English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained character, plot, and irony in a short story.
We began and completed the story “Checkouts” today, the piece directly following “The Cask of Amontillado”. It was a change of pace and action from the Poe and Connell texts, and it was welcome, I think. As always I asked you to engage the text by summarizing, questioning, clarifying, connecting, evaluating, and predicting. We discussed your answers to several questions I asked you to attend while we read and listened to the narration and then I administered a brief check quiz.
There is homework, so check those details on your class page.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and ideas.
All APELCers, remember that you have written work due for review and when I see you next.
Peace until then.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) differentiated levels of critical thinking in a text, and 2) processed a photograph.
First and third juniors and seniors, I allowed you to review your highlighting of the Ayad text in class and then we discussed her selection and organization of evidence, and her analysis of the former that connected it to her thesis. These are considerations I’ll encourage you to make as you revise your Soto analysis; know that your revision really succeeds or fails according to the evidence you choose. It provides the foundation from which you’ll build your analysis and proves your thesis.
We spent the final half of class discussing the Morton photograph in your texts and you have time to begin answering questions over the Manning essay. We’ll pick up with this text next class and the Vowell piece I’ve assigned for homework.
Remember that College Night is tonight at the TCC. Be there to get the information you need to make a decision about or help you begin to plan for life after high school.
DERRION ALBERT. Please take time to read the story of this young man who’ll never get to realize his graduation let alone the achievement of a college or any other dream because of the mindless violence visited upon him.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained character, plot, and irony in a short story.
We discussed your answers to the questions I assigned you over “The Cask of Amontilllado” and I administered a comprehension quiz over the story. Neat discussion of ideas today, kids.
To end the day, I shared an interpretation of an interpretation of Poe’s tory se to the music of the Alan Parsons Project, a 1970s prog rock band that produced highly stylized concept albums along the lines of Pink Floyd, bur far more artsy-fartsy.
Here again is the video I screened in class. It’s a fan-production created for but independent of the song “The Cask of Amontillado” from the album Tales of Mystery and Imagination by the above band which in turn itself is based on Poe’s original story. Read the lyrics (right click and open them in a new window or tab) so you can follow along as you watch.
We’ll begin the next story in the class text next class. See you then.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers differentiated levels of critical thinking in a text.
APELCers, I asked you to focus your efforts on an analytical text today and highlight various levels of critical thinking you encountered as you read. We had a discussion of thesis statements when I asked you to identify and defend your best candidate for a thesis statement in the Ayad piece. We’ll complete the activity next class when you’ll analyze Ayad’s logoi, that is, her organizational choices or how she arranged her evidence and analysis in support of her thesis.
Remember that College Night is tomorrow evening at the TCC. Please attend this important event if you can, even if you already have your post-secondary trajectory set. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans, a deranged and debauched artist once sang, and I encourage you to stay open to all possibilities.
By the by, here’s the talk by Mike Rowe of Discovery’s Dirty Jobs I mentioned in class in which he celebrates the working man. Be forewarned he does relate a frank, but humorous story of a lamb castration he was involved in for the show. (The story, properly an anecdote, is actually one of the major logoi of the story and helps make his point.)
Don’t forget to attend your reading. See you next class.
ANOTHER VISIT. I almost forgot to mention again second period Rhiannon’s mom’s visit to class today. I’m excited when parents take time to visit you in class to watch us work. Bring your moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives to T-12; we can always benefit from their experience and participation.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) identified and explained character, plot, and irony in a short story, and 2) read independently for a sustained period.
Freshmen, we completed the text and audio of “The Cask of Amontillado” today, and I gave you time to begin your homework and read independently. We’ve been going through the text systematically and deliberately, but after our next story, which we’ll begin on Monday, we’ll begin to pull together ideas from our readings of the stories.
Attend the homework detailed on your class page and have a great weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth period juniors and seniors, as usual, we did the same as your period 1 and 3 colleagues did yesterday. As you (all aPELCers) work on your revisions this weekend, I wanted to post what I shared with you earlier this week from Brennan, CDO’s valedictorian last year, about writing for one of his classes at Swarthmore. Thus he,
Questions of Inquiry [. . . .] is an amazing class [. . . .] We’ve done The Apology, Euthyphro, and Meno [. . . .] I’ve been writing very “chunk”y paragraphs (I think that’s the term you taught us) with green leading into yellow and followed up by blue. Of course, I deviate a little from the chunk pattern, but it really works. My professor had to schedule a meeting with me last Wednesday to discuss my Euthyphro essay. I was really nervous and didn’t know what to expect in this meeting, but it turns out he scheduled the meeting to congratulate me on my “perfect” essay. So I guess they like that kind of writing in college?
Validation is nice. I know many of you may still be dubious of the model I’ve advocated, and understand that I don’t recommend it for all modes of written discourse, obviously. But for exposition and analysis it works well. Learn it. (I’m working on revising this model, and I hope to have it ready for Monday.)
Also, all APELCers, I wanted to pass along Brennan’s post-secondary counsel:
I want more CDO students at Swarthmore [. . . .] It’s a very hard school to get into, but [. . . .] there are dozens of CDO students who are not only smart enough to get into this school, but they also would thrive here. Public schools from the west coast are so disproportionately unrepresented here. If any of your students, or other teachers’ students that are interested in attending (in my humble opinion) the best college in the country, have them email me and I’ll give them some expert advice.
Generally, don’t limit yourselves. There are fantastic opportunities waiting students, and you’re encouraged to think big. To that end, the Tucson Convention Center will host the 36th Annual College Night; it begins at 6:30 pm next Tuesday, September 29. I heartily encourage you to attend, even if you’re still a junior or even if you think you already know where you want to go.
See you Monday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an excerpt from an autobiography, and 2) responded to their peers’ narration drafts.
First and third seniors and juniors, we reviewed your work on the Soto piece and I discussed in particular theses, syntax and diction, and schemes and tropes. Roughly, you thesis should follow this model: clear observation + precise evaluation (+/- reasons). I attempted to help you disambiguate the rhetorical analysis prompts as they’re written by the College Board, and tried to clarify the relationship between syntax and schemes and diction and tropes and how you might identify and analyze them to the end of answering the former prompts. You spent the last half of class reviewing the first draft of your peers’ narrations.
We’ll dedicate most of Monday to revision work. Please check your class page for homework details.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmen, we met in the liberry today for MAP testing! Yeah! We’ll discuss your scores next week, discover what those numbers indicate about your reading comprehension, and figure out how to set goals based on them. Next class though, we’ll complete “The Cask of Amontillado”. Bring your textbooks and your independent reading books.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we did much the same as your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details.
For those still frustrated by their revision grades, remember that is this class were easy it wouldn’t be worth doing. We’re really just getting started; these few assignments are only the first of several opportunities you’ll have to prove (and improve) your ability over the year. If you work with me and practice as you’re instructed, you’ll achieve your best.
I shared with you the words of a gifted, popular artist today, and I’d like to leave you with more of her wisdom here:
This class is a climb, but I don’t want you stop believin’; rather, hold on to that feelin’.
SNAP!
HEARD. Jalyn said in T-12 Monday afternoon about APELC “This class is different. I’m not used to thinking so much.” Love it!
Timed-writing 2
APELCers, the tired is catching up with me, and I still have several Elizabeth revisions and Angelou/Tan reflections to grade. I’ll have to return your free-responses to the Soto pieces back to you in class Thursday and Friday. I’ll post the conference sign-up Thursday afternoon, with spots available starting Friday morning and afternoon (for first and third APELCers who’ll have reviewed the text with me in class Thursday).
Until then, here’re some examples of how students attacked analysis of their prompts last time in preparation for their conferences and revisions: example 1, example 2, and example 3 (I’ll turn them into pdfs eventually). And here’s what the schedule looks like so you can begin to stake out a spot. Revisions, with detailed cover sheets, will be due Tuesday, October 6, no later than 3:00 pm.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers processed a personal essay.
First and third APELCers, we began reviewing your first timed-writing revisions and narration reflections. I was pleased to see how hard everyone worked to make the grade. Some still have a ways to go before they’ll be comfortable, and those that are already comfortable shouldn’t remain so as we’ve much to do before the year’s over.
We processed the Tan piece and discussed your own narration drafts due next class. Remember that you should at least two pages drafted, and you’ll need to print and bring the peer response documents I noted with the assignment details.
Come tomorrow to pick-up timed-writing 2 and to sign-up for a conference; I’ll post the schedule at 2:30 after school.
BY THE WAY. Have you heard the latest from Sudan? Did you know that the genocide in Sudan has been raging for six and half years now? And did you know that the (ongoing) mass-killing and rape of men, women, and children in Darfur is the third conflict of its type in the last fifteen years? See the Online NewHour’s page on the Darfur Crisis for more, or, even better, investigate opportunities to help at Save Darfur and Stop Genocide Now.
English 9 Class notes
Objectives: Freshmen will identify and explain character, plot, and irony in a short story.
Freshmen, after a short quiz over “The Most Dangerous Game”, we began Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” today and focused on character, plot, and irony, adding to the latter (the literary concept for this short story) the former two (literary concepts from the first two texts we read).
We’ll be in the liberry Wednesday, so bring your independent reading book and stil bring your textbooks. Meet me there sixth.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers wrote a rhetorical analysis.
Juniors and seniors, you completed your second timed-writing today, a rhetorical analysis of an excerpt by Gary Soto. I’ll have them back to you no tomorrow and Wednesday. I must to stay on track. I’ll also have your revisions and Angelou and Tan reflections back to you in those periods as well. Thanks for your patience as I learn to balance the heavy paper load with lesson planning and execution and personal and family obligations. Each year in APELC presents new challenges (that I’m happy to meet), but it takes some time for me to get my rhythm. I have the hips for it, as you know, so I’ll be in form within the week.
Here’re the examples of the inventions I mentioned from Erica and Leigh. Maybe they’ll inspire you for your own which you should have for next class.
Erica’s example.
This is a story about APELC.
This is a story about the posters and artwork on the walls that come to life at night when nobody is around.
This is a story about an evil air-conditioner that plays with people’s bodily temperatures causing discomfort in both extremes.
This is a story about a room full of desks that when targeted to their specific places on the floor will cause a secret lair to open with all the Green Lanterns in a giant chasm when Girard commands his ring to do so.
This is a story about a bird clock who’s cheeps and songs are a code telling ust ot beware.
This is a story about a man teaching an APELC class who is not really a
Leigh’s example.
This is a story about APELC.
This is a story about The Beatles.
This is a story about a classroom so cluttered with artwork and childish cartoon drawings and pictures of former students and children and dogs and Dylan (as in Bob) that any current student walking in without at least 3 cups of coffee and a severe, pre-existing ADHD condition will find his brain and eyes and ears so over-stimulated that the chance of any ounce of genius seeping from his stubby, sweaty fingers is virtually nonexistent.
I’m curious how Erica was going to finish that last line, but I called time and students came to a stop where they were. Remember that the story isn’t “due”, as such. Rather, you should have it completed as part of your notes to use as a field from which you’ll harvest possible ideas for your narration.
Finally, would someone text Kristin in third and let her know she left her binder in T-12?
HOLIDAYS. I really dig the various holidays that are a portion of the ingredient list of our cultural stew here in America. And speaking of stew, if your family creates, as part of your family’s cultural heritage or celebrations, any delicious victuals, please feel free to share them with me, as Robert in first period did. Thanks to his family for sending along some brisket and potatoes and pastry from their Rosh Hashanah feast from the weekend. Baby! I’ll have your Tupperware clean and back to you tomorrow.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) defined irony, and 2) read independently for a sustained period.
Freshmen, we reviewed your answers to the questions about “The Most Dangerous Game” I assigned for homework, and I continued to challenge you with the types of existential questions I did last Friday. Discussion was interesting and we shared ideas about the rights one can practice on one’s own property and the arguable (or inarguable) differences between humans and animals. Neat stuff. After, you began and completed Before Reading notes for Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, but since we missed independent reading last class I decided to start to story on Monday and gave you the extra time to spend in your liberry books. WE briefly talked over irony; we’ll talk more when we begin the story.
No homework. Have a great weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth APELCers, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details. I wrote a post a year and a half ago on National Grammar Day in which I offered some ideas that are pertinent to our discussion of speech communities. Give it a read if you like. Those of you with certain ideas about grammar may find it interesting.
An APELCer asked me to post my story about APELC, my short example in class that I shared with you to get you going on your own, so here it is:
This is a story about APELC.
This is a story about T-12.
This is a story about an unbelievably suave and sophisticated, cultured and cosmopolitan, indeed heroic teacher whose intelligence is matched only by his charm and attractive appearance.
This is a story about who I want to be like.
This is a story about separating schemes from tropes.
This is a story about analysis, the type that destroys text and saps it of fun for the sake of breaking things down to the point where the components become essentially meaningless.
I’d like Erica in second and Leigh in third to send me theirs; I think their worthy for posting.
Have a great weekend kids. Be productive, that is, don’t wait to write your story and begin drafting your narrative.
See you Monday.
POINT. Third period’s Kristin and Heidi were in T-12 during tutoring, and I was surprised to discover from them how much digital ink is spent fretting over APELC by some on their social network pages. I was surprised. I thought other AP classes, maybe calculus and chemistry, might make students more anxious, but I think I know why APELC is a significant stressor. Math and science are more linear than English language arts classes; the latter tend to be very subjective than the former. You’ve experienced a greater degree of freedom in English classes before, where the discipline and its endeavor was perhaps a bit more affective and romanticized than the more labored dissection of language and purpose I present in APELC. (Alternately, you’ve been fed canon lines, and I’d rather you discover your own conclusions with some guidance from me.) Follow the procedures, particularly taking good notes and reviewing them, wholly engage your critical thinking faculties toward text as you’ve not in the past, follow-up in tutoring, and I have every faith you’ll do as well as you’ve allowed yourself and you’re intended.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) defined and distinguished speech communities, and 2) practiced invention.
First and third juniors and seniors, we discussed the Roberts texts on speech communities, and “good” and “bad” language. The take away, I hope, is that you’ll understand that language is organic, able to adapt to its users’ needs, that “appropriate” and “inappropriate”, rather than “correct” and “incorrect”, might be better descriptors for language that we find unacceptable (that is, excludes us as a participating member of a speech community). This is particularly important when encountering texts like the Angelou piece that was described by the Bedford editors as being written in a non-standard English.
For those who think English is devolving, who believe, for instance, that older is better, purer, here’s the text of what I read in first period, the first 18 lines of the General Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Cantebury Tales:
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
How do you read it? This Middle-English is closer to, but still far from the language as it was once spoken. Is older better? Dig this resource, “What Speech Do We Like Best?”, at PBS’s Do You Speak American? and John McWhorter’s book The Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of “Pure” Standard English (of which I have a copy on my shelves if anybody’s interested in borrowing) for more about language myths and misconceptions that’ve been drilled into us and have to do more with mere taste than truth.
Remember, you have until Tuesday to submit a new process of the Lincoln text, and you’re to begin developing ideas for your narration. See your class page for details.
POINT. One of my favorite lines from the invention exercise today came from Brigette in third. I don’t know if she actually wrote this as part of her brainstorming, but I heard her say “This is a story about admitting that I need to come to tutoring for help”.
See you there.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen identified and explain plot elements in a short story.
Ninth graders, I passed out your progress grades to you today, and it was event. Many of you are in situations you don’t want to be in, but you can easily rectify your conundrum with hard, intelligent work. It’s simple, but maybe not easy, really. I’ll try to post your grades this weekend, but I’ll still occasionally hand out progress reports to you―nothing beats that visceral reaction when you have the paper in front of you.
We completed “The Most Dangerous Game” and we discussed its plot elements and I quizzed you. You have homework to attend on your class page, some question and answer; it’s due Friday. I’ve reposted the scheme I use to grade so you can compare your answers to the point criteria.
- Four (4) points for complete and conscious answers with sufficient evidence, insightful and thorough explanations if necessary, and no serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Three (3) points for complete and correct answers with adequate evidence, requisite explanations if necessary, and/or the occasional conventions error.
- Two (2) points for passable answers with inadequate or irrelevant evidence, little explanation, and/or obvious conventions error.
- One (1) point for an incomplete or spare answers with no or irrelevant evidence and insufficient explanation, and serious conventions errors.
Please do well; don’t waste this opportunity to do your best work. Utilize me in tutoring time is you need assistance.
I’ll see you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth period APELCers, we covered the same ground as your colleagues yesterday, so please see notes for a record of what went down.
One final share before leaving behind Kanye West: I didn’t want to forget to mention Seungwoo’s question yesterday engendered by the following the rapper:
I’m just going through balancing that. And I always used to have that support system, you know. My mom would be there; no matter what, she was there before everything [. . . .] We were together for like 30 years. And you know now when I’m on that stage and I look out and I say, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’ Like when does a real life start?’ Because I have sacrificed real life to be a celebrity and to give this art to people, which is great. It is great that I was able to do that, I’m not trying to shun that in any way, but it’s definitely a Catch-22 and it’s bittersweet.
After this Seungwoo asked, “How can he be the voice of a generation if he what he says isn’t even coherent?”
I also mentioned memes, after showing several of the new “Imma let you finish” pastiches circulating around the Internet born from the recent idiocy surrounding Kanye West and Taylor Swift. The following are from Wikipedia (see note below) and are, I think, important to know because of the demands of the culture we live in; the italics in the first definition are mine.
A meme is a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena [. . . .] Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures. Memeticists have not empirically proven the existence of discrete memes or their proposed mechanism (compare the status of Platonic forms or of concepts such as “ideals”), and memes (as distinct from ideas or cultural phenomena) do not form part of the consensus of mainstream social sciences.
The term Internet meme is a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an esoteric inside joke. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although this concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.
The former is a dubious concept that some believe has legs, while most would call it pseudo-science at best. You can find out more about the latter at Know Your Meme, but know that the site does contain material some may find objectionable.
Please attend your homework, and I’ll see you on Friday.
NOTE. I encourage the use of Wikipedia as a source for beginning an information search, not as an end source, though; see this Wikipedia article on the reliability of Wikipedia for more.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers processed an excerpt from a novel.
First and third juniors and seniors, we began the period talking over the incident at the MTV Video Music Awards which included ideas about image, achievement, heroes, and civility. This led nicely into our discussion of the Angelou text I assigned for reading homework. I asked you to think about and answer several questions about the text, a novel excerpt, and we discussed your answers and the existential questions implied in the excerpt.
Dig this video at ABC NEWS and this commentary from USA Today about the erosion of civility in action and discourse and the Online NewsHour’s Generation Next documentaries for more on the attention, entitlement, and indulgence your generation is accused of exploiting. Are these accusations fair?
Before we closed, in first, we briefly touched upon ideas of objective reality and truth, that is, absolutes we can grasp, perhaps not know entirely, but know in so far as such objective states provide standards by which we can measure behavior and belief. This isn’t the last time we’ll visit this topic, and as we approach worldview research next semester, questions of metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology will become more important.
NOTE. The homework should be typed according to MLA style guidelines. And remember that you’re not to write an essay, but merely a response using conventions and usage appropriate for consultative, written English (as distinct from formal, written, academic English). The final grade reduction for obvious errors in conventions and usage also applies.