Close Reading/Note Taking Models for Othello Critical Essay

Use the following document as a model for how you can begin to do a close reading of specific lines in the text.

Note Taking Ideas for Critical Essay

Here is a guide to help you prepare for your critical essay.

Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement Presentation

Here is an overview of rules regarding pronoun/antecedent agreement.

Close Reading of Othello 1.3

Close reading guide to Othello 1.3

Race Issues in the Modern Day

Read the following article from the New York Times and respond to it in a few sentences.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/business/media/cheerios-ad-with-interracial-family-brings-out-internet-hate.html?_r=0

Socratic Seminar on The Odyssey

Focus on the final books:  21 - 24

Consider the following:

-Odysseus as a character - strengths, weaknesses

Highlight specific examples

What is your ultimate appraisal of him?

-Gender roles

-Justice

Are characters’ fates just?  Highlight specific examples. (Consider the suitors, the maids, the bard, the servants)

What happens in the very end?  How does Athena make peace?  Is this just?

-Family dynamics

Relationship between Odysseus and Penelope - what are your thoughts on this relationship?

Father/son dynamics

Mother/son dynamics


You should bring in specific quotes/lines that are relevant to these topics.

These notes and review will also help you prepare for your short reading assessment. Both the Socratic Seminar and the reading assessment will be on Thursday, February 13th.


Rubric

Compare/Contrast Essay Assignment

Assignment Description

Draft due on turnitin.com by Friday, February 14th.

Compare/Contrast in the News

Read the following article which compares and contrasts two ways to approach the issue of drug addiction in Maine.

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/32094/Default.aspx

Odyssey/O Brother Compare/Contrast

Reflect on one particular issue, character, theme, symbol, motif, or conflict that is relevant to both the epic and the film.  In a well developed response, compare and contrast the portrayal of this issue, character, theme or motif.  Make specific references to both the epic and the film.

Choose one of the compare/contrast styles presented in your packet (point by point or subject by subject).

This response is designed to take you approximately thirty minutes to write. I am looking for quality of writing, not quantity.

Do not just point out the obvious and summarize--analyze.

This response will be due on turnitin.com by Sunday night.

Here is a sample essay that I wrote. Please do not write about the same topic; however, please do use this essay as a model to assist you.

Sample Essay: The Selfishness of Odysseus and Ulysses Everett

Odyssey Response - Reflecting on a Theme or Issue

For this response, consider the theme that you have focused on in your note taking.  For example, you might consider the theme of vengeance and/or justice as it plays out in the final books of The Odyssey.  The obvious instance is that of Odysseus' slaying of the suitors. But within and surrounding that act of retribution are other mini-episodes of and commentaries on justice.  For instance, look at individual characters and groups of characters: the goatherd, swineherd, and cowherd; women - including Penelope, Eurycleia, and the maids; the gods - Zeus, Athena, and Hermes; the suitors and their fathers; the ghosts of the dead--including the suitors and the heroes of the Trojan War. 

In a minimum of 8-10 sentences, reflect on the aspect of the epic that you have focused on for the final books.  Your reflection should indicated specific places in the text that engage with this theme.  For example, if you have focused on the issue of gender roles, how do these roles play out in the final outcome of the epic.  If you focused on divine intervention, what role does Athena take in the final book?  

Superior responses use language from the text to support observations.  Remember to cite quotes from the text correctly, incorporating quotes into your own sentences or using colons to introduce them.  Use book numbers and line numbers.  (19. 275-280).

Post your responses on the blog.

Responses are due by 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Commas, Semicolons, and Colons

Comma, Semicolon, and Colon Practice

Summary of Odyssey Books 15-18

Summaries:  Books 15-18

Link to "War and Peace" story

War and Peace

https://docs.google.com/a/capeelizabethschools.org/file/d/0B3SDqMVeehTATHlzeXFBZjM0bW42bmZUTGdoajRxeElFQ2tR/edit