Death of John Updike

American author, and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, John Updike has died. My seniors should remember him as the author of A&P, one of the short stories we read during the first nine weeks of school. 

Here is a link to his obituary [if you read his obituary, you might get some bonus points on the next reading quiz!] . 

Mr. Cullen

Terrible Towel Challenge

Update: The window of opportunity for this bonus has closed. Thank you to all of the students that sent pictures in! I will leave the pictures up as a way to celebrate our Super Bowl Championship. Way to go Stillers!

Mr. Cullen

In anticipation of the Stillers Super Bowl victory, I am going to offer students a chance to earn up to 3 bonus points for finders pictures of Terrible Towels in random places around the country or world. Pittsburgh and Tampa don't count. I will give bonus points based on how crazy/awesome the location of the Terrible Towel is. You can email me the picture and I will upload it to this post.

For example, here is the Terrible Towel at the International Space Station.

and here is a picture from www.postgazette.com:

Good Luck!

Update: submitted pics as of 1/28:

Sophmores: Anthem

Sophmores,

As promised, here is the information pertaining to our reading of Ayn Rand's Anthem. On this post you will find study guides and the vocabulary handout. If you have any questions about the book, please feel free to post a comment (I am sure that another student may have the same question!).

Chapter 1 Study Guide (Due 1/28). Please write out the answers to these questions in your journal.

Vocabulary List You will have a test on the first 12 words Friday (1/30) after your 4-Sight test.

Left your book at school? Here is a full-text version of Anthem (not easy to read, but you can still do your homework!) 

Oedipus Schedule

Since the snow is falling and delays are being called, I wanted to give all of you the schedule ahead of time pertaining to our reading of Oedipus the King. The dates listed are the dates that the reading is due, not the date that it was assigned. Expect a quiz everyday.

[The due dates have been adjusted for the snow day on 1/28]

Due Date Line Numbers*

1/27 1-244

1/29 245-571

1/30 572-996^

2/3 997-1350

2/4 1351- end

*I could not find the exact version that we use in class. This version is a different translation, but is very close to our textbook. The above line numbers are for the textbook version. The version online is a little bit longer-- just pay attention to when the chorus ends (that is where I have broken up our readings)

^ Due to the snow delays this week, I shortened the reading for period 3. If you are in period 3, you only need to read up to line 768. This will allow us to discuss things that we have been unable to discuss thus far. Expect a quiz!

Due Date Change

Seniors,

Due to our readng of Oedipus Rex, I have decided to push your reading cirlce novels back 1 week. Now, 1/2 of your book is due for February 5th. If you would like to take your reading circle quiz early, you may do so by coming to my homeroom (159) during activity period. \

Mr. Cullen

Oedipus Rex

Seniors, 

We have a very busy week a head of us in Literary Studies. First and foremost, we are starting to read Oedipus the King. Even though we will read daily in class, you will have homework each night-- and expect a quiz the following day. For these quizzes, you should be familiar with our class notes on Sophocles and Oedipus the King, in addition to the reading completed for homework.

Here is a link to a full text version of Oedipus the King (with line numbers). 

If your group has yet to present your Greek God project, you will do so sometime in the near future (most likely not this week). 

Please also remember that 1/2 of your reading circle book is due on Thursday the 29th. 

Go Stillers!

Greek God Presentations

Here is a link to the assignment sheet for your Greek God Project. Your PowerPoint is due to me 1/22. Please upload it to Google Documents and Collaborate it with my email: cullenc@hempfieldarea.k12.pa.us

Feel free to post a comment if you have any questions!

Greek Gods Assignment Sheet

The Terrible ShamTowel

I thought that some of you might enjoy a picture that I made. Have a great Stillers week!

~ Mr. Cullen

Sophocles PowerPoint

Research Papers- Graded and in Skyward

Parents and students-

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday break. I am posting to let you know that all research papers have been graded with the scores put into Skyward (so that you can view them through the parent portal). 

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me. Students will get their entire research folder in class on Monday, January 5th. This will include my scoring rubric with comments about the paper. 

Overall, I was impressed by the quality of both the research and the writing. For the most part, students did a great job this year and they should be proud of the work that they put into their papers. 

We Might NOT be Watching the Watchmen!

While this post is geared more for the comic book club, I thought that it was worth posting on my classroom blog. It seems that the release date for The Watchmen might be up in the air (as we discussed before). 

here is an article on the legal troubles between Warner Bros. and Fox. 

I hope everyone is having a great break!

Reading Circle Books- due 12/22

Seniors-

Due to the poetry project that is due on 12/15, the complete reading circle book is now due 12/22. I mentioned this in class, but it seems that some people did not write it down. 

If you know that you will not be in school on 12/22 (due to Holiday things), please come to room 159 during activity period to show me your journal and take the full-book quiz. 

Research Paper Grades

Seniors-

First and foremost, I would like to apologize to parents and students that think that their research paper is "missing". Since I am grading papers and adding the grades to Skyward as I go, if the paper has yet to be graded it has been marked as missing. If a paper is truly not turned in, the grade will be a "0" on Skyward. These apologies go out especially to Nick Leghart, who was unable to see a horrible movie at a very late hour because his parents thought that his research paper was never turned in.

I have posted some of the grades for the research papers. I know that this has been a long time coming, but reading over 100 six-page research papers is taking longer than I anticipated. My goal is to have all of the papers back to you by 12/23.

If you have questions about your grade, please speak with me during activity period or after class. I have no problem sitting down with you to explain why you received the score that you did. If in Skyward it says "Redo- Did not meet requirements" you need to see me ASAP in order to find out why you are being asked to complete the assignment again.

Mr. Cullen

Seniors: Poetry Assignment

If you missed class on 12/9 or 12/10, you must have the following assignment completed for 12/12. All of the readings are in your textbook, but they are also on the handout that I gave you.

Read: Writing About Poems (114,115)
Read: What Work Is (117) and Singapore (118)

Write: An analysis of one of the poems looking through a Marxist Lens.

The writing must be completed on a seperate piece of paper. Before writing your poetry analysis, you may want to refer to the following website: Writing about Poetry.

Poetry Presentations

As the culminating assessement for our poetry unit, I have created the following project. If you have any questions about the requirements, please feel free to speak with me.

Presenting Poetry

Because Nick Rehak Complained...

Students,

It seems that the students that do check the blog regularly are upset that I have neglected my "updating duties". For that, I apologize. While there is no valid excuse, it has been a struggle to grade all of the rough drafts of the research papers. So, here is the update that you were looking for, Nick Rehak:


Star Wars Paper
Your Star Wars paper will be due on Monday November 10th. Please remember that this paper is analytical in nature and should demonstrate your understanding of how to apply critical lens theory. I expect that these papers are revised & edited final drafts, not simply done the night before. You have classtime to work on this assignment, so you might as well use it.



Final Research Paper
The final research paper is due to me on Monday, November 17th. At this time, you will also be turning in your notes, Works Cited Page and the rough draft that I evaluated. If you turn all of these things in early and/or take one of your drafts to the writing lab (ask me for a pass) you will receive bonus points.



Reading Circle Books: Take II
1/2 of your reading circle book will be due on Tuesday November 25th. Starting Monday November 10th, you can take your reading circle quiz in my classroom during Activity Period. Please do not ask to take the quiz during class. On Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, I will meet with the groups individually to discuss their novel.



How cool is this? I found a website that will put a small amount of text into the "Star Wars" font.
Now I know why I love the internet so much.

The Wait Just Got Longer...

I know that some of you were anxiously awaiting the release of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (filmed in Pittsburgh last winter). Unfortunately, it seems that the project has been pushed back. I had a feeling that this was going to happen since there is no trailer, the website only has the cover of the book and no one is talking about it. 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

The Senior Research Paper has Arrived!

Seniors,
I hope everything is going well with your research paper. I am creating this post as a way for you to have a central resource for all of the information regarding the research paper. I will continue to update this post as the research process continues, so please check back.

The Best Draft You Can Write on Your Own (BDYCWOYO) is due October 27th. The paper must follow all formatting guidelines set forth by the MLA and meet all of my minimum requirements for the paper. This includes the following: At least 6 pages in length, size 12 Times New Roman font, & in-text citations. Notes and Works Cited page are not mandatory, but you may turn them in if you choose. 

If you have questions about the paper (at any point) please post them here.

MLA Formatting Handout (from the College of the Redwoods)

Topic Selection Handout (here is the link to the issues at CNN.com)

Citation Machine

Thesis Selection Worksheet

Thesis Creator (not perfect, but it will help!)

Hempfield Area High School Library

OWL @ Purdue: Avoiding Plagiarism

Mr. Cullen's Outline Handout

A&P- The Movie!!!

Film adaptations of literature don't get better than this flick, starring Sean Hayes (from Will & Grace) and Amy Smart (from Scrubs)!!!!

If you have 18 minutes of free time, check it out. 

A & P | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Seniors: A&P

For Wednesday 10/1:

1) Finish Reading A&P by John Updike
2) Write a journal entry using either the Marxist or Feminist Lens
3) Be prepared for a quiz