Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

AP Narrative Prompt

Write about a time when you did something really repellant, ridiculous, unintelligent, or mean-spirited. Why did you do it? What were the reactions of others? What did you learn about yourself? Looking back on the event, what can you understand about it in retrospect? This is still a narrative essay, so try to think deeply and avoid easy clichés. Often, we learn the most about ourselves by seeing how we behave when we are at our worst. What positives can you also glean from the experience? While you are expected to look critically at yourself, don’t fall victim to demonizing your former self in order to vaunt up your current self. Try to be fair and analytical, honest and even-handed. Good luck.

ROUGH DRAFT DUE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

9th and 10th Grade JOURNAL #3 - Time Magazine Article

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2078636,00.html

Journal #3 - Make notes on the purpose of the article and things that surprise you or interest you a AS you read. Then, when you are done reading the article, write a response to it. Do you agree or disagree with the decisions that were made? What stuck out to you? etc.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

First Four Chapters of New Book

There is a link (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly) to the first four chapters of a new YA book.

Here is the description of the book:

Here is the link to the first four chapters:

Have fun. It says it's a romantic time-travel book. If that's your thing, get on it.
-Mr. Durham

Friday, September 2, 2011

MORE RECOMMENDATIONS

Here's a great site that Mr. Potter created to include great book recommendations across the genres. Check it out:


Have fun.

-Mr. Durham

Thursday, September 1, 2011

RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!

Here is the link for the Google doc where you can recommend books to other students and fill in summaries and add your own thoughts. Please do it as often as you can. Thanks, guys! Let's get going on our reading community.


Keep on reading.

-Mr. Durham

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fantastic Fifty

At Westlake, the English teachers are really trying to encourage recreational reading. (We are especially championing the idea that there's no need to do it for a grade; it's just a great habit to start!) To help with this, a facebook page has been started where people can share books that they've read and hear the latest news, etc.


Also, in my classes, we have been encouraging students to post pictures of the coolest or weirdest places where you have sat down and read books. Feel free to post pictures or get them to me and I will post them.

Viva la reading!!!

-Mr. Durham

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

2011-2012 School Year

Welcome to a new school year. Though I am not the most technologically advanced of people, I do have this blog. Here, I try to update you on what's been going on in class and put up helpful materials for papers, assignments, and days you missed. Feel free to comment or ask questions. It's a "chill" blog but can be very helpful. I'm excited to have you in class. Thanks in advance for your super hard work. :)

- Mr. Durham

Sunday, March 27, 2011

TKAM Research Help

Check out this link to see the PowerPoint on integrating research and quotes into your TKAM essay. Second draft of the essay due in class on April 4th/5th. Final draft of the essay due in class on April 6th/7th. Good luck.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thesis and Opening Paragraph Examples

Though Guy enjoys being around Clarisse, he feels more like a father to her. Guy is not physically attracted to her but is drawn to her unique perspective and probing questioning. He is emotionally intrigued by her, but has no desire for a romantic relationship.

Some people may say that Guy does not love Mildred because he states that he would not be sad if she were dead. He even imagines her thinking of her empty life as a bomb drops on the city. However, those people are ignoring the fact that society has affected their relationship. Though Guy does love his wife, it is difficult for him to show it because the people in this future do not know how to react to real emotion. Guy shows that he loves her, however, by wanting her to be a part of all aspects of his life, even when he decides to read books. He also shows he loves her by his intense reaction to her drug overdose. Guy thinks he wouldn’t be sad if she died, and yet his intense reaction when he thought she was gone shows that there is love there.

Change is good. So says the cliché and so goes the common wisdom. Too often things can become stagnant and even consistency can get old. However, not all change is for the better. Artists, directors, and authors often address this idea of bad changes through exploring the future. Often, they move the problems of today to their probable destinations to warn their audience. Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, saw some of these bad changes taking place in the area of censorship. Bradbury worried that eventually censorship would become rampant, and invented a future world where almost all books in the world were censored. People didn’t care about reading and the government was all too quick to prohibit all books that might require people to think or inspire them to rebel. Censorship, or the act or practice of supervising the morality of others, is a dangerous game. And though censorship hasn’t quite progressed to the levels that Bradbury predicted, it can sometimes get out of control. Opponents of censorship would argue that in all cases, censorship is wrong because it changes original works and enforces one person’s morality on another. This is a narrow view. Because of the many different definitions of censorship, censorship can be okay when it is universally accepted, when it is protecting younger people, and when its sole purpose is to preserve the integrity of the original work. And looking at Fahrenheit 451, we can see that even Ray Bradbury would agree with that.

Because it is all speculation, it is difficult to know if Guy would have become as rebellious as he did if he had not met Clarisse. However, if the evidence is examined closely, one can see that he would not have tried to bring the whole system down without meeting Clarisse. He had done some illegal things but hadn’t changed his thinking until he met her and spoke with her. Also, “losing” her caused a large imbalance in his life that motivated him to talk to Faber and set in motion the final events of the novel.

(Without Clarisse, his life would have stayed the same, but would have been vaguely uncomfortable. Clarisse pinpointed the problems: he was unhappy and society was holding him down.)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Conclusion Practice

THESIS (Last sentence of Introductory Paragraph):

It is important to take English in high school because it enhances your communication skills, meets the requirements to get into college, and helps when looking for a job.

CONCLUSION (Fifth and final paragraph):

As you can see, taking English is not just something that schools make you do for no reason. English has legitimate application in the real world. ________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.

The fact that we speak English makes it all the more important to understand. Arguments against taking English pale in comparison to the benefits one can receive. I have personally seen the benefits English classes can bring. _________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.

FIRST BLANK: Restate thesis (change the wording, but not the order of the thesis)

SECOND BLANK: One to three sentence closing statement. Finish the essay with a flourish – give your audience something to think about.