Hey there! What’s that, you can’t wait to complete the summer reading requirements for September? Awesome! Well, how `bout a reminder of the expectations? Click the following links for PDF files!
Category Archives: Junior Honors
FINALS START FRIDAY!
Holy smokes! This Friday marks the beginning of final exams for the 2013-2014 school year! Rather than waiting until Thursday night to begin preparing, get a head start. To help you being, I’ve provided the study guides! Check `em out!
Farewell to Arms, Hello to Music!
Junior Honors students are working on an assignment that sees them analyzing a chapter of A Farewell to Arms in terms of its relationship to a soundtrack of their creation!
To start thinking about this task, check out this EXPLANATORY SLIDESHOW and listen to the corresponding song (embedded below)!
Lifting Every Voice and Singing!
The twenty-third chapter of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings sees Maya Angelou recalling her eighth grade graduation ceremony. While this event is meant to be joyous, things take a turn for the worst when Mr. Edward Donleavy, a sort of school superintendent, gives an absolutely deflating speech. Fortunately, valedictorian Henry Reed saves the day by discarding his speech in favor of a more unconventional presentation.
Henry Reed leads the crowd in singing The Negro National Anthem.
Click the link and prepare to dig deeper into this chapter!
Love and War with Young Hemingway
For better or worse, many believe that “All is fair in love and war.”
However, there are certainly some who disagree. Chief among them is Ernest Hemingway, a veritable titan of American prose with no shortage of experience in both love and war. Although these extreme conditions are often glorified, Hemingway had qualms about detailing their more tangible, grim, and (arguably) true implications.
To better understand young Hemingway’s perspectives on love and war, check out the following documents!
[Soldier’s Home]
[A short story about returning from war.]
[Letter from Agnes/A Very Short Story]
[The actual breakup letter Hemingway received from his WWI lover, and the story he wrote in response.]
March is Research Month!
March is a wild month filled with various wonders — MCAS exams, NCAA basketball games, and research projects!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a member of Freshman Honors or Junior Honors, the fact of the matter is that you’ll benefit from reviewing the MLA guidelines. Although there are a multitude of sources, I strongly suggest checking out the following links. Both of these sources provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for citations both in-text and on your Works Cited pages.
Mid-Year Exams on the Horizon!
In case you didn’t realize, Term II ends this Friday! While the vast majority of the work for this quarter of the school year has already been submitted, there is still something worth working on this week. What’s that? You don’t know what you could possibly be preparing for? You’re pretty sure that this is just a coast week? Hrm.
How about Mid-Year Exams?
Rather than waiting until the night before, why not start doing some of the legwork now? Look through your materials and figure out which areas you’ll need to focus on in order to get the grade you want. For your benefit, I’ve even posted the Mid-Year Exam guides below!
[JUNIORS]
[FRESHMAN]
A Literary Analysis of Spider-Man
Think that in-depth character analysis is reserved solely for classic works of literature? Guess again!
If you have a spare moment, head over to Comics Alliance and read Chris Sims’ fantastic new article: Why Spider-Man is the Best Character Ever (Yes, Even Better Than Batman). Throughout the course of the piece, Sims provides a close reading of Peter Parker, detailing why it is that the character has remained so poignant since his 1962 debut.
An excerpt:
[][][]
So he has to be Spider-Man, because he knows for a fact that he can help people, and that fact makes the decision for him. It’s another piece of that sacrifice, that atonement, but it’s also an incredible illustration of the pressure that he’s under, and how he just has to carry on, dealing with the things that he can control.
And how does he do it? By creating a better version of himself.
Batman’s essentially Batman from the moment his parents die, he just needs to go learn kung fu and how to be a detective. But at the start of Peter Parker’s story, he’s not a hero — he’s not even close. He’s shy and he’s an outcast, and while those things aren’t really his fault, they lead him to become pretty vindictive…
[][][]
Destruction and Hope: The F451 Soundtrack
Having finished Ray Bradbury’s FAHRENHEIT 451, members of the G-Block Junior Honors class have taken the opportunity to identify bits of music that could be paired with the piece. Check out the playlist embedded above to listen to a soundtrack of destruction and hope! (Also, check out the students’ justifications HERE.)
Of Mice and Movies! (E-Block)
After watching Gary Sinise’s 1992 adaptation of Steinbeck’s OF MICE AND MEN, viewers are bound to have storms of thought and emotion swirling about their minds. With that said, it is always useful to engage with our reactions to narratives. Click the link so that we can further explore the story of George and Lennie!
