Summer Assignments 2004

Spachman

NEEDED SUPPLIES & RESOURCES:

• These handouts, your Collaboratory username and password, your mentees’ names and usernames
• The Pelican Shakespeare copy of The Taming of the Shrew and scene copies provided to you
• The IB Summer Poetry Packet
• Lots of different highlighters, colored pencils, and colored pens
• A computer with Internet access (local Chicago Public libraries have Internet-access computers)
• A Hero of Our Time

OVERVIEW:

You have four different kinds of assignments this summer.

1. Presenting on and responding to poems from the IB Summer Poetry Packet.*  (begins p. 2)
2. Mentoring juniors during their summer study of Palace Walk.*  (begins p. 4)
3. Reading The Taming of the Shrew.  (begins p. 6)
4. Preparing for your World Literature 2 paper using A Hero of Our Time.  (begins p. 9)

*Assignments must be posted on-line via the IB Literature Discussion Board at the Collaboratory Project: http://collaboratory.nunet.net

(some handouts in this packet have already been given to you)

There will be a multitude of poems in the poetry packet, and this packet will be for both juniors and seniors.  Within the packet, there will be two groups of poems:  one set of Shakespearean sonnets and the other set of contemporary free verse poems.

The juniors and seniors will be divided into small groups.  Each group will be assigned one poem from the packet.  Junior groups will be initially responsible for the sonnets; senior groups will be initially responsible for the free verse poems.  Each group will develop a “presentation” on the poem they’ve been assigned.  After these “presentations” have been posted on-line through the Collaboratory, everyone will be required to post responses to any of the poems from the packet.

On-Line Group “Presentation” Project—Due by July 31, 2004

1. First of all, you must meet with your other group members.  You can do this in person, over the phone, or on-line.  Once your group is determined, meet with those people and exchange contact information to make plans.
2. On your own, read the poem many, many, many, many, many times and look up words you don’t know!  (Seniors:  Try that color marking thing!)
3. Then, as a group, develop an interpretation of the poem you’ve been assigned.  Your interpretation should not be a summary of the poem; rather your interpretation should make a statement about theme and a judgment of that theme.  To defend your interpretation, you should touch on some/most of the following:

o       patterns you find in the poem and how they connect to each other

o       imagery (and how the imagery affects your emotions (mood))

o       word choices

o       tone and mood and how they are developed

o       structure (where line breaks happen, where shifts happen, how the words lay out on the page, how words are ordered)

o       how the poem begins and ends

o       who the speaker of the poem is and who the speaker is speaking to (and why)

o       symbols that might be in the poem

4. Type up a 3+ paragraph explanation of your interpretation and post it on the IB Literature Discussion Board.  The poem will appear on the Collaboratory in the discussion board.  Click on the title and post your “presentation” as a reply to the poem.  (Directions for this appear on back.)  When you post your presentation, include the first name and last initial of all the presenters in the group.

Your group presentation must be posted by July 31, 2004. This doesn’t mean you should sit down at 11 pm on July 31 to do this because if it goes wrong or doesn’t work and you start crying, oh well.  Post BEFORE July 31 if at all possible.

SENIOR PRESENTATION GROUPS AND POEM ASSIGNMENTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE.

INDIVIDUAL On-Line Poetry Responses—Due by August 31, 2004

1. First of all for this:  Read all the poems in your packet (not just the one you have to do for your presentation).  Find a few to fall in love with (or fall in hate with) and grapple with them.  Look up words you don’t know.  Tell them to your dog.  Rail about them over the phone to your friends.  Sleep with them under your pillow.  Color them with highlighters.  And so on.
2. Then AFTER JULY 31 AND BEFORE AUGUST 31, go on-line and see what the presentation groups have had to say about the poems you are most intrigued by.  ANY POEM IS FAIR GAME (sonnets OR free verse; it doesn’t matter what year you are).
3. RESPOND.  EVERYONE MUST RESPOND AT LEAST ONCE TO 6 DIFFERENT POEMS, and SENIORS, you must reply 3 or more times to 2 of these 6 poems.  If, for some reason, no one has posted a presentation to a poem, you may start the conversation about it.  Ideally, you will respond more than once to the poems you’re most interested in and create a conversation about those poems with your peers.  If you so desire, one of these poems can be the poem you presented on; however, your presentation doesn’t count as 1 of your 6 responses. 

      [To say this in another way:

o       Juniors must respond a minimum of 6 times total, one response each to 6 different poems.

o       Seniors must respond a minimum of 10 times total, one response each to 4 different poems, and 4 responses each to 2 different poems.  (You want to do more?  Can we say “extra credit”?)]

You must post your responses by August 31, 2004. YOU SHOULD NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO DO THIS.  Use other posting dates for other assignments (like those you’ll be doing for Palace Walk, for instance) as times to work on posting your responses so that you are not sitting down to do all your responses at the 11^th hour.

MENTEES (juniors)

You will be completing a reading and analysis journal for Mr. McGinn on Palace Walk this summer.  As part of that work, you are expected to type up and post three (3) of your journal entries on-line to the Collaboratory for your mentors to respond to.

TO DO THIS:

1. In a word processing program, type the extract from the text you’re responding to, including the page numbers that extract is from, and your response.  Save this (just in case).
2. Post this work to the Collaboratory through the IB Literature Discussion Board.  To post this work, you will need to create a topic on the discussion board.  When you do this, PUT YOUR NAME IN THE TOPIC so your mentor can easily find your posting.  Cut and paste what you typed in Microsoft Word into the message to post.  Then click POST.
3. Wait about a week before checking back to see your mentors’ responses.  Reply back as it suits you.
4. IF ONE OF YOUR MENTORS DOES NOT POST WITHIN A WEEK, another mentor will have the opportunity to help you out (and if push comes to shove, Ms. Spachman or Mr. McGinn will respond).

DUE DATES:

• 1^st journal posting is due by July 15.
• 2^nd journal posting is due by July 31.
• 3^rd journal posting is due by August 15.

Do not wait until the last minute to post.  You can/should post your journals before the due date.

MENTORS (seniors)*

You will be helping the new juniors delve into the world of literary analysis with their reading of Palace Walk.  While the new juniors have some experience with literary analysis, they have much to learn and sometimes hearing it from another student who knows it works better than a teacher yabbering teacher lingo.

TO DO THIS:

1. Your mentees will be posting 3 of their journals from Palace Walk during the course of the summer (see their due dates on the other side).  These will be posted on-line at the Collaboratory through the IB Literature Discussion Board.  During the week after each posting, your job is to go on-line, read your mentees’ journals, and respond to them.  Check discussion board topics or originators for which postings were put up by your mentees.
2. Reply to each of your mentee’s journals via the discussion board.  Offer constructive advice about how to improve their analysis.  Respond to their ideas as a fellow reader.  Ask them questions about their ideas.  Etc.  Most juniors have been assigned 2 mentors; both mentors should respond.
3. If your mentee writes back, it would be to your advantage (extra credit) to continue the conversation.
4. If one (or more) of your mentees does not post by their due dates, pick one (or two, or three depending on how many you need) of the mentees off the following list.  These students were only assigned one mentor.  Respond to their journal so you won’t miss your due date.

DUE DATES:

• #1:  Check for your mentees’ 1^st journal between July 15-20.  RESPOND no later than July 21.
• #2:  Check for your mentees’ 2^nd journal between July 31-August 6.  RESPOND no later than August 7.
• #3:  Check for your mentees’ 3^rd journal between August 15-20.  RESPOND no later than August 21.

Do not wait until the last minute to reply to your mentees.  You can/should reply before the due date.

EXTRA CREDIT:

The day after the mentor due dates, McGinn or Spachman will post on the Collaboratory a list of mentees who need additional mentor help.  These students are available for you to pick up as extra credit.  You may pick up to 2 different students to give mentoring comments to (for the most recent journal posting).  This is available on a first come basis and you must get the OK from Ms. Spachman.  Email: sspach@hotmail.com or call 773-456-3318.

*  If you were assigned 3 students to mentor, then this is how it works:  When it’s time for you to respond to your rmentees, you can pick just two of them to respond to.  (If you want, please respond to all three.)  However, if you were assigned one of the mentees listed above under #4, you MUST make that student one of the students you respond to.  This applies to:  Jessica Z., Giancarlo, Erica, Luis, Daniel T., and Candice.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW ASSIGNMENTS

ARE DUE THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS

(please note this means the actual first day of class in September)

1. Pre-reading/Anticipation guide & discussion, in-class on June 17.  (You will turn this in after summer.)
2. Questions and notice lists (to be done as you work through your reading).
3. Color-marking 2 scenes (copies of these are in this packet; if you lose them, you’ll have to make your own copies)
4. Pick-your-favorite-foil assignment.
5. Extra credit on-line discussion of the play through the Collaboratory starting June 17 and ending September 6.

Save to turn in with other assignments on the first day of class!

Read the statements listed below.  Certain statements ask you to complete them with your opinion.  Other statements merely ask you to agree or disagree with them.  After indicating your opinion, take a few moments to jot down some of the reasons behind your opinion for each statement.

1. Every good marriage should be founded on _______________________________.

2. Most men really want (deep down) a little woman who conforms to their needs.

3. Most women (deep down) really just want to be taken care of.

4. A woman who doesn’t make her own choices is a fool.

5. Manipulating someone is always an evil endeavor.

6. Any kind of attention is better than no attention at all.

After spending two years with Mr. McGinn and keeping extensive journals during your reading of various texts, you should be extremely comfortable interacting with what you’re reading, both in terms of questioning it, especially when you are confused or puzzled, and in noticing the author’s techniques.  Therefore, I want you to write up two lists as you read.

• One should be an on-going question list where you write down the questions you have as you are reading the play.  Even if you end up answering yourself, leave the question on the list (just mark it with an “A” or something to show you think you’ve figured it out).  Given the quirks of this play, you should probably have a page-full of questions.
• Your “notice” list should be a list of specific techniques or details that you notice while reading.  As always, pay attention to beginnings, endings, character function, setting, structure, imagery, point of view (since this is a play, consider this as “character perspective;” most of this will fall into discussion of “character function”), and symbolism.   Write out the things you notice in complete sentences.  If you desire, you may want to write out mini-paragraphs on a few.

Enclosed in this packet of goodies are copies of two excerpts from Taming.  One is from Act 4; the other from Act 5.  Your job for this assignment is to color-mark each of these excerpts.  You must mark a minimum of 5 specific patterns in each excerpt, make a key in the margins with specific labels, and then make an argument about which pattern is the most important pattern within the passage.  This argument (about ½ page each) should be written or typed on a separate sheet of paper and then stapled to the corresponding scene.

One definition of a “foil” is:  A thin layer of polished metal placed under a displayed gem to lend it brilliance.   It is, in fact, this definition that applies to “foils” in literature.  In literature, a “foil” is a minor character (or minor characters) who is very similar to a main character, but differs in important ways in order to show off the traits and function of the main character.  For example, in King Lear, Lear’s family troubles with his daughters is enhanced by the sub-plot of Gloucester’s family troubles with his sons; the minor character family of Gloucester and company foil Lear’s family.  Within this, it can be argued that Edgar foils Cordelia; it can also be argued that Edmund foils Regan and Goneril.

The Taming of the Shrew uses foils as well.  Here are some to consider once you’ve completed your reading of the play.

• Lucentio foiling Petruchio
• Hortensio foiling Petruchio
• Bianca foiling Kate
• Sly/Lord foiling Kate/Petruchio*
• Bianca/Lucentio foiling Kate/Petruchio*
• Widow/Hortensio foiling Kate/Petruchio*

*For these, focus on the relationship aspect… i.e., How does the relationship between Sly and the Lord compare to the relationship between Kate and Petruchio?

The assignment:   Pick ONE of the foil pairs above and write a discussion of how the foils work in the play.  Push yourself to talk about function.  What is it that the foil characters (the minor characters) do for Shakespeare in this play?  Write about a page.

Use the IB Literature Discussion Board to respond to questions and other topics proposed by Ms. Spachman about The Taming of the Shrew starting today (if you wish).  Just look for “TAMING” in the topic.  If you have a topic you’d like to post, go ahead and post it or email it to Ms. Spachman and she will post it.

Discussing the play on-line will earn you extra credit.  How much extra credit depends upon the quality of your ideas and questions you choose to post.

This option is available from June 17 until September 6.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST…

Since you’re coming off your reading of A Hero of Our Time, the book you’ll be writing your 2^nd World Literature paper on, you should start thinking this summer about key passages in that novel.  Make a list of about 6 key passages, where “key” means that the passage is rich in techniques (not necessarily a major plot moment).  These passages should be no less than 30 lines long and no more than 35 lines long.  In your list, write down the page numbers where the passage appears and the first and last sentences in the passage.

After selecting these 6 passages, narrow your interest down to three of them.  For these 3 passages, write a short but detailed discussion about why you picked the passage as a key passage.  (“Short but detailed” = minimum of a good sized paragraph with specifics about the passage and the book as a whole.)

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS DUE ON SEPTEMBER 30. 

(yes, you read that correctly)

I’ve made this a “summer” assignment, however, because #1 you just finished the book so it should be fresh in your head, and #2, you may decide you’ve got more time now than what you’ll have when you get back to school in the fall.

Changing your password

1. Go to http://collaboratory.nunet.net/portal
2. Use the username and password you were given to log in.
3. Once you’re logged in, FIRST click on the pink “Profile” button at the top of the page.
4. Change only your password to something you’ll remember and no one else will figure out.
5. Save your profile.  If for some reason the same page loads again, log out and log back in using your new password.  The button with an upside-down U is the “logout” button.

Feature:  Messages

1. Once you’re logged in, click on the orange-ish “Messages” button at the top of the page.
2. This takes you to internal email sent to you through the Collaboratory.  You can also send messages to people in the Collaboratory.  To do so, you have to search for their usernames.  You can type in a name, the organization (Curie), or both to do your search.
3. To check a message, click on the message topic.  And so on from there.

Feature:  Curie IB Literature Discussion Board

1. Once you’re logged in, click on the orange-ish “Messages” button at the top of the page.
2. Then click on the link “forums” that now also appears near the top of the page.
3. Scroll down to find “Curie IB Literature Discussion Board.”  Click on that link.
4. The new page will load a list of topics you can respond to in the discussion board.  Topics with the newest responses will appear at the top.  The “Originator” column tells you which person started the topic.  This will be especially important for mentors to notice when they need to respond to a posting by one of their mentees.
5. To view a topic, click on the topic.
6. To reply to a topic, all you need to do is click the “reply” link within the topic you want to respond to.  Once you’re done typing your response, click “DONE!”  ONLY CLICK THIS ONCE.
7. To post new a topic in the discussion board, you will first need to check the little blue tabs near the upper right corner of the page.
   • If the tab on the right says “logout,” all you have to do is click the blue tab that says “New Topic.”  Type (or paste) your new topic, then click “POST.”
   • If the tab on the right says “login” AND you’re using Internet Explorer…

                                                               i.      You first need to go to the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options” in the drop-down menu.  Then choose the “Privacy” tab.  Move the little scroll tab down until the window reads “Accept All Cookies.”  Click “OK.”  (You can change this back after you’re done posting if you desire.)

                                                             ii.      Then click the blue “login” tab and use your Collaboratory username and password to login.  (If the tab already reads “logout,” go to the next step.)

                                                            iii.      Click the blue tab that says ““New Topic.”  Type (or paste) your new topic, then click “POST.”

                                                           iv.      If all this doesn’t work, email sspach@hotmail.com with the problem and the text you would like to have posted.  Ms. Spachman will post the topic for you.

• If the tab on the right says “login” and you’re NOT using Internet Explorer, email sspach@hotmail.com with the problem and the text you would like to have posted.  Ms. Spachman will post the topic for you.