Sci-Fi why?????

We are preparing to embark on a great adventure... at least it is supposed to be a great adventure. Science fiction is no longer for the geeky, thanks so much to the onslaught of television shows like The Event, Heroes, and even Lost.

And so we will begin digging deeper into Sci-Fi by immersing ourselves in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which we began reading today. On Monday and Tuesday of next week, we will be performing an active response to media as we watch the movie V for Vendetta. The movie is rated R and a permission slip has gone home to all parents. For those who do not feel comfortable allowing their student to view the movie which does have some strong language and violence rest assured that students will not be docked for not watching the movie and alternate activities will be provided.

As we are moving into one of the busiest times of the year for school and for families, I would like to able to get through this novel before things become so hectic it is impossible to carve out 30 minutes of reading time, so if we could work together as a team to ensure they are "Bradburying" their heads in F451 for about 15 to 30 minutes a night that would give them the opportunity to be past the novel before the Holiday Hectic-ness!

Again, please feel free to always drop by our class to observe or just visit. But beware! We might make you participate in one of our "off the wall" activities!

Don't that chaf your oyster????

Yes, that's how a pearl gets created...a little tiny grain of sand slips into the muscle-y part of an oyster and the oyster gets irritated and starts secreting stuff and rubbing at it and voila, like a million years later - A PEARL! Hopefully it won't take us that long to get our pearl on, so to speak. We started reading today in class - we are reading it aloud because it is traditionally an oral story. John Steinbeck wrote it after hearing the story in the town of La Paz, Mexico while on a trip up and down the coast with a friend.
Today we also started taking active reading notes in the form of Cornell Notes. I provided the prompts and you were to supply the notes from the story. If there were issues with this exercise please come see me immediately as this will be the norm from now on when we read aloud in class.
Tonight's homework might make your head hurt a little, but it is nothing that we have not done over and over again in class. I am simply asking you for your opinions and for some in-depth reading for context, content, and meaning. Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite American poets. Tomorrow we will be reading a Russian poem - I'm even thinking about translating it for you! Just kidding...it's already in English.
Projects were due today. Anything not turned in will automatically receive a 5 point reduction off the top as this is the second deadline extended nearly a week from last Wednesday.
HOMEWORK: Burst poetry analysis of Emily Dickinson's After Great Pain
ETYMOLOGY MOMENT: hol - from the Greek; meaning whole. Example words are holistic, holy, holocaust.

CAP is coming to a head...

The concept assessment projects are due on MONDAY! There are NO EXCEPTIONS! This is a five-day extension so this will include everyone who missed less than 3 days of class!

If you have questions about your project PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME OVER THE WEEKEND!

Starting Monday we will be begin reading THE PEARL by John Steinbeck. We will be reading it aloud in class. You will also be reading a book at home each night, chapter by chapter. You will be given the list of books you can chose from to read at home on Monday. You will be responsible for making your choice by Tuesday and beginning Tuesday you will begin writing your own version of Spark Notes/Cliff Notes about the book you are reading. More to come on that!

Enjoy your Homecoming weekend!

Classroom Blitz

After a Full Throttle Thursday you are probably energized... but on a more serious note, we are going to continue with our new theme: We Love Rigor...and to answer your questions it is not the kind of rigor that sets into dead bodies.

We took a noteable break from our Greek and Latin, however Friday will find us in a BLITZKRIEG!!!! 6 activities, 7 minutes per activity - could make for a GREAT day, at least for me!

Project lists will be posted tomorrow evening. I wanted to get to them today but I ran off and left my folder at school and my couch was just so nice and comfy I couldn't bring myself to get up and go back over there.

It's gonna turn into a classroom blitz...

Parody by the Dashboard Lights...

See how that works? The very title of my blog entry today is a parody on the fabulous Meatloaf song from the late 70's. Today we discussed parody as a literary device and its relevance to poetry and how parody can actually HELP us understand poems that we don't understand. Case in point was today's poem: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? We read two versions of the poem: Will Shakespeare's version and a parody written by Howard Moss.
The parody actually provided a frame of reference for the poem and helped us delve into the symbolism, metaphor and epitaph of the sonnet.
Want a real-life example of parody? Check out some of Weird Al Yankovic's music at www.youtube.com. You can also see parody in action if you look from some of the skits from Saturday Night Live.

ETYMOLOGY: gram - Greek base meaning "writing or write" examples given in class were telegram, grammar, and diagram.
REMEMBER: Projects progress evals are due tomorrow!

Concept Assessment Projects - Tip #1

If you are doing the vocabulary flash cards, take some time to go through the text and your notes, find your 30 words and jot them down on a piece of paper.
Then, grab a ziploc bag, your paper with your 30 words, a handful of index cards and a sharpie marker. Throw everything in the ziploc bag and throw your ziploc bag in your backpack. Work on writing the words on the front of the cards when you have down time - that is a third of the work done!

If you are working on a poster, draw a rough sketch of what you want and then go from there. Start a design file with words, letters or pictures that you want to use on your poster. That way when you have time to put it together all your elements will be in one place. Also, think about your statements, themes and sentences and when you come up with an idea, jot it down. Trying to sit down and force yourself to be creative can be taxing and quite honestly, nearly impossible.

Don't forget: Project progress evals are due Thursday, it's a good idea to have at least a couple of the projects started.

Classwork days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with all projects due at the end of the hour on Wednesday.

ETYMOLOGY (does not have anything to do with bugs, FYI): "mult" - meaning "many" words that exemplify this word include: multitude, multiply, multicultural and multitask

Miniver Cheevy

Here is where I read the poems for my little learning warriors...groovy ups and outs by Mr. B.