IB History HL
Summer Work Historical Investigation
The Assignment:
You are going to review, revise and improve your Historical Investigation
1. Your first step is to identify the weaknesses through peer evaluation.
2. You may need to revise your research question based on the evidence you found, this is the time to do it. You undoubtedly will need to find some additional resources. This is always the nature of research—the answers you find lead to more questions, and so on.
3. Carefully proofread, review and make revisions on each section of your Investigation. You are your own best editor! Give special attention to the Summary of Evidence and Analysis of Evidence. These two sections are the “meat” of your HI.
4. Assess your final draft using the HI rubric. (Copy is on Mr. Bouchard’s Web site). This should result in more revisions—this is the nature of the process.
5. Half page reflection on what changes, revisions and improvement you made to your HI during this process.
Grading:
You will turn in your draft at the beginning of the semester to your IB Twentieth Century teacher. Part of your grade will be the improvement of your investigation from the draft you turned in to your IB teacher before summer.
You will get comments back from an IB history teacher and then you will have a month to make corrections and turn the final in to your IB Twentieth Century teacher who will grade it and send them into IB for review.
if you have questions or need help, email Mr. Bouchard. Wait 1-5 days for my response.
IB English A1 Year One
Summer Work
Rationale: Because International Baccalaureate English requires students to work at a deep level of study, and because analysis and writing instruction will begin on day one, it is essential that you prepare yourself for the course by doing the preliminary tasks. Before you arrive in class in September, you will need to have engaged in a close reading and analysis of the following works. Even if you have read one or both of the works, it is highly recommended that you read them again, with a deeper level of analysis, so that you are fully prepared for class in the fall.
- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
- Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
The Assignments:
- Dialectical journal. For each chapter, for each novel, you will need to write two double entry/ dialectical journals, focusing on literary style and technique (two entries per chapter per book.) Each quote must be written in proper MLA style and the analysis should be at least two sentences in length per quote. Please see Ms. Helling-Christy (room 56D) prior to the end of the year if you are uncertain how to write a double entry/ dialectical journal.
- Reduction. For each novel, write a one page reduction.
A reduction gets its name from this definition: "the reduced or distilled essence of something." In cooking, when you reduce a sauce, you cook it until the water cooks out of it and you are left with a thick, intensely flavored liquid, like gravy or stock. That’s what you’ll be doing here. You’ll take each work we read and cook it down to its essentials.
You will create your reduction on a single sheet of 8 ½" x 11" paper (front only). Imagine you could take this one sheet into an exam. What would you want to have on it? You will determine what to include and how you will organize it. No two reductions will be alike. You may use dashes, bullets, arrows, boxes, brackets, underlining, and shading to highlight items and make connections. This format is creative and self-determined. Avoid including too much plot summary and character description. Some is okay; focus also on themes/messages, symbols, etc. In short, be creative, thoughtful, and thorough. It will pay off.
Grading: You will receive a grade no lower than a 90% on these tasks if they are complete and turned in on time. This is an excellent way to start your year with a high grade.
Texts for the year: We will study a total of 7 works (novels, plays and collections of writings) during your junior year. We will be spending only brief class sessions on each novel; it would therefore be in your best interest to read as many of these ahead of time as possible, and then re-read them along with the class for further insight.
I strongly encourage you to purchase as many of the texts as possible, many of which you can find affordably online and at used book stores. Purchasing your books will allow you to write in them, making useful notes that you will be referring to as we proceed through the class. Books will, of course, be available for check-out should you decide not to purchase your own and may be checked out at the end of the school year. The following works will be read (in this order) your junior year:
- Obasan; Joy Kogowa
- A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. James M. Washington ed.
- Song of Solomon; Toni Morrison
- Like Water for Chocolate; Laura Esquivel
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Blood Wedding; Frederica Garcia Lorca; Translator Ted Hughes.
- Zorba the Greek; Nikos Kazantzakis
Dialectic Journal
Chapter 1:
“Om silently—this word of words, to say it inwardly with the intake of breath, when breathing out with all his soul, his brow radiating the glow of pure spirit. “ (Hesse 3)
“There was wonderful wisdom in these verses—all of the knowledge of the sages was told here in enchanting language, pure as honey collected by bees.” (Hesse, 7) |
Literary device: ambiguity. Hmm… so how do you “radiate the glow of pure spirit?” what does that even mean?? This would certainly seem an example of ambiguity—b/c what does it mean. Definitely a metaphor—a figure of speech b/c indeed his brow did not actually radiate.
Literary device: metaphor. Again, a metaphor—“pure as honey collected by bees.” Never thought of honey being pure, but I can see that it is really pretty darn pure
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Chapter 2:
“ . . . everything lied, stank of lies; they were all allusions of sense, happiness and beauty. All were doomed to decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was pain. (Hesse, 14)
Siddhartha speaks to himself: “What is meditation? What is fasting? What is the holding of breath? It is a flight from the Self, it is temporary escape from the torment of Self. It is a temporary palliative against the pain and folly of life. The driver of oxen . . . takes this temporary drug when he drinks a few bowls of rice wine or cocoanut milk in the inn. He then no longer feels his Self, no longer feels the pain of life; he then experiences temporary escape. (Hesse 17) |
In the preceding text Hesse identifies a wide range of significant life experiences—parenting, death, love, business—and yet groups all those experiences together as lies, allusions—doomed to decay—suggesting that human experience isn’t meaningful? Seems a bit on the negative side of life—life is pain? Not always surely! Is this an example of a paradox?
Reaction: Interesting . . . so mediation could very well be the solution for people who have escape issues—i.e., those who eat/drink to escape from the “pain of life.” There is research on the biological effects on the brain from both prayer and mediation—I wonder if it affects the same regions as pleasure or if it utilizes the same neurotransmitters? Does seem like many folks need to escape life—is that an escape from self?? `
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Chapter 3: He saw him bearing an alms bowl . . . the Buddha (Hesse 27)
“your doctrine of rising above the world .. ..to salvation.” (Hesse 32) |
I thought Siddhartha was the first Buddha! So was there always a Buddha?? Who was the first Buddha
I’m not sure what this means . . perhaps just the concept of heaven? Something behind the temporal
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Chapter 4: He looked around him as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange and mysterious . . . . and in the midst of it, he Siddhartha, the awakened one, on the way to himself. . . . Meaning and reality were not hidden somewhere behind things, they were in them, in all of them.
.. . this was also clear to him: he who was in fact like one who had awakened or was newly born, must begin his life completely afresh. . . .
That was the last shudder of his awakening, the last pains of birth . . .when he stood alone and was more firmly himself.” (40, 41) |
Not sure what this means . . .is it part of “what is, is?”
By being totally alone he was more himself?? Hm… this has to be more of a metaphor. Not sure what he means. The theme of rebirth—in Christianity—seems at play. When the earth melts away—when the temporal is gone, and only the spiritual is left?
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Senior IB Summer Work Composition Journal
The Assignment:
You are going to compose a reading journal which you will submit for review the first day of your senior year. You will submit this typed journal (12 point font, Times New Roman) in a binder in order of the chapters.
Part I. Weeks 1-5
1. For the first five weeks of break, you’ll read two chapters in Sound and Sense (so, you’ll complete Chapters 1-10) . When I say read, I expect you to:
a. read all of the chapters’ commentary until you understand it.
b.
make a memorization device (such as flashcards) to help you memorize any unfamiliar terms within the chapters – you will be tested on them the first week back.
2. Answer questions in complete sentences (include the question in your answer) for the two poems I’ve assigned for each week’s reading:
Chapter: |
Poems to Study: |
One |
Ballad of Birmingham pg. 12-13
Terence, This is Stupid Stuff pg. 16-18 |
Two |
Facing It pg. 36-37
Eros Turannos pg. 37-39 |
Three |
Pathedy of Manners pg. 44-46
Naming of Parts pg. 47-48 |
Four |
After Apple-Picking pg. 63-64
To Autumn pg. 67-68 |
Five |
Bright Star pg. 76
Toads pg. 82-83 |
Six |
Ulysses pg. 102-105
The Writer pg. 106-107 |
Seven |
The History Teacher pg. 125-126
My Last Duchess pg. 132-133 |
Eight |
Hazel Tells LaVerne pg. 141-142
Journey of the Magi pg. 143-145 |
Nine |
Sonnet pg. 155-156
I had heard it’s a Fight pg. 159-160 |
Ten |
Since there is no help pg 165
The Flea pg. 171-173 |
Part II. Week 6
3. Read in Sound and Sense Writing about Poetry in preparation for the essay you will write. Pay special attention to Chapter 7: Introducing Quotations. You will always only write about one poem, so you can ignore any parts of the chapter that include a multi-poem analysis. Pay attention to the model essays on pages 334-340. Your IB poetry essays will be more to the length of the second essay, as analysis is your goal. Please pay attention to the way quotations are smoothly integrated into the commentary.
Part III. Weeks 7-9
4. You will select two poems from part three of the text to write essays about (beginning on page 342). Each essay should focus on at least three techniques from the text. However, you can only use each technique once. For example, if you discuss structure in your first essay, you cannot use that as one of your techniques in the other essay. Your commentary should not only analyze the poem’s use of techniques (diction patterns, allusion, imagery, figurative language, point of view, etc.) but also explain how that style contributes to the meaning of each poem (this is the meat of any essay). Each essay should be at least 850 words. Please type your word count into your heading.
Grading:
You will receive a grade no lower than a 85% for your journal if the entries are complete and turned in on time. Each chapter’s analysis is worth 15 points, so this is an excellent way to start your year off with a high grade. Each essay is worth 50 points. If you work together on the journal, be certain that all commentary and answers are written in your own words. You will not receive any points for journals that show identical writing in any portion of the journal.
In addition, there will be a test of your poetic knowledge when you return to SHS in the fall. So, don’t just read through the chapters; if there are terms and concepts in the book you don’t know, make flashcards for them and study them. It’s not just the definitions of techniques and poetic concepts but their effects as well. If it’s in chapters 1-10, I expect you to know it.
Additional Note: For those of you who want to read ahead/ early (which I strongly encourage), here are the novels and plays we’ll read.
1. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
2.
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
3.
Hamlet -Shakespeare
4.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – Tom Stoppard
5.
Waiting For Godot – Samuel Beckett
6.
The Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen
7.
The Crucible – Arthur Miller
Additionally, we’ll study poetic texts by Eavan Boland, Margaret Atwood in preparation for your IOC assessment.
if you have questions or need help, email Ms. Dann at diane_dann@sumner.wednet.edu. Wait 1-2 weeks for her response. |
