English I Emergency Curriculum

Day 1-2: Using the following link read Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Veldt.”

Then, respond to the following:

The nursery in the Hadleys’ Happylife Home will transform itself into whatever a person wants it to be. Write a 1-2 page response describing what the nursery would become for you. State your reasons.

Day 3-4: Go to Read two articles on education. Write a short summary (no more than 1 page) for each article. Be prepared to present and discuss with the class when school resumes.

Day 5-6: Read following excerpt from Richard Wright’s Black Boy:

Then, write you own autobiographical account. Write 1-2 pages about a painful experience from your own childhood.

Day 7-8: Read William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” then answer the corresponding questions.

"I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD"

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay: 10

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood, 20

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

1804.

  1. What simile helps you imagine the number of daffodils the speaker saw?
  2. Which words in the poem personify the daffodils—make them seem like people, even friends and companions, to the lonely speaker?
  3. In your own words, how would you explain the “inward eye” in line 21?
  4. The word “wealth” can mean several things. What kind of wealth is the speaker referring to in line 18? How do people accumulate this kind of wealth?
  5. Read Wordsworth’s poem aloud, and create a picture of what you see.[i]

Day 9-10: Write a poem.

Choose an article from a newspaper or news magazine. Using only the words in the article, construct a 5-stanza (MINIMUM) poem. The ONLY requirement is that you must have at least 3 four-line stanzas in your work. For creative purposes, I suggest that your poem has a different subject from that of the article. After you write your poem, be prepared to briefly discuss it with the class when we return.

[i] Questions taken from Elements of Literature Third Course