English II Honors - FINAL

Hey guys!

The selected questions for the Julius Caesar will be numbers 3, 4, and 5.

Good luck!

B. Parsons

Journalism - Ethics Assignment

Select from the following scenarios and based on the ethical decision-making process and explain, as a newspaper editor, whether or not you would cover the story. If you decide to cover it, show exactly how you would handle the research and coverage. You will then create a PowerPoint of NO LESS than 15 slides discussing the facts of the story, issues with covering the story, and why or why not you would proceed with covering the story, and how you would cover it.

 All the scenarios are based on events that occurred at high schools with student newspapers.

A. A female teacher in your school has been placed on administrative leave. Rumor is that she had an affair with a senior boy who is 18. Will you cover this story?

B. A local chapter of Planned Parenthood wants to advertise in your school newspaper. Will you accept the ad?

C. On a language club field trip to another country, two students are caught with alcohol. They, in turn, turn in the names of several others who also drank on the trip. The students involved include a few athletes, members of the band, and two newspaper editors. After the school punishes those involved with a five-day suspension from school and a one-month suspension from extracurricular activities, several teens come forward to say that drinking has occurred on field trips in the past as well. They accuse the advisers of negligence and question the severity of the suspensions. How will you cover this story.

D. A student at the school has contracted the HIV virus. Explain your coverage of this story.

E. A newspaper columnist writes an opinion piece about the unfair member-selection process of a high school club. She says it is based on popularity and personal connections rather than qualifications. The president of the club writes a letter to the editor stating that the columnist had tried out for the club two years earlier and had been rejected.

F. A student and a teacher are arrested for shoplifting in separate incidents. The teacher is accused of stealing lipstick without paying. The student is accused of stealing a leather jacket. Will you cover these incidents? How?

G. A newspaper features editor wants to do a story using a grade card that rates teacher in the school from an "A" to an "F". You're the editor-in-chief - how would you advise him to approach the story? 

H. An editor wants to do a story on cheating, but teachers are opposed as they view it as teaching kids how to cheat and encouraging them to target certain teachers for cheating. How should the topic be covered and what research is needed?

I. A parent attacks a teacher in the parking lot after school one day. What approach should be taken in covering this story?

J. A student is killed in a car crash. Another student was at the wheel. Accusations are being leveled at the student driving that he may have been racing another student. How does your staff proceed in covering the story?

K. A rumor circulates that a student at school has had an abortion. A pro-life student on the newspaper staff wants to write an editorial condemning abortion, with thinly-veiled references to the girl in question. What is your decision on the matter?

L. A teacher and student attended the same party on a weekend, although they were not together, with both consuming alcohol. Photos later surfaced on a student's Myspace page showing the teacher and the student, with both possessing alcohol. The school is considering disciplinary action against the teacher after a parent raised the issue with the school board. How do you cover the event?

English II Honors - Caesar Essay Questions

Hey guys!

The following five questions will be narrowed down to three for the test; however, since you will not know which three questions you will have to choose from, it is incumbent upon you to study and review for all of them.

A few reminders before I get to the essay topics:

- Don't forget to format the Word documents as directed at the start of the year. This is something I will be paying more attention to as the year progresses, and it may impact your grade if you are not following the specifications. 

- QUOTE. This is a simple one - if you are making a statement about the text, you must show where you came to the view that you are espousing in your essay. Don't view it as a 'one and done' directive, either - quotations must be incorporated into the essay frequently. 

- Use the '/' slash to indicate line breaks when quoting Shakespeare. Also, be sure to include the scene and line information. For example, from Act III, Scene i:

"If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him / I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. / No, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause / will he be satisfied." - Act 3, Scene i, 50-55.

- Use the original text for the quote. Use the original text for the quote. Use the original text for the quote. 

____________________________________

Now, for the essay questions:

1. A tragic figure in Shakespearean literature is someone who is brought undone by their own fatal flaw(s). What are Brutus' fatal flaws, and how do they contribute to his demise?

2. Some would suggest that fate causes the tragic events of the play, while others might argue that the omens and supernatural phenomena only complement the existing drama. Choose a position and argue whether fate is the cause, or simply an image of, the evil in the work.

3. While they both contributed to the death of Caesar, Cassius and Brutus had very different reasons for killing him. What were they? Was one more honorable than the other?

4. Consider the rhetorical devices Antony uses in his speech at Caesar's funeral. How, without directly calling for it, does Antony turn the people against Brutus and the rest of the conspirators?

5. Using the character traits of the characters in the play, describe what qualities you would need to make a great leader of Rome, or any nation.