Honors English II/AP Language: World Literature
Journeys From Home 2023-2024
For Monday 5/20:
Read Part III: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and fill out the study guide
Agon
by John Spilotros
Laughter permeates the building as I walk into the ice rink. In between each stone as it glides to the next curling circle, the happiness that permeates the building dissipates into a competitiveness from all teams. There are no spectators, and very few people stand on the ice. To my surprise, no one wears skates, and large blue rubber mats cover the ice. Gathered in groups, curlers converse.
Teammates, in groups of four, from elderly, retired people, to young professionals, take sides. The dress code is also diverse, with some bundling up, wearing snow pants and a jacket. Still others sport skinny jeans and T-shirts. Walking onto the ice, teams assume their assigned curling lanes and begin play. The schedule allows for some to drink while their teammates curl. Some players have a few beers, and some do not drink whatsoever.
My parents, on Team Red, compete against some of their friends who curl on Team Green. In between throwing rocks, the curlers have the most fun. After rounds of curling, everyone’s competitiveness subsides back into happiness. No matter the team, curlers discuss how they did on the ice, their career paths and their hobbies. When the curling ends, everyone shakes hands, win or lose. Not equal in skill, all curlers are equal in sportsmanship.
The World of Coding
by Leo Gelardi
“If I were the best coder in the world, I would instantly try to start finding solutions for exploits,” says John Spilotros, a tenth grader at McCall-Donnelly High School. “I would work on fixing as many bugs and as many exploits as I could to improve security systems around the world.” John Markoff once wrote a book about Kevin Mitnick, an infamous hacker. After being arrested by the FBI, Mitnick wrote down his experiences and “[Markoff] wrote a book called Cyberpunk. I read that book and it really introduced me to coding,” John said. He learned that:
“In the late 20th Century [Mitnick] was very nefarious and he showed that [computer] security was not super secure… and he knew a lot, a lot more than anybody when he was [released from jail and] able to use the computer again. He was able to fix numerous cybersecurity issues and bugs, things people didn’t really know about, except for him.”
John is so passionate about coding because: “There's one answer and there's so many solutions to that answer, so one problem and so many solutions; just the infinite number of outcomes.” All the possibilities and methods to achieve those are what makes coding something special. Mesmerized by this world, John hopes to work in this field later in life. He says:
“Indefinitely SCO (famous software company that specializes in Linux operating systems)… SCO or Google. They are the best at it and they are the most innovative and they’ve, Google's starting to like, um, Google is starting to innovate in stuff like quantum computing and I am really interested in that.”
John also thinks people can do fun things with code: “The coolest thing that I've attempted to make is a botnet where you…send a link to somebody and they open that link and you can pretty much take full control over their device without them knowing and having full unprecedented full control over everything.” What is especially interesting about coding to John is that there are not only infinite possibilities of results, but an equal number of ways to get there: “You can have different ways of organization and ways of writing the code and different languages of code and still have [nearly] the same result.”
Grammar, key terminology, and vocabulary items that we have discussed in class are on the AP Language & Composition Vocabulary Archive. While most of you will not take the AP Language exam until next year, it always helps to become familiar with these terms now (rather than cramming next year). The sooner you get started, the sooner (comparative degree) you will know all your terms.
LEARN THESE: Part IV Elements of Style: Words and Expressions Commonly Misused learn ALL WORDS/ERRORS.
Find Honors World Literature vocabulary HERE OR play to study on Quizlet!
Student Resources: English II
Check every piece for THESE SKILLS before turning anything in for an edit.
Check ALL CITATIONS (quotes) with these formatting rules before turning anything in for an edit.
Click HERE for directions for email editing
Summer reading list for High School students
Access English II class writing archives to see what our readings and assignments are for this year, and to read sample pieces written by previous English II students.
QUARTER GRADING:
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions (20%)
Edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests= 15%
Timed essay grades= 15%
SEMESTER GRADING
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions & edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests = 15%
Timed essay grades = 10%
Exam = 25%
"The difference between predictions and outcomes is the key to understanding a strange property of learning: if you’re predicting perfectly, your brain doesn’t need to change further…Changes in the brain happen only when there’s a difference between what was expected and what actually happens." — David Eagleman in Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain
Unfinished Pieces: Semester II
(updated 5/13/24)
Leo
Assignments: 81%[E] / 83%[C]
AP/timed SAT essays = 63%
Vocab/Mult. Choice practice = 76%
AP exam (practice) = 5
Interview piece: Mr. Wagner
Memoir: touch
TFA study guide: Part III
2023-2024 English II bibliography
Brochure: Ping Pong Serves
John
Assignments: 78%[E] / 80%[C]
AP/timed SAT essays = 53%
Vocab/Mult. Choice practice = 75%
AP exam = n/a
Odyssey graph: Good/Bad guests & hosts
cummings/Frost: 3-paragraph essay
activity list
Memoir: sound of water
Woolf paragraph
TFA study guide: Part III
2023-2024 English II bibliography
Brochure: Ping Pong Serves
Leo Gelardi: Soccer and Calamari
by John Spilotros
Leo is an eighteen-year-old senior at McCall-Donnelly High School. Leo has a very niche personality, with very few, but very unique interests including eating and soccer. Leo enjoys soccer because it is a player’s game rather than a coach’s game. Leo does not have a set position, and frequently moves around the field. He loves the playing aspect of soccer but does not cherish pressure.
He believes he would be nearly unstoppable if there were no pressure on him. Pressure diminishes his performance: “It makes it harder for me to perform,” Leo says. “I was practicing penalty shots because I wanted to be the penalty kicker for the season. I scored in the same spot on the goal 300 times in a row, like I couldn't miss my penalties, so I got in a penalty line up for the game. I knew where I was going to aim, I shot, and it went right over the bar. I felt the pressure, I felt everyone thinking about me, thinking ‘oh what happens if he misses?’”
Besides soccer, Leo enjoys eating. His favorite food is calamari steak. He says that “texture is more important in a food than the flavor. I can put up with a bad flavor, but texture is most certainly not tolerable.” Leo finds food to be an escape from his life: “It takes me to a different reality,” Leo says. “I mostly eat when I have free time, and it gives me a break from reality.” However, this is not the only pastime that Leo enjoys. Leo enjoys playing videogames with his friends, as he finds he has a lot of free time. Playing video games is a good activity that he and his friends enjoy doing together. Leo was recently accepted into the College of Idaho. Upon hearing this news, Leo was exuberant. He chose this school because of its small size: “I've always wanted to go to a small school,” Leo says. “Living in McCall is the reason for this. I want the professors to know me. I want to see people I know around campus. I want a tight community where not everyone is a stranger and I'm not sitting in a giant lecture hall.”
This is Leo's leading reason for choosing the College of Idaho, along with its exceptionally good history education program that Leo intends on taking.
In the future Leo intends on becoming a history teacher in a small town like where he grew up. History interests Leo, “but I can't say I'm passionate about it, though. I did say I was passionate about it in every scholarship essay I wrote, to get money from them,” he says. However, history is Leo's favorite out of any school subject. He enjoys history because “sometimes history sounds story-like to me. Past and current cultures in general are what interest me most about history.” Leo first became interested in history through the process of elimination. “English was too hard," Leo says. "I've never been good at math, and I believe I would get grossed out too easily with science, but none of them has interested me as much as history.”
