Welcome!
Welcome to our English 10 page. Here you’ll find some of the resources needed to navigate the wondrous waters of our English class. We’ll dig deep into the literary landscape and our own writing as we explore the fascinating themes of self-discovery & crafting our own moral compass.
The timing couldn’t be better as you enjoy this exciting moment in your lives, entering the heart of your high school career, to consider who you’ve been and who you wish to become.
I’m eager to join this journey with you.
Course Materials
Just click on the links below to find helpful resources.
NOTE: Daily assignments & updates will be served up using our Google Classroom Stream page, so you’ll probably begin there and sometimes end up back here.
INTRO STUFF
- Love Letter to My Students
- Intro Letter English 10
- Syllabus English 10
- Mercy Core Values
- Who Have You Been
- Excel Grade Tracker (Be in control of your own destiny & know where you stand!)
GENERAL ENGLISH CLASS STUFF
- History of English in 10 Minutes (Video)
- Your Journal Journey
- Journal Free Writing Ideas 1
- Journal Free Writing Ideas 2
- How to Mark a Book by Mortimer Adler 1940 (Edited)
- Interacting with a Text
- Dialectical Journal Sample and Rubric
- Dialectical Journal – Another Good Resource
- Participation/Discussions: “Seminar” by Michael Kahn (See p. 3 for “types” of seminars, but feel free to read in its entirety)
- Literary Analysis: West Wing Background Sheet
- Literary Analysis: West Wing “Two Cathedrals” (Your Notes)
- “Two Cathedrals” Script
- Mrs. Landingham Quotes from “Two Cathedrals”
- More West Wing “Two Cathedrals” Stuff
- Aaron Sorkin Thinks We’re All Too Mean
- Thinking About Theme
- What’s Theme Mean?
- Most Interesting Character Ever
Grammar Grind
SOME SUPER SENTENCE STRUCTURE STUFF
- Sentence Variety Worksheet
- Kinds of Sentences
- Sentence Building Blocks – Phrases & Clauses
- Phrases Clauses Practice Page
- Sentence Structure 4 Types
- Compound and Complex Sentences Help Sheet
- Coordinating and Correlative Conjunctions
- Comma Use with Correlative Conjunctions
- Subordinating Conjunctions and Transitions
- Sentence Types Practice Page
- Fix It Fast Fix It Right – Run ons & Fragments
…and here’s one more helpful resource for Run-ons, Fragments, Comma Splices
Oh…and here are a couple of good recap & review resources for you:
- Kinds of Sentences & Their Punctuation
- Identifying INDEPENDENT & DEPENDENT clauses & Common Errors
THAT CRAZY ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!
- No Wonder English is So Hard to Learn
- Pronunciation for Foreigners
- English is Difficult (“We’ll begin with box….”)
- The Right Way to Spell POTATO (it’s not what you think!)
- “Spellbound” by Janet Minor
- “Spellbound” Documentary Movie Trailer (Spelling Bee)
- “Word Wars” Documentary Movie Trailer (Scrabble)
- “Never Say Neverisms” by William Safire
- “How to Punctuate” by Russell Baker
- An English Teacher’s Pet Peeves
THE PERFECT PARAGRAPH
- The Perfect Paragraph
- Peer Edit Perfect Paragraph
And WATCH THIS GUY suggest why we need to pursue perfection & stop fearing failure!!
STUDENT SELECTED INDEPENDENT READING
“Cherry Tree” Song by 10,000 Maniacs (“I cannot read to save my life…”)
- Independent Reading Intro
- Letter Home Independent Reading
- Main Elements Plot Chart
- Word Diary-vocab tracker
- Need to Read Recommendations
- Page Rage Recommendations
- Bookmark for Note-taking (Adapt for non-fiction)
- Independent Reading Eval 2018
POWER OF MYTH
- What Makes a Hero? Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey (Video)
- The Hero’s Journey – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz (Video)
- The Hero’s Journey – Outlines, Archetypes & Some Disney History
- The Hero’s Journey – Interactive Adventure
- The Hero’s Journey – A Quick Outline in Two Pages
- Jung’s Collective Unconscious & Archetypes
- More Archetypes
GILGAMESH
Epic of Gilgamesh Excerpts
Lessons From a Demigod
SUNDIATA
Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
Is Kendrick Lamar a Griot?
ANTIGONE
ANTIGONE (Full text)
- Aristotle’s Poetics (VIDEO: Pay close attention from 2:45-9:30)
- Aristotle’s Poetics (TEXT: Pay close attention to BOLD & LARGER text)
- Aristotle’s Ideas About Tragedy (Another helpful text)
- Aristotle’s Drama Elements – Getting the Terms Straight
- Fate, Family & Oedipus Rex (Crash Course w/John Green)
- JUSTICE & MORAL DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND & EXERCISES
- UN Declaration of the Rights of Child, 1959
- Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (Video 1)
- Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (Video 2)
- Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (Article)
- Kohlberg’s Theory & Stages of Moral Development
- More Kohlberg
- Still More Kohlberg….
- Bullies & Burgers!
- What Would You Do?
- Confessions of a Former Cultural Relativist (Henry Bagish)
- ANTIGONE (An interesting version by Jean Anouilh, translated by Lewis Galantier
Civil Disobedience ANTIGONE
Kohlberg, Antigone, Morality & Me
THE GREAT DEBATE – Antigone Meets Aristotle (aka Full-Throttle Aristotle)
“I Am Woman” (Helen Reddy Video)
ANTIGONE (Oedipus) FAMILY TREE
BOOK OF QUESTIONS
“I am a Cheerleader & Here’s Why I Take a Knee” (NPR 2017)
Is Loyalty a Virtue? It’s Complicated.
CULTURAL RESEARCH MEETS MERCY CORE VALUES: CONCERN FOR WOMEN
Intro:
- Sisters of Mercy Critical Concerns
- Sophomore Research Kick-Off Questions
Just some “light” reading, viewing, listening to get you started…
“Daughters” (John Mayer Video)
“The Silence Breakers” (TIME 2017 Persons of the Year)
Meghan Markle (UN Women 2015 Speech)
Malala Youth Take Over UN Speech (2013)
Malala Nobel Lecture 2014 (Video)
Malala Nobel Lecture 2014 (Full Text)
Hillary Clinton Speech at UN 4th World Conference on Women 1995
Clinton’s Beijing Speech on Women Resonates 20 Years Later
The Bad News On Good Girls (NYT 2017)
49 States Still Allow Child Brides
Saudi Women Can Drive, But Overcoming Beliefs Will Be Harder
Saudi Women Can Drive, But Here’s the Real Roadblock
The Process:
- Research Guide (Compliments of New Trier HS in Chicago)
- Sophomore Research Intro Cover
- Sophomore Research Intro & Checkpoints
- Sophomore Research Paper Rubric
- Topic Selection & Thesis Planning Sheet
- Annotated Bibliography Guide & Model
- MERCY LIBRARY- MLA Citations: The Basics
- OUTLINE Full-Sentence Model
- OUTLINE #2 Full-Sentence Model
- Organizing & Presenting Your Argument (OWL Purdue)
- Integrating Quotations
- Over 300 Ways to Say “Said”
- Formatting Quotations (OWL Purdue)
- GREAT Resource for Integrating Quotes Fluidly!!
- HOOKS: 45 Easy Essay Hooks
- HOOKS: 13 Effective Essay Hooks
- Sample Research Paper MLA Format (Purdue OWL)
Resources:
- The “Paper Chase”: Visualize the Process
- HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE GOOD QUALITY SOURCES?
- Internet Source Decision Flowchart
- FAKE NEWS & How to Spot It
- Finding Reliable Sources
- “Homemade” Media Bias Chart-Updated 11/8/17
- “What Makes a News Source Good” – Earlier Media Bias Chart (August 2017)
- The Reasoning & Methodology Behind “The Chart” (Dec 2016)
- 6 Signs of Credible Sources
- Focus Question Note-Taking VIDEO Tutorial
- Focus Question Note-Taking Sheet
- Digital Note-taking with Source Citations
- Paraphrasing & In-Text Citation (An Overview)
- Plagiarism & How to Prevent It
- Works Cited Model
- MLA Citations Format & Examples
- MLA Formatting & Style Guide (Purdue OWL)
- MLA Format for ELECTRONIC SOURCES (Websites)
- EasyBib Citation Generator
- Proper MLA Formatting Requirements
Some Video Tutorials Might Help:
- How to Develop a Good Research Topic
- How to Write a Note Card for a Research Paper
- How to Write Bib & Note Cards for a Research Paper
- MLA Formatting – The Basics
- MLA Formatting – List of Works Cited
- What’s New in MLA 8?
NoodleTools: A Potential Alternative to Index Card Note-Taking
Questioning the Note-Card Method (See reference to Ballenger’s Cornell & Fastwrite methods)
MINDFULNESS & MORE
- Inside an Olympian Mind
SHAKESPEARE’S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
- Revisiting Shakespeare’s Funny Talk (Blank Verse – Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter)
- Some of the “Funny Talk” in Merchant of Venice
- Full Text, Commentary & Resources (Hudson Shakespeare Company)
Background for the Bard:
Is Wrigley Field a modern-day Globe Theater? What?! Huh? Have you heard of the Globe’s “groundlings” or Wrigley’s “bleacher bums?” And what about the way they’re designed or the way they fly their flags? In the end, it’s just people trying to enjoy an open-air performance. Here’s more Shakespeare stuff…
Globe Theater:
- Globe Theater
- Globe Theater Virtual Tour
- The Globe & Shakespeare
- Imagining & Re-Imagining The Globe Theater
- What is Drama?
Shakespeare Smorgasbord:
- Shakespeare Bio
- There’s No Escaping Shakespeare (NYT Video)
- Shakespeare Brief & Naughty (Video)
- The Shakespeare Mystery
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Absolute Shakespeare
- Ye Olde Shakespearean Insults
- Shakespeare Escapes the Plague?
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare in Modern English?
- Shakespeare Online
- Shakespeare Subject to Change (Interactive)
- “Kill All the Lawyers” – Shakespeare & the Law
The Best Damn Shakespeare Reference Ever!!! (For finding quotes & characters & cross-referencing everything. Enjoy!)
- Open Source Shakespeare (Concordance)
Merchant Material:
- Commentary/Intro for MOV (Hudson Shakespeare Company)
- Anti-Semitic Incidents Audit 2017 (ACLU)
- Germans Call for Holocaust Education for Recent Migrants (2018)
- Holocaust Fading From Memory
- Shylock: Villain or Victim? A Play by Guy Masterson (2014)
- The Merchant of Venice Team Presentations
Fences
POETRY
Intro:
- WHY Poetry? Dead Poet’s Society – Whitman (Video)
- POETRY 180 (w/Billy Collins)
- SHAKESPEARE OR HIP-HOP??
- “The Lanyard” read by Billy Collins (video)
- “The Lanyard” text
- “My Papa’s Waltz” read by Theodore Roethke
- “My Papa’s Waltz” (text)
- “I’m Nobody!” Who Are You?” (Emily Dickinson read by Yina Liang)
- “Yet Do I Marvel” (Countee Cullen read by Todd Hellems)
- “Song of Myself” (Walt Whitman read by John Doherty)
- Favorite Poems Project – Americans Talk About Their Favorite Poems (Videos)
- Listen to Rupi Kaur (PBS)
- How Rupi Kaur Became a Hero to Millions of Young Women (PBS)
- Li-Young Lee Read “The Gift” (Vimeo)
- “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee (Text)
- Practical Reasons to Welcome Poetry Into Our Lives (PBS)
- “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda (read by Sylvia Boorstein)
- Poem Honors the “Wrong Roads” We’ve Taken (Jimmy Santiago Baca)
- Poetry if for Everyone (Jason Reynolds)
- “Tangled Up in Blue”: Deciphering a Bob Dylan Masterpiece (Video :13 mins)
- Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize Redefining Boundaries of Literature
- Kendrick Lamar Wins Pulitzer in Big Moment for Hip-Hop
- How to make a Digital Black-Out Poem (YouTube)
- Black-Out Poetry w/Google Docs (Scroll to #3)
- Magnetic Poetry Online (Interactive)
- WORDMOVER – Create Your Own Found Poem (ReadWriteThink.org)
Poetry Project: Bringing Poetry to the People
- STUDENTS NOTE: For your “Bringing Poetry to the People” Project & Handouts, visit our Google Classroom page!
SOME SHORT STORIES
- The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
- Girl by Jamaica Kincaid (YouTube author read)
- Girl by Jamaica Kincaid (Text)
- The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- The Yellow Wallpaper RESOURCES
- Boys & Girls by Alice Munro
- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates
- An Act of Vengeance by Isabel Allende
- A&P by John Updike
- I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen
- Everyday Use by Alice Walker
- A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
- Literary Analysis Notes Page
- Thinkin’ About Theme Exercise Sheet
- Short Story First-Take Analysis
- Short Story Smorgasbord Team Presentations
- Short Story Analysis Essay
- BONUS: Optional Short Story Essay Re-Write
- Team Lit Analysis Rubric
- Team Evaluation Lit Analysis
- The Lottery (Movie)
- A & P (Movie)
- This is Water by David Foster Wallace (a nice companion for A&P)
- Smooth Talk (Movie Review by Roger Ebert)
- GIRL by Jamaica Kincaid Overview/Analysis (video)
- Breakfast Club in the Age of #MeToo
PORTFOLIO
- Your English 10 Portfolio 2018
- Literary Analysis Rubric (Again)
- Essay Checklist (MDOLC)