Mr. Kanach-English 2

Read this article.

What are your thoughts about the article? Do you agree or disagree?

Here is one quote from the article.

“The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.”

Do not try to reset your password at this time.

If you are having problems with your password e-mail me at jkanach@whrhs.org.

Eventually you will be able to reset your password and e-mail address.

This will occur once we get laptops for the English Department.

Summer Reading has always been a controversial issue with students. Anytime you are required to do something it seems like a chore rather than a pleasant experience . No doubt many of us read during the summer and enjoy it.

Here are some books I read this summer.

Angela’s Ashes (yes, I have to read it)

Tis – Frank McCourt – Further memoirs

The Graveyard Book  - Neil Gaimon –  The story is about a boy named Nobody Owens, whose family is killed by a mysterious man named Jack, and who is subsequently adopted and raised by the occupants of an old, ornate graveyard.

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak -A young girls life in WW 2 Germany told by the narrator, Death.

Me Talk Pretty One Day –  David Sedaris – Humorous Essays

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie – Arnold Spirit Jr. is the geekiest Indian on the Spokane Reservation.

American Born Chinese – Gene Yang - Three characters struggle to find their true identity.

Eragon - Christopher Paolini – (Eragon tells the story of a young farm boy named Eragon and his dragon, Saphira)

Nineteen Minutes  -  Jodi Picoult – Jodi Picoult delves beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in our society.

So as you can see I read nine books during the summer . Actually, I have a trick . Three of the novels I read while walking my dog, Scrappy. I listen to audio books on my IPod.

Here is your first assignment.

a) tell others what you think about summer reading

b) tell others about books you read during the summer that you have enjoyed

c) what was your opinion of Angela’s Ashes

Class Blogging Policy

1. I will not give out any information more personal than my first name. This means no pictures myself, age, email address, home address, school name or location, phone numbers, or other sensitive information.

2. I will not link to other sites that can identify my geographical locations, such as a school or district website.

3. I will not share my password with anyone besides teachers and parents.

4. I will take blogging seriously, posting only things that are meaningful and taking my time when I write.

5. I take responsibility for what I post on the blog. I will only post pieces that I am comfortable with everyone seeing (teachers, family, clergy), even 10 years from now (colleges, employers, coworkers).

6. I will use my blog as an extension of the classroom, posting on any school-appropriate subject.

8. I will express my ideas, while not over generalizing or making derogatory or inflammatory remarks.

9. I will use only constructive criticism.

10. I will support any idea, comment, or critique I have with evidence.

11. I will only post comments on posts that I have fully read.

12. I will evaluate what I find online.

13. I will be respectful of others and their opinions.

14. I will not insult my fellow students or their writing.

15. I will not bully others in my blog posts or in my comments.

16. I will never access another student’s account.

17. I will not provoke other students in my blog posts or comments.

18. I will not reveal anyone else’s identity in my comments or posts.

19. I will use language appropriate for school.

20. I will try to spell everything correctly and use correct grammar.

21. I will not plagiarize. I will abide by copyright laws for anything posted on my blog
including videos, images, audio files, etc.

22. I will not spam.

Hally and Sam have a heated debate over who in history should be considered “great” or a “Man of Magnitude”–someone who has had a positive and significant impact on the world.  Hally believes it is Charles Darwin, the scientist who gave us the theory of evolution which explains, among other things, the scientific reasons for our existence on Earth.  Sam retorts that Abraham Lincoln is his “Man of Magnitude.”

Who would you pick as your person of “magnitude”?

or

In tracing the life of one woman, Celie, from the early 1900s to the mid−1940s, The Color Purple reveals the harsh emotional, social, and economic difficulties facing blacks (especially women) in the rural South during the first half of the twentieth century. Just as important, it traces how these difficulties can be at least partly resolved by hard work, faith (in oneself, if not in God), and education.

Is there someone you know, who may not be famous, but has overcome difficulties that you admire?

Foul Shot By: Edwin A. Hoey

With two 60s stuck on the scoreboard
And two seconds hanging on the clock,
The solemn boy in the center of eyes,
Squeezed by silence,
Seeks out the line with his feet,
Soothes his hands along his uniform,
Gently drums the ball against the floor,
Then measures the waiting net,
Raises the ball on his right hand,
Balances it with his left,
Calms it with fingertips,
Breathes,
Crouches,
Waits,
And then through a stretching of stillness,
Nudges it upward.

The ball
Slides up and out,
Lands,
Leans,
Wobbles,
Wavers,
Hesitates,
Exasperates,
Plays it coy
Until every face begs with unsounding screams—

And then
And then
And then,

Right before ROAR-UP,
Dives down and through.

April is National Poetry Month and the English Department is in the process of developing a student-parent blog to get kids and parents looking at, talking and writing about poetry.  We will be sending out the details and link to this project in the very near future to gear up for sharing our love of the word.

English Department Poetry Web Site

“Out Out -”

Robert Frost

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard

And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,

Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.

And from there those that lifted eyes could count

Five mountain ranges one behing the other

Under the sunset far into Vermont.

And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,

As it ran light, or had to bear a load.

And nothing happened: day was all but done.

Call it a day, I wish they might have said

To please the boy by giving him the half hour

That a boy counts so much when saved from work.

His sister stood beside him in her apron

To tell them “Supper.” At the word, the saw,

As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant,

Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap -

He must have given the hand. However it was,

Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!

The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,

As he swung toward them holding up the hand

Half in appeal, but half as if to keep

The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all -

Since he was old enough to know, big boy

Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart -

He saw all was spoiled. “Don’t let him cut my hand off -

The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!”

So. The hand was gone already.

The doctor put him in the dark of ether.

He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.

And then – the watcher at his pulse took a fright.

No one believed. They listened to his heart.

Little – less – nothing! – and that ended it.

No more to build on there. And they, since they

Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

Do you believe in prophecies?  

Do you believe that we are all in a battle of good vs. evil?  

How do you decide what is good and what is evil? 

Do you believe in the adage, “You reap what you sow’? 

Do you believe that fate directs out lives or that our actions alone do?  To what extent do you believe this?  Why? 

Do you listen to your conscience?