Good news, everyone!

Professor Hubert Farnsworth
approves!

Shortly before we went on Spring Break, I interviewed for a position to teach honors next year. And, well, I got it!

Next year, instead of teaching frosh college prep, I'll be teaching the freshman honors class along with Mrs. Windt. I'm really excited to take on something that's completely new yet also a little familiar. It'll be an interesting challenge that will allow me to grow as an educator and as a person.

And now it's a ketchup time, in that we will catch up with all of the days I have neglected to blog about previously.

Frosh
On Thursday, March 31, you worked on deliberations in the case of the Choctaw Three and we discussed the results you determined. The lesson here is that despite years of progress, racism is by no means dead or done. It still exists, but hopefully that is something that all of us can combat in a meaningful way over the course of our lives.

Friday, April 1, you moved forward.

For Monday and Tuesday, you viewed the documentary titled Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, detailing the case of the nine black men accused of raping two white women. There will be an opportunity later on this quarter where you will write a compare and contrast essay, and one choice will be comparing the court case in To Kill a Mockingbird to the Scottsboro boys' case. If that is something that interests you, then make sure to hold onto those notes when I return them to you in the Graded Work tray.

Wednesday, we finished watching the documentary, picked up To Kill a Mockingbird and discussed the pre-interviews that you handed in.

You took the quiz on the "What Was Jim Crow?" packet on Thursday. Once that was done, we began reading the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird. By Monday, you should be finished with chapter three. That first chapter is challenging and somewhat long for the book but the story deals less with the history of the town and the Finch family after that point, so it should be less confusing. Keep with it and write down any questions you have so we can discuss your understanding after the weekend.

You moved forward on Friday for the final time this year.

Seniors

On Thursday, March 31, we listened to The Cure's "Killing an Arab" and Guns 'N Roses' "Civil War" in order to discuss the connections to both Cool Hand Luke and The Stranger. There were four questions dealing with each song, and your group chose which song to discuss the answers.

I told you a story on Friday, April 1, in the hopes that you would all make safe decisions on prom night. Hopefully, you did. We also attempted to watch a short film made by Mr. Rubel on the birth of the hippie movement, but my DVD player was uncooperative. 

Monday was a big day. You checked out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest from the library and received both the reading itinerary and the Table of Contents assignment. We began reading chapter one. Keep in mind that Chief's perception changes throughout the novel, so the beginning is much more difficult to understand than the latter parts of the book. He views things from a metaphorical point of view, and it's up to you to determine, at least in the beginning, what is literally happening on the ward. 

On Tuesday, we finished reading chapter one and discussed the most important line in the book in terms of understanding Chief's perspective. We then focused on some terms that will aid your understanding of the novel.

Wednesday saw us finish the terms and read through the article "Tarnished Gallahad" by Matthew Rick. Ken Kesey lived a pretty fascinating life and writing this book was just a small part of his experience.

I gave you Thursday to read after you turned in your latest ORU. 

Friday, you took the quiz on section one, which consisted of the first four chapters of Cuckoo's Nest. You then received some questions that you began to answer in groups and will get the chance to complete on Monday. 

YOUCANHASCHEESEBURGER

Spring Break was fun, wasn't it? Mine can be summed up in one word: Youcanhascheeseburger.

YOUCANHASCHEESEBURGER - $5.50 worth
of delectable.

I CAN HAZ?

When I look back on my life and think of how I came to the point of suffering my first heart attack, I'll look fondly on this picture knowing that it was all worth it. This is no ordinary cheeseburger; it's a cheeseburger that replaces regular buns with grilled-cheese sandwiches. Normally, this is the kind of novelty food item that sounds good on paper due to the decadence and pure gluttony involved but ultimately proves untenable when actually eaten.

That is not the case here.

Somehow, the fine folks at The Brunch Box overcame this problem. I'm guessing because they use Texas toast for the bread on the grilled cheese sandwiches. Either way, it's the most delicious burger I've ever consumed, and I plan to make this a ritual of every visit I make to Portland, Oregon.


Frosh
Way back last Thursday, March 17, you spent the period self-editing your most recent draft of the essay using the self-edit guide provided to you. The next day, Friday, March 18, you turned in the final draft of the Character Analysis Essay along with the Character Quote Sheet. We spent time that day discussing what made this particular assignment different and why so many of you chose to complete it and hand in the essay. The rest of our time was spent discussing the final on Romeo & Juliet and what you could expect for it.

Tuesday, we returned from spring break and you took the aforementioned final.

Today, you received the pre-interview assignment for To Kill a Mockingbird. Remember that any interview subject must have read the novel previously and be over 30 years old. Make sure that you ask your subject to elaborate on their answers so you can get enough information to fill out the entire sheet. We then read the article dealing with the Choctaw Three, who were convicted of killing a baby whose mere existence came into question. If you're interested in reading more about them, there's a fairly in-depth article located here that provides an update to their story. You then spent the last part of the period in groups determining what information in the article goes towards their innocence and what information leads the reader to believe they are guilty. We'll continue the article and talk about this some more tomorrow.

Seniors
Thursday, March 17, we continued our analysis of Cool Hand Luke. The following day, Friday, March 18, you took your final on The Stranger and then completed the film.

Upon our return from spring break on Tuesday, we spent the period discussing Lucas Jackson and Meursault. As I said in class that day, I hold no grand notions that every single student fully read The Stranger, which is really too bad considering what an easy book it is to get through. Understanding it's deeper meaning may be a bit tougher, but the prose of The Stranger itself is simple to read. And now that opportunity is squandered along with the points available for the unit. Our next book, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is much deeper, longer and more difficult to understand initially. It's also the final unit of the year and you're last chance to improve your grade. If you're already in a good place grade-wise, then keep on making that happen and stay the course. If you're not? Skipping the reading won't help.

Today, you read Albert Camus' preface to The Stranger and began answering questions about it with the whole period at your disposal. The assignment is due on Friday.

It does a body good.

As the journalism adviser, recruiting new talent each year is a constant struggle. For the third year in a row, I decided to represent the Brave Times at Alta Loma's 8th Grade Welcome Night to attempt to entice eager, incoming students to write for what I consider to be the best newspaper in the district. It's always an interesting sight to see the people who show up, parents and students alike, all on their phones, with earbuds securely in place and video game devices at the ready. Just about everyone was attentive during the presentation, but very few of the people waiting beforehand spent the time interacting with those around them. I was also just as guilty of this, too, so don't think I'm placing myself above the fray. The experience left me thinking about a video I recently caught on YouTube, similar to one I posted back in December. This one, though, is directly related to education and what reform for it might truly look like.

Tell me what you think of the video. I'm curious about what students would have to say about it.

Frosh
This past Monday, you turned in your final review and study guide for Romeo & Juliet. I answered your questions about the essay and then gave you the rest of the period and the whole of Tuesday to focus on getting as much writing done as possible. Always remember that writing an essay out of order whenever you have the opportunity is actually the ideal way to get the best possible outcome. My experience shows that writing the thesis first should be the goal, followed by finding concrete details and evidence, and then writing the body paragraphs. Introductions and conclusions, while important, pale in comparison to the body of an essay. Speaking of which, below is the layout of your body paragraph, using the Jane Schaffer format.

1. Topic Sentence - State a reason why the character(s) you listed is/are to blame relating to one of your sub-topics in your thesis statement.
2. Concrete Detail (CD) - Incorporate a quotation from the play that supports the topic sentence with a proper citation. Your second semester ORUs demonstrate how to incorporate quotations.
3. Commentary (CM) - Explain how and why the quotation in your CD supports the TS using at least two sentences.
4. CM
5. CD
6. CM
7. CM
8. Transition Sentence - Write a sentence that allows you to flow from this paragraph to your next body paragraph. You won't need this sentence in your final body paragraph.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Concluding Sentence - Conclude your body paragraphs in order to flow into your conclusion.

Today, you focused on peer editing. Tomorrow, you may use this marked up draft or modify your existing draft for the purposes of self-editing. My suggestion is to do whatever work now as opposed to later so you can save yourself the headache of having to do everything the night before. If you wrote it out, type it; if you chose to type it, put it in MLA format.

Seniors
We discussed a few terms on Monday that will hopefully inform your reading of part two of The Stranger. Keep these terms in mind as the magistrate questions Meursault and also wonder where the focus is during the trial.

Yesterday, we took a look at the idea of savior symbolism in comparison to our discussions on existentialism. In order to properly study this idea, we're taking a look at Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. Keep in mind that you're taking notes on this for the purpose of seeing how Luke fits into either idea: savior or existentialist.

Monopoly!

Zuffa purchases Strikeforce

Look, I know that I post about the world of MMA more than a teacher on his teaching blog probably should, but this is pretty substantial news that broke today, so it feels timely and poses so many questions that there was no way I could ignore it. Sure, I COULD have ignored it, but I don't feel like ignoring it. I promise to write something non-MMA related prior to my UFC 128 rundown.

In fact, click on the link for all of the available details because rehashing them here isn't my goal. My concerns center around the two big questions this purchase raises. 

Question #1: Does this purchase make Strikeforce the UFC's farm league?

I can't see any other alternative. Dana White claims that it's "business as usual" over at Strikeforce and that all contracts will be honored. The idea is that it will be run as a separate brand, independent of Dana's influence, especially since he has had some choice words for many of the fighters, commentators and several decision makers over at Showtime. And there has been some precedent set before when Zuffa (UFC's parent company) owned WEC. The latter was run as a separate group with its own matchmakers and separate television deals. But now all of that has changed. If the rating of UFC on Versus 3 tells us anything, it's that more fight nights ultimately means that fewer of the live TV events are special and people can pick and choose what they want. If this is diluted even further with five more championships, all that does is create more market confusion. My prediction is that once the existing television contracts run their course, which could be as far out as three years from now, Strikeforce and any existing contracts will be folded into the UFC. What does this mean for guys like Josh Barnett, Paul Daley and Dan Henderson? By that time, Barnett and Henderson could be retired so it may be a moot point, but guys like Daley, a guy fired and banned "for life" from the UFC by Dana White for throwing a sucker punch at Josh Koscheck after the end of their fight? Or Frank Shamrock, a commentator who has never had a great relationship with UFC management? I guess it's no fun to be them.

Question #2: With the only viable alternative North American league now under the same corporate umbrella as the number one promotion, does this make the case for a fighter's union all the stronger?

There's a lot of talk about unions in the news lately, and that's another discussion for another time. But theses fighters are now under, for all intents and purposes, a monopoly. They are at the whims of Zuffa. For all of the talk about Scott Coker and Strikeforce operating under their own jurisdiction when it comes time to negotiate contracts with free agents, I can't see that working out well for the fighters involved. Is the solution a union? If Dana White doesn't think so, then I can't see how a fighter's union would ever get off the ground. Major League Baseball has a union, as does the NFL, NHL and the NBA. A union could provide security, pensions, health insurance and insure that fighters have security and negotiating leverage. The examples I've cited aren't sports that operate in the same fashion as MMA operates, and I'm far from an expert on labor practices. I definitely don't have the answers here, but I think the question is worth exploring by those who study these things a bit more closely than me.

Frosh

This past Monday, you received the R & J Timeline assignment, which is due on Tuesday, available on School Loop and soon will be here on this site also. 

Wednesday, you received the Character Quote Sheet which you can use as a method of pre-writing for your previously assigned Character Analysis Essay. This will be due when you turn in your final draft.

Thursday, I gave you the Act IV/V Review, which is due on Monday along with your Act IV/V Study Guide. We also reviewed thesis statements on Thursday, something I hope everyone remembers, but if not, well, that's the whole point of review. To reiterate, please remember that thesis statements are ONE sentence, located at the end of the first paragraph and establish the main idea of your entire essay. If you needed to answer the prompt and could only do so with one sentence, the thesis statement would be it. Utilize the ATSO(3/4) formula (author, title, subject, opinion with 3 to 4 sub-topics) to guide you:

In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo & Juliet, ______ and ______ are the most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because _____________, _______________, and _________________.

Fill in the first two blanks with who you believe to be the most to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The three (or four) final blank spots should be short phrases (between 5 to 10 words long) that serve as reasons why the one or two people you choose are most to blame. Keep in mind that you can pick anyone in the play but be very careful in choosing because the whole point of the essay is to support your choice with evidence from the text.

The essay will be the main focus of the week prior to Spring Break since we also spent the majority of Monday through Thursday to finish reading the play. The tragedy finally unfolds almost exclusively due to a breakdown in communication: Capulet never listens to what his daughter truly wants; Romeo doesn't listen to Friar Laurence's warnings about taking things slow, Tybalt never listens to Capulet about letting Romeo's party crashing go; Juliet doesn't listen to herself about not wanting to get married; the letter never gets to its intended target explaining to Romeo the plan to let the star-crossed lovers live happily ever after. And so on. The lesson here is to never fall in love. Wait, no. The lesson is to listen. Or maybe the lesson is something else entirely for you to determine. Still, that listening part is still a good idea.

Seniors

On Monday, we read "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus and toiled endlessly to understand it. HAH! See what I did there? Camus' take always reads to me as an optimistic view of existentialism. Your results may vary. Tuesday, you spent the period answering questions dealing with Camus' impression of Sisyphus as well as your own impression of the guy destined/doomed to push a rock up a hill.

Wednesday, my wife was sick, so I allowed you the period to read The Stranger.

Hopefully, you took advantage of that opportunity because Thursday, you had a quiz on part one of the novel. Remember to have the whole book finished by next Friday, March 18. There'll be another test on it, this one a bit longer and a bit more difficult.

Top Numbered Somethings: Recent Video Game Experiences

With a few things on the back burner that I'm currently in the middle of writing but aren't quite ready for public consumption yet, I figured I could discuss some recent video games I've played. I suspect that once my wife and I have children, the limited time I make for video games will disappear altogether, but, in the meantime, I enjoy pretending that I am a digitally rendered avatar of a popular licensed or real-life figure of which I have total control.

3) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The most surprising aspect of this really fun multiplayer update of the great Assassin's Creed sequel is that the story mode is so deep. While the point of the game is to engage in the multiplayer mode for which it was designed, I haven't done so yet because almost everyone in the world beats me at any kind of multiplayer game except when it comes to UFC Undisputed 2010. Even then, I still have a hefty losing record. I imagine I might have more time for some of the multiplayer experience when summer comes around.

2) Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds- Once upon a time, I played Street Fighter 2 exclusively on an arcade machine and excelled with Ken, Ryu's blonde-haired red gi-wearing counterpart. Eventually, though, the Capcom world passed me by because it became about the number of combination hits a person could get while juggling their opponent in the air. I thought I might have a seizure because it became so frenetic. However, with the inclusion of Thor, Deadpool, and M.O.D.O.K. (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), I couldn't resist this game. This is another one that I wouldn't dare ever play online, but it's really fun watching the Hulk smash things up.

1) EA Sports MMA - Ugh, this game is so frustrating. There was a ton of hype for this game prior to release because EA is considered the standard bearer of sports games, and UFC president Dana White famously denounced EA in the press because before UFC Undisputed 2009's development, EA refused to even meet with the company, calling UFC "not a real sport." Once THQ's first UFC game became a hit, EA changed their tune and started to develop this title.

Here's the thing: I have two go-to games that I always return to once I either beat or grow tired of the latest game. Either I go right back to playing the latest WWE or UFC release because for each one I can play one or two matches, not stink, and then turn it off. My standards for this type of game, then, are going to be fairly high. EA Sports MMA does not come close to measuring up to those standards. Since the reviews were poor and sales from the week of release were in the toilet (and because I am cheap), I waited for a significant price drop before buying it but I wish I had just stuck to a rental.

However, there are a few things that work and I note these in the hopes that THQ will swipe them to use in the next installment of UFC Undisputed. The one aspect of MMA that EA got perfectly right is submissions. The spinning the right control stick debacle that THQ calls "the shine" makes submissions nearly impossible in Undisputed. EA created a system that fits organically with how each submission works in the context of a fight: finding a sweet spot to apply a choke and working to hyperextend a joint for a limb attack. It makes sense because each type of submission requires a different approach by a fighter, unlike the same approach each time that THQ employs. Other things that work: facial damage and the aftermath of such damage looks as devastating as it does in a real MMA fight and the career mode is fun to play instead of a chore.

The good parts end there, though. Everything else about the game feels superficial and one-dimensional. UFC Undisputed does a great job of making each fighter feel independent and unique with striking, takedown and submission animations that are unique to that fighter. None of this exists in EA Sports MMA. The striking, employed by utilizing the right control stick, is basic and difficult to manage, not to mention limiting. Even if the creators had made unique animations for each fighter, they would only have what feels like three strikes per limb compared to the what feels like twelve to fifteen per limb of UFC Undisputed. Considering EA managed to procure every name fighter not under contract to UFC AND Randy Couture, you'd think they would take the time to make the fighters feel unique during gameplay and not interchangeable. Where is Nick Diaz's pitter-patter boxing style or Bas Rutten's liver kicks? Nowhere, that's where. And while it's nice that the creators gave the game and the sport its worldwide appeal by including different rules and arenas, there's no real difference in gameplay between fighting in a ring or a cage, which is the entire point of including the two.

And, yet again, I've written way too much about MMA in my teaching blog.

We have almost two weeks of catching up to do! Yikes! Plus, this entry is getting long, so I'll hide the whole purpose for this blog under a cut.

I'm okay, you're crazy.

As I finally feel as close to 100% as can be expected for the first time since early February, I'm now left with the monumental task of grading a ton of assignments that are backlogged while also attempting to get my own homework done for the Master's degree I hope to earn by the end of May. Come June, my brain will probably ooze out of my ear due to over exhaustion. 

Frosh
Wednesday and Thursday were spent presenting scenes from Act IV. This is a project that I revived this year, and I'm really glad that I did. In the last few years, the ninth grade classes I had couldn't handle the self-governing nature associated with group work, and the end-result culminating from it would often be disappointing and subpar from a majority of the groups. That was not the case this year. A very clear majority of the students had original ideas for their interpretations of Act IV's scenes, and even if the final product did not come out as squeaky clean and perfect as they intended (due to varying factors), I was still very much impressed with what I saw. There are some tweaks I'd like to make for next year, but I think it's a tremendous moment as a teacher to see a project come to fruition and then to get excited about the possibilities of how to improve the assignment for the future.

Seniors
We're heavy into existentialism at this point and hopefully you're almost through with part one of The Stranger, if not well into part two. The Sisyphus essay by Camus will make you think, and each paragraph in it allows for the possibility of a whole period's worth of discussion. I really hope you start to make connections to the philosophical ideas we've been discussing, looking at how existentialism and the finite time available in life, applies not just to The Stranger but also to what we look at next. Reread it a few times, too, because I guarantee you'll find something different to think about with each fresh look.

And we're back!

Being sick is never any fun, and it's often more work to arrange for a day I'm not there than it is for me to actually be there doing the work. Unfortunately, for the second time this school year and the third time in a calendar year, my ear has betrayed me. Thankfully, I wasn't out for as long as last time, but the affliction is a bit worse than before. I appreciate your patience with me and my constant need for you to repeat yourself. I know I don't like to do that, and I really hate that I have been forced to ask you to do so. Hopefully, the lack of hearing on my right side will pass soon enough.

Frosh
You were assigned the Act IV group project, where each group is responsible for producing, interpreting and presenting a scene from act IV to the class and individuals will create a product and a half-page paper based on their roles in the group. Everyone needs to act in the presented scene, save directors who will be responsible for the script with stage directions and a full-page paper that explains their choices. This is an exciting project that I always anticipate doing throughout the school year. I'm a big stickler for creativity, and anyone that takes a chance to do something spectacular is rewarded for the effort, even if that chance falls through to some degree. Each day this week, I'll be giving you a different objective to fulfill. Today, for instance, I encouraged everyone to finish reading through their respective scenes and choose a time period for the setting.

Seniors
Monday saw everyone receive the final Macbeth paragraph assignment, and we discussed the different interpretations of the play, specifically those made by Roman Polanski in his film version. I'm looking to do one last Macbeth assignment, but I'm unsure of just what that will be yet or if it will even happen. Regardless, tomorrow we start off on existentialism, which means more talking about your own interpretation of the world and reality. This will be fun, and sometimes confusing.

On Metaphors and Due Dates

Frosh
The balcony scene provides plenty of opportunities to identify metaphors and other comparisons. It also sets the ground for the rest of the play, since Romeo proposes marriage. We also were introduced to the Friar, whose hasty decision to help the two young lovebirds ends poorly for everyone involved. If you're looking for someone to blame, he's the guy.

Seniors
Now Macbeth is not only a jerk, but an insane jerk. This is what happens when a body doesn't sleep. Considering the new visions he has, Macbeth finds himself at a crossroads. Ask yourself if what the witches show Macbeth are actually visions. Do any of them actually portend future events? Depending on your answer, what does that tell us about the witches?

Keep in mind the following dates:

• February 10 - Act III Paragraph due
• February 11 - Polanski Film Permission Slips due
• February 16 - Act IV Paragraph due
• February 18 - Act V Paragraph due; OR Update 3 due
• February 26 - Final Macbeth Paragraph due

All of these dates are currently reflected on the calendar on my class website. I know I haven't given you the assignment for the Final Macbeth Paragraph yet, but I will soon, so don't freak out. Also, please make sure you turn in those Polanski permission slips because you will have an alternate assignment in lieu of watching the very violent and kind of fun film. The director is a creepy rapist, but the movie works really well and has some very original interpretations.

Finally, if you plan to earn the bonus points associated with annotating your own copy of The Stranger, then you should make sure to have it in hand by March 1. This is a preliminary date, but more than likely, we'll be working with Albert Camus' novel by then.