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
Objective: APELCers completed a synthesis essay.
As the objective states so you did, juniors and seniors. Today’s essay was a practice essay and you’ll complete two more next class followed my a multiple-choice practice at the end of the week. We’ll complete the worldview presentations the week after this and talk over some final details for the APELC exam on May 12.
I’d mentioned LIFE’s 100 Photographs That Changed the World to students I’ve been conferring with over timed-writing 8. I think that rather than being a limitation to learning, photographs can be an invitation to learning, as I discussed with Ariel during her conference, so I’d encourage you to explore more of nation and world through their photographic histories. Here’re some portals:
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
- The Library of Congress American Memory Home (photos and other media)
- Library of Congress’ Historic Photos (Flickr pilot project)
- Shorpy Historic Photo Archive
The Big Picture at The Boston Globe and The Frame at The Sacramento Bee are two excellent photo blogs that document current events around the world with large, bold images.
REMINDER. Kevin, Kate, and Priscilla, I’d like to borrow your original timed-writing 7 drafts for tomorrow (Tuesday), if I could. Thanks. You’re CDO’s greatest treasures.
APELC Class Notes
Same objective as yesterday (as it will be the remainder of the week). Chelsea presented Transhumanism, Nicole Mormonism, Griffin Objectivism, and Cody Shamanism, in first; and Elly also presented transhumanism, Ana T. Rastafarianism, Brigette Shinto, and Joy Romanticism, and third. Neat presentations.
Joy’s talk on Romanticism brought to mind one of the most celebrated of French Romantic paintings (and a personal favorite), Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa:
I encountered this painting in my undergraduate career in 1993, along with other Romantic and Neo-classic art that fired my imagination. I’ve since seen it twice in person at the Louvre in Paris where it hangs in the same gallery as The Oath of the Horatii and Liberty Leading the People (all of which and more share the same floor with the Mona Lisa). I’m looking forward to seeing these again with some of you next year.
Ana’s presentation and her mention of Rasta stereotypes and that some poorly-intended novitiates may claim the Rastafarian worldview merely as an excuse to partake in certain “sacraments” made me think of one of my favorite SNL Digital Shorts from The Lonely Island:
Revision conference sign-up for timed-writing 8 is now open and you can either write your names in before or during school in T-12 or after school in the liberry.
APELC Class Notes
Same objective as yesterday. Today Kevin presented Conservatism, Chad Liberalism, Stephanie Animism, and Carl Taoism in second, and Bre presented Animism, Andrea Wicca, Laurel Baptist Christianity, Katherine Quaker faith, and Libby Islam in fourth. Pretty good presentations, and I hope students were left with more questions than answers. Ten minutes does little justice to systems of thoughts that have existed for and have been developed over hundreds, let alone thousands of years, so I encourage everyone to do some investigating on their own before making important judgments.
One thing that came up during Laurel’s presentation was the claim that Christian believers are anti-intellectual since they rely on the Bible as their authoritative text, that they eschew scientific, philosophical, and other types learning. I think the main problem has to do with the very media-friendly controversy over creationism and evolution in schools which has become the focus of the culture war. And stereotypes abound, the most popular that all “fundamental” Christians believe the Earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old. This isn’t true; there are a variety of ideas about creation. Brian Dunning laid them all out in the Skeptoid episode “What Do Creationists Really Believe?”.
Further, one need only look to this list of Christian thinkers in science to see the number of famous believers who sought to understand the mind of their God by examining what they call the general revelation, or the world. (Don’t stop there, though; take time to examine the lists of thinking believers and non-believers to understand the breadth of inquiry by people of all stripes.)
Libby’s presentation was timely considering the controversy over South Park’s recent 200th and 201st episodes, the creators’ answer (along with episodes 142 and 143) to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy: “‘Muhammad’ now a dirty word on ‘South Park’”. Historically, and more importantly, Qur’anically, depictions of Muhammad aren’t forbidden. (In fact, I discovered that Muhammad appears in a frieze on the Supreme Court of the United States building.) Here’s an 14th century illustration from Jami’ al-Tawarikh in which Muhammad receives the revelation from the angel Gabriel:
And this week’s dust-up over South Park doesn’t appear to be settling; indeed, reaction seems only to be growing: “‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!’ grows in reaction to ‘South Park’”.
Which shirt will I wear on Monday? Light blue? Yellow? Dark blue? White? Darkest blue? You’ll have to see then.
Have a great weekend, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Second and fourth juniors and seniors, we covered the same ground as your period 1 and 3 peers yesterday. Check their notes for objectives and details.
Fourth period did have a special impromptu presentation by Natalie in which she showed-off her Irish step-dancing talents. It was neat and made me think of the following existential questions: What is art?, What is diversion?, What are bodies?, What are our physical limits?, What is movement?, Why do we move? What moves us?, and What animates us? Good job kid; we were impressed.
Here’s an example of the Irish step-dance by American Jean Butler, famously of Riverdance:
Cool stuff.
No homework, and I thank you for patience ahead of time as I work to score all of your papers.
Have a great weekend.