I have been informed that it is many moons since I have written in this blogsite. So I shall re-cap what we have done in the last month and explain where we shall be going from hence.
After finishing with The Crucible, we began the novel study unit, with students reading various novels. The study culminated in a very successful coffee klatsch seminar with the various groups presenting different literary aspects of their novels.
The photo essays were especially trying, since the technology was not on our side. However, they were done to the best ability of everyone present.
We have begun the study of 1984 and were very happy today to have Mr. Angus as guest lecturer to launch the study. Hopefully, the students find an interesting topic to explore from the handout provided. The Christmas break will give the students time to read and ponder Mr. Orwell's wintry dystopia.

Until next time...

Did you know that Heather Shippit is doing her Masters in Theatre, and one of the plays that she is writing on is The Crucible? She will be in class tomorrow talking about the paper she is doing, and how the themes relate to today's headlines in the newspaper. Don't miss class!
Your essays will be due Monday because of this shift in plans.
Thank Ms. Shippit!

English 12 is finished watching and reading The Crucible. The assignments include two essays on the themes and characters and a creative project, which is students' choice.

Next week, we will begin our novel study and more Provincial exam practice--the synthesis essay! Sound like fun? There's nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so, as Hamlet so aptly puts it.

Don't forget the test tomorrow!

English 12 is marching on. We are continuing to do our Provincial Exam practices as we read The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. Witch hunts are not just peculiar to Medieval Europe and Puritan New England. We will discover how they continue to this day.

We will be watching the movie next week, and then on to your essays and projects regarding the theme of standing up for your beliefs. Integrity is a word that you will come across more and more as you sail through your lives and are met the turbulent tempests that can upset even the strongest craft, you being the craft, of course.

Terms and devices page on the website: www.bced.gov.bc.ca
Be familiar with those terms for the Provincial.

Anon.

McCarthyism and the Red Scare

Look up: The Red Scare
McCarthyism
House Un-American activities
Lavendar Scare
Hollywood 10
blacklist
scapegoat
crucible
cunning folk
hysteria
modern witch hunts

for Monday. Brief descriptions, please.

Individual vs. Society

Once more, Dead Poets Society is imbedded on blog. Please view it and use it to answer questions from the assignment. You may also access other internet sites involving Dead Poets. We will begin Arthur Miller's The Crucible very soon, which also has to do with the above theme. Again, access movie online, and google Arthur Miller or the Crucible for much information. Check out this link for discussion on the Crucible.
Reverend John Hale's changing character is examined here.

Stand up, stand out!

This week we will be studying Dead Poets Society. Don't forget to pick up your assignment to go along with the movie. Due Thursday.

Greetings...

Hello Grads! Well, your final year of writing essays, poems, short stories, articles, representing and presenting, adapting and gathering and gleaning for your patient teachers!! Well, it is your final year if you decide not to go further in the Humanities, which I could not fathom...however, so it goes.

Week One: We started with writing a sample provincial exam to see how you sit right now in your interpretation of text and creative writing. I must say, not bad for the day after summer is over! We will be continuing to work on the provincial practice, and you have the choice of sitting the November exam. If you do well, you can keep that mark, and if you do not like the results, you have a choice to do it over again in January.

This week and next, be prepared to study several short stories. This should give you lots of practice in how to deconstruct text to help construe meaning. You become involved in the process of making meaning simply by bringing your own previous knowledge to the text, discussing it with others, who will bring their experiences to the text, and before you know it, you have discovered perhaps not THE answer, but an answer to the meaning of the story, getting you closer to answering the great questions of life.

If anybody's out there, remember your exam is on January 27th and 8:45 a.m. If you want to do some extra studying, refer to the Ministry website: www.bced.gov.bc.ca