DE Winter Reading Assignment for Students Joining ENC 1102
Students are responsible for reading all of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and excerpts from
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (McDougall Littell version only, which will be given
to you by Ms. Rosenbaum) and completing an assignment which will be due by 11:59 pm to
www.turnitin.com on January 23, 2011.
This assignment is worth 100 points and will also be used to determine if a student is to have a
literacy card during the 3rd nine weeks. In addition to this assignment, students will complete a
quiz on these books during the first day of class (which is January 24, 2011) which will be worth
75 points.
Formatting for Assignments in Dual Enrollment Classes:
It is important that you follow proper MLA formatting for all assignments in this class. With this
in mind, a template for your Winter Reading Assignment has been created and can be found at:
http://highmail.highlands.k12.fl.us/~rosenbac/
Essentially, all assignments must have:
 your last name and page number in the upper right hand corner of every page of the
assignment
 a heading with your name, teacher’s name, class name and period, and assignment due
date on the left hand side of the page
 a specific title that is centered and not underlined
 double spacing
 Times New Roman 12 point font
 a Works Cited Page that is the page after the last page of the assignment (so for this
winter reading assignment you should have entries on both The Last Lecture and The
Canterbury Tales)
www.turnitin.com
You will need to know the following in order to submit your paper:
Class id for Dual Enrollment: 4007010
Password: awesome
Index Assignment on Excerpts from The Canterbury Tales:
Your assignment is to read The Prologue (p. 3-31), The Pardoner’s Tale (p. 126-147), The
Summoner’s Tale (p. 148-167), and The Wife of Bath’s Tale (p. 168-181). Then you need to
take a specific kind of notes, called indexing on each story. You should be aware that all of your
quotes will most probably be highlighted in your originality report, so do not be shocked when
you see a high % of matching sources. However, you will have a serious problem if your
significance would show up the same as on another student’s paper.
For The Prologue:
For each pilgrim, you should note two quotes and explain why this quote is significant for the
character. Your quote may focus on aspects of the pilgrim’s personality and/or appearance, but
you should make sure you are writing whatever you need to remember each pilgrim. You should
also have a citation with the page # at the end of each quote. I have done the first pilgrim for you
so you can see what I am looking for:
1. Knight
Quote #1: “…a most distinguished man,/ Who from the day on which he first
began/ To ride abroad had followed chivalry,/ Truth, honour, generousness and
courtesy” (Chaucer 4).
Significance of Quote #1: This quote shows that the knight follows the rules of
chivalry and is an honorable man in every way.
Quote #2: “He never yet a boorish thing had said/ In all his life to any, come
what might;/ He was a true, a perfect gentle-knight” (Chaucer 5).
Significance of Quote #2: By the fact that he never says a “boorish thing” it is
proof that he is polite and not vulgar; he behaves the way a knight should behave.
You will note that when a line ends you should indicate so with a /, as this is proper formatting
with writing like this (and with poetry).
The following people are the pilgrims:
1. Knight
2. Squire
3. Yeoman
4. Nun (Prioress)--travels with another nun, three priests
5. Monk
6. Friar
7. Merchant
8. Oxford cleric
9. Serjeant [sic] at the Law
10. Franklin
11. Haberdasher, Dyer, Carpenter, Weaver, Carpet-Maker
12. Cook
13. Skipper
14. Doctor
15. Woman (or Wife) of Bath
16. Parson
17. Plowman
18. Miller
19. Manciple
20. Reeve
21. Summoner
22. Pardoner
23. Host
In addition, you should also index The Pardoner’s Tale, The Summoner’s Tale and The Wife
of Bath’s Tale, noting five quotes from each tale and why each of these five quotes is
significant. Again, when picking out quotes find something that is significant to the
understanding of the tale. You may want to focus on quotes that deal with the entertaining and
moral value of the tale, since the purpose of the contest was to have the most entertaining and
moral tale.
24. Quote/Significance #1 from The Pardoner’s Tale
25. Quote/Significance #2 from The Pardoner’s Tale
26. Quote/Significance #3 from The Pardoner’s Tale
27. Quote/Significance #4 from The Pardoner’s Tale
28. Quote/Significance #5 from The Pardoner’s Tale
29. Quote/Significance #1 from The Summoner’s Tale
30. Quote/Significance #2 from The Summoner’s Tale
31. Quote/Significance #3 from The Summoner’s Tale
32. Quote/Significance #4 from The Summoner’s Tale
33. Quote/Significance #5 from The Summoner’s Tale
34. Quote/Significance #1 from The Wife of Bath’s Tale
35. Quote/Significance #2 from The Wife of Bath’s Tale
36. Quote/Significance #3 from The Wife of Bath’s Tale
37. Quote/Significance #4 from The Wife of Bath’s Tale
38. Quote/Significance #5 from The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Journal Assignment on The Last Lecture:
You need to write 500-600 words on at least two of the questions for this book, but no more
than five. On your journal, simply write the letter of the question you did, but not the
question itself. Although this is a journal and not a formal essay, you still need to remove
contractions, slang, and the use of “you” from your writing. The following are your journal
questions:
A. Why do you think this book has struck a chord with so many people?
B. Randy chose “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” as the topic for his lecture. In
what ways does this allow him to tell the story of his life, and to enable the dreams of others?
C. Randy said he realized many of his dreams because he had terrific parents. What details from
his childhood do you think led to the successes he had later in life? Are there lessons in Randy’s
story for people who’ve had less-fulfilling childhoods, or absentee parents? What advice might
you give to those who didn’t win “the parent lottery”?
D. What would you paint on your bedroom walls if you were given permission to do so? What
other creative outlet would you like to pursue, if your parents gave the OK?
E. Randy believed our critics are often the ones saying they still care about us. How in your
own life has a critic helped you become a better person?
F. Throughout the book, Randy says: “Brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to
keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want
something.” What are the brick walls you’ve faced in your own life? How did you get over
them?
G. How has Randy’s journey made you consider how you’ll approach your own mortality?
H. What was it about Dr. van Dam’s delivery and message that resonated with Randy (as seen in
Chapter 14)? Who in your own life has told you things about yourself that made you reconsider
your actions or behavior?
I. Throughout the book, Randy makes a distinction between “people” and “things.” What did
you think of his decision to empty that can of soda in the backseat of his car?
J. Randy missed the 1969 moonwalk because he was sent to bed by camp counselors. Have you
ever wished adults in your life were less rigid? What advice would you give to adults about
helping kids to dream big?
K. Do you agree with Randy that earnest is better than hip? Is fashion truly masquerading as
hip? Or can fashion be a way in which people express themselves?
L. Randy admired Sandy Blatt and Jackie Robinson because they didn’t complain. As Randy
put it: “Complaining is not a strategy.” Do you agree?
M. Have you ever had trouble working in groups? How might Randy’s tips in Chapter 35 help
you get along better with others in the future?
N. Are you a Tigger or an Eyeore? Why? If you’d like to be more of a Tigger, how might you
go about that?
O. In Chapter 47, Randy describes two “classic bad apologies.” Have you ever given someone
such an apology? How did it turn out?