Ketchup

This is awesome. I wish I either
owned this costume or that
my face was Photoshopped
in place of this guy.

I'm very behind. Hence, I need to CATCH UP. See? This is what an English degree gets you: a stranglehold on puns.

Frosh
Monday, September 12 - I assigned your newspaper project. This is a big deal assignment, done in groups, where the goal is to create a newspaper from the point of view of the animals from Animal Farm. The newspaper could either be an official publication under the watchful eye of Napoleon, or it could be an underground newspaper meant to subvert the reign of the pigs. Either way, it has four sections and each person in your group is responsible for at least two articles. However your groups decides to lay it out in terms of size and page length is up to you. This is a chance to be creative and make something that looks visually interesting and exciting, so here's hoping you all do that.

Tuesday, September 13 - While I was gone at a district conference, you used the day to work on the newspaper project.

Wednesday, September 14 - Lather, rinse, and repeat, since the conference was two days long.

Thursday, September 15 - We revised Jane Schaffer-style chunks in class, making sure that you had a concrete detail sentence followed by two commentary sentences. You took what we did in class and created two more chunks based on the characters about which you had already written.

Friday, September 16 - You received another in-class work day to further your progress on the newspaper project.

Monday, September 19 - We began looking at the elements of character in class. The first of our two big ideas was to understand direct and indirect characterization. Keep in mind that direct characterization is easy, as it's a stated fact the narrator states about the character, while indirect characterization requires analysis on the part of the reader based on the actions, words and descriptions of the characters. The other big idea is to focus on internal and external conflict. Emotionally struggling with an idea is internal, while physically struggling against an outside force is external.

Tuesday, September 20 - Yet another meeting prevented me from being present in class despite being present on campus. You read "The Interlopers," containing one of my favorite single word endings in a short story, and completed the characterization sheet to the best of your ability.

Wednesday, September 21 - You received yet another day to work on your newspaper project.

Thursday, September 22 - Read the description for September 21 because the same applies here.

Friday, September 23 - We finished going over the elements of character, exploring flat and round characters as well as static and dynamic characters. Remember that round characters can be static or dynamic, while flat characters are always going to be static. Also, we discovered how detrimental poor directions can be on assignments when I am not present, and I asked you to revise your characterization worksheets with more specific instructions.

Seniors
Monday, September 12 - We listened to Blues Traveler's "The Hook" and explored the idea of saying a whole lot while claiming to say nothing.

Tuesday, September 13 - I was gone, and you read the poem "Autumn Begins in Martin's Ferry, OH," answering questions that accompanied the poem.

Wednesday, September 14 - You received a reading/annotation day for the lit project.

Thursday, September 15 - After turning in the first Article Selection assignment, you took the lit terms test covering the second set of terms. Following the completion of the quiz, we reviewed the concept of ethos, pathos and logos. It was review for most of you, which is fine. No one ever hurt themselves by learning more about a concept.

Friday, September 16 - We furthered our foray into argumentation by covering different logical fallacies. The idea is to understand that while someone can have a strong or salient point, he or she can weaken their argument by committing these fallacies. So don't do that.

Monday, September 19 - We finished covering the logical fallacies. You received the op-ed assignment where you got the chance to see SO MANY logical fallacies in action.

Tuesday, September 20 - While I was at yet another meeting, you continued working on the assignment from the day before.

Wednesday, September 21 - The period was the final reading/annotation day prior to the first annotation check where you had to have the first 25% of your lit project book read and annotated. Hopefully, you used it well.

Thursday, September 22 - You used the class period to complete the first of four in-class timed writings. You received two prompts, one a little easier than the other but with a higher degree of difficulty, and wrote for the entire class period. After finishing the timed writing, you turned in your books for the first annotation check. The revision of the timed writing, which needs to be typed in MLA format, is due Tuesday, September 27.

Friday, September 23 - I returned your books and your first article selection. I utilized the comment key when grading the latter and gave you a copy of the same. We used the period to explain the different facets of the comment key, and I hope seeing a tangible usage of the comment key on your assignment emphasized its importance.

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.

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.