"Nobody outcrazies Ophelia!"

Frosh
We went over the final. People who weren't lame turned in their product, which you will present tomorrow. Also, you got a glimpse of satire and how allusions to classic literature are still present today. Always be on the look out for literary references in the places you might least expect.

Seniors
You turned in the Pleasantville assignment. Then everyone who did one found out their grade on the culminating paper. I was mighty impressed with the quality this year as many of you really seemed to get how to look at what a text might be trying to say and were able to back that up with support. Not everyone totally demonstrated that understanding, but enough of you did compared to the students from last year that I would consider the project a success. I hope you feel the same way.

Everyone get a restful night's sleep (...he says as he types this entry at 11:30 PM...) and eat a healthy breakfast because finals begin tomorrow. Good luck!

Objectifying Learning

Like most people at their jobs, teachers often discuss the latest fads happening in the profession. Lately, many of the discussions that I've had revolve around the idea of learning objectives - explicit statements of what students should be able to do if they have learned what the instructor wants them to learn - and whether or not having them written on our white board actually helps students learn more or retain the knowledge better. As a matter of fact, a recent article put "teaching without learning objectives" as the second worst teaching mistake an instructor can make, right after getting stuck in a rut and right behind disrespecting students. Over the last few weeks, I've attempted to write learning objectives above the weekly agenda. I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it, but I really plan to give it my all starting second semester.

Believe it or not, I'm constantly trying to be a better teacher and sincerely hope that each year I teach accomplishes that goal in some small way, that I improve as an educator at least a little bit more than I did the year before. So my question to you is the following: do learning objectives written on the board help you become a better learner? Why or why not? Answer the question in a minimum of five sentences in the comments, and you will earn 10 bonus points. Make sure to identify yourself in the comments so I can give everyone the proper credit. The window for answering the question will close on Monday and the opportunity is open to both seniors and freshpeople.

Frosh
You turned in the mythology unit family tree and witnessed (through the power of reading) Odysseus take on the suitors.

Seniors
You continued to look for symbolic imagery in Pleasantville. Tomorrow is the day to turn in your Beowulf Revisited assignments.

Edit for clarification: Just to clarify for everyone, a learning objective is different from the daily agenda I write on the board. A learning objective is meant to inform the student of the intended outcome of the lesson. For example, I could write the following on the board for a poetry unit: After completing the lesson, the student will be able to describe the traditional rules and conventions of a haiku. This is different from the daily agenda, which I write to inform you what the intended order of events would be for a class period. The question, then, remains what is your opinion on the idea of me utilizing said learning objectives, which I have done very sparingly and to which I have not called much attention, in addition to writing the daily and weekly agenda on the board.

Pleasant Journeys

Frosh
You turned in the final draft of your Mything in Action paper. We read of Odysseus' return to Ithaca while you took notes. Said notes will be due on the day of the final.

Seniors
We reviewed the ideas of symbolism and imagery. You watched Pleasantville while looking for examples of symbolic imagery. Again, I am still amazed that despite earning three Academy Award nominations, hitting the ten year milestone last year, and starring several incredibly famous actors that no special edition DVD or Blu-Ray exists of this movie. A making-of documentary and some commentary would be pretty fascinating.

The grading of the culminating papers continues. I have yet to hit my groove on them, but that'll probably be on it's way back shortly.

Finals Day (for me, that is...)

Today is the last day my ULV class meets for the semester. I stayed up way too late writing my paper, which was a minimum of two pages, but I managed to write enough to almost fill up the fifth page. The focus was an interview with Charles Rose, ALHS' school psychologist, who is a heck of a guy and really opened my eyes to everything his job entails. Hint: it's tough.

Frosh
First period managed to finish off part one (as designated by our textbook) of The Odyssey while fourth period still had about a page and a half left, which they now need to read for homework. Odysseus sacrificed his men to the Scylla, avoided the Charybdis only to have the boys betray his trust for their stomachs by eating the cattle. I'm still very disappointed that this textbook doesn't include the cooked and skinned cattle rising from the dead to freak Odysseus' men out because nothing beats a zombie hamburger. Remember that all notes will be collected for points with each section getting a designated amount to be determined later. Also, the Mything in Action (say it out loud!) final draft is due tomorrow. Everyone needs to have three in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Seniors
Everyone turned in their portfolios (hopefully) and then received a day to work on the Beowulf Revisited assignment which is due Friday and worth 100 points. Many of you asked some really good questions about how to apply your own experiences to the story. I was also impressed at how many of you are making the attempt to look at the Beowulfs and Grendels that exist in the world symbolically. These should make for some fun reading.

The First Day of the Last Week Before Finals

Frosh
You figured out how to create a hanging indentation in a Word document and will hopefully utilize that info. We then discussed the importance of actually reading the homework since I'll be collecting your notes for points. Not reading means not getting the credit. After that, we started going over Circe's warning for Odysseus. He's in for a rough trip.

Seniors
You organized your portfolios in an attempt to get the full 80 points on the assignment, which is due tomorrow. Good luck and never look a free-to-use hole punch in the proverbial mouth. And sixth period was curious about the one-legged pro wrestler named Zach Gowen. When I get home, I'll search the YouTube for some videos. He rose to prominence in the WWE in 2002 and was unceremoniously fired after the novelty of a one-legged wrestler wore off and his limitations as a one-legged wrestler came to light. Oh, wrestling, you are crazy.

Edit: I found some gems that include current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar throwing Gowen down a flight of stairs because he was an EVIL wrestler. You can view them under the cut...

Testing the Teachers

See, kids, it really pays to take notes even if some of the said notes look like complete gibberish four days after the fact. This is page one (of three) of notes I took with the ALHS school psychologist for the final in my Education Assessment course. My job now is to describe and analyze the interview as well as discuss any implications I find. Wish me luck because I'll be disappointed with anything less than an A.

Hitting the Reset button

The Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles of today aren't lacking many things, but neither have a reset button, one the player pushes that does not turn off the game but merely restarts it. Of course, those consoles save one's progress and have high-falutin' graphics that look gorgeous on an HDTV compared to the 8, 16 and 64 bits of yesterday, so I'll gladly play them over my old NES, Sega Genesis or N64 any day.

My point in bringing that up is that I once used this blog in the way I am able to use Twitter now, rendering the blog redundant. Why post the daily agenda (and, coming soon for second semester, the class objective) in another online format when one already exists? So I decided to hit the reset button.

I like writing, I like the series of tubes known as the Internet, and I like interacting with people, despite my many protests to the contrary at times. My own personal writing (and reading) endeavors have plateaued of late, mostly due to the demands of school and work. Why not, then, include my school and work demands into my writing by utilizing the blog that had become so redundant? At the very least, it will make me feel accomplished, and experience and the University of La Verne have taught me that feeling accomplished is one of the biggest motivation tools students can have.

Personally, "feeling accomplished" is my second biggest motivator; "spite" is number one.