period 5 big questions

Alvaro: How does the world of video gaming meet our basic need for competition?

Mario: Why is it that so many Americans are obese when so many around the world are starving?

Andrea: Why is there still racism in America, when everyone came here to get away from segregation and fit in?

Elizabeth: How do I grow two plants from the same branch?

Jesus: What makes us human?  What separates us from other animals and why do we feel emotions?

Beatrice: What do people do with leftover food?  How can we use it to help those in need?

Victoria: Why do males and females have different standards for sexual conduct?

Angel: Where does a black hole take you?

Isaiah: Why does the sun give off so much heat?

Avelina: What is the purpose of life?

Ruby: Why don't people care more about being with family for the holidays?

Cynthia: Why do I have to get good grades?

Amy: Why are there so many hate crimes?

Adamari: Why are elephants treated cruelly in captivity even though they're smart and well-trained?

Elyssa: Why are we forced to grow up so quickly and choose what we want to do / be in high school?

Carlos: What's the reason to be alive?

Michael: Was 9/11 an inside job?

Andrew: Why are we expected to figure out our career right after high school?

Ricky: How big is our galaxy?

Edmundo: What happens after death?

Noelia: Why do so many people judge others harshly?

Tanya: Why is the alphabet organized the way it is?

Yamile: What is being done to cure cancer?

Isaias: Would you believe in what you believe if you were the only one believing it?

Devin: How was Earth made?

Alex: Why are we considered adults at 18?

Dom: What inspires me?

Jesus: How am I going to lose weight? 

Uri: How can a freshman in college make $3.1M?

David: How can video games help in medicine?

Jose: Are we really human or characters in a virtual reality simulation?

period 4 final

Quotes of the Day:

"Smells better than IHOP in here!"

"I brought half eggs and half chorizo because I'm half white and half Mexican."

period 4 big questions

Cesar: Why do people think they can't get better when in reality they actually can?  How can we overcome this?

Eric: How much of the Earth's water is yet to be discovered?

Daniel: How would we tell time if it didn't exist?

Isaac: How can I decide on a career?

Adan: Why do people doubt that there is life somewhere in the universe besides Earth?

Giselle: Why are there so many homeless people?

Ana: Why are so many people so judgmental?

Michelle: Why is there so much racism in the world?

Jackeline: Why do we get homework when we spend most of our day in school?

Roxy: Is time real or is it just a concept?

Cassidy: Where do actors and actresses find the characters in themselves?

Angelina: Is heaven real?

Kaylee: How was the Earth created?

Claudia: How can we move forward in life if we dwell on the past?

E.J. : How do sports help people communicate and get to know each other?

Sokratis: Why does the world around us work the way it does?

Angel: Why do we develop our ways of thinking?

Jose: Why doesn't society succeed?  Why can't people agree?

Robert: Why are there so many different religions in the world?

Blake: Was President Bush in on the attack on 9/11?

Trevor: Why do people procrastinate?

Leo: Was America ever really great?

Alicia: Why are people afraid to show the real person inside themselves?

Cynthia: How can I find which career I want to pursue?

Araceli: What will the future hold for me?

period 3 big questions

[Stay tuned to this space; later today I will post each class member's Big Question along with a link to his/her blog.  I'll do the same for each period at the end of each final session.  On Friday I will post "Big Questions / Next Steps" -- this will be your guide for the break.]

Satchel: Why do we need a national government?  Why can't we have 50 state governments?

Carlos: How is my future going to be?

Luis: What can I do to be successful?

Jocelyn: What makes things funny?

Natalia: How will I be after Grizzly Academy?

Emigdia: How can we decrease abortion?

Abigail: Will I actually get my sh*t together?

Jason: What makes a sports team great and what makes it fall?

Victor: Will God ever send another prophet?

Nicol: What will life be like after I graduate?

Ofelia: Why do people fight and why can't they control their anger?

Marcos: What does my future hold?

Jay: What makes people nice and mean at the same time?

Jose: Who organized the alphabet?

Luis: Is there an afterlife?

Chris: Why is life hard?

Robert: What is the best way to pursue my goal of becoming a police officer?

Alex: Is there life on other planets?

Katie: What will my future be like after I graduate?

Vivian: Why do certain animals have specific behaviors?

Maria: What will my future be like after I graduate?

Angel: Why do we have nuclear bombs if we're not going to use them?

Richard: Why does music have such a big impact on people?

Kleiff: What will my future be like?

Jaime: Why do teachers give final exams?

Etzell: What would life be without music?

Elvis: What will life be like after high school?

period 3 final

Quote of the day:

"This is a third generation recipe, and I nearly burned the house down-- so enjoy!"

period 6 big questions

[Stay tuned to this space; later today I will post each class member's Big Question along with a link to his/her blog.  I'll do the same for each period at the end of each final session.  On Friday I will post "Big Questions / Next Steps" -- this will be your guide for the break.]

Demi: How can you use handwriting or speech accents to profile a person?

Paola: How does the human body work & how can I become a neonatal nurse?

Arielle: How does the human body respond to surgery?

Jorge: Why do some colors match and some colors clash?  How do we see beauty?

Jish: What's beyond the galaxy?

Jesus: What can we learn about human anatomy?

Yasmin: Why is it that children hurt the most during family problems?

Leo: Why are so many people homeless and starving when there are so many rich people?

Polo: If man evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Bruno: What do I need to learn to become a mechanic for Nissan?

Danny: How can one small change in history alter the course of world events?

Angel: Am I on the right track in life?

Regina: Why do we do things?  Why do we follow orders?

Axel: Who killed Biggie and Tupac?

Lionel: How do we win?  What are some successful strategies for gaming life?

Anahi: Will school get harder?

Joe: How can we explore the fifth dimension?

David: What is time?  What is the point of immortality?

Angel: Is this world actually part of a big video game?

Maira: Is heaven real?

Edgar: Why do people wear clothes?

Elizabet: Are we reincarnated?

Esperanza: Why are people lazy?

Daniela: Why do people lie?

Neri: Why are things designed as they are?

Maria: Why are we here?

Lesly: How was the universe and everything in it created?

Madi: Are ghosts real?

period 6 final

Many thanks to period 6 for a great kickoff to finals week!  Everyone agreed this was the best food they'd ever had in a classroom, and we learned a lot about each other and our Big Questions (more on that in the next post).  Thank you for a great semester!  Looking forward to seeing periods 2 & 3 tomorrow.

december 13

JOURNAL TOPIC:
[force of habit. still, I'm wondering: are you thinking anything interesting?  bet you are.  or maybe you're just wondering why I'm not capitalizing anything here ee cummings style.  what if you got in the habit of writing your thoughts down on a regular basis without being asked?  what would that do for you?]

AGENDA:
1. Return/discuss essays
2. Final planning & big questions

HW:
Be a better person today than you were yesterday.

just so you know i wasn't kidding

After making those comments in class just now I looked back to see if I could find this... Check out the date.  At least once a semester ever since.

december 12

JOURNAL TOPIC:
[Just kidding.]

AGENDA:
1. Return/discuss essays
2. Summative assessments for the semester
3. Planning for the week

december 9: fall semester final essay prompt

According to author Salman Rushdie:

"A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep." 

Ordinarily, a student's job is more like, "Get to class on time, do your homework, stay out of trouble, get good grades, and make adults proud of you."

Today you are a poet.

Analyze Rushdie's quote and contribute your own verse(s).  Write an essay in which you explain yourself as a learner in this course.  Describe how reading the texts and listening to discussion has advanced your thinking and enabled you to more effectively participate in the world outside high school.  In the process, address as many of the elements below as you can.  Please remember to do a pre-write (heaven knows you'll need to organize this!) and if you use this semester's vocabulary words please underline them.

• Explain the theme, tone, and mood you associate with Rushdie's words, and analyze in terms of diction and syntax
• Address ethos, pathos, and logos as rhetorical tools (and use your own truthful premises and sound reasoning to persuade the reader)
• Explain how the juxtaposition of this quote with the role of the student addresses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
• Include at least three examples of literary devices and/or quotes (with citations) from this semester's readings that illustrate and/or support your points

Please make sure to use blue or black ink.  Please write on one side of the paper only and write your name on all pages you submit.  Please (please, PLEASE) proofread for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  And-- however perverse this may strike you-- have fun.  You have learned a great deal this semester; this is your hour to show off.

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/salmanrush107281.html

healthy kids survey

Please take the Healthy Kids Survey.  If you'd like the grade bump on your final (and why wouldn't you?!?) please complete the survey and post the the image on the last page (see below) to your blog by Monday morning.

Here's how to take the survey and post the image:

1. Go to surveys.wested.org/chks/YD696PW?lang=en
2. Enter School Code (case sensitive): WQ27QE
3. Take the survey
4. Take a screen shot of the last page and post to your blog.  It looks like this:

december 8

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Beginnings" by Chicago]

This is your last journal entry for the semester.

What have you learned in this course so far?  About English/rhetoric/story/communication?  About learning?  About yourself and what you want out of life?  About [?]?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Final review

HW:
Get a good night's sleep and look forward to tomorrow's exam in a post entitled WOW, THAT WAS QUICK

december 7

JOURNAL TOPIC:
*Surprise!* What a terrible thing to say on the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  Homo Sapiens are the only animals that contemplate our futures (and imagine our own deaths)-- why is it important to remember the way things were even as we contemplate what will come? 

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Final review

our final

Final.  That word sounds so... well, final.

The truth is, learning's never over.  We're just going to take an hour at the end of the week to see what we've learned so far.

So: what have you learned so far?

Please comment to this post with something you think is worth remembering from this semester.  Also please note anything you'd like me to emphasize/explain during our in-class review conversation.

december 6

JOURNAL TOPIC: ["Watch Me Shine" by Everlast]

This is a time of year when many people make wishes and resolutions.  Do you have any wishes, for yourself or others?  Is there anything you plan to do to improve your life in 2017?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Interactive final review

december 5

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon & Garfunkel; "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by The Bangles]

Today you have a choice.

You can either write about winter-- whatever comes to mind-- or you can listen to the two versions of this song and think on paper about how two different bands can interpret the same idea.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Return essays

HW:
Think about something interesting and post about it to your blog (title: SOMETHING INTERESTING)

ways to win

Did you recognize the essay prompt?  Here it is again:

Describe Baca's attitude toward life, learning, and prison.  Use your analysis of diction and detail to support your points.

I ripped off the idea from question 2 in the 1981 AP exam (so I guess here I was partying like it was 1981, but whatever-- you can see it top/center here).

As we discussed, this is a formative assessment, and my intention is to help you learn, so if you didn't feel like you crushed it in class, you have options.  Here are a few:

• take another crack at the essay with more time and thought, and post it on your blog;
• memorize and recite a stanza (or the whole poem, if you're rad like that) and post the video on your blog;
• create a photo essay, animation, or some other kind of multimedia wonderfulness about the poem and post that on your blog;
• research Jimmy Santiago Baca, fall in love with a different poem he wrote, and post that with your commentary on your blog;
• compare Baca's poetry with someone else's poetry, or a different sort of writing altogether, and post that on your blog;
• research strategies for answering questions like this on the AP exam and post that on your blog;
• come up with an idea I didn't mention here and post that on your blog;
• create intellectual value and establish yourself by [?] -- and post that on your blog.

Whatever you do, don't forget to post it on your blog. :)

december 2

Today we partied like it's 1982*:

I'm looking forward to reading your journals this weekend, because I want to know exactly how you see "Immigrants in Our Own Land" and how you see yourself as a learner at this point in your life.

I'm also looking forward to reading your essays and seeing whether you adopt any of the other opportunities we discussed (video, recitation, photo essay, etc.) over the weekend.

(*This is an allusion.  It's a reference to a lyric in the song "1999.  The album came out in 1982, when I was 12 and Prince was the Future.  Enjoy.)

poetry resource

I was just nosing around the Internet and found this great resource for "Immigrants in Our Own Land"-- and then I smiled, because Jessica was a student of mine years ago...  Enjoy.

december 1

[*Happy December!  Unfortunately I won't be on campus today, so please complete the following journal topic and assignment to prepare for our conversation tomorrow.]

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Every culture throughout history has had some idea about peace.  Some cultures do peace better than others.  What do you think is necessary for peace?  You can think about peace within yourself, peace within your close circle of family or friends, or peace between nations.  How can you relate the idea of peace to Jimmy Santiago Baca's "Immigrants in our own Land"?

AGENDA:

1. Journal

2. Table discussion:

a) Consider Jessica Parra's blog entry about the poem

b) Compare your answers to the questions about theme, tone, mood, and devices

c) Change your mind about (at least) one of your answers based on the conversation and update your blog

PLEASE NOTE: Either every single one of us will have a blog entry to show for this week's thinking about the poem, or we will have a gut-wrenchingly difficult in-class exam on the poem tomorrow (Friday).

november 30

***

Today we are doing the school and the district a favor.  If you have time afterward, please write in your journal about something that matters to you. 

***

immigrants in our own land

Immigrants in Our Own Land 

 

By Jimmy Santiago Baca

 

We are born with dreams in our hearts,

looking for better days ahead.

At the gates we are given new papers,

our old clothes are taken

and we are given overalls like mechanics wear.

We are given shots and doctors ask questions.

Then we gather in another room

where counselors orient us to the new land

we will now live in. We take tests.

Some of us were craftsmen in the old world,

good with our hands and proud of our work.

Others were good with their heads.

They used common sense like scholars

use glasses and books to reach the world.

But most of us didn’t finish high school.

The old men who have lived here stare at us,

from deep disturbed eyes, sulking, retreated.

We pass them as they stand around idle,

leaning on shovels and rakes or against walls.

Our expectations are high: in the old world,

they talked about rehabilitation,

about being able to finish school,

and learning an extra good trade.

But right away we are sent to work as dishwashers,

to work in fields for three cents an hour.

The administration says this is temporary

So we go about our business, blacks with blacks,

poor whites with poor whites,

chicanos and indians by themselves.

The administration says this is right,

no mixing of cultures, let them stay apart,

like in the old neighborhoods we came from.

We came here to get away from false promises,

from dictators in our neighborhoods,

who wore blue suits and broke our doors down

when they wanted, arrested us when they felt like,

swinging clubs and shooting guns as they pleased.

But it’s no different here. It’s all concentrated.

The doctors don’t care, our bodies decay,

our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value.

Our lives don’t get better, we go down quick.

My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines,

my T-shirts, boxer shorts, socks and pants are drying.

Just like it used to be in my neighborhood:

from all the tenements laundry hung window to window.

Across the way Joey is sticking his hands

through the bars to hand Felipé a cigarette,

men are hollering back and forth cell to cell,

saying their sinks don’t work,

or somebody downstairs hollers angrily

about a toilet overflowing,

or that the heaters don’t work.

I ask Coyote next door to shoot me over

a little more soap to finish my laundry.

I look down and see new immigrants coming in,

mattresses rolled up and on their shoulders,

new haircuts and brogan boots,

looking around, each with a dream in their heart,

thinking they’ll get a chance to change their lives.

But in the end, some will just sit around

talking about how good the old world was.

Some of the younger ones will become gangsters.

Some will die and others will go on living

without a soul, a future, or a reason to live.

Some will make it out of here with hate in their eyes,

but so very few make it out of here as human

as they came in, they leave wondering what good they are now

as they look at their hands so long away from their tools,

as they look at themselves, so long gone from their families,

so long gone from life itself, so many things have changed.

meet jimmy santiago baca

Baca by dpreston1441 on Scribd

november 29

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Imagine that you don't know how to read.  A healer tells you that you were born with rattlesnake poison in your blood and this gives you the ability to change, but you don't know whether to believe her.  You get put in jail.  Will you change?  Will you learn to read?  To write?  If you learn to write, what will you write about?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Meet Jimmy Santiago Baca

november 28

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe your Thanksgiving.  Start with the details: Who was around your table?  What did you eat?  Then think back: What were you especially grateful for?  As you look back on last week and consider today, what are you grateful for right now?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Every good story suggest a question for us readers, and today we will ask it of each other about the next few weeks...

What Happens Next?

pre-monday

Hi!

If you have questions about Mad Libs or the essay, ask.

If you have makeup work or something original to contribute, post.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Dr. Preston

crap detection

We're going to deal with this.

essay prompt

[Thanks Lesley!  Thought this posted Friday but it got stuck in Drafts. -dp]

Treat the following like your own personal Mad Libs.  Copy and paste the following to a post on your blog [title: MY MAD DREAM OF AN ESSAY]. Fill in the blanks to write your own story.  Then answer the prompt at the bottom.  Feel free to spoof this, play with a friend or relative, read it out loud at the Thanksgiving table, etc.

Remember that time you ate that spicy [noun] just before you went to bed on the night before the big [event]?  Oh, that weird dream you had about the 2016 presidential election.  When you woke up you couldn't quite remember the [adjective] details, but after reading "On Self-Reliance" and "A Sound of Thunder" it's all coming back to you now.

The dream started badly.  You were in line with your family at a [place] waiting to be sent to [a place you don't want to go].  Everywhere you looked there were posters of president-elect [goofy name], looking like a crazy [animal] who could eat a whole [noun].  

Suddenly, there was Ralph Waldo Emerson telling you, "[your favorite quote from his essay]."  You realized that you have something to contribute to the world so you decided to [verb].  But it wasn't easy.  First you had to put on a fancy [noun] and [noun] and then you had make a [noun] to go back in time to the [public place] so you could convince people to learn about the candidates and the [political issue you care about most].

But right there in the [public place] there was a giant [noun] and it started [verb] ing at everyone.  People started to [verb].  You grabbed a [noun] from a nearby [noun] and yelled [something important you have to say].  Everyone stopped and listened, so you kept going.

[Here is where your essay begins.]

Write a speech in which you explain how the choices we make in this moment influence the future.  Using at least one example from your life, one example from "On Self-Reliance," and one example from "A Sound of Thunder," tell your audience how our thinking and our actions create our individual sense of self and the society we all share.

[NOTE: since this is a speech, feel free to give it on a video as well and post!  In the old days this is the sort of thing we would call "extra credit".]

this ain't no day off

Day off from school?  Yeah.

Day off from learning?  NEVER.

I was just reading some of your papers and thinking about class when I ran across this video from Miguel Moreno, one of my favorite students.*  (*Heh.  By now you know my secret.  Every one of my students is one of my favorite students. :)

Enjoy.  You may learn a little something.

november 18

JOURNAL TOPIC:
1. What can you do today that will ensure your success tomorrow?
2. What can you do to be kind to yourself today?

AGENDA:
1. Journal

2. Test
2. Discussion: essay & expectations for next week and beyond

sound of thunder study guide

Sound of Thunder Student by dpreston1441 on Scribd

november 17

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Do you think Emerson would agree with Eckels' choices?  Why/why not?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "A Sound of Thunder" study guide
3. Prep for test tomorrow

HW:
Review "A Sound of Thunder" and study guide

november 16

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Time Warp" by Richard O'Brien from The Rocky Horror Picture Show*; "Time" by Pink Floyd; "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce]

Think of a moment you'd like to last longer.  Or go by quicker.  Or that you'd like to revisit in the past.  Or go back to long ago.  Or see in the future.

Describe.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discussion: journal and "A Sound of Thunder"

HW:
1. Vocab
2. Write a vignette in time

*The Rocky Horror Picture Show came out in 1973-- it was a cult classic when I was in high school.  Midnight shows with audiences in full costume and makeup, rocking out in the aisles of the theaters.  Or so I was told.  I was doing my homework. :) 

november 15

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Story of my Life" by Social Distortion; "Every Picture Tells A Story" by Rod Stewart]

Two different people in two different classes had the same reaction to "A Sound of Thunder."

How do you account for this?  Describe three literary devices Bradbury uses in his writing to achieve this effect.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Yesterday's work continued

november 14

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by Smashing Pumpkins]

1. Why is today's tune title appropriate for the story you just read?

2. What was the point of the story?  Why do you think it ended the way it did?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Table discussions:

• vocabulary 
• theme
• plot
• tone
• diction/syntax
• what you want/need to cover in class tomorrow
• 5 test questions

emerson essay prompt

Over the last two weeks we have spent a great deal of time with Emerson’s “On Self-Reliance.”  Some of us became more self-reliant in the process.  As you reflect on Emerson’s words and the ideas they trigger for you, please answer one of the following four questions in an essay of no less than 5 paragraphs.  Please be sure to support and illustrate your answer with no fewer than three quotes from Emerson’s work.  Title your post EMERSON'S CHILD.  I look forward to your thoughts.

1.              How would Emerson view the 2016 Presidential Election?  How would he suggest we move forward as individuals, as a community, and as a country?

2.              How would Emerson suggest that we learn (in school and elsewhere) in order to pursue our goals?  How would he view our school and career aspirations?  What would he suggest you do after high school, and how would he suggest that you prepare for this?

3.              Some of Emerson’s language is deceptively simple.  “Be yourself” and “trust yourself” may sound easy but you know how hard it is to do these things—especially in a culture that seems to reward acting the way others want you to act.  First of all, who does Emerson mean by "yourself"?  Who are you REALLY when others aren't looking?  What is your true nature?  What do you really think and feel?  What are your true needs?  What do you really want?  How can you reconcile Emerson’s wisdom and inspiration with what you have to do every day to survive and get along? 
4. How would you explain Emerson's main ideas to a ten year-old?
 

november 10

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Land of Confusion" by Genesis*; "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye]
Describe something you count on in your life.  This can be a person (a parent will not move your entire household out of state today while you are at school), an assumption about the physical world (the ground beneath you will not give way so that your next step will land you in free fall for eternity), or a social contract (if you attend and stay out of trouble, you will graduate high school and live a life better than your parents').

What is the benefit of depending on our perceptions of people, the world, and society?  What happens when our trust in these is shaken?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Emerson presentations wrap-up
3. Weekend essay
4. "A Sound of Thunder"

HW:
1. Post Emerson presentation notes (title: EMERSON PRESENTATION NOTES DAY4)
2. Write the Emerson essay and post to your blog (title: EMERSON'S CHILD)
3. Read "A Sound of Thunder" and post a response to your blog (title: AN EARTH-SHATTERING FART)

*NOTE ABOUT TODAY'S TUNES: They are not only topical, but "Land of Confusion" was released in 1986-- when I was a junior in high school!  The music video features then-president Ronald Reagan, a Republican who was a former movie actor and starred opposite a chimpanzee in Bedtime for Bonzo.  We lived through that.  We will live through this. 

november 9

[Election discussion.]

[Emerson presentations.]

[HW: Post Emerson presentation notes to your blog. Title: EMERSON PRESENTATIONS DAY3.]

emerson would've loved this

Holy crap this is good-- be yourself.  See David's, Alexis's, and  Jose's blogs for more

november 8

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Election Day.  I know.  Enough already.  But, this is the job of the Citizen in the Democracy.  We must choose.  And, in a way, choice is the fabric of our life.  The choices we make define who we become.  What we don't/say and what we don't/do eventually become the patterns and the stories that we identify as our characters and our personalities.  This is why Hamlet's "to be or not to be" moment is so important.  So: describe an important choice you made in your life.  Why did it matter?  Did it change things for you?  How?  Did it give you a sense of who you are?  Do you think today's choice matters?  Spend some time on this one.  Choose.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Emerson presentations continued
3. Late résumés accepted (LAST DAY)

HW:
Post notes on presentations to your blog (title: EMERSON PRESENTATIONS DAY 2)

november 7

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Emerson's transcendentalist contemporary (there's a mouthful!) Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "Men have become the tools of their tools."  What do you think he meant?  Do you agree?  Why/why not?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Résumé check-in
3. Emerson presentations: victims & volunteers

HW:
Post notes on presentations to your blog (title: EMERSON PRESENTATIONS DAY 1)

los angeles like you've never seen it

This is beautiful.

PANO | LA from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.

check this out

Carlos posted some thoughts about Emerson.  Here's a pic he sent, check the rest out on his blog.  Leave him a comment and let him know what you think :)

november 4

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Put two hands on your heart.  Think about a moment that made you grateful.  Click "Pause" on everything else.  Wait a couple moments after you think you're done.  Then pick up your pen and write.  (Did you notice any change in yourself?  Does this exercise feel the same as the first time you did it, or do you notice change over time?  What is on your mind now?)

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Your Emerson project: get to work (plan, schedule, list tasks, execute)

HW:
1. Describe your project in a post to your blog (title: MY EMERSON)
2. Finish your project and be ready to present it in class on Monday, November 7
3. Please bring your résumés to class on Monday, November 7

isn't this what the internet's for?

emerson wrap-up suggestions

Here are some of your ideas:

·      Memorize quote to dis/agree with and present to class

·      Look at similar stuff (Whitman, Thoreau)

·      Everyone ask Nicol

·      Groups write paragraph to make class essay

·      Write an essay

·      Kahoot!

·      Poster with quote

·      Test with 5-6 questions

·      Skits

·      Quote collage

take note

Many thanks to Samary for sharing how she takes notes-- this is a great resource for studying Emerson, and it's a great example of how to memorialize and organize our thoughts as we read.  Check it out:

Samary Notes by dpreston1441 on Scribd

november 3

JOURNAL TOPIC:
How should we wrap up our study of Emerson?  I'm thinking essay but I'm open.  Include what's most important to you in terms of his ideas and your learning.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Notes
3. Emerson wrap-up

november 2

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac; "In One Ear" by Cage the Elephant]

When is it best to speak up and be honest even though you know it's going to piss someone off?  When is it best to "go along to get along"?  Do you think Emerson would ever recommend following the herd to fit in, even when it goes against your best self or your truest instincts?  Why/why not?  Explain your answer.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Socratic Seminar continued

HW:
In a post to your blog, describe what you've learned from "On Self-Reliance" in one paragraph that any ten year-old could understand (title: EMERSON FOR THE YOUNG BUCK)

november 1

JOURNAL TOPIC: ["Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica]

How much of Emerson's message is sinking in?  Rank his ideas on a scale from 1-10, 1 being "Emerson is full of crap" and 10 being "Emerson is exactly right."  Please make sure to provide at least 2 quotes from his essay and at least three reasons that support your position.  We will be using this for today's Socratic Seminar.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Socratic Seminar
3. Preview of Coming Attractions

HW:
Look up at least five of the quotes you heard in today's Socratic Seminar.  Explain them & explain why they came up in conversation in a post on your blog entitled EMERSON SAID IT

what it looks like when something we read clicks

Glad this happened for Jish.  Doesn't matter if it was motivated by the desire for a good grade or the desire for a better life or the desire to connect with the inspiration of great ideas or the desire to talk to a dead guy the day before Halloween.

Since I'm posting this by request, and there is probably value in everyone being able to see everyone else's blogs in all our classes, here is a link to all the AP member blogs.

october 31

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "What's He Building in There" by Tom Waits; "Monster Mash" by Bobby Boris Pickett & The Crypt Kickers]

Happy Halloween.  Tell a scary story.

*OR*

During the time of Dia de los Muertos the veil is said to be thin.  Remember a loved one who is no longer with us.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. On self-reliance: 175 years later, would Emerson celebrate or puke?

HW:
Finish what you should have started over the weekend

i just sued the school system

Thanks Leo for sharing this:

october 28

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors]

Rain is often used as a literary device.  Why?  What does it symbolize to you?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Emerson feedback
3. Dust off your resume
4. Preview of next week's attractions

HW:
1. Reflect on your Emerson writing.  What did you do well?  What do you need to work on?  You can use the journal you wrote yesterday as the basis. (title: AUTHOR IN PROGRESS)
2. Read "On Self-Reliance" to the end and post your notes (title: I'M SELF-RELIANT)
3. It's great reading weather... curl up with a good book-- and work on your current literature analysis

october 27

1. How does Emerson's diction, syntax, and tone reinforce his main idea?
2. Emerson writes, "Every heart vibrates to that iron string."  How does his use of figurative language illustrate his theme?
3. According to Emerson's logic, how might a "brute" or an infant qualify as a genius?
4. (EXTRA CREDIT) Explain Emerson's purpose in beginning with, "Ne te quaesiveris extra."
5. (EXTRA CREDIT) Here in 2016, how do you see Emerson's points that youth has force and seniors are becoming unnecessary? 
6.  

HW:
Journal Topic: please reflect on your writing today.  What went well in the preparation and execution?  What can you improve? 

the art of amezaiku

Amezaiku, the art of Japanese candy making, goes back to the 1600s. But that's not the point.

There is something extraordinary-- sweet, even-- in watching a person pursue something with so much love.  Enjoy this.  And, after you watch, ask yourself what you might love doing enough to spend a lifetime perfecting it.

tomorrow's test questions today

Thanks for all your contributions today. 

Based on all your ideas, tomorrow you will receive three questions that will ask you for responses of 1-2 paragraphs each. 

Here they are:

1. How does Emerson's diction, syntax, and tone reinforce his main idea?
2. Emerson writes, "Every heart vibrates to that iron string."  How does his use of figurative language illustrate his theme?
3. According to Emerson's logic, how might a "brute" or an infant qualify as a genius?
4. (EXTRA CREDIT) Explain Emerson's purpose in beginning with, "Ne te quaesiveris extra."

october 26

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Stop.  Feel your toes in your shoes.  Put your hand over your heart and reflect on a memory.  Come back to the moment.  What's on your mind?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Get out a piece of paper: where you at?
3. Emerson test prep

HW:
Know your Emerson

october 25

JOURNAL TOPIC:

I had a different journal topic in mind until I walked to class with Angel and got to talking tamales.  Now I'm hungry, so...

Describe your favorite memory of a meal.  Was it with family?  On a date?  At a fancy restaurant?  At home?  What made it special?  Was it the taste?  The company?  The emotions you felt?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. What would Emerson eat?
3. Untangling the mind map
4. Odds and ends
5. "On Self-Reliance" continued

HW:
Three days 'til progress reports.

october 24

JOURNAL TOPIC:
"Do not think the youth has no force..."  Find this quote in Emerson's essay (it's in the paragraph just after where we left off reading on Friday) and explain why you think he says this.  Do you agree or disagree?  Why?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "On Self-Reliance" continued
3. Mind map & next steps

october 21

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe one important idea you've gotten so far from Emerson's "On Self-Reliance."  How is it relevant or helpful to think about this idea in 2016?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Emerson continued
3. Mapping our minds

HW:
1. Make 10 edits to the mind map
2. Describe your map work on your blog.  Why did you do what you did?  How did it/will it help you understand Emerson's writing?  (title: MAPPING MY MIND)

october 20

JOURNAL TOPIC:
"This is only a test..."  What does the word test mean to you?  Is it an obstacle in life, a thing you do in school for a score, or something else?  What should it mean?  What is the value of a test?  Do you see any value or importance in doing something that is difficult or inconvenient?  Why/why not?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Yesterday's students /today's masters
3. Mind map prep

HW:
Contribute to the mind map

october 19

If you're taking the PSAT today, good luck! Please write about the experience in your journals and/or post to your blog.

Thinking that the people in class today can coach our colleagues tomorrow, so:

mind maps

collaboration strategy

testing (as in experimenting, not bubbling answers)


We will invent the journal topic together at the end of each period.

Looking forward!

what are you doing up?

Look at the post time.  This isn't a good idea.  Go back to sleep.

october 18

JOURNAL TOPIC:
We attach a lot of importance to achievements like making money, or getting famous, or even a high G.P.A.  What is your greatest accomplishment so far?  Agree or disagree with Emerson: "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. This essay ain't for children
3. Pro Tools: Mind maps
4. Preview: Brain with 72 legs

HW:
1. Post something interesting about the Literature Analysis book you're currently reading (title: SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT THE BOOK I'M READING)
2. Research mind map tools and come to class tomorrow (Wednesday) prepared to advocate for one

october 17

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Choose your own.  What's on your mind?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Self-Reliance: Notes about Literature Analysis and Big Questions
3. Self-Reliance: Notes about resumes and cover letters

HW:
Have you done Literature Analysis #2?  Select a book for Literature Analysis #3 and post about your choice tonight.

october 14

This morning I was preparing for class when I kept getting interrupted.  It occurred to me that all of our communication-- and sometimes, even the way we see each other-- are products of our culture, our environment, where we live, and what we have to do every day.

As I struggled to regain my focus on today's class, I found myself wondering what Ralph Waldo Emerson would have to say about this.  It's all good and fine to study the "Romantics" or the "Transcendentalists" as a unit of an American Literature class, but does his thinking still apply today or was he just another product of his time, a museum relic that reminds us of what no longer exists?

I'm going to think on this more over the weekend.

In the meantime, it's now 8:24 AM and students are walking in.  How can I make a meaningful connection between where we've been and where we're going in our thinking?

How about this:  we're learning about language and American storytelling.  The presidential election is giving a master class.  The candidates are symptoms, products of the organizations that nominated them, and they speak speak to motivate their target audiences.  But for all the talk it's 1.0.  None of us feel like we're part of a Democratic Dialogue that might actually lead the candidates or the public to greater understanding or better policy.

So, this period, we get our say.  Please take out a piece of paper and write either/both candidates a letter in which you:

• summarize what you understand about them so far
• evaluate them-- yes, JUDGE them-- for their speech and actions as you understand them
• tell them what you need them to know about your future and their role in it

Then we'll have a conversation.

And I'll think more on Emerson and the rest over the weekend.

emerson on self-reliance

Self-Reliance

from Essays: First Series (1841)

(Republished with gratitude from http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm)

"Ne te quaesiveris extra."

"Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."
           Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune

Cast the bantling on the rocks,
Suckle him with the she-wolf's teat;
Wintered with the hawk and fox,
Power and speed be hands and feet.

ESSAY II Self-Reliance
I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost,—— and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come

october 13

JOURNAL TOPIC:

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”  What does this mean to you?  How can you do this in a world that seems to pressure you in so many ways to be something else?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Art of Hosting" quiz
3. Vocabulary Q&A
4. Independent work/collaboration time

• yesterday's work
• preview Emerson's "On Self-Reliance"

5. Post. (Post. Post.)

october 12

I won't be in class today.  Since we talked yesterday about creating community online and offline, and since this course is all about the stories we Americans tell, and since the best way to help other people feel comfortable to disclose their thoughts and feelings is to disclose our own, I'm suggesting that today we do something a little different.  Below is a prompt designed to get you thinking by sharing something I'm thinking.  I'm asking that you do three things with it:

1. Please write about it in your journal.
2. Please comment to this post (you can use what you write in your journal, or share a shorter version)
3. Please post to your blog about it (title: MY AMERICAN VOICE) -- you can share what you wrote in your journal, you can think out loud about the democratic process we use in this course, you can think about other situations in which you have had to decide whether to speak up or stay silent, or you can add to the topic by adding your own flavor.  Please make sure to use at least three of the principles you learned by reading "The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online" and please get at least five people to comment to your post.  You can share your blog link via text/email/social media, you can find other members' blogs and comment to theirs with a link to your own, or you can invite people the old-fashioned way-- walk up and ask them in person! :)

MY AMERICAN VOICE
When is it important to speak up, and when is it important to observe quietly?

I'm feeling conflicted and I'm interested in your perspectives.  I noticed that the course blog just tipped 30k page views.  I feel a responsibility as an American teaching a course with the word "American" in the title.  Much of the literature we read focuses on political action and self-actualization.  I am aware that we are in the final month of a presidential election that has very big consequences.  I am also aware that public school teachers are discouraged from expressing opinions about politics in view of students.

So: when do you speak up?  Do you consider it a responsibility or an inconvenience?  Do you speak up when you see someone weak being bullied or abused by someone strong?  Do you speak up when you see someone taking out their temper on another person?  Do you speak up when you see someone cheating (in school or in a relationship)?  Do you speak up when you see someone being unkind?

How do you speak up?  Are your words necessary, true, kind, and timely?  Do you think before you speak?  Do you reflect on your words after you say them?  How would other people describe the way you talk?

There is no right or wrong here.  There is no "how to" lesson.  This is an opportunity for all of us to learn from each other.  I'm interested in your thoughts.  My prediction is that we will all learn something important.