Abra Cadabra!

Look at this movie poster:

If you look carefully, you'll see that the title is not Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but instead, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  This is the original title by the book's author, J. K. Rowling.  When this book was published in England, the title was kept.  When the book was published in the United States, the title was changed to the Sorcerer's Stone.  What is the best reason why this change was made?


Answer choices are not needed here.  Think it out and come up with an explanation.













Scroll down for the answer.












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The correct answer is: the book publishers thought American kids would not be familiar with the philosopher's stone, would think it is a boring title, and therefore would not buy it.  

What is more important that getting this question right or wrong is the process that you used to figure out the answer.  Many high school students accept that they just do not know something and do not try to guess at an answer.  You cannot take the approach on the EOC and expect to pass it.  You WILL run into questions that you do not know the answer to.  Also, as in the constructed response questions, your answer is more based on your rationale rather than your being correct.






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Not Sure If Lady Macbeth Is Evil or If Macbeth Is Just Whipped

 Read the following passage from Macbeth.  This takes place right after Macbeth kills the king, a man he admires.  He is a bit upset that his hands are covered in the king's blood.

“Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”


What literary term is being used to express Macbeth's inability to deal with his guilt?

a. imagery

b. verbal irony

c. juxtaposition

d. hyperbole

Scroll down for the answer.

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a. is incorrect.  While it does describe the blood, it is not being used to express guilt.

b. is incorrect. There is no irony in this passage.

c. is incorrect.

d. is correct.  Macbeth is saying that the whole ocean does not have enough water in it to wash away all the blood on his hands.  

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Does Whatever a Spider Can!

Look at this Spider-Man cover:

No multiple choice today, just the simple question:

What month of the year was this comic published?









Scroll down for the answer.








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The correct answer is October.  How are you supposed to know that?  Well, the vampire on the front cover is our only hint, which should lead to a prediction of October, which, of course, is when Halloween occurs.

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The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side (and over the Septic Tank)

Read the following line:


Your eyes are as green as the grass in the summer time.


This is an example of...


A) Simile
B) Hyperbole
C) Personification
D) Irony

Scroll down for the answer.

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The green eyes are being compared to the green grass, so the only two answer choices that could deal with a comparison are simile and hyperbole.  Since there is no exaggeration going on and the comparison uses as, then we can figure out that the answer is A. Simile.

A big thanks to Alison for this question!  Alison, green eyes are also symbolic of jealousy and I'm sure all of your classmates are full of envy over how smart you are.

Shameless Plug - Awesome Lord of the Flies Survival Simulation Game

 Never fear, fellow English teacher!  You Daily Dose of EOC is still here - just scroll down.  :)

 I love this book with a passion!  As far as teaching symbolism, this book really gets reluctant readers to "get it".  The book has great characters, plenty of action, and lots of good, wholesome violence to keep teenagers happy.  The only problem is that it starts so slowly.

Anyone who teaches reluctant readers knows that if you cannot hook them immediately, you've lost them.

So, while sitting in church one day when I should have been listening to the sermon, I had an idea for a game to get my students into the book.  I made it all by hand with maps, cards, the whole nine yards.  As the years went by, I get tired of replacing lost cards or materials that were marked on by various students and started to take it online.  It took a few more years to perfect it, but I think I finally have it down pat.  It has by far been the most popular page on my class web site by other teachers and it is the most mentioned lesson of mine when other teachers contact me.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EET-_Lord-of-the-Flies_-Interactive-Survival-Game-6933163

I break my students into groups and each group represents 20 island-stranded kids.  The students decide how many rescue fires they will have, where they will be sheltered, who goes hunting, who goes fruit gathering, and if they want to go exploring.  Each round is a 'week' in the game.

First thing we do is have each group draw and Act of God card.  These cards sometimes bring good things to the group, have no effect on the group, or (more likely) bring bad karma to the group.  Then we draw cards to see what happens when they go hunting, fruit gathering, and exploring.  At this point we tally up the morale.  The morale goes up and down depending on many factors like having shelter for everybody, getting food, people dying (there are a lot of people dying), etc. 

If the morale goes below 10, then the group leader has to draw a Revolt card to see what happens.  Sometimes something good happens, but most likely something bad will.  Then it's off to see if you get rescued.  

For the teams that are left, they do it all over again for the next week with the remaining people they have left.

Sometime groups have everything perfect and it is more like a Gilligan's Island episode than a Lord of the Flies scenario.  Many groups get a good Lord of the Flies type experience, and some have so much bad luck that they make the book seem like a pleasant fairy tale.

Students are encouraged to think outside of the box and try things that are not expected. The teacher is the final say-so for what happens, so when students get creative, roll with it.

Whatever the outcome, the students experience situations that prep them for the action in the book.  Whenever I have used this game, I have found that students are more connected to the reading.

I always like it when teachers send me how their students came up with something new.  Sometimes I adjust the game to match it.  when my students started sabotaging the game to try and make their leader draw a Revolt card, I introduced a new element - Mutiny.  With some groups, that is very popular!

The game comes with the choice to either have it all online (in which case they would move objects on a screen), or to have printables for students to physically manipulate.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EET-_Lord-of-the-Flies_-Interactive-Survival-Game-6933163

Chim Chim Cher-ee

William Blake is famous for publishing two collections of poetry: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. He writes about the same subject matter from the perspective of an innocent and the perspective of someone who has lost that innocence.  There is a "Chimney Sweeper" poem in both books.

The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snow

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

A little black thing among the snow,
Crying "weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother? say?"
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil'd among the winter's snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery."

What line(s) from the poem suggests that this poem is from Songs of Experience rather than Songs of Innocence? 

A."...I am happy and dance and sing," 
B. "They are both gone up to the church to pray"
C. "And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,/Who make up a heaven of our misery." 
D. "Where are thy father and mother, say?"

Scroll down for the answer.






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The best answer is C. These lines show that the speaker is aware that he has been abandoned by his family and by a society in which people neglect some of its most vulnerable populations (like chimney sweepers). This level of self-awareness reflects that the speaker has already lost his innocence, so this poem fits into the Songs of Experience collection.

You may have noticed that this question exceeds in quality our usual fare.  That is because someone far wiser than me wrote this one.  Thanks to Ms. White for this question!  Students of Ms. White should not weep weep in notes of woe, but rather cheer and carry her around the room on your shoulders in notes of joy! 

Deer

 Read the following poem, "Deer," by Bill Griffin.

Omigosh oh snap

oh horrors I heard it

so close too close

and way too big

might be one of those

Little Wolves I'll bet

there are two 

no ten a whole pack

oh God I just know

they bite

I

must

do

as

Ma

ma

said

stand

per

fect

ly

still

un

til

he

turns

a

way

then

run

like

Oh heck, it's only

you, and you've been

looking at me

all day long

and haven't even

seen me

once.

Why does the author have the middle of the poem consist of all lines being only one syllable long?

a. to show how still the deer is being

b. to give the poem a dumb bell shape

c. to show how fast the deer is moving

d. to symbolize the heart beats of the scared deer

Scroll down for the answer.

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This poem is STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS - that is, it is written in the thought process of the narrator.  This is not a common method of writing (two books that come to mind are As I Lay Dying  and The Death of Jayson Porter.  Chances are very high that you will NOT see this term on the NCFinal (or MSL or Common Exam or Smarter Balance or whatever it is called when you see this post); however, there is a chance that it will pop up, and if it does, then you know what it means!

The deer is frightened and, as all deer do when frightened, he is standing perfectly still, shown by the slow, one syllable lines.  The correct answer is A.

This is just one of several animal related poems in Bill Griffin's book, Snake Den Ridge: A Bestiary.  He is a North Carolina poet and you should check out his other works at his blog: http://griffinpoetry.com/