English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) identified and explained character and types, plot and foreshadowing, irony, setting, imagery, and 2) read independently.
Ninth graders, we started with a brief discussion about the headlines that remained on the board after my forth period APELC class (see their notes from the last two days), a discussion about good and bad and how we understand these categories and act according to them in our own lives. It was interesting, and this isn’t the last time we’ll discuss these ideas. They’ll be important in our discussions of literature we read even later this new quarter.
After, you completed and shared your groups’ work on literary concepts in “The Rule of Names” today. You filled the board with your finding on the elements listed in the objectives and copied down other groups’ information on the text analysis form I provided, and which you’ll be responsible for filling out when we encounter and new text from now on.
You finished the period reading your liberry books.
No homework. Have a good weekend, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Period 2 and 4 APELCers, as yesterday in first and third, we enjoyed another contentious day discussing Emerson’s metaphysical and moral claims after reviewing the Gregory text. Several more students agreed with Emerson that:
No law can be sacred [. . .] but that of [one's] nature. [That] good and bad are but names readily transferable to that or this; that right is what after [one's] constitution; the only wrong what is against it [. . . .] What [one] must do is all that concerns [one's self], not what people think.
We had too little time to really explore the implications of what this would really mean if it actually reflected reality, that is, if individuals were the true arbiters of good and bad. While most philosophers find such Moral Relativism metaphysically incoherent and unsustainable, it remains popular among the un-schooled, principally, I believe, because it protects one from criticism of one’s behavior and ideas.
It’s popular to say “Don’t judge me and I won’t judge you”, I think, because once we begin to judge another’s behavior or ideas we necessarily open up ourselves to the same scrutiny. And that troubles, even scares us because we often don’t know how we know what we know or how we come to believe the things we do or act the way we act other than to claim “This is who I am, this is what I believe, and I’m not gonna make any apologies for it”.
Maybe we’ll spend some time again on this on Monday, but I hope the importance of power, meaning, and definition isn’t lost on you and I hope all APELCers will think hard on what we talked about today and yesterday. Take a look at the articles I linked in yesterday’s notes and continue focus the lenses of your worldview.
Attend your homework and I’ll see you next week.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) investigated word meaning, and 2) processed an essay.
First and third APELCers, we reviewed your answers to the exercises and questions related to the Gregory text, and then you attacked Ralph Waldo Emerson’s arguments in “Self-reliance”. We discussed the objective or subjective nature of morality; out of two class periods today, two students argued that the violent sexual assault of one or more human beings on another, even a mother and son, isn’t “bad”; that is, roughly, we can’t judge the right or wrong of such acts because we’re not the actors or perpetrators in such situations. (Those students should correct me if I’ve misrepresented them.) Most students argued, though, that such attacks are bad regardless of era or geography; that is, violent sexual assault is always and unequivocally wrong at all points of space and time, no matter cultural tradition or proclivity.
I would encourage you to think critically about what the subjectivity or objectivity of right and wrong could and would “mean”. I mentioned the following stories in class, and, as you read them, think hard which―absolute or relative morality―matches your experience, reflects reality accurately, and is logically sustainable:
- “Family of victims reveals some of gruesome details of attack”, Palm Beach Post
- “3 get life in prison for gang rape of Fla. mother”, Palm Beach Post
- “Richmond girl raped outside homecoming dance”, San Jose Mercury News
- “Richmond High gang rape, lack of action from onlookers outrages community”, San Jose Mercury News
Attend your homework. It seems like a lot but it’s not (that doesn’t mean you should wait to start it). Have a great weekend and be safe this Saturday―trick or treat suckas!
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained character and types, plot and foreshadowing, irony, setting, imagery.
Sixth period, on this short day you had the opportunity to complete the identification and explanation activity you began on Monday. You worked well in your groups and most of you finished; you all appear to be prepared to present your information to your peers on Friday. We shall see if this bears out then.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Period 2 and 4 APELCers, check your peers’ notes from yesterday for objectives and details as we covered the same material, at least as much as we could in the short time we met today, and pay close attention to the following (which is a verbatim re-post from your colleagues’ notes I thought worth repeating): As we enter a new round of writing/revision conferences, please remember that when we confer, you must have:
- Your essay highlighted (even you’re unsure of some of your highlights),
- Your own timed-writing prompt (annotated) and rubric,
- Your own copy of “How to Prepare for a Revision Conference” and answers to the questions in 4 or 5 in the form of notes and ideas.
If you do not have these, we will not confer and you will lose your slot and opportunity to revise your essay. Further, do not be late to your conference; be early, or the next student will move into your slot. I mentioned being at least one appointment early, but maybe arriving two appointments early might not be a bad idea.
See you soon.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers investigated word meaning.
First and third period juniors and seniors, you worked over the Gregory text, “Pinning Down Semantics”, on your own for the first half of the hour, then we discussed your recent free-response arguments in which you defended or challenged Thomas Szasz and his ideas of definition and struggle. We’ll dig into the Gregory text more next class and we’ll attack Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-reliance”. As to the latter, until we meet again, please consider and be prepared to discuss the following (referring to article on semantics we just read): What are the referent for the words “good” and “bad”? What are the referents for the words “identity” and “definition”?
Also, as we enter a new round of writing/revision conferences, please remember that when we confer, you must have:
- Your essay highlighted (even you’re unsure of some of your highlights),
- Your own timed-writing prompt (annotated) and rubric,
- Your own copy of “How to Prepare for a Revision Conference” and answers to the questions in 4 or 5 in the form of notes and ideas.
If you do not have these, we will not confer and you will lose your slot and opportunity to revise your essay. Further, do not be late to your conference; be early, or the next student will move into your slot. I mentioned being at least one appointment early, but maybe arriving two appointments early might not be a bad idea.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained character and types, plot and foreshadowing, irony, setting, imagery.
Freshmens, even though getting through sixth period can be a challenge after hard-teaching periods 1 through 4, I was happy to see you again today after my absence. It was time we began to synthesize ideas that we’ve been working on separately for the past ten weeks, and so I asked you to focus on all of the literary concepts we’ve covered in all of the stories we’ve read, but this time identify and explain them in our most recent, “The Rule of Names”, which you read and listened to last week with your subs.
I broke you into groups and directed each to use a variety of graphic organizers to identify characters and types, plot points and elements and instances of foreshadowing, ironies, aspects of setting, and examples of imagery. You worked the period on this task and you’ll do so Wednesday, too. You’ll present your findings to the class then and on Friday, as well, and note the information your peers discover to get an entire literary sense of the story.
See you Wednesday (half-day!).
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers reviewed Speech Act theory.
Juniors and seniors, it was nice, but exhausting, to be back. Thinking is hard, but I tried to summarize Speech Act Theory for you in a way that I believe will be useful to our continued practice of argument and analysis. I asked you to focus on three main ideas from your reading:
Once we begin to look at utterances from the point of view of what they do, it is possible to see every utterance as a speech act of one kind or other, as having some functional value which might be quite independent of the actual words used and their grammatical arrangement (Wardhaugh, 302).
Each utterance is an act serving the direct aim of binding hearer to speaker by a tie of some social sentiment or other [. . . .] Language appears to us in this function not as an instrument of reflection but as a mode of action (Malinowski qtd. in Wardhaugh 303).
Conversation [. . .] involves a considerable amount of role-playing: We choose a role for ourselves in each conversation, discover the role or roles the other or others are playing, and then proceed to construct a little dramatic encounter, much of which involves respecting each others’ faces (309).
And finally, I described how you might apply an understanding of speech acts to the various types of text we encounter (verbal, written, visual, et cetera). I encouraged you to use cultural and linguistic clues to:
- Discover the “affective state of the speaker [of a text] and a profile of his identity”.
- Infer what implications lie behind the speaker’s words and what he or she wants audiences to do.
- Determine the necessary conditions that make interaction feasible, possible, and meaningful and what, if any, conversational maxims are followed or broken and to what end.
Much of what we covered will become part of our regular discussions, so while I don’t expect you to memorize the vocabulary of the reading, you should expect to hear and be able to understand it when I or your peers use it.
Remember to attend your readings and I’ll see you next class.
Surgery News
Just a quick update for those interested: my son’s surgery went off without a hitch. He’s convalescing nicely. I hope everyone had a nice break and worked well today. (Disneyland was great, by the way.)
I’ll try to update the assignments and work record on each of your class pages and post some notes when I return to Tucson on Wednesday. Do your best until then and I’ll see you Thursday and Friday.
Best,
Girard
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) reviewed question answering strategies, and 2) read independently for a sustained period.
Sixth period, we finished the quarter with sobering reminders of the importance of doing your best work on every reading and other assignments. You collected your work and I reviewed with you again the rubric for creating quality, detailed evaluative and analytical answers to questions your assigned for homework. I’ve posted the rubric again here so there are no mistakes or misunderstandings.
- 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.
I handed out your grades as they’ll appear on your progress reports. Many of you have significant work to do to improve; mostly, your needed improvements involve nothing more than being attentive to, careful with, and thorough in your approach to completing your assignments.
For a kick, and because I didn’t want to start anything on the last day of our first ten weeks together, we screened an ancient production of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-tale Heart”. We briefly clarified points of the narrative, touched on symbols, and compared its motifs to that of “The Cask of Amontillado”.
You closed the day with some independent reading as I struggled to input your grades.
Have great break. Make good decisions. And don’t worry about too much about your grade. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve it if you work hard and smart.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we did the same as your peers yesterday; check their notes for objectives and details. Thanks to Michele and Johanna in second and Larren and Cassandra in fourth for sharing their narrations. I forgot to do the same Shayne in first and Ben and Leigh in third for reading theirs yesterday, so thanks for that. I appreciate everyone’s bravery.
Apropos of our discussion Tuesday and Wednesday about culture and morality when we talked over Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman”, I thought I’d direct you to class notes I wrote in April when I had a similar discussion with last year’s APELCers. I also brought up female circumcision as a challenge to popular cultural relativism and we had an insightful discussion.
Lastly before break, I wanted to list again those speech acts I enumerated in class so that you can compare them to Wardhaugh, the text I assigned for homework. They are:
- Representatives (stating, claiming, describing, insisting, suggesting, swearing, et cetera);
- Expressives (congratulating, thanking, deploring, condoling, welcoming, greeting, et cetera);
- Verdictives (assessing, ranking, estimating, judging, et cetera);
- Directives (commanding, pleading, inviting, questioning, et cetera);
- Commissives (promising, threatening, vowing, et cetera);
- Declaratives (blessing, firing, arresting, marrying, et cetera).
Remember that the examples (the gerund or nounified verbs after each type of illocutionary act) aren’t exhaustive and hardly scratch the metaphorical surface of possibilities. For a “truncated overview” of the concept, read Andrew Cline’s “Speech-act Theory and Rhetoric” at his excellent site Rhetorica.net.
Have a safe, productive break children. I’ll see you a few days into the second quarter.
UPDATE. The page numbers for the Bedford reading have been corrected. Sorry about the confusion.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an excerpt from an autobiography, and 2) reviewed text-processing procedures.
First and third APELCers, we tackled the last narration of the unit today, the White text. In first, this led to an interesting discussion of time, what it is, how we perceive it, et cetera, and I said I’d link to some resources for those interested in issues informing our conceptions of the subject. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on time is detailed but divided into manageable sections if you have the endurance. For those who prefer to listen, The Philosopher’s Zone, a favorite podcast of mine, offered two episodes on time: “Time for philosophers” and “The philosophy of the quantum spook”. And BBC Documentaries broadcast an excellent two-part program a couple of years ago, “A Brief History of Infinity: Space and the Universe”. This from discussion about a text centering on the nature of father-son relationships written in 1941. Love it!
Please remember to read the assigned material for the week we return, be able to define the key terms (even if you don’t understand them well) in the Wardhaugh piece and be prepared to speak to the nine separate ideas Daniels presents. Take notes and think critically, maybe review your understanding by briefly answering the questions (not required but a good idea).
Stay safe this break, make good decisions, and be ready to get back to business when we return. I’ll see you Thursday, October 22, after Disneyland and my son, Debabu’s, surgery in Phoenix.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained imagery in two poems.
Freshmen, we reviewed your work over the two poems you read in my absence, and focused particularly on imagery. Then we finally got around to playing a name game since there were still some students who bafflingly didn’t know each others’ names. Our first try at the game was a failure, but then we turned it around and got to finding things out about everybody. Among the things we learned: Kody’s afraid of bees (we already knew that, though), Ian likes sharp objects, and Lucian’s name is Lucian.
No homework. See you Friday, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Period 2 and 4 juniors and seniors, we covered the same a material as your peers did yesterday. I shared your progress reports with you as well and I (angrily, but, as always, lovingly) encouraged many of you to pick up your activity in class; it’s the even periods’ grades, for whatever reason, that are far below what they should be. This class is as important as any of your others, and you can only rely on your previous English experience so much before you’ll need further assistance, and 10:00 the night before a paper’s due isn’t the time to come to that realization. I expect to see many more of you in tutoring.
I do need to advise all APELCers that I just won’t be able to grade the timed-writing revisions and cover sheets over the Soto text in time for the scores to be included on you progress reports. Here’s what the stack looks like on my desk:
Not that I’m complaining; rather, to do your work justice, I’m not inclined to rush through them. Your efforts deserve my own, and so look for them when you return from recess along with your narratives.
Attend the reading on your class page and I’ll see you next class.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers processed an excerpt from an autobiography.
Period 1 and 3 juniors and seniors, we worked most of the period on the Kingston text and I handed out your progress grades at the end of the hour. Discussion was interesting as we began to wade a bit deeper into the swamp of Cultural Relativism. This isn’t the last time we’ll talk about this, and I hope it gets contentious because then it gets people frustrated and thinking.
Check your class page for homework details, and I’ll see you next time.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmen, sorry for my absence today. I hope you were productive as you read the poems in the text I assigned. Check your class page for details.
See you Wednesday when I’ll share your progress grades with you. Please make sure your complete your homework.
APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, sorry for my unexpected absence today; I will be back tomorrow and for the rest of the week.
While I was out you were to have reviewed the Vowell piece and its connection with Manning. I look forward to going over your ideas tomorrow when your timed-writing 2 revisions and cover sheets are due (no later than 3:00 pm in T-12). Until then, remember:
- 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—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, stapled together 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 5, signed;
- Revision scores will replace initial in-class scores if merited.
See you next class at which time I’ll update you on your grades.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) identified and explained character, plot, irony in short stories, 2) compared and contrasted these elements across texts, and 3) read independent reading for a sustained period.
Students, we examined The Red-haired Girl, a painting by Roger Mason today hat’s associated with “Checkout” before we reviewed your answers to the homework questions I assigned over the story. After, I quizzed you on your reading and then I broke you into groups to complete a compare and contrast activity over the stories we’ve read thus far. Good job today, kids. Your positive and productive work ethic is paying off, I think, and most of you should be proud of your progress.
Here’s the painting again, The Red-haired Girl. I’d encourage you to see Mason’s other works when you have a chance and see what you can guess, as you did nicely today, about the stories they might hold.
One more thing. I wanted to remind you of the new policy beginning on Monday, October 19, the day we get back from break.
Students will no longer be permitted to be outside during tutorial. Students passing from one class to another during tutorial will need to have a pass from a teacher. Students will have a number of options available to them during this time. Students may be in a classroom getting extra help or doing make-up work, students may be in the Library, or students may be in the MPR to study or do work. Students that take the bus home are obligated to remain on campus, but must be in one of the three areas indicated. Students are not permitted to leave campus and return to get on the bus. The park is off limits until after 3:15 p.m. If you are on campus, you must be either in a classroom, the MPR, or the Library. If you have any questions and /or concerns, please see an administrator.
I love it and I’m looking forward to seeing plenty of you in T-12 taking care of business.
APELC Class Notes
Period 2 and 4 juniors and seniors, as usual, we covered the same material as your peers did in first and third. Please attend your class page for homework details and clarifications about what’s due next week, the last of the quarter.
As I stated, I’m posting the details and reminders for your timed-writing revisions again so there’ll be no excuse for not following them to the letter. Recall your work is due Tuesday, no
later than 3:00 pm in T-12. Here’s the vital information:
- 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—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 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 5, signed;
- Revision scores will replace initial in-class scores if merited.
As I encouraged your peers in last night’s notes, so I’ll also encourage you to consider taking the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) on Tuesday, October 6. The ASVAB Program
is about exploring career possibilities, that is it’s about more than assessment and isn’t necessarily about enlisting in our
nation’s armed forces. Understand that students aren’t under any obligation to talk
with armed forces recruiters if they test. It’s free and you can
register for the exam in the counseling office before Tuesday.
Lastly, after 58 years of business, the De Anza Drive-in is showing its last films tomorrow evening, Saturday, October 3. Maybe go see a film with your friends tonight or tomorrow to enjoy this Tucson landmark one last time.
Have a great weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed a personal essay, and 2) responded to their peers’ narration drafts.
First and third APELCers, sorry about the delay in getting these notes up, but apparently my hosting service was having some trouble at one of its data centers. Anyway, today we reviewed Manning’s text after which you worked in peer view groups over your narrations and I conducted writing conferences.
Remember that your timed-writing 2 revisions are due Tuesday, no later than 3:00 pm in T-12. Please attend the following details; there’s no excuse for not knowing your responsibilities as I’ve highlighted them in class and am enumerating them here. As to the work:
- 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—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 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 5, signed;
- Revision scores will replace initial in-class scores if merited.
Finally, I’d like to encourage you to consider taking the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) on Tuesday, October 6. The experience is about more than assessment, though. The ASVAB Program is about career exploration and isn’t necessarily enlisting in our nation’s armed forces. Students aren’t under any obligation to talk with armed forces recruiters if they test, and it’s free. You can register for the exam in the counseling office before Tuesday.
See you Monday when we’ll discuss Vowell and her essay.