12th Grade ELA Assignments

H.W. # 34:  How does Leslie Marmon Silko’s interactions with other individuals develop a central idea in paragraphs 4-10 in her personal narrative essay titled 

“Yellow Woman and the Beauty of the Spirit”?  Explain.

EXAM # 3:  PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

                                             

TEXT-BASED RESPONSE

 

YOUR TASK:  Based on your reading of Benazir Bhutto’s “Ideas Live On,” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, write a multi-paragraph response to one of the following prompts:

 

1).  Is democracy “the last improvement possible in government” (Thoreau, part 3, par. 19)?

2).   What is the role and responsibility of government?

3).   Who should have power to make decisions in a society?

 

Your response will be assessed using the Performance Assessment Rubric.

 

Guidelines:  1). Closely read the prompt.

                     2). Organize your ideas and evidence.

                     3). Develop a response that synthesizes content from both texts.

                      4). Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support your analysis.

                      5). Follow the conventions of standard written English.

 

H.W. # 32:  Which sentence of part 3, paragraphs 17-19 is MOST CRITICAL to your understanding of Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" and WHY? Explain in a well-developed paragraph.

H.W. # 31:  Preview part 3, paragraphs 1-8 of Thoreau's 

"Civil Disobedience" and box any unfamiliar words and look up their definitions.  Answer the following questions.

1)  How does Thoreau describe his experience in the jail?

2)  What effect does Thoreau create through his description of the jail?

3)   What does Thoreau do when he is freed from jail?  How do his descriptions of his actions develop a central idea? Explain.

H.W. # 30:  Read part 2, paragraphs 10-12 of "Civil Disobedience".  Box any unfamiliar words and look up their definitions.  Respond to the following questions.

1)  What relationship does Thoreu establish between wealth and morality in part 2, paragraph 10?

2)  What advice does Thoreau offer those who are afraid to

"deny the authority of the "State"

(part 2, paragraph 11)?

3)  How does Thoreau develop the central idea of the relationship between the individual and the state in part 2, paragraphs 10-12?

H.W. # 29:  Read paragraph 12

(from "I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore" to "the Mutual Insurance company, which has promised to bury him decently") of "Civil Disobedience" and write a summary of the paragraph.

H.W. # 28:  Read paragraph 7 of

"Civil Disobedience".  How does this paragraph develop Thoreau's point of view of the relationship between the individual and the state?

H.W. # 27:  How does Thoreu establish his point of view in the opening paragraph of his essay 

"Civil Disobedience"?

H.W. # 26:  How do Bhutto's choices about how to end her speech, "Ideas Live On", relate to the choices she made about how to begin her speech?

H.W. # 25:  Conduct a brief search into Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan and select three significant facts that deepen your understanding of Bhutto's speech to share with the class.

H.W. # 24:  FROM ENTRY TO ESSAY. Choose one significant incident from the list of childhood experiences you wrote on your post-it, and narrate the incident as vividly as you can.  Include the details: Where did the event take place?  What did people say? How were they dressed?  What was the weather like?  Follow Dillard's model in putting CONCRETE IMAGES to work for an idea, in this case an idea about the significance of the incident to you then and now.

H.W. # 23:  Read and annotate Chapter 19 of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and develop 2-3 discussion questions focused on how style and content contribute to the power or beauty of the text.  Prepare answers to your questions for discussion.

H.W. # 22:  How does the author of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" use precise words AND phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters?  (ESSAY)

H.W. # 21:  To the extent that racial inequality exists, then, it is a

by-product of the inability/unwillingness of individuals to properly adhere to basic American values like hard-work and personal responsibility.  Would Malcolm X agree with this statement?  Why or why not?  Provide evidence from the text.

H.W. # 20:  Conduct a brief search into the March on Washington, and write down three details you learn about the March.

H.W.#19:  Read and annotate the first half of Chapter 14 of

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X", pages 240-251 and develop 2 - 3 discussion questions focused on how central ideas develop, interact, or build on one another in the text.  Prepare possible answers to your questions for discussion.

H.W. # 18:  Read chapters 8 and 9 of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X". Develop 2 - 3 discussion questions focused on how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.  Prepare answers to your questions for discussion

 

Exam # 1:  How do the events in Chapters 6 and 7 show that

Malcolm X is a "hustler"?  What insight do we gain into his character?  What central ideas are further developed in

Chapters 6 and 7?  Explain.

 

H.W. # 17:  What do the "close calls" in Chapter 7 suggest about Malcolm X?  Explain.

H.W. # 18:  Read and annotate chapters 8-9 of

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and develop 2-3 questions focused on how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.  Prepare possible answers to your questions for discussion.

H.W. # 16:  Try agreeing with Malcolm X. Write down supporting ideas.  Try arguing with the writer.  On what points, or about what issues, do you disagree?  Think of your journal as a place to carry on a dialogue with the writer or with the text in which you actually speak to him.  What happens when you imagine yourself in his shoes?  Explain.

H.W. # 15: Malcolm X becomes a full fledge juvenile delinquent by

Chapter 3.  In your opinion, what are most men doing at this age?  What is Malcolm doing?  Who do you believe had the greatest impact on Malcolm's demise? ( Ella, Freddie, Shorty ) - Why?  Use textual evidence in your response and explain.

H.W. # 14:  Read Chapter 2 of

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and develop 2 - 3 discussion questions focused on how the structure of the text makes points clear, convincing and engaging.

Prepare answers to your questions for discussion.

H.W. # 13:  Read Chapter 1 of

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and develop 2 - 3 discussion questions focused on how the structure of the text makes points clear, convincing and engaging.

Prepare answers to your questions for discussion.

Exam # 1:  Answer the following questions in complete sentences by providing textual evidence from 

Ben Jonson's poem "Song To Celia".

1)  Paraphrase the poem. 

2)  What extended metaphor does Jonson use to develop the poem?  What images does he provide for his readers?  Explain.

3)  What does he allude to in his poem?  Why?

4)  What is the symbolism behind the wreath?  

Quiz # 1:  Answer all of the following questions with textual evidence from "On My First Son" written by Ben Jonson. 

 

1)  Paraphrase the poem. 

2)  In your opinion, how would Jonson have responded to Lord Tennyson' s statement?  "Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all".

3)  What does Jonson say was his sin and the price he pays for it?  Given these statements, how do you think Jonson is handling his son's death? 

4)  What reasons does Jonson give to envy his son's state?  Why might be still lament this state despite all these reasons?  (Interpret)

5)  What will Jonson do henceforth for his son's sake?  Why?  (Interpret)

 

H.W. # 11:   Read "The Long Exile" by Leo Tolstoy 

 

Often in stories about crimes, details about the crime are left out so that the reader might speculate on what has taken place.

Write a scenario describing what might have happened to the merchant and how the bloody knife ended up in Aksenof's bag.

H.W. # 12:  Research incidents in which accused persons were eventually found to be innocent.  One starting point may be the 1954 murder trial of Dr. Sam Sheppard, whose story became the basis for the television show and film, "The Fugitive".

H.W. # 10:  What bad habit or behavior commonly found in people most annoys you?  What animal might you choose to represent behavior?  Write a fable in which an animal displays a human habit or behavior you wish people would change.  Begin your fable with a catchy title and end it with a one sentence moral summing up the lesson you would like your readers to learn.  Draw a picture to illustrate your fable.

 

 

H.W. # 9:   Response Journal for John Donne's "Meditation 17".

1)  Make connections with your own experience.  What does the reading make you think of?  Does it remind you of anything or anyone?  Explain.

2)  Make connections with other texts or concepts or events.  Does it bring to mind other related issues?

3)  Ask yourself questions about the text:  What perplexed you about a particular passage?  Try beginning, "I wonder why..." or "It perplexes me that..." or "I was surprised when..."

4)  Describe the author's point of view.  How does the author's attitude shape the way the writer presents the material?  Explain.

H.W. # 8 :  In an essay of five or more paragraphs write about the dichotomy of the body and soul in John Donne's poems "Meditation 17" and "Death be not Proud".  

( Provide textual evidence )

H.W. # 6: To personify an inanimate object is to give it human qualities.  In two or more paragraphs explain as to why John Donne personified death in his holy sonnet "Death be not Proud"?

 

H.W. # 7:  In three or more paragraphs write a thematic statement based on John Donne's sonnet " Death Be Not Proud".

H.W. # 5:  In five paragraphs compare and contrast William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 and Sonnet 116.  (Refer to Venn Diagram and hand in Venn Diagram with essay)

 

Quiz:  Sonnet 116

1)  What are the comparisons and uses of alliteration in Shakespeare's Sonnet 116?

2)  In the first eight lines of Sonnet 116, what metaphor does the speaker use to convey his theme?

3)  Explain each quatrain and the concluding couplet of Sonnet 116 in your own words.

H.W. # 3:  In what ways do people show their fascination for physical beauty in today's society?  How might the speaker in the poem (Sonnet 130) have responded to this fascination?  Explain.

H.W. # 4:  Why might Shakespeare have used images from nature to convey his message?  Explain.              (Consider Sonnets 130 and 116)

H.W. #2:  Choose one of the qualities you listed and write about how it is illustrated in your behavior. 

Project - College Essay Final Draft

H.W. # 1:  Finish your paragraph about your strong personality trait.