Reflection

Whenever we embark on a journey that feels all uphill or one that engulfs us, it is easy to quit.  This research paper is a challenge.  It asks you to do so much that you are not use to doing or have not done in a while.  For this week's blog, I want you to use this to reflect on this process and paper.  Use the questions below to guide your thinking. 

1. What did you learn about yourself as a writer?  How do you write, what is hard about writing, and what works for you as a writer?
2. What did you learn about yourself as a reader?  How do you read, gather information, process information?
3.  What did you learn about yourself as a student?  What are your work habits, how do you do at meeting deadlines, what motivates you, how much effort do you give the work you produce?

Write this like a letter to me telling me your thoughts on all of these things.  Be specific.  

A Change

We have been thinking purely from the point of view of analyzing our texts.  This week, we will take a turn for different.  

Using the picture on this page explain what this place use to be and why it looks the way it does now.  Be creative.  This is an opportunity for you to use those literary devices: similes, metaphors, alliteration, anaphora, etc.  Make the story so interesting your classmates want to read it.  

Disclaimer: please remember this is a school blog.  Keep it school appropriate

Misconceptions

Read the following poem by Muriel Rukeyser. When you are done, answer the prompt below.

Myth

Originally published in Breaking Open (1973)

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the
roads.       He smelled a familiar smell.       It was
the Sphinx.       Oedipus said, “I want to ask one question.
Why didn’t I recognize my mother?”        “You gave the
wrong answer,” said the Sphinx.      “But that was what
made everything possible,” said Oedipus.     “No,” she said.
“When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered,
Man.      You didn’t say anything about woman.”
“When you say Man,” said Oedipus, “you include women
too. Everyone knows that.”       She said, “That’s what
you think.”

Prompt: Using this poem as your evidence, make a statement about the misconceptions about men and women.  Think about what we assume are traits of women and traits of men.  What happens if someone chooses to defy the societal expectation? 

Rebellion and Conformity

I am a loophole person.  As a teenager, I would always look for the hole in directives given by my parents.  If someone told me, that I could not do something because I was a girl, or because I was not strong enough or for whatever lame reason they came up with, I would rebel.  I would defy them out of spite.  To live in the world of 1984 or A Clockwork Orange would give me fits.  I would struggle with the lack of freedom or the expectations imposed on me by the government. 

So, how do our characters conform or rebel in the books we are reading?  Cite specific examples of where you see them rebelling or conforming and the impact that their actions have on them in the text.  Then think about your own life.  Could you live in that world?  Why or why not?