English Class Notes
Second period freshmens completed “The Most Dangerous Game” and continued to work on their Chain of Events graphic organizer; seventh period began the story and we had some discussion of Rainsford’s assertion about animals and “hunters and the hunted”. I hope we can finish next class and be roughly caught up with second period. We’ll see.
English 9 Class Notes
Second period freshmens began our new story “The Most Dangerous Game”, and got quite far, but the freshmens in seventh period spent time with me going over the incidents of Wednesday afternoon: Many students didn’t complete their work, few even really tried; rather, most tried to submit barely passable work and then decided to play in classroom, with its artifacts, and with each other. The mystery of the 3D apple puzzle was solved (almost), but there are still many details about the day that I need to uncover, which I’ll do by next class. Students had the opportunity to re-do their work, which took much of the hour. Seventh period will begin the story next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Second period freshmens practiced answering some final questions over “Rules of the Game” using the rubric I introduced as a guide. Here it is:
- Four (4) points for a conscious answer with a credible and meaningful point sentence of at least 20 words, an illustration sentence of at least 30 words that supports the point sentence with focused and detailed evidence, and a thorough and insightful explanation sentence that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains no serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Three (3) points for a passable answer with a requisite point sentence of at least 20 words, an illustration sentence of at least 30 words that supports the point sentence with general evidence, and a standard explanation sentence that connects the illustration to or extends the point; the answer contains few serious or obvious conventions errors.
- Two (2) points for an answer with a questionable point sentence, an illustration sentence that supports the point sentence with incomplete evidence, and an explanation sentence that does little to connect the illustration to or extend the point, or is merely the point or illustration reworded; the answer contains serious, obvious conventions errors.
- One (1) point for a spare answer with less than the required number of sentences or words in sentences, or little evidence of thought or effort, with serious, obvious conventions errors.
- Work took some time, after which I administered a multiple-choice quiz over the story. We began to to discuss plot as a way of entering the new story we’ll begin next class, and students finished the period reading silently.
I inferred from the sub’s notes, the work that was left in the basket, and the condition of the room when I returned for Open House that seventh period was not able to successfully follow the instructions I left. I’ll attend this Friday.
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.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we completed our discussion of “Rules of the Game” today by reviewing the Guided Reading questions and completing the graphic organizers in which you described the conflicts Waverly experiences during the story and compared and contrasted the personality traits of Waverly and her mother. I quizzed second period over the story, but we ran up against the clock in seventh and so you’ll complete the quiz Wednesday.
Next class you’ll have an opportunity to wrap-up the story with some final questions and we’ll begin the succeeding selection in the textbook. Be sure to bring your independent reading book with you when we meet again; actually, bring it every time we meet.
See you soon.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, Thursday and Friday I gave you the opportunity to finish your guided reading questions over the Tan piece and we went to the liberry for orientation and book checkout. We’ll pick-up with the graphic organizers I gave you (second period, not seventh, yet), next class.
Until Monday, here’s a brief clip from the Associated Press, “San Francisco’s Chinatown Funeral Bands”, that may offer some insight into the setting and culture of our recent short story:
Seventh period students who borrowed books, don’t forget I need them by second hour Monday.
Have a nice couple of days off.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we talked about culture and identity today: Many of you shared that you enjoy varied ethnic heritage from nations such as Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Germany, Ireland, and Spain, among others. The melding of cultures is addressed in your reading of “Rules of the Game”, which you read and answered several questions over to check your understanding. We’ll discuss your answer to these questions next class, and we’ll also head to the liberry for orientation and book checkout.
See you next time.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, I introduced you to a method of meeting a text today in which you examined and summarized some of the background information presented to you in the literature textbook you be using all year long. It might seem tedious now, but you’ll practice this with every text we encounter together and will help scaffold (a fancy teacher-term) your reading. You also wrote down several questions for which you’ll find answers as you read to check your comprehension.
You’ll begin reading “Rules of the Game” next class.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, we spent our second day together reviewing the Course Outline and I instructed you on how to adequately construct answers to questions using, essentially, PIE paragraphs. PIE is acronym for Point, Illustration, Explanation. I gave you synonyms for each of these too, that we’ll slowly incorporate into our class lexicon.
I gave you a brief tour of my life, and so I thought I’d leave a few links to pages for you to peruse. The Galapagos Islands were the most interesting places I’ve lived, so here’re some sites that contain information about the islands:
- Galapagos National Park Service
- Galapagos Conservancy
- Charles Darwin Foundation and Charles Darwin Research Station
Maybe you’ll find yourself in the islands one day as a tourist or possibly a researcher.
Have a great weekend.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmens, welcome to high school and English 9 with me, your teacher, Rob Girard. I surprised you with an essay today, one in which you wrote about a text of your choice from your previous English language arts experiences in middle school. That took most of the period, but I had time to point out your homework, which you can find on your class page. Remember, if you have an issue with printing, see me.
I look forward to a productive year reading, thinking, and writing with you.
See you next time.
English 9 Final Thoughts
Freshmens, it’s been a while since I said I would, and even though many of you would never come by the old site if you didn’t have to, I wanted to post some reflections on our year together anyway, and offer some inspiration for next year and beyond.
None of you knew what to expect when you walked into T-12 the fall semester. The standard English fare (read a story, complete a quiz, answer some questions, compose a paragraph of two) was familiar enough too you, but I demanded more from you than I knew others had required of you in the past. I wanted as much of your brain as you could spare from your other classes. I wanted you to take English seriously (unfortunately the discipline has a bad for reputation) and I wanted you to ask and answer serious questions of what you encountered when you met an author in conversation over his or her text and consider their implications outside the text in our modern daily lives, thus my constant questioning of your assumptions of truth and falsity, right and wrong, and so on.
It was a tough year to be sure, but I congratulate each one of you that made it to the end successfully. I’ll miss our interactions (and Vic’s cooking and baking, but maybe not AJ’s questions so much), and I wish you all the success your talents and ambition allow next year and those following.
If you get down or feel defeated, don’t give up, there’s nothing wrong with just being yourself, that’s more than enough.
Have a great rest of your summer. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to see you next year.
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmen, I reviewed the details of the final again and all of you concurred that you understood the expectations. I’ll look forward to your success on Thursday.
We watched several clips from the film adaptation of Of Mice and Men. I wish we’d had time to view it in its entirety with a more critical eye to compare and contrast Gary Sinise’s vision of John Steinbeck’s drama to the latter’s original, but the entire film is available for screening online. And here it is:
I’ll leave some final thoughts here later in the week or the beginning of next, but now I encourage you to prepare as best you can for your composition on Thursday.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen 1) identified and explained literary concepts in a novel, and 2) compared and contrasted a dramatic adaptation of a novel with its source.
We spent today completed our novel today, and we discussed George’s actions at the end: Did he do right by Lennie? Did he have the right to act as he did? These are difficult questions to answer, but more questions like these and others await you as you mature. How will you respond to them? Responsibly and with care? I hope.
Before we began viewing the 1992 film adaption of the story, I covered the details of your final. They’re posted on your class page; please take time to examine them and prepare for next Thursday.
SPECIAL THANKS. AJ delivered pepperoni pizza to fourth period today which was a delightful, delicious surprise. Thanks, AJ, for your thoughtful follow-through. And I’d also like to thank Val Linda and her friends for sharing their cupcakes, too. What a food day it was in T-12.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained literary concepts in a novel.
Freshmens, we read the climax of our story today, and we discussed Curley’s wife. Is she a sympathetic character? We’ll finish the text Friday and begin watching a great film adaptation of the novel in which we’ll see actors’ interpretations of the characters.
Note that on Friday I’ll also share with you the details for your final assessment.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen identified and explained literary concepts in a novel.
We nearly completed chapter 4 today and we discussed Crooks interaction with Lennie, and you noted that the every one of the men who could potentially share in George and Lennie’s stake have some physical, intellectual, or spiritual handicap. Lennie, obviously, intellectually disabled. Candy is missing a hand and near the end of his life. Crooks, who wants in after hearing Lennie shares his and George’s dream, has a broken back and is shunned because of his race. George is paying penance for his formerly cruel treatment of Lennie, who now limits George’s activity by his presence. All of these men are looking for a place to be.
We’ll complete the story next time.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen explained and identified literary concepts in a novel.
We continued our novel and completed chapter 3. We discussed the changing tone of the piece, the setting, and imagery in particular; then I set you to the task of answering very broad level 2 questions (you don’t know why I call them such, but some of you will if I’m fortunate enough to teach you APELC your junior years) about those same things.
Have a fine weekend, and please attend your homework, the last official assignment of the year.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen explained and identified literary concepts in a novel.
Freshmens, we completed the second chapter of our novel today and began the third. We discussed in depth the characters of Candy, Slim, and Curley, and the various conflicts revealed in the novel to this point, including that in the initial exposition of George and Lennie “running out of Weed”. Fernando pointed out that the anecdote of Slim’s dog’s puppies seemed to highlight the difference between the strong and the weak, those who can take care of themselves and those who can not; we’ll revisit this Friday as we examine the incident with Candy’s dog and Carlson’s solution to its misery.
Astute thinking today, kids. I like it.
We’ll pick up the story in a couple of days.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen explained and identified literary concepts in a novel.
We continued reading and listening too Of Mice and Men today, freshmens. I asked you to examine closely the new characters we meet in the second chapter, and we were just about to meet Curley’s wife before we ran out of time. We’ll continue on Wednesday.
See you then.
English 9 Class Notes
Objectives: Freshmen explained and identified literary concepts in a novel.
We began reading and listening too Of Mice and Men today, freshmens, the novel that’ll take us to the end of the year. It is not the story of two gay men as you now know, but it’s a great piece of literature. We concluded watching the video we began on Wednesday to close the class. You do not need to read over the weekend, but be prepared to continue the book Monday.
Have a fine weekend.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective: Freshmen contextualized America during the Great Depression.
Freshmens, we watched most of Riding the Rails, an American Experience documentary about teens who left their homes to live and travel as nomads on America’s railroad trains during the Great Depression. We began when I asked you to consider what you’d have to give up if you were to leave home at your ages now. Your answers included friends, comfort, indulgences, security, and more, and you compared your own lives to those of the teen hobos you experienced as you watched the film.
You had time to begin reading Of Mice and Men, the story of two friends and Depression-era migrant workers in northern California, for the last twenty or so minutes of class. We’ll finish the film Friday and begin our examination of the novel. The film engendered thoughts of a favorite, romantic song about, the City of New Orleans, by folkie Steve Goodman. I tried to find a video with Goodman singing his signature song and couldn’t, but I found a version by Johnny Cash that’s pretty tasty:
See you next class, kids.
Tutoring this Week
Freshmen, juniors, and seniors: Remember that this week I’ll be in computer lab 2 for tutorial. Please enter from the outside door.
APELCers can pick-up timed-writing 8 if they’ve not yet done so, and all juniors and seniors can sign-up for a revision conference then as well. Those that sign-up for Wednesday or Thursday conferences this week will confer with me in the liberry after tutoring.