College Essay Materials

Hi all,

Here is the big powerpoint you've been viewing this week. Feel free to reference it for inspiration.

Here is that link to the Johns Hopkins Admissions website. They have some great sample essays and also explanations of why they are so great.

College Application Essays Next Week

Just a reminder that next week we will be in the Media Center working on college essays. Get pumped! It will be a huge advantage to have a polished essay this far in advance of college applications. Attendance is important!

SRI Reading Test

Please be sure you complete the SRI exam. It is a requirement to pass the course and graduate. If you missed class today (when we took it), you will need to make up the exam on your own time during lunch or after school in the Media Center. 

PLEASE SAVE YOUR SCORE SHEET AND TURN IT IN TO ME!

Weekend Reading

Just a reminder that you should finish The Great Gatsby this weekend. We will review the end of the book on Monday and take a written test Tuesday. The only preparation necessary for the exam is reading the book and understanding the characters. It will be a short answer and mini-essay test.

Great Gatsby Reading

Hi all! Just a reminder to keep reading. You should be through at least Chapter 6.

Great Gatsby Chapter 2 tonight!

Don't forget to finish Chapter 2 tonight!

Tomorrow you will do your 4th annotation for our annotation project. On Friday you will take the CERA exam to show how your annotation and deep reading skills have improved over the year.

Weekend Reading Assignment

Just a reminder to read Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby

Cuckoo's Nest Movie Review

We have now taken our exam about the novel. This week we are watching the film version. Made in 1985, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was directed by Milos Forman. It won 5 Academy Awards!

As we watch you should think about:

• What is particularly good about the movie (acting, costumes, dialogue, setting, music)?
• What are the weaknesses?
• What is different from the book? Is it a faithful adaptation?

HERE is the assignment you will complete after viewing the movie. You are writing a movie review! We will talk more about this after the movie.

Cuckoo's Nest TEST MONDAY (April 20th)

Just a reminder that Monday is your Cuckoo's Nest exam!! HERE is the Study Guide.

There will be 45 Multiple Choice questions AND a passage analysis.

For the passage analysis you will need to 1) annotate the passage and 2) write a short two-paragraph explanation of what you found and how it connects to the major themes in the book.

We practiced annotating together. Here is an example of really great annotation:

In case you are having trouble remembering some of our lectures:

• HERE is the lecture about Ken Kesey (the author) and his background
• HERE are those two videos about power and conformity (the Milgram and Asch experiments)

Weekend Reading Assignment

This weekend you should read through the end of Part III. You will have a quiz Monday!

Rorschach Test

Rorschach tests (ink-blot tests) were popular in the early 20th Century as a tool for diagnosing mental disorders.

Here is an online version for those of you who are interested. This is totally optional, but I thought it was interesting.

Take results with a grain of salt!

As the site notes, "[research] indicates that scores from the MCR have little value." These sorts of tests are no longer used to determine mental status or illness. That's a big relief to me as my results are consistent with psychological disturbance. Yikes! If anyone scores "normal," I want to know!!

I think it is interesting to think about the many bogus ways researchers in the past attempted to categorize and ostracize people based on perceived mental differences. Remember our chorus, "Conform or be cast out." 

How many of our characters from Cuckoo's Nest might have been subjected to similar tests?!?

This American Life: The Edge of Sanity

Today we did a listening activity with This American Life's January 31, 1997 broadcast of "The Edge of Sanity." We listened to Part II & IV and answered THESE questions.

If you missed class, please plan to listen to those parts of the show and answer the questions in your own time.

Those of you interested in listening to more of the show may do so, though I do warn you that other segments are somewhat disturbing, so proceed with caution.

McMurphy as a Hero

Today we discussed four important terms you should know:

Hero
Western Hero (cowboy)
Anti-Hero
Tragic Hero

Please know how each of these terms relates to McMurphy!

Reading Reminder

Just a reminder that you should finish Cuckoo's Nest Part II by Friday. You will have a quiz!

Quiz Tomorrow!

Reminder: You have a quiz tomorrow about Cuckoo's Nest through page 69

Conformity & Power (videos from class 3/13)

I forgot to post this earlier!

In class, students responded to the following prompt:
"Have you ever had a teacher, parent or coach that told you something you knew was wrong? Have any of those people told you to DO something you knew was wrong. What did you do? Do you think you are a person who can stand up against power?"

Then, we watched the following two videos and discussed the nature of conformity and power:

Cuckoo's Nest Reading for Monday (3/16)

Just a reminder that this weekend you are reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest through page 41. There is a quiz Monday! You have been warned...

Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters

I showed you this powerpoint with videos about Kesey's experimental trial with LSD and also his road trip with the Merry Pranksters.

Beat Poetry

HERE is a copy of the Beat poems we read for class today

Beats & Postmodernism Powerpoint

Hi all! HERE are the slides from the lecture yesterday about the Beat Poets and Postmodernism