Block 1 Post your Gatsby questions here

Remember the "showing" revisions of your This I Believe speech is due on Tuesday. Below you need to post your questions pertaining to Gatsby chapters 1-5.

Block 1 homework and reminders

Chapters 4 and 5 of The Great Gatsby are due next Tuesday. Be sure to read carefully in case there is a reading quiz.

On Friday we will work on editing "This I Believe" essays and then we will complete your Gatsby icon project.

Block 1 homework for Wednesday

Your homework is to finish reading chapters 1-3 in Gatsby. Chapters 4 and 5 are due for Friday. I am including a link to the full text online version of the novel: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200041h.html

On Wednesday we will work on two items: Revising your "This I Believe" speech, and discussing chapters 1-3 of Gatsby. Be sure to sticky note the passages that you were assingned.

Our study of chapters 1-3 will focus on understanding character, setting and symbols. In particular, Daisy, Tom, Gatsby, Nick, Jordan, Myrtle, George Wilson, East Egg, Valley of the Ashes, West Egg, Gatsby's party, Gatsby's library and the automobile.

Block 4 homework over break

There were a fair number of students absent from today's class. In class we went over some of the difficulty students are having with the development of their Critical Lens essays on the Regents. We looked at the rubric, and developed strategies for improving the development of the essay. Then I gave students the opportunity to rewrite their paragraph on Into the Wild for a better grade on the Critical Lens task.

For homework, I assigned chapters 3 and 4 for The Great Gatsby over break. Enjoy your break! Happy reading!

Block 4 class and homework

In class today we read the first chapter of The Great Gatsby, and we discussed the following issues:

1. What does tell us about himself?

2. What can we infer about Nick?

3. Based upon what we infer about Nick, how reliable a narrator is Nick?

Your homework is to read chapters 1 and 2 in The Great Gatsby.

Block 1 homework

Be sure to bring your copies (3) of your revised This I Believe Speech. In addition to your speech, please bring the annotated model that we worked on in class on Monday. I will be grading and collecting them. Have a nice afternoon!

Introducting....Jay Gatsby, a man of mystery

We will soon be beginning F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel, The Great Gatsby. In case you are wondering what it's about, the film's trailer is below. Happy viewing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG2XVUVQ2WY

Block 4 homework for Tuesday

Your homework is to revise the rough draft of the This I Believe Speech. You only need one copy; however, the copy should be as polished as you can make it. Next class we we work on enhancing the details and the sentence structure of the speech.

If you were not in class, please go to the This I Believe website, listen to several speeches, and get a sense of what an EXCELLENT speech sounds like. Then revise your speech. You must bring a completed copy of the speech to class. Have a nice weekend!

Block 1 homework/reminders

The handwritten rough draft of your "This I Believe" speech is due in class on Monday. I am using the completed draft as a homework grade. Remember that we will be learning how to revise, and that the speech, and our learning will be useful as you begin to contemplate the college essay. Happy writing and thinking!

Be sure to check the link to the NPR site for more examples and ideas.

Inspiration for your "This I Believe Speech"

The link to the "This I Believe" site is: http://thisibelieve.org/
Through this site you can listen to speeches, find helpful hints for composing your speech, and even a link to submit your speech for publication.

Please use the comment section to identify the title of the speeches, authors and what you felt was valuable about the speech that you listened to. Also, feel free to comment on some of your classmate's comments about the speeches as well.

This I Believe Speech

For the next several days we will be working on creating your own "This I Believe Speech".  You need to come to class prepared to write and work assiduously on your speech. The speeches will be delivered to the class before February break. The assignment is as follows:

This I Believe Essay-Writing Instructions from NPR

We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement of personal belief. We understand how challenging this is—it requires such intimacy that no one else can do it for you. To guide you through this process, we offer these suggestions:

Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs.

Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That's about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.

Name your belief: If you can't name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.

Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not what you don't believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial "we." Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.

Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.

For this project, we are also guided by the original This I Believe series and the producers' invitation to those who wrote essays in the 1950s. Their advice holds up well and we are abiding by it. Please consider it carefully in writing your piece.

In introducing the original series, host Edward R. Murrow said, "Never has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent." We would argue that the need is as great now as it was 50 years ago. We are eager for your contribution.