The Great Gatsby

Reliable/unreliable narrators, the sweep and rush of the 1920's, and a devastatingly clear statement on the American Dream encompass much of what we will focus on as we read The Great Gatsby. Not to be overlooked in this novel is that it is gorgeously written.

Those of you who had Grab, remember how she instructed you not to do your reading homework right before bed? You'll fall asleep. You'll miss a ton. Sticky-note this book. See what you can see and what you can put together.

Tonight, read up to the bottom of page 15 where it says "Gatsby?" demanded Daisy. "What Gatsby?"

If you're in 5th period or one of the 2 or 3 with the white book in 3rd, that ending line comes at about the middle of page 11.

Pop Culture Research Paper

Many of you have heard of the Junior Research Paper. You will be doing something slightly different. You will be writing a researched argument based on our work with synthesis papers that is focused on a general, educated audience. This will be a bit longer than your pop culture synthesis essay and require that you find and use credible outside sources. We’re going to do all of this BEFORE the end of May. (“Whew! You’ve GOT to be crazy, Mr. Giddings!” I can hear you saying it in your heads. Nah, if I were crazy, we’d read these papers at the next school board meeting while dancing around a May Pole juggling small woodland creatures. Thank God, I’m not crazy!)

Your assignment is to write a researched response to prompt #3 from the Entering the Conversation section on page 787 of your textbooks. Since we spent half an hour discussing that prompt on Monday, I'm a bit concerned that some of you didn't know what the paper was about.

Requirements

• 1200 words long 
• Full MLA format (see MLA OWL link to sample pages on the blog) 
• Use at least three sources from the conversation section that corresponds to your topic 
• Use at least 2 outside sources – acceptable sources include: 
• Books (Google Books okay)
• Reputable periodicals such as Harpers, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Seattle Times, etc. 
• Any ProQuest resource (see here for the login info) 
• Other essays from our book outside the pop culture conversation section
• The Merchants of Cool
• Interviews with knowledgeable individuals
• Many websites are questionable sources and Wikipedia is verboten. 

Due June 3, 2011

These papers will graded with the concerns of the AP synthesis rubric in mind, though since this is not a rough draft an increased emphasis will be placed on format and conventions.

For the article about the brain and persuasion we discussed the other day, click here.

Pop Culture - Remember that?

In your books, do the last 4 essays of the pop culture conversation section and all the questions for them. Please blog your responses by Wednesday May 18th.
We'll talk about our paper on Monday. Oh yeah, we'll talk about our "the AP test is over party" on Monday too. We'll have the party on Timed Write Tuesday for symbolic effect. :)

Internet Personalization

At all disturbed by The Merchants of Cool we began watching today? Beware the rise of the filter bubble. The following video is one of the TED talks and this one is particularly interesting. If you ever use Facebook or Google to stay in touch with people and the world around you, you should listen to this video. It's only 9 minutes. Take a look.