Art of the Essay: Rupert Assignment

I enjoy hanging out with my dog and cats. Small pets can sometimes just provide something that people cannot. However, even more than my cats and dog, my favorite pet in my elephant, Rupert. Rupert is my favorite pet for several reasons. He provides carbon-free, all terrain transportation. He protects me from those who wish to do me harm and he really knows how to tell a great joke.

Your job is to write the rest of this essay. Remember that after the thesis statement, the next sentences provide the topics for the three body paragraphs.

Art of the Essay

Finish your "Rupert" essay.

Write a 5 paragraph essay on the topic of your choice:

Introduction

3 body paragraphs

Conclusion

Make sure that your Introduction includes the topics of your three body paragraphs!

Touching the Void Discussion Questions

1. What, in your opinion, is “the Void” ? (Philosophically speaking that is…)

2. What do Joe and Simon believe? Under what paradigm do they function?

3. Time after time Joe sees his world ending. Not only does Joe face and often accept certain physical death, he eventually experiences the loss of his ego/personality. (“I lost me.”) Ultimately, are these really do different things or not? Explain.

Another way to think of this is that if the “you” that cares about dying ceases to exist, then is it replaced by something else or is physical death no longer a concern?

4. The last thought that Joe experiences before being discovered is that he simply does not want to die alone. (Being sure that he will indeed die alone is when he loses his “me.”) Do you see this as a universal need or specific to Joe?

5. Joe seems to have accepted the experience and moved on with his life, yet Simon is stuck with the label of “the one who cut the rope.” Why do you think this is?

1st Discussion Questions

“I head a Fly buzz…” Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died --

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air --

Between the Heaves of Storm --

The Eyes around -- had wrung them dry --

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset -- when the King

Be witnessed -- in the Room --

I willed my Keepsakes -- Signed away

What portion of me be

Assignable -- and then it was

There interposed a Fly --

With Blue -- uncertain stumbling Buzz --

Between the light -- and me --

And then the Windows failed -- and then

I could not see to see –

Song on the End of the World Czeslaw Milosz

On the day the world ends

A bee circles a clover,

A Fisherman mends a glimmering net.

Happy porpoises jump in the sea,

By the rainspout young sparrows are playing

And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

On the day the world ends

Women walk through fields under their umbrellas

A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,

Vegetable peddlers shout in the street

And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,

The voice of a violin lasts in the air

And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder

Are disappointed.

And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps

Do not believe it is happening now.

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose

As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet,

Yet is not a prophet, for he's much too busy,

Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:

No other end of the world there will be,

No other end of the world there will be.

Ozymandias P. B. Shelly

I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command	5
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:	10
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away. 1. Explain how each of these poems relates to the “End of the World.” 2. In what other specific ways are they similar? 3. Which one appeals most to you and why?

End of the World: High School Language Arts Syllabus

End of the World

Course Syllabus

First Semester 2009/2010

Block A3 12:15-1:45

Instructor: Kurt Maier

kurt@trilliumcharterschool.org

kurtattrillium.blogspot.com

Overview:

NOTE: This is a foundation course for upper division high school students intending to go to college (or at very least challenge themselves to become much better writers and readers). It is classified as a WIC (writing intensive course) for the purposes of tracking as a college preparatory type literature class.

What would happen if the world (be it physical, moral, religious, etc.) you thought existed, ceased to exist or changed for you in some major way? If your paradigm just didn't shift, it disappeared. How would you deal with it? Would you be able to adapt? Survive? Thrive? What would it change about you and what might it reinforce? We will explore these issues and others that develop through formal and informal discussions. You will use these discussions, questions and exchanges of ideas with the rest of your class and myself to develop several in-depth papers. While every paper (probably 3 or so) will have suggested topics that I think are challenging and interesting to consider, each student will be encouraged to develop her/his own thesis that relates to the texts and discussions. There will also be many "Emergent" small scale homework and classwork assignments. You will be expected to produce your best work possible...and have fun doing it!

TEXTS:

Touching the Void, film

Night, Wiesel

The Metamorphosis, Kafka

Death of a Salesman, Miller

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, film

Parable of the Sower, Butler

Hamlet, Shakespeare

TBA poetry

TBA visual art

Attendance:

You are expected to attend every single class, be on time event though the class follows lunch and be prepared (having done the readings, homework, have the necessary materials). Obviously, Life Happens and everyone will end up missing a day or two. If you miss a day, it is up to YOU to talk to your classmates and get notes, assignments, etc. You can also check Kurtattrillium.blogspot.com for major assignments and syllabus updates.

You are considered to be absent if you are more than Ten (10) minutes late.

Absence issues will be dealt with on a case by case basis and may involve different consequences for different students including but not limited to behavior contracts and being dropped from the class.

Consequences for being Tardy (from 1 sec - 9:59 min late) will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Five skipped classes and you will be dropped from class with no grade given.

Skipped Class = You leave class for more than five minutes without instructor acknowledgement or permission OR you have been in the school for the previous period and Block A4 but do not attend this class.

Grading Policy:

The grading is based on a point system with a possible 100 points being the maximum. Completion of the course awards .5 Language Arts credit.

Active Participation (discussion and attendance) 15

Paper 1 10

Paper 2 10

Paper 3 10

Homework, class work, emergent assignments: 15

Art Project 20

Final Exam 20

Breakdown:

100 A+

99 - 92 A

91 - 90 A-

89 - 88 B+

87 - 82 B

81 – 80 B-

79 – 78 C+

77 – 72 C

71 – 70 C-

69 – 60 D

59 – 0 F

NOTE: While it is officially “passing”, Oregon colleges (as well as some others) do not accept credit for classes that receive a D grade or lower.

Final Exam:

A multiple choice/essay test at the end of the term will be administered to cover plot, character, author’s purpose, sub-text, symbolism and metaphor, and how each selection reflects specific and general ideas that we developed as a class during discussion and lecture.

Papers:

Three papers will be assigned. All are required. All papers must be typed, using standard margins and fonts and meet MLA formatting and style guidelines. Students will be able to select from a set of provided essay topics or present their own (based on instructor pre-approval!). All papers turned in after the due date will be penalized with 10% off the final grade for each school day they are late. All papers are due at the START of the class on the day they are due. The instructor reserves the right to suggest or REQUIRE A RE-WRITE. If a re-write is assigned the student and instructor will agree upon a new due date with the same late penalties as before. Suggested or required re-writes will earn new (better!) grades if the work improves.

Art Project:

One art project will be assigned. Rubric TBA, but each student will create a piece of visual art (painting, collage, interpretive dance, etc.) that interprets, demonstrates and/or questions the themes and general ideas that we have discussed as class and received through lecture. All Art Projects will include an essay that interprets and explains how the work of art fulfills the given criteria.

COURSE CALENDAR

Please note that due to class interest, teacher illness, unforeseen events, etc., the texts themselves, the assignments and the due dates are subject to change. As you can clearly see the Syllabus often lacks specificity. Those of you who know Trillium will understand that this lack of structure will further allow for more time to follow avenues of study as they arise (re: Emergent Curriculum) as well as to make other adjustments as needed. Specific reading assignments (by chapter and/or page) will be given on a daily and weekly basis once the semester begins.

Week 1 9/14

Introduction, Syllabus review

I heard a fly buzz…

Touching the Void

Week 2 9/21

Night

Week 3 9/28 UPPER SCHOOL CAMPOUTS

Night

1^st Paper assigned

Week 4 10/5

Night

The Metamorphosis

Week 5 10/12

Death of a Salesman (DOAS)

Week 6 10/19

DOAS

1^st Paper due

2^nd Paper Assigned

Week 7 10/26

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Week 8 11/2

Parable of the Sower

Week 9 11/9

Parable of the Sower

Week 10 11/16

Parable of the Sower

2^nd Paper due

Week 11 11/23 NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Break

Week 12 11/30

Hamlet

Week 13 12/7

Hamlet

3rd Paper assigned

Week 14 12/14 Intensives in the morning, afternoon TBA

Week 15 12/21 NO SCHOOL Winter Break

Week 16 NO SCHOOL Winter Break

Week 17 1/4/2010

Emergent Interest

Week 18 1/11

Emergent Interest

3^rd Paper due

Week 19 1/18 (NO SCHOOL on 1/18)

Emergent Interest

Art Projects Due!

Week 20 1/25 LAST WEEK OF FIRST SEMESTER

Review and prep for Final Exam!