English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen 1) differentiated between theme and motif, and 2) generated their own themes for movies.
We did as the objective states, freshmen. Remember that a motif is a recurring element, idea, image, et cetera, that appears throughout and/or helps structure a text. A theme is an independent clause (a sentence, a declarative statement), not a single word or phrase, that explains a text’s insight about humanity, culture life, and the world. It’s not a “moral” or a “lesson”, and doesn’t name characters or plot details. We’ll continue to practice this idea for the rest of the school year.
Because of the short period, we were unable to begin the composition as I’d planned, and so we’ll commence writing on Monday. Remember that you should have two of your own themes for Romeo and Juliet then.
Have a great weekend, and if you can’t get to the rodeo, you can enjoy Whiplash the Monkey Cowboy!
Ride Whiplash! Ride like the wind:
Happy Rodeo Days!
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth APELCers, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Again, discussion was robust and interesting. Really phenomenal effort with plenty of strained brains at the end of the short hour.
I looked for clips from Spike Lee’s Macolm X, which I mentioned was on BET the other night, and I found this dance scene from the beginning of the film. It’s wild and acrobatic; think back to our reading of Langston Hughes and Malcolm’s description of life in Harlem
And here’s an authentic piece of text from Malcolm X’s time, a clip from 1941’s Hellzapoppin’ with a groovy swing dance.
Dig!
Once again, your revisions for timed-writing 6 and cover sheets are due Monday by 3:30 pm.
- 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.
Finish The Autobiography of Malcolm X for next week. Otherwise, enjoy your weekend.
NOTE. Comments are now open, again. I didn’t realize they’d been closed, but if you decide to post, use only your first name and the initial of your surname.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers analyzed and evaluated concepts of identity.
Period 1 and 3 APELCers, we engaged the text from The Star today, and I asked you to focus on what the commentators had to say about Malcolm X and identity. First period was quite lively with numerous voices arguing various ideas with many questions unasked and comments unheard because we ran out of time.
Below’s the billboard we discussed at the beginning of class and the accompanying report from ABC News I referenced: “Abortion Billboards: Strong Words Spark Debate in Atlanta’s Black Neighborhoods”.
The Endangered Species Project (as it’s called TooManyAborted.com) is sponsored by The Radiance Foundation. It’s opposed by SisterSong, a group that promotes what it calls reproductive justice for women of color; this unrelated critical commentary appeared in the Indiana Daily Student: “Pro-lifers co-opt race”. You might read the following article from The New York Times with more stat data: “Anti-Abortion Ads Split Atlanta”.
What more do you think? Is the project racist? Sexist? How would our current subject of study react to this effort? (I’ll get Comments working again. I didn’t realize they were off.)
Don’t forget: Your revisions for timed-writing 6 and cover sheets are due Monday by 3:30 pm.
- 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.
We’ll complete The Autobiography of Malcolm X next week, so please read on over the long weekend.
Enjoy the Fiesta de los Vaqueros!
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen differentiated between theme and motif.
After your final quiz over Romeo and Juliet, we began preparing for your next writing by discussing the concepts of motif and theme. We listed several of what many might commonly call themes for the play: fate and free will, young love, et cetera, and I argued that these are not themes. I introduced you to motif, or images, events, or ideas that reoccur and inform the theme of a literary or visual. I’ll define theme for you next class and help you apply to your writing.
Remember to bring a paragraph template to class Wednesday.
See you then, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers processed an autobiography.
Of course, we’re not done with The Autobiography of Malcolm X yet, juniors and seniors. I said from the beginning we’d cover between four and five chapters a week, so I’m too far off the mark for what I asked you to accomplish today. Much of the narrative has become tedious; while it was pretty exciting, I think, to read of Malcolm’s life growing up in Boston and Harlem, he tends to repeat himself after his conversion. I want you to focus on the details of his transformation: Today, I wanted you to consider how he’d changed from his days as Detroit Red to his station as Minister Malcolm X. We’ll talk more about this next class and decide how his worldview changed, too, and we’ll discuss next week how the Minister Malcolm then transformed into Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
Here’s the embed of The Hate That Hate Produced, mentioned in chapter 14 of the book. It’s long but worth maybe spending some time with to contextualize the time.
Remember that your revisions and cover sheets of timed-writing 6 are due Monday by 3:30 pm.
- 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.
Don’t forget your article for next class.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmen, we finished Romeo and Juliet today, finally. You had the opportunity to completed your graphic organizers and your practice questions as well as begin your homework questions. Be mindful of your what’re due Monday; see your class page for details.
See you next week when we’ll begin a brief writing assignment, similar to the last, which you’ll complete Wednesday.
Have a fine weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we did the same as your peers the day before. Check their notes of objectives and details.
All APELCers, remember the following as you continue your research and writing:
Before asking clarifying questions of your interview subject in an email, please politely ask if they have the time and inclination to attend your needs. Don’t simply introduce yourself and the assignment and begin asking questions; rather, give your interview subject an opportunity to assent to or decline your request for information.
When completing your first draft/outlines write in complete sentences, punctuated appropriately, to create topical paragraphs that explain your worldview content and ideas. Focus on worldview facts and your evaluations; include narrative elements if possible, but the bulk of this can wait until after we return for spring break. Your submission should be no less than four (4) pages.
For important and current MLA formatting information, there’s no better resource than Purdue’s Online Writing Lab; in particular see:
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
- MLA Formatting Quotations
- MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format
I’ll see you Monday.
NOTE. I added several assignments to your class page. Please note their due dates to avoid anxiety.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an autobiography, and 2) researched their worldviews.
First and third juniors and seniors, we began to delve into Malcolm X’s worldview as a a Nation of Islam convert, and I asked you to evaluate the truth claims of Malcolm X and those of Elijah Muhammad he report (read official literature “A Brief History on the Origin of the Nation of Islam in America A Nation of Peace & Beauty”, and more from Wikipedia about the Nation of Islam’s beliefs and theology).
We spent the last half of the class in the liberry where I conferences with students over timed-writings and others researched and wrote.
Keep reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X and analyzing your worldview topics and organizing the information that answers the guiding questions coherently. You might consider “Criteria of truth” and “The Coherence Theory of Truth” for kicks as you read and write.
See you Monday.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
We’re racing toward the end of the Tragedy (I say Comedy) of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet has been discovered by the Nurse and she appears dead; Dad Capulet decrees the wedding festivities be turned to funeral proceedings.
Many students are becoming expert at answering questions, some need work, all really should be capable by now, but your progress is as much your dedication and affect as my guidance. We’ll see how things look updated on Friday.
See you then, children.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth APELCers, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details. Remember to think over your timed-writing revisions carefully: Be aware of what the prompt is asking you to do, read the sources critically.
During discussion of the Staples text in fourth, Larren mentioned a controversy over a March 2008 Vogue magazine cover featuring Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen, which I’ve included below. Have a read of this article from The Telepgraph, “Race row over ‘King Kong’ Vogue cover”
How can you connect it to our reading of “Black Men and Public Space” and issues in The Autobiography of Malcolm X?
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an essay, and 2) reviewed their synthesis essays.
We reviewed the Staples text today and you had time to begin highlighting your recent timed-writings. We discussed the nature of the prompt and some student assumptions that informed less than desirable performance on the essays.
Also, first period’s Daniel ate 50 Chicken McNuggets and one and a half orders of large fries and he drank a large soft drink for lunch at McDonald’s. Then he ran eight miles. God bless you Daniel. You are the wind beneath my wings.
See you next class kids.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained plot, character, setting, and figurative language in a drama.
Freshmens, you turned-in your written work today and we continued with our drama, picking up with act 4. Romeo’s been banished to Mantua, Juliet is to wed Paris Thursd-, no, Wednesday (thanks to Dad Capulet), and Friar Laurence, in his holy honesty, has given Juliet a potion to drink that will make her appear and fool everyone into thinking she’s dead so Romeo can return and wisk her away from Verona. Makes sense, right? Thus Bill Shakespeare.
We’re going to move quickly this week and be done Friday. Pay close attention as we’ll be writing next week.
See you Wednesday.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers processed an autobiography.
Juniors and seniors, I reviewed with you my observations of your performance on your most recent timed-writings before we returned to our discussion of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I ended the period with this groovy clip, “The Known Universe Scientifically Rendered For All to See”, from the American Museum of Natural History which is related to both considerations about space exploration (from your timed-writing) and descriptions, explanations, and foundations (which we can connect to worldview in the autobiography you’re reading and your own research).
Trevor mentioned the multiverse theory, and I challenged him arguing that no evidence exists for such a world ensemble. If you watch the following (very popular) clip of an interview about the idea with physicist and string theorist Michio Kaku, you’ll hear him suggest that the science fiction of the multiverse is about to become “hard fact”. However, I encourage those interested to observe carefully the evidence in his arguments.
The notion of actual infinities as it pertains to cosmology also came up, as did M-Theory. (Also dig this two-part And BBC Documentaries program from a couple of years ago, “A Brief History of Infinity: Space and the Universe”.) I’ll not go into more here, but I highly recommend you dig into these resources yourself.
And briefly, in second period, we speculated about astrobiological evidence for extraterrestrial life, but I argued that no certain evidence has been found to suggest other organisms exist in the cosmos. Even Stephen Hawking asks, “Why Isn’t the Milky Way “Crawling With Self-Designing Mechanical or Biological Life?”. What about recent discoveries on Mars? Read “Life on Mars, continued” for more on this issue.
How is this related to English, again Girard? Remember that artificers and thinkers create in an effort to express their conceptions of reality, truth, beauty, morality, and more, and each artifact and each idea is an argument, an attempt to answer essential questions implied in these abstractions. Each argument is undergirded by assumptions, and it’s our task to observe, analyze, and evaluate both and craft our own to them responses through the written and spoken word.
Snap!
Come for the rest of your timed-writings tomorrow.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen continued drafting an expository-analytical paragraph.
After some discussion of the morning incident, students worked in their pairs to complete their paragraphs over Romeo and Juliet. You spent more time than I expected drafting, but plenty of questions came up during the activity, mostly from Kody, and which was all right because everybody benefited from the answers. I was particularly pleased that many pairs found themselves having to reevaluate their ideas as they wrote and go back and change some piece of evidence or explanation. More than one group changed their thesis all together, sometimes more than once. It seemed like a lot work for eight measly sentences, but students’ willingness to revise and rethink as they worked demonstrated their maturity, and I appreciate it and you’ll see it pay-off as you grow as writers.
The completed paragraph is due Monday when you cross the threshold of T-12. You must have a completed template and your paragraph rewritten in blue or black ink on class-standard paper; remember to skip lines.
See you Monday.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we did the same as your peers yesterday. Please check their notes for objectives and details.
I’m encouraged watching this year’s project unfold; mostly I’m happy to see students sharing their worldviews with each other. Several times in the liberry, I’ve overheard APELCers explaining their various religious and secular beliefs to each other. Now, as you know, I’m the first to point out that worldviews necessarily contradict each other, and perhaps you’re discovering that the popular notion that “All belief is fundamentally the same, and systems vary only in their details” is actually false. However, sharing ideas respectfully is important to mitigating fear and suspicion of others and their understandings of the world.
Thank you Meg, Janet, Larren, Marissa, Sierra, and the rest of the Canyon Singers for their lovely serenade from my Valentine, Jean-Paul. It was terrific!
See you all on Monday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed an autobiography, and 2) researched their worldviews.
First and third period APELCers, we discussed The Autobiography of Malcolm X today, the first several chapters that detail Malcolm’s boyhood and his lives in New York and Boston. I asked you to pinpoint transformational moments in his growth that affected his perceptions of himself and his world; we’re witnessing the foundations of Malcolm’s personal worldview according to which he’ll act and that’ll lead him to prison.
We spent the last half of the period in the liberry where you researched your worldviews. I reminded you where you should be in your process and I enumerated considerations you’ll need to attend as you reach out for interviews with experts or adherents.
Remember to tune-in for television gold tonight on channel 13 at 7:00 for the premier of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.
As I explained, watch Survivor to meet and observe every personality archetype you’ll meet in your life.
I’ll see you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen began drafting an expository-analytical paragraph about character and plot.
Freshmen, in our short time together today, we reviewed the Ideas, Organization, and Conventions traits of the rubric we all know and love, and then we commenced writing. In pairs you identified the main problem Romeo and Juliet face and looked over the text for evidence to support your argument. You’ll complete writing next class, and we’ll begin act 4. We’ll be done with the play next week.
See you Friday, children.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth APELCers, you completed the same work your peers did yesterday. It was all we could do with this, our second half day in a few weeks. Come by tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon to sign-up for a revision conference; I’ll have your papers back to you Friday in class.
Apropos of our prompt and my mention Monday of the film, here’s the trailer for Moon with Sam Rockwell. It’s a great movie that’ll engender many essential, existential questions; I heartily recommend it.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers completed a synthesis essay.
Period 1 and 3 juniors and seniors, you completed your fifth timed-writing today (actually your ninth overall), and we had time to discuss your arguments and use of sources.
Here’s something fun. As you were working today, I was looking for photos of the crew of Apollo 11 (source G from your synthesis essay is an excerpt from Apollo 11’s command module pilot Michael Collins’ memoir of his days as an astronaut). Here’s the history-making crew in 1969, with commander Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin:
And here’s the crew in 2009 at “Celebrate Apollo”, the 40th Anniversary of the flight of Apollo 11 and the Apollo program, along with Christ Kraft, former NASA flight director and Director of the Johnson Space Center:
As I was looking through the Apollo Celebration Gallery, though, I came across a familiar face. I clicked on the third tab of the gallery and saw none other than former APELCer Simone Collins, apparent NASA fan and maybe a future astronaut, and two of her fellow Cavaliers who attended the celebration, too.
Go girl!
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.