10th Grade Distance Learning Packet Weeks of 4/13/20 and 4/20/20 Dear Student and Family, This packet contains the work your student should complete during the weeks of 4/13 and 4/20. To earn credit this week, students need to join their teachers’ Office Hours on Zoom as often as possible. They do not need to attend every day – just often enough to check in and communicate to their teachers that they are working on the packet. We encourage students to join as many Office Hours as they can. If they can’t join Zoom – they should call their teacher one or two times per week to get help on the work and check in/show that they are completing the work. You will be able to drop off the completed packets in future weeks, including when we distribute the Chromebooks. Please hold onto all completed packets. Please continue to monitor your email for updates, including on when Chromebooks will be distributed. In the meantime, we encourage you to sign up for two months of free internet ($9.99/month after that) through Internet Essentials. We remain extraordinarily grateful for the support and partnership of all of our families. We hope that you all stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Sincerely, Corey Dwyer Principal 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning 10th Grade Distance Learning 4.27.20 Schedule Monday 4/27 ● Read “Psalm of Life” pg. 4 and complete background reading/questions Tuesday 4/28 ● Answer “Psalm of Life” Questions pg. 5-6 Wednesday 4/29 ● “The Devil and Tom Walker” ● Read and complete work on pg. 7-15 Thursday 4/30 ● Complete questions on pg. 16-18 Friday 5/1 Assessment 1 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning Part 1: “The Psalm of Life” Connect to Your Life What Life Is All About: Each of the quotations on this page presents a way of looking at life. ​ Which one comes closest to expressing your own philosophy of life? Explain your answer in a full paragraph. The life which is unexamined is not worth living Plato To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. Robert Louis Stevenson Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. Oscar Wilde. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Forrest Gump Build Background Uplifting Poetry Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular and famous member of ​ a group of New England romantic writers known as the Fireside Poets-a group that also included Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and John Greenleaf Whittier. The name of the group refers to a popular family pastime of the period: reading poetry aloud in front of the fireplace after dinner. Longfellow and his fellow Fireside Poets wrote poems that were morally uplifting and often sentimental. One summer morning, Longfellow wrote “A Psalm of Life" in the blank spaces of an invitation. After it was published in Knickerbocker magazine in October 1838, the poem swept the 2 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning country and became known around the world. Although widely parodied, even by Longfellow himself, it celebrates an optimistic view of life and reflects the aims of Americans at the time. Focus Your Reading LITERARY ANALYSIS | STANZA AND RHYME SCHEME A stanza is a group of lines that form a unit in a poem. "A Psalm of Life" is written in four-line ​ ​ stanzas. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhyme (rhyming of words at the end of lines) in ​ ​ a stanza or an entire poem. Traditional poems, such as “A Psalm of Life," contain stanzas with a regular rhyme scheme. In addition to having a regular rhyme scheme, much of the poetry written by the Fireside Poets has a regular meter (a repeated sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables). Active Reading: Strategies for Reading Traditional Poetry To appreciate the musical qualities of "A Psalm of Life,” try these strategies: • Read the poem silently to understand the basic meaning. • Then read the poem aloud, paying attention to its patterns of sound. Notice the pattern of end rhymes in each stanza. • Tap out the meter, or the rhythm of the poem. 3 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning “A Psalm of Life” (1838) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST TELL me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream ! — For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real ! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal ; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way ; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! Be a hero in the strife ! Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant ! Let the dead Past bury its dead ! Act,— act in the living Present ! Heart within, and God o'erhead ! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time ; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. 4 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. Comprehension Check What, according to the speaker, is "our destined end," or purpose? Literary Analysis Answer the following questions in complete sentences. 1. What are your thoughts about the form or the message of this poem? 2. How does the speaker's view of life compare with your own view? Think about: • what the speaker says life is not • the command "Act-act in the living Present!" • the last four lines of the poem • the quotation you chose as closest to your philosophy 3. In your own words, summarize what the speaker says about the value of the lives of great people (lines 25-32). Do you agree with the speaker? Explain. 4. If this poem were to be sung, what style of music do you think would fit best with its meter and theme? Explain your choice. 5 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning Extended Interpretations Answer each of the following questions in a short paragraph. 5. How do you think a Puritan writer such as Anne Bradstreet (page 139) or Jonathan Edwards (page 152) might have responded to the ideas presented in "A Psalm of Life"? (The super religious people in The Crucible are examples of Puritans. ​ ​ 6. What If? Imagine that Longfellow were a counselor at your school. Based on the message of "A Psalm of Life," do you think he would be a successful counselor or not? Explain your opinion. 7. Connect to Life Do you think that Americans today still share the values expressed in "A Psalm of Life"? Point out lines in the poem that you think contemporary Americans might or might not agree with. 6 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning Part 2: “The Devil and Tom Walker” Connect to Your Life Money Matters Should people pursue wealth? Why or why not? How important is wealth to ​ you? What limits, if any, would you put on your own pursuit of wealth? Write a full paragraph to answer these questions. Build Background The Faust Legend The first American writer esteemed abroad, Washington Irving is known for his humorous essays and stories. In "The Devil and Tom Walker," Irving adapted the Germanic legend of Johann Faust, a 16th-century magician and alchemist who was said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly power and wealth. For his comic retelling, Irving created an American character who strikes the same bargain and faces the same consequences in an American setting. The story takes place in the environs of Boston in the early 1700s, when the Puritans still dominated Massachusetts society. Focus Your Reading LITERARY ANALYSIS IMAGERY Imagery is words and phrases that appeal to the five senses, helping you to imagine precisely what people, places, and events in a literary work are like. The majority of images are visual, serving to stimulate pictures in your mind. Consider this descriptive paragraph from Irving's story: ... there lived near this place a meager, miserly fellow, of the name of Tom Walker. He ​ had a wife as miserly as himself. ... They lived in a forlorn-looking house that stood alone and had an air of starvation. A few straggling savin trees, emblems of sterility, grew near it; no smoke ever curled from its chimney; no traveler stopped at its door. A miserable horse, whose ribs were as articulate as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about a field. The images of the forlorn house, the straggling trees, and the starved horse show you just how miserly Tom and his wife are. ACTIVE READING: VISUALIZING 7 4.27.20 10th Grade Distance Learning Irving provides much description in "The Devil and Tom Walker," so an understanding of the imagery is crucial to an understanding of the story-and to an enjoyment of its humor.