English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen began brainstorming ideas for an expository-analytical paragraph.
Freshmens, we began discussing in earnest discussing the last study question I gave you over Romeo and Juliet that related to the two characters’ decisions and their consequences. I relayed to you the “fate” motif that’s informed this play since the advent of Shakespearean criticism, and this turned into an interesting discussion of (what boiled down to) free-will and determinsim, that is, do we make our own choices in life or are our choices an illusion, the mere result of a series of causal events that stretch back to the first cause. This is fun stuff, the kind of thing that I often discuss with my advanced students, and certainly relevant to our discussion of the play.
On Wednesday, you’ll begin drafting a two-chunk paragraph in which you explain and analyze the action of the play so far through the free-actions or determined-inactions of its eponymous characters.
See you in a couple of days.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers framed a descriptive essay.
We had little time to tackle the entire Hughes piece today boys and girls, but we tried, and it generated some good discussion. Shayne in first period, I think offered the best text of the text, roughly (but embellished): “Black Americans aren’t novelty”. Also in first period, Riley astutely connected this to piece to the Miner text suggesting that Hughes criticized white curiosity-seekers who came to Harlem to observe its inhabitants in the same manner Miner criticized anthropologists disconnected observations of exotic cultures. Great stuff.
Here’s more on “The Magical Negro” stereotype and “The Noble Savage” archetype, and the original article by Richard Brookshier in National Review Online, “The Numinous Negro”.
Finally and serendipitously, here’s a piece from today’s New York Times, “Blacks Question Obama’s Approach to Race”. And here’re links to those comments (with video) by Hardball’s Chris Matthews: “Chris Matthews: ‘I Felt This Thrill Going Up My Leg’” As Obama Spoke and “Chris Matthews: ‘I Forgot Obama Was Black For An Hour’”.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
We completed the third act of our drama today, children. It’s been slow going, but it’s worth it to get a full understanding of the play by Shakespeare. After we read, watched, and discussed your in-class work, you had time to finish your homework for turn-in. Those that finished were able to do some silent reading on their. I’ll quiz you on Monday, and we’ll begin some writing before we head into the last two acts of the play.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the game on Sunday.
APELC Class Notes
Period 2 began in T-12 with some discussion of Malcolm X’s life and then moved to the liberry for the second half of the period; period 4 was able to spend the entire period in the liberry. Check yesterday’s first and third period notes for details and objectives.
Here’re two articles, the first of general interest to those of you studying worldviews with explanations of the origins and descriptions of the physical structure of the universe from New Scientist, “Our world may be a giant hologram”, and the second a blog post related to our discussion of Avatar and worldview and of particular interest to Elly and Chelsea who’re studying transhumanism, “Avatar isn’t Dances With Wolves, it’s another plot”.
See your class page for reading details.
Have a great weekend, and enjoy the game.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers researched their worldviews.
Thanks to a cancellation and a call from Big A, we were able to dedicate first and third period to research and writing in the liberry. I reviewed the questions you should be using to guide your research (the same ones listed in the assignment details); they should help keep you on target with your work. By now you should have nailed down the basis tenets of your worldview topic, and you should begin sifting through the information you’ve collected and looking for answers to specific questions.
Check your page for homework details.
I’ll see you Monday.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we continued with the third act of our drama today. We saw Romeo and Juliet breakdown after the events of the day, and we saw the betrothal of Juliet to Paris (unbeknown to the former, as of yet). We’ll finish the act Friday; until then, you have practice questions and homework questions to complete, both sets of which will help you with your quiz over the action of this portion of the play.
See you in a couple of days.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth period, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details.
A special thanks to Ms. Volpe for hanging out with us for the first hour of period 2. It’s always nice to have visitors.
See you Friday, children.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an academic essay, and 2) discussed natural rights.
Period 1 and 3 juniors and seniors, great discussion today over the Miner piece and our constitutions as we saw them through the work of Phillis Wheatley, the Declaration of Independence, and the words of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Here’re those clips again:
You might go to “Malcolm X Speeches” at YouTube for more great text to inform your reading.
See you Thursday.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we picked up the third act of the play today, just after Romeo and Juliet are married (having known each other less than 24 hours) when the trouble between the Capulets and Montagues comes to its final boiling point in the streets of Verona. Tybalt and Mercutio goad each other to swords, but the latter is killed by the former when Romeo intervenes to stop fight. Then Romeo avenges his friend by taking up arms against Tybalt and killing him and this results in his banishment from Verona by Escalus.
We’re not even halfway through the play, boys and girls, but we’ll continue next class. Until then, more clips; the first picks up just as Romeo has entered and stalled the dispute between Mercutio and Tybalt. We’ll watch the teleplay version when we see each other again.
I’ll see you next time.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) reviewed the requirements for text-processing, and 2) processed a personal essay.
Juniors and seniors, I reviewed with you a process I did over the weekend of a popular text to highlight expectations for the text-process you have due next class. I also made sure that you were all aware of the potential troubles the Miner text might give you. We completed the period talking over the Naylor text. We didn’t get to all of the questions I assigned, so you’re encouraged to review them on your own.
I’ve found these three resources interesting and relevant to our discussion today, and you might find them interesting as well.
- “Won’t You Please Be My Nigga: Double Standards with a Taboo Word”, from the online periodical StreetGangs.com;
- “Nigger and Caricatures”, an online exhibit at the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia;
- “Appropriating a Slur: Semantic Looping in the African-American Usage of Nigga” from the academic text M/C Journal.
Attend your readings for next class and be critical and thorough in your processes.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we did some review work on the second act of our drama over which I quizzed you. You turned-in your work and we watched and discussed the important points of act 2. To summarize the action so far, after Romeo and Juliet pledge their “love” the night before, they arrange to be and are married the next day. This is only a day after Romeo was despairing over Rosaline. That was Sunday, and the title characters are married early Monday afternoon, roughly.
Here’s Franco Zeffirelli’s vision of act 2, scene 4:
Remember to bring the Chain of Events graphic organizer with you next class.
Have a great weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth period, nothing different than your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details.
I talked briefly about the language of race we’ll be discussing soon as we enter the world of Malcolm X and this made me recall an article I came across recently: “Publisher Renames Joseph Conrad Classic The N-word of the Narcissus“. Political correctness gone mad?
Coincidentally, Chinua Achebe famously criticized Conrad in an essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness“ for his use of the word “nigger” in the book. Achebe has in turn been criticized (too easily, I think) for the same type political correctness referenced above, but I think that merely betrays an uncritical and uniformed ideological commitment to the traditional (that is, outmoded) preeminence of the Western canon. It’s this kind of high-minded literary self-indulgence (”I’m an artist, you see, so I have a certain license that allows me to express myself in ways that you, the vulgar, can not”) that I believe Achebe may have been railing against.
Finally, and only for those researching shamanism, the works of Carlos Casteneda would be worth looking into. The animists may even find his material useful.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed a novel, and 2) researched their worldviews.
APELCers, we finished Things Fall Apart today. As I’ve explained, our examination of the text was a convenient entry into the research you’ll be completing this semester. We saw aspects of the Ibo worldview depicted frankly and we witnessed internal strife among its subjects and external clashes with those who hold a very different worldview.
Before we left for the liberry I distributed copies of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I’m short copies for us all, but I’m in the process of acquiring additional copies. Until thy come in, I’ve asked those of you who can to share with a friend. We’ll begin discussing the life of this most remarkable man next Tuesday so be prepared.
Finally, here’s a fantastic resource for those interested in existential questions―actually, all of you should all be interested in these as they touch on your worldviews and research in some way―that “explores fundamental issues of universe, brain/mind, religion, meaning and purpose through intimate, candid conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, scholars, theologians and creative thinkers of all kind”: Closer to Truth. You might look to these interviews for the media requirements of your research. They are utterly fascinating.
English 9 Class Notes
In my absence today, boys and girls, you were to have finished the second act of Romeo and Juliet on your own. I expected it to be a challenging task, and to encourage your best efforts I promised a quiz over. You should be fine: We’ve already covered the first three scenes, leaving you responsible for only one scene of moderate length and two brief scenes. Read critically and work carefully and you should be fine.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
In my absence, children, you were to have done as your peers yesterday. I’m not sure how far you got, but I’ll check the excellent (I’m sure) report left by your substitute.
I briefly talked about my wishes for my body upon my death yesterday: I’ll be giving myself to a body farm. Here’s a clip from National Geographic I posted last year when read the Mitford text.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed a novel, and 2) processed an essay.
First and third period APELCers, today we tackled that penultimate chapters of Things Fall Apart and then we discussed the Mitford text.
I don’t recall who (Sierra?), but one student mentioned an article I also had read and it had to do with journalists and the ethics of covering carnage which you can read here: “Reporters in Haiti blur the lines of ethical journalism”; and another student (Willie?) mentioned an piece about the final journey home of the body of a serviceman which you can read here: “Taking Chance”.
Finally, while looking for a photo essay I viewed last year, I encountered these two interesting texts with cutesy titles: “Funeral science: One business that’s still alive” and “Deadly job? Funeral workers risk cancer”. I guess people are dying to get into the profession. Snap!
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we continued Romeo and Juliet today, and, with some difficulty, worked our way through scene 3 of act 2 in which the friar chides Romeo and then agrees to marry him to Juliet (but for his own reasons).
I found clips of Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech from act 1 and Romeo and Juliet’s (stomach-turning) balcony scene in act 2, both from Franco Zeffirelli’s film of the play. Compare them to the scenes as we’ve viewed them from the 1976 teleplay; in what ways are they similar, and in what other ways are they different?
See you Wednesday.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers processed an essay.
And so did we as the objective states, APELCers. I also reviewed the notes rubric that I’ll adhere to from now on, which I’ve posted below:
- Four (97) for copious notes that have been highlighted and effectively organized for review. They include at least three (3) creative ideas for paragraphs and evaluative and connotative practice theses; at least three (3) original and insightful level 2 questions; a detailed t-chart with conscious explanation.
- Three (85) for sufficient notes that have been highlighted and adequately organized for review. They include at least three (3) sound ideas for paragraphs and attendant and aware theses; at least three (3) intelligent level 2 questions; a necessary t-chart with obligatory explanation.
- Two (75) for some notes that have been highlighted for review. They include at least three (3) expected ideas for paragraphs and standard theses; at least three (3) customary level 2 questions; a t-chart with requisite explanation.
- One (65) for some notes that have been highlighted for review. They include at least three (3) attempted ideas for paragraphs and uninspired theses; at least three (3) basic level 2 questions; a t-chart with insufficient explanation.
Those of you worried about these initial grades, remember that both your first day quiz and these notes have been designated “Can be dropped” in my gradebook so as not to hurt those who did poorly (in the long run) and to reward those who did well.
Remember that your revisions and cover sheets of timed-writing 5 are due tomorrow and the next day by the end of tutoring.
- Writers must have conferred with me over their initial paper to submit a revision;
- Papers must be accompanied by a cover sheet detailing its writer’s revision process (under Class Materials)—no cop-outs;
- Papers must be typed and formatted according to MLA style guidelines (I mean it)—use the template (under Class Materials)—and should be no less than two and half pages and no more than three pages long;
- Cover sheets are to be attached to the revision, former on top of the latter, with one staple, horizontally, in the upper-left hand corner;
- Papers containing more than four obvious errors in conventions and usage for formal, written, academic English or that deviate from MLA style (including not embedding quotations) will lose 7% from the final grade (I have several style books you can reference.);
- Writers who did not confer with me over their initial drafts or who chose not to revise their essays must still submit a cover sheet, blank except for name, date, title, and initial score and “I choose not to revise timed-writing X” in number 4, signed;
- Revision scores will replace initial in-class scores if merited.
As we discussed the Orwell text today, the subjects of imperialism and empire inevitably came up, and so I thought I’d offer “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling. This is controversial text, and has been interpreted in at least a couple of ways. Try processing it.
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.Take up the White Man’s burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another’s profit,
And work another’s gain.Take up the White Man’s burden—
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.Take up the White Man’s burden—
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper—
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.Take up the White Man’s burden—
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
“Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?”Take up the White Man’s burden—
Ye dare not stoop to less—
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.Take up the White Man’s burden—
Have done with childish days—
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
How does this inform your recent readings? Do you read this as a sincere exhortation or as satire?
See you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we reviewed the first act of our drama today, compared the characters of Benvolio and Tybalt (and I included some ribald information about the latter’s name), and I quizzed you. Instead of reading and listening as we began the second act, we tried watching and reading: We watch the teleplay production while you read along and I stopped frequently to check your understanding and help clarify the action. We only got to the end of the second scene, but taking our time was worth it, I think, to comprehend perhaps the most famous scene in Western drama.
No homework. Have a fine weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth period juniors and seniors, we did the same your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details, and be sure to attend your homework.
Here’re two links recent stories about Voodoo (or voodou, or vodou) engendered by the earthquake in Haiti: “Voodoo Brings Solace To Grieving Haitians” and “Haiti’s vodou religion”. They’re worth a listen.
Have a nice weekend.