Reading Logs Due Monday, 11/15/2004

II. Are you filling in a reading log every 30
minutes that you read outside of class?

# posted by The Great Lawgiver @ 10:03 PM 0 comments