Second Semester Final

Today, Tuesday, May 27th, I introduced your second semester final exam.
Here is a link to it.

We will spend time in the computer lab this week working on it.

Please contact me if you have questions or need further explanation.

The Catcher in the Rye

Our discussions about this book for the past three days of class have been some of the best we've had all year. I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the novel, your feelings about it, and your personal reflections in the essay you'll write to day. Here is a link to the handout in case you want to have it on your screen:
The Catcher in the Rye - Essay handout
When you are finished, please upload your essay to turnitin.com. If you'd like extra time over the weekend, that's fine.  There is no additional homework over the weekend.
Happy writing!

The Catcher in the Rye - Discussion and Essay Prep

Today in class we used this handout to prepare for next week's discussion and essay.

Monday and Tuesday will be inner-outer circle discussions about the novel. Thursday and Friday will be time to write the essay during class.

The Catcher in the Rye

For the past week you have been reading J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.
In addition to completing the book for class tomorrow, you need to bring your journal assignments.
Here is a link to the assignment in case you lost that sheet.
After an in-class writing we will start our discussions of the novel.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it!

The Things They Carried - Final Project

Today in class we had a powerful discussion about the relationship between fiction and reality, and the ways in which we connect with stories.  This is one of the topics you can continue to explore in your final project.

Here is a link to the handout for the project.

You can work alone or with up to two other people.  We will have time in class on Thursday and Friday to work on the novel.  The project is due Monday, May 5th.

The Things They Carried - Writing #2

Greetings!  I am out of town teaching at a conference today.

Spend the first part of the period (take as long as you need) on this piece of writing. You may use your books or notebook, but not any online resources.

• Link to quiz #2

After that, use the rest of the period to be caught up with your reading. We will be writing an essay on the book next week (after we finish chapter 7 on Monday) and I expect you to be familiar with the entire novel by then.

Have a great weekend!

The Things They Carried - "In the Field"

We generated this list of words - voices heard / implied in this chapter:

Kiowa
Lt. Jimmy Cross
Norman Bowker
Azar
Mitchell Sanders
Boy
Kiowa's father
Billie
Tim O'Brien
Henry Dobbins
Rat Kiley
God
Jesus
Locals
Kiowa's New Testament
Boy's picture
Monk
S**t field
Boots
Song Tra Bong / River
Flashlight
Mud
Rain
Poncho
Kiowa's rucksack
Weapons
Gray mist
Bubbles
lower body
chopper
ammo
C-rations
letter to Kiowa's father
watch
shrapnel
fear
death
sense of humor
blame
guilt
truth
regret
simplicity
sorrow
faith
innocence
ignorance
expectations
friendship
war
irony
USA
Vietnam
bravery
courage
parents
golf
selfishness
anguish

The Things They Carried - Chapters 15 and 16

For class Thursday you will read chapters 15 ("Speaking of Courage") and 16 ("Notes").

There will be a quiz at the start of class.

Also, I will collect the worksheet you completed last week (writing about an object, character, and the war) and will check in two journal entries:

• Chapters 8&9
• Chapters 10-14

The Things They Carried - Chapters 10 - 14

For today, you read chapters 10-14. For homework I asked you to use the format from the worksheet we used the other day (click here for a copy of it) and provide a new set of answers for one of these chapters.

In class, we will try to connect the dots up to this point as we explore this question: What is O'Brien saying about the war and the people who fight it?  You discussed this with your group and wrote out a response in your notebook.

The Things They Carried - Chapters 8 and 9

For class today, Monday, April 14th, you read two chapters in The Things They Carried: "The Dentist" and "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong."

You wrote a journal response addressing these questions:

• What new ideas / issues do these chapters introduce?
• What variations on previous ideas / issues do they include?

In class you worked in groups for two tasks:

• To create a poster illustrating the transformation of the character Mary Anne in the chapter "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" using at least three images and three quotations.
• To share the work you did on chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 based on this worksheet from Friday.

The Tortilla Curtain - Conceptual Skills Assessment

Here is the link to today's writing assignment.

The Tortilla Curtain - Close Reading Skills Assessment

Here is a link to today's assessment

I will post information about Thursday's work later in the period.

Here is a link to a handout about Thursday's writing

The Tortilla Curtain - Review

During our work with this novel, here are just some of the types of reading and writing you’ve done (look back at the individual handouts / prompts for more details by clicking on the ones that have links):

• Gathered our personal thoughts and ideas about immigration before we started the novel
• Collecting evidence about a character to inform a first impression
• Selecting textual evidence based on a prompt
• Wrote blog posts about character and theme development
• Analyzing a quotation based on a close look at words / phrases within it
• Commenting on the meaning of the textual evidence within a specific context and across the novel as a whole
• Focusing on and interpreting a symbol / image based on textual evidence
• Comparing / contrasting different viewpoints to reach an overall meaning
• Discussing questions and text to help interpret a character
• Revisited earlier thoughts about characters and key moments
• Discussed major themes and symbols, including ways in which they developed over the course of the novel

The Tortilla Curtain - Bringing it all together

Today in class I shared with you the Final Assignment for The Tortilla Curtain

Please be sure to note the required prep work for Monday!

After that we discussed several major symbols, based on the charts you completed Thursday. Your work with them was excellent and hopefully helped you to feel more prepared for the work you'll do with the text this coming week in terms of both looking closely at the language of the text and determining the themes it contains.

The Tortilla Curtain - Start of Part 3

Today we took some time to read - either to catch up or work on tonight's assignment.

Each person then wrote about these two things:

• A character - choose a character who interests you for whatever reason.
• why did you choose him / her? 
• name a particular piece of the text linked to this
• A specific moment or detail not directly related to this character
• describe it
• what is it about this moment / detail that interests you?

The Tortilla Curtain - Start of part 2 - "El Tenksgeevee"

For today's work you will be in groups of three (see below).

• Alleman - Alyssa - Andrew
• Ashley - Celestina
• Ying - Charlie T - Chloe
• David - Elizabeth - Emma
• Evan - Jack B - Jack D
• Jacob - Kellen - Kevin
• Matt - Nate - Nicolette
• Nir - Penelope - Rachel
• (absent - Billy, Charlie K)

Please go to this document and follow the directions there: The Tortilla Curtain - Part 2, Chapters 1 & 2

The Tortilla Curtain - In-class work for Monday, March 10th

Give yourself about 15 minutes to respond to each of these questions in writing on your blog. Try to answer with detail and specificity, pointing to particular moments in text and bringing some of that text into your writing to support and develop your ideas. 

1. Part 1, Chapter 7 includes a second meeting between Delaney and Cándido, this time with Jack and Jack Jr. there as well. How are Delaney’s thoughts, feelings, and actions similar to the first meeting?  How are they different? What seems most important about this second interaction between the two characters? 

2. Part 1, Chapter 8 is a tough chapter; just as Cándido is beginning to feel human again, América suffers a tremendous amount of trauma and pain. Look carefully at the chapter, particularly at what is happening to her.  What does she do for the first time in her life? What does she notice when she sees herself in the mirror, and when she looks at her hands? What does she dream about? Use the text to help you here.  

3. Considering The Tortilla Curtain’s Part 1 as a whole, why might Boyle have begun with Delaney and Cándido's original collision and end with América's rape?  How do these events frame the first 8 chapters? Make an argument for an interpretation here.

After writing, go visit the blog of the person just above you on the class blog list.  Comment on their post, either by:

• Affirm and continue developing – validate the speaker’s position and ideas, and point to another moment in the text to explain.
• Doubt and support – provide another way of looking at the question, character(s) or idea(s) and support that thinking with the text.

The Tortilla Curtain - Day 3

Today, based on your questions, we read the end of chapter 4 together, trying to answer the question about who did this destruction and why.

It led us back to the end of chapter 3 and we discussed the ways in which the chapters work together, often mirroring each other.

Then we took a quiz, focusing on the language in some key quotations. If you need to make up the quiz, you can find it here: The Tortilla Curtain quiz 1

The Tortilla Curtain - Day 2

Today we'll examine the ways in which Boyle introduces us to the characters in the novel. We'll consider how those details help to inform our first impressions.

We'll us this sheet to keep track of our observations: Tortilla Curtain chapters 1 & 2 handout (Please be sure to bring your completed sheet to class tomorrow)

The Tortilla Curtain - Day 1

We started our next novel - T. C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain - in class today.  You can find the calendar under the "calendars" tab at the top of the page or here.

We wrote short responses to these questions and shared some opening thoughts:

1. First thoughts about "immigration"
2. Why might people want to immigrate to the United States?
3. Why might people in the United States want others to immigrate here?
4. Why might people in the United States not want others to immigrate here?

I read chapter 1 out loud (all but the last page!).

Tonight you are reading chapter 2 and writing your first journal response - keep track of the main characters and the setting. You can find a list of the journal prompts and dates under the "resources" tab on the blog home page.

Blog Project - Sharing and Discussion Day

Greetings!

Ok, it is time for us to share what we have been thinking and writing about - Part 3 of your assignment.

(Note that this will receive a separate grade from what you wrote for Parts 1 and 2)


To do that, I'll group you into clusters of 4.

• Billy - Jacob - Charlie T - Emma
• Jack B - Evan - Penelope - Elizabeth
• Alleman - Kellen - Andrew - Ashley
• David - Kevin - Charlie K - Rachel
• Jack D - Matt - Alyssa - Nate

Simply follow these steps:

1. Using the links to the blogs of your classmates at the top of the class blog, navigate to the blog of one of the people in your cluster.
2. Read their work for Parts 1 and 2. This includes the paragraphs about the articles they reviewed as well as their final paragraph.
3. At the bottom of their blog post, find the link to leave a comment.
4. Your response should say something about their work overall, but must include these elements:
1. What do you think about the articles they shared (part 1)? What did the comments of the writer lead you to think about?  Do you have a different opinion?
2. What do you think about their comments in Part 2, and what it all adds up to about America?  Do you agree with their choice of which article of their three was most important? Why / why not?
3. Did they make an effective argument? Did they use pathos / ethos / logos in a way that affected your thinking about the topic?
5. Repeat this for all members of your group.
6. Return to your blog and read the comments people left for you.  Write a response to these comments, including these points:
1. What did each one lead you to think about? Were they helpful? Did they present you with another perspective?
2. What new questions do you have?  What other issues do you see coming from your three articles?
7. When you are finished with all of this work, please complete this feedback form: Blog Unit Feedback.

**Reminder - you need to own The Tortilla Curtain for class on Monday. There is no other homework for the weekend.

Blog post - final project

This week we will complete our unit on blogging and issues important in America today.

Here is a link to the assignment itself.

Here is a link to the blog rubric I've been using to assess your work and will continue to use for this final project.

Here is the calendar and suggested outline for the week (we will meet in E108 all week):

• Monday - read and review assignment; make choices about articles; find additional article to read
• Tuesday - write reviews of articles (both in class and for homework)
• Thursday - write Part 2 - personal statement
• Friday
• Parts 1 and 2 are due at the start of class today. No exceptions.
• Part 3 in class: blog discussion / comments

How do you find your third article?

• First of all, it needs to be current - within the past few months
• Second, it can come from one of the magazines listed along the left-hand side of this blog we've used: Arts & Letters Daily
• Third, you can use one of the subscription databases from the library under "Newspapers and Magazines"

Pathos Ethos Logos - Day 2

We'll start today by reading this article: "The Caging of America: Why do we lock up so many people?"
(If you'd like a paper copy, let me know)

Together we will identify the different uses of pathos, ethos, and logos, as well as the ideas and issues in the article overall.

Then you will move to individual work - we'll start this today and whatever you do not complete is the homework for the weekend:

Go back to any one of the articles you've read for class since we started this unit.  Review the article (re-read it if necessary) and write another blog post about it.  This time you are identifying which of the different persuasive techniques the author uses (it might be all three).  To support your analysis you will use three quotations from the article.  Follow each one with a basic analysis: "in this sentence the author uses (pathos / ethos / logos) when s/he writes ..."  You will conclude your post with some thoughts about the effectiveness of the argument:

• Do you agree with the author's position?
• How did the author use pathos / ethos / logos to convince you?
• Was there something else in the article that made you agree / disagree with the author?
• What objections do you have about the argument / ideas in the article?  What questions do you have about it?

Persuasive Techniques - Pathos Ethos Logos

We'll start today with a short discussion about persuasive strategies writers use to support their ideas and influence readers. Please click on this link to read about Pathos, Ethos, and Logos.

Here is another resource (from Purdue University) with even more information.

To try these out, you will write a blog post trying to convince an audience by using these different techniques. For example, if you wanted to speak to a teacher about your grade,

• When you tell your teacher that you should receive an ‘A’ on the assignment because you do better work than anyone else, you are using logos.
• When you carefully practice the words that you will say when you ask the teacher for that ‘A’ on the assignment and you dress particularly well that day, you are using ethos.
• When you tell the teacher how difficult it is for you to get along with your parents when you do not get ‘A’s’ on assignments, then you are using pathos. 

Here's what you will do:

1. Choose a topic from this list
1. Convincing your parents / guardians to let you borrow the car for the weekend.
2. Convincing your friends about what to do on a Saturday night.
3. Convincing a person to hire you for a job.
4. Convincing a person to eat a more healthy diet.
5. Convincing a person to see a particular movie.
6. Convincing a person about a particular political position or view on a controversial issue.
7. (other - name your own!)
2. In your blog post, write four separate arguments. The first argument should use logos. The second argument should use ethos. The third argument should use pathos. The fourth argument, your best, should use logos, ethos, and pathos. Each argument should be about two-three sentences long. Remember to be as convincing as possible.
3. We will be visiting each other's blog to comment on their arguments. I'll explain how we will do that.

_______________________________________________

Detecting Bias - Homework

For homework tonight you are going to the blog I assigned to you:

1 - Alleman - Ouija boards
2 - Ashley - Memory
3 - Rachel - Secrets
4 - Ying - ADHD Medication
5 - Jack B - "Dumb Starbucks"
6 - Emma - Instagram

Read the article they linked to and then write a post on your blog addressing these questions:

1. What is the bias / position of the author of the article? What argument are they making?
2. Cite two pieces of evidence to support your claim.

Be sure to include a link both to the article and back to the person's blog where you read it.

*Also, be sure you are caught up on all of your blog posts. Many of you are missing a few!

Detecting Bias in Essays

The essays we are reading in this unit are not objective news stories. The authors write them from a particular position (as an expert, a concerned citizen, for a political agenda, etc.) even though they might not be overtly trying to persuade their audience. Some of them come across as "just telling you about" a story or issue, but when you look closely, there is more than meets the eye.

Today we'll look at issues of bias and the ways in which authors construct their arguments.

First you'll take a short on-line quiz about detecting bias.  Go to socrative.com and enter room 856036.
Note that for the last question you will need to paste the link into your browser.

Here is a link to the New York Times article.  In a new post on your blog, please answer these questions:

• What is his position about the Olympics?
• Cite two pieces of evidence he uses to support his position.

After we go over the answers together, you will go to a blog I assign you to.  You will read the article they brought in for today. In a post back on your blog, you will write about the article (including a link to it) describing the presence of bias in it:

• What is (are) the issue(s) discussed here?
• What is the author's position?
• What is the author's relationship to the issue (are they an expert, someone affected by it, etc.)?
• Quote a specific passage from the article and explain how it reveals the bias of the author.

Go to this website from Purdue University to read about "Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion."

Reading a Magazine Article #2 + Weekend Homework

Today you will once again read a magazine article.  Here are six I selected for you to choose from:

• "How to Save Marriage in America"
• "The Growing Problem of Suburban Poverty"
• "Our Numbered Days: The Evolution of the Area Code"
• "Black History Month Isn't Making Life Better For Black Americans"
• "Why the Republican Push for Black Voters is (Mostly) Doomed to Fail"
• "Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators"

Once again you will read the article then write a blog post as a response.  Your post needs to include these elements:

1. What is the main point / argument of the article?
2. Do you agree or disagree with its assertions? Why?
3. Which parts of it did you find most interesting / challenging / surprising? Why?
1. Include a quotation from the article as evidence
4. What questions are you left with as a result of reading this article?

You will need to have this posted on your blog by the start of class on Tuesday.

____________________________________________

Your homework for the weekend, which you can get started on during class if you have time, is to find an article for the rest of the class to (potentially) read next week.  How?

Start by going to this website: Arts & Letters Daily

In the left-hand side navigation column, click on "Magazines." This will take you to a list of many magazines, all linked directly to the Arts & Letters Daily Blog.  You may have heard of many of these magazines, or perhaps only a few. Spend some time browsing around through ones that look interesting.  Look through the articles available on the magazine website (note that in many cases only some of the content is available to the public - some is only for paid or registered subscribers).  Identify a few articles that look interesting, skim through then, and then choose one to read.

Write a new blog post including a link to the article and the rest of the information named above.

You will need to have this posted on your blog by the start of class on Tuesday.

Reading a Magazine Article

For today, please choose one of these articles.  All of them are from recent issues of their respective magazines:

• Cheap Words: Amazon is Good for Reading but Is It Good for Books?
• Bigger Than Phil: When Did Faith Start to Fade?
• A Valuable Reputation: After Tyrone Hayes Said That a Chemical Was Harmful, Its Maker Pursued Him
• A Botched Operation: Steven Brigham's abortion clinics keep being sanctioned for offering substandard care. Why is he still in business?
• Going the Distance: On and Off the Road with Barack Obama

When you are finished reading your article, you will write a blog post about it.  At the top of the screen, click on "new post" to get started.  Here's what you will need to include, and remember, what you are writing will be seen by others - you are publishing it to a blog, not simply turning in a class assignment.

1. Give your post a title that gives a sense of what the article was about and / or your opinion about it.
2. In the post itself, be sure to include a link back to the story.  How do you do this?
1. Copy the URL of the story.
2. Type the text into your blog - something like "here is a link to the story I read" - that you want to serve as the linked text.
3. Highlight that text, click "link" at the top of the post editor window, and paste the URL where it says "To what URL should this link go?"
3. The post needs to be a paragraph long response to the article, including these elements, but not necessarily in this order:
1. What is the main point / argument of the article?
2. Do you agree or disagree with its assertions?
3. Which parts of it did you find most interesting / challenging / surprising?
1. Include a quotation about this
4. What questions are you left with as a result of reading this article?

Please have this completed by the start of class tomorrow.

Let's Blog!

Let's Blog!!

Today you will all become part of what has become known as the blogosphere, a modern day adaptation of the public square. In a tradition that has its roots in early American society, the public comes together to explore the interesting and provocative ideas of the day. In 2014, that universe has expanded to allow anyone's ideas to be put into the marketplace for the world to see or hear. Today, you will set up your blog that will allow you to do just that.

What is a blog?

What does a blog look like?

· Time’s best blogs of 2013

· http://www.bestblogs.org/

· http://blogs.botw.org/

· http://blogsearch.google.com/

Let’s make a blog! (Note-first step will to be to sign in to Google).

· https://www.blogger.com/start

Some things to consider-

• Choosing a design
• Including gadgets
• Warnings before going too far
• Audience
• Privacy - no full names, personal information
• Expectations - tone, respect, acceptable topics

Blogging

• Writing posts
• Commenting on posts
• Incorporating images, video, links

Need help?

· http://www.google.com/support/blogger/

So, here are your ultimate tasks for today:

1.  Create a blog!
2.  Think of a catchy title. Make sure you add a description of what you want your blog to be or to express.
3.  E-mail Mr. Rigler with the name of your blog and its URL address. He will create a link to it on the class blog.
4. Write your first post. The first can be about virtually anything-current events, a good movie you’ve seen recently, the first day of school, etc. Spend some time with this. It will be the first time for your followers to get to know you and your ideas thus you want them to have a good sense of your voice.
5. Comment on someone else's post.

Poetry Out Loud!

For the next two week's we're gonna do something a bit different - something some of you might have done with your English classes in recent years - something some of you saw performances of but never did yourself - something that might be completely new to some of you - Poetry Out Loud!

Find out more here: Poetry Out Loud

Here is the schedule for the next two weeks: Poetry Out Loud calendar

---

Dear Juniors,

Welcome back! Happy start of second semester!

Today, we begin the Poetry Out Loud experience!!! For the rest of this week and next week, our entire focus will be Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation competition. 

Yes, that’s right; each of you will recite—from memory—a poem as part of this Junior English class’s contest to determine which one of you will compete to be the DHS champion! From there, the winner will move on to the state level - two years ago, DHS had the state runner-up!

To start, complete the following assignment:

1. Go to the  Poetry Out Loud website. Check it out - browse around a bit - see what it is all about.
2. Go to the Find a Poem section. Your goal is to choose three potential poems to work with for this project.  You are welcome to search through the poems however you'd like. You may want to identify poems by looking through the poets listed and reading poems by poets you’ve heard of or are familiar with.
3. Find THREE poems from the expansive list of approved poems on the Poetry Out Loud website that you would be willing and/or interested in reciting in the competition. Be sure you’re happy with all three.
4. Create a Word/Google document. Cut and paste each of the poems into this document (be sure to include the title and poet of each poem). And, below each poem in this document, write a short explanation naming what you like or find interesting about the poem.
5. Then, print a copy of EACH of the three poems. Be sure to bring these to class tomorrow.

First Semester Final

Here is a link to the exam:  First Semester Final

Native Son - thoughts about Bigger and his world - start of Book 2

Welcome back!

Today in class we tried to recap where we are in the novel by reflecting on our thoughts about observations about Bigger and the society in which he lives.

Here is a brief version of what we discussed:

Bigger:

• Morals - has a sense of right / wrong (possibly a confused one)
• Unsure how he feels about Mary's death
• Sees himself as "lower" than others
• Why didn't he flee? Why does he go back to the Daltons?
• How does he view his actions / see himself?
• Bigger is constantly thinking about race
• Bigger does not think about the Daltons / Mary / what her death means to them
• Uses race to justify his actions
• What will he do next? 
• (some expressed feeling a sense of sympathy for him at this point of the book)

Society

• Complex attitudes about race
• Differences between white and black perspectives
• Bigger fears what whites might think about / do to him
• Bigger's group of friends - what do they mean to him?
• What is the role of the Daltons?
• Actions in terms of race - how to white people act in a black setting and how do blacks act in a white setting?
• How much knowledge do the whites and black have about each other? How ignorant are they? How curious are they?