Dark Factor Explanation
Dark Factor Assessment: Do the 90 statement assessment!

Due TUESDAY, 11/15/18, by 10:25 am.  Printing will commence at that time, and no changes will be accepted!

• If you were absent last class, check your mail for someone else's paper.  You'll need to use the rubric to score your classmate, but you must also include written comments on the paper.
  • Your job is NOT to fix the problems for the author, but to point out where issues occur.
    
  • Use the MLA guides in your mailbox to check their MLA alignment and give them comments.
  • Look for Logos, Pathos, Ethos, and give comments on the bottom of their rubrics about this.
  • Be honest but fair; be honest but not overly nice.
  • When done, conference with the author to explain the comments.
  • Your comments and editing are a grade, so make sure to do your best for your classmate.
  • Read the remainder of this post for your subsequent tasks.
• If you were present last class and received comments, use those to edit your paper into final form.
• The rough draft was worth 50% of the possible points of the final draft.  So, if the final draft is worth 300 possible points, then the rough draft was worth 150 possible points.  It is too late to update your rough draft, so make sure to really knock out your final draft in your best form.
• Use the rubric to guide your final draft, check your MLA formatting (easy points!) by using the handouts or the links in the previous post.
• Submit BOTH the printed out, reviewed version your rough draft and the classmate's rubric on Tuesday.  Failure to do so will earn a 50% reduction in your rough draft, and a ZERO for the classmate who reviewed you!
• You may put in your headphones but make sure to keep the volume down.
• Computers plugged in by 2:28, and PUT CHAIRS UP.

Try your best to get the correct version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (see specifics here), in order to match page numbers.  Let Lowther know if you need a copy, BEFORE TUESDAY!!

Due Tuesday: Read through page 30; stop after the sentence, "On the gray snow a fine mist of blood."
​Reading check will be given.

Thanks for doing a good job of class discussion in my absence yesterday!  Although the sub did not give you the correct directions, you all stepped up and did what you thought you were supposed to do.

Thanks to Ben, Bethany, and Noah, who took copious notes for me during the discussion yesterday!

Be sure to finish reading "The Lottery", if you did not do so in class yesterday.  You were supposed to begin discussing the questions, and finish them for homework, but alas.  Instead, I STRONGLY SUGGEST you read the questions at the end of the story, and jot down notes in response.  We will use these questions for class discussion Tuesday, but they are not due in written form.

Remember that I am evaluating your discussion responses each time, so it behooves you to examine the questions ahead of time.

Here is the story in case you forgot your book: "The Lottery", online

Tuesday's agenda:

• MEET IN THE THEATRE for the final short story presentation of "The Veldt".  I will have scripts printed.  The group will present, even if not all members are present.  They may ask for an understudy to read a part, if this occurs.
• Back to the classroom for a few more allusions.
• Discuss Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery".
• Begin a new story (hopefully).

Upcoming 10th through 12th grade Cohort English students will all be combined in the same class for the 2017-2018 school year.  The Cohort English II course (10th grade only) may be accessed here.

11th and 12th grade students will be taking the course as AP Literature & Composition, and may choose to take the national exam in May 2018 to qualify for college credit.  For more information about this course, please visit the official AP English Literature & Composition webpage.

This course will require a lot of outside reading, but we will do a lot in class, as well.  Remember that this is a college-level course, so the expectation is that students come to class having read the material and prepared to discuss and manipulate the text during the two class periods a week that we meet.

We will be using the following books, available on Amazon and other websites, as well as in brick-and-mortar bookstores.  You may (and should) purchase used copies when available, but please try to find the edition I have requested (I've provided images at the bottom for reference).

Please note that students DO NOT have to purchase their own textbooks, but it is highly recommended for annotation purposes.  Please let Lowther know if you need assistance purchasing any of these texts, but would still like your own copy.

• Main Text:
  • ​Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound,and Sense, 10th Edition ($2.99 and up, used, on Amazon); hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-1413033083)
• Paperback novels:
  • Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (ISBN-13: 978-0316769488)
  • *The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (ISBN-13: 978-0307387899)
  • *The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (2004 edition, if possible)
• Other possible texts (don't buy, just yet):
  • Shakespeare: Hamlet (students may purchase from me during the school year--we'll be using the same publisher as our Twelfth Night texts from this year
  • 19th Century: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Tale of Two Cities, or Crime & Punishment
  • Early 20th Century (pre-WW2, 1900-1939): The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Heart of Darkness, or Brave New World
  • Mid 20th Century (post-WW2, 1940-1969): The Crucible, 1984, Waiting for Godot, No Exit
  • Post-Modern (1970-1989): Song of Solomon, The Color Purple
  • Contemporary (1990-Present): Covered above in the required texts*
• These are all novels and plays; what about poetry and short stories?
  • Poetry and short story selections will be taken from Perrine's Literature, as indicated above.