Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 30*

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Imagine if your education was postmodern and didn't follow someone else's curriculum or chronological order.  What would you learn about next and how would you go about it?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Socratic seminar: our postmodern education

HW:
1. Make sure your blog is up to date on the first 5 chapters of Slaughterhouse 5
2. Read Chapter 6 tonight and publish your active reading notes under the title of "SCHLACHTOF (what's German for 6?)"
3. Come to class tomorrow with 3 burning questions you want answered about the book

Monday, April 29, 2013

April 29*

JOURNAL TOPIC:
One of the most extremely postmodern authors of his/our time was Hunter S. Thompson, who (after copying Gatsby word for word) once wrote, "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and to rare to die."

Hunter also wrote, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

You have a choice: either apply the first quote to Billy and/or Kurt Vonnegut, or apply the second to yourself... (more on these options in class)

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Review/discuss S5 chapters/notes

HW:
1. Double-check your active reading notes and comment on >3 of your colleagues'.
2. Read/take notes on Chapters 4 & 5 (and publish to your blog under the title SCHLACHTOF FUNF)

Friday, April 26, 2013

April 26*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Prove that you weren't kidnapped last night, taken to Tralfamadore, and returned this morning in what look like your clothes.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. [!]
3. Discuss Chapter 2
4. Embark on Chapter 3

HW:
1. Finish active reading notes on Chapter 3 & and post to your blog under the headings SCHLACHTOF DREI & SCHLACHTOF VEIR (respectively)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

If Horace Greeley was speaking at your graduation he might tell you to go north.

April 25*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

What makes sense to you about life, and what do you find confusing?  What made sense to you in Chapter 1 of Slaughterhouse Five, and what did you find confusing?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discuss Chapter 1 of Slaughterhouse Five
3. Begin reading Chapter 2 (if time)

HW:
1. Finish reading Chapter 2 of Slaughterhouse Five
2. Publish your active reading notes to your course blog under the title SCHLACHTOF ZWEI
3. Define the word absurd, think of something in life that you find truly absurd, and post both to your course blog under the title THIS IS ABSURD

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

sandwich bag art

Here is the site where I saw this, and here is the entire collection on Flickr.

April 24*

Remember the old days, when not being in class meant not having to think about class?  Those days are long gone.  Even though we won't see each other today (apart from standardized testing), we have a golden opportunity to share ideas about Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.  Please click through the following, compare with your understanding of Chapter One, and don't forget to publish your active reading notes to your course blog (Title: SCHLACHTOF EINS).

As we discussed in class yesterday, postmodernism is characterized by merry rule breakers who:
  • Mess with the reader's sense of time and narrative structure
  • Mess with the "fourth wall" by directly engaging the reader/viewer
  • Mess with the boundaries of non/fiction and occasionally insert themselves as characters
  • Mess with denotation, connotation, conflation and puns
  • Mess with previous genres and social issues through humor
Following are some resources that may help you with Chapter One (pp.1-22).  Please take a moment to see what's of value and feel free to comment.

standardized testing today

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

for mr. denike and teachers/learners everywhere

Some of you knew Mr. Denike or had him as a teacher before he retired.  On his last day as a teacher he stopped by, handed me a book by George Carlin, and said, "Remember: f**k 'em if they can't take a joke."  Mr. Denike was one of those unique individuals who didn't think of teaching/coaching as a job or even a calling.  He simply WAS a learner/thinker/teacher-- in the best, most human sense of the words-- whether he was in a classroom, on the basketball court, or just hanging out over a cup of coffee.  I will miss him and my heart goes out to his family.  Here is a piece from one of his former students that appeared this week in the Santa Maria Times; even though Mr. Denike is no longer with us, the spirit of learning lives:

The true art and beauty of educating

  •  Gabriela Spears-Rico 


It has taken years of reflection to grasp the significance of the impact teachers like Greg DeNike had on my life. He impacted my intellectual growth as a writer, my self-esteem as a person, and the convictions that shaped me well into adulthood.

I was not the typical Advanced Placement student at Arroyo Grande High School. I came from a home broken by alcoholism and domestic violence. I was poor and ashamed of my poverty. I was an immigrant who struggled with learning English and understanding my place in American society. I felt isolated and undeserving as one of the only Mexicans in my AP classes.

I did not always receive support or validation of my dreams to go to college. In fact, another AP teacher actually denied me a letter of recommendation my senior year. Yet, even with my struggles over self-esteem and my feelings of isolation, Mr. DeNike's class was a haven where I could question issues without feeling exiled or silenced, and where I felt that my presence mattered.

These validations might seem insignificant to people who grow up hearing they matter on a daily basis, but they meant the world to a child who felt she had no voice.

I was coming to consciousness about issues of racialization and my identity as a person of color in the United States, and I often felt ridiculed for expressing differences of opinion in other classes. I struggled to find my voice, and did so in Mr. DeNike's class.

Mr. DeNike promoted diversity in a way that few teachers at AGHS did. In his class, I felt free to express my feelings of isolation from American society. 

Mr. DeNike welcomed my perspective. He felt that students like me had invaluable lessons to offer. On one occasion, I wrote a commentary to the school newspaper about stereotypical caricatures of Mexican American students in the ASB plays. My article caused much controversy and anger. I was mocked for writing the piece, and most teachers said nothing. Mr. DeNike actually used the controversy as a teaching moment in his class, praising the piece for its stylistic strength and asking my classmates to consider how my article spoke to certain issues. Mr. DeNike publicly praised me for the piece at a moment I felt ostracized by the school, validating my voice and my writing.

Now that I am in the process of writing a dissertation, I realize I still use many of the strategies and writing lessons Mr. DeNike taught me in AP English. To this day, I find myself thinking of him when I use a metaphor or hyperbole in my writing. In those moments, I think of the stern, yet humorous and compassionate way Mr. DeNike taught his students. We engaged in critical and analytical thought. We laughed at his jokes, and we knew to shape up when he gave us a stern look.

On the last day of classes my senior year, I visited Mr. DeNike's classroom to ask him to sign my yearbook, and he gave me a copy of John Nichols' “The Milagro Beanfield War” as a graduation gift. He thought I might enjoy critiquing Nichols, yet what stayed with me was a line from Zora Neale Hurston that Mr. DeNike wrote in his inscription, "Go forth and 'jump at the sun,' Gabby. Go get 'em at Stanford!"

Had it not been for teachers like Mr. DeNike, who saw potential in my writing and who encouraged me to love myself despite all I had endured, I don't think I would have accomplished everything I have. I think he would be very proud that the defiant Mexican girl in his AP English class, a product of migrant education and ESL programs, has become a published poet and a Ph.D. student.

It is because of teachers like Mr. DeNike that I learned to jump at the sun.

April 23*

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Welcome to postmodernism, where time and traditional boundaries of storytelling are bent, blurred, and ridiculed.  One of the things we'll study is how story tellers in all media use elements of previously produced works (viva la remix!).  For example, the video below made the Internet rounds in 2011; now it's back as background music in a commercial.  Write a short biographical story in which the singer is the protagonist; you can either explain his song or presence on the show in a narrative plot that includes exposition, rising action, a climax, and falling action/resolution/denouement, OR you can imagine how a Russian TV personality came to be trapped into singing in a convenience store freezer.  (OR you can hijack the narrative altogether and create your own premise.)





AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Return Gatsby tests
3. Introduce postmodernism
4. Kurt Vonnegut & Slaughterhouse Five

HW:
1. Read Chapter 1 of Slaughterhouse Five (pp.1-22)
2. Post ten active reading notes (points of dis/agreement, points of dis/like, and questions) to your course blog under the title "SCHLACHTHOF EINS" (bonus if you translate and explain)

standardized testing today

Monday, April 22, 2013

April 22*

JOURNAL TOPIC:
[Today this is HW-- after you finish tonight's essay, please reflect on the experience in your journal.  How did you do?  What will you have to do in order to improve before the end of the semester?]

AGENDA:
1. Gatsby final exam

HW:
1. Please publish your answer to the Gatsby essay prompt below on your course blog
2. Journal


GATSBY ESSAY (adapted from CollegeBoard)


In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much “the reader’s friend as the protagonist’s.” However, the author sometimes uses this character for other purposes as well.

What are the various ways Nick Carraway functions in The Great Gatsby?  How does he help give us the tour through Gatsby's world?  How does he help us get to know Jay Gatsby?  How does his presence change the course of the plot, the interactions between other characters, and/or the reader's understanding of the tone and theme of the novel?  What else (if anything) do you think Carraway's character accomplishes?  How would the book be different if the narration was provided by an anonymous, omniscient voice?

Sunday, April 21, 2013

you want to learn slaughterhouse 5 from beka

Apparently Casey wasn't the only RHS reader to whom Vonnegut mattered.  Learn more at her Eng Lit Comp blog.


so it goes

Words matter to people.  And you never know which ones will make a powerful impression.  Casey Harms (RHS '09) came back to show me how he'd taken Vonnegut's words to heart (and right arm).



April 22*

1. Hope you finished Gatsby.
2. Tighten your seat belts.  The ride through time, Dresden and Tramalfador can be quite a ride.

So it goes.

Friday, April 19, 2013

please reach out

Hey, check this out (sorry for not posting sooner, Teanna!)

April 19*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

How do you think Gatsby ends?  (If you've already finished the novel, describe your reaction-- did you see it coming?)

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discuss chapter 7
3. Begin chapter 8

HW:
1. Finish the book and publish your reflective active reading notes (title: THE END OF GATSBY)
2. Create your own characters that are modern versions of the characters in The Great Gatsby.  Write a short story in which these characters embody the social rituals of today's society.  (For example, you can substitute proms/grad nights/quinceaneras for Gatsby's parties.  You can also have fun imitating FSF's writing style, like Key & Peele did.)  *You can also hack the assignment (put the story on Mars, write as a poem, or [?]) as long as you demonstrate your understanding of what FSF did and how he did it. (Thanks for the idea, Ashlie!)

April 18*-- no class today due to standardized testing

April 19*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

How do you think Gatsby ends?  (If you've already finished the novel, describe your reaction-- did you see it coming?)

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discuss chapter 7
3. Begin chapter 8

HW:
1. Finish the book and publish your reflective active reading notes (title: THE END OF GATSBY)
2. Create your own characters that are modern versions of the characters in The Great Gatsby.  Write a short story in which these characters embody the social rituals of today's society.  (For example, you can substitute proms/grad nights/quinceaneras for Gatsby's parties.  You can also have fun imitating FSF's writing style, like Key & Peele did.)  *You can also hack the assignment (put the story on Mars, write as a poem, or [?]) as long as you demonstrate your understanding of what FSF did and how he did it. (Thanks for the idea, Ashlie!)


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

April 17*

JOURNAL TOPICS:

Reflect on today's tests.  What was the point?  How well did you do?  What do these tests suggest about you as a learner and/or school as an institution?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. No quiz on chapter 6 (3 hrs of answering questions is enough for one day)
3. Begin chapter 7

HW:
1. Finish chapter 7
2. Publish active reading notes on chapter 7 to your blog

standardized testing today


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

April 16*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

What do you think Gatsby's secret is? (Who IS this guy, really?) What do you think about the way he courts Daisy and tries to impress Nick?

AGENDA:
1. Chapter 5 quiz
2. Discuss ch. 5 & begin ch. 6

HW:
1. Finish reading ch.6
2. Publish ch.6 active reading notes to your blog

Monday, April 15, 2013

April 15*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

[choose your own for HW]

Here are a couple of quotes worth considering if you need a start:

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain."
- Frederick Schiller

"Without ambition one starts nothing; without hard work one finishes nothing."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

AGENDA:
1. Chapter 4 quiz
2. Discuss ch. 4 & begin ch. 5

HW:
1.  Journal
2. Finish reading ch.5
3. Publish ch.5 active reading notes to your blog

Friday, April 12, 2013

what's in a name?

Today in class there was some discussion about the detail with which Fitzgerald reports on the guests at Gatsby's parties.  A taste:

From East Egg, then, came the Chester Beckers and the Leeches and a man named Bunsen whom I knew at Yale and Doctor Webster Civet who was drowned last summer up in Maine. And the Hornbeams and the Willie Voltaires and a whole clan named Blackbuck who always gathered in a corner and flipped up their noses like goats at whosoever came near. And the Ismays and the Chrysties (or rather Hubert Auerbach and Mr. Chrystie's wife) and Edgar Beaver, whose hair they say turned cotton-white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all.

Clarence Endive was from East Egg, as I remember. He came only once, in white knickerbockers, and had a fight with a bum named Etty in the garden. From farther out on the Island came the Cheadles and the O. R. P. Schraeders and the Stonewall Jackson Abrams of Georgia and the Fishguards and the Ripley Snells. Snell was there three days before he went to the penitentiary, so drunk out on the gravel drive that Mrs. Ulysses Swett's automobile ran over his right hand. The Dancies came too and S. B. Whitebait, who was well over sixty, and Maurice A. Flink and the Hammerheads and Beluga the tobacco importer and Beluga's girls.

This sort of exposition conveys the zeitgeist and culture that permeates a particular community and set of social rituals. The names that Fitzgerald chose (and the descriptions & back stories) create a sense of reality while simultaneously commenting on it.

Here is a contemporary twist:


an author wants to know what you think of digital college essays

Mitchell Fielder sent me the following email about this article he wrote about tech & college essays/ admissions processes.  Please comment to this post with your impressions.


Thursday, April 11, 2013

April 12*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

What would Montag think about living on East Egg?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Chapter 3 quiz
3. Reading/discussion

HW:
1. Read ch.4
2. Publish ch.4 active reading notes to your blog

April 11*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Describe your first impressions of Gatsby.  What do you think of Nick, Tom, and Myrtle?  How do you see their neighborhood and their lifestyles?  Are they happy?  Are they worthy role-models?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Quiz
3. Continue reading

HW:
1. Read Chapter 3
2. Publish active reading notes (questions, reactions, observations) to your course blog

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

April 10*

JOURNAL TOPIC: (today's tunes [they're back!]  "Resignation Superman" by Big Head Todd & The Monsters; "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon; "My Hero" by Foo Fighters)

Write a vignette featuring a sock puppet-as-hero.  (Whether s/he's a traditional hero, a tragic hero, an anti-hero, or your kind of hero is up to you.)

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Quiz
3. Gatsby: intro, recap ch.1, read ch.2

HW:
1. Finish ch.2 and read ch.3

Monday, April 8, 2013

registration for 2013-14

This is a reminder that juniors in this course will register for next year's courses during periods 1 & 2 tomorrow (Tuesday, April 9) and Wednesday. 

Please bring whatever paperwork/ideas/questions you already have and make sure to get the information, paperwork, and courses you need.  Tomorrow we will meet in the Sword & Shield; Wednesday we will meet in 608 and the guidance techs will summon students who still need to register.

April 8*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

What did you forget about this class over Spring Break, and how will you remember it now?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Essay

ESSAY TOPIC
Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using
characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender,
race, class, or creed. Choose a play or novel (BRAVE NEW WORLD)

in which such a character plays a significant role, and show how that 
character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and 
moral values. 

HW:
1. Reflect on your writing performance today.  What did you do well and what could you have done better?

Friday, April 5, 2013

what year is this?

"A group of four teenage girls in Rochelle, Ga., are raising money to hold an integrated prom. Which raises the question, 'What year is this?'"

Rest of the story here.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

March 27-28*

JOURNAL TOPIC:

This is one topic for two days.  Part I of your story should be on Wednesday, Part II should be on Thursday.

Write a poem or short story in the style of your Modernist author.  Reflect back on your author's choice of subject, tone (humorous?  melancholy?  angry?), and syntax (to the point? flowery/descriptive?).  Your story must include the following ingredients: a classroom full of students, a professional drummer, and a sock puppet named Reginald.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. BRAVE NEW WORLD

HW:
1. Finish BNW

14 words that are their own opposites

Check out these most efficient contradictions in terms.