Thoroughly Thoreau

Hey Folks!

If you avoid email for long enough, you might start to look like this!

I just turned on the computer for the first time today, right now. Can you imagine a whole day - well until 5:00 p.m. - with no texting, no Facebook, no email, no electronic communication with the outside world? I haven't even talked on the phone today. I think Thoreau would have approved, and if you do your homework, which is to read the selection from his essay "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" (page 276), then this will all make sense, I hope. Note how the quotation here would have inspired Martin Luther King, CORE, and the Freedom Riders.

Yesterday we did Vocabulary Test 3, and then you read "The World Is Watching - Media and the Freedom Rides", which was the second article on the handout about the Freedom Rides. Questions on that were to be answered in point form, so we can continue our discussion on both articles tomorrow. 

We need to go over the terms listed on the board last week, and we may review some grammar tomorrow because you need to know some specific sentence types for the exam. What type of sentence was that? If you know the answer, please leave a comment. 

Until tomorrow ... out!

the 5 Minute Post

Hi Folks,

So in five minutes or less, here we go. Today we reviewed for the AP exam, which is looming! Time to amp up the studying - go study group, go - I await a great report about all you learned on Monday! For homework I asked you to look up the terms I wrote on the board - some are review - cumulative sentence, periodic sentence, prepositional phrase - and some are vocabulary - sanguinity (read the long paragraph about the derivation of this word), elegiac. You should be going over the terms sheet I gave you at the beginning of the year too. Finally, for homework, you need to prepare for Vocabulary Test #3. I expect you to know what the words mean, so you can actually use them on this quiz - it is a tough one. Just warning you!

Have a lovely and productive weekend. 

Ciao!

Ms. M

On Non-Violence and Such

Hi Peeps!

Wrestling with a prison guard at Shawshank

Just to follow-up, yesterday we had a great class, with loads of excellent input from you (thanks!), about Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail". Bonus - come to class with the name of another famous historical figure who wrote important letters, treatises, books, etc. in prison, and ye shall receive one bonus mark! (Not Malcolm X because I already told you about him.) But there are more, many more. As I mentioned, prison is a great place to write, although I don't recommend it. Obviously and fortunately, I offer no first-hand experience of the situation, but I've read Papillon and seen The Shawshank Redemption, and the life looks pretty bleak to say the least. (That is an example of litotes, or understatement, in case you were wondering.)

Next you got to read more about the Freedom Rides and the history and beliefs concerning campaigns of non-violence. Whether or not you subscribe to their beliefs, the strength of character and determination and stamina of these people is admirable. If you consider that many of the riders were students not much older than you, it is amazing to consider the impact and momentous results the Freedom Riders achieved.

For homework you needed to finish the questions on the Freedom Riders handout that I listed on the board. Also be prepared for the Unit 2 Vocab Test tomorrow. Finally, don't forget that you have until Thursday to complete the sample AP exam #1 in your workbook. Set aside three hours and see how you do. Then we can review and identify areas to work on before the exam.

See you tomorrow!

Ms. M

Happy Easter!

Hello all,

A quick post before I head off for the weekend - might actually nod off first as packing for three kids is a taxing endeavor, especially with comments like, "I have nothing to wear"; "All those clothes are dirty"; "I hate that shirt!" 

Anyway, hopefully you learned a lot from the video this week. I certainly got more insight into the political wrangling involved in the Freedom Rides. Everything sounds more golden and more pure with an historic aura surrounding it. We tend to idolize figures from the past - the Kennedy's, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe, etc. In truth, they were all real people with real flaws and human foibles. I was quite interested in the politics and the back and forth between the federal and state law enforcement - the idea that the federal government agreed to allow the Freedom Riders to be arrested in Mississippi "for their own safety" and sentenced them to hard time was shocking! 

For homework: please do the Questions on Rhetoric and Style: # 7, 8, and 10 for "Letter From a Birmingham Jail". These questions are quite detailed, but they should help review the terms for rhetorical analysis, and also force you to reread the essay to some extent. Not that you need forcing, but think of it as my trying to help you get the most from the reading. Also, please identify the 4 or 5 key arguments being made by the clergy in their opening letter to King. Don't forget we will do Vocab Unit #2 test next week on Friday. 

AP exam in about 6 weeks I think. Get ready!

Off to speak with the Easter Bunny.