APELC Class Notes
APELCers, as much as we could in the time we had, we discussed the Ayad text and I conferred with some of you over your free-responses. During the class discussion, I asked you several divergent questions that went beyond what you were instructed to answer initially, and I encouraged you to think of your own as you read from now on. These are level 3 questions and can be specific to a text or may be broader essential, existential questions.
I also challenged some of your interpretation and your ideas in a way that can be frustrating because I often engage in reductionism frequently leading to reductio ad absurdum.
Finally, I handed out a text about language for you to work on by yourselves, and which we’ll discuss later in class. See your class page for details.
I’ll see you next class.
UNOFFICIALLY. Please let me know if you’ll be attending one of the information sessions I’m conducting tomorrow (Tuesday) evening or the evening after (Wednesday) for those interested in traveling with me and several other Dorados across Europe at the end of this school year.
APELC Class Notes
APELCers, yesterday and today I began conferring with writers over their free-responses to the Downe text. While I worked with individuals, pairs examined and identified schemes and tropes in the correspondence under scrutiny and continued to highlight the Ayad text.
I regularly listen to BBC World Service Documentaries, and this week I downloaded “Cutting the Lifeline to Honduras”. You might find it interesting especially as it relates to opportunity, immigration, and separation, three issues presented in John Downe’s letter to his wife and children.
A VISIT. It was nice to see former APELCer Marie Clymer, currently of Wellesley, who came by fifth period for a brief visit and who I put on spot by asking her to share a little of her experiences at and advice for college. Thanks for coming by Marie.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth period APELCers worked with the Downe text the first hour of the period and an analytical essay by Layla Ayad. I hope third and fifth period were as successful; the notes left by the sub seem to indicate so, but I’ll see for myself on Friday.
I look forward to first revision conferences over the next two days. You’ll be surprised what we can accomplish in five minutes if you’re prepared.
NOTE. I was stunned to see that the three-dimensional apple puzzle that was on the northeast bookshelf had been taken apart and hastily stuffed behind some (poorly) reorganized books. It seemed silly that students would think I wouldn’t notice this and the other obvious disturbances to the room. I’m not sure which period was responsible, but I will find out and mete out consequences.
APELC Class Notes
APELCers, today I asked you to add to your notes with definitions of discourse, speech and text event, and parts of the rhetorical triangle. I attempted to use Barack Obama’s inauguration speech as an example text that we could frame with the rhetorical triangle, but it was too distant in the past for most of your memories, so I took out a standby from last year which most of you knew (if not liked), Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”. (It wasn’t my favorite either, but it worked for our purposes.) The question of audience came up: Who’s the intended audience of the song, a nameless subject in the song itself or the general listening public? I’ll say something of private and public text next time we meet.
Students also began to sign-up for revision conferences. There’re still many of you that need to choose a slot, and they’re limited now. I’ll leave a copy of the sign-up sheet on the extra computer cart where you can sign-up for what times that remain.
I’ve asked you also to select a text for outside reading. Any non-fiction book should do, but here’re two reading lists that might help you make a decision if you’re coming up empty:
- The Modern Library list of the 100 best nonfiction
- Sue Silverman’s list of contemporary literary nonfiction
I’d like you to have made a selection by the end of the week, and I’d like to you to bring the book with you to each class meeting. See me if you have any questions.
APELC Class Notes
Yesterday and today, APELCers, we asked and answered questions “The History Teacher”, by Billy Collins, and we went to the bookstore where you were issued your textbooks. I offered you several definitions of and commented on rhetoric, which helped you clarify the prompt of timed-writing 1. I returned your timed-writings to you, and you began to examine and assess your work. We’ll continue this on Monday.
Have a fine weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, we reviewed different levels of questions we can create when approaching a text critically today and yesterday, and I offered some examples for a favorite piece of mine, Edward Hopper’s Automat.
Fourth period set creating their own questions for the piece, and third and fifth periods created their questions over other texts in the room. We didn’t get to them all, but we may have some time next class. I’ll hand back your papers then, too.
Please be sure to have your IDs with you because we’ll head to the bookstore and get out texts for the year.
See you soon.
APELC Class Notes
We reviewed culture, a little, today before I began to present on Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy, a useful way of classifying how we think that you’ll become very familiar with over the course of the year.
In fourth period, Eli implicitly observed in a questions similarities between analysis and synthesis. I explained that, for our purposes, the former will primarily involve working with evidence within the boundaries of a text while the latter will involve bringing in other information to inform judgments that’ll lead to well-founded evaluation. The difference between analysis and synthesis can be confusing, but we’ll learn to live with that and other ambiguities. Perhaps read the Wikipedia entry on “Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy” for more on the issues surrounding this critical thinking measuring tool.
We’ll apply the taxonomy to various text next time we meet in class, and you’ll also receive your scored timed-writings.
See you then.
APELC Class Notes
APELCers, yesterday and today we reviewed several important points from the Course Outline, and I presented you with foundational concepts that’ll guide our study of language and ideas and inform your composition this year, among them definitions of culture, worldview, schema, and various types of text and signs. Please review these notes carefully (note reviews will become important very soon); although I don’t give “unit” quizzes, I have been thinking of impromptu ways to make students accountable for knowing concepts. Even though they won’t show up on the APELC exam at the end of the year, they’re important and may support your thinking about ideas we encounter during our time together, so I may devise some quick assessment to make sure you’re understanding what you’re being presented.
Until we meet again, why not peruse the “Culture” article at Wikipedia? You may find it informative and interesting. Also, for those who disagree with positions on about my opinions of Inception and Avatar, here’re two opinion pieces (the first more a portal to other sources) about the blockbuster films: “‘Inception’: The Backlash Begins” at The Atlantic, and “Heaven and Nature” at the New York Times.
Have a great weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, welcome to the 2010-2011 school year and Advanced Placement English Language and Composition. Today you completed your first timed-writing; I’ll have them scored and returned to you on Monday.
I asked each class to review, print, and bring the Course Outline to our next class meeting, but I added two more items after the fact. Please see the amended assignment list on your class page. You’ll eventually print all of the items that are currently listed under the Materials section of your class page, the rest actually for Monday, so you may just want to print them now. (I know this may tax your ink and paper supplies, and I will ask you print certain items throughout the year, but never in bulk. Teachers have been asked to make materials available for download by students to save material costs. You might try printing them at the school’s liberry if you need.)
I’ve enjoyed developing special learning communities with each of my nine classes of APELCers since I began my tenure at CDO in 2007, and I look forward to forging unique relationships with you this year.
See you next class.
APELC Summer Reading
Hello 2010-2011 APELCers. I hope you’re all enjoying the summer with your friends and family as much as I am with mine. I wanted to remind you of your summer reading assignments: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad.
You can find them easily at your local public liberry, or you might try Bookman’s. Both are in the public domain and are available online. You can also find audio versions at LibriVox.org in a variety of download packages. (I chose to subscribe to each through iTunes and sync them to my iPod.)
I recommend taking notes on everything from the small facts to the broad ideas as you read and/or listen carefully and thoroughly. (If you don’t already have this habit, now’s a good time to begin to develop it.) Don’t expect to be quizzed on them on the first day of class, but be ready to speak on them intelligently.
I look forward to meeting you in four weeks.
APELC Final Thoughts
APELCers, I hope you’re enjoying your summer. It’s taken me a while (I mentioned in my post to the graduates how easy it is not to post when school’s over), but as is my custom, for those that drop by the site, I wanted to post some thoughts on our year in T-12.
The 2009-2010 school year was by far my most challenging as a teacher. I mentioned in the last days of class I estimated with Marissa’s help that with in-class timed-writings, revisions, cover sheets, text-processes including the re-dos and extra credit, personal narratives and persuasive papers, notes and note reviews, research drafts, and final worldview papers, I read somewhere between 13,000 and 14,000 discrete pages of your written text over the fall and spring semesters. That’s a lot. Here’s a picture of the stack worldview papers, which accounted for only about 6% of the total output of your work that found its way onto my desk and under my pen.
Of course, I never tired of hearing many of you telling me that APELC was one of your most challenging classes in school. And I want to tell you that I was impressed by and appreciated all of your efforts.
If you take away anything from class, I hope it’s that ideas and language are inextricably linked, the latter, obviously, the means by which we express the former, and that successfully communicating your ideas depends primarily on the quality your thinking. I argued that the best thinking begins when one recognizes and moves beyond base assumptions to critical observation, analysis, and evaluation of any text, situation, et cetera. Indeed, this has been the foundation of my teaching and your learning all year, and I hope you’ll encounter your environment and the events and people in it differently, with a critical but courteous and curious mind toward true understanding. I know that many of you already began taking this approach outside of class with your self-reporting back to me often in resigned frustration.
This year more than others, we tackled the metaphysical, ontological, epistemological, and ethical foundations of the various cultures we operate in and which we often take for granted. In particular, I challenged you to think through popular tendencies toward cultural and moral relativism, two concepts that you’ve seen undercut themselves. I suggested that without standards, thinking breaks down, and we could never work toward solutions to our common problems:
- “Burned girl a symbol of Roma hate and hope”
- “Alleged victim of gang rape sentenced to one year in prison”
- “Child Brides Escape Marriage, but Not Lashes”
- “Shocking statistics on ‘female genital mutilation’”
- “Pakistan’s Sex Trade: May You Never Be Uncovered”
- “Bangladesh: 77m poisoned by arsenic in drinking water”
- “Kyrgyzstan crisis: UN says 400,000 displaced by clashes”
- “Darfur death toll rises to two-year high in Sudan”
At least a couple of these are so present as to be immediate in the United States: “Pressure for female genital cutting lingers in the U.S.”, “Modern-Day Slavery on D.C.’s Embassy Row?”. Unfortunately many of the former don’t seem to enjoy widespread concern (except for the occasional individual wearing a “Save Darfur” t-shirt), but the traditional scourges of violence and poverty within our own borders are all too obvious. Examine, for example, the Centers’ for Disease Control information on violence prevention and both the National Poverty Center and Institute for Research on Poverty for more on indigence in the United States. (Remarkably, despite the continuing recession, the United States is witnessing a significant decline in crime.)
But ideas and language are nothing if they’re manifest merely as crass cerebrating and ejaculating. Positive action and intelligent participation is vital to progress. What will you do to make a difference? (More than you peers, I hope more than your peers: “Today’s College Students Lack Empathy”. Is this a result of an inculcation of cultural and moral relativism?)
So fine job on a long year, kids. While we both anxiously await your exam results, I wonder if I did well by you. We’ll find out soon enough, and then we can assess and adjust for the future.
Best to you, and, as always, be yourselves.
Class of ‘10 APELCers
Because I commit myself to posting class notes and assignments every day of the school year, sometimes in two subjects, it’s easy for me to drop the (self-imposed) obligation when summer arrives, and so it may seem strange to be writing this many weeks into summer. As is my custom, though, I want to (belatedly) congratulate all of the graduating senior and two graduating junior APELCers: first period’s Nicole, Trevor, Andy, and Andrew; second period’s Damon, Carl, and Joe; third period’s Ebaa, Joy, Leigh, Elly, Jordan, Kristin, Michael, and Ellie; and fourth period’s Laurel, Bre, and Meg. And congratulations also those seniors who were APELCers as juniors during the 08-09 school year: third period’s Lauren, Nora, Devin/Frank, Jessica, Karen, Keri, and Lil’ Chongs; and fourth period’s Jean-Paul, Smokin’ Tony, Heather, Tim, Angelica, Jordan, my Dawg Doug (he’s got hugs), Daniel, and Andrew.
Best hopes of success to all of you wherever you find yourselves next and in the ensuing years. Make good decisions, think critically, and act conscientiously, please, because I and my family’ll be living in the future you help shape.
If you feel inclined, I’d be happy to hear from you in an email or even a visit (if I’m fortunate enough to still be teaching here) in the future from the front lines of your lives about how you’re changing the world.
And remember, since it gets tougher from here, next time you feel like it’s just one of those days, when you just can’t seem to win, if things don’t turn out the way you planned: Figure something else out, don’t stay down, try again! Yeah!
APELC Class Notes
Juniors, in deference to your interests, I changed up the film today to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the second film based on the original series. It’s got plenty more action and runs like an adventure film, but plenty of essential, existential questions are implied in the plot.
We’re at an end here. I’ll do my best to have your papers to you by next class, and I’ll leave some final thoughts over the year our common progress later in this or the beginning of next week.
See you kids Tuesday and Wednesday.
APELC Class Notes
Same objectives as yesterday. Second began Star Trek: The Motion Picture as did fourth, but not before we enjoyed our last two worldview presentations: Emily F. presented Epicureanism, and Meg made a special visit to tell us about feminism.
Women’s issues in various cultures have been a recurring topic of discussion in APELC because of the number of texts we’ve read where women’s roles and rights are central or relevant. Thinking about Meg’s assessment of and our brief talk about where women the world over stand in 2010, a number of recent articles came to mind that’re worth your time:
- “Has a U.S. Pediatrics Group Condoned Genital Cutting?”,
- “Lawrence Taylor bust shines spotlight on abuse of teen hookers”,
- “Georgian women seek virginity restoration”,
- “Japan sinks (even) lower on gender discrimination report”,
- “Haunted by Congo rape dilemma”,
- “We are not your weapons – we are women (This one’s quite bizarre.)
Emily’s explanation of Epicurus’s idea of an eternal universe inspired me to revisit a lecture in which theologian, philosopher, and apologist William Lane Craig recounts the history of the development of standard cosmology as a theory in the twentieth century and addresses various theories others have proposed to supplant it. Here’s the first of a six-part video version of the lecture; it’s quite technical and mathematically and philosophically dense, and in the end Craig does assert the necessity of a creator in the mold of the Judeo-Christian deity, but it’s utterly fascinating and thorough in its treatment of the subject. Do you have the patience and fortitude?
For another perspective, you might read this an article which attempts to take Craig to task, “Why Steven Hawking’s Cosmology Precludes a Creator”, from the journal Philo. And here’s a piece from Discover which explains further the (dubious, non-verifiable) idea of multiple universes, “Science’s Alternative to an Intelligent Creator: the Multiverse Theory”.
Here’re second and fourth period students my records are showing that haven’t returned The Autobiography of Malcolm X :
- Jade, Victoria, Erica, Jo, Damon, Sam, Alex, Stephanie, Kira, Rhiannon, and Alee;
- Evan, Emily F., Julia, Cassandra, and Eliana.
Please return your books as soon as possible, or let me know as soon as possible that you’ve already returned your book so I can update my gradebook.
SPECIAL THANKS.Eliana brought not one, but two cakes and fresh, homemade salsa to class today. Thanks for the victuals, Eliana. They were delicious!
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed a film, and 2) presented their worldviews.
APELCers, in first period Adam presented the New Age, Sierra Protestantism, Peter Judaism, and Andrew Rastafarianism; and in third, Allie presented Wicca and Ana M. Satanism. We continued Star Trek: The Motion Picture in third period.
Adam’s presentation got me thinking about so-called New Age healing and its bad reputation, and I mentioned to you mucoid plaque, something which our very own Peter in first period described his own experience with class-appropriate-detail. (Please search for “mucoid plaque” at your own risk; remember, the images you find are only casts of proud-displaying-patients’ small intestines, but they’re still pretty gross. And for more on medical pseudo-science, you might follow the links I posted April 20.)
Adam’s talk also inspired me to post this InFact video on New Age energy:
Investigate more at Skeptoid the Skeptic’s Dictionary.
My records are showing that these students still have not returned The Autobiography of Malcolm X in first and third:
- Maddie, Riley, Cody, Chelsea, Trevor, Andrew, and Griffin;
- Ebaa, Allie, Emily M., Kristin O., and Michael.
If I’d made a mistake, please let me know as soon as possible so I can correct it.
See you next Monday when we’ll begin to wrap up the week.
Test Time
With a year’s worth of writing and study behind you, juniors and seniors, most of you are on the north campus as I write this demonstrating your quality. This has been a busy, difficult year filled with victory (”I got four check marks on my paper!”) and doubt (”I only got one check mark and three dot, dot, dots”). If you’re one of the many APELCers who consistently challenged him or herself over the course of the year to think hard and write harder, even if you ultimately decided against taking the exam, be proud of your work. I am.
ITEMS FOUND. Someone tell Wong he left his yearbook in T-12 and that I’ve written on all of the autograph pages, and let Heidi know that she left her camera here and I’ve been taking pictures of individual floor tiles and ceiling panels.
Exam Day Photo
Juniors and seniors, if you’d like to be in the APELC cycle three photo (whether you’re taking the exam or not) be in T-12 at 7:25 tomorrow, that is, Wednesday morning.
Please note, Jack in the Box serves all menu items at all times of the day which means you may bring me an offering of tacos if you’re inclined.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) processed a film, and 2) presented their worldviews.
First period’s last worldview presentations are lined up for Thursday, so today we began watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a film that I very much dig. See the notes I posted last May for more on my ideas about the film as a text for class.
In third period Ellie presented Scientology, Leah and Elizabeth Animism and Shamanism, and Emily the Amish. They were model presentations, and after we also began looking at the film.
Leah’s and Elizabeth’s presentation (and others on animism/shamanism) reminded me of an article I came across a couple of weeks ago, “Wildlife documentaries infringe animals’ privacy, says report”, and the effort in Switzerland to protect the dignity of plants from a couple of years ago, “The Silent Scream of the Asparagus”. Do all living things have the same inherent dignity? Do any living things have inherent dignity at all?
I asked Emily about the West Nickel Mines School shooting four years ago and the deep well of grace the Amish seem to possess. Read and hear more with these two stories, both from NPR: “The Amish Culture of Forgiveness” and “Amish Forgive School Shooter, Struggle with Grief”.
Finally, I asked Ellie about protests in the last several years against the Church of Scientology by Anonymous, a group determined to expose the “religion” as a sham. She mentioned the group’s video announcing their presence and their mission, which I’ve embedded below.
I actually ran into members of Anonymous (wearing Guy Fakwes masks) at the main post office in Tucson some years ago in April when I was dropping-off my income tax papers. they were protesting the Church of Scientology’s tax-exempt status in the United States.
Tomorrow is the APELC exam. Those interested in being part of the APELC pan-class photo should arrive around 7:25 in T-12 so Mr. Street can snap our picture before you head to the north campus to show what you know.
I hope to see you all then.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers presented their worldviews.
In first period Kevin presented Jainism, Andy Communism, and Alex P Vodou; in second Jordan presented Atheism and Jade Rastafarianism; in third Jalyn presented Judaism, Kristin Epicureanism, and Heidi Determinism; and in fourth Janet presented Shinto and Julia Hinduism.
Apropos of Jade’s presentation, I came across this headline the other day: “Rasta inmates spend 10 years in isolation for hair”.
After Jordan’s presentation, Kira wondered if a strictly material universe, the type posited by atheists (generally under the banner of secular humanism or philosophical naturalism), indicated the non-existence of “spirit” or “soul” as we commonly understand them. This is an accurate inference: foundationally, a strictly material universe excludes as real anything non-material.
What’s the consequence of this? Spirit, identity, will, ideas, love, justice, equality, beauty, and so many of the things we take for granted, many of the things on which we base our day to day interactions, even truth, fairness, conscience, and obligation, are mere illusions (indeed, illusions, being non-material, are illusions, too). This point is inarguable. Even if chemical and biological mechanisms are found to generate these non-material phenomena (a paradox), this doesn’t also impart meaning or significance to them. They simply are, a result of determined, natural, and neutral processes This also became important during Heidi’s presentation on Determinism. Read more at The Chronicle: “Soul Talk”. (Notice the assumption of the correctness of the positivists in the first paragraph.)
Remember that if you want to be part of the APELC photo before the exam (whether you’re taking the text or not), meet me at 7:25 Wednesday morning in T-12.
APELC Class Notes
Periods 2 and 4, check your peers’ notes from yesterday for objectives and details, and recall that your revisions for timed-writing 8 and cover sheets are due Monday by 3:30 pm. For the last time this year:
- 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.
Have a fine weekend.