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).