Day Seventeen / 9.30.10

Today we started with a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, "A writer like me must have an utter confidence, an utter faith in his star. It's an almost mystical feeling, a feeling of nothing-can-happen-to-me, nothing-can-harm-me, nothing-can-touch-me." We then journaled on our own feelings about our writing and what our insecurities and confidences are. Then we did some practice language questions based on a poem.

We then went over the Show don't Tell dialogue sections, and your homework is to complete the sheet. Finally, we read "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, and discussed the meaning of the title.

Day Sixteen / 9.29.10

Today we started with a quote from bell hooks: “The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created.” We then journaled on the difference between the academy and learning, and where else learning can occur outside of the academy.

We took a vocabulary quiz. We continued to read "Two Kinds," and we started the Show don't Tell handout.

Day Fifteen / 9.28.10

Today we started with the conclusion of Faulkner's quote from yesterday, "By sublimating the actual into apocryphal I would have complete liberty to use whatever talent I might have to its absolute top." To put it into our own words, we said, "By changing for the better the real Southern life into the fictitious, Faulkner felt he had liberty to use his talent to the fullest." We journaled about whether or not we felt people were interested in Orange County, and why.

Then, we finished covering the introductory paragraphs. Next, we wrote our own, trying to include: tension, setting, main characters, and dialogue. After that we read, then we brainstormed expectations our parents had for us. Finally, we started reading "Two Kinds," by Amy Tan.

Day Fourteen / 9.27.10

Today we changed seats. Then, I handed back your poems from Friday, your Vocabulary Quiz and Cat/Dog Quiz, and your My Name Final Drafts. Then, we read the quote of the day by William Faulkner, "I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it." We then wrote in our own journals about whether or not it is necessary to leave the place you live. We reflected on the importance of knowing our place.

Next, we went over the Personal Moral Narrative prompt. After that, we read silently for a bit. Then, we did an inquiry chart on what we already know about stories, and what we want to learn about writing stories. After that, we went over introductory paragraphs and the devices author's use to draw their audience into a story and create tension.

Day Thirteen / 9.25.10

Today we started with a discussion on what is health, looking at it in a holistic (adj. - something intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole) way. We then did a t-chart in our journals, writing things we found to be essential or non-essential for our own health.

After that, we wrote a journal entry on a moral story from our life, based on the following three prompts:

Tell a story (in 2-3 lines) of:

1. Something where you were caught.

2. Something where you were rewarded.

3. Something where you did something where no one ever found out (good or bad)

Then we shared our 3 stories with our neighbor and they picked our best story. Next, we filled out a guideline for our story. You can find it here. Then we read silently, and finally we wrote some poems on sunflower seeds. Here are some of the best ones from the class:

The birth is first, it always is. Next

is growth, which is important, then

fall bloom, and finally the wilt.

The shape

a raindrop

falling from the clouds

the clouds that started the sunflower.

Opened and one seed on its way to your mouth

One bite a flash back of memory

The crunchiness spit out,

the salt stings your mouth.

Dreaming of being in the ground,

the sun against the soil starting to grow.

Day Twelve / 9.23.10

Today we started with a quote from David Foster Wallace: “The key to writing is learning to differentiate private interest from public entertainment.” Then we edited a paragraph. After that, we went over the fables handout and discussed the morals of each fable. We read silently for a bit, then read David Sedaris' story "Let it Snow." Then we outlined Sedaris' story, highlighting the characters, timeline, setting, and morals.

Day Eleven / 9.22.10

Today we started with a quote from Terry Eagleton: “...morality actually consists in this process of unfolding our creative powers and capacities, not in some law set above it or some august set of ends pitched beyond it.”

We discussed how morals are dynamic not static, and we can play a role in how morals will be defined in the future. We then took our mono- vocabulary quiz, then reviewed the Cat/Dog story, highlighting how the cat and dog were projections of the peasants inner consciouses. Finally, we took the Cat/Dog quiz.

Day Ten / 9.21.10

Today we started with a quote from Albert Einstein: "What is inconceivable about the universe is that it is at all conceivable." Then we edited another paragraph. Next, we defined the characteristics society contrives for "beautiful appearances." We also talked about the things we do as a society to try and achieve those high and lofty goals. After that, we read a short story about peasants who get a mirror, and see themselves clearly for the first time. They realize they're not meeting the "beauty quotient" and begin longing for shorter chins and skin salves. They become sadden by this, and eventually return the mirror and return to happiness. The story was a folk tale, and we talked about its moral. Then we discussed where our morals come from. Finally, I handed out a sheet on fables, where you are asked to write down the moral from the story. The sheet is here.

Day Nine / 9.20.10

Today we started with a quote from Thomas Hardy: "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." Then we edited a paragraph, and discussed expectations for our journals. The journal handout is here. Then we discussed Walt Whitman's poem excerpt, and took a pop-quiz. After that, we discussed beauty and how we as a society define beautiful appearance. We wrote a quickwrite about it. No homework, relax.

Day Eight / 9.17.10

Today we started with a question: What does it mean to be literate? We defined different aspects of being literate, and then we responded to the question of: is literacy a luxury or a necessity? We were divided, but it proved to be a lively debate. After that, we discussed a poem by Emily Dickinson.

We discussed Nobodies and Somebodies. We watched a Cribs video of a Somebody—a guy named Akon. We then started Walt Whitman's excerpt from "Song of Myself." We talked about the universe blanket/towel and how we're all interconnected. Finally, we discussed MLA format. Your FINAL DRAFT of the My Name assignment is due MONDAY, as is your coat of arms. Have a great weekend.

Day Seven / 9.16.10

Today we started with a quote from Victor Hugo, “There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul." Then we read for a bit, went over editing marks, and how to edit a paper. We then edited our classmates "My Name" essays. After that, we worked on our Coat of Arms.

Day Six / 9.15.10

Today we started with a quote by Pablo Picasso: “Art is the lie that tells the truth.” Then we took the pre- vocabulary quiz. We also received the mono- vocabulary list; the quiz will be next Wednesday (the 22nd). After that, we discussed a poem by Patricia Fargnoli. You can view the poem here. After that, we went over the editing checklist for the Rough Draft. Finally, I handed out the coat of arms, which you can decorate to turn in with your "My Name" final draft.

Day Five / 9.14.10

Today we started with a quote from Clara Schumann: "My imagination can picture no fairer happiness than to continue living for art."

Then we read. Next, we outlined Amy Tan's piece from The Joy Luck Club. After that, we worked on hooks. The hook handout is here. After that, we started working on writing our own "My Name" Essays. The assignment prompt is here. Remember, we have a Vocabulary Quiz tomorrow, on pre- words.

Day Four / 9.13.10

Today we started with a quote from John Locke: "Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours." Next, we discussed why we read. Then, I read you the first few pages of Tangerine.

We then created a coat of arms for Esperanza, based on our reflections page. After that, we outlined Sandra Cisnero's short story, "My Name." We noticed that the structure does not emphasize her name explicitly, but reveals it indirectly, through telling her great-grandmother's story and anecdotes from school/her sister. As writers, we're often better suited to reveal something about our topic by telling a story that relates. Stories draw readers in and show them, rather than tell them, what we're trying to say.

Day Three / 9.10.10

Today we started with a discussion on what an inquirer is. We then discussed what an inquirer would look like in an English classroom. Next, we inquired about the sunflower.

Here are a combination of student poems, to create our first class poem:

Seven Ways of Seeing a Sunflower

I.

The knife comes

when it strikes

the sunflower numbs.

II.

Bring the flower of sun to the river

When the flower moves the river goes too.

III.

A sunflower's petals are yellow, soft, and silky.

A little pointy, but fine.

IV.

A lonely seed in the dirt longs

for a friend, like the sun and

over time the seed grows, just like

his loneliness, but stays patient, then

in time, the seed becomes a flower

and is friends with the sun.

V.

Peaceful fantasy, mankind should worship the sunflower.

The desire to take it is overwhelming.

VI.

A little boy asked, "Why is

the sun a brown face?"

VII.

Out of all the gravel and pebble

The only thing breathing was the sunflower.

*We ended the day with a trip to the library, then started Sandra Cisnero's My Name. The story/grading schedule is here. The reflection assignment is here, and is due Monday.

Day Two / 9.9.10

Today we finished our Blackbird drawings and presented them. Then we did some housekeeping. . We went over the syllabus. We talked about the 1,000,000 word challenge. Your first 250,000 are due October 28, 2010. We then talked about vocabulary. The first test is next Wednesday, 9.15.10. We were assigned to tables. To learn more about your table's college, click on the following link:

Davidson Wildcats

Swarthmore Phoenix

Carleton Knights

Middlebury Panthers

Amherst Minutemen

Williams Purple Cows

Bowdoin Polar Bears

Then we talked about IB. Here's the mission statement:

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Day One / 9.8.10

Today we analyzed Langston Hughes poem "Hope":

He rose up on his dying bed

and asked for fish.

His wife looked it up in her dream book

and played it.

Then we completed a survey. After that, we began working on our Blackbird drawings. The whole poem, by Wallace Stevens, is pasted below:

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,

The only moving thing

Was the eye of the blackbird.

II

I was of three minds,

Like a tree

In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.

It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV

A man and a woman

Are one.

A man and a woman and a blackbird

Are one.

V

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling

Or just after.

VI

Icicles filled the long window

With barbaric glass.

The shadow of the blackbird

Crossed it, to and fro.

The mood

Traced in the shadow

An indecipherable cause.

VII

O thin men of Haddam,

Why do you imagine golden birds?

Do you not see how the blackbird

Walks around the feet

Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble accents

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;

But I know, too,

That the blackbird is involved

In what I know.

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,

It marked the edge

Of one of many circles.

X

At the sight of blackbirds

Flying in a green light,

Even the bawds of euphony

Would cry out sharply.

XI

He rode over Connecticut

In a glass coach.

Once, a fear pierced him,

In that he mistook

The shadow of his equipage

For blackbirds.

XII

The river is moving.

The blackbird must be flying.

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.

It was snowing

And it was going to snow.

The blackbird sat

In the cedar-limbs.