Homework for Tuesday

On Tuesday, please bring with you one complete analytical paragraph, a close reading that contains a claim plus at least five more sentences that support and discuss your artifact just like we have been practicing in class.

You can complete the claim you wrote for Tuesday of this week, a claim you wrote with your groups last week, or a new one.

Your paragraph should include at least two "branches" in the support section.

Your paragraph should not contain the verbs "use," "utilize," or "show."

Typed, double-spaced, with an alias.

Mary TallMountain, "The Last Wolf"


Today, make one post:
1. Copy and paste at least five claims on other blogs into your post. In a sentence or two, identify which one or two claims strike you as the best, the most commanding, the most authoritative and specific.

2. Identify, and link to, the blog you think found the most creative, original, or otherwise interesting artifact for its close reading.

3. Leave comments on the blogs of your two favorites (for claim and for artifact) letting them know you like their work.

Matt Cook, "Nonsense."

Has anyone seen a copy of the novel "Hit and Run," by Lurlene McDaniel? Looking for it.

from the blogs, period 3 . . .

Lots of fun stuff out there recently:

Becca interviews herself about the memoir she's reading (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), when its author includes a fake interview of himself as a young kid.

My Everyday Sticky Waffle, on first encountering a sentence of the week:

Not only is the sentence funny, and absolutely relatable to my life, but, once I came across it during my silent AP lit english class, I laughed out loud, like one of those weird kids totally embarrassing myself.

From The Written Word: "I really think it is adorable that my parents still go out on dates." Plus, inspiration from reading On the Road.

Eddie blogs from their phone:

I wonder how many words I have typed? I'm typing this from my phone so the screen is really small and I can't figure out how to do word count or scroll up.

Kim Possible, on her new job at Coventry 13:

The only thing I had a problem with was the 10 year old, 3 hour long orientation video. I sat in a room that was like a janitors closet watching a tiny television set. It was basically the most odd thing I've ever had to do.

Rivers uncovers Chuck Palahniuk's odd challenge to himself when writing Fight Club:

to make it more disturbing than the book he published before Fight Club.

Hermione Granger, on taking a personality test:

Today, I took the Jung Typology Test, created by a Muggle psychologist to determine the personality of the individual. Personally, I find his rational, systematic approach rather more reliable than the brand of hocus-pocus labeled "Divination." Prof. Trelawney can attest that I saw right through her crackpot tricks.

Friday Blogging Lab

A. First, fulfill these routine Friday duties:

1. Total your bookmark for week 4, hand it in, and begin your bookmark for week 5.

2. Complete this week's Currently post with page totals, best sentences, and a brief comment on your favorite.

B. Poet of the Month post. Select one of the following options for our Poet of the Month menu:

1. Name the three poems we have read so far this year that have been the most interesting to you and write 75 words about what made them stand out for you personally.

2. Pick your poet of the year so far and try to find more work by them at the Poetry Foundation's amazing web site. You may either (a) find one poem by them there to copy into your moleskine, or (b) write 50 words about one of the poems you found there that interests you for whatever reason.

C. Overtime

If have time, for the last 15 minutes of class, start looking for a subject for your solo close-reading assignment, which is due Tuesday. Alternatively, write a response post for your independent reading, silent read, or play me in "Multi-eight," a fun word game. Click on room 1d.

Richard Siken, "Scheherezade"

nice lines from the blogs . . .

J-Momma, reading Tweak:

I tried to get out of my life and into Nic's life cause he's got it a lot harder than me but he put himself there and I didn't do anything to deserve any of this.

Estella Havisham, while reading The Social Network, uses her research skills to compare the people behind the Facebook story to the actors who play them in the movie. Also from her blog, Keep it Classy, she notices this after seeing peoples' reactions when they see her carrying her copy of The Help and tell her how much they like it:

The bottom line is that The Help is like a forest fire in the literary jungle. Praise for The Help spreads by word of mouth.

Mdogo, on spending time with her grandmother as she was dying of ovarian cancer:

Her last month with my family and I was incredible. She was able to see my cousin Meredith graduate from South Side High School in June, we watched “The King’s Speech” together, strolled around the block at night, and picked blueberries.

Mockingjay, responding to a description of a California freeway in A Single Man:

I liked imaging a river, like a white water rapids kind of river, looking at it and knowing if I would step one foot in it I would tumbled over by the rush of water. Also thinking of the little water molecules as the cars, they know that this is an every minute occurrence nothing out of the ordinary, nothing dangerous or scary about it.

When Autumn Came, discussing the drug memoir Night of the Gun:

It is interesting in the way the book was written because it was comprised of 60 interviews of people who were once close to David, which in turn allows the reader to have various perspectives of the author. At times, I see David as an intelligent American living the dream and at other times a savage drunk. He almost reminds me of Lindsey Lohan or something... =)

Zengerine, discussing a sentence of the week about anxiety that she read in Tina Fey's book Bossypants:

The last quote is possibly my favorite because I know that exact feeling. I get it whenever I check my grades on Powerschool, whenever I take a big test, and whenever I have to make a really difficult jump on a really excellent videogame.