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Last Full Day of School

Mr. Fasano jumps for joy.

You can tell it’s the last full day of school. Only two exam days (half days) left to go till summer.

Answers to The Great Gatsby study guide

A young Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Okay, here they are . . . the answers to the questions on The Great Gatsby study guide.

I actually Twittered this, which was the first time I’ve used a tweet to direct students to curriculum stuff. Twitter is amazing, and you can find me on Twitter at twitter.com/tomchat.

Introduction to The Elements of Style

Introductory

This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature. It aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. The numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.

The book covers only a small portion of the field of English style, but the experience of its writer has been that once past the essentials, students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work, and that each instructor has his own body of theory, which he prefers to that offered by any textbook.

The writer’s colleagues in the Department of English in Cornell University have greatly helped him in the preparation of his manuscript. Mr. George McLane Wood has kindly consented to the inclusion under Rule 11 of some material from his Suggestions to Authors.

The following books are recommended for reference or further study: in connection with Chapters II and IV, F. Howard Collins, Author and Printer (Henry Frowde); Chicago University Press, Manual of Style; T. L. De Vinne Correct Composition (The Century Company); Horace Hart, Rules for Compositors and Printers (Oxford University Press); George McLane Wood, Extracts from the Style-Book of the Government Printing Office (United States Geological Survey); in connection with Chapters III and V, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Art of Writing (Putnams), especially the chapter, Interlude on Jargon; George McLane Wood, Suggestions to Authors (United States Geological Survey); John Leslie Hall, English Usage (Scott, Foresman and Co.); James P. Kelly, Workmanship in Words (Little, Brown and Co.).

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.

The Black Gatsby

I put together a few clips from the movie G (2002), which is a Gatsbyesque love story concerning a Rap mogul living in the Hamptons. This is the part of the story in which Gatsby (Summer G) convinces Nick (Tre) to arrange a meeting between Daisy (Sky) and himself. We also get to see Daisy’s husband Tom (Chip) B-slap his mistress.

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The Great Gatsby Study Guide

The original cover of The Great Gatsby

Click on this link for a study guide to The Great Gatsby. I’ll be posting the answers when my classes are done with the book.

Dashiell Hammett

Mystery writer Dashiell Hammett was born on this day in 1894. The three film adaptations of his most famous story, The Maltese Falcon, became staples of the film noir genre. His romantic relationship with Lillian Hellman, a well-known playwright, inspired The Thin Man, a story featuring heroine Nora Charles. The film adaptation of this novel was so successful that it spawned multiple sequels. Hammett was the founding father of the “hard-boiled” mystery, a subgenre characterized by its gritty characters and depictions of events.

Chicken Dance, German Club, International Day

It was pure fun capturing this on my Flip Video.

John York playing “Mr. Tambourine Man”

Today Sandy and I had the pleasure of seeing our friend John York, formerly of The Byrds, give a free concert at Rhino Records in Claremont. What’s great about John is that he still has a tremendous amount of creative energy.

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This teacher is a sick pervert

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A Howell L. Watkins Middle School band and chorus teacher is charged with sexual assault on a minor and lewd and lascivious on a minor.

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s booking blotter, Miller was picked up on a warrant.

He was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail at 4:41pm Monday. He is currently being held at the jail with no bond.

Miller made headlines after he shot masked gunman Robert Rishard Tomlin, a 22-year-old originally from Pahokee, dead in the chest in February when he tried to slip into Miller’s home. Miller used his registered .38-caliber handgun. That case is currently being investigated by the State Attorney’s Office.

According to our news partners at South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Miller, 34, was arrested by Palm Beach County School District police and charged with sexual assault/sexual battery on a victim between 12 and 18 years of age and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim 12 to 16 years of age. It was unclear whether there was more than one victim.

Jail officials would not comment on Miller’s case late Monday but did say he was being held without bond and was to appear before Judge Ted Booras at 9 a.m. today. A message left on a cell phone for a school district spokesman was not returned.No one could be reached with the Palm Beach County School Board for comment.

The Great Gatsby Map

The Great Gatsby map contains some of the locations in the novel. Note: Manhattan is north of where it belongs.

Students will be using the above map as a reference for their Great Gatsby map projects. Some previous examples of student work can be found here.