Assignments for week one are due by 6/8/13.
1. Weekly Literature Blog Entry (15%)- After reading the works of Hammon, Terry, and Wheatley, you should be impressed with the efforts of these early American authors. They write eloquently of faith and hope. Consider which of the authors you find most intriguing as well as which poem you prefer and why. In a 100 or more word post, explain your choices as well as any particular phrases, imagery, or ideas that spoke to you. Provide textual evidence (quotes) from the work to allow your blog reader to understand your thoughts. In completing your posts, each work and author should be discussed first before any student uses a work or author for a second post. Additionally, later posts will receive deductions if they simply restate what has already been written. Therefore, students will be wise to post early.
2. Blog responses (10%)- After completing your post, you must respond to two other students posts. You must respond to students who have written about a different author and work posting something of additional value. Students will only receive credit for responses to works they did not use in their original post. Students may respond to additional posts if they like.
3. Reading comprehension quiz (20%) -
Follow the link to the W.W. Norton website and take the reading quiz for Phillis Wheatley's poem. Answer all six questions. Email results to your teacher. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/africanamericanlit2e/ch/B_Slavery/quiz.aspx
4. Vocabulary (15%)- Go to the Sheppards software website and practice SAT/GRE practice Quiz Set 1 Vocab until you score at least a 80%. Post to the blog you create an entry using at least 3 words from this list. Write down in your grammar log any words and definitions that you were unable to answer correctly on the quiz. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/vocabmania.htm
5. SAT Grammar review (15%)- Go to the SAT website and do the first set of 8 practice SAT grammar questions. If you do not answer a question correctly, write down the question and correct answer in your grammar log. SAT weblink: http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-practice-questions-writing-improving-sentences
6. Create your own blog (25%)- This summer, in addition to reading works and answering blog response questions, you will be required to create your own blog.Once you have completed your blog, you may post the link for your classmates to follow you with your blog entry along with your weekly blog listing, but this is not required. Please email the blog link to your teacher at [email protected]. Each week in your blog posting, you are to use three of the SAT vocab words. Many options are available for creating a personal blog. One easy to use service is wordpress: http://wordpress.com/ . Their "basic", no cost, blog works perfectly for this activity.
2. Blog responses (10%)- After completing your post, you must respond to two other students posts. You must respond to students who have written about a different author and work posting something of additional value. Students will only receive credit for responses to works they did not use in their original post. Students may respond to additional posts if they like.
3. Reading comprehension quiz (20%) -
Follow the link to the W.W. Norton website and take the reading quiz for Phillis Wheatley's poem. Answer all six questions. Email results to your teacher. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/africanamericanlit2e/ch/B_Slavery/quiz.aspx
4. Vocabulary (15%)- Go to the Sheppards software website and practice SAT/GRE practice Quiz Set 1 Vocab until you score at least a 80%. Post to the blog you create an entry using at least 3 words from this list. Write down in your grammar log any words and definitions that you were unable to answer correctly on the quiz. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/vocabmania.htm
5. SAT Grammar review (15%)- Go to the SAT website and do the first set of 8 practice SAT grammar questions. If you do not answer a question correctly, write down the question and correct answer in your grammar log. SAT weblink: http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-practice-questions-writing-improving-sentences
6. Create your own blog (25%)- This summer, in addition to reading works and answering blog response questions, you will be required to create your own blog.Once you have completed your blog, you may post the link for your classmates to follow you with your blog entry along with your weekly blog listing, but this is not required. Please email the blog link to your teacher at [email protected]. Each week in your blog posting, you are to use three of the SAT vocab words. Many options are available for creating a personal blog. One easy to use service is wordpress: http://wordpress.com/ . Their "basic", no cost, blog works perfectly for this activity.
Additional Activities- Investigating Women's Literature (Extra Credit)
During this time period, women in general were held in an inferior position, yet many chose to express their thoughts magnificently. Whether slave or free, the experiences described by Lucy Terry and Mary Rowlandson during Indian attacks recorded events that caused terror as they occurred. Further, American literature at this time did not have its own distinct form and copied the styles of antiquity such as demonstrated in Wheatley's "On Imagination" and Bradstreet's "On Contemplations". As an extension of this weeks reading, compare and contrast the works of Terry and Rowlandson or Bradstreet and Wheatley. Pay particular attention to topics discussed, imagery, form, allusions, and metaphors. Post your observations to the week literature one blog providing textual evidence. Make sure when providing evidence you clarify which work you are using.