Anthem+by+Ayn+Rand

Ayn Rand's __Anthem__ takes place in a futuristic society that seems to have went backwards by leaps and bounds. This novella is classified as Anti-Utopian or Dystopian Fiction. Students should remember that Rand is one of the founders of the Objectivist Philosophy as they read. The background information on the author that was presented to them in class must be kept in mind while reading the text and preparing to write the essay. =The schedule for __Anthem __: =

**February 23rd - 27th** - Read the novella this week and make notes in the "Annotation" section of your English binder to prepare for writing the essay **and** Socratic Seminar. Remember, if you do not have notes on seminar day you will receive a zero and not be allowed to participate. Miss Vernon will cover the pre-material for the novella and review MLA format in class this week. Pay attention.

Do the annotations. They will help the writing of the essay go more smoothly. Students should begin working on their MLA essays during these days.

The Wiki for __Anthem__ is also going up this week. Students will be required to have two posts in two threads for 50 points by __**11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 6th.**__

 The paper should adhere to the guidelines of MLA format. **Inclusion of the word "you" or addressing the audience in any way will result in an automatic F on one of the 100 point sections of the grade on the final draft. A formal paper is to stand on its own merits. The writer must never assume the reader agrees with his or her viewpoint. This is a case where textual support will be very important.** This essay **//will//** be revised again before submission to the ARI Essay Contest for the book. Therefore, students need to keep the notes they make about the book. The student is to respond to one of the following prompts:

====2. Aside from very rare exceptions there is literally no opposition to the leaders in this society. Why is this? What ideas must the people in the society have accepted to live a life of obedience, drudgery, and fear? ====

====3. Why does the Council of Vocations assign Equality the job of Street Sweeper? Is it due to error, incompetence, or a more sinister motivation? Explain. ====

The essays will be submitted to the Ayn Rand Institute's annual essay contest in the spring. First prize is $2,000, five second place prizes of $500 will be awarded, 10 third place prizes of $200 will be awarded, 45 finalists will receive $50, and 175 semifinalists will receive $30. Students should try to produce the best work possible.

=//**Remember, essays will be checked by me and ARI for plagiarism. Don't try it. If I catch you copying from someone or somewhere else it will be a ZERO on 200 points. That is a really quick way to kill your grade. Be smart. Do your own work. **//=

We will discuss the topics and review MLA format in class. The questions that will be posed will help you do the needed work to prepare your essays and prepare for Socratic Seminar next week.

**March 3rd through 12th -** Tuesday, March 3rd, and Wednesday, March 4th, we will have our Socratic Seminar. It will be worth 100 points. If you do not have notes, you will receive an automatic F. The rubric for the seminar states that coming without annotations equals coming unprepared to participate. Thursday, March 5th, s tudents will begin working on improving the rough draft of their essays in class. Students will work with a partner to eliminate violations of the formal writing guidelines and work on improving their essays before Miss Vernon takes them up for evaluation on Thursday, March 12th. Monday, March 9th, will be the final opportunity for students to ask Miss Vernon for help with their essays prior to turning in the rough draft. = = =**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;">THE ROUGH DRAFT OF THE 600 TO 1,200 WORD MLA ESSAY FOR MISS VERNON TO MARK WILL BE DUE ON __THURSDAY, MARCH 12th__. Students will have two days to ask questions and get help from the instructor in class prior to turning them in. Turning in the rough draft will be a 50 point completion grade. **= = = =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**The plan is to return them by the following Monday for revision and typing. Formal writing guidelines must be followed. __If "you" appears in the final draft of the paper, the paper will receive an automatic F on one of the 200 point grades (100 points for grammar, mechanics, and format and 100 points for content).__ In formal writing, a writer should never address the reader. This rule has been in place since the first nine weeks. It should be followed on all writing assignments unless Miss Vernon specifically puts it in writing (via handouts pertaining to an assignment) that an assignment is informal.** =

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Mar. 11th - Mar. 13, 2015:** On Thursday, March 12th, we will review for objective test over the book. On Friday, March 13th, students will take a 100 point objective test over __Anthem__.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">We will use the Chromebooks to type the final drafts of Anthem essays on Monday through Wednesday (March 16th -19th) of this week, due to the fact some students do not have a computer at home. **All students //should// use this time to type the paper.** However, if a student has typed the paper at home (for example: chose to type the rough draft and needed to make some edits), he or she should bring the paper in on a flash drive or e-mail it to Miss Vernon. At the end of the project, Miss Vernon will want the electronic files of the typed final papers. She will then submit the essays to the contest online with those files. =**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;">Thursday, March 19th **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;"> - Final draft of __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;">Anthem __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 1.5;"> essay due (200 points - 100 grammar, mechanics, and format/100 content): The essay shall be 600 to 1,200 words in length. It should be typed using Times New Roman font 12 pt. and double spaced. The margins around the report should be one inch on each side. =

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Here is a link to the book on Project Gutenberg in case you want to print sections for highlighting as part of your annotation or essay preparation work:

Anthem by Ayn Rand on Project Gutenberg

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Here is an audio recording of the book for those who struggle with reading:

media type="custom" key="22140182"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Here is a link to the Ayn Rand Institute for students who wish to learn more about Rand, Objectivist Philosophy, and her other works:

The Ayn Rand Institute

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">For the record, when Rand was once asked by a reader about the pronunciation of her pseudonym, she replied:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“Ayn” rhymes with “mine.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Excerpted from a letter to a fan, 1937:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“Your letter inquiring about the origin of my name has been forwarded to me. In answer to your question, I must say that ‘Ayn’ is both a real name and an invention. The original of it is a Finnish feminine name. . . . Its pronunciation, spelled phonetically, would be: ‘I-na.’ I do not know what its correct spelling should be in English, but I chose to make it ‘Ayn,’ eliminating the final ‘a.’ I pronounce it as the letter ‘I’ with an ‘n’ added to it” (Rand 40).