JUNIOR ENGLISH 2015
Sara Primo’s sections: 11-2, 11-3
SYLLABUS: SEPTEMBER 9 – 12, 2014
http://juniorenglishwithprimo.wordpress.com/
Isabel Allende: “in a novel we can use everything: testimony, chronicle, essay, fantasy, legend, poetry and other devices
that might help us to decode the mysteries of our world and discover our true identity” (Allende, “Writing” 45).
WEDNESDAY 9/9
1. Intro to Junior English. Transaction with Text.
2. thuy quotation from last year’s assembly: “The only way to be real is to trouble expectations.”
3. Share and discuss Gangster narratives…
4. Context for Isabel Allende. Rolf = Austrian. World War II.
DUE FRIDAY 9/11
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READ “And of Clay We are Created” by Isabelle Allende (you will find the link on the website!)
FIND a line from the story and be prepared to justify what makes it important to the story as a whole.
WRITE YOUR Learning Philosophy.
In-class: Photo vs. fiction discussion, part 1. Subjectivity and objectivity. Gangster chapters assigned, student
discussion questions for Monday. Distribute essay by Susan Sontag, “On Photography” (for Tuesday in class).
IN CLASS ON TUESDAY 9/15
In-class: discuss photo-journalism & watch clip of boat people emigrating… Student-designed discussion
questions… thuy’s idea of negative space & readers finishing work… “Vietnam is not a war.”
However much time allows: Read (handout) the Sontag essay, On Photography, which is a “model essay”.
Make notes: what is her argument? Does she support her point? What examples of photography can you
think of to support her ideas? Discuss: Ethical journalism: When to put camera down? American criticism?
DUE WED 9/16 (actually due on TUESDAY at 9 pm!)
WRITING WORKSHOP #1
Send to me the night before class (TUESDAY) by 9 pm as a word doc and bring a hard copy to class. I
will project the essays and we can discuss.
DUE: Write a 200 word analytical response by finishing the following sentence as your thesis.
In “And of Clay Are We Created,” Allende’s many references to stories or camera and photography
in the text show / suggest/ reveal / are significant because /contrast / change
In your writing, focus on: a logical claim embedded quotations varied sentence length clear point
DUE FRIDAY 9/18 (actually due on THURSDAY at 9 pm!)
WRITING WORKSHOP II
Due Thursday at 9 pm on email. Hard copy due in class (on Friday) also.
Write a 200 word analytical response to either “America” by Tony Hoagland or “On Photography” (an
excerpt), Susan Sontag. Create your own thesis/interpretation. Go heavy on textual references. Focus on:
Parallelism*
Rhythm in your writing
Complex analysis (going deeper than your first impression).
MONDAY 9/21
Due Today: Read “In Praise of Reading and Fiction” & write a PRACTICE READING LOG!
In class: Reading Log Debrief; “closure” with Gangster.
NOTES ON EMBEDDING QUOTATIONS: HOW DO YOU DO IT?
1. Identify the speaker
2. Write in PRESENT TENSE
3. Avoid using “says,” “states” as introductory words.
Try one of these: acknowledges, adds, admits, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, compares,
confirms, contends, declares, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies,
insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, suggests, thinks,
SAMPLE (from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men)
Original Quote: “I ought to have shot that dog myself, George, I shouldn’t ought to have let no stranger shoot
my dog”
Snippet (or portion of original quote: “I ought to have shot that dog myself” (Steinbeck 27).
Embedding a quote at the beginning of a sentence using a snippet of the quote:
“I ought to have shot that dog myself,” laments Candy, as he reflects on how he should have performed this task
(Steinbeck 27).
Embedding a quote in the middle of a sentence:
Candy confesses to George and Lennie that he “should have shot that dog” himself, and further notes that it he
regrets allowing a stranger to do it (Steinbeck 27).
Embedding a quote at the end of a sentence (also referred to using a lead in phrase):
Candy reveals to George his deep regret when he states, “I should have shot that dog myself” (Steinbeck 27).
Embedding several snippets of the quote throughout your sentence:
Candy suffers not only from grief, but from remorse as he reveals the knowledge that he “should have shot that dog”
himself and that he “shouldn’t ought to let no stranger” shoot his long time companion (Steinbeck 27).
USING BRACKETS AND THE ELLIPSIS
BRACKETS [ ] allow you to do two things:
1: Changing the author’s original wording for better fluency.
Candy realizes that he “should have shot that dog [himself]” (Steinbeck 27).
2: Adding words to the author’s original wording
Candy states to George, “I should have shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no
stranger [Carlson] shoot my dog” (Steinbeck 27).
ELLIPSIS (three dots …) allows you to delete a word or words from the original longer quote.
NOTE: You do not need an ellipsis at the beginning or end of a quote, even if you eliminate words.