English 11 Homework:  

1. Be ready for your Pi presentation ready to go. 

Please bring all your notes that you developed throughout the unit, so that you can put them in your Portfolios.

Please bring your novel, Life of Pi on Monday. I will be collecting them.

I will be collection Blake's "Tyger" as well.

English 11: Life of Pi: 

We will begin Presentations on June the 11th, and end June 15th. 

Until then you are developing your Dualities in your Groups.

You should all be finished reading Life of Pi and are now working on your Presentation. 

Your Presentation is a well-developed group effort, that has a depth of analysis: it is thoughtful, insightful, original,... leaving us with a sense of the magic, the horror, the beauty, the losses, and ultimately the meaning of Pi's experience. There is a lot of worldly and heavenly aspects to this tale.  

English 11 Homework: For the next few Weeks.

1. Next week you will be writing a thoughtful Discussion and Reflection of your Synthesis Essay.

This will require you to look at your writing and your ability to write and analyze texts. 

2. Write a thoughtful reflection of your Synthesis Essay Assignment, and consider how you can improve your ability to synthesize the texts we use, as you will need to improve for English 12.  Due on May 22.  **Use examples from your Essay and other texts we are using.
Reflection will be word-processed, single spaced, in Times New Roman: 

PLEASE HAVE TWO  SPACES BETWEEN the first PARAGRAPH and the SECOND PARAGRAPH. 

Of course, your conclusion must leave the reader with a clear sense of understanding and completion that makes sense.  

3. **You should be reading Life of Pi,  finishing it by Friday, June 1st.

4. **Dualities:

The next phase is your Dualities Assignment. You are to choose ONE of the "dualities" that is strongly developed in the novel, and establish a Thesis Statement from it, so you are able to discuss it's development and significance in understanding the story.

This will be a Group Presentation where you   share your Dualities with the class. 

We will start our Dualities Presentations on June 4th and end on June 15th.

English 11 Homework for Thursday, the 8th:

*MAKE SURE YOU ARE LOOKING ON THE BLOG EVERY DAY, IN CLASS AND AT HOME.

1. You will finish your "What Will Your Verse Be?" by the end of the day, Thursday. 

2.  HAVE YOUR BINDER DIVIDERS IN CLASS FOR FRIDAY. WE WILL SET UP OUR PORTFOLIOS.

English 11: Wednesday, January 31st to Tuesday, February 6th:

Bring your 8 Binder Dividers by Tuesday so we can organize your Binders, and we will set up your Portfolios.

1. Your Verse: This assignment is a personal reflection of you, now, and your growth as a unique human being on Plant Earth.  

This requires you to examine yourself and learn who you really are - beyond the world of material things and the expectations of our material world order. 

Each one of us is a unique human made of blood and bone, who yearns to live and know one's self and others.  How do you "become" a moral being - a person who examines oneself and the world around them, and has the ability to  examine where our civilization is taking us - who has the ability to change - who has the desire to question and to seek truth?

Our civilization expects us to join the material world and follow it's dictates: it's culture of spending, of throwing away, of neglecting nature, and the poor. 

It wants you - a willing global army of spendthrifts in a material world, always wanting more. This is who you are in this time. 

But who are you really? 

You are a unique human being made of blood and bone, who has more depth in you than our leaders of this shallow culture can imagine.


Who are you, really? Look at the world you inhabit, examine it, and examine yourself as a being in it. How will you live and be in this world as a moral character?

This is the assignment: Dive into yourself to see who you are as a moral character, and where you are going. You must show with examples.

English 12 Homework over the Winter Break:

This work is due on the day we get back to school. This is practice for the Provincial Exams.

1. Synthesis Essay: "The Horses" and   "Vegetable Gardens on Mars." 

You are to read the texts carefully and then write a Synthesis Essay on the following prompt: Would the speaker in "The Horses" by Edwin Muir,  support the technological developments in Denise Deveau's article, "Vegetable Gardens on Mars?"

This essay is an analysis of the two texts, and is NOT in the First Person point of view. The Synthesis Essay must have an Introduction of three to five sentences, three body paragraphs of around 5-8 sentences each, which develops the synthesis,  and a 4-5/6 sentence Conclusion, that concludes the Essay in an logical and appropriate way.

English 12 Homework due Tuesday to Thursday:

1. Oryx and Crake Presentations: These are group presentations of 15 to 20 minutes in length. You are to identify the major Themes of the story, and then apply them to our REAL world.

Atwood has written the end of mankind - a very gloomy one.  

Your job is to grapple with this dark ending - by showing how we are already entering into her imagined world. You will need to reference the novel, frequently, and the world we live in.  

You will need to search online for excellent scientific sites that will help you understand the era we have entered, and the possible outcomes.  

Your presentation will include your understanding of the novel, but, more importantly, what you have learned about the era we are entering in this century. 

Show what you have learned, but also what you see in your future, having looked at excellent scientific sites, and considering the world as it is,... and beyond into our possible future.

Your conclusion should be bring it all together, looking at our times, and into the future.  

English 11 Homework for to January 8th:

1. The Jade Peony:  Complete questions for Chapter to Chapter 14.

2. Literature Circles: You will be working in your Lit Circles from Monday to Thursday, this  week. 

3. The Break: You will read and complete Chapter Questions 11 - 15.

You will be working with your Table Groups on line to finish all of these assignments, and to hand them in on the Monday we come back.

We will discuss the novel when we get back.

English 12 Homework: Oryx and Crake: for Tuesday the 12th and onward.......

A Block:   Let's fill up the box for the Canned Food Drive!  Bring cans and other appropriate items for those in need.  Merry Christmas!

Oryx and Crake:  You are to have read the novel by the end of the day Thursday.

Themes and questions in Oryx and Crake:

1. This is a story of how language and the humanities make us human. Discuss and show.

2. Be prepared to discuss in class, Jimmy's thoughts, Page 316 - that "there was no longer any comfort in the words. There was nothing in them. It no longer delighted Jimmy to possess these small collections of letters that other people had forgotten about." Discuss, explain, and give examples.

3. How has the unchecked pursuit of scientific progress in this story dehumanized humankind? Give several examples. Add a few more examples from our world.

4. The decline of the language arts, and the displacement of literature by consumer and entertainment cultures creates superficial, flat people who are unable to evoke deeper human feelings or ideas. Discuss and show with real life examples.

**Read carefully, think about what is happening, take notes, come with discussion questions, and your ideas, and be prepared to share with the class. 

What are the moral questions in Oryx and Crake?  

**Show how these questions are already in play in our times.

You will work with your group to present your  understanding of the text and the major issues it shows, including in our times. NEXT WEEK.

5.  The Essay Prompt: 

  Atwood shows us that mankind has not learned

           enough of the ways of the world,

                and this ignorance will not

                      guide us to shelter.

          Without learning who we are in nature,

          We are just a miracle that leaps from

                      
                      Tower   to    Tower

                                       
                                                    and 

                                             amounts        
                                                                                                           to 
                                                          nothing.

You will come with your Essay Outline on January 8th and begin writing. You will have three days to finish.

English 11 Homework for Monday, 11th:

1. The Jade Peony: You will continue in your Literary groups discussing and learning  through each of your Roles. You do not have to rush through this process. Listen, contribute, questions, etc.  Make it through.

2. This weekend you read to the end of Chapter 8, and did questions 6 to 7. 

3. You are now reading Chapters 8 and 9.

English 12 Homework for Tuesday, the Fifth to Thursday the 7th.

1. You are preparing to begin your Synthesis Essay of "Dover Beach" and Oryx and Crake.

You will begin writing Tuesday and work through Wednesday and Thursday with your approved Outline. 

You may come in to class at the lunch break and I will give you a half hour after school. However, be prepared to have a lot of people in the room.

English 12 Homework due tomorrow 29th:

You are working on your ideas of synthesis for the Synthesis Essay, "Oryx and Crake" and "Dover Beach." You must show how these two texts have many literary and other important elements in common: plots, settings, characters, conflicts - both inner and outer, moods, motives, purpose, narrators. In other words, how is the story exposing essential truths about humanity and it's progress and in both texts. 

The Synthesis Essay begins Tuesday the 5th of December and finishes Thursday the 7th of December. 

You will finish reading Oryx and Crake by the 20th of December.

English 12 Homework for tomorrow and Wednesday, the 21st: 

**Some of you have not handed in your Dialectical Journals.  You must have them in by 8:20 am tomorrow (Thursday) or you will not get credit.

1. Have your Dialectical Journals, 5-7, handed in by Wednesday.

2. The work for "Dover Beach" is due Monday,   27th.

3. Read the poem,"Dover Beach," as many times as you need to. A poem must be read several times. Read it well, look up words that you don't know, and create a glossary of terms. Also do the vocabulary list at the top of the Handout.

4. Finish all the questions for "Dover Beach." Use the Handouts . Do the SIFT and the Questions.

Develop your answers - and integrate quotes where it makes sense to.  

**Identify Literary Devices where you should for understanding and clarity.

English 12 Homework due Thursday to Tuesday.

1. Read to the end of Chapter 7.

2. Finish Dialectical Journal #3, from Chapters 5-7.  Start taking notes and building ideas for the next Dialectical Journal. 

English 11 Homework for The Jade Peony:

1. The Jade Peony: You are working in your Groups, starting with Summarizer, and working through all the Roles, in order, 1 - 5. 

Everyone is on task, adding their ideas, discussing, and learning with the group. 

English 12 Homework for November 14:

1. Oryx and Crake: Read all of 5: pages 115 to 134.

Read carefully, look up words, write notes that you need to....and be prepared to share your ideas. 

English 11 Homework for this week:

Bring your novel everyday, as you will be working with it.

Read Chapter One of The Jade Peony by tomorrow. 

In class you will discuss the questions as a group, then do the questions individually.

**English 12 Class work and Homework for this week and next due Tuesday, November 14th.

1. You are working everyday on your Dialectical Journals for Oryx and Crake. You are working to the end of Chapter 6 -  Rakunks, to end of Brainfrizz.

You must identify the procedure you are using for each entry and develop your ideas.

2. You must also develop a Vocabulary List for this novel that will help you understand things and to use in your writing. 

3. Go to the Online Magazine- INSIDE ECOLOGY, and read and take a few notes on Britt Wray's short book review: Rise of the Necrofauna,  for future use. It is short.

4. Read the Handout :"Jurassic Park Dream Moves Closer." Also read the National Post article: Science is inching closer to bringing species back from extinction - but the rise of necrofauna has risks. Take notes!!

English 12 Work for Oryx and Crake for Thursday to Monday:

1. Read to the end of Downpour.

2. Do 3 Dialectical Journal Entries: use the style of the Sample Dialectical Journal entry for   your entries.  Develop your Journals! 

You do not have to have an Entry for each Chapter, but you do have to make good choices of Entries. And, you can have two Entries from a Chapter: it is all up to you. But develop your Journals!

You are the Reader !!! and you are the Learner

3. Vocabulary quiz on Monday.

Oryx and Crake: English 12: BLOCKS A &C:

Both classes will read the novel online at home, and the books will be shared in class for discussion and other work by both blocks.

**ALWAYS LOOK UP WORDS YOU DON"T KNOW! and be prepared to share your work.

English 12: Blocks  A and C - Dialectical Journals: 

Starting Wednesday, you will be reading the novel using the online book at home, and the Novel in class.  You do not take the Novel home, but go on the link below, when you are at home. 

Nov. 1: You are to read the first 3 Chapters tonight: Do not go further in the reading - but start developing your first "Dialectical Entry." 

Look at the Handout I gave for Dialectical Journal Entries for setup, style, and development. 

http://docs.ivymindacademy.com/EBooks/oryx_crake.pdf

Ultimately you will be sharing and discussing with the class; therefore your expression, ideas etc. should be clear.