A Tale of Two Games

New video games in my house are pretty rare outside of a sudden and/or unexpected cash influx, and to get two new games inside of a month is like finding the Loch Ness monster hanging out with Bigfoot. Yet, here we are, as I've acquired both Batman: Arkham City and WWE '12. Both are sequels to popular franchise games, but that's about the only thing the two have in common.

Arkham City takes place a year after the events of 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum and opens the world to include a large portion of Gotham City's slums, which have been converted to an enormous prison/police-state. It's a tremendous concept, with gameplay that builds on the original and then exceeds it. There's a very defined version of Batman and his outlying universe that Rocksteady is creating with these games. While it's not the version of Batman I envision of the character due to him generally being a jerk to everyone all of the time and how he oddly feels compelled to save a girl he kind of likes instead of the hundreds of people dying at one point in the story, I dig that the creators are forging their own mythos that plays somewhere in between the comic books and the Christopher Nolan movies.

Additionally, the downloadable content provides some awesome alternatives for the challenge maps as a way to keep them from being too repetitive. Playing as Robin or Nightwing makes the game worthwhile since each one has unique gadgets and different fighting animations. My hope is that Rocksteady continues to pump out the DLC on a regular basis, maybe adding a new side mission or two in addition to the challenge maps because I don't want to have to wait another two years for the next sequel, which will be interesting since the next step up would be Arkham State, and I can't imagine what the scope of that game might entail.

WWE '12, on the other hand, feels like a mixed bag of a game, albeit one that's starting to grow on me. THQ, the folks in charge of both the WWE and UFC license, always appear to have the best of intentions but somehow manage to fall just a little bit short in their sports entertainment endeavors. Their latest addition is an attempt at a reboot by turning away from the Smackdown vs. RAW name they've employed for the last seven years. Unfortunately, it's not a reboot that is successful in reinventing the game, but there are some improvements that don't have me completely hating it as much as my initial impression led me to believe.

Let's look at the positives first. The game has the WWE presentation down. It looks about as perfect as fake fighting which attempts to portray itself as real but also tries not to be real ever can possibly get. The entrances capture every nuance of each wrestler, the moves are easily identifiable, and the level of customization has never been higher. As a visual experience, WWE '12 is the best wrestling game ever produced. THQ has also improved the WWE Universe mode, where you can customize and book three different television shows that build to the monthly pay per view, over last year's initial foray. To top it all off, both The Rock and Brock Lesnar are in the game, which is what really sold me on buying it the first week. The latter is an especially popular guy to make as a created superstar, so it's pretty awesome that we get the real deal this time around. Yet, the game is far from perfect.

One of the main reasons why I don't purchase games too often is because the replay factor on the games I like is really high. WWE or UFC games lend themselves to both long or short periods of play time, so playing one match or a series of them isn't a problem. But WWE '12 changes the gameplay to the point that I almost took the game back the day I purchased it. Cooler heads prevailed since the new grapple system clearly requires a learning curve that I was too stubborn to accept. Even though it was a blow to my pride, I switched the difficulty to Easy for the time being until I start to improve.

At the same time, there are still a ton of problems with playing the game. Running strikes and grapples are nearly impossible to vary thanks to the new tap and hold methods of implementation. Most of the time when I attempt the secondary running strike or grapple, I still end up attempting the standard one. For a game touting that players will have to vary their attack when facing the AI, this doesn't help. The reversals are also spotty (or I just stink at them) despite hitting the right trigger at the prompt on a fairly consistent basis.

By far the worst aspect of the game is the new dynamic camera system that's supposed to approximate WWE television presentation. Instead of the standard elevated camera utilized in the past, the game now takes the approach of WWE TV by showing most of the match from the hard camera side. While this works for their show, it completely robs the player of any depth perception and destroys any possibility of a match that flows as a quality wrestling showcase. Instead, there are tons of missed moves and comical pratfalls that makes playing more frustrating than fun. The camera also doesn't adjust when folks uninvolved in the action, like a tag partner or manager, stand in the way. In an effort to portray realism (ironic considering the subject matter of pro wrestling) by not having tag partners become translucent, they wind up interfering in huge way. Additionally, the referee is always in the way of the action in the match, which I don't remember ever being a problem in a WWE game before.

I guess I still need more time with WWE '12. Maybe getting used to the new control scheme will alleviate some of these problems. Once UFC Undisputed 3 comes out in February, though, I doubt I'll continue playing WWE '12.

Frosh
Monday, November 14 - You took the Fahrenheit 451 final and I checked your agendas. These should be entered into the grade book by the end of the week.

Tuesday, November 15 - After receiving a list of words from The Sniper, you worked with a partner to predict the usage and utilize words in context.

Wednesday, November 16 - You continued the work from the day before and also determined the definitions of a new set of words based on the way they were used in context.

Thursday, November 17 - Having completed the assignment from the previous two days, we read The Sniper together as a class.

Friday, November 18 - We read the story called The Last Spin, which served as an introduction to our Juvenile Justice unit we started the following week.

Monday, November 28 - After completing a quick write discussing punishment differences for adults and people your age, we determined the characteristics of a child, an adult and a juvenile. Our goal was to figure out for ourselves the factors that make up a juvenile and how to differentiate between the three different concepts.


Seniors
Monday, November 14 - You completed the final timed writing and turned in your books for the last annotation check. Please make sure to finish reading the book even if you didn't complete the annotations. Missing out on that 25 point annotation check is one thing, but if you don't finish reading the book, it will seriously hinder your ability to do well on the culminating paper.

Tuesday, November 15 - After turning in the final article selection assignment, you received a final work day to complete the CD Creation project.

Wednesday, November 16 - We discussed in-text citations and how to properly implement them in your paper.

Thursday, November 17 - You turned in your CD Creation project. We then continued reading through Beowulf.

Friday, November 18 - We completed reading Beowulf and you received time to complete the dialectical journals, which I will collect on Wednesday, November 30.

Monday, November 28 - You received the guidelines for a properly formatted works cited page.

"Vaya con Dios."

Over the weekend, I took in some live theatre (spelled with the "-re" at the end to make it sound both classy and fancy) in Los Angeles and attended Point Break Live LA. For those unfamiliar, Point Break is Oscar award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's movie about surfing bank robbers and the FBI agent on a mission to stop them. It's a movie that is both awesome and incredibly ridiculous and not something one would normally associate with a sustainable stage translation, what with so many scenes taking place at the beach or in mid-flight during a spontaneous afternoon skydive.

The other thing Point Break is known for is Keanu Reeves and his ridiculous acting because he is terrible. Everyone else in the movie is either competent (Lori Petty) or having a whole lot of fun (Gary Busey), so their personalities work well with their performances, but Keanu is on another level. His line-readings in the movie, along with his truly awful acting, make for a cult classic performance and a unique stage translation. Instead of having an improv actor/comedian play the role of former college football great turned lawyer/FBI agent Johnny Utah, the crew at the Dragonfly casts the role from the audience members present. The audience member reads the lines from cue cards, which allows the individual to embrace the inner Keanu-ness of the part.

Everything is interactive, as the audience members become part of the play when the actors rob banks or run through the crowd to simulate the truly awesome chase scene. The foot chase between Johnny Utah and the bank robbing, surfer, Zen ringleader Bodhi is my favorite scene in the entire movie because the latter at one point throws a dog at the former, and they recreate that moment as faithfully as they possibly can in a theatre setting.

My only complaint is that, for the sake of streamlining the story and theatrical brevity, the cast and crew cut out a large subplot involving a separate gang of surfers who deal drugs and run guns. Some of my favorite moments come from that subplot, including Anthony Keidis shooting himself in the foot, Tom Sizemore complaining about having to wear the surfer attire and sport a stupid haircut while working undercover, and the fact that there is a character named Warchild. Still, as an experience I would enjoy attending again,
this was tops.

Frosh
Friday, October 28 - We explored irony through Alanis Morissette's song, "Ironic." In groups of no more than three, you took the existing situations in the song and modified them to be truly ironic. See, 'cause the song is only true to its namesake in that the situations described aren't, making the whole thing an exercise in irony. Crazy!

Tuesday, November 1 - After going over direct and indirect characterization, you began finding examples of both for a single character in Fahrenheit 451, taking note to use the acronym STEAL (speech, thoughts, effect, actions and looks) when finding indirect quotations.

Wednesday, November 2 - You finished Fahrenheit 451 and turned in your last batch of annotations, which I graded and returned to you. Meanwhile, the class received a work day for the Censorship Project.

Thursday, November 3 - We read through the afterword of the book and used that to discuss some major points about the novel, including how much ownership an artist has over art after its release.

Friday, November 4 - We continued our discussion and also read through the coda.

Monday, November 7 - You received a day to rehearse your Censorship Project.

Tuesday, November 8 - All students began presenting for the Censorship Project.

Wednesday, November 9 - Lather, rinse, repeat the previous day.

Thursday, November 10 - And after wrapping up the presentations, we reviewed for the final on Fahrenheit 451.

Seniors
Friday, October 27 - We started reading Beowulf with an eye for focusing on how it serves as a transition between pagan and Christian cultural beliefs for the Anglo-Saxons while also demonstrating Anglo-Saxon heroic ideals. As such, during our reading, you'll keep track of the truncated version of the story through a dialectical journal. On the left hand side, you'll summarize the section we completed in three to five sentences. On the right hand side, you'll write down the section of the heroic journey that the story falls under and two sentences dedicated to either how the section serves as the transition between the two cultural beliefs or how the section demonstrates the heroic ideals.

Tuesday, November 1 - We continued reading Beowulf because that guy is pretty cool.

Wednesday, November 2 - In an effort to better incorporate quotations into your writing, we went over TLQ guidelines, which stands for transition, lead-in, quote. The idea is that quotations should not just get dropped into your paragraphs because that's lazy. Instead, since quotations are meant to back up whatever point you're trying to make, they should be integrated seamlessly into your writing as a way to strengthen your argument.

Thursday, November 3 - This was our third timed writing day, and I asked you to incorporate a quotation into each of your three paragraphs using the TLQ guidelines from the day before.

Friday, November 4 - You received a work day for annotation or your CD Creation project.

Monday, November 7 - We continued reading Beowulf and discussed the battle with Grendel.

Tuesday, November 8 - You received the guidelines for the culminating paper, which is due December 6. The prompt asks you to trace a theme throughout the course of your novel, making sure that you support it with outside sources and valid thesis statement.

Wednesday, November 9 - We expanded on the idea for thesis statements, discussing the ATC3(or 4) format that leads to a valid thesis statement. The catch is to make sure the sentence flows and makes sense. The easiest way to figure out if it does is to read the sentence aloud to yourself after the fact.

Thursday, November 10 - You earned a work day and I forgot that your final article selection was due, so I pushed it back to the following Tuesday.

Meta Blogging

This guy is almost as frustrated
as I am with my lack of posting.

See what happens when I get bogged down with doing my job? I fail to update the blog about my job! THIS IS A TRAVESTY AND UNTOWARD! This is a disservice to myself more than anyone because holding off on writing the daily happenings of the class means that I tend to forget aspects of each day, resulting in this blog entry becoming a chore. If details are spotty, that's why. Also, I don't get to do the fun pre-amble as I instead focus on some expository writing on why I haven't been writing, which is the most boring writing to ever exist. But here we are.

Frosh
Monday, September 26 - You needed to have Fahrenheit 451 by this day. We began covering the Elements of Theme in our notes. When creating a theme statement, the key is to first decide on any of the number of topics a story addresses (what the story is about), and then figure out what the story reveals about said topic (what the story is trying to say).

Tuesday, September 27 - We continued our discussion on the Elements of Theme. You also began reading The Scarlet Ibis

Wednesday, September 28 - You continued reading The Scarlet Ibis and worked to fill out your story charts, which, hopefully, led you to creating a valid theme statement.

Thursday, September 29 - Everyone turned in The Scarlet Ibis story chart and then spent the rest of the period working on the newspaper projects in their groups.

Friday, September 30 - Newspaper projects were due this day, and we spent a portion of the period looking at everyone's work. We also attempted to come up with our own theme statement for The Scarlet Ibis so that everyone else could come up with three possible theme statements for the story by the following Monday.

Monday, October 3 - Students received an annotation day to work on their reading of Fahrenheit 451.

Tuesday, October 4 - You received the Thematic Paragraph assignment and we went over themes you created together as a class.

Wednesday, October 5 - I gave you a series of statements that are thematically linked to Fahrenheit 451, and asked you to respond to them with whether or not you agree or disagree. Meanwhile, I also checked your books for annotations on the first 35 pages of the book.

Thursday, October 6 - In small groups, you discussed your opinions on the Fahrenheit 451 anticipation/reaction statements. This led to a whole group discussion where we talked about the views of your group.

Friday, October 7 - You turned in your Thematic Paragraph and took a quiz on the first 35 pages of Fahrenheit 451.

Tuesday, October 11 - We graded the first quiz together as a class as a means to discuss the first half of Part One of Fahrenheit 451.

Wednesday, October 12 - I collected your annotations for the rest of Part One and you took an in-class essay addressing the need for people to read books.

Thursday, October 13 - We finally went back to discussing your take on the anticipation/reaction statements. The goal here is to make connections to the book and clarify some of the more confusing aspects of it by framing your understanding through these statements.

Friday, October 14 - You received a day to annotate your books.

Monday, October 17 - We spent this day becoming acquainted with the library.

Tuesday, October 18 - I assigned your Censorship Project and answered questions on it. In groups of your choosing, you began working on a worksheet that explored the meaning of censorship.

Wednesday, October 19 - Your group turned in the censorship survey and then used the rest of the class period as a work day.

Thursday, October 20 - You took a quiz on the rest of part one and all of part two of Fahrenheit 451. After finishing the quiz, you wrote down ten questions on anything that occurs in the first two parts of the book for our discussion on Friday.

Friday, October 21 - We discussed all of part one and two of Fahrenheit 451.

Seniors
Monday, September 26 - You received the Persuasion Portfolio, formed groups and began working.

Tuesday, September 27 - Everyone turned in their Timed Writing 1 Revisions and worked on the Persuasion Portfolio.

Wednesday, September 28 - We watched No Logo and you answered questions regarding the documentary/speech.

Thursday, September 29 - Everyone took the comprehensive lit terms test and turned in the No Logo questions by the end of the period.

Friday, September 30 - Students worked on the Persuasion Portfolio for the last day.

Monday, October 3 - Persuasion Portfolios were due this day. I gave you a proofreading assignment to ensure your understanding of sentence run-ons and fragments.

Tuesday, October 4 - We corrected the proofreading assignment together as a class with some explanation. You then received a day to annotate your lit books.

Wednesday, October 5 - I gave you a list of forceless words that you should avoid in your writing that also contained a few lists of suggested words to improve your analysis. We then explored what analysis looks like by looking at examples and discussing how much summary should be included when analyzing literature. The answer? Very little. Remember that the assumption when writing any type of analysis is that your reader is familiar with and has read the work in question.

Thursday, October 6 - I collected your second Article Selection assignment. We then read about and discussed the Radical Honesty movement and how it could feasibly apply to a person's everyday life. We also started to go over level questions. Here's a lovingly crafted example using a then recent episode of Mad Men as a base that I wrote last year.

Friday, October 7 - We continued going over level question and applying them to your lit books.

Tuesday, October 11 - You received a day to annotate your lit books.

Wednesday, October 12 - As a way to introduce ourselves to Beowulf, we went over a truncated (and sometimes sarcastic) look at the Anglo Saxons and their history.

Thursday, October 13 - This day was focused on your second in-class Timed Writing and turning in your books for an annotation check.

Friday, October 14 - After looking at laws that existed between the fifth and eighth century, you discussed what these laws said about the Anglo Saxon society in small groups.


Monday, October 17 - I assigned the CD Creation project and showed off examples, both good and bad, of past projects. The key for this one is having a viable theme statement that can apply to your lit book before you even attempt to choose any kind of song. Please keep that in mind, since this project is worth 150 points and due on November 17.

Tuesday, October 18 - You turned in your second Timed Writing Revision. I assigned two theme-based worksheets, one asking you to write down subjects and revelations and another exploring level questions leading to a theme, both of which are due Tuesday, 10/25.

Wednesday, October 19 - This was a CD Creation project work day.

Thursday, October 20 - We discussed the hero's journey and where we've seen examples of it in stories we have all experienced before. In a longer form, we applied the hero's journey to Finding Nemo and then you were given time to work on the bonus assignment that was due the next day.

Friday, October 21 - As a class, we discussed the idea of evil, and you answered some questions about its nature.

And SCENE.

Been hit with a few shells, but I don't walk with a limp.

Spider-Man is not as
adept as 50 Cent at
surviving wounds
unscathed.

After a nice getaway weekend where Angela and I spent time with my parents, we picked Spider-Man (the dog) up from his pet hotel stay. Like always, he was very annoyed that we left him anywhere else in the first place but ultimately glad to see us.

We played around with him, and he managed to pass out early like he always does when he's spent a few days away from home. Unfortunately, after an uneventful morning, I came home to find that he looked like he was walking diagonally. After a few minutes of trying to assess the situation, I noticed that Spider-Man (the dog) began to favor his left forepaw and had a distinct limp.

My better half was still at work, so I took him to the emergency vet clinic where the doc diagnosed him with soft tissue damage. Basically, he sprained his ankle. Or dog ankle. At least, it was the dog equivalent of an ankle. My guess is that he did it while chasing a bird that he thought was playing with him or by being too nosey around a portion of our chain link fence and getting caught in it. There weren't any "deformities" like a cut or a bruise or noticeable broken bone anywhere, and his neck had the full range of motion, which are all good signs. She prescribed some (expensive) pain medication and we have to keep our boy confined while we're gone for the next week to insure that he doesn't start running and jumping around too soon and do more damage to himself. Seeing my spry, three and a half year old dog limping, though, was not a pleasant sight, so I hope Spider-Man (the dog) is back to normal really soon.

Frosh
Last Wednesday, you completed the second research day for the mythology project. This doesn't mean that your research is done, necessarily, just that we won't spend anymore class time researching in the library.

Monday, you completed the quiz on Poseidon, Hades and Demeter. We then read about the birth of Apollo and Artemis and followed that up with a detailed look at why Artemis is a perfect fit for MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Beowulf via
BetterBookTitles.com

Today, we discussed creating a proper MLA formatted works cited page. The handout gives you the proper punctuation and information needed. The first entry is for a book; the second is for an online resource. Remember that all entries need to be listed in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. If you need further assistance, I always use Citation Machine. We then discussed Apollo, who went on to eventually get his own theatre, and some of his progeny. Expect a quiz on these folks tomorrow.

Seniors
On Wednesday, you finally got the chance to turn in your CD Creation projects. I graded them the following day, and it's hard to put into words how truly impressed I was on a whole with everyone's work, especially compared to last year. My first attempt at doing this project didn't go very well and I'm glad that the tweaks and changes myself and Ms. Windt made to it worked so well. Of course, you folks were also a vital component as well, and for that I thank you. Good job.

That day we also experienced the big showdown between Beowulf and Grendel. We'll resume the story of the Danes' favorite outsourced exterminator when we return from the fall break.

Monday, we discussed thesis statements and my version of the ATSO3. Utilize the ATC3(or 4) (author, title, claim and 3 or 4 sub-topics) correctly, and you will have yourself a thesis statement that is pure analysis. At least, that is, if it's written well and flows as a sentence. Just including the parts and not paying attention to the whole will hurt your thesis. Make sure that anything you write in the paper can tie back to your thesis, as it serves as the road map for the entire paper. I'll be hammering this point home in ways that will ultimately annoy you, but it's my hope that everyone gets the idea that a thesis is the most important sentence in your entire paper.

Today, you completed the final timed writing and turned in your fully annotated books. The optional revision, which will take the place of your lowest scored, previous timed writing, is due Friday. If you opt to not complete the revision, the in-class portion will still be due that day. And Thursday, you will turn in your final article selection. We're in the home stretch now. Keep December 3 on the brain in the meantime.

And mustard! Honey mustard, at that!

Dynamic Duo!

Yes, Brock Lesnar lost. I still had a great time at UFC 121, though. There are lots of fighters that I will always pay money to see, Brock Lesnar chief among them, but I'm really a huge fan of the sport. The show demonstrated the sport pretty well, both good and bad but more the former than the latter. Even though Jake Shields stunk up the joint and should write a thank you card to the two judges that gave him the win, the rest of the fights were entertaining enough that I still had a great time despite my guy losing.

The night also served as a welcome distraction from the previous two days as things with the dog we adopted did not work out. My wife and I were very disappointed and saddened by the turn of events but feel we made the right decision for us and, hopefully, for her.

Halloween was also pretty fun, and I enjoyed seeing the costumes of the folks who decided to dress up. I included a picture of my wife and I as Batman and Robin. And before I get any snarky remarks (he says as he laughs at the idea of actually getting any kind of comments on the blog), there was a female Robin at one point in the Batman mythos. Her name is Stephanie Brown who started her career under the alias of Spoiler and served as the fourth Robin (there have been five total) for a brief period of time before Batman fired her. She died, came back to life and now has taken on the mantle of Batgirl. Comics are awesome and confusing. A hearty high-five to the person who can name the other four Robins by their secret identities.

By the by, my Xbox came back from its repair trip today and I promptly fired up the Netflix to find that Batman: Under the Red Hood, a direct to DVD animated release from last August, is now available in their Watch Instantly section. If you're a fan of Batman or good (animated) action with an intriguing and at times heart-wrenching story, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. To my mind, it's the best DC animated release so far, even edging out Justice League: New Frontier.

Now it's time to play catch up.

Frosh
On Friday, October 22, I was gone and you moved forward.

Monday, October 25, you took the Elements of Lit test and turned in those notes, which took up most of the period. I've since added those tests to the gradebook. It's definitely a more difficult test than you may have anticipated because there were no multiple choice options and instead relies on your ability to remember your notes. But keep in mind, there was nothing on the test that wasn't also in your notes. That's how I like to operate for your tests so you know how best to prepare for them.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 26 and 27, you worked on the Root Words vocabulary worksheet. We went over why root words are important (what with them allowing folks to more easily define new words if able to correctly identify the root) and turned our focus to how many of the roots find their origins in Greek mythology (e.g. narcissist, herculean, titanic).

I collected the assignment on Thursday, October 28, which is when we began our mythology introduction. If you take away nothing else from this beginning portion of our unit, at the very least understand that myth does not automatically equate to something that is untrue. Keep in mind that myths merely explain that which is unexplainable in an attempt to get a better understanding of the world or universe at large.

After moving forward once again last Friday, we concluded the mythology introduction notes today by defining and discussing a few key terms:

• fairy tale
• parable
• legend
• myth (It's kind of redundant, I know...)
• epic
• folk tale

We will be reading some of these in class, and others may or may not show up on a test. (Hint: that usually means they WILL show up on a test.)

You need your student ID cards tomorrow and have an ORU due Friday with a section four that includes a theme statement.

Seniors
Last Friday, October 22, I was gone and you worked on completing the Anglo Saxon laws worksheet in anticipation of our Beowulf reading.

We shifted gears slightly on Monday and Tuesday (October 25 and 26) when we examined the hero journey and hero archetypes, respectively. However, the concept still applies to Beowulf because he's an epic hero. When we start reading the actual (translated) poem this week, it'll make some more sense, but understand that he's the manliest man up to that point in the history of storytelling. If there were a way for me to finagle a reference to The Rock as a manlier man right now, I'd do so, but every attempt I made sounded really weak. Also, neither of these guys stand a chance of losing to Cain Velasquez, so there's no way I would have to eat crow later. Additionally on Monday, you were assigned the theme worksheet which was due today, but I pushed it back one more day so that I could continue checking your theme statements. But more on that in a second.

Wednesday and Thursday, October 27 and 28, we explored evil and all that entails. See, Grendel is the living embodiment of evil and an all around jerk. We're looking at both sides here, but, spoiler alert, the good guy is going to win in the end. At the same time, too often we (in the big picture, humanity sense of we) tend to define things by what they aren't when it comes to difficult concepts like evil. You are all to be commended for attempting to define it on your own, and I look forward to reading the varied definitions you wrote.

Friday, October 29, I began checking your theme statements and continued to do so today. This took a lot longer than I thought and will continue into tomorrow when I plan to really finish checking them. The important idea to keep in mind is that a theme statement needs to be universal and not tied to the text in any way. Remember that just because we framed theme statements as the main idea (or lesson, as some put it) of a story doesn't mean that it needs to be positive. Too many of the theme statements I'm seeing refer to what characters should do or labeling actions as evil. Some of your books are dark and have pessimistic views of the world. The theme needs to reflect that.

I'll collect the theme worksheet tomorrow. On Thursday, November 4, you have your fourth annotation check and Article Selection 4 both due. Don't forget that next Wednesday, November 10, is the due date for your CD Creation project. Finally, your annotations need to be complete by Tuesday, November 16. This is a lot of work, but if you've paced yourself out well, it should be manageable.

Spirit of 76 (Entries)

Who's the Teach?

While not a milestone entry by any means, I do like all of the patriotic connotations that come with number 76. Also, the gasoline is also a perk, especially if they give it to me free for the product integration. You hear that, Unocal? I'm on your side!

Since my jaw decided to be a jerk Tuesday, I spent a little time in front of the television. I tried to be productive during the first part of the day and largely succeeded as I read a hefty portion of a book I've been meaning to tackle. Eventually, when I turned on the TV, I saw this new A&E show called Teach: Tony Danza. And I'm conflicted.

Tony Danza is an older gentleman who was a well-known actor back in my formative years whose star has fallen a bit recently. He's best known for his role on a show called Taxi and his own starring vehicle called Who's the Boss: in both shows he played characters named Tony, which has been a bit of a running joke about the guy for his entire career. He may not be good at responding to names other than his own. This A&E reality show focuses on Danza taking a job as a 10th grade English teacher in urban Philadelphia. While this sounds like a horrible SNL joke, it's real, and the opening of the show tries to immediately cut down criticism by noting that the titular figure originally went to school and earned a bachelor's degree in History with an intent to become a teacher. There's good and bad that goes along with the show, so I'd prefer to break it down that way.

The Bad

• None of the particulars are laid out to the audience. From what I can gather, Danza has one class of 26 students, all of whom volunteered for or asked to be in the class, along with a "teaching instructor" who has the job of monitoring him all day, every day. This means that Danza is really more of a student teacher. That's probably in the best interest of the students, but it doesn't really explore the reality of the profession, especially that of an urban high school.
• Some of the administrators are incredibly condescending towards Danza. On the first day of school, Danza forgets to sign in and an assistant principal chastises him loudly in front of students and other teachers, going so far as to emasculate him by ordering him to stop being vain and put on his glasses to sign on the correct line. People are people and none of them are perfect, and despite any problems I've ever had with an administrator, and, granted, I've had very few, none has ever been so unprofessional as to berate me in front of students or colleagues. This is probably more of a problem with this particular school and that particular administrator. It's possible that she didn't appreciate the idea of an actor making a reality show mockery of a school she adores. Either way, it made Danza look incompetent, her look mean and the school look bad.

The Good

• The guy cares. At one point his instructional coach asks if Tony has cried yet today at which point he breaks down. He cries three to four times in the first episode alone, and nothing about his tears feels disingenuous. Trust me, I've seen plenty of episodes of Who's the Boss? and Tony Danza is not that great of an actor.
• However, what the show gets right is that caring isn't enough. Tony's good intentions aren't enough to make him a good teacher. It takes experience and failure before a person can start to learn how to teach effectively, let alone well. I still feel like I need to be vigilant in making sure that I don't become complacent as a teacher. The students think Tony's first test isn't fair and feel that he grades it too harshly. However, his first instinct is to blame it on the students not reading. Like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. After six years as a teacher at ALHS and two years prior to that as a sub, I'm still getting the hang of making sure that any assessment I utilize works well and truly gives me an idea how much or if students learn to be critical thinkers. The show showcases this idea remarkably well.
• My favorite parts of the show are the interviews with the students. They give completely honest opinions about Tony, and so far those reviews are rarely glowing. It makes me wonder what my students think of me, or what they thought of me when I was starting out. I know I'm better at my job now than I was when I started and would like to think that those kids from the past would benefit from what I've learned in the years since they were first in my class. 
• In a tumultuous time in education, when so many people are Waiting for Superman, it's nice to see a show dealing with education that doesn't make it, the institution or the people running the show out to be such abject failures. Sometimes, teachers do a good job, even the new and inexperienced ones who are having their hands held. I appreciate that most of all.

So check it out. The show repeats on A&E all of the time between the shows about paranormal children and people with debilitating drug habits.

Frosh

Friday, we moved forward.

Today, we finished off the Elements of Theme notes. Please keep in mind the theme statement checklist. You'll be incorporating a new section to the fourth Outside Reading Update, which is due this Friday. This new section will be worth ten points and require you to create a theme statement for the book you cover for the update.

Seniors

Today and Friday, we worked on creating level questions and converting those level questions into viable theme statements. I also increased the value of the CD Creation assignment to 150 points, the breakdown of which can now be found here. 

I love when my classes feel serendipitous. 

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN:

This week, I'd also like to extend the excitement for Brocktober 23 by posting reasons why I think Brock Lesnar is awesome. Back when he was in the WWE and was training to look as intimidating as possible instead of to become a human wrecking machine, the wrestling company released this video in anticipation of his Summerslam match with The Rock. Please note that at the one minute mark how he starts to modify his push-up routine because he was tired of the ground getting in the way.

Brocktober Begins

Get used to a lot of talk about Brock Lesnar as Brocktober 23 gets closer and closer.

In the meantime, the reason for my, as one student put it, "Negative Nancy" attitude recently is that my family had to put down Hershey, the dog I mentioned two weeks ago. And it's been rough.

Frosh
For Thursday, we began to cover the elements of setting and you turned in the inference chart. Friday, forward was the name of the game. Monday, we finished our setting notes and you received the following questions:

1. What kind of place is the story set? Season, climate, time of day?
2. Are the characters in conflict with their setting?
3. Does the setting help to understand the nature of the characters?
4. What kind of atmosphere does the setting create?  Would you avoid it or like to live in it?

You'll apply the questions to The Most Dangerous Game, Cask of Amontillado and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory. The point of all of this is to connect the idea that setting has a tremendous influence over mood and tone, and, without it, a story can lose much of its luster. Today, we'll continue reading A Christmas Memory, and anything left will be part of your homework tonight.

Seniors
Last Thursday, you had one last work day in class to work on your Persuasion Portfolio, which I will collect today. Friday, I assigned your CD Creation assignment which also came with format guidelines. The CD Creation assignment will be due November 10. We began a discussion about the Radical Honesty movement, tying that in to our discussions about Truth (with a capital T) and what that actually means when we all take a minute to stop and think about it. The article can be found here.

We finished that discussion on Monday and then moved on to discussing what analysis looks like. Always remember that summarizing, while a valuable skill, is not analysis, which is our goal for this lit project. I desperately want you to come away from this project with the ability to analyze literature and, ideally, the world around you at large. One way to focus on analysis and avoid summary in your timed writings and your culminating paper is to write with the assumption that the person reading your papers has already read the text in question. We'll be discussing this at length once we start talking about theme in the next week or two.

Today, we'll go over the Persuasion Portfolio's point distribution and I'll be giving you a proofreading assignment in order to better help you identify some problems I found in the timed writing revisions.

One more thing to keep in mind is that there will be a test covering both sets of lit terms on Thursday, October 14. Don't let that knowledge fall out of your brains just yet.