Assignments for April: Rhetoric Class (2nd Period)
For
Rhetoric (2nd period): Over break, please order a copy of
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and try your best to get the Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition so we can all have the same page numbers. The book is currently going for between $6 and $8 plus about $4 shipping at both Amazon and Half.com.
Here is the link to Half.com where you can find the Harper Perennial edition.
It's a beautiful book; also rather long. Please be aware this is a bit of an experiment and a last-minute addition to the curriculum at student request, so wing it with me! Our focus in class will either be scheduled reading times or sharpening our discussion skills. There will also be a short paper assignment.
We will also be organizing a class debate that we will do for the school; these projects may overlap.
Extra Credit Assignment: Monsters in BritLit (4th period)
For
Monsters (4th period): Here is the section of Chaucer's Prologue that you can memorize to recite for me by April 30. You will have another chance at this project during the Final Exam.
Each effort is worth an extra 'A' or 'B' quiz grade. If you try and do not succeed, I will not count it against you--this is extra credit.
I will not grade you on perfection, but on a robust effort and a substantial number of lines memorized.
To hear the correct pronunciation of this passage,
go to this link and click on "The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, II. 1-34."Here is the text:
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
It's Spring!
For my Rhetoric students, in relation to our Mandala work, please look at the following websites and be prepared to discuss in class:
greenmuseum.org - make sure and check out the link to "What Is Environmental Art?" and links to some of the artists
For my Monsters, don't forget the final draft of your second paper is due Friday. If you are having a tough time, come talk to me. Also, please read the following:
First pairing: The Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale, with prologues - you need not complete the Knight's Tale (it is long) but please read enough to get the tone of it (part of the joke behind this story is its length). On Wednesday , we will have a quiz over the Prologue, the first half of the Knight's Tale (Parts I and II, till page 53), and the Miller's Tale. Be prepared!
Second pairing: Please read the Prioress's Tale and the Pardoner's Tale, with prologues. These will be discussed in class beginning Thursday and featured on the midterm.
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