Hey kids -
Before I forget, I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about your senior year course schedule.
So many of my awesome students from last year have been dropping by my room this week to run poems by me that they've written about themselves for a class project. They are nervous about presenting in front of their peers but their nerves are secondary to the excitement they are feeling as they anticipate the moment this week when they will get up in front of a crowd and reveal their most sacred thoughts - some kids for the first time EVER ! Many of those kids view this experience as one of the culminating moments of their entire high school experience!
Wow - that's intense and amazing and it's all because of a course called Humanities.
If you haven't already signed up to take Humanities your senior year, RUN to guidance ASAP and make sure it's on your schedule.
It's a great course taught by 3 awesome teachers (yeah, you heard me - three. That means you don't see the same ole face day after day for an entire year but instead rotate amongst three geniuses)!
The course examines ideas from different perspectives in order to encourage and foster a holistic approach to viewing the world around you; basically, it teaches you how to move away from a singular view by exposing that viewpoint to the a multitude of arenas such as art, philosophy, classics, history, current events, literature, poetry, culture, sociology. This in turn pumps up your jam, making you wiser and giving you lots of fodder for future late night dorm room discussions.
I heart Humanities and I heart its instructors just as much so get it on your 2009-2010 schedule! NOW!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Modernism
Characteristics of Modernism
•Loss is a major theme in modernist works.
•The “truth” is questionable, as a common theme, and many narrators are unreliable, whereas in traditional literature it is the narrator’s job to further understanding. Also, there may be more than one narrator, showing the diversity of truth.
•More use of the first person narrative, reflecting the lack of universal truth, i.e. there are only individual truths.
•The destruction of the family unit.
•Characters may be given little or no physical description, and one or more characters is usually an "outcast."
•Authority figures are often untrustworthy, reflecting the question of truth.
•Movement away from religion.
•The reversal of traditional roles
•Ambiguous endings
•Often setting is more than just the setting (i.e. more meaning to it than just where the story takes place), or, maybe there is no setting at all
•The use of improper grammar to reflect dialect.
•Fragmentation – in plot, characters, theme, images, and overall storyline. Thus, for instance, many modernist works are not in the typical linear sequence.
In Poetry:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5664
In Prose:
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/943010
In Art:
http://www.arteducation.com.au/art-movements/modernism.php
In Film:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0092.html
•Loss is a major theme in modernist works.
•The “truth” is questionable, as a common theme, and many narrators are unreliable, whereas in traditional literature it is the narrator’s job to further understanding. Also, there may be more than one narrator, showing the diversity of truth.
•More use of the first person narrative, reflecting the lack of universal truth, i.e. there are only individual truths.
•The destruction of the family unit.
•Characters may be given little or no physical description, and one or more characters is usually an "outcast."
•Authority figures are often untrustworthy, reflecting the question of truth.
•Movement away from religion.
•The reversal of traditional roles
•Ambiguous endings
•Often setting is more than just the setting (i.e. more meaning to it than just where the story takes place), or, maybe there is no setting at all
•The use of improper grammar to reflect dialect.
•Fragmentation – in plot, characters, theme, images, and overall storyline. Thus, for instance, many modernist works are not in the typical linear sequence.
In Poetry:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5664
In Prose:
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/943010
In Art:
http://www.arteducation.com.au/art-movements/modernism.php
In Film:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0092.html
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Old Curiousity Shop
Today's lesson plan focused on identifying moments of irony in the Orwell essay Shooting an Elephant however a moment at the beginning of class lead to a bit of irony of our own - how ironic, don't ya think?
In the essay, a young Orwell makes a decision based on his fear of embarrassment and as a result, commits a gruesome, murderous act.
In my classroom, I see kids make decisions based on curiosity, apathy, impulse, anger, ennui, fear, and so many more emotions.
What I would like to see my students base their decision making on is what I wish young Orwell would have based his on - logic.
I know it's not always easy to think logically in a heated situation but remember, control of oneself is the greatest power one can ever possess so exercise your logic and I guarantee you'll be happy with the results.
In the essay, a young Orwell makes a decision based on his fear of embarrassment and as a result, commits a gruesome, murderous act.
In my classroom, I see kids make decisions based on curiosity, apathy, impulse, anger, ennui, fear, and so many more emotions.
What I would like to see my students base their decision making on is what I wish young Orwell would have based his on - logic.
I know it's not always easy to think logically in a heated situation but remember, control of oneself is the greatest power one can ever possess so exercise your logic and I guarantee you'll be happy with the results.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Shooting an Elephant
Here is a link to the essay.
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/
Periods 8/9 and 12 ONLY : Please answer the questions below for homework, due Tuesday.
Periods 2 and 4 ONLY: Quiz on the reading tomorrow.
Shooting an Elephant: Day 1
a. How does Orwell feel about the British presence in Burma? How does he feel about his job with the Indian Imperial police? What are some of the internal conflicts Orwell describes feeling in his role as a colonial police officer? How do you know?
b. Orwell wrote and published this essay a number of years after he had left the civil service. How does Orwell describe his feelings about the British Empire, and about his role in it, both at the time he took part in the incident described, and at the time of writing the essay, after having had the opportunity to reflect upon these experiences? Ask students to point to examples in the text which support their view.
c. What did Orwell mean by the following sentence: It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism- the real motives for which despotic governments act.
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/
Periods 8/9 and 12 ONLY : Please answer the questions below for homework, due Tuesday.
Periods 2 and 4 ONLY: Quiz on the reading tomorrow.
Shooting an Elephant: Day 1
a. How does Orwell feel about the British presence in Burma? How does he feel about his job with the Indian Imperial police? What are some of the internal conflicts Orwell describes feeling in his role as a colonial police officer? How do you know?
b. Orwell wrote and published this essay a number of years after he had left the civil service. How does Orwell describe his feelings about the British Empire, and about his role in it, both at the time he took part in the incident described, and at the time of writing the essay, after having had the opportunity to reflect upon these experiences? Ask students to point to examples in the text which support their view.
c. What did Orwell mean by the following sentence: It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism- the real motives for which despotic governments act.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Manuscript
Poster print collage from an old page manuscript book - Not paper but fine cotton canvas
Originally uploaded by artisticoshop
I think I'm at the halfway point but I'm not sure because, well, I've never read it straight through from beginning to end. When I'm writing, I'm so focused on the writing itself that sometimes the plot fades into the background and instead of furthering it, I'll spend three hours re-structuring a paragraph... or sometimes a sentence.
Or I'll get caught up researching a detail to assure its historical accuracy... to the point that I won't rest until I find evidence in a primary source and the next thing I know, hours have passed.
So, tonight I'm going to read and see what I've been writing - let's hope it reads like a book!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Work Ethic
I have a strong work ethic. Sometimes I really enjoy working. Sometimes I really hate it. But regardless of how I feel about it, I continue to work, because that is what one does; one works.
When I was a teenager, I hated school work just as much as the next kid. However, 99.9% of the time I did it anyway and submitted it when it was expected because that's what one did - one worked when asked to work and one produced what was expected.
The remaining .1% of the time when I didn't do my work, I felt guilty and nervous and wished I had just done my work in the first place because it would've been a lot easier than feeling bad about myself.
But instead of getting caught up in a cycle of no return, I would go out and buy all new notebooks and folders and pens and start fresh the next day.
Why? Because doing my work never resulted in harm. Yes, I missed out on a few TV shows here and there but miraculously, I managed to do my work and still closely follow the lives of Brenda, Brandon, Dylan, Kelly, Donna, David and Steve (I never cared about Andrea's life).
I did my work out of respect for my teachers, to keep my parents off my back, to make use of my new pens and notebooks, to lord it over my friends who didn't do their work, but most of all, I did it for two reasons:
1. So I could feel good about myself and not suffer anxiety, like I did when I walked into a classroom unprepared
and
2. So I wouldn't have to look at a crappy grade on my report card and feel bad about myself
So I worked. Why? Because that's what one does - one works in order to achieve success. If one does not work, one will not achieve success. End of story.
Don't expect to get something for nothing.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ugg
I haven't been feeling well. I missed school today and I'm overwhelmed in general, so it's been difficult to keep on my schedule.
I feel very guilty - I had a high school teacher who once said to me "oh, so you want to be a writer. Well, let me ask you this: do you write daily? Do you write obsessively? Do you write when you're sick? Well, if you don't, you're not a writer."
That tidbit has stuck with me for the past 20 years and it's because of that comment that for 19 years, I did not view myself as "a writer". However, as I've gotten older, I've grown to realize that writing is not as cut and dry as people try and make you believe. Writing is difficult, it's petulant, it's submissive, and it's enlightening.
Most of all, it's not what one high school teacher determined it to be 20 years ago. It's what it is. Period.
Just because I'm not writing, doesn't mean I'm not thinking. And I'm usually thinking about writing. Actually, I'm always thinking about writing.
So, if I don't pump out more pages, that doesn't mean there aren't more pages in me. If I don't write on a strict schedule, well, that just means that I don't have that luxury because instead, I have a 2 hour daily commute, a wedding to plan, 3500 papers to grade each quarter, 20 pages of lesson plans to write every two weeks, a fiance to spend time with, a cat to take care of, groceries to buy, nails to maintain, patio furniture to purchase, local foods to source out, friends to keep in contact with, a family to keep in touch with, a house to keep clean, a self to keep healthy... and the list goes on.
Just because I'm not writing, doesn't mean I'm not a writer.
I feel very guilty - I had a high school teacher who once said to me "oh, so you want to be a writer. Well, let me ask you this: do you write daily? Do you write obsessively? Do you write when you're sick? Well, if you don't, you're not a writer."
That tidbit has stuck with me for the past 20 years and it's because of that comment that for 19 years, I did not view myself as "a writer". However, as I've gotten older, I've grown to realize that writing is not as cut and dry as people try and make you believe. Writing is difficult, it's petulant, it's submissive, and it's enlightening.
Most of all, it's not what one high school teacher determined it to be 20 years ago. It's what it is. Period.
Just because I'm not writing, doesn't mean I'm not thinking. And I'm usually thinking about writing. Actually, I'm always thinking about writing.
So, if I don't pump out more pages, that doesn't mean there aren't more pages in me. If I don't write on a strict schedule, well, that just means that I don't have that luxury because instead, I have a 2 hour daily commute, a wedding to plan, 3500 papers to grade each quarter, 20 pages of lesson plans to write every two weeks, a fiance to spend time with, a cat to take care of, groceries to buy, nails to maintain, patio furniture to purchase, local foods to source out, friends to keep in contact with, a family to keep in touch with, a house to keep clean, a self to keep healthy... and the list goes on.
Just because I'm not writing, doesn't mean I'm not a writer.
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