We're delighted you've decided to enroll in this challenging and enriching course. If you are scared of what's ahead--well, we hope you'll re-route that apprehension toward action. Commit yourself to working hard--and consistently--and you should emerge at the end of the 2009 schoolyear with a respectable grade and a whole new world of ideas to explore further. We aim to engender--or at least encourage--life-long learning.
Should expectations for this class turn out to be hovering a little out of your current ability to reach--even when stretching your highest--we'll all figure that out within the first month or so, and you can easily enough switch to the regular Senior English class. The decision isn't irrevocable!
That said, you will need to roll up your sleeves and take a deep breath as you prepare for assignments, which we hope you'll begin days before they're due. Work on craftsmanship: hone your diction for precision, and aim toward growing into something of a wordsmith.
**Please note: This blog will not/cannot list all your assignments (and in fact just represents one tiny drop in the huge ocean of reading and writing we'll assign). Mrs. E. will just occasionally use this as a way to update you when she has been or will be absent, or if several of YOU have been absent, or if an item of homework requires very specific instructions we've not found adequate time to go over in class.
**Analysis of a song of your choice, due 8/20/08**:
Using a standard, 12-point font, write a five-paragraph essay analyzing the lyrics and artistry of a song of your choice. Keep in mind the questions we discussed in class:
1) Does the author/poet ultimately reach conclusions that are consistent with the truth of the Gospel?
2) Does the work possess artistic merit?
Please use the format/template below when writing papers for our class, remembering to indent each paragraph and double-space throughout the whole paper.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Your name
The due date
Interesting, Non-Cliché Title Centered Here: Consider Using Colons
(Effective Title = Dust in the Wind: The Total Substance of People?)
(Ineffective Title = My Analysis of Song Lyrics)
Paragraph 1: Intro and build-up to the thesis statement at or near the end of the paragraph.
Example: From football game half-time group sing-alongs to piped-in soundtracks in grocery store aisles, rock music has become a ubiquitous part of American life. While the catchiness of some tunes seems to set the “repeat” function in people’s mental sound systems for all-day play, at times the lyrics may serve as irritants as they bore their way into the brain’s hard-drive. “Cactus Blues” is one such song: its use of the mixolydian mode lends musical interest to the tune, and the images of desert flora and fauna present an unconventional metaphor for the stages of romantic love. The song’s vapid and barbaric portrayals of women, however, cast a dark shadow over any merits the song may possess.
Paragraph 2: Discussion of catchy tune/mixolydian mode
Paragraph 3: Discussion of desert imagery
Paragraph 4: Discussion of objectionable lyrics about women
Paragraph 5: Conclusion—quick recap with additional insight or analogy or observation—but NOT the introduction of a whole new tangent
**Remember, also, to read Ayn Rand's Anthem and to memorize the "Sin" poem, due 8/20/08.**
