A Socratic Seminar is a form of teaching and learning.  Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher, believed that students learned the best when they had to think for themselves.  Socrates would respond to student questions not with answers, but rather with more questions.  Rather than the teacher simply filling the students’ heads with ideas, students form their own thoughts and share them with their peers.  Students examine a group of texts and share dialogue to come to a better understanding.

 

Guiding Questions

1. Is the “American Dream” something real for immigrants to the USA?
2. What is the impact of stereotypes on our American society?
3. Is Yunior the narrator of every chapter in Drown? Does it matter?
4. What is Junot Diaz saying about the immigrant experience in the USA in his book Drown?
5. Is the USA hypocritical for being a country created by immigrants but requiring a complicated immigration policy today?

 

Readings

The fact that I
am writing to you
in English
already falsifies what I
wanted to tell you.
My subject:
how to explain to you that I
don’t belong to English
though I belong nowhere else

-Gustavo Perez Firmat

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twice cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp1” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 –Emma Lazarus

 Unguarded Gates

Wide open and unguarded stand our gates
And through them presses a wild, motley throng—
Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes,
Fearless figures of the Hoang-Ho,
Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt, and Slav,
Flying the Old World’s poverty and scorn;
These bringing with them unknown gods and rites,
Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws.
In the street and alley what strange tongues are loud,
Acents of menace alien to our air,
Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew!

O Liberty, white Goddess! Is it well
To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast
Fold Sorrow’s children, soothe the hurts of hate,
Lift the down-trodden, but with hands of steel
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come
To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn
And trampled in the dust. For so of old
The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome,
And where the temples of the Caesars stood
The lean wolf unmolested made her lair.

 –Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)

FIND THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT DOCUMENT HERE: 4.8.14 Socratic Seminar ENG III

Midterm Review!

Midterm Review

My intelligent and impressive students!

Please find a study guide for the Midterm below.  It covers EVERYTHING you will need to know and do on the Midterm.  You may PRINT THIS OUT AND USE IT ON THE MIDTERM!  We will take the midterm Tuesday and Thursday.

Hope it helps, enjoy your weekend.

Best,

Mr. Langan

Annotation Techniques – Be able to list the annotation strategies and use them in a given text.

1. Summary – put a text (or a section of it) into your own words.

2. Vocabulary – pick out and define difficult vocabulary.

3. Ask Questions – what questions does the text (or a section of it) bring to your mind?  What would you like more information on?

4. Make a Prediction – based on the text (or a section of it) what do you think might happen?

5. Analyze – Read between the lines.  What do you think the author is trying to tell you?

Elements of Style – Be able to pick out examples of these literary techniques in passages.

Simile – Two or more things being compared using “like” or “as”

Ex. The students are smart as Albert Einstein.

Sensory Detail – descriptions by an author using words that appeal to our senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing).

Ex. The air held a keenness that made her nose twitch.

Repetition – the repeating of words or phrases.

Ex. I looked upon the rotting sea, / And drew my eyes away; / I looked upon the rotting deck, / And there the dead men lay.

Alliteration – the repetition of a sound (normally at the beginning of a word).

Ex. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.  Alliteration is the “p” sound.

Characterization – Be able to characterize a character given a passage.

Direct Characterization – The author tells you something explicitly (straight up) about the character.

Ex.  Mel is a teenager who is depressed.

Indirect Characterization – The reader must come to their own conclusion about the character based on how the author describes what that character Says, Thinks, Effect on others, Actions and Looks (STEAL).

Ex. Mel was beginning to not care about her appearance and sit alone in the cafeteria.

Point of View – Be able to define and identify different points of view.

First Person – when the narrator is a character in the story.  This gives the reader insight into that character’s thoughts and emotions but only that character.

Ex. Speak is written in first person point of view from Mel’s perspective.

Third Person Objective – when the narrator is a bystander (someone on the outside looking in).  The narrator has no idea about characters’ thoughts or emotions, only what they see and report to the reader.

Third Person Omniscient – when the narrator knows about all characters’ thoughts and emotions.

Third Person Limited Omniscient – when the narrator knows only one characters thoughts and emotions.

Symbolism – Be able to identify some common symbols and what a symbol means given a passage.

Symbolism – (in literature) when an author uses an object or thing to represent something else.

Ex. The tree in Speak is used to represent Mel’s mental and emotional state.

Some common symbols are:

1. Numbers

2. Objects

3. Pictures

4. Words

5. Colors

6. Nature

Tone – Be able to identify the tone of a given passage.

Tone – (in literature) the way an author feels about a subject.

Strategies for finding tone:

1. Words an author uses (diction)

2. The point of view the story is told from.

3. The situation the author creates.

Art Analysis – Be able to define the art analysis terms and use them to analyze a piece of art.

Content: the subject, topic or information captured in a photograph.

Subject: the main object or person(s) in a photograph.

Abstract: an image that emphasizes formal elements (line, shape, etc) rather than specific, recognizable objects.

Realistic: depicting a scene in a straight-forward manner, without using unusual angles or distortion.

Impressionistic: art with a clear realistic subject that is slightly distorted but still in focus.

Foreground – Part of a two-dimensional artwork that appears to be nearer the viewer or in the “front” of the image. Middle ground and background are the parts of the picture that appear to be farther and farthest away.

Middle Ground – Area of a two-dimensional work of art between the foreground (closest to the front) and background (furthest receded).

Background – The part of the picture plane that seems to be farthest from the viewer.

Warm Color – Colors suggesting warmth such as yellows, reds, oranges and their variants.

Cool Color – Colors suggesting coolness, blues, greens, violets and their variants.

Contrasting Color – Differences between two or more elements (e.g. color or texture) in a composition; putting two unlike elements in a work of art. Also refers the degree of difference between the lightest and darkest areas of an image.

RACER – Be able to answer an open ended question using RACER.

Restate – Restate the question to begin your answer.

Ex. Do you think poverty in America is a problem?  I think poverty is (not) a problem in America because…

Answer – Answer all parts of the question.

Ex. Do you think poverty in America is a problem?  I think poverty is (not) a problem in America because there is a huge gap between those with wealth and those without it.

Cite – Reference a text or other media to back up your answer.

Common ways to introduce a quotation:

1. In the text it states: “….

2. The author says: “….

3. The passage shows: “….

Proper way to insert a quotation:

In the text it states: “Eighty five of the world’s wealthiest people hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the world” (Author’s Last Name, Page #).

Explain – Explain to the reader why you chose the quote you did and how it backs up your answer.

Relate – Relate the question to something you’ve seen in another text, movie etc.  OR compare it to something in the world around us or in your life.  OR ask a big question that makes the reader think.

Non Profit Project

Throughout this unit our core text has been Nickel and Dimed in which author Barbara Ehrenreich sets out to see if it is possible to live on the minimum wage. We have also looked at related ideas such as poverty, violence and the wealth gap in the United States. Up until now, we have uncovered some rather sad facts about the state of our country. But there is Hope! There are amazing men and women working to help those in need and change their communities! Your job is to research one of these great organizations. After choosing an organization of your choice from the ones listed below, you will answer the questions and present them in a pamphlet style.
NJ Seeds
Habitat for Humanity Newark
Urban Leagues of Essex County
City Meals

Questions:
1) What is the name of the organization?
2) What is its symbol? Draw it.
3) When was the organization founded (created)?
4) Describe something about their founding.
5) What is their mission (goal)?
6) What type of programs do they provide? What do they do in the community?
7) What do you think about the service they provide?
8) Would you volunteer with their organization?

Grading Rubric:

25 Points – Complete and correct answers to the five questions. This means that all questions should be clearly answered. It is not necessary that you restate the questions in your answer but all questions should be clearly answered in your project.

25 Points – Presentation of the information. No matter what media in which you decide to present the information, it should be organized and thought out. Any projects that look like they were done at lunch will not be awarded full points. Presentations that are creative and clear will get full credit.

+10 Bonus – Given to projects that go past the five questions asked and include more information on the organization, its members and the people it serves. Additional visual representations will also be rewarded.

DUE: Wednesday January 22nd, 2014

Speak Project!

Throughout Speak we encountered many scenes in which Melinda is mistreated and not provided the resources she needs to succeed.  In our lives every day we see many of these same scenes play out in the community around us, East Side High School.  With a problem based approach, each group will identify an area of improvement at East Side High School, devise ways to understand they problem and then a method to fix it.

Full Project Description: Speak Project