Week 4: January 27-31

UPCOMING DUE DATES 

• Tuesday January 28 -- Better Man Debate -- preparation assignment due
• Wednesday January 29 -- Biography Reading Circles -- need book in hand -- POSTPONED UNTIL FRIDAY BECAUSE OF SNOW ADVISORY
• Thursday January 30 -- Transcendentalism Unit Test (will cover The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Emerson's "Self-Reliance," and Thoreau's Walden. The format will be multiple-choice questions and the song essay -- IF WE HAVE SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY, YOUR TEST WILL STILL BE ON THURSDAY.  IF WE MISS SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY, YOUR TEST WILL BE POSTPONED.
• Thursday January 30 -- The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail packet due (graded for accuracy and depth of thought this time)
• Tuesday February 11 -- Biography Reading Quiz 1 -- see reading schedule here

 

 RECENT HANDOUTS AND PRESENTATIONS

• Biography Book Circles Reading Choices and Schedule 
• The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail reading guide
• Transcendentalism Key Beliefs Matching Chart with Quotes and Pictures
• The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Packet
• Thoreau's Walden (excerpted)
• Emerson's "Self-Reliance" (excerpted)
• Transcendental Unit Test -- Song Essay:
• Practice songs (choose 1 of 3)
• Writing instructions
• Better Man Debate instructions

MONDAY JANUARY 28

• Finish working on practice song essay
• Revise your essay for some of the issues addressed in this document
• Work on debate preparation -- bring finished cards and brainstorming chart to class on Tuesday

TUESDAY JANUARY 29

FIRST PERIOD

• Better Man Debate (synthesis and actual debate) -- Both Mr. Wheeler and I were very pleased in how you presented your case.  You presented solid points and careful thinking about these characters.

ALL OTHER PERIODS

• Work on final page of TNTSJ packet.  Really think about what the play meant to you personally instead of thinking about what I want to hear or what you guess might be on SparksNotes.  You will always be able to more easily and effectively defend an idea that is meaningful over one that you think might be right.  There are so many things that happen in the play -- from the dissolution of Henry and Ellen's relationship, to John's death, to Henry and Waldo's argument -- any one of these events could serve as a key epiphany or awakening.  When you think along those lines you will find more meaning, you will be able to support your point more easily and it will help you begin to see other thoughts in the play as well.  

REVIEW FOR TRANSCENDENTALISM UNIT TEST

• Overview of Transcendentalism -- review the six key beliefs of Transcendentalism on the cut and paste overview chart
• TNTSJ packet --  
• Review the plot questions, character and conflict chart, themes.  
• Pay particular difference to Act II --  review the relationship between Henry and Henry Williams, the death of Henry Williams, the argument between Henry and Waldo
•  Emerson's "Self Reliance"
• Review the main and secondary ideas about how one should live a self-reliant life and how one should deal with a society that tries to force one to conform
• Review the meaning of the following key metaphors; be sure to consider their meaning on the literal/concrete level before you try to figure out the meaning on the figurative/abstract level --
  "the iron string," "joint-stock company," "hobgoblin," "the rose"
  
  
•  Thoreau's Walden
• Review the main and secondary ideas about why he moved to the woods and why he left the woods
• Review the meaning of the following key metaphors; be sure to consider their meaning on the literal/concrete level before you try to figure out the meaning on the figurative/abstract level --
  "marrow," "ants," "beaten track/path," "castles in the air," "drummer"
•  Key Literary Terms -- paradox, direct and indirect characterization, metaphor, tone