M. Bolton’s Ninth Grade English
Final Examination 2008 Study Guide
I. Purpose
The purpose of this study guide is to help you organize your study for the final examination. The number of questions on each topic (Section II of this paper) should help you know how much time to spend studying each topic. The information on what to study for each topic (Section III of this paper) should help you know how to study for each topic.
II. Topics covered and other examination information
The examination will consist of 100 multiple choice/fill in the blank questions and one essay question.
A. Multiple choice/fill in the blank questions
Your answers to the multiple-choice/fill in the blank questions will account for 75% of your grade. All multiple-choice/fill in the blank answers will carry the same weight for grading purposes. The subject matter of the questions is broken down as follows:
Topic
Number of Questions on Topic
Literary terms
50
“To Kill A Mockingbird”
4
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
5
“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”
5
“Romeo and Juliet”
8
Grammar
24
Poetic and Literary terms
9
Research and research papers
7
Note that the “Number of Questions” column in the above table refers to more than 100 questions. That is because many of the questions involve both literary terms as well as specific works of literature, and therefore get counted twice in the above table.
B. Essay question
The essay will account for 25 per cent of the grade. It will be closed book. It will be one paragraph in length – an eight-sentence mini-paragraph. It will ask you to apply one or more literary terms or concepts to one of the stories we have read.
1. Essay structure (proper mini-paragraph form – topic sentence, support sentences, proof sentences, and concluding sentence) – 50%
2. Essay content (knowledge of literary term or concept; application of literary term or content to text) – 50%
III. How to study for each topic
A. Literary terms.
Know the definitions of each term, and you will have a much more enjoyable exam! The literary terms and their definitions are on these documents in your notebook:
Poetry study guide
Poetry assignments, rubrics, and samples
Plot development frame
Foreshadowing worksheet
Writing rubric
Table of poetic and literary terms
You may wish to develop your own graphic organizer in order to learn these terms and to help others quiz you on them.
B. The stories and poetry.
Go back over the titles listed above – especially the stories – so that you will have a good idea of what happens in them.
C. Grammar
Know the information on the following areas:
Noun frame
Pronoun frame
Verb frame
Other five parts of speech frame
Sentence frame
Sentence structure
To go over examples of this information, go through and rework some of the exercises in Writer’s Inc. Skill book as needed:
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Pronouns
Prepositions
Sorting parts of speech
Conjunctions
Interjections
Parts of speech review
Fragments and run-ons
D. Research and Research Papers
Know the information in the following:
How to make source cards and note cards
How to make basic citations for a works cited page
How to make parenthetical references in a research paper
Topic sentences
Mini-paragraph overview and exercise
How to answer a single-paragraph essay question
Plagiarism frame
E. Essay Question
Know the information in the following:
How to write a topic sentence for a one-paragraph answer to an essay question
Mini-paragraph diagram
The eight-sentence Mini-paragraph
You will also need a good understanding of the five stories we’ve read as well as the literary terms (see above section on literary terms).
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Homework for Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday - Tonight you are to write a poem capturing the successes and failures you have had this school year.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Homework for Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday - Tonight you have the opportunity to revise your posts. In addition to this you have to write an essay on how No Child Left Behind has impacted the educational system. Post your essay on your blog.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Homework for Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Wednesday - Your homework assignment is to write an editorial response essay to the following article and the previous information you have heard and seen about the recent police beatings in Philadelphia. Remember that the slogan for the city was "The City of Brotherly Love" and now it is "The City That Loves You Back".
Beatings: More questions than answers
Amid inconsistencies in police reports, one defense lawyer calls it 'a cover-up'
By WENDY RUDERMANPhiladelphia Daily News
rudermw@phillynews.com 215-854-2860
IN A SHOOTING case in which the facts seem to change daily, police reports obtained by the Daily News yesterday seem to only muddy an already confusing incident that led to the videotaped police beating.
An initial police report says that five black males emerged from a gold Mercury Grand Marquis just before the shooting at 4th and Annsbury streets, in North Philadelphia, on May 5. But a subsequent arrest report says that only four men got out of the car.
When the Marquis was later pursued with only three men inside, the driver tried to elude police. Once stopped at the 3700 block of North 2nd Street, the three men resisted arrest and one suspect struggled with an officer, causing a laceration to the officer's finger, according to the arrest report.
But the three men - Dwayne "Lionel" Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins - were not charged with fleeing, resisting arrest or assaulting an officer in a city where the District Attorney's Office routinely lodges such charges. All three were charged with attempted murder and related offenses in connection to the shooting.
D. Scott Perrine, Hopkins' attorney, said yesterday that he believes that District Attorney Lynne Abraham didn't file charges of resisting arrest or assault on an officer because after viewing a Fox 29 News video in which cops beat the suspects, she couldn't give credence to the police version of events laid out in an arrest report.
How then, Perrine asked, can Abraham's office use the same arrest report to make its case against the shooting suspects?
"You can't split the baby," Perrine said.
Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for the D.A.'s office, declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation into the beating.
Yesterday, Abraham said that she will ask a grand jury to investigate the police beating. She said that a grand jury already seated will be free to hear the case soon.
"We will do a full, thorough, top-to-bottom investigation," Abraham said yesterday.
"The grand jury has subpoena power to call witnesses and documents, and compel testimony, which we do not," she said.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey determined that seven officers used excessive force when arresting the three men, and that a sergeant failed to intervene. He fired four officers and disciplined four others, including demoting the sergeant.
Abraham's job may not be easy. Prosecutors in her office must determine whether the officers should be charged criminally and present their case to the grand jury.
Meanwhile, Abraham's office must move forward in pursuing criminal charges against the three men shown on the videotape.
There is a precedent for Abraham's office to both investigate officers involved in a beating and to prosecute a beaten suspect who faces criminal charges.
In 2000, more than a dozen officers were videotaped beating Thomas Jones, a carjacking suspect. A grand jury exonerated the police, and then-Police Commissioner John Timoney disciplined 13 officers. Jones is serving an 18-to-36-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2001 to 18 charges related to his crime spree.
In this May 5 case, Ramsey said that the shooting and the beating are separate issues.
Yet the police report seems to marry the events.
For instance, in the police report, Officer Robert Donnelly says that Dyches, 24, grabbed and pushed him while he tried to handcuff him.
Ramsey fired Donnelly on Monday, saying that the officer had violated department policy when, with a gun in his hand, he pulled one suspect from the car and struck and repeatedly kicked him. Donnelly then pushed his foot on a suspect's head and later shoved a suspect's neck into a squad car, Ramsey said.
Ramsey took issue with Perrine's argument that the police report proves that the case is tainted and flawed.
"These are independent things that took place, so just because we had an incident where some of the officers - not all the officers - acted inappropriately during the arrest doesn't mean that they lied about a shooting," Ramsey said. "Anyone who draws that conclusion is wrong - period! - and they are not even using logic.
"Just because there is an allegation of misconduct, you can't taint an entire 6,700-member force with the same brush," he said. "You just can't do it."
Ramsey said that the officers who observed the shooting were not involved in the arrest and did not participate in the beating.
Yet, discrepancies in accounts of the shooting and police reports raise more questions than answers about the events leading up to the beating.
Although Ramsey has said that an officer and a civilian witness saw Hopkins, a 19-year-old passenger in the Marquis, pull the trigger at 4th and Annsbury, the arrest report does not name him as the shooter.
The arrest report says: "Three of the males from the gold Marquis got back into the vehicle and the fourth, possibly the shooter, fled eastbound on 300 West Raymond Street, eventually eluding capture. The three males in the gold Marquis went northbound on 4th Street with 25th District [narcotics officers] following."
In the arrest report for Dyches, police say all three suspects resisted arrest and a struggle ensued, but an arrest report for Hopkins makes no mention of resisting arrest or any struggle.
The Hopkins report was approved by a supervisor. The Dyches report shows no such approval.
Perrine said that the varying and sometimes vague police accounts make no sense.
"It's either police work that is so sloppy that it is not worthy of anything ever being taken seriously from this Police Department and shouldn't be the basis of how we prosecute anybody, or it's indicative of people with limited intellect trying to cover something up," Perrine said.
In an interview last night, Ramsey was unable to explain the conflicting reports and witness statements, saying he had not delved into that level of detail with regard to the shooting. He said he instead concentrated on whether officers acted inappropriately after stopping the car and whether they should be disciplined.
When asked why Hopkins had not been identified in the police report as the shooter, Ramsey replied: "I don't know. [Hopkins] does not walk around with a name on his forehead so they may not have known what his actual name was at the time."
In a May 6 news conference, Ramsey said that officers recovered 15 fired shell casings from a 9 mm firearm near the shooting scene. The report, however, does not mention the shell casings.
The report says that narcotics officers, while in pursuit of the Marquis, noticed that the back door of the car opened, seemingly suggesting that the suspects ditched the gun. A police search of the area found no gun.
Ramsey said he trusts his officers "100 percent."
"If that's what they said they saw, then that's what they saw," he said.
Ramsey has consistently said that the suspects eluded police and resisted arrest, but when asked why they weren't charged with those offenses, Ramsey said that the decision had been made by East Detectives in North Philadelphia.
A detective there who refused to identify himself said last night that the decision had come out of the commissioner's office.
"They have some questions to answer that they have not even begun to do," Perrine said. *
Staff writer Damon Williams contributed to this article.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Homework for Monday, May 19, 2008.
Monday - Tonight is your chance to tell your story. You will writing an autobiographical essay about your life thus far and include facts, achievements, disappointments, struggles, dreams and successes. You need to have a printed copy of your work for presentation. Work is due by 11:00 p.m.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Homework for Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday - This weekend you are to create a ballad of your life documenting the successes and challenges you have encountered. You can be as creative as possible and once you have completed your ballad, post on your blog by 10:00 p.m. Sunday, May 18, 2008.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Homework for Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday - You are to read and analyze the three stories using CAPS to summarize them.
Characters
Action
Problem
Solution
Also study the poetry terms for tomorrow's test.
Excerpt from Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin
I went down again. My heart and I went down again. I was aware of her hand. I was aware of my breathing. I could no longer see it, but I was aware of her face.
"Barbara. My dear Barbara."
"My dearest Leo. Please be still."
And she's right, I thought. There is nothing more to be said. All we can do now is just hold on. That was why she held my hand. I recognized this as love--recognized it very quietly and, for the first time, without fear. My life, that desperately treacherous labyrinth, seemed to fall where there had been no light before. I began to see myself in others. I began for a moment to apprehend how Christopher must sometimes have felt. Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it. Everyone desires love but also finds it impossible to believe that he deserves it. However great the private disasters to which love may lead, love itself is strikingly and mysteriously impersonal; it is a reality which is not altered by anything one does. Therefore, one does many things, turns the key in the lock over and over again, hoping to be locked out. Once locked out, one will never again be forced to encounter in the eyes of a stranger who loves him the impenetrable truth concerning the stranger, oneself, who is loved. And yet--one would prefer, after all, not to be locked out. One would prefer, merely, that the key unlocked a less stunningly unusual door.
The door to my maturity. This phrase floated to the top of my mind. The light that fell backward on that life of mine revealed a very frightened man--a very frightened boy. The light did not fall on me, on me were I lay now. I was left in darkness, my face could not be seen. In that darkness I encountered a scene from another nightmare I had had as a child. In this nightmare there is a book--a great, heavy book with an illustrated cover. The cover shows a dark, squalid alley, all garbage cans and dying cats, and windows like empty eyesockets. The beam of a flashlight shines down the alley, at the end of which I am fleeing, clutching something. the title of the book in my nightmare is, We Must Not Find Him, For He Is Lost.
When Caleb, my older brother, was taken from me and sent to prison, I watched, from the fire escape of our East Harlem tenement, the walls of an old and massive building, far, far away and set on a hill, and with green vines running up and down the walls, and with windows flashing like signals in the sunlight. I watched that building, I say, with a child's helpless and stricken attention, waiting for my brother to come out of there. I did not know how to get to the building. If I had I would have slept in the shadow of those walls, and I told no one of my vigil or of my certain knowledge that my brother was imprisoned in that place. I watched that building for many years. Sometimes, when the sunlight flashed on the windows, I was certain that my brother was signaling to me and I waved back. When we moved from that particular tenement (into another one) I screamed and cried because I was certain that now my brother would no longer be able to find me. Alas, he was not there; the building turned out to be City College; my brother was on a prison farm in the Deep South, working the fields.
I went down again. My heart and I went down again. I was aware of her hand. I was aware of my breathing. I could no longer see it, but I was aware of her face.
Black Snake and the Eggs
by Phillip Martin
© 1990
"My eggs!" cried Chicken. "One of my eggs is missing! Yesterday I had twelve eggs and today there are only eleven."
As Chicken fled her nest to find Rooster, she had no idea that she was about to lose more eggs. Just out of view of the nest, the thief patiently waited for Chicken to leave her eggs again. Black Snake crept slowly and quietly up to the nest. He eyed the eggs and quickly swallowed one.
Black Snake smiled to himself. His plan had been so simple and had worked so well. He swallowed another egg. It slid far down his long throat before his muscles crushed the fragile shell. "I'll be back later for another delicious egg, Chicken," hissed Black Snake as he slithered away. "Thank you for another fine meal."
Meanwhile, the frantic chicken lead Rooster back to her nest. "Why would someone take one of my eggs?" she clucked.
"Are you sure you counted correctly? Maybe you just thought you saw eleven eggs?" suggested Rooster.
From the expression on Chicken's face, Rooster knew he shouldn't have asked that question. She glared at him and said, "You know I can count. See for yourself. How many eggs are in my nest?"
"One, two, three," began Rooster. He frowned and stopped counting out loud.
"What's the matter now?" questioned Chicken. "Are you afraid to admit you're wrong?"
"No, it's nothing like that at all," responded Rooster. "Something is very wrong here. There are only nine eggs."
"What? Nine Eggs!" cried Chicken. "What is happening? Who would do this to me?"
The next few days were just terrible for Chicken. She worried constantly about her remaining eggs. She tried to stay with her eggs at all times but it wasn't possible to always be with them. Sometimes she had to leave to get food or take care of her other chicks. No matter why she left, the same thing always happened. One or two eggs disappeared each time.
"Someone is watching me very closely," cried the chicken. "He knows exactly where I am at each moment of the day. I only have three remaining eggs."
"Although I cannot prove anything," comforted Rooster, "I think it must be Black Snake who is stealing your eggs. He's patient enough to watch you a long time, and we all know how he loves to eat eggs."
Just the thought of Black Snake eating her eggs made Chicken shudder. She had heard stories of how he swallowed eggs and then crushed them further down his long slender neck. She knew Rooster was probably correct.
"I must hurry back to my nest," declared Chicken, realizing how long she had talked to Rooster. She rushed to her eggs, but it was too late. Two more eggs had vanished. "Rooster!" she cried. "Come help me. I only have one egg left."
Rooster came quickly. "You know, it is very likely that Black Snake will steal your last egg tomorrow," he warned. "Unless we are able to trap him, this will only continue every time you have eggs."
"Yes, it's true," cried Chicken, "but what can we do? How can we possibly stop Black Snake?"
"I have a plan," whispered Rooster. "I think we will not be bothered by him much longer."
The next morning, Chicken continued guarding her last egg as if everything were normal. From a distance, Black Snake didn't realize that a deadly trap had been set for him.
Chicken left her nest for only the shortest moment when Black Snake slithered out of hiding. In no time at all, he swallowed the final egg. It slid down his throat easily. But, when his muscles squeezed the egg, it did not break. It only became firmly lodged in his throat cutting off his air supply.
Black Snake twisted and turned trying to crush the egg or loosen it so he could breathe. By the time Chicken returned with Rooster, the struggle was over. Black Snake would steal no more eggs. He was dead.
"I'm sure he died never knowing why that egg didn't crush," crowed Rooster.
"How could he have known," clucked Chicken, "that the egg was hard boiled?"
The Rabbit Steals the Elephant's Dinner.
A Central African Tale
Kalulu the rabbit was one day watching the children of Soko the monkey playing in the trees, and saw one monkey reach out his tail and catch his brother round the neck, holding him a helpless prisoner in mid-air.
Kalulu thought that this was splendid, and though he had no long tail, he could twist forest creepers into a noose. During the next few days numbers of animals were caught in this way and held fast in the forest thickets, only escaping with difficulty. They thought that it was only an accident, but had they known, it was Kalulu who was experimenting with his noose.
At last Polo the elephant decided to make a new village, and, being king of the animals, he called every living thing in the forest to come and help him build it.
All came with the exception of Kalulu. He had caught a whiff from the delicious beans which Polo's wives were cooking for his dinner, and when the beans were cold Kalulu came out of the bushes and ate them up.
Polo was furious when he reached home and found that his beans had been stolen. Whoever could have taken his dinner?
Next day he told the lion to lie in wait nearby, and to pounce upon the thief if one appeared. Now Kalulu was hiding in the bushes and heard the plan, so he spent that night in twisting a big noose, which he set in a side path close to the cooking pots.
Next morning, when the animals had gone to work on the new village, Kalulu strolled out into the open and began to eat Polo's beans, with one eye on the place where he knew that the lion was hiding. Having finished his meal Kalulu ran off, when, as he expected, Ntambo the lion leapt out in pursuit. Kalulu bolted through the noose that he had set, and when Ntambo followed he was caught and swung into mid-air, where he wriggled and squirmed till evening, when the animals returned to the village and set him loose. Ntambo was too ashamed to say that he had been fooled by a little rabbit, so simply said that some unknown animal had ensnared him.
Next day Mbo the buffalo was set to watch the beans of his chief, but Kalulu had set a great noose between two palm trees. When Kalulu had finished his meal of the chief's beans and was strolling away, the buffalo burst out at him, but the rabbit ran between the two palm trees, and when the buffalo followed he was caught by the noose and swung into mid-air, where he wriggled and squirmed till evening, when the animals returned to set him loose.
Mbo the buffalo was so ashamed that he would not say how he had been outwitted, merely remarking that there must be some misdoer dwelling among them.
The leopard, the lynx, the wart-hog and the hunting dog were all fooled in the same way, and still Kalulu stole Polo's daily bowl of beans.
At last Nkuvu the tortoise, wiser than the rest, went privately to King Polo the elephant and said, "If your wives will smear me with salt and put me into your dinner of beans tomorrow, I will catch the thief."
Next day Nkuvu was secretly smeared with salt and hidden in the beans. The worthless rabbit again determined to get his dinner without working for it, and having set his noose, he sauntered up to the cooking pots when all the animals were out at work and began to eat. He thought that the beans were even nicer than usual. They were so deliciously salty. But before Kalulu could finish, Nkuvu had bitten tightly on to his foot.
The rabbit screamed, he pleaded, he threatened and offered bribes, but all to no purpose. Nkuvu said nothing, but simply held on to Kalulu's foot, and when the animals returned from the building of the new village Kalulu was still a prisoner.
At once the animals saw who the thief really was, and they determined to pay him back exactly as he had treated them. For six days he had to do without any dinner, and every day they went off to work leaving Kalulu tied by a noose to a tree. By the time that this punishment was finished the rabbit was so thin that the animals took pity on him and let him go, warning him that it was better to work for his food than to steal it, and that though a thief may escape for a time, he will at last surely be caught.
Characters
Action
Problem
Solution
Also study the poetry terms for tomorrow's test.
Excerpt from Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin
I went down again. My heart and I went down again. I was aware of her hand. I was aware of my breathing. I could no longer see it, but I was aware of her face.
"Barbara. My dear Barbara."
"My dearest Leo. Please be still."
And she's right, I thought. There is nothing more to be said. All we can do now is just hold on. That was why she held my hand. I recognized this as love--recognized it very quietly and, for the first time, without fear. My life, that desperately treacherous labyrinth, seemed to fall where there had been no light before. I began to see myself in others. I began for a moment to apprehend how Christopher must sometimes have felt. Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it. Everyone desires love but also finds it impossible to believe that he deserves it. However great the private disasters to which love may lead, love itself is strikingly and mysteriously impersonal; it is a reality which is not altered by anything one does. Therefore, one does many things, turns the key in the lock over and over again, hoping to be locked out. Once locked out, one will never again be forced to encounter in the eyes of a stranger who loves him the impenetrable truth concerning the stranger, oneself, who is loved. And yet--one would prefer, after all, not to be locked out. One would prefer, merely, that the key unlocked a less stunningly unusual door.
The door to my maturity. This phrase floated to the top of my mind. The light that fell backward on that life of mine revealed a very frightened man--a very frightened boy. The light did not fall on me, on me were I lay now. I was left in darkness, my face could not be seen. In that darkness I encountered a scene from another nightmare I had had as a child. In this nightmare there is a book--a great, heavy book with an illustrated cover. The cover shows a dark, squalid alley, all garbage cans and dying cats, and windows like empty eyesockets. The beam of a flashlight shines down the alley, at the end of which I am fleeing, clutching something. the title of the book in my nightmare is, We Must Not Find Him, For He Is Lost.
When Caleb, my older brother, was taken from me and sent to prison, I watched, from the fire escape of our East Harlem tenement, the walls of an old and massive building, far, far away and set on a hill, and with green vines running up and down the walls, and with windows flashing like signals in the sunlight. I watched that building, I say, with a child's helpless and stricken attention, waiting for my brother to come out of there. I did not know how to get to the building. If I had I would have slept in the shadow of those walls, and I told no one of my vigil or of my certain knowledge that my brother was imprisoned in that place. I watched that building for many years. Sometimes, when the sunlight flashed on the windows, I was certain that my brother was signaling to me and I waved back. When we moved from that particular tenement (into another one) I screamed and cried because I was certain that now my brother would no longer be able to find me. Alas, he was not there; the building turned out to be City College; my brother was on a prison farm in the Deep South, working the fields.
I went down again. My heart and I went down again. I was aware of her hand. I was aware of my breathing. I could no longer see it, but I was aware of her face.
Black Snake and the Eggs
by Phillip Martin
© 1990
"My eggs!" cried Chicken. "One of my eggs is missing! Yesterday I had twelve eggs and today there are only eleven."
As Chicken fled her nest to find Rooster, she had no idea that she was about to lose more eggs. Just out of view of the nest, the thief patiently waited for Chicken to leave her eggs again. Black Snake crept slowly and quietly up to the nest. He eyed the eggs and quickly swallowed one.
Black Snake smiled to himself. His plan had been so simple and had worked so well. He swallowed another egg. It slid far down his long throat before his muscles crushed the fragile shell. "I'll be back later for another delicious egg, Chicken," hissed Black Snake as he slithered away. "Thank you for another fine meal."
Meanwhile, the frantic chicken lead Rooster back to her nest. "Why would someone take one of my eggs?" she clucked.
"Are you sure you counted correctly? Maybe you just thought you saw eleven eggs?" suggested Rooster.
From the expression on Chicken's face, Rooster knew he shouldn't have asked that question. She glared at him and said, "You know I can count. See for yourself. How many eggs are in my nest?"
"One, two, three," began Rooster. He frowned and stopped counting out loud.
"What's the matter now?" questioned Chicken. "Are you afraid to admit you're wrong?"
"No, it's nothing like that at all," responded Rooster. "Something is very wrong here. There are only nine eggs."
"What? Nine Eggs!" cried Chicken. "What is happening? Who would do this to me?"
The next few days were just terrible for Chicken. She worried constantly about her remaining eggs. She tried to stay with her eggs at all times but it wasn't possible to always be with them. Sometimes she had to leave to get food or take care of her other chicks. No matter why she left, the same thing always happened. One or two eggs disappeared each time.
"Someone is watching me very closely," cried the chicken. "He knows exactly where I am at each moment of the day. I only have three remaining eggs."
"Although I cannot prove anything," comforted Rooster, "I think it must be Black Snake who is stealing your eggs. He's patient enough to watch you a long time, and we all know how he loves to eat eggs."
Just the thought of Black Snake eating her eggs made Chicken shudder. She had heard stories of how he swallowed eggs and then crushed them further down his long slender neck. She knew Rooster was probably correct.
"I must hurry back to my nest," declared Chicken, realizing how long she had talked to Rooster. She rushed to her eggs, but it was too late. Two more eggs had vanished. "Rooster!" she cried. "Come help me. I only have one egg left."
Rooster came quickly. "You know, it is very likely that Black Snake will steal your last egg tomorrow," he warned. "Unless we are able to trap him, this will only continue every time you have eggs."
"Yes, it's true," cried Chicken, "but what can we do? How can we possibly stop Black Snake?"
"I have a plan," whispered Rooster. "I think we will not be bothered by him much longer."
The next morning, Chicken continued guarding her last egg as if everything were normal. From a distance, Black Snake didn't realize that a deadly trap had been set for him.
Chicken left her nest for only the shortest moment when Black Snake slithered out of hiding. In no time at all, he swallowed the final egg. It slid down his throat easily. But, when his muscles squeezed the egg, it did not break. It only became firmly lodged in his throat cutting off his air supply.
Black Snake twisted and turned trying to crush the egg or loosen it so he could breathe. By the time Chicken returned with Rooster, the struggle was over. Black Snake would steal no more eggs. He was dead.
"I'm sure he died never knowing why that egg didn't crush," crowed Rooster.
"How could he have known," clucked Chicken, "that the egg was hard boiled?"
The Rabbit Steals the Elephant's Dinner.
A Central African Tale
Kalulu the rabbit was one day watching the children of Soko the monkey playing in the trees, and saw one monkey reach out his tail and catch his brother round the neck, holding him a helpless prisoner in mid-air.
Kalulu thought that this was splendid, and though he had no long tail, he could twist forest creepers into a noose. During the next few days numbers of animals were caught in this way and held fast in the forest thickets, only escaping with difficulty. They thought that it was only an accident, but had they known, it was Kalulu who was experimenting with his noose.
At last Polo the elephant decided to make a new village, and, being king of the animals, he called every living thing in the forest to come and help him build it.
All came with the exception of Kalulu. He had caught a whiff from the delicious beans which Polo's wives were cooking for his dinner, and when the beans were cold Kalulu came out of the bushes and ate them up.
Polo was furious when he reached home and found that his beans had been stolen. Whoever could have taken his dinner?
Next day he told the lion to lie in wait nearby, and to pounce upon the thief if one appeared. Now Kalulu was hiding in the bushes and heard the plan, so he spent that night in twisting a big noose, which he set in a side path close to the cooking pots.
Next morning, when the animals had gone to work on the new village, Kalulu strolled out into the open and began to eat Polo's beans, with one eye on the place where he knew that the lion was hiding. Having finished his meal Kalulu ran off, when, as he expected, Ntambo the lion leapt out in pursuit. Kalulu bolted through the noose that he had set, and when Ntambo followed he was caught and swung into mid-air, where he wriggled and squirmed till evening, when the animals returned to the village and set him loose. Ntambo was too ashamed to say that he had been fooled by a little rabbit, so simply said that some unknown animal had ensnared him.
Next day Mbo the buffalo was set to watch the beans of his chief, but Kalulu had set a great noose between two palm trees. When Kalulu had finished his meal of the chief's beans and was strolling away, the buffalo burst out at him, but the rabbit ran between the two palm trees, and when the buffalo followed he was caught by the noose and swung into mid-air, where he wriggled and squirmed till evening, when the animals returned to set him loose.
Mbo the buffalo was so ashamed that he would not say how he had been outwitted, merely remarking that there must be some misdoer dwelling among them.
The leopard, the lynx, the wart-hog and the hunting dog were all fooled in the same way, and still Kalulu stole Polo's daily bowl of beans.
At last Nkuvu the tortoise, wiser than the rest, went privately to King Polo the elephant and said, "If your wives will smear me with salt and put me into your dinner of beans tomorrow, I will catch the thief."
Next day Nkuvu was secretly smeared with salt and hidden in the beans. The worthless rabbit again determined to get his dinner without working for it, and having set his noose, he sauntered up to the cooking pots when all the animals were out at work and began to eat. He thought that the beans were even nicer than usual. They were so deliciously salty. But before Kalulu could finish, Nkuvu had bitten tightly on to his foot.
The rabbit screamed, he pleaded, he threatened and offered bribes, but all to no purpose. Nkuvu said nothing, but simply held on to Kalulu's foot, and when the animals returned from the building of the new village Kalulu was still a prisoner.
At once the animals saw who the thief really was, and they determined to pay him back exactly as he had treated them. For six days he had to do without any dinner, and every day they went off to work leaving Kalulu tied by a noose to a tree. By the time that this punishment was finished the rabbit was so thin that the animals took pity on him and let him go, warning him that it was better to work for his food than to steal it, and that though a thief may escape for a time, he will at last surely be caught.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Homework for Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday - After carefully analyzing the quotes of Mr. James Baldwin, carefully interpret what the essence of the quote is saying.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Analyzing Quotes of James Baldwin
Fully explain your answers in complete paragraphs and essays. Post your best essay to your blog for homework.
1
You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.
2
It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story.
3
The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.
4
Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the battle field.
5
It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.
6
Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievements must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.
7
We cannot discuss the state of our minorities until we first have some sense of what we are, who we are, what our goals are, and what we take life to be. The question is not what we can do now for the hypothetical Mexican, the hypothetical Negro. The question is what we really want out of life, for ourselves, what we think is real.
8
An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Analyzing Quotes of James Baldwin
Fully explain your answers in complete paragraphs and essays. Post your best essay to your blog for homework.
1
You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.
2
It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story.
3
The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.
4
Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the battle field.
5
It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.
6
Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievements must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.
7
We cannot discuss the state of our minorities until we first have some sense of what we are, who we are, what our goals are, and what we take life to be. The question is not what we can do now for the hypothetical Mexican, the hypothetical Negro. The question is what we really want out of life, for ourselves, what we think is real.
8
An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Homework for Monday, May 12, 2008.
Monday - Tonight you are to write a sonnet and post on your blog. This is an opportunity for your to show your creativity and freedom of written expression. You may refer to Shakespeare for an example.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Homework for Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Wednesday - Tonight's assignment is for you to write an epic poem. You are to be the hero in your epic poem. Carefully review the definitions from last night to have a clear understanding of what I expect in an epic poem. Please post to your blog by 10:00 p.m. Test on Monday.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Homework for Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Tuesday - After reviewing the poetry terms listed below, write a cinquain and post on your blog. You are also to write a burlesque about the presidential election and post to your blog tonight.
ABC poem - An ABC poem has 5 lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up of words, phrases or clauses - and the first word of each line is in alphabetical order from the first word. Line 5 is one sentence, beginning with any letter.
Ballad - A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.
Ballade - A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.
Blank verse - Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.
Burlesque - Burlesque is a story, play, or essay, that treats a serious subject ridiculously, or is simply a trivial story.
Canzone - A medieval Italian lyric poem, with five or six stanzas and a shorter concluding stanza (or envoy). The poet Patriarch was a master of the canzone.
Carpe diem - A Latin expression that means "seize the day." Carpe diem poems have the theme of living for today.
Cinquain - A cinquain has five lines.Line 1 is one word (the title)Line 2 is two words that describe the title.Line 3 is three words that tell the actionLine 4 is four words that express the feelingLine 5 is one word that recalls the title.
Classicism - The principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature. Examples of classicism in poetry can be found in the works of John Dryden and Alexander Pope, which are characterized by their formality, simplicity, and emotional restraint.
Couplet - A couplet has rhyming stanzas each made up of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.
Elegy - A sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person. An example of this type of poem is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."
Epic - A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem of Hiawatha.
Epigram - A very short, satirical and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term epigram is derived from the Greek word epigramma, meaning inscription. The epigram was cultivated in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by poets like Ben Jonson and John Donne.
Epitaph - An epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise of a deceased person.
Epithalamium (or Epithalamion) - A wedding poem written in honour of a bride and bridegroom.
Free verse (also vers libre) - Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern or expectation.
Haiku - A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku reflects on some aspect of nature.
Idyll, or Idyl - Either a short poem depicting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or a long poem that tells a story about heroes of a bye gone age.
Lay - A lay is a long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouvères.
Limerick - A short sometimes bawdy, humorous poem of consisting of five anapaestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a Limerick have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.
Lyric - A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now generally referred to as the words to a song.
Name Poem - A name poem tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.
Narrative Poetry - Ballads, epics, and lays are different kinds of narrative poems.
Ode - John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is probably the most famous example of this type of poem which is long and serious in nature written to a set structure.
Pastoral - A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way for example of shepherds or country life.
Quatrain - A stanza or poem of four lines.Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme.Lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme.Rhyming lines should have a similar number of syllables.
Rhyme - A rhyme has the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words most often at the ends of lines. There are several derivatives of this term which include double rhyme, Triple rhyme, rising rhyme, falling rhyme, Perfect and imperfect rhymes.
Rhyme royal - A type of poetry introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer consisting of stanzas of seven lines in iambic pentameter.
Romanticism - Nature and love were a major themes of Romanticism favoured by 18th and 19th century poets such as Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Emphasis was placed on the personal experiences of the individual.
Senryu - A short Japanese poem that is similar to a haiku in structure but treats human beings rather than nature, often in a humorous or satiric way.
Tanka - A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven.
Terza rima - A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line "tercets". The poet Dante is credited with inventing terza rima and it has been used by many English poets including Chaucer, Milton, Shelley, and Auden.
Sonnet - English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.
Verse - A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose).
ABC poem - An ABC poem has 5 lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up of words, phrases or clauses - and the first word of each line is in alphabetical order from the first word. Line 5 is one sentence, beginning with any letter.
Ballad - A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain.
Ballade - A type of poem, usually with three stanzas of seven, eight, or ten lines and a shorter final stanza of four or five lines. All stanzas end with the same one-line refrain.
Blank verse - Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse.
Burlesque - Burlesque is a story, play, or essay, that treats a serious subject ridiculously, or is simply a trivial story.
Canzone - A medieval Italian lyric poem, with five or six stanzas and a shorter concluding stanza (or envoy). The poet Patriarch was a master of the canzone.
Carpe diem - A Latin expression that means "seize the day." Carpe diem poems have the theme of living for today.
Cinquain - A cinquain has five lines.Line 1 is one word (the title)Line 2 is two words that describe the title.Line 3 is three words that tell the actionLine 4 is four words that express the feelingLine 5 is one word that recalls the title.
Classicism - The principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature. Examples of classicism in poetry can be found in the works of John Dryden and Alexander Pope, which are characterized by their formality, simplicity, and emotional restraint.
Couplet - A couplet has rhyming stanzas each made up of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet.
Elegy - A sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person. An example of this type of poem is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."
Epic - A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem of Hiawatha.
Epigram - A very short, satirical and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term epigram is derived from the Greek word epigramma, meaning inscription. The epigram was cultivated in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by poets like Ben Jonson and John Donne.
Epitaph - An epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise of a deceased person.
Epithalamium (or Epithalamion) - A wedding poem written in honour of a bride and bridegroom.
Free verse (also vers libre) - Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern or expectation.
Haiku - A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku reflects on some aspect of nature.
Idyll, or Idyl - Either a short poem depicting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or a long poem that tells a story about heroes of a bye gone age.
Lay - A lay is a long narrative poem, especially one that was sung by medieval minstrels called trouvères.
Limerick - A short sometimes bawdy, humorous poem of consisting of five anapaestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of a Limerick have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.
Lyric - A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now generally referred to as the words to a song.
Name Poem - A name poem tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.
Narrative Poetry - Ballads, epics, and lays are different kinds of narrative poems.
Ode - John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is probably the most famous example of this type of poem which is long and serious in nature written to a set structure.
Pastoral - A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way for example of shepherds or country life.
Quatrain - A stanza or poem of four lines.Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme.Lines 1 and 3 may or may not rhyme.Rhyming lines should have a similar number of syllables.
Rhyme - A rhyme has the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words most often at the ends of lines. There are several derivatives of this term which include double rhyme, Triple rhyme, rising rhyme, falling rhyme, Perfect and imperfect rhymes.
Rhyme royal - A type of poetry introduced by Geoffrey Chaucer consisting of stanzas of seven lines in iambic pentameter.
Romanticism - Nature and love were a major themes of Romanticism favoured by 18th and 19th century poets such as Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Emphasis was placed on the personal experiences of the individual.
Senryu - A short Japanese poem that is similar to a haiku in structure but treats human beings rather than nature, often in a humorous or satiric way.
Tanka - A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven.
Terza rima - A type of poetry consisting of 10 or 11 syllable lines arranged in three-line "tercets". The poet Dante is credited with inventing terza rima and it has been used by many English poets including Chaucer, Milton, Shelley, and Auden.
Sonnet - English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.
Verse - A single metrical line of poetry, or poetry in general (as opposed to prose).
Monday, May 5, 2008
Homework for Monday, May 5, 2008.
Students will find 6 poems they really connect with the following themes/subjects: History, Catalog poem, Imagination, Miracles, Just for Fun, Nature, Anything. They should choose authors from the list they have for their Poetry Project.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Homework for Thursday, May 1, 2008
Thursday - You must have a printed copy of your poem that you are presenting tomorrow. You also have to compile a short biography of the poet and the reason why you selected that poem for presentation.
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