Monday, February 28, 2011

Back to School

TODAY IN CLASS
Iambs, iambic pentameter, foot, blank verse, free verse, one starter sonnet fact (14 lines!)--but most importantly, the constant need to evaluate sound and sense when studying poetry.  Memorizing terms is a necessary step, but not an end in itself. 

Paradise Lost:  blank verse; range,sources, and density of allusions; Milton's cosmography, and his reliance on Dante's Inferno; Milton's blindness . . . (your class may have done more/may have done less).  We will even things out and move on tomorrow.

FOR TOMORROW
"Make-up" (i.e., should have been done over break):  Be sure that you have read (CAREFULLY, not just skimmed) all the PL hanRime of the And-outs you received during the week before break. You should also have read the entirety of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but if you have not, you've got a couple more days before that becomes problematical.


For Wednesday:  Be sure to have re-read Acts I and II of Hamlet

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Almost to Break . . .!

DO NOT FORGET to get the tracking paper submitted to turnitin.com tonight before midnight!  Also, some folks so far have forgotten the word count.  Make sure to have the word count on the text.

TODAY IN CLASS
Some "starter work" on Paradise Lost. Yesterday I said to read Part I for Friday, but frankly, I'd rather have you focus on doing a really good job with Coleridge's poem for tomorrow.  So--

HOMEWORK for Friday:  Samuel Taylor Coleridge--"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (7 sections; you have the hand-out only for the first two)

Preferred text for READING  "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."  Note that there is a Printable Version option if you'd like to have a hard copy (recommended, but not absolutely required so long as you're willing to cycle back to the text as needed after break):

http://www.enotes.com/rime-ancient-mariner-text/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner

But I also urge you to spend a few minutes with the text from the University of Virginia collection, which features the original illustrations. 
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Col2Mar.html

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

DUE on Thursday:
Tracking assignment (hard copy--typed or hand-written)
500-word essay showing the inclusive, comprehensive use in Frankenstein (hard copy PLUS turnitin.com)
Don't forget the word count!

And remember, PACK your paper with detail and insight.  Maximize the substantive content by streamlining your prose.  Be concise:  tight, economical language with precise word choice.   

More details on the other material later--none of that is required for tomorrow.  However, BE SURE to have the hand-outs with you in class.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

1) If you missed the Frankenstein test, obviously you need to make it up (30-40 minutes)
2) Though there was a hand-out today with the first section of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," you don't need to continue that tonight because . . .
3) The first priority is to be working on the comprehensive, inclusive 500-word paper on how your theme topic is woven into the text of Frankenstein (and, if necessary, finishing the quote-tracking part of the assignnment.

DUE THURSDAY:  people who will leave on Thursday need to get the paper on turnitin.com on time or ahead of time (open later tonight or Wednesday a.m.) 

Monday, February 14, 2011

Frankenstein Test on Tuesday

TODAY IN CLASS
Dicussion of tracking assignment for Thursday, involving both the print-out or hand-written list of quotations plus a 500-word summary assessment of the importance/significance of that particluar thematic element to the whole of the novel. Look at as many characters/situations as it may apply to, from the opening letters to the very end.  Do NOT restrict your comments to things involving the character of Victor Frankenstein alone.  Utilize the concepts from the Six Strategies and CRISP to tighten your style to make the maximum room for substantive content.  The 500-word paper must be on turnitin.com (to be opened on Wednesday) and must have a word count.  However, turn in a hard copy as well. (The list of quotes does NOT need to be on turnitin.com!)

Also annotation practice and class discussion of John Donne's poem "The Flea" (circa 1600)

FOR TOMORROW
Review for test--if you have read carefully and worked faithfully on tracing your particular thematic element, you should be in pretty good shape.  But also take advantage of the questions posted to GoogleDocs several days ago; the links are provided on an earlier blog. 

This test will be scantron.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Applies to only a few of you . . .

but if you are one of the people who, for any reason whatsoever, have not submitted one or more of your drafts to www.turnitin.com, please be aware that I have re-opened all three folders.  Check them out ASAP to insure that you will meet the new (and final) deadlines (they differ for each one).

Friday, February 11, 2011

ESSAYS were due in class; turnitin.com closes at 11:59 p.m.

Essays
Most people are in good standing (done with all components). As in-class people heard today, the following message applies to a small minority:
Although the credit window has closed for drafts one and two, the necessity of getting these drafts IN to turnitin.com does not go away.  No credit for the final essay (100 assessment points) without having submitted all three drafts to turnitin.com. Therefore, I am re-opening the windows for the first two drafts today (but again, not for points); on Monday I will re-open the final draft folder after having a short one-on-one with all affected parties.)

Frankenstein, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS

1) Do a quick Google check for Prometheus (or use Edith Hamilton Mythology, Bulfinch's Mythology, etc.)

2) Objective Test over Frankenstein on Tuesay. It will not take the full period.  It will be fairly detailed.

Apology to 1st period-- At the very end of class (when we actually talked briefly about Prometheus, but not in enough detail),  I forgot to say this.  There had been some vague reference earlier in the week, but I hadn't definitively said which day.  Sorry--friends can tell friends, etc.

3) At this point, everyone SHOULD have finished the novel, and be working on the last section only of your topic-tracking (writing out, neatly by hand or on the computer, quotations--including elements from descriptiove passages, not merely "somebody talking").  Note, however, that there was no reading check today.  I know full well that some of you haven't finished the book, and I expect that many of you haven't finished the tracking assignment.  That is your week-end homework.  I do NOT need to see the print-out on Monday (though it will be handed in later in the week), but not having it done by Monday will unnecessarily complicate the rest of the week.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Essays due on Friday

Essay
Due in class:  all three hard copies (with peer response for the first draft; "Six Strategies" revision spots highlighted on the second draft, and a clean, completely MLA-formatted copy of the final draft).
Submission to http://www.turnitin.com/:  Deadline for final draft is late Friday night (11:59).

Frankenstein
You should be finished with the reading by tomorrow.  We will quite possibly have some plot spoilers in our discussion tomorrow.  You should be caught up with "tracking" through yesterday's section (end of Creature speaking).  However, given where many of you are with the essay, it's unrealistic to expect all tracking to be finished by tomorrow.  You will have until Monday for that.

However, I'm posting some questions to guide reading/review of what you've read.  We will use short sections of this (as 6th period did today) as the focus for looking more closely at particular passages.  For now, I just want to get them out there and available.  Again, these are for help/guidance/focus--NOT for you to write out.  And remember that these were originally prepared for a regular class--they aren't meant to challenge you but to provide a bit of a safety net, especially for people who are still catching up. (And I realize that the page numbers won't match most of your editions; we muddle through as best we can.)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12ai-PSv2xKmWGnUNHBTWkzgW0ETPSa7Rhf1wBlUqWwM/edit?hl=en&authkey=CPO8hf8N

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ug2z96lHg6Vpqo1c2ds0ooEakeWVDddgzxC-B0dObAc/edit?hl=en&authkey=CNL8hPkC

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Post-Faculty Meeting (4:30)

And I need to leave--so here are the essentials:
The Essay
1) We've now covered the style revision elements (plus some basic grammar/mechanics issues).  If you don't have much to revise, you might well want to get your essay revised and in tonight.  You will be DONE.
2) But you have until Friday.  Yes, that's adjusted from the original schedule. 
3) I will set up the Final Draft folder on turnitin.com momentarily; it will close at 11:59 p.m. Friday night. 
4) All three hard copies plus the original peer-response sheet are due in class; accepted either Thursday OR Friday.

Be sure to make use of the resources listed on today's teaching blog as well as in the writing sections at the end of the textbook re: MLA formatting, the handling of quotations in a drama (short snippets = same as always, but see the info if you cite an exchange), etc.

Frankenstein
Have the book and your theme-tracking material in class with you on Thursday.  You should have read (by today, actually) up to the point that the Creature finishes telling his story and making his request to Frankenstein (the end of Chapter 16).

AP Exam Registration . . .
will be online this year.  More details forthcoming. 

Wednesday Teaching Post

Link to Google.Docs version of today's hand-out, with further links to helpful grammar/style resources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uGS0WOKk06eIEEjycdFY3wiD-qeBLBm7okyaaNJ5duM/edit?hl=en&authkey=CMGHv9QG

Sample  of a complicated answer to the question of  how colleges and universities evaluate AP scores:
http://www2.ku.edu/~distinction/cgi-bin/overview69

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

1st period--I forgot to give you the AP bulletins.  You will get them tomorrow!

TODAY IN CLASS
Frankenstein short assessment over Ch. 4-10; you should be well on your way now through the Creature's story (Chapters 11-17) which is listed on the schedule for tomorrow.  Complete your reading of the entire text by Friday.

We got to various points on the revision hand-out. See the next section.

FOR TOMORROW
Yes, continue reading Frankenstein.  Continue tracking your topics.

Essay: 
  • Both your first and second drafts should be on turnitin.com by now, in the appropriate folders.  Some people, however, have not done this yet--some with valid reason, others not so much.  Either way, the bottom line is that they MUST GET INTO THE FOLDERS.  Both have been re-opened to accomodate late-comers.
  • The third and final draft is "due" on Thursday, because I wanted you DONE with this.  However, Friday papers will not suffer any penalty points.  Suit yourself.  At this point, you should absolutely be able to work on the second draft in terms of the "Six Strategies" portion of the revision, and the C of CRISP (Cut Words) is really an extension of #5.  So you should be able to work on that too.
    • Reduce Clauses--we started this in 1st, not at all in 3rd/6th
    • In all classes, we'll still look at the ISP parts . . .
  • So the process of revision will continue tomorrow night.  Some of you, however, will not have very much that really needs to be done, so Thursday remains a perfectly viable deadline for you.  For others, as noted above, Friday is OK. 
WHAT TO TURN IN: 
As hard copies: All three drafts plus the peer-response sheet
And the third draft submitted to the Final Draft folder on http://www.turnitin.com/

P.S.  Are you remembering that this is a full bore MLA paper?  What does that entail?  Where can you find it?  (Review earlier posts.  Consult the Purdue OWL.  Look at the samples in the new book. Ask.  Ignorance is no excuse.)

Monday, February 7, 2011

MONDAY POST, on the correct blog

What to do/know if you were absent today:
1. Make sure that the content revision of the essay is posted to turnitin.com (2nd Draft folder) by 11:59 p.m. tonight.
2.  Print out a copy of the 2nd draft--you will need to mark it as required in upcoming instructions.  More specifics on style revision in class on Tuesday.
3.  Be prepared on what as due today for Frankenstein (through Ch. 10) and also be current on tracking themes through that point. (see note below)
4.  But as homework, get going on the chunk of Fr. to be completed by Wednesday.  Remember that the whole book needs to be finished by Friday.

During class today we worked on something called "The THIS File"--you can catch up later.

I was reminded today that the 1818 edition doesn't have the same chapter headings as the 1831 edition.  For you original folks, just know that Chapter 10 ends just before the Creature begins to talk; Chapter 17 begins just AFTER the Creature ceases telling his story.

MISSING POSTS--copied and pasted here

OK.  I am seeing why some of you have been confused lately.  Since late last week, I have been blogging to my old (REALLY old) blog, and of course nothing has shown up on the correct one.  I have cut-and-pasted Thursday's and Sunday night's below.  I'll cut-and paste the one I just wrote to correct spot for a new entry momentarily.  I am so sorry.  Last week was simply techno-FAIL on all counts.

THIS WAS THURSDAY'S POST (Feb. 3)
First, my apologies to 1st period, who had to struggle with my epic fail at every stage of technology.  I eventually found a way to post the scan from Picasa straight to the blog, and after fourteen or so tries, I managed to print that segment vs. the whole blog page (sidebars and all).  So 3rd and 6th had a hand-out (albeit imperfectly formatted). You will get that copy tomorrow in class just to make it official.
Meanwhile, you will receive a hand-out in class tomorrow with new scheduling information and other details for both Frankenstein and the essay.   I'll probably link it to GoogleDocs tomorrow (or very late tonight), but it shouldn't be your concern tonight. 

THIS WAS SUNDAY EVENING'S POST (Feb. 6)
Hi, everyone--

So I'm just catching up with fact Tyler's service is tomorrow, and of course I realize that many of you won't be in class.  Go ahead and get your paper into turnitin.com (2nd draft folder), but that's going to be open until 11:59 p.m. Monday night, not the shortly-after-class times mentioned on the assignment sheet.

The 2nd draft next step is individual--not peer response.  There will be a short list of things to focus on, but they're going to take some explaining/illustration . . . and I'm not sure that tomorrow is going to work out for doing that. We'll probably get started, but also bring the Frankenstein text for sure.


TONIGHT:  You should either read, or start making adjustments to your essay based on today's work. It's up to you, but there should be progress one direction or the other.

For those who were unable to have a completed draft today, please do your best for tomorrow.  Have someone work with it in class, hopefully as an exchange vs an extra (people who've done one already deserve the time to read/work on the Fr. material).  I've extended turnitin.com for the First Draft until tomorrow night.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

As indicated last night and in class today:

The peer-response work that had been planned for Wednesday will take place on Thursday; turnitin.com folders have been extended to Thursday as well (12:15 for 1st and 3rd; 2:45 for 6th).  

Students who were absent today will be given their tracking topic (thematic idea) tomorrow.


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

IMPORTANT UPDATE (5:30 PM)

I know that many of you are coping with the loss of a young man whom many of you know, though he is not attending classes at IHS this year. In light of this sad news, let's not deal with the essay tomorrow.  If you are not affected in any way, I encourage you to continue your work; in any case, we will probably need to proceed with our work by Thursday.

Be supportive of each other at this difficult time.  See you tomorrow.

Essay Draft Due on Wednesday!

TODAY
Frankenstein:  More work on thematic ideas from the opening letters/chapters of the text.  Though there are various ideas we probably didn't address in one class or another, you should realize by now the thorough way in which certain core ideas are interlaced throughout Shelley's work.  We still need to look closely at the subjects of study he undertakes at the university and at the characteristics and personality of his two professors.

FOR TOMORROW
Yes, the essay draft.  Pay close heed to the following caveats:

Introductory Paragraph
  • NO use of the following words:  similar, different, similarities, differences
Body thesis claims
  • As with any essay, be sure that each body thesis links back to a specific part of the main thesis.
  • EVERY “body section” (not necessarily every paragraph) needs to start with a concrete comparative/contrast claim that incorporates both works
turnitin.com (note that the times have been adjusted slightly for the Wednesday schedule)
  • Open now—First Draft folder.
  • Closes at 1:05 p.m. for 1st and 3rd; at 3:00 p.m. for 6th 
  • 10 points (DLWK) for hard copy in class plus on-time turnitin.com
  • NO HARD COPY IN CLASS will result in no opportunity to receive feedback nor to earn points for providing tomorrow’s feedback.  Unless there is an excused absence for the day, you will not be allowed to do this on your own. 
  • Students who will be out for school activities must get their materials to turnitin.com before heading out to the day’s activities.