Hamlet Test and The Road Trailer!!!

Students,

I hope that you had a wonderful day at Kennywood. I really thought that it was going to thunderstorm, but it seems that the weather held. I have a few updates for you:

The Hamlet Test for Periods 6 & 7 will be Thursday May 21st. Be sure to review the Shakespeare PowerPoint, because that will be a lot of points on the test. Here are all of the Hamlet Study Guides, and here are all of the quizzes.

Since most of you read The Road, you might be interested to know that a trailer for the film was finally released. It will be in theaters this fall (only a year late!). Looks to be a very close adaptation to the book-- so it will be very scary and depressing.

Enjoy!

The Time Traveler's Wife Movie: August!

For all of those waiting for the film adaption of the Time Traveler's Wife, they announced that it would finally be released in August! 

Here is the article. 

As far as the Road and The Lovely Bones, I have read nothing!

Literary Studies: A Big Week Ahead of Us!!

Update: Here are the study guides for each of my Literary Studies classes. I will continue to update these documents (put them in chronolgical order and add any late assignments). While these are not perfect, they will help you prepare for the test.

Period 3

Period 5

Period 6

Period 7

Update 2: It has come to my attention that not all of the quizzes were handed back for our reading ofOedipus the King. Since these will be an excellent resource to study, I am posting all of the quizzes for Oedipus. Of course, you will need to fill in the answers yourself!

Oedipus the Quizzes

Update 3: I have decided to remove the essay from the test tomorrow. The test is long enough without an essay question to deal with. Please note that you will complete that essay at a later date (Thursday/Friday). 


Seniors-

First and foremost, I would like to thank all of the students that took the time and participated in the most recent opportunity for bonus. I will have all of the bonus points entered into Skynet by the end of the day.

As the title suggests, we have quite the busy week! I wanted to write a post so that you know exactly what is expected of you for each of the upcoming days.

On Monday you will be working with your partners (trios!) to complete the "Oedipus Quotes Assignment" that we started last week. If you want, you could also find a few quotes from Antigone, because that will also be on the test. If you lost your assignment sheet, here is a link to another. This assignment must be completed by the end of class. You will be able to access all of the quotes from all of the classes by 8 pm Monday evening. I am hoping that this is an excellent source for all of you to use to prepare for the test.

Tuesday will be an in-class review day for the upcoming test.

Wednesday will be your "All things Sophocles" test. For this test you will be responsible for all of the information that we have discussed concerning Sophocles, the Greek Theater, Oedipus the King and Antigone. I will tell you now: this is not an easy test. It is quotes based, so you will need to identify quotes, who said them and why they are significant to the text. Please also remember to study the Power Point that I gave at the start of the unit (You can find the entire presentation in an earlier blog post).

On Thursday, you will have your full book test. This test is worth 20 points and allows you to demonstrate an understanding of your novel. After the quiz, we will have reading circle discussions and immediately after your group's discussion, your journal is due. I am asking that these journals are typed and are at least 3/4 of a page long (double spaced). If you are having a problem thinking of a good journal topic, feel free to use the topics that I have created for you in this earlier blog post.

Friday will be a continuation of our reading circle discussions.

It is a busy week! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Mr. Cullen

Reading Circle Journal: Update!

Seniors,

When your full book is due on Thursday, February 26th, you are also required to turn in a journal. In the past, students have had problems writing a journal and instead have simply written a summary. While summaries are sometimes important writings, I do not not simply want proof that you have read the text (your test score is the evidence I use for that).

Composing a journal entry is higher-level analytical writing as compared to a summary. Since these writings are sometimes more difficult to start, I am posting "possible journal entry questions" for each of the reading circle texts.

As a way to earn a few bonus points, you can post possible journal questions onto this blog entry.

This post will be updated through Wednesday evening (2/25), so please check back!

Mr. Cullen


Period 3
The Road
Slaughterhouse V
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Catch-22
The Color Purple
Interview with a Vampire
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


Period 5
In Cold Blood
Lovely Bones
The Road
Wicked
Time Traveler's Wife
Fallen Angels

Period 6
The Catcher in the Rye
The Lovely Bones
Cat's Cradle

Period 7
Black Like Me
The Road
The Lovely Bones
Fahrenheit 451

*Please note that this post has been updated to include the date for the full book quiz and journal!!

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!

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. 

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!

Seniors: Reading Circles

Please remember that 1/2 of your reading circle book is due Thursday, September 25th. On that day, you will have a quiz specific to your novel and then I will lead a discussion with each group.  

If you have yet to obtain the book that you and your group chose, please do so ASAP. I just picked up 3 brand new copies of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and 1 copy of The Time Traveler's Wife. If you would like to borrow one of these copies, just be one of the first three people to post a comment saying you would like one.