Reason 6: That Flipper show with Jessica Alba was no good.

The Oatmeal, while sometimes using not-appropriate-for-school language, provides a look at many of our literary terms in funny and useful ways. English topics he's tackled so far include irony, proper use of the word literally, i.e. and how to use it correctly, commonly misspelled words, and how to utilize an apostrophe. Again, I have to reiterate that the site also tackles some seriously taboo subjects (like dolphin punching but also other, more serious topics) and uses "foul" language, but it's all for the sake of getting a laugh. Check it out if everyone at home is cool with that sort of thing.

Frosh
Today and Tuesday, we read Cask of Amontillado while focusing on characterizing Montresor. You're finding quotes dealing with the five categories (Appearance, What Fortunato says, What Montresor says, Montresor's actions, and Montresor's thoughts) and then adding your inferences about him. Basically, you're asking yourself "What does this quote say about Montresor as a character/person?" Finally, determine if the quote you used qualifies as direct or indirect characterization. This assignment will be due tomorrow, September 30.


Seniors
Tuesday, you received the guidelines for your Persuasion Portfolio. Remember that assignments one, two and four are group assignments, meaning that the group only needs one copy of the work for the entire group. Meanwhile, assignment three is an individual one, so that means that each group member needs to have their own copy of it. The whole portfolio is due Tuesday, October 5. Hopefully, both classes will make better use of the work day they have tomorrow than they did today. 

...in which I vent.

Make no mistake, I enjoy writing this blog. It's a cathartic attempt at tracking what I do in a way that will be helpful to me in the future. At the same time, I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was helpful to students. This is a two-way street, though, folks. In attempting to create a dialogue, I feel like I'm shouting at nothing, screaming into a void where sound is never returned my way.

If someone feels uncomfortable speaking in class, this should be the avenue to make your voice heard. A few people have made some jokes in class that I'm desperate for blog attention, but that's only partially true; ideally, I would like to see some activity on here that hasn't come as a result of bonus point bribes from yours truly. And then...THEN! I didn't even get one person making a single attempt at tackling a 15 point bonus opportunity despite having the window open for almost a week.

The blog will continue so ignore my existential online crisis. Getting more than the four people who have already made their voices heard to speak up would be ideal, though.

Frosh
Wednesday, you took a quiz on The Most Dangerous Game, worked on your map for the story of the same name and then took some notes on the Elements of Character.

Thursday, we continued taking notes on the Elements of Character. I need to revisit some of these notes and streamline them because some of the slides are very redundant. Your focus should be on knowing the difference between three pairs of ideas: direct and indirect characterization; static and dynamic characters; and flat and round characters. If you can demonstrate the difference between those three pairs of ideas, then we'll be cool.

Friday, we moved forward.

Today, we're going to finish the character notes and begin reading the Cask of Amontillado. You'll be using an inference chart that you'll create on a sheet of paper to characterize Montresor. The chart has five categories: Appearance, What Fortunato says, What Montresor says, Montresor's actions, and Montresor's thoughts. You'll find a quote for each of these categories and then make an inference about the character based on the quote. Finally, you'll state whether the quote qualifies as direct or indirect characterization in parenthesis after your inference.

Seniors
Discussing the fallacies seems to have gone well, and many people seemed to have a grasp on them by the time we finished our lesson on Wednesday. We read one of the letters to the editor together as a class, at which point you then began working on finding the fallacies in their reasoning, as well as ethos, pathos and logos arguments.

Thursday was your first writing day for the lit project. You'll take that Timed Writing home and revise it into the most perfect piece of writing you possibly can and turn it in Tuesday, September 28. You also turned in your books for the first annotation check and gave me your first Article Selection assignment.

Friday, you received more time to work on the Op-Ed piece assignment and received a copy of my comment key. Sixth period had a few more questions about the comment key, so they received the weekend to finish off the Op-Ed assignment. Fifth period turned it in at the end of the class.

Today, we'll be watching a documentary presentation of Naomi Klein's book, No Logo. You will be finding one example each of Naomi Klein using a(n) ethos, pathos, and logos argument in attempting to make her point. You'll also find one use of a corporation using a logical fallacy to further its agenda. Explain the fallacy, who uses it and how it's used.

A Night of Progress

First off, check this out: The Brave and the Bold: Mr. T

Alta Loma High School implemented Report Card Night three (or so) years ago in an attempt for parents to conference with teachers about a student's progress in the class up to that point. I can't say I'm all that big a fan of the process. While I enjoy meeting parents, the night feels a bit contentious, since the parents most interested in meeting are the folks who think their student is doing poorly. That's not to say that I didn't meet some fine people who just wanted to introduce themselves, but for the most part, meeting someone who is upset with their student or the student's grade makes for an awkward first meeting.

Having now experienced both, I much prefer the Back to School Night format. It allows me to explain my philosophies about grading and teaching so that parents have an idea going into the year while also capturing the initial excitement of the school year when students, teachers and parents haven't been bogged down with all that life has to throw at them. There's also more urgency for all parents to attend Back to School Night, since the prevailing attitude of parents wanting an explanation from the teacher about a poor grade doesn't exist, so all parents feel a need to attend. Plus, I have never felt that the first six weeks of school is in any way an accurate reflection of a student's performance in a class, especially if the administration is still balancing the schedule up to four weeks into the semester.

Still, despite the sweltering heat in the small gym compared to the relative coolness outside, I enjoyed meeting each and every one of the parents from Report Card Night. It's always nice to put parents to students and faces to names.

Frosh
Monday, we came to a consensus about the climax of The Most Dangerous Game, deciding, despite many different guesses by some, that Rainsford's dive into the water to avoid General Zaroff was the moment filled with the most tension and the ultimate turning point of the story. You then received your mapping assignment where you need to create a map of Ship-Trap Island, noting a minimum of four landmarks supported by quotes from the story and noting Rainsford's journey around the island. This is due Thursday, September 23. Remember that students who would like to earn an A will need to go above and beyond the minimum by including more than four landmarks with accompanying quotes. The map should include color and should follow the plot of the story.

Tuesday was a minimum day due to the aforementioned Report Card Night, and you continued working on the mapping assignment.

My goal is to go over Elements of Character today after you take a brief quiz on the story.

Seniors
We began discussing argumentation terms and common logical fallacies Monday and Tuesday. The goal here is that I want you to be able to argue better and not fall into the usual traps that many people assume are valid when trying to make a point. Even better, if you can identify the use of the fallacies in someone else's argument (even mine), then you'll have a way to shut down your opponent. Who doesn't like being able to do that?

Today, the plan is to finish going over the rest of the fallacies and then read some Op-Ed (opinion/editorial) pieces that commit every fallacy under the sun.

Also, seniors need to be aware that Thursday is a bighugegiganticimportantsuperexcitingcrazy day. Your first Article Selection is due and you need to have the first 20% of your book read and annotated. That day will also have the first timed writing which you'll revise, type and return the following Tuesday.

SENIOR Bonus Time (15 points): We went over identifying logical fallacies in writing today in class. So my challenge to you is to find logical fallacies on the Internet, specifically in news stories. Yahoo, CNN, Huffington Post, Fox News and many local news sources allow readers to leave comments on specific stories. Find a comment that utilizes a fallacy and fill out the following in a comment with your name and period:

1. Headline of the story:
2. Brief (1 to 2 sentences) synopsis of the article: 
3. Comment (copy and paste the whole thing):
4. Logical fallacy employed:
5. Explanation of how the comment qualifies as a logical fallacy (2 sentences minimum, more would be preferable):

Numbers 2, 4, and 5 need to be in complete sentences or else you will earn 0 points. The deadline for submission is Sunday, September 26, at 11:59 PM and the limit is one per student.

The Other Dog

Hershey is a chocolate lab that my family welcomed into our home when I was a senior at Alta Loma High School. She came around in late February or early March of 1998, and, by process of elimination in  knowing how old she was at the time, everyone figured out that we shared the same birthday. Even if she wasn't born on exactly January 14, it was close enough that the family made it her official birthday. Because of that, and because she always seemed to like me just a little bit more than everyone else, Hershey and I have always shared as special a bond as a guy can have with the dog his parents bought as a way to compensate for said guy's impending departure for college. Even though I moved out a few months later (and came back and then moved out again and then came back and moved out for the last time after that), I always made sure to spend a little bit of time with her each time I went to visit my parents. She wags her tail every time I come around, although to be fair, she does that for everyone. But she did always rest her head in my lap and desperately wants to shake whenever she gets the opportunity.

Beamer & Hershey

When my mom added Beamer to the house, Hershey became the butt of more than a few jokes. Beamer is easier to train and always had more energy from the day he arrived. It got to the point that Hershey started to get the nickname of "the other dog" (i.e. the one that gets ignored). So I made it a point to ignore Beamer as much as possible (because I am spiteful towards animals for the sake of other animals), despite his attempts to wow me with his impressive six foot leaping ability, and focus on Hershey more. Again, she's a dog, but I could tell she always appreciated the effort.

Hershey isn't doing too well right now. She's having a hard time getting up and some x-rays this weekend revealed that a lot of the cartilage in her joints, specifically her hips and back, has worn away. I don't know how much longer she'll be around, but Angela and I made a special point to spend a little time with her on Sunday. She wagged her tail and put her head in my lap and pawed at me to shake and never wanted me to stop petting her belly.

She's a good dog.

Frosh
We continued reading The Most Dangerous Game on Wednesday and Thursday. Spoiler alert: the game is not Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Unfortunately, due to some discipline issues on Thursday, fourth period didn't get the chance to read as a class, instead choosing to get all of the talking amongst themselves as opposed to doing so as a class. I hope everyone enjoyed the ending because it really is a story that's entertaining and exciting. Who doesn't love a good chase sequence deep in the jungle that ends with a gigantic bearded man getting a knife to the chest? Now that I've typed that out, the story seems less school appropriate.

We moved forward on Friday (See what I did there?) with the little time that we had thanks to the rally schedule. Hopefully, many of you will see fit to check out the game on September 24. Also, I'm hoping that I get to meet many of your parents at the forthcoming Progress Report Card Night this Monday evening.

Seniors
There was quite the spirited discussion about what constitutes a "good" television show on Tuesday. One point I neglected to make, which I think is quite important in the realm of subjective quality discussions, is that there is a difference between something being objectively "good" and liking it. There are plenty of horrible television shows that I watch, some of which I even like. Jersey Shore is one; another is Entourage.  There are plenty of excellent shows out there that I either don't watch or downright dislike. While nothing of the latter comes to mind, I know that there are plenty of the former. The point is that taste is subjective and no one is wrong for liking something that might not be of the highest quality . . . except for people who watch Two and a Half Men. This relates to our time spent on Wednesday with Blues Traveler's song, "The Hook." We discussed it's subversive meaning and the fact that it's actually quite the bitter and angry ditty, despite it's upbeat tone.

For Thursday, we went over ethos, pathos and logos. For many of you, it was a review of a concept from last year, which is totally fine. Keep in mind that no one ever hurt themselves by learning too much about a single topic.

You took the second lit terms test on Friday. I'm going to do my best to make sure that those tests get into the grade book prior to Progress Report Card Night, which is Monday evening. Make sure to tell your parents to attend because I don't want to be too lonely.

McDonald's ain't got nothin' on me.

There's a whole lot to cover, so let's just get into it and skip the preamble, okay?

Frosh
Last Wednesday, some of you brought in second drafts for revision. Everyone who had a second draft traded papers with someone else and participated in some peer editing. My hope is that you found this practice valuable on two ends: one, by having someone read your work and giving you constructive criticism, and two, by reading someone else's paper and gaining some insight on how you can better improve your draft. I have to admit that I was disappointed in how many chose not to complete their second drafts, and it doesn't bode well for the final drafts.

It's a plot! (Admiral Ackbar would
be proud.)

Everyone who had one turned in a final draft of the personal narrative essay on Thursday. We then switched gears and started our Elements of Literature unit, dealing first with plot. We'll be covering several different aspects of literature and reading a variety of short stories to illustrate them.

Then we had our second Forward Friday. Things did not go as planned, as is often the case when teachers implement new lessons that they haven't tried before. I'm hoping for more success and more focus next time. As we get further along, the plan is to focus on just the task at hand (whether those be released questions or our workbooks) instead of trying to tackle too many things at once.

Monday, we finished our notes on plot and discussed some of the reading strategies that we'll employ as a class.

Today, you received a plot diagram graphic organizer. You'll need to keep track of this as we read Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, which we began today in class and will continue to do through Thursday. Anything left to read will be your homework that night.

Seniors
Wednesday, we started our second set of lit terms, which are as follows:

1. Symbol
2. External Conflict
3. Internal Conflict
4. Denotation
5. Antagonist
6. Protagonist
7. Point of View
8. Foreshadowing
9. 1^st person pov
10. 3^rd per. Limited
11. Dramatic Irony
12. Verbal Irony
13. Tone
14. Setting
15. Mood
16. Connotation
17. 3^rd per. Omniscient
18. Situational Irony
19. Irony
20. Simile

Again, keep these terms at the forefront of your mind while reading your lit project books because knowing how to find and identify them will be the key to doing well on the annotation.

On Thursday, you received the guidelines for the Article Selection assignment. Last year was the first year that I ever gave this assignment to students and it required a lot more explanation on my part because I had no experience with it. Students had more questions, probably because I didn't have as clear an idea as I do now about what I expect. This year, I planned for the same amount of time to explain it but found that I didn't need it. This is a half-period explanation now, at most. I'll have to take that into account next year if I choose to keep using the idea. Your first Article Selection will be due on September 23.

On Friday, we finished covering the lit terms.

After revisiting the guidelines for MLA format, we read the article Which High School Students Are Most Likely to Graduate From College? from last year's US News & World Report on Monday. Besides some interesting statistics, this article (or Allegory of the Cave) will serve as the basis for a practice precis  that is due Wednesday, September 15. This will also give you a chance for you to demonstrate that you know MLA format inside and out. 

Today, we took a look at advertising slogans. This is a continuation of our philosophy and media literacy unit that we'll tie back to Aristotle. I'm very much looking forward to having a discussion on this concept with you tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a compilation from the Mac Tonight advertising campaign of which my willful participation is now well-known.

Revisiting Relativism

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
You're Not Helping - Iran's Crisis of Modernity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Watching the preceding segment from The Daily Show led me to think about our discussions dealing with relativism and essentialism.

The gist of The Daily Show's clip is that Iran's government has begun a nuclear weapons program, thus participating in the modern world, and yet also recently sentenced a woman to death by stoning, a barbaric practice that dates back to Ancient Greece where a group of people execute someone by throwing large stones at the accused until they die, after finding her guilty of adultery. As someone who attempts to look at things in a relativistic manner, it's important to determine how exactly to define where cultural boundaries lie.

When it comes to "different culture," it's difficult to get more different than Iran. Iran is located on the other side of the world and is ruled as a dictatorship with very little room for the people to have a voice. The last election in Iran was wildly fraudulent with plenty of evidence to suggest that many of those who spoke out against the government's actions during the election were silenced in some fashion, whether that meant jail or murder. Oftentimes, the overall attitude of the government is interpreted as misogynistic by other countries, thinking Iran backwards in its attitude towards women. As a relativist, am I supposed to just accept that those are just some of the differences between our culture and accept them? My own inherent cultural bias prevents that.

But I had an epiphany while watching the above clip with Jon Stewart. In the last twenty years, especially in the previous decade, our global culture has changed dramatically thanks to the Internet. Previously, the story of a woman sentenced to death would not have made air, let alone cause a righteous stir. In a past context, it's possible that such a story would be written off because of the far-away nature of Iran, both geographically and culturally. But couple that with the modern achievement of a nuclear arms program and Thomas Friedman's "flat-world" argument (summed up in such a way, probably too succinctly, that the world is now a level-playing field to the extent that local cultures risk losing their individuality), and Iran looks horribly out of touch.

If our world is moving to a global culture and that movement leads to a more accepting world of equal rights for all genders, creeds, religions, races and orientations, then it stands to reason that, from a relativistic standpoint, Iran is incorrect in how its unfair and disproportionate treatment of women. This is our time and our culture right now, so deeming Iran's misogynistic positions immoral doesn't feel like such a stretch. In the end, it's a terrific example of Iran wanting to have its cake and eat it, too.

Banner Day, Banner Weekend, and a New Banner

Banner courtesy of Samir's Photoshop skillz (with a z!)

Take the time to check out the new banner of the blog. The previous one was made with my woefully inadequate Photoshop skills where I did a poor job of using the clone tool. Now, however, thanks to Samir, we have a banner worthy of a high school English class blog. Seriously, Samir took time out of his schedule to create this awesome banner, and for that, everyone should give him a hearty pat on the back.

My wife and I finally moved into a home that we "own." The bank actually owns most of it for the next 15 years or so, at which point, she and I become the majority owners. We won't own it outright until 2040, but all the problems that come with owning property are now mine, so it gives me the appearance of ownership. After all of the hassles of getting to last Saturday (of which there were many), I'm going to give into the illusion and say that I am a homeowner. Amazingly enough, I will be 60 years old when 2040 rolls around, and it's hard to believe that between now and that year is the same amount of time between the year of my birth and today. Our concept of time is astounding sometimes.

Frosh
You received the personal narrative essay guidelines and prompts on Thursday. Through writing the essay, you'll showcase the skill of demonstrating the difference between concrete detail (CD) and commentary (CM) by writing a four paragraph essay with a total of four chunks. Remember that a chunk consists of three sentences, a concrete detail followed by two commentary sentences.

Friday was our first Forward Friday where you took a pre-test to provide a baseline for where you currently stand in your test-taking abilities. The idea here will be to provide you with tips, tricks and knowledge to do well on the CSTs in the spring and the CAHSEE next year. The effort you put into this will directly correlate into how well you ultimately do, so make sure to be here and take it seriously.

Tuesday, you finished the pre-test and we briefly covered MLA format. Formatting your essay in the MLA stye will not be a major priority for this essay, but the sooner you get the hang of doing so, the easier the rest of your high school English classes will be. The final draft of the personal narrative essay will be due on Thursday, September 9.

Seniors
On Thursday, we really got the chance to discuss Plato's Allegory of the Cave in depth. Much like DFW's This is Water, Plato's Allegory provides a way of looking at life from a different point of view than many aren't used to taking. Part of why I really enjoy discussing this text is its relevance. Nearly 2400 years later, we can find connections between the prisoners in the cave, the puppeteers and the enlightened to any number of institutions. In a media-fueled world on a 24/7 news cycle, it's probably more relevant today than it has ever been.

Corporations that own the few media outlets available to a majority of the populace decide what those people are able to see; they determine what qualifies as news. Oftentimes if a piece of news doesn't fit the narrative that they wish to be the driving force of a story, it doesn't make air. Those in charge -- the puppeteers -- will attempt to make it more difficult to achieve enlightenment. There are avenues that you are able to explore, though. And that leads us to our bonus time down at the bottom of the entry.

Friday, you took the first lit terms test. A second test will be coming up on Friday, September 17.

Meanwhile, just about everyone had a lit project book on Tuesday. We discussed some of the best methods to be successful when annotating said books. Here are the things we decided:

• examples of lit terms in action (especially the proceeding three)
• motif
• theme
• symbol
• unfamiliar words (define them)
• commentary on what happens (explain your thoughts & opinions)
• important/notable passages (briefly explain why you think said passages are notable or important)
• character development (note new characters, character descriptions, or major changes to characters)
• ask questions (provide answers later, when possible)
• chapter summaries (describe three important things that happened)

Keep in mind that I'm a big fan of making sure you have equal parts highlighting and writing in your annotations. The first annotation check will be on Thursday, September 23.

Bonus Time (10 points) - In a modern world, what is the best practical way to achieve enlightenment? Notice the word practical is emphasized here. Keeping an open mind and allowing yourself to accept new ideas are ways to achieve enlightenment, but what is a specific action that an individual can take? What is something that an individual can do in today's world to achieve enlightenment? Respond in the comments in a minimum of five sentences with your name and period. This is geared toward seniors, but it's an opportunity that is open to everyone. Freshpeeps that wish to take a stab at answering will seem extra cool and probably earn a few more points if the answers are impressive.  Answers must be submitted by 11:59pm on Friday.

P.S. I won't have Internet access at home until at least Friday, but I do receive email during that time, which means that I will have the ability to read your comments. Blog updates (for the five people that actually follow) will probably be light until then.

Exhaustion

Today was a long day. Tomorrow doesn't look to be any shorter.

Frosh
You took the essay terms quiz and then we worked on improving the commentary corrections you completed last week. Tomorrow, you will receive the narrative essay prompt possibilities where you'll finally get the opportunity to demonstrate how well you know the difference between concrete details and commentary. We'll also go over the purpose of Follow Friday.

Seniors
I'm enjoying the conversations coming out of our reading of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. You'll get more of my impressions about this in the next blog post because we've only just finished reading it as opposed to having discussed or analyzed it together as a class. And don't forget to study for the first lit terms test.