Be ready for the New YOU Year!

Hey class:

Be ready for the New YOU Year 2009!

You can get ready for the start of the new year by
completing the following - wrap up loose ends from 2008!

Read the articles for the unit "The Bending Light."
You will find these articles listed in the scroll bar at the left
under THE DNA AGE (Research, Commerce, Ethics).

Print out at LEAST ONE article for each topic to give you
something in your hands when we talk about these topics
next week!

We will start on Monday/Tuesday with a multiple choice test
of 30 questions on the articles.

Head's up! It will be formatted in a unqiue way!
Instead of selecting the letter (A, B, C, D) and writing it down
as your answer, you will select the best VOCABULARY word.
All the choices are marked by vocabulary words taken from
ALL the New York Times articles in the series.

The "answers" will be a list of vocabulary words instead of
letters. This list of 30 words will be our first vocabulary list
for the unit.

What else? Start thinking about one of the topics or one of the
articles to write your mini-research paper. You can start by
writing down your first thoughts and ideas on the topic.

Finally, start the new year with some fresh, new experiences!
Have you checked out my list of exciting and different things to
do during this winter vacation?

Click on the link to the left for Journalism Class. When you get
to the Bergtraum Voice page, scroll down in the postings for the
vacation activities!

Wishing you many blessings for the new year!

- Mr. Gagnon

FOR MONDAY, DEC 8!

ALL students will have additional time to complete Test #5 in class on Monday!

Read Allegory of the Cave (CLICK HERE)

Read A Hunger Artist (CLICK HERE)

Reminder to take a look at the DNA AGE articles from The New York Times. We will begin class with our survey results and discussion on gene testing and therapy of unborn children. Begin reading articles (3) on research. And - we'll introduce the mini-research paper in which you will choose ONE of the unit topics (research, commerce or ethics) as a focus of a written paper with MLA documentation and integrated in-text citations.


Calendar Reminders:

Tuesday - Brigitte returns to class for pre-show visit!
Wednesday - Meet in lobby at end of period 5 for trip to "Dividing the Estate"
Thursday - Readings due (= you should have read the three articles on research)

Homework Reminder

Scroll down to see "Eyes Wide Shut" assignment!
You'll need to read Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" and answer the questions for Friday, Dec. 5!

Take-Home Test #4

DUE: Monday, December 1, 2008 handwritten or typed.
DO NOT COPY THE QUESTIONS!

Directions: For each question below, write a response which shows your understanding of the assigned content and your application of key concepts in the unit. We think a successful response to each question is at least ONE-THREE well-written paragraphs. Each response is worth 25 points each.


Part A: Question on “Gaston,” by William Saroyan

This short story was assigned for homework due Wednesday, November 12. You were asked to read the short story (CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY) and to answer the questions on Page 21 of the Online Study Guide (CLICK HERE FOR THE GUIDE)

1. At the beginning of the story, the father is described from his young daughter’s point of view. What does she think of him? Why does he seem like such a stranger?
2. What does the father do to change his daughter’s opinion of the insect that they find in the peach? What makes the daughter lose sympathy for the insect?
3. At the end of the story, why does the father feel “a little . . . like Gaston”?
4. What parallels can you find between the father in “Gaston” and Gregor Samsa
in The Metamorphosis?

Part B: Question on “Notes from Underground,” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Read, at least, the first six chapters. This novel was assigned for homework due Tuesday, November 18. You were asked to read the short story (CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY) and to answer the questions on Page 22 of the Online Study Guide (CLICK HERE FOR THE GUIDE)

1. What did the speaker in Notes from the Underground do for a living? Why did he leave his job? Describe where and how he lives since he left his job.
2. What does the speaker mean when he says that “to be too conscious is an illness”? What “opposite elements” seem to torment him?
3. The speaker says that he has tried but failed to become an insect and that a man of consciousness “genuinely thinks of himself as a mouse and not a man.” What do these statements suggest about the speaker’s opinion of himself? Why has he taken refuge in the “underground”?
4. What themes do Notes from the Underground and The Metamorphosis have in
common?

Part C: Question on Kafka’s Life from the Online Study Guide

What parallels do you see between Kafka’s relationship with his father and the
father-son relationship portrayed in The Metamorphosis?

Part D: Question on connecting Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” to our unit theme “Eyes Wide Shut”

One way to think of the unit theme is the ways people can sometime LOOK, but not SEE. It may be they look at their lives and the lives around them, but do not see what is truly going on. What connections can you make between Gregor Samsa’s family and the unit theme?

"Eyes Wide Shut" Unit Plans

The unit called "Eyes Wide Shut," which included Franz Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis" will include these two final texts: "A Hunger Artist," and Plato's Allegory of the Den." Click here for a link to the short story and at the left for links to Plato:

http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/kafka/hungerartist.htm

After reading "A Hunger Artist," in your notebook, copy and then answer the following questions:
1. How does the hunger artist justify or rationalize his choices?
2. What do you notice about how the public responds to the hunger artist at various times?
3. How is the hunger artist like celebrities in our culture today?
4. What connections can you make, thematically, between "The Metamorphosis" and "A Hunger Artist"?
5. What questions and comments do you have about this story?

A unit test on "Eyes Wide Shut" will be on Friday, December 5, 2008.

PLEASE USE THE COMMENT FIELD BELOW TO SHOW YOUR CLASSMATES
WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS - CHOOSE ONE OR TWO TO ANSWER IN A COMMENT FOR US TO READ!