Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!

Well, we've been tracking Santa and the sleigh on the NORAD Santa tracker. Last we looked he was in South America. And my kids tell me there are zero days left to follow preparations at the North Pole. How exciting! Anyway, thought you should know that if you tune in now to CTV or NBC West, you can watch It's a Wonderful Life. Also on CBC is Miracle on 34th Street - a remake of a classic!

Our stockings have miraculously been filled, and the Santa presents are all wrapped in previously unseen "Santa" wrapping paper. I am looking forward to eating some of the cookies and carrots left out for Santa and the Reindeer, and you'll be pleased to know The Language of Composition is beside me right now!

Anyway, since you have all been so good, I know you'll have a great day tomorrow - Merry Christmas!

The Great Debaters

The Movie:
Well, finally my great debate over which movie to show has come to a winning conclusion, I think. Of course, the essay we read for homework encouraged me to follow my convictions and show something with a curricular tie-in: namely the power of language, education, persuasion, and of course, a dose of American history. Next term when we begin studying persuasion, we will discuss fallacious reasoning; argument; counter-argument; syllogisms; etc.

Some interesting notes about the movie. It stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, both winners of the Oscar for Best Actor: Washington for Training Day and Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland. Interestingly, there is oddly coincidental casting of the young actor who plays James Farmer Jr. He is named Denzel Whitaker.

The movie, inspired by a true story, is set in 1930's, Depression-Era, Texas at Wiley College. There are references to the Fire-Side Chats of President Roosevelt, and to the New Deal - the President's plan to stimulate a dying economy and offer relief to the unemployed and starving. The plot highlights the continued struggle of African Americans to educate their population and combat the anti-literacy laws of the 1800's and the Jim Crow laws, which were still in existence.

As you've seen so far, there is also some interesting discussion of the derivation of certain words: denigrate, meaning, in some cases, to "blacken" from the root Niger, and lynching, from the name of a slave master Willy Lynch.

Finally, the scene where the students are practicing speaking with their mouths full reminds me of my university rhetoric course, where we learned of Demosthenes, a reknowned Greek orator. A common story tells of his talking around mouthfuls of rocks to improve his diction, but it is unknown whether this is fact or merely a legendary example of his perseverance and determination.

Note: We may need to finish the movie during coffee break Friday - I'm guessing 5 minutes or so; hope you'll stay.

Your essays:
Back by Friday, if all works out well. I've marked about half. Some very good efforts, so far. Really interesting topics.

The essay you read for homework:
We will commence with this after Christmas and do a second, close reading.

That's all for now - two more sleeps, people!

The Ironic Teaching Life

Hello,

Sorry to those of you who found the lack of a post, following my sick day, a significant impediment to your learning. Nonetheless, it strikes me as ironic that I am now responsible for missed homework. In an effort to assist you with the blog, I have taken on more work for myself and lessened student responsibility. Hmm. Perhaps we can find a way for you to take turns writing the blog - guest bloggers if you will! I once worked as a ghost blogger - interesting work impersonating someone else. It would be a good exercise in writing and replicating voice if each of you wrote as me. Would I be flattered or offended by the results?

Anyway, today we finished up the Kyoko Mori essay and discussed (briefly) some of the fundamental differences between Japanese education and American education. By the way, I took note of some very good homework efforts out there - even if I don't mark it, you are helping yourself by doing such good work, and I do notice!

Then we moved on to the viewing portion of the class; we watched scenes from Giant, On the Waterfront, A Fistful of Dollars, Dirty Harry, La Dolce Vita, and a questionable selection, to please some male viewers, from Apocalyspe Now.

Finally, we continued to delve into what I will term The Great Movie Debate of 2010: what can we watch as a class? I still think It's A Wonderful Life has the curricular connection and is different enough from what you normally watch to be worthwhile. That being said, none of you has seen The Class, from France, and it is highly educational, interesting, thought-provoking and challenging. Further, it won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and having lived and worked in Cannes, that makes it a sentimental favorite! Perhaps we have a winner ...

Homework: Read On the Uses of a Liberal Education as Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students. Try to see the prof's point of view.

See you Wednesday!

Filled with Glee

It's 8:30 a.m., and the Glee Christmas soundtrack is playing in my livingroom, where the dance party has already commenced. The baby is rolling a Barbie suitcase around, and I have been informed the girls are all ready to go to California! (Other days they're going to Brazil). Welcome to my "day off."

Anyway, lest I forget the blog again, let's review what we did yesterday:

1. First, in groups of four, you wrote the criteria for the narrative essay including expectations for words, sentences, paragraphs, the essay as a whole, and the ideas you will communicate. Please remember that I expect the essay to be edited, peer-edited, and to include a rough and good draft when you hand it in. This entire package will be worth 60 marks.
2. Second, in the same groups, you wrote, and will finish for tomorrow, a ten-question test using the words from one of the vocab units we've studied. The test format is like the one I gave you on the alien-encounter, and you should supply a word bank for the test-takers.

For those of you who have seen me to conference on your essays, I am impressed with the writing so far. Because of the time allotted for this essay, I hope to see a relatively error-free effort sans sentence fragments, run-ons, and spelling errors.

For tomorrow: Hand in your essay! Also bring your textbook for some follow-up questions on the Emerson essay and a chance to read another essay or two in the education section of the text.

Oh- they're singing the Wham song -must run and dance! (Do you even know who Wham is?)

Write, Forrest, Write!

Hello all,
Sorry for the late entry. Last class you spent some time (at least you were supposed to be spending time) writing your essays. I would like you to do peer-editing tomorrow, so please come with a draft - or most of a draft - ready to get some feedback. The more of the essay you write now, the better it will be for you. You simply can't do a great job of writing this assignment on the fly.

I did postpone the due date for the essay - it is now due with a rough and good draft on Thursday, Dec. 9th.

We also finished reading From Education by Emerson, and Ms. Mountain was reminded that "taciturnity" is derived from the word tacit and thus is pronounced in a similar fashion. The learning never ends! Because Taylor didn't study for the vocab test, I postponed it until tomorrow, so study!

Homework: essay - write, people, write! VOCAB unit 4, Senior words

Gettin' Transcendental with R.W.E.

Today we spent some quality time learning about Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement. We read From Education up to page 106, end of the second paragraph.

The goal here is to familiarize yourself with archaic language, keeping in mind that even Emerson's contemporaries found his writing "impenetrable". For example, can you explain this sentence: "And yet the familiar observations of the universal compensations might suggest the fear that so summary a stop of a bad humor was more jeopardous than its continuance."? The continuance of that kind of text might put you in bad humor and be universally jeopardus to your powers of observation altogether. See there it is again - the FUN of learning!

Next we discussed the intro to the essay, and I secretly lamented that so few of you have even begun your introductions. This weekend was not a holiday, people! The essay is still due on Tuesday.

Homework: essay and vocab unit four.

We will work on the essay for the majority of the next class and peer-edit Friday.

See ya!

Let It Snow!

I'm so happy to see the snow! I guess growing up in Grande Prairie, Alberta has stayed with me forever; my high school never closed due to weather, and our school bus only stopped running when it was below -40, so the snow just reminds me of the good ole' days. (I know that sounds like one of those grandmother stories, "Way, way back when I was a girl ...".) Check out this web cam: http://www.cityofgp.com/exploregp/webcam1.htm. Nice weather, huh?

Anyway, we missed Anastazia, Dylan, Michelle, and Carmen today - really! Plus, we had a fun, fun vocab test including a fascinating story of an alien encounter. Then, it was a quiet, calm, working class. Everyone finished writing the questions on "The Film Club", and then we discussed how to find a significant topic for the personal essay.

Next week, please bring your textbooks on Monday, and prepare to work on your essay for half the class.


Homework:
Start drafting your essay. It is due Tuesday, December 7th. We will have time to work on it in class, and peer edit some of it next week.
Vocab Unit 4 on Wednesday.
Enjoy the weekend!

The Film Club Finale

Good morning! We've just finished a rather mellow class of writing and reflecting on The Film Club. In case you were absent (or just not paying attention) you should know that I have chosen to simplify the essay assignment. It will now require only a personal reflection; that's right - you do not have to refer to The Catcher in the Rye and The Film Club. You will still have learned about personal narrative from reading these two works, but this essay is your personal narrative.

The class went something like this:

1. Write a journal reflecting on The Film Club; be sure to show you have read the book. You may consider it in comparison or contrast to Catcher; you may discuss it as a work of non-fiction in contrast to novels you have read; and you should definitely comment on what happened in the book.
2. Using Bloom's Taxonomy, and working with a partner, create 6 questions and answers for The Film Club. Use the verbs on the handout to write the questions; you may create answers in point form. We will finish this in class next day.

For homework:

• Vocab. Unit 3.
• Write your own Talk to Teachers. Focus on Baldwin's tone and choose an issue / agenda you believe is worth talking to today's teachers about. One to two pages (max. 500 words).

In Your Pajamas

Hello,

Nice pajamas people! After that class, I might buy my husband a bathrobe for Christmas .

Today's class went something like this:

• more essay handouts (keyhole diagram; exercise on focusing your topic; and sample essay)


• review of the grammar questions from the English 12 exam


• review of the AP mulitple choice questions


• read A Talk to Teachers by James Baldwin on p.123 of your text


• FYI: here is a link to info about James Baldwin:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin_(writer)

For homework: Please read Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie on page 110 of the text and finish The Film Club for Monday.
Have a great, snowy weekend!

Sometimes A Numbered List is All You've Got!

Hello,
Here's a super quick recap of the class on Wednesday:

1. Vocab test on Unit 2 Senior Words
2. Review and discussion of The Catcher in the Rye test
3. Article: "Quest for Knowledge Makes You Old"
4. English 12 AP Self-Evaluation
5. A good class discussion about The Catcher in the Rye and The Film Club and the article above
6. More fun with AP Multiple Choice questions
7. Homework: Grammar practice for the English 12 exam
8. Finish reading The Film Club for Monday

See you Friday!

Putting Things in Perspective

I know I used the word "things" in this title, but in this instance, I think it fits.

I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on your learning thus far. We are on track with the syllabus - maybe a week overdue - and will finish the unit on Education this month.

To date you have learned a lot about rhetoric and analysis of non-fiction passages, you have reviewed literary terms and read Catcher in the Rye, and now you are reading your second extended work: The Film Club.

We have spent a lot of time discussing writing:

• how to give your papers the axe;
• how to avoid the use of fluff words "very"; "thing"; "really", and the dreaded "that";
• how to focus on clarity and concise language;
• how to avoid run-on sentences and sentence fragments;
• how to support your ideas with specific, clear examples.

You've been busy.

One more thought - use tomorrow's Remembrance Day Ceremony to put things in perspective too. We are so lucky to have the lives we do; we worry so much about issues that, in the grand scheme, don't matter. Consider the big picture and recognize how fortunate you are to attend school, to learn, and to plan for your future, which looks bright right about now. I read once that 1 billion people on the planet don't have adequate fresh water to survive each day. (The requirements of fresh water for survival are only a few litres a day, by the way.) That statistic always puts things in perspective for me.

Homework: Vocabtest.com, Unit 2 SENIOR WORDS (not AP) and keep reading The Film Club

Enjoy your extra day off!

Bye Bye Rye

Whew! Now that's over, and the test was easy, right? I told you.

I am hoping we can agree on a date in the not-too-distant future for you to finish The Film Club. On Tuesday, I will hand out the essay question you will eventually answer about The Film Club and The Catcher in the Rye. Try reading this book for pleasure and to gain insight into what is now termed "creative non-fiction". I think we'll handle this book in Literature Circles, so you can discuss various aspects of the writing with one another.

Don't forget to study your word list from http://www.vocabtest.com.

I am off to the AP Conference tomorrow, all day, so will tell you what I learned on Tuesday! I am now preparing to read some more of your journal entries, which are great and very entertaining so far. You are all quite humble in your introductions to me. Must work on helping you front your excellence and be proud of it! Seriously!

Have a great weekend!
Ms. M

Not Too Late, I Hope

Hey,
I am so sorry to post this so late. I just wrote it all, and then navigated away to check a link, and lost the whole post. Aarghh. Anyway, I have been super busy getting all the marks done and preparing for parent-teacher interviews, which just ended at 8:30 for me. I have sent the babysitter home, and am thinking about ... you guessed it ... English 12 AP.
So, the only homework was to look at http://www.vocabtest.com. As you recall, we will start with Unit 1, Senior Level words. There will not be any quiz on these words until Tuesday, so you don't have to worry. Also the quiz will not be all the words - I will choose about 10 and give you a matching or multiple choice, or something similar.
Just a note about Parent-Teacher Interviews, which I love. It was a pleasure to meet some of your parents, and it is always such a great night to be reminded how much parents really care about and are concerned for the well-being of their kids. Go give your parents a hug, and say "thank you!" Seriously, wouldn't that be nice? It's not easy being a mom or a dad, you know.
Anyway, a demain for the test on The Catcher in the Rye.
Don't stay up too late, now!
G'night.

Do You Like Oprah?

Yes, this actually came up in class today. Talk about getting sidetracked during our thought-provoking (nice analogy to music, Sam!) and rant-inducing (well-done, Carmen!) discussion of Francine Prose's essay. By the way, did you notice that Francine Prose is a contributor to O Magazine? Interesting considering Maya Angelou is a bosom buddy of Oprah's. Anyway, let's move on ... Jerry Springer anyone?
Sarah cleverly demonstrated her Google-like knowledge of the symbols in The Catcher in the Rye; Ali capably shared his learning about the symbolic nature of the ducks in the novel; and despite her misgivings about the writing, Michelle convincingly justified the 8 awarded to the AP Exam student sample #1.
We watched Francine Prose on You Tube. She was discussing close reading and learning to write well from great authors.
Most exciting, I actually figured out how to get the projector working all by myself, and John and Dylan's gallant assistance was not needed for the first time ever. (Celebrate the small successes, people!)
See you Monday - must go watch Oprah and send my kids to the other room!

Homework: Read the two critical reviews of The Catcher in the Rye. Note this is one of the most-banned books in schools. Interesting, huh? Some people would be appalled that I let you read this! So, on that note, please finish reading this shocking novel for Monday.

P.S.: Have a lovely weekend. And Happy Hallowe'en even though you are all way too old to go trick-or-treating!
By the way, check out this website: http://www.litcharts.com/files/pdf/printer/thecatcherintherye-LitChart.pdf:

No Texting and Driving

After a brief, but potentially life-saving lecture about driving safely - no cell phones, no texting EVER, and no drinking (which shouldn't be a problem because you are all too young to drink!) - we reviewed the subjects and predicates worksheets. In the sentence, "Will you text and drive?", the subject is YOU, the predicate is "will text and drive"; and the answer is "NO, not ever."
Then, you handed in the questions on The Catcher in the Rye; and we discussed the emerging themes in the novel. We had impressive presentations from you concerning the following:

1. Longing for Love vs. Isolation and Rejection
2. Purity and Innocence vs. Impurity and Experience
3. The Adult World vs. Childhood
4. Reality and Truth vs. Phonies and Facades

We still need to hear from group 5 about Madness, Depression, and Suicide (gosh this class is so uplifting!).

I sincerely apologize for making you read the excellent Francine Prose essay, and then not getting to it. On the flip side, you were exposed to some intelligent and thought-provoking writing, which is always good for you. So, you win as usual. I am so dedicated to your learning.

Homework: Vocabulary worksheets page 9, 11, and 12 (from the package I gave you some time ago.) Complete questions 1-4 on the symbols worksheet I handed out today. Finally, re-read the student sample essays I gave from the AP exam. Please annotate / write down why the first essay is an 8 and the last essay is a 4.

Test: There will be a "Did you read the novel?" test next week on either Wednesday or Friday. Yes, I know, I gave more answers to the test today in class, so it will be easy.

Quotation about Ernie being a phony: "... old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific piano player. It was very phony - I mean him being such a big snob and all. In a funny way, though, I felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. I don't even think he knows anymore when he's playing right or not. It isn't all his fault. I partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off - they'd foul up anybody if you gave them a chance.

A Sermon on Grammar

Though you are young, you have no doubt heard of taking one step back to move one step forward. To that end, you challeneged your minds and opened your hearts to some grade 8 grammar today. Let me assure you, if you put your efforts into mastering grammar, your sentences and your punctuation can become virtually flawless. There is power and strength in complete sentences. There is sophistication in an engaging melange of compound and complex sentences. There is respite and clout in a simple sentence! Can you honestly say you know how to avoid sentence fragments? You should. Do you know how to punctuate appropriately with coordinate conjunctions (FANBOYS) or subordinate conjunctions? You should. If you are reading this, you should review the first blog post, and travel along the path to knowledge with the link to a helpful website on Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences. Amen and God Bless.

HOMEWORK: Also complete the The Catcher in the Rye Questions on Ch. 10-14. Some of you, unlike Dylan and Zach, will have finished those in class. Of course, horror movies are important too!

READING: Read the Francine Prose essay Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read in your textbook. The Catcher in the Rye - Read to page 156 for Tuesday.

Loss of Innocence

Today was a bit of a downer, as I broke a lot of bad news to the class about the potential tragedies that can befall the average Joe or Jane (including Gallagher.) We continued our notes on the emerging themes and ironies and characterization in The Catcher in the Rye. Then, to lighten the mood, you engaged in some fun cooperative learning and some high-level artistic renderings of such helpful terms as ostracized, pacifist, exhibitionist, and halitosis. For example, one might choose to ostracize an exhibitionist pacifist who suffers from extreme halitosis. Lovely artwork, people! Now I really must go brush and floss.

Homework: Read to page 104 for Monday. Reading quiz, d'ya think? Write an articulate and thorough paragraph in response to the following: Is education overall a positive or negative influence in your life? Explain.

Note: the Bonus Buck offering has now expired. Nice work Megan and Norma!

If You Want to Know the Truth

IF YOU REALLY want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is what we did today and what our lousy class was like, and how we had a reading quiz before everyone arrived, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap. And I totally feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

We had a reading quiz and then we filled out this crumby anticipation guide, and Sarah got all touchy about guys who want to tie her down, and the guys got touchy about girls who are too good looking, and there was practically a riot. Then everyone thinks mothers are crazy, and they are too.

Oh yeah, and then we had a Power Point. I forgot to tell you about that. Boy, we did some notes on literary terms and discussed a few symbols and characterization and allusions and irony. That stuff kills me, it really does. When the bell rang, it was kind of depressing, and what made it even more despressing is the fact that we have to wait until Thursday to have English again. That's awful in my opinion.

Homework: Vocabulary on pages 7 and 8 of your handouts. (Vocab for chapters 1-3 and chapters 4-7.) Simply look up the words, we'll do the activities in class.

Reading: For Monday, read to page 104 in The Catcher in the Rye.

Catch Your Breath and Read Catcher

Hello!
Today was the in class rhetorical analysis. Take a deep breath - it's over. Now, sit back, relax, and read up to page 52 of Catcher in the Rye. Despite what Michelle Oh is telling you, it is actually a great novel and is very entertaining. If you were, say, going to Hawaii to lie on the beach in the middle of October while everyone else suffers through a rainy, Vancouver fall, you would really love it. If you are not doing that, you should try to enjoy it anyway! Yes, I am actually advocating having fun in English; it's not all work, you know.
See you Friday for Invisible Children, which should be heart-breaking, thought-provoking, and riveting.
If you read this blog, see me on Tuesday next week to receive one Bonus Buck.

Reading for Writing

Today we made a plan for the week: Monday - writing instruction and practice; Wednesday - in class essay (a rhetorical analysis of a passage); and Friday - presentation about child soldiers and sexual slavery in Uganda.

In class we reviewed the handout from Purdue University Writing Center (OWL) about concise writing and eliminating wordiness. Please finish for homework. We also reviewed a handout on general essay construction, including some great lists of what to do and what not to do in an introduction, body, and conclusion. Finally, I suggest that you reread page 8 and 9 of your textbook to review the rhetorical analysis of Jody Heyman's article. This may be helpful / instructive as an example for your own essay. Remember SOAPStone too!

Homework: Finish reading the handouts and text material above. Prepare to write with intensity and intelligence!

Who Are "They"?

Hello people,
You were all here today - yahoo! So, just to recap, we covered some grammar about pronouns and antecedents, and I will no longer need to write "Who?" next to your "theys". We practiced using the "axe" to cleave your sentences into works of clarity and perfection. Further, we discussed the overuse of "that"; "very"; "really"; "thing", and "stuff". Then we began to review the questions on Joan Didion's essay, and you were assigned some exciting homework.

Homework: Write an articulate, intelligent, erudite (what does that mean?) journal response (max 2 pages) to the following: Identify the purpose, audience, tone, and essential argument Didion is making. How do "journals" differ from "notebooks" as suggested by Didion? How might a journal enhance your learning in this course?

Have a lovely weekend!

Humour and Theft

So for those of you who were tragically late to class, or even worse, were absent (ack!), we spent this class analyzing political cartoons and reading about authors who have stolen from Joan Didion. Sounds fun, right? Thanks to Megan, Melody, Norma, Carmen, Josie, Denise and John for sharing their cartoon analysis with the class. Thanks to Zach (spelled with an "h") for the idea!
As for the plagiarism from Joan Didion, really the intent was not to inspire you to plagiarize, but rather to uncover the impact Joan Didion's writing and style have had on others.

Homework: Questions on Rhetoric and Style of Joan Didion's "On Keeping a Notebook".

Vocabulary: Polysyndeton and Asyndeton

Welcome to English 12 AP Online!

Hello all,
I am going to take a stab at leaving a few tidbits for you here including what we did in class, in case you missed it - and that would be a shame, wouldn't it? Also, I'll try to capture any highlights, helpful links, vocabulary lists, etc. Of course, this will be a great place to list the homework as well, in case you missed it, which would be of equal tragic proportions to missing the actual class. There is a lot of potential for you to feel quite upset in this class should you be inexplicably absent or miss the all-important homework!

Homework: Just to review, by now you should have a political cartoon. You should be writing in your journal this weekend about yourself, and you should be reading Joan Didion's essay. Here is some info about Joan Didion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Didion.

Last class: We discussed John F. Kennedy's inaugural address and reviewed many of the terms that arose from analysis of said speech. Those terms included: diction, syntax, tropes, schemes, declarative sentences, imperative sentences, hortative sentences (remember exhortation), complex sentences, anaphora, and zeugma to name a few.

Try this site on simple, compound, and complex senteces for homework. Do a few of the quizzes! http://www.eslbee.com/sentences.htm