Well This is Way Harder than I Thought...lol

Hey Guys!

I am trying desperately to update this thing, but with web outages, late returns and early starts, and other limitations, I am having a difficult time doing a day-to-day update. I will try to summarize the last couple of days...

After Wicked, we spent the next day going to Stonehenge and Bath, followed by dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in London. It was amazing! The kids loved Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site...it is so austere and beautiful, it is hard to describe. Bath was great, too - after touring the Roman Baths, we toured and ate fish and chips at a traditional English Pub. The Hard Rock was wonderful - we even got to tour the vault of their instrument collection and see some of the most valuable instruments in their collection (Jimi's Flying V, anyone??).

Yesterday we managed to get to Oxford to see Oxford University, and we got to see the dining hall where the Harry Potter movies were filmed! We also got to tour the town and see sites like The Bridge of Sighs, The Bodleian Library, The Radcliffe Camera, and my favorite, Ben's Cookies (a local treat). After that, we drove to Stratford and saw the birthplace of William Shakespeare, in addition to the home of Anne Hathaway, his wife. It was fantastic, and so was the opportunity to shop a little bit afterwards.

Today we traveled to York, a beautiful town in northern England. After some coach problems in the morning (we had to swap after a breakdown - no worries), we got to one of the most beautiful and historic villages in the whole of England, York. With a bustling market, a historic minster, a number of shopping precincts, and great weather, it was the ideal situation to take in the English lifestyle.

Tomorrow we are off to see Hadrian's Wall, then moving on to Edinburgh, Scotland...very excited!

Hope all is well back home.

Mr. Parsons

We have now made our way to York, a beautiful town in t

A Very Full Second Day!

Hey Guys!

Well, I was hoping to have more elaborate posts than this, but the pace of this tour is so frenetic, I will have to make do with just a little post today, with more writing and pictures to come tomorrow. Today we did a full sightseeing tour in London, which was fantastic, taking in such sights as the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey. It was amazing! We were, unfortunately, unable to get out to Windsor Castle, as the tube strike held up our tour. However, we finished off the evening with some excitement: Covent Garden, followed by dinner in Piccadilly Circus and finally Wicked the Musical in the West End.

Tomorrow, we are off to Stonehenge and Bath, followed by a little shopping at Harrods and dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Yeah, it's a hard life, but someone has to do it. :)

Mr. Parsons
English II Honors

England, Here We Come!

Hey Guys!

I am currently sitting with five GCHS students and a couple of chaperones in Charlotte International Airport (Douglas) waiting on a plane to Gatwick in London. We are on the first annual travel study for English II Honors students at Greenup County High School, and are looking forward to a fantastic time studying the sights and sounds of another culture and learning more about the history of the English language.I will be updating this blog every day throughout our trip. Stay tuned to see what fun we are having! You can also check out our Youtube channel - just search for Outbakz.

Hope you guys are having as much fun as we are.

Mr. P

English II Honors - Novel Study Finals

Hey guys!

Following are the essay topics for the essays you will be writing over the next two days. Instead of the review session we had planned for Monday, you will be working on your notes and quotes page (one double-sided, 8.5" by 11" sheet, handwritten only) and doing your pre-writing for the essay finals tomorrow and Wednesday. USE YOUR TIME WISELY - THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS IF YOU DO NOT FINISH YOUR ESSAYS IN CLASS IN THE ALLOTTED TIME.

Also, we have been working on essay writing and construction all year, in addition to grammar and mechanics. I expect that you have developed your skills over the course of the year, and I will be holding you to a higher standard this time around as a result.

A few things to consider:

- Be VERY careful with spelling and grammar - I will allow each of you to have a Dictionary in class. You will not be allowed to use the computer dictionary, as you will not be allowed to log in on Tuesday or Wednesday.

- Just because the essays will be handwritten does not preclude them from formatting. Remember to format exactly as you would a typed essay, with one change: Instead of indenting your paragraphs, I would like you to leave a line blank in between each paragraph.

- Quote, quote, quote. I am leaving you an ENTIRE period to prepare for your essays - I expect exceptional support for your ideas from the text. The rules for quotations, revised:

* Citations: Quotations are vital when citing specific documentation. If you are quoting an author, book, article, or person, then you must always use a quotation. You can introduce the quote by saying that John Doe says in The Times Daily News that, "People like to use quotations marks." Or, you can simply write the quotation (using the quotation marks) and end the sentence with the internal documentation. See the next bullet for internal documentation.
* Internal Documentation: In essays, you will inevitably use quotations from original and primary sources. Consequently, you will need to cite them internally (or via footnotes, an antiquated style). When documenting a specific quotation, you will omit the end punctuation (period, exclamation mark, question mark), put the close quote mark, and then add a parenthesis with the citation. After the citation, you will close the sentence with a period. See this example: "I will not eat green eggs and ham" (Seuss, 5). The sentence concludes after the internal documentation.
* Indented Quotes: Sometimes in an essay, you will use a long quotation. This means, absolutely no quotation longer than five lines should be within the body of the text of your essay. If you choose to use a long quotation (longer than five lines of text), then you should indent the quotation one inch on either side and sometimes italicize it. The quotation should end with a punctuation mark and quotation mark. The internal documentation comes afterwards without any end punctuation.


Finally, the essay topics:

THE CHOCOLATE WAR

1. Write an essay in which you compare and/or contrast the novel The Chocolate War with the novel 1984.

2. What does the The Chocolate War suggest about the benefits and dangers of 'disturbing the universe'?

FAHRENHEIT 451

1. Write an essay in which you compare and/or contrast the novel FAHRENHEIT 451 with the novel 1984.

2. Fire imagery appears throughout the novel FAHRENHEIT 451. Write a paper discussing Bradbury's use of fire imagery in the work.

Good luck!
Brenton Parsons
English II Honors

English II Honors - Extra Credit

Hey Guys!

Some of you will inevitably get finished with your workbook questions a little early, so I have a little extra credit available to you. There will be 15 points of extra credit for those brave enough to create one minute audio reviews of the novel they studied during the unit using GarageBand. The review, which I will convert to Mp3 on my return, will be uploaded to the LIbrary card catalog.

Two eadsets are in the top drawer next to my computer on the left. Good luck!

Mr. Parsons
English II Honors

English II Honors - The Chocolate War Questions #2

Hey guys!

Here are your questions for the second third of the book that you have chosen. Your responses to each question should be three to four sentences, minimum, and should include a quote from the book wherever possible to justify your response. Your responses should be posted as comments on this post prior to the class of the due date on which they are assigned; you may also submit responses in handwritten or typed form.

Good Luck!

PRE/POST READING QUESTIONS

1. Jerry has a poster in his locker that reads, "Do I dare disturb the universe?". Describe the universe that Jerry lives in and compare it to your own in a 100-word response.

2. Using the following vocabulary guide drawn directly from the novel, create a magnetic/found poem. Describe which words you chose, and why.

http://www.vocabulary.com/VUctchocolatewars.html

3. Jerry decides not to sell the chocolates, starting the war that is mentioned in the book's title. Describe Jerry's decision and why he chose not to sell them in a 100-word response.

READING QUESTIONS PART 2:

1. Adults bully as well as children, often producing even more dramatic effects. Describe adult bullying or adults being bullied in the novel.

2. Describe the protagonist of the novel.

3. How much school spirit should we have? Where should we draw the line? Do we have school spirit at Greenup County High School?

4. Describe the Goober.

5. Paul and “Tubs” have humiliating experiences selling chocolates. Describe them.

6. Do you think the world is made up of either victims or victimizers? Explain.

7. Why does Archie tell Brother Jacques about the trigger word?

8. Why does Jerry continue to refuse to sell the chocolates after the assignment is over?

9. Jerry feels sick every morning because he has to face Leon. How are physical and mental stress connected, and have you ever experienced them relating to each other?

10. Should the teachers do something about the Vigils? If they were in your school, would you want them to?

11. How do the other students in the school feel about the Vigils? Describe their reactions.

12. Describe the antagonist of the novel.

English II Honors - FAHRENHEIT 451 Questions #2

Hey guys!

Here are your questions for the second third of the book that you have chosen. Your responses to each question should be three to four sentences, minimum, and should include a quote from the book wherever possible to justify your response. Your responses should be posted as comments on this post prior to the class of the due date on which they are assigned; you may also submit responses in handwritten or typed form.

Good Luck!

PRE-READING QUESTIONS

1. The novel Fahrenheit 451 is part of a literary movement called "Dystopian fiction", of which Orwell's 1984 is the most prominent example. Read the following excerpt and summarize it into a response less than 100 words.

http://wsu.edu/~brians/science_fiction/451.htm

2. Consider the issue of censorship. How and when are you censored? What is appropriate to censor and what is not appropriate? Write a 100-word response in which you discuss the answer to this question.

3. Using the following vocabulary guide drawn directly from the novel, create a magnetic/found poem. Describe which words you chose, and why.

https://secure.layingthefoundation.org/english/vocab/novels/Fahrenheit%20451.pdf

READING QUESTIONS PART 2: The Sieve and the Sand

1. How were movies, pictures and TV the beginning of "it all"?

2. "Out of the nursery, into the college, and then back into the nursery" Explain this in your own words.

3. Why do people read less and play more?

4. "Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tapioca" Explain this in your own words.

5. What do schools turn out instead of intellectuals?

6. How do firemen "keep everyone happy."

7. "She didn't want to know how a thing was done, but why?" Explain this in your own words.

8. How can Guy get back in the good graces?

9. Why are there no front porches?

10. Why is Mildred acting strangely?

11. What is the rest of the world like?

12. What mistake could Montag be making?