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.