Mr. Paul Bellisario
English Teacher
Varsity Assistant Softball Coach

English I-Accelerated

Bill Shakespeare

Course Description

This course is designed for high-ability, high achieving, incoming freshman students and focuses on the three areas of English: language, literature, and composition. Writing experiences will be an outgrowth of the students' experiences with literature as well as personal experiences. An increased sensitivity to language interrelationships and its many shades of meaning will be required of students who will complete both oral and written assignments. In this course, students will have learning experiences at their ability level in all five major goals of the District 207 English program.

 

Grammar

Grammar Remediation--for more help with the parts of speech
Guide to Grammar and Writing--
Apostrophe Abuse--look at real-world apostrophe usage mistakes.

Mythology

Antigone

 

Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway Timeline--An interactive timeline that chronicles the Oak Park, IL native's life.
a Hemingway Retrospective--CNN's centennial coverage of the author.
SimonSays--A look at Hemingway's life and works.
The Hemingway Society
The Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park
Oak Park Public Library's Image Archive--A collection of photos, his senior year high school publication, and high school assignments.
Code Hero (PDF)--Power Point presentation on Hemingway's idea of the code hero.

On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront--IMDb page that provides facts about the film.
A Film Study Power Point (PDF)--This is the slideshow presentation from class. A pre-viewing guide for the movie.

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury--The official site of Ray Bradbury, including a biography, message board, and a newsletter.
Fantastic Fiction-- A list of all of Bradbury's works.
Book Burning in the 21st Century-- The American Library Association's website on book burning.
Bradbury Speaks about Writing--video
Ray Bradbury on F451 Inspiration--video
Ray Bradbury on Censorship of F451--video
National Institute on Media and the Family--an article about television’s effects on reading and academic achievement.
The Gift of Nature…Food--scroll down and read the Willaim R. Greer article
Sample Body Paragraph--This illustrates the components of a good literary analysis body paragraph.

F451 Jeopardy Review--Review alone or with a friend!
F451 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Review--Another fun review game! This is over part II of the book.
Crossword puzzle review
F451 animated movie--Got 17 minutes? Check out this movie--very cool!

Anthem

A Sense of Life--An introductory video to Ayn Rand's Anthem.
Ayn Rand Interview--Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand.
The Ayn Rand Institute--The authoritative online resource on the life and works of ayn Rand. Check out this year's contest.

Sample National Anthems--For use with the Anthem song assignment.

Anthem and Fahrenheit 451 Comparision Essay (PDF)--Assignment Sheet
Introductions & Conclusions--A guide to writing the introductions and conclusions of a literary analysis paper. You can also find examples for lures here.
Planning--use this organizer to plan your body paragraphs.

Night

Oprah's Cut With Elie Wiesel--Oprah's conversation with the Nobel Prize winning author, Elie Wiesel.

Nazi Anti-Semitic Posters--a collection of pre 1933 Nazi propaganda posters.
The Righteous Among the Nations
--statistics
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum--some interesting areas of this website are Anne Frank's Writings, American Responses to the Holocaust, and the Nuremburg Trials and Their Legacy.
Gallery of Holocaust Images--
Auschwitz: Then and Now--
Jan Komski-- An escapee and survivor of the Holocaust. This is an exhibit of his paintings and drawings.

Shakespeare

Courtly Love-- An explanation of courtly love and its five main attributes. How is courtly love displayed in Romeo and Juliet?
Andreas Capellanus: The Art of Courtly Love-- Here is a list of rules for courtly love. Do any of these happen to you? My favorites: 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, *30.

Investigative Research Newsletter

Sample Formatting for your paper (PDF)--click here for Word

Lord of the Flies

Vocabulary (PDF)--this list is for both Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

Pre-reading activity (Microsoft Word)--Explore the allusions and vocabulary found withing the first three chapters of the novel. Use the Survival Guide link to define allusions throughout the novel. Click here for a PDF format of the file.

Photostory Project

Assignment (PDF)--
Rubric (PDF)
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