English 12 with Mr. Drake — Assignments • Handouts • Notes

NoBOX has gone slick. Enough with WordPress, PHP Forums and the like. NoBOX is now appearing as a dynamic on-line slide show, which we’ll be adding to throughout the rest of the school year. This is all thanks to our Academic version of Abobe Lightroom —slick, quick and… well, wonderful. Don’t waste a sec!

CLICK HERE NOW • NoBOX 2008

As before, the NoBOX staff will be adding new work regularly, so bring your artwork and writing to B114 any period of the day, and you’ll see it on-line a few days later. Poems, stories, random scribblings and such will be appearing along side student art: a slideshow of words and fine art! Cool.

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Here’s an entirely new adventure for us! We’ll be exploring the world of allegory, symbolism, and real life —all at the same time.

Meanwhile we’ll be going over our Existentialism papers —which were a true challenge to everyone! We’ll look at both their contents and their forms and find ways to step it up a bit, getting out of out high school frames of mind and into some more sophisticated. Let’s see what we can do!

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Existentialism Research/Response Due 11 Jan 2008
Mr. Drake • Senior English – College Prep
Completed papers will not be accepted after this date

Students are to research the principals of existentialism, including its definition, origins/original influences, and its influences on others. Students are to express, in essay form, their thorough understanding of existentialism, exploring the following questions and any other questions that research may uncover: “What is existentialism?”, “How, where, and why did it originate, blossom, and thrive?”, “What/who influenced it?”, “Who were/are the major figures in the movement?”, “Who and what did it influence?”, “What was/is its influence on philosophy /religion, politics, economics, news reporting, literature, the visual and performing arts?”, “What part did its proponents play in world history?” and etc. As we have read and will read more of Albert Camus’ work, be certain to contrast his “existential humanism” with essential existential. Other important questions may arise and should be answered as well. The paper should conclude with an exploration of the relevance of existentialism in the 21st century.

The paper should be in standard MLA format. (Check the Homework web page for details on formatting. Download the Word.doc to insure correct formatting.) Students are to show evidence of having used two printed and three on-line sources. These sources must me reliable. Instructions will be given on the proper format for citations and the Cited Sources page. A few initial web links can be found on the Homework web page.

This paper will be assessed as a double major grade. (Two major test grades.)

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An important part of preparing for success in the work place or at college is knowing when we need to shift our style of speech or writing from casual (informal) to a more exacting style (formal.) Formal doesn’t mean stiff or pompous or florid. It is simply the willingness to follow a standardized convention, a way of doing things that has received universal acceptance. People use forms because we’ve all agreed to use them. The majority of people feel comfortable with them. There needn’t be any discussion about them.
Monitoring the way we speak or write is the first step towards successful formal speech and writing. Here “monitoring” means making a conscious attempt to “listen” to how you speak as well has making a conscious effort to read what you write.

How you speak (and write) proclaims who you are; the way you dress and move do the same. We all use each of these to express ourselves.

Begin to monitor the way you speak or write when:

1. preparing something for class. (This includes brief written/oral responses in class, not just “essays” and the like.)
2. sending letters and emails to teachers, instructors, administrators, professors…
3. writing anything else. (Are you writing text message style, or are you using standard grammar —full sentences?)
4. speaking in the classroom. (Can you distinguish a different personal tone [mental attitude] when you’re speaking to your peers and when you’re teachers, administrators and other adults?)

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Welcome parents and students. This page contains links to many of the major unit assignments created for the 2007-08 school year. It also contains links to original copies of all hand-outs; access these when needed, 24 hours a day.

All links can be found in the right column of this site’s home page. Links are organized by marking period, either under the topic Assignment or Handouts.

A third topic heading, Discussions/Readings, is also in right column. Topics will be added as we cover them in class, including at-home readings. Topics listed are not always links. They are reminders of what was covered in class. Students absent for a few days or for an extended period of time should check here to see what we covered during their absence. It is also a reminder that you need notes for all of these discussions/reading. (Sometimes you will find several embedded links here, leading to further information on the topic. These links will be especially helpful if you miss a class or two.)

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NOTE: Students are required to take notes on all class discussions and in-class readings, including all texts assigned for outside reading. Note taking constitutes 15-20% of a student’s total marking period grade. [See the link under MP 1 Printed Handouts: Note Taking.]

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