Mr. Michael C. Curran - English Department









E-Mail: michaelcurran@stjohnshigh.org 



Conal Hall 217 



Students can find me anytime between 7am-5pm before school or after school, should they need extra help.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be in the gym before school. 



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“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around — nobody big, I mean — except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going and I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d like to be. I know it’s crazy.”







Salinger made me love literature and I hope he will have a similar impact on many of the students in my English III class this year. 



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For my class, I STRONGLY encourage all students to have the text we are reading.  Unless students gain my permission beforehand, I do not allow laptops, kindles, ereaders, etc. 





My class should require a concerted effort from every student.  With that in mind, do not forget that many great men struggled mightily to constantly improve themselves and achieve their goals. 









Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.



Ralph Waldo Emerson





Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.



Mohandas Gandhi

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Reading carefully will allow you to attack essay assignments with increased description and evidence.  In turn, you will be able to provide analysis that is more in depth and provocative.  With a strong thesis being the foundation for a well-crafted essay, check out Thesis Writing 101 here.