English I Archives Week of October 4 - October 8, 2004

Friday, October 8, 2004

I. Hand in Fahrenheit 451 Questions, Part 2: "The Seive and the Sand"
and Vocabulary definitions (Period 6 only, questions due Monday 10/11)

II. Continue watching F451 Video (Period 6 only, watch Ray Bradbury Documentary)

III. Vocabulary & Fahrenheit 451, (Pages 3 - 68) Quiz Today!

IV. Have Persuasive Essay Paragraph one outline stamped

NO HOMEWORK!
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Thursday, October 7, 2004

I. Warm-Up: Capitalization (Worksheet)

II. Writing Tips for Controversial Essay - Paragraph #1 (Handout)

III. Review for Vocabulary & Fahrenheit 451,
Pages 3 - 68, The Hearth and the Salamander Test 10/8

IV. Briefly discuss Fahrenheit 451, Part 2: "The Seive and the Sand"

V. Continue watching F451 Video

HOMEWORK

I. Study for Friday's 10/8 Vocabulary and Fahrenheit 451,
Pages 3 - 68, The Hearth and the Salamander Test 10/8

II. Finish questions from "Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand" Pages 71 - 110

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Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Fahrenheit 451

I. D.O.L. #7

II. Hand in Vocab Definitions.
They will be returned to you stamped.

antisocial, asylum, sheath, odious
objectivity, abyss, ravenous, centrifuge
cacophony, praying mantis, radical
philosophies, mass exploitation,
controversy, titillation, tactile, bestial

Also turn in F451 Questions 1 - 26

II. Review Persuasive Essay (Handout) Work on Essay Outline together.

Prompt:

The State of California has refused to release
funds for badly needed student computer
equipment to ABC Unified Schools, until the
District agrees to install Internet screening
software on all computers at their own expense.
The State believes that the software is important
to protect students from negative web sites and
to discourage misuse of internet resources by adults.
Write a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, disputing
the State's mandate. Explain how your choice will best
serve the needs of fellow students and your community.

II. Final Review for F451 Pages 3 - 68
Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander

III. Introduction to F451 Part 2: "The Seive and the Sand"

IV. Watch Video F451

REMINDER - TEST over F451 Part One:
The Hearth and the Salamander & vocabulary
words - Friday 10/8

Final Draft of Persuasive Essay Due Wednesday 10/13

Book Report Due Monday, 11/8

Are you filling in a reading log every 30 minutes
that you read outside of class?Remember, your
outside reading book report is due Monday, 11/8

HOMEWORK - Due Friday, 10/8

I. Finish reading "Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand" Pages 71 - 110

II. Answer the following questions:

27. When was the last liberal arts college shut down?
28. TF Professor Faber thought Montag's
call was some sort of trap.
29. Why did Faber's fear dissipate when
Montag was standing outside his door?
30. What did Montag want from Faber?
31. TF Faber reminded Montag that people who
are having fun are reluctant to become rebels.
32. How did Montag finally get Faber to
consider really helping him?
33. TF The Queen Bee analogy
underscored Faber's cowardice.
34. What two itmes were exchanged
before Montag left the professor's house?
35. What is the volcano's mouth?
36. TF Montag pulled the plug on the living room fish bowl.
37. TF Faber objected to Montag's poetry reading.
38. Which lady was affected by the original intent of the poetry?
39. TF In the late hours of the night, Faber refused
to console Montag for foolishly reading poetry to the poor, silly women.
40. Listening to Captain Beatty play his harp and
neddle Montag had what effect upon Guy?
41. What interrupted the poker game?
42. Captain Beatty drove the Salamander to whose house?
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Tuesday, October 5, 2004

I. Journal Prompt #5

If you had to leave your home and take no other belongings with you
other than your favorite book, which book would you take and why?

II. Persuasive Writing - Standard 2.4

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive writing attempts to convince the reader that the point
of view or course of action recommended by the writer is valid.
To accomplish this, the writer must develop a limited topic which
is well defined and debatable, that is has more than one side.
It is important that the author understand other sides of the position
so that the strongest information to counter the others can be presented.
In the essay, only one side of the issue is presented.

Like all kinds of five paragraph essays, there is a specific format to
be followed. The topic sentence cannot be a fact as facts cannot be
debated. It should be a statement of position. That position must be
clear and direct. This statement directs the readers to follow along with
your logic towards the specific stated conclusion that you want them to
support. Do not make it personal so do not use personal pronouns.
Make it definitive. Then, in the same introductory paragraph, state the
three best reasons that you have to support your position as the remainder
of the opening paragraph. These reasons become the topics of each of the
three supporting paragraphs. Again, be sure they are able to be supported
with additional separate facts. In the body of the essay, the writer uses specific
evidence, examples, and statistics and not broad generalizations or personal
opinions to persuade the reader that the stated position is a valid one.

Each topic sentence for the support paragraphs have been introduced in
the beginning paragraph. Each additional sentence must closely relate to
the topic and the sentence that came before it. This way, the logic of the
argument is easy to follow. Be sure to use adequate transitions between
paragraphs as they make it easy for the reader to follow the logic of the
presentation. As one closes the essay, it is most important to to clearly
redefine the topic and restate the most compelling evidence cited in original
form. Remember, this is the last chance to remind the reader and convince
him/her to accept the writer's position. Do not introduce new material in the
conclusion. Five-Paragraph Essay Due Wednesday, 10/13

To learn some addition things about constructing
this type of essay, visit one of the following:

Persuasive Writing
Argument
Getting Started on the Argumentative Paper
Persuasive Essay Description
Persuasive Essay Tips
Writing Argumentative Essays
Using Examples
Tips on Persuasive Logical Writing
Writing Lab 7 - a prompt and sample

SAMPLE FIVE PARAGRAPH ESSAY

III. Read & Review F451
Continue Reading Pages 28 - 68
(We will read together in class. What we don't finish, you must complete at home)

HOMEWORK - Due Wednesday, 10/6

A. Using a dictionary, find the definitions to the following words:

antisocial
asylum
sheath
odious
objectivity
abyss
ravenous
centrifuge
cacophony
praying mantis
radical
philosophies
mass
exploitation
controversy
titillation
tactile
bestial

B. Continue Reading F451 Pages 3 - 68
Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander

C. F451 Questions 1 - 26 due Wednesday 10/6

REMINDER - TEST over F451 Part One: The Hearth
and the Salamander & vocabulary words - Friday 10/8

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Monday, October 4, 2004

I. D.O.L. # 6

II. Persuasive Writing - Standard 2.4

Write persuasive compositions that:

A. Structure ideas and arguments
in a sustained and logical fashion

B. Use specific rhetorical devices to support
assertions (e.g., appeal to logic through reasoning;
appeal to emotion or ethical belief; personal anecdote,
case study, or analogy)

C. clarify and defend positions with precise and
relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions,
quotations, and/or expressions of commonly accepted
beliefs and logical reasoning

D. address readers' concerns,
counterclaims, biases, and/or expectations

Persuasive Writing: Fahrenheit 451

The State of California has refused to release funds for
badly needed student computer equipment to ABC Unified
Schools, until the District agrees to install Internet screening
software on all computers at their own expense. The State believes
that the software is important to protect students from negative web
sites and to discourage misuse of internet resources by adults.

Write a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, disputing the State's mandate.
Explain how your choice will best serve the needs of fellow students
and your community.

Five-Paragraph Essay Due Wednesday, 10/13

III. Book Report # 1 (Handout)

IV. READ F451, Pages 28 - 68
(We will read together in class. What we don't finish, you must complete at home)

Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander

Summary:

Set in the 24th century, the novel opens with a description of the
pleasure the protagonist, Guy Montag, takes in his profession as
a fireman. However, his job is not to put out fires - houses are now
fireproofed. Rather, Montag and his fellow fireman are charged with
setting fires to burn books, which are contraband, and the houses
in which they are kept illegally. As Montag walks home from work
late one fall evening, he meets Clarisse McClellan, his sixteen-year-old
neighbor. Montag is at once taken aback by and drawn to the precocious
girl's inquisitiveness. She questions him steadily, leaving him with the query
"Are you happy?" as the two part company and head for their respective homes.
The meeting leaves an impression on Montag, and he continues to reflect
their brief encounter, realizing that the answer to Clarisse's question is, to
his surprise, no. Montag enters his modern home and retires to his bedroom,
where he finds that his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills. The
shocked Montag calls the paramedics - technicians who aloofly pump Mildred's
stomach and give her a complete transfusion with technological instruments that require
no medical training to operate before moving along to the next of the nine or ten overdoses
they will deal with on the evening. This episode leads the relieved yet shaken Montag to
reflect on the impersonal nature of his society.

In the morning, Millie robotically goes about her daily routine, not recalling
the previous night's episode. When Montag attempts to discuss the issue,
Millie reacts with dismissive disbelief, eager to return her attention to the
diversions of the 'seashell' radios constantly inserted in her ears and the
people on the three-wall television, to whom she refers as her "family". On
his way to work, Montag again runs into Clarisse, who questions him
incessantly about his feelings for his wife and his work. Upon arriving
at the fire station, Montag passes the Mechanical Hound - the modern-day
robotic police dog which, once set to an individual's chemical balance,
is without fail able to locate and annihilate his prey. Montag is unnerved
when the hound growls at him, and addresses his concern to his boss,
Chief Beatty, who dismisses him and continues to make patronizing
reference to the hound and Montag's aversion to it daily for a week thereafter.
Montag runs into Clarisse everyday during the next week, and finds himself
looking forward to his conversations with the eccentric, curious girl. He is
disappointed when Clarisse no longer appears on his walks to and from work.
With whispers of a possible impending war on the radio and television,
Montag becomes introspective about his job and the people whose books
and homes he destroys.

One evening, an alarm comes in, calling the firemen to an old house
where the owner, an older woman, refuses to abandon her home,
which is to be burned. Defiantly, the woman herself lights the match that
eventually takes her life along with her home and all her books but one,
which Montag squirrels away in the confusion of the alarm. Montag returns
home shaken by the scene he has just witnessed and nervous
about his illegal acquisition.

As he and Millie lie in their respective twin beds, Montag finds himself
unable to recall how and where they met. He is troubled and questions
Millie about their meeting, but she has no recollection either, though her
lack of memory doesn't trouble her in the least. Montag is overcome with
thoughts of his loveless, lifeless marriage and the modern technologies
through which his wife escapes her life for those of fictional others,
thereby maintaining distance between them. He questions her about Clarisse,
who he has not seen in days, and Mildred responds by saying that she had
forgotten to tell him that Clarisse was struck by a car and died
four days earlier and that her family has since moved away.

In the morning, Montag wakes up feeling ill and unsure of whether he
can go to work. Millie responds with disbelief and annoyance rather than
compassion, and Montag is in turn annoyed by her lack of interest in
him and his concerns. Captain Beatty arrives to speak with Montag,
somehow knowing that he feels ill and would be taking the evening off.
He lectures Montag on the evolution of society into the technological
specimen that they live in, with little room for those who deviate from
the structured, homogeneous conformity that has come to be. With
emphasis on structured routine rather than original thought, Beatty
asserts, people are made equal, people are less likely to offend each
other, and thus everyone is better off. Before he leaves, Beatty
makes mention of the fact that firemen are occasionally overcome
by curiosity about the books that they burn and may steal one to
satiate that curiosity. When this happens, he continues, they are
given a 24-hour respite to come to their senses and burn the book
before their coworkers must do so for them.

Montag becomes paranoid that Beatty knows that he has stolen not
only one, but nearly 20 books over the course of his career. He feels
compelled to tell Millie his secret and shows her his collection, which
makes her panic, and she insists that they burn the books. Before the
issue is resolved, someone comes to the door, prompting terror in the
couple. The Montags don't answer the door, and eventually the visitor
departs, leaving the couple alone with their illegal library. Amidst
protests and declarations of the worthlessness of books from his wife,
Montag begins to read.

HOMEWORK/CLASSWORK - Due Wednesday, 10/06

Answers found on Pages 3 - 68

1. What isn't ever washed off completely?

2. How old is Montag?

3. TF Clarisse McClellan watches TV just as much as Mildred.

4. What two parts of Mildred had to be cleaned?

5. TF Montag was curious about the laughter and
talking that went on inside Clarisse's house.

6. TF Last night's ordeal (the operation from the handymen)
left Mildred feeling terrific the next morning.

7. What is Montag's annual income?

8. Where did Clarisse rub the Dandelion to determine if Montag were in love?

9. Who said, "No one has time any more for anyone else"?

10. The Mechanical Hound is a robot with an olfactory system that
can be set for the smell of any man or animal. Tracking his prey like
a real hound, the robot inevitably catches his victim and injects massive,
fatal jolts of morphine or procaine. Why did the Hound threateningly
extend its silver needle toward Guy Montag?

11. How did Montag's laugh sound today?

12. Why is Clarisse considered abnormal?

13. Who is taken to the asylum?

14. Why do the firemen do their work at night?

15. Where did Montag stash his latest book?

16. Explain the symbolic wall between Montag and Mildred.

17. With regard to Clarisse, how does Mildred typify the broken
relationship between herself and Montag?

18. TF Mildred had removed Montag's hidden book,
which was formerly underneath the pillow.

19. Who said, "'That's water under the bridge'"?

20. When Captain Beatty arrived at the Montag
household, why did Mildred run to the parlor?

21. According to Beatty's account of the history of society,
what four reading items did the [old] public let survive?

22. Contemporary society cannot afford to allow whom to get upset and stirred?

23. What would you say is the motto for contemporary culture?

24. What is the "itch" of which Beatty speaks?

25. What is the "scratch"?

26. TF After reading a dozen pages, Montag realized that the Captain was
right, namely, that books con-fuse people, and if you just have fun, you'll be happy.


FAHRENHEIT 451: History of Book Burning


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