2018-2019 AP English - Plans
*** Dates in the past are what we did those days. Dates in the future are what we have planned, and the plans may change. ***
FIRST SEMESTER
August 22 (half day)
Discuss Facebook group, Remind, Google Classroom, etc.
Slide show - introduction to class policies (just the slides about AP English):
August 23
Pre-test
Discuss using audio books and Cliff's or Spark notes, and buying How to Read Literature like a Professor used.
Distribute Pride and Prejudice. It's a really good idea to get a head start.
August 24
Handout: AP Open Questions / Suggested Authors (p.98-101)
FIRST SEMESTER
August 22 (half day)
Discuss Facebook group, Remind, Google Classroom, etc.
Slide show - introduction to class policies (just the slides about AP English):
- required notes, no cell phones, 3 books 1 play as class, 4 books/plays individually -- AR tests, etc.
August 23
Pre-test
Discuss using audio books and Cliff's or Spark notes, and buying How to Read Literature like a Professor used.
Distribute Pride and Prejudice. It's a really good idea to get a head start.
- Audiobook (separate chapters) / Audiobook link (youtube)
- It certainly wouldn't hurt to watch a movie of the story before reading the book.
- Here's one version (2005).
- Here's another one (1995) that was a mini-series. It's longer (5.5 hours), but that means it's more likely closer to the book.
- On-line book
August 24
Handout: AP Open Questions / Suggested Authors (p.98-101)
- Start thinking about and researching (e.g. read short summaries) to figure out which books you would enjoy reading.
- A cleaner version for printing is available here.
- I scrolled through the lists fairly slowly so students could ask about titles that popped out to them.
- If I knew anything about them, I gave them brief descriptions.
August 27
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Handout: Terms Used in Essay Instructions (p.83-86)
Handout: Terms Used in Multiple-Choice Questions (p.89-90)
Handout: Metrical Terms / Grammatical Terms (p. 91-92)
Handout: The 12 Stages of the Journey
Notes: 12 Stages of the Journey (write down examples for each stage from Star Wars, Harry Potter, and/or The Hunger Games)
- I also talked a bit about how authors and directors are well aware of this pattern.
- Check out information about Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, for example.
- Not only George Lucas (Star Wars), but also The Lion King, Batman, The Matrix, Indiana Jones, and others have come directly out of this study.
- Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code hero Robert Langdon was also inspired by this idea.
"The Emperor's Three Questions," by Leo Tolstoy: read independently; class discussion (tomorrow)
August 28
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- theme / are those the correct answers to the questions?
- symbolic meanings: hermit/simplicity, mountain/superior perspective, farming/teaching, sleep/death, etc.
Handout: An Introduction to Stress and Meter
We used this to introduce the practice of "scanning" lines of poetry.
- We plan to spend a decent amount of time talking about this throughout the year, as there were quite a few questions about it on last year's AP test.
- As with most years, this was difficult for the class because it's new.
- We covered p.1-3 (we'll finish it this week).
August 29
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Independent reading: 10 minutes
Handout: Archetypes and Symbols
- We discussed some of the more uncommon ones as well has how some authors/artists like to twist the symbols (have the hero wear all black) to mix things up some times.
August 30
We finished talking about the handout An Introduction to Stress and Meter to introduce students to the practice of "scanning" lines of poetry.
- pronouncing every syllable as written in poetry (banished as 3 syllables, for example)
- elision, synaeresis, syncope, and acephalous lines
- masculine rhyme and feminine rhyme
Assignment: notes
August 31 (no school)
September 03 (no school)
September 04
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- Mr. Martin's personality, legal terminology, and animal terminology (Mrs. Barrows).
Short story: James Thurber: "The Catbird Seat":
- Look for language that makes this seem like a trial/courtroom, at least in Mr. Martin's mind.
- Look for characterizations of Mr. Martin that make him look innocent later in the story.
- Look for language of animals with Mrs. Barrows. What's the effect of this?
- Look for clues about what kind of relationship the boss has with Mrs. Barrows.
- What qualities of Ulgine Barrows’ character make her so offensive to Erwin Martin?
- Why doesn’t Thurber depict any moral conflict in Mr. Martin over his plan to commit murder?
- Do you think the story has any serious insights to offer about male-female relations or workplace politics (especially with the boss and Ulgine Barrows...)?
- Assuming you found this story funny, what makes it funny?
September 05
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement): paradox (the death of Death).
Checked out the basics of John Donne's life.
John Donne: "Death, Be Not Proud":
- It's a sonnet. Giveaway: the shape is roughly that of a square. Note the rhyme scheme (and the turn) and meter (10 syllables per line).
- Personification
- People are afraid of Death, but it's nothing to be scared of because it can't really kill people because...
- its results look like sleeping (which is good for us)
- it is a delivery of our souls (to something better) -- these first two show how Death actually helps us.
- it's just a slave for others' use
- it lives with poison, war, and other nasty things, and so it's just a nasty thing, like them
- poppy and charms can bring about the same effects, so it's nothing special
- and when we "sleep," we wake up in Heaven
- The paradox that Death will die (when people are in Heaven)
September 06 (Homecoming Court pix)
Learning Target: Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Islands vs. continents as a metaphor for men/humanity
- Why use the word continent? What other options did he have? Is continent a better choice?
- Why use the word "clod"? It's not just used for a clump of dirt...
- Then what's a promontory, in human terms?
- What would it be like if any manor (a large country house with lands) of yours were washed away? That would be devastating.
- And some versions of the poem have the spelling for this word as "manner." What would it be like if any of your manners (sense of humor, for example) were washed away? You wouldn't be you, exactly. anymore.
- No matter whose funeral it is, it's also yours. You are affected by anyone else's death.
- How do you react when you see a funeral procession?
- In past years, we also checked out the Metallica song by the same name, but it seems to be more about the Hemingway novel titled For Whom the Bell Tolls rather than Donne's poem.
- From Wikipedia: "Metallica's second album Ride the Lightning (1984), features a song entitled "For Whom the Bell Tolls," which can be seen as a lyrical adaptation of a particular scene from the book (chapter 27)."
September 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Title -- a farewell speech forbidding sadness
- Let's say goodbye so quietly/calmly it's like a good man dying in a hospital -- calm, no noise, it's hard to even tell when he's dead
- We can't even explain our love to common people (laity), because we're soul mates.
- Normal lovers can't stand to be apart, but our love is so strong that we can.
- Why use gold as a metaphor? (its value, and it can be spread out -- as they are -- but it still retains its great value)
- Why use a compass? (attached at all times, no matter how far apart the legs are; plus, it draws a circle, which is symbolic of...)
- Is that sexual innuendo (erect)?
- We also discussed how the form (predictable rhyme scheme and meter) made it feel comfortable, calm, safe and how an author might subtly change the patterns to give a poem an opposite feeling.
September 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Short story: Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers":
- Reminders:
- What does the title remind you of, if anything? (Trial by jury, the right to have a trial by your peers)
- Written in 1917. What do we know? (WWI, almost 100 years ago, before women could vote)
- Look for the way women are treated, the way they relate to each other and the way they relate to men. Will these women be wives, or will they be women? Is there a difference...?
- The class had time to read the short story for the rest of the hour.
September 11
September 12
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
John Donne: "The Sun Rising"
- Personification - the Sun as an intruder on his love life
- Lovers' lives aren't run by the changes of the Sun
- He tells the Sun what he can do (things that don't matter, compared to his love life)
- Because love is eternal, not changing with the hours/days/months/seasons nor with climate
- Plus, he is more powerful than the Sun anyways -- he can blink to make it disappear (but he won't, 'cause then he wouldn't see her...)
- Irony -- she's so beautiful she may blind the Sun.
- But if the Sun isn't blinded yet, it can look at the vast wealth across the earth and report back tomorrow, only to find out that all that is valuable is really right here in his bed already.
- The princes of the world (who care about and for their lands) are just acting like the speaker, who does the same for his lover (his world).
- Indeed, if the Sun wants to warm the entire world, he could do so just by warming up this couple, because they are the world (as far as he's concerned).
- This bed is the center of the Universe, and the Sun orbits around it.
September 12 (class was shortened by a fire drill during the passing time before 3rd hour)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- The speaker's motive.
John Donne: "The Flea":
- Stanza 1
- A man talking to a woman: What you're denying me is just a little thing. Come on...
- This flea sucked some blood from both of us, so it has our blood mingled inside it.
- What it did didn't take your virginity or anything, but what it did is more than what I want to do...
- Stanza 2
- Wait! Don't kill it! We are more than married ("The two shall become one flesh") in it, since our blood is actually combined inside the flea.
- Don't kill your "self" by killing the flea which holds some of your blood. You'd be killing three: the flea, a part of you, and a part of me.
- Stanza 3
- It was cruel that you killed it!
- You won, but you admit that you're not weaker for having lost this amount of blood -- same for me.
- See, you were afraid of nothing
- And it'll be the same if you yield to me. You'll lose just as much honor (loss of her maidenhead) as this flea took blood, so it won't hurt one bit...
September 13
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Article that relates to Pride and Prejudice and these students' near future: What do women [today] want in a husband?
- We talked about the relationship between economics and marriage, and how maybe we're not that different from England of 200 years ago...
- Ages changing / social acceptance of older marriages, living together / why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free...? / etc.
- How this relates to Lydia and Wickham -- why the Bennet family really wants her to marry him, even if they don't particularly like him.
September 14
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Continue the introduction to Pride and Prejudice using these slides.
September 17 (Things took longer than normal due to students having trouble with homecoming voting.)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
September 18
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- Title: alchemy as a discredited, superstitious way of creating/finding something -- this is about the secret mysteries of love and how we can never find or understand them.
- We examined all of the negative terms in the poem and the way they make us feel:
- I should not find, imposture, odoriferous, winter-seeming, vain, scorn, wretch, rude hoarse, hope not, mummy, possess'd
- Stanza 1:
- Some people who know more about love say they know the most important thing, the centric happiness.
- I have 1.) loved 2.) got and 3.) told about love, but if I did those three things for the rest of my life, I'd still not find the secret to happiness in love.
- But I'll never find it -- I think it's all fake ("imposture").
- Some chemists, for example, brag about what they're making that isn't finished yet (pregnant pot).
- In the same way, some lovers dream of having a rich and long delight, only to end up with the opposite of what they'd expect (a winter-seeming summer's night).
- Stanza 2:
- Should we work, spend money and time, and dishonor ourselves to get something that's so vague it's not even possible to see clearly, let alone hold (a bubble's shadow -- i.e. love's secret)
- Can my man (husband: the speaker is a woman) be as happy as I am once he gets through a bridegroom's play (wedding?)
- A play is something fake, scripted. Are we saying our own words at a wedding when we say "I do"?
- It's a fool who says that minds marry instead of just bodies -- he might as well say he can hear the other planets orbiting us while he's here on earth.
- According to the speaker, these statements are equally ridiculous.
- There's no hope to find a woman with a mind; they may seem nice, but they're more like mummies -- bodies without brains.
- Possessed -- not under their own power, not a real mind.
- So why might he write something like this, especially since it's through the eyes (words) of a woman, a wife?
September 19
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
- Irony in the poem's ending.
- The speaker's lover has loved him for a day, so will she have an excuse not to love him when tomorrow comes?
- He goes through a long list of possible excuses she could come up with, including
- a (fake) prior engagement (antedate = "put an earlier date on it")
- being different persons (we've changed)
- having made her lover's vow under duress (afraid of consequences if she didn't say "I love you")
- having slept in the meantime (as sleep is similar to death, which parts spouses -- "Till death do us part" -- a lover's contract [I'm seeing just you, no one else] is similar to a marriage. If these are similar, does sleep, then, cancel a lover's contract?)
- or having lied to others as a way of remaining true to herself (she's just a liar).
- He then says, since he's a fool, he could argue against (and defeat) these excuses
- but he won't
- because he may feel like using one of them tomorrow, too...
- Irony, but also an honest admission that he (and all men?) is just as un-constant as this woman is (and all women are).
September 20
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1
- Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
- We talked about the wording of the prompt: pay attention to the language (including the speaker's tone and punctuation)
- How does the language (and the speaker's description of his situation) make you feel about him?
- Is he a villain? A coward? A good man? A cruel man?
- angry? lonely? selfish? concerned? abusive?
- How much of this situation is his fault?
- Do you feel angry at him, sympathy for him?
- If so, what in his language makes you feel that way?
September 21 (many were gone due to Homecoming)
- We played a game of One Sentence Only.
September 24
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
- Except that these poems (this one and John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud") are from slightly earlier and British.
George Herbert: "Death":
- rhyme scheme, metrical pattern
- similarities to "Death, Be Not Proud"
- Death used to be feared, looked at as something a long way off and to be avoided.
- We used to look on this side of death (our own lives), but we were missing the whole point.
- But our bodies are "shells of fledge" that our souls left behind. Our bodies are the "eggs" of our souls, which "hatch" when we die.
- the shift in the middle serving as a shift in thought but also a shift in human history (B.C. / A.D.), which gave Death "life"
- Now, death isn't all bad -- and maybe it's not bad at all.
- Death itself will be honored ("thy bones with beauty shall be clad") for the part it plays in all this.
- Now life is not ended by Death. Death is the midpoint, when one "sleeps" and wakes up for the rest of his life (afterlife).
September 25
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- rhyme scheme (including slant rhyme in first stanza: glass, place, grace)
- pastors = windows? They don't have anything in common. That's what makes this a metaphysical conceit -- he wants you to see something by comparing two very dissimilar things.
- a play on words with multiple meanings of the word reverend
- good windows don't get noticed, and they give a clear view of the other side
- good pastors live what they teach (practice what they preach), and they give a clear view of God
- compare these to bad/dirty windows and bad/dirty pastors
- the relevance of Easter to Christians
- the rhyme scheme, structure [shaped poem], syllable count
- how the form fits the wording - "poor" and "thin" are the thinnest parts
- stanzas 1-2 about humanity in general - or about the distant past
- stanzas 3-4 are about him personally - or about today/now
- "imp" = grafting
- Because of Adam and Eve's fall, humans have suffered
- as a result, Jesus came and died for our sins
- and as a result of that, we can be saved and not only restored to what we lost but made much better
- able to fly, even? like angels?
September 26
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- Prior to reading the poem, students were encouraged to replace the word Love with the word God and to try to add quotation marks where they belong.
- Personification: Love = God = host
- Extended metaphor of a dinner party with Love (God) as the host and the speaker as the guest.
- "I'm not worthy!" Guilty of dust (not lust) and sin.
- Dust, here, seems to mean the problems of the flesh (as opposed to the soul).
- My eyes can't even look at you.
- Of course they can, I made your eyes, so I know what they can/can't do.
- The speaker deserves to go to Hell?
- Nope, because someone [Jesus] bore the blame.
- OK, then, I'll be a servant (in order to earn my way or pay you back)
- No, you are the guest.
- Eating as communion/Mass
- Is the speaker dead? Is this his "Judgment Day"?
- It's not the judgement he was expecting -- instead of being punished, he's treated as a guest of honor and served by God.
- We analyzed the rhyme scheme and the metrical pattern.
- 1st and 2nd stanzas are questions, which he answers or responds to in the 3rd.
- Poetry doesn't have to be about fantasy/fake things (fiction, false hair [wig] or a painted chair [which he calls not a true chair]
- Purling streams refreshing love also sounds like a story-book scenario, idealized or fantasized (again, not real).
- Shepherds = honest, real, normal people, but also pastors (the word pastor literally means shepherd)
- I envy no man's poetry, so no man should take my poetry away
- My poetry is legit. even though it's religious and based on reality, as opposed to fantasy
September 27
Learning Target:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Some questions from reading Pride and Prejudice. Examples of typical questions:
- Mr. Darcy's first name, Fitzwilliam (and what the Fitz means -- at times, illegitimacy; at other times, royalty).
- What does "Yours, &c" mean (at the end of a letter)?
- "former" vs. "latter"
- Does Mrs. Bennet love her daughters? Does Mr. Bennet? Do they love each other?
- Is Mr. Collins a creep or a nice guy trying to do the Bennet family a favor?
- What do you think of how quickly Collins switches from interest in Jane to Elizabeth?)
- Mrs. Bennet's plot to let Jane get sick. Mrs. Bennet "exposing" the family. (Embarrassment.)
- Women acting in a different way around men (and vice versa), including trying to show off their... good features.
- Darcy and Wickham - one of them is lying.
- Darcy: Wickham is good at making friends but not keeping them
- Wickham: Darcy wronged me in the past.
- (if time) We also examined Wickham's speech (near the beginning of ch. 16 [p.70-71]) .
September 28
- had the Chromebooks in class in order to work on SIP #1 (which is due by midnight tonight)
October 01
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Pride and Prejudice: textual analysis (p.001-095) Look for terms that show the following:
- pride vs. vanity (do we misuse these words?)
- words of expertise, scientists or even words of sports/games/contests
- pessimism
- sarcasm
- good first impression (Elizabeth sees Wickham) / surprise (Darcy sees Wickham)
- trustworthiness
Read Pride and Prejudice through p.184 (vol. 2, ch.12; or ch.35 -- through Darcy's letter to Lizzy) by Thursday, October 04.
October 02
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Pride and Prejudice: textual analysis (p.001-095) Look for terms that show the following:
5. good first impression (Elizabeth sees Wickham) / surprise (Darcy sees Wickham)
6. trustworthiness
Read Pride and Prejudice through p.184 (vol. 2, ch.12; or ch.35 -- through Darcy's letter to Lizzy) by Thursday, October 04.
October 03
ACT writing field test
October 04
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
- Why the title is so great:
- Lizzy has to face her own pride and her prejudice after reading Darcy's letter.
- She is proud of her ability to judge people, but she may be WAY off when it comes to Wickham -- and perhaps to Darcy as well.
- She believes she can trust Col. Fitzwilliam, and Darcy suggested she talk to him if she didn't believe the letter.
- Her prejudice seems to be inaccurate when it came to either Wickham and/or Darcy, and if she's wrong, it will be humbling (opposite of pride) to admit it.
- Mr. Darcy's first name, Fitzwilliam (and what the Fitz means -- at times, illegitimacy; at other times, royalty).
- Charlotte (Lucas) Collins's position now that she's married.
- Comfortable, time to herself, access to nicer things through the de Bourgs, etc., although she's not in love with her husband.
- Still, some obvious downsides, like de Bourg barging in and bossing her around some times.
- Mr. Collins's position now that he's married.
- Mrs. Bennet's feelings about Charlotte and Collins.
- And how she would have felt if Lizzy married Mr. Collins.
- And how she probably would have felt if she were Charlotte Lucas's mother....
- Lady Catherine de Bourg's pride.
- Examples of being bossy, being nosy, her excuses, etc.
- How Darcy seems to put up with de Bourg, but he doesn't do what she wants
- e.g. he proposes marriage to Lizzy rather than Ann de Bourg.
- Why anybody would ever have an entailment in the first place, especially since it seems rare even then.
- My guess was so that the estate will stay in the same family, much like we have some family farms in the area.
- Family history; you know whom you're dealing with when you stop by the _____ family farm.
- Still, it's not a perfect guess, as Mr. Collins has a different last name from Mr. Bennet.
- Here's another explanation of it.
- My guess was so that the estate will stay in the same family, much like we have some family farms in the area.
- Plus anything else that came up in students' questions.
October 05
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- Serious tone makes it funnier (what we [and Lizzy, and Mrs. Bennet] expect vs. what he says; backfire; a polite way of saying "leave me the heck alone.")
- So many uses of extremes: never, every, nobody, done, no, anybody.
- Women's prospects at the time (happiness vs. provision [being provided for])
- That it's a conversation between father and daughter makes it even funnier. Notice that Elizabeth continues the joke.
- Love barely mentioned -- her inferiority, however...
October 08
ACT writing field test
October 09
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Andrew Marvell: "To His Coy Mistress": (used wheel decide)
- A famous introduction
- Basic structure = If (we had time)... But (life is short)... Therefore...
- Had we but time...
- Notice the words that mean taking their time: sit down, think, walk, pass (our time)
- These locations (Ganges / Humber) represent vast distances from each other (India / United Kingdom)
- If time didn't matter, they could take their sweet ol' time (searching for rubies, or complaining -- complaining about having to wait for it?)
- He'd love her 10 years before the Flood (a long time ago) until the conversion (to Christianity, presumably) of the Jews -- which either never will happen, or it'll happen when Christ returns -- at the end of time.
- His vegetable love will grow -- I think this has to do with how vegetables (pumpkins, for example) can grow to be gigantic if given enough nutrients... and time. There was speculation this was a sexual metaphor, which is possible.
- He finds her so beautiful that he should spend hundreds to thousands of years praising and adoring her beauty, saving the best (her heart) for last. She deserves this.
- "But..." the major shift in the middle
- Time is running out, and beauty is no good when you're dead
- Notice the words that mean speed: winged, chariot, hurrying.
- "Deserts"? Vegetables don't grow in deserts, and he compared his love to a giant vegetable in the first section.
- And notice the words that have to do with death (from waiting too long): marble vault (tomb), worms, dust, ashes, grave.
- The worms (eating her body) will have her virginity (with more obvious sexual metaphor here)
- "Now..." the next major shift; and "now" is repeated often (including "at once")
- While we're still young (and beautiful, energetic)
- Love compared to behavior of birds of prey, which get into it when they're "making love" (amorous).
- Notice the more violent, active words used here: fires, sport, devour, roll, tear, strife, run
- Since we can't stop time, let's get the better of him. Let's give the sun (time) a run for its money.
- This ending reminds us of the saying "Time flies when you're having fun."
- A better translation is "pluck the day" (when it is ripe for harvesting).
October 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Andrew Marvell: "The Mower to the Glo-Worms":
- Looked at pictures to see what these things look like. 1 2 3 4 5
- We also watched this short clip (less than two minutes) of time-lapse video. It's really quite beautiful.
- In all four stanzas, the speaker is talking to these glow worms
- Nightingale = symbol for the poet; "Her" = summer night (or is it Juliana from the 4th stanza?); "songs" = crickets, other night sounds / or songs means poems about summer nights (his own that he's writing or those of others)
- So he's meditating about summer and/or poetry when in the glow of these things
- People used to believe that comets were omens for major events (wars, deaths of important people), but these ones are only predicting the cutting (or the eating) of the grass, if anything. No big events coming.
- Yet they're helping him realize that he's lost (wandering), and they're trying to show him the way, with regard to a woman (Juliana), it seems
- If he's sitting (1st stanza) yet "wandring" (3rd stanza), it must be his mind is wandring -- day dreaming.
- Chasing her is like chasing after "foolish Fires," which reminds us of how insects are attracted to light (yard lights, head lights, etc.) and even to dangerous lights (fires, bug zappers). The speaker seems to be attracted to something that is of the dangerous variety, perhaps because it's (she's) so... hot.
- But they're wasting their effort, even though they're trying to help.
- Their effort is wasted because Juliana shows up, and she has displaced his mind (he's crazy, driven insane, etc.)
- and he apparently will stay lost forever because of her...
- In the words of the poem, he'll never stop "wandring" "after foolish Fires."
- "Green" as a word to indicate healthiness, liveliness.
- "Pine": what a great word when talking about grounds keeping (pine tree).
- It means to yearn for something unattainable, to lose health due to wanting it so badly.
- The relationship between his mind and the gardens
- Before Juliana, they were images of each other.
- By the first stanza alone, it's hard to tell if what Juliana does is positive or negative.
- By the second stanza, however, his mind is unhealthy (because of her) while the gardens are nice.
- By the third stanza, it's obvious that the meadows are doing fine while the speaker is crushed.
- He's mad that the meadows don't have any sympathy for him despite all that he does for them (unthankful meadows).
- Clever juxtaposition: he is the one getting walked on (trodden under [Juliana's] feet) instead of the meadows.
- So he decides to get revenge on the grasses. He's going to take them down with him!
- Whether he's suicidal or not isn't clear, but he is dying as a result of his unrequited love for Juliana.
- And he'll be buried with the meadows (flowers, grasses) decorating his tomb as heraldry.
October 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
We also talked about the details in Pride and Prejudice so far, such as the following:
- Whether or not the Bennets are "happily married."
- First of all, what does that term actually mean?
- The practice of having a dowry.
- Darcy and Lizzy falling in love.
- If he were really prideful, he wouldn't want her at his house, especially this shortly after she rejected him when he proposed marriage.
- Does Darcy live out the saying "If you love someone, set her free. If she comes back, she's yours; if she doesn’t, she never was"?
- Darcy's pride?
- Think about how his employees talk about him.
- Notice how he treats Lizzy, who rejected him.
- And he wanted his sister, Georgiana, to meet Lizzy.
- Notice how he treats Lizzy's aunt and uncle while they're staying in town.
- Mr. Collins is a jerk.
- Rubbing it in to Lizzy.
- My house, my connections, my lifestyle, etc. could all be yours if you had married me.
- ! The letter he wrote to Mr. Bennet when he found out about Lydia and Wickham...
- Rubbing it in to Lizzy.
- Plus anything else that came up in students' questions.
October 12
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Similarities between setting and character -- authors do this often. (We saw it in the most recent poem we discussed, "The Mower's Song.")
- Examples of the appropriateness of the book's title.
- Happiness in marriage -- As we did yesterday, we discussed whether or not Mr. Bennet was content vs. happy.
- Metaphorical language (in this case, a woman's reputation)
- Blindness/hypocrisy: all, every, everybody -- it seems they all overlooked his problems (e.g. debts) when they thought they were the only ones affected because they had hopes of landing Wickham as a husband for one of their girls... until they found out he was playing everybody.
- Mr. Collins's letter: so many examples of harshness, and this from a pastor...
October 15 (no school)
October 16
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Have you ever walked through a nice garden? Or an extravagant park? What effect does it have on you?
- We talked about the effects of standing in a magnificent garden, e.g. the one at the Palace of Versailles. Pic 1 / Pic 2
- I talked about my experience walking through the grounds at the Palace of Versailles and how it had a way of lifting me up, much like Marvell talks about (note to self: 2013.06.12).
- Palm, oak, bay = rewards for martyrs, conquerors and poets, respectively.
- Plants/trees are often the highest prizes.
- Quiet and innocence are only found in the garden -- away from society.
- Green is more peaceful than whites or reds (symbolic of?)
- And it's not cool to carve some girl's name in a tree -- you should carve the tree's name in the tree, 'cause it's better than the girl. (This guy really is a "tree hugger...")
- Lovers hang out (best) in gardens. Look at the gods. (Daphne turned into a tree when chased by Apollo, and Syrinx turned into reeds when chased by Pan. He even made a flute out of her...)
- Ripe apples dropping reminds us of Isaac Newton?
- (We looked up their dates. It seems at least possible that Marvell was alluding to Newton here because of the timing of the matter. The poem was published in 1681 and Newton was theorizing about the properties of gravity in the 1660s.)
- These fruits (apples, nectarines, peaches) seem to want him to pick them, and the grapes from the vine already taste like wine.
- This speaks to a mutual relationship between man and nature, specifically man and the garden.
- More importantly, the mind is affected by this place. Even when bored when not in the garden, I can daydream of being back there, and thus "annihilating all that's made [by men] to a green thought in a green shade.")
- I can cast aside my body the same way my body can cast away clothing. And my soul flies and sings like a bird, preparing for a longer flight (Heaven); i.e. walking through a garden is the next best thing (is practice for) going to Heaven.
- He's talkin' about Adam and Eve here, but really before Eve showed up.
- Adam didn't need a "help meet" [a suitable helper: The King James Bible calls Eve that] because he had all he could want: paradise and solitude.
- But apparently that's too much of two good things for any one person...
- Should "gard'ner" be capitalized in the last stanza? Is it God? Adam? The speaker? Another possibility (and most likely) is he's talking about someone making a Linnaeus' flower clock. Clearly, such a thing would take a great amount of gardening skill.
- Here's a plan for such a thing.
- Either way, someone has made flowers and trees follow a new cycle (fragrant zodiac), and the bee (with their help, apparently) can tell time just as well as humans can (e.g. trees bloom, change colors and lose leaves; flowers bloom as well, but they also open or close depending on the time of day, and some even follow the Sun by pointing at it).
- Apparently, the last couplet (the last two lines) has become a common inscription on sundials.
October 17
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- This is a poem attacking men who have corrupted Nature by interfering with natural processes of plant reproduction.
- green houses, potted plants, cross breeding plants, selective fertilization, etc.
- Notice all the words with negative connotations for man: luxurious, vice, seduce, proud, tyrant.
- Man has done some unnatural meddling with nature, bringing wild things into gardens
- possibly even green houses and plants in pots, but "within the gardens square" could simply mean a garden that is blocked off (by trees or fences) from the outside, natural, wild meadows, so that there is a "dead and standing pool of air"
- Man has made many changes to flowers, modifying their smell and color.
- Roses are "taught to paint," and white tulips are looking for a different complexion
- Notice the personification of flowers here.
- It seems men held these modified plants as so valuable that one tulip bulb was worth as much as an entire meadow.
- Men explored a New World (Peru) for more plants to corrupt.
- All this might have been forgiven, but men messed with trees as well.
- As a result, there are many plants that can't trace their family trees (pun!) due to man's interference.
- The poet uses a lot of sexual or spousal language: adulterate, seraglio (harem), eunuchs, procreate without a sex.
- And man has made it so many plants cannot reproduce naturally (sterile or infertile) so that man is the one determining which plants reproduce.
- Man is like a tyrant, jealously controlling his wives, and so only a eunuch (in this case, plants that are unable to produce pollen) could guard them.
- Notice the positive terms for wild nature: sweet fields, wild and fragrant innocence.
- The speaker claims there are still fauns and fairies involved in plant reproduction, but their magic is only in their being there, not in their direct meddling in plant reproduction.
- Men may have statues of these fauns and fairies in our gardens, and the statues may look very lifelike.
- But the Gods themselves -- which I take to mean these fauns and fairies -- are real, not statues.
- and they are natural and wild -- not controlled by man.
- We talked a bit about the other side of this argument: why we buy seedless watermelons and grapes, for example, and about selective breeding of livestock and even crops in order to increase quality and yield.
- Practice AP-style tests ("A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," and "A Valediction: Of Weeping.")
October 18
- Storyfest
October 19 (end of first quarter)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
In library for AR tests and to find your next AR book.
- When you find your book, or if you already have it, you can use the rest of the hour to read.
October 22 (first day of the second quarter)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
We watched a video about having a growth mindset.
Check out the basics of John Cheever. Mentioned (accurately, it seems) in a Seinfeld episode.
Short Story: "The Enormous Radio":
- 1st paragraph: The Westcotts are normal/average: average of income, etc.; 2 kids; married 9 years; live in a decent place with hopes of moving up (Westchester); she's rather plain, wears fake fur (can't afford real mink); he's middle aged; in so many ways, they are normal.
- They are supposed to stand for all of us.
- 3rd paragraph: the new radio doesn't sound very pleasant...: ugliness, aggressive intruder, malevolent, knocks something fragile over, uneasy feeling.
October 23
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Discuss the quiz and questions related to the story line. Questions and topics typically include the following:
Lady Catherine de Bourg's visit with Lizzy.
- How it's ironic that her purpose is to prevent a wedding between Lizzy and Darcy.
- That's because when she explains later to Darcy what Lizzy said at this meeting, it has the effect of encouraging the wedding.
- Did she just fall in love with him because of his money, his house, his property, etc.?
- We talked about the timing of events. We agreed that Lizzy would not have been impressed had she seen Darcy's estate in the first part of the book -- before reading his letter that explained everything.
- She probably would have thought he was proud and was just showing off his wealth had she seen it then.
- We never read about them kissing or doing things more innocent than that.
- Did she marry for money or just for love?
- I contend that love was part of it (she seems infatuated with him, although he's not with her).
- But he also had a steady job; so she thought, at least.
- And we have no reason to believe she knew about his spending habits and debt before they ran off together.
- Rather, we have reason to believe it was a secret from her as well, because nobody in town seems to have had a clue.
October 24
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, The Hate U Give, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Slaughterhouse 5, Lolita, The Good Earth, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Things Fall Apart
October 25
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- True love?
- Speechless, shy?
- Pride
- Feminism?
- True love?
- Pride/Prejudice
October 26
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
October 29
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- This is especially important for Poe, who believed that everything mentioned in a short story must contribute to the intended effect.
- I also talked a bit about things I know from studying his life and his writings, including how much of what we know about him (especially his death) came from the guy who was basically his worst enemy.
- Imagine having your worst enemy write your obituary...
- Two words that students should know before reading this story:
October 30
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- Reminder: Poe thought that every word in a short story should contribute to the overall effect -- there should be no fluff.
- Examples early on:
- The narrator mentions that he will die tomorrow. Why he will die is left as a mystery until later...
- He often doesn't expect the listener to believe him.
- Perhaps he is an unreliable narrator.
- The cat's name is Pluto.
- His wife had heard (even though she didn't believe it) that ancient people believed that all black cats were really witches.
- Examples early on:
- We also talked briefly (since it's related to one of the possible response questions) about the psychology of the narrator, who wanted to taunt the detectives, either to gloat (privately) about his outsmarting them or because he secretly wants to get caught.
- This reminded me about the taunting letters left at crime scenes by the Zodiac Killer.
October 31
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
- We had time to examine the notion that human life is made up of seven stages.
- We talked more about the notion that human life is made up of seven stages. Specifically, we talked about
- what it may signify that Prince Prosepero spent much of him time in the first room, and
- what it may suggest that he runs the length of the building immediately prior to his death.
- Next class we will look at some pictures connected to the short story by searching for the following masque red death / masque red death abbey.
- We'll talk about their creativity, their "cool" factor, and also how accurate they were to the story's descriptions (e.g. some had a person beneath the mask...)
- We'll also discuss "The Masque of the Red Death" a little more using this slideshow.
November 01
Learning Target: Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
We talked a bit about the Edgar Allan Poe short stories we read recently.
Poetry Notes: The Augustans -- John Dryden and Alexander Pope, and heroic couplets
Pope's epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton:
- Newton as a scientist trying to unite Christianity and science (similar to a character in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons).
- Light/dark imagery as symbols for knowledge/ignorance -- people didn't understand things until Newton explained them.
- A genius play on words in the well-known phrase "Let there be light!" with the "Let Newton be!"
- ... so Newton himself is the light. He is the one who helps us see (understand) what is around us, and it was God's doing, God's will, that Newton would explain it to us.
- All that in a nice little heroic couplet. Genius!
November 02
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
- We looked it up on Project Gutenberg to see just how long it is, too. (Not this whole page, obviously; this includes a great deal of Pope's works.)
- We checked out some more information about Mac Flecknoe here.
- The premise is just great: the emperor of madness, Mac Flecknoe, is dying, so he appoints an heir.
- He names the person most like him, Thomas Shadwell, to take over.
- Shadwell will wage an immortal war (never ending) against wit, and he's been a moron for a long time already.
- 19-20: other people may pretend to make a little sense once in a while, but not Shadwell.
- Light/dark imagery used for understanding/ignorance again here. Shadwell's realms are always dark as night -- no ray of understanding is admitted.
- I (the speaker) serve as a harbinger to announce the arrival of Shadwell. The speaker sets himself up as a John the Baptist figure who prepared the way for Christ. If Nonsense is a religion, I'm just the first prophet -- Shadwell is the Messiah! (LOL!)
- Shadwell will never make peace with with; he'll never have a truce with sense.
- Shadwell's influence (dominion) will spread, so people will go through pain and labor without ever having anything to show for it.
- This stuff is so much like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or South Park.
November 05
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- Grapes of Wrath coming up soon.
Short story: "The Storyteller," by Saki:
- These are realistic kids. And a realistic aunt. And a realistic single guy.
- Note how the bachelor has more in common with the kids (even though they annoy him) than with the aunt.
- Why did the kids hate the story? Because it was predictable? Educational? About being good?
- Notice where the bachelor gets his material for his story: it's also about a little girl who's good...
- Horribly good... that sounds good to the kids. They like the idea of someone being horribly good. Is that because most of us can't stand people who are so good?
- "Goody two shoes," "over-achiever," "teacher's pet," etc.
- The kids start liking the story (even the aunt, despite herself) when there's a mention of sheep being killed.
- The girl in the story wants to keep a promise so badly because she's soooo (annoyingly) good.
- And this story is also good because it's somewhat unpredictable.
- The girl is at first spotted by the wolf because she is so good (her dress is so clean)
- And she is heard by the wolf just when it is leaving because she's been so good (her medals clink when she shivers in fear)
- And the kids love it -- it's "beautiful" when the girl is killed.
- Why do the kids want an "improper" story?
- I think we all do.
- We want things that are more real, rather than "fairy tales," or "they lived happily ever after" all the time.
- The Little Mermaid -- lives in the Disney version, turned into sea foam in the original story.
- Pinocchio -- a real boy in the Disney version, dying a gruesome death in the original.
- The Lion King/Hamlet? Isn't Hamlet more real to us?
- We don't know whom to trust, we feel like the entire world is against us at times, and there is a real possibility that we may lose...
- We'll have the bulk of the hour tomorrow to work on this.
November 06
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Assignment: read No Fear Shakespeare's version of Much Ado About Nothing Acts 1-2 by Wednesday, Acts 3-4 by Thursday, Act 5 by Friday
- We'll have the bulk of the hour to work on this.
November 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7
- Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
Then we took a look at some of the things Joss Whedon has worked on (Avengers movies, Toy Story, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., etc.)
We started watching Joss Whedon's version of Much Ado About Nothing (stopped at 00:33:50).
November 08 (had a sub)
November 09 (had a sub)
November 12 (had a sub)
Work on SIP #2 using Chromebooks.
November 13 (had a sub)
Work on SIP #2 using Chromebooks.
November 14
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Notes: Poetry PPT: The Romantics
William Blake and some of his artwork.
- We also talked about his Songs of Innocence and of Experience
- We also spent some time talking about the movie Red Dragon, in which William Blake's painting plays a major part as an inspiration for one of the characters. (This movie is a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.)
November 15
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.C
- Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.
Here is the artwork for this poem.
- We are presented with two views of love -- one seems to be from Songs of Innocence and the other from Experience.
- Very similar wording but opposite ideas for what the clod says and the pebble says.
- The clod is soft, flexible, etc. and his view of love relates to that.
- He says that love should be selfless, always considering the one loved over the self. By that, one can create heaven amidst hell's despair.
- And we notice that this isn't said out of naivety.
- The clod has been trampled on by something extremely heavy, but it didn't break because of its flexibility.
- The pebble is "stone cold" and "rock hard," as well as tiny and petty, and his view of love relates to that.
- He says that love should be selfish, always seeking to seek the self, finding joy in the other's discomfort.
- The term schadenfreude comes to mind here.
- By that, one can create hell amidst heaven.
- He may be speaking out of naivety, as he is in the brook, where it would be much a nicer, cleaner situation with clean flowing water, as opposed to wherever cattle may trample you.
- The speaker seems to agree with the clay: "sung" vs. "warbled."
- That would mean the words "metres meet" should be read sarcastically, or that they really are fitting words, if only from the pebble's perspective.
Here is the artwork for this poem.
- This poem presents the speaker's treatment of anger with two different people -- one a friend, the other a foe.
- The form of the poem fits the theme.
- The problem with friend is barely mentioned since it went away after he talked it over with his friend.
- Apparently, the speaker forgave and forgot.
- Not so with his foe. He didn't talk it over with his foe, and it kept growing, as the poem shows.
- And he suggests that he was equally angry with them both as he used the exact same wording to describe both situations (lines 1 & 3)
- And he clearly dwelled upon the problem with the foe, watering it with unpleasant things (tears, fears) around the clock.
- We noted the gardening language used, providing this tree exactly what trees need to thrive: water and sunlight.
- We talked about the effect the repetition of the word and, and, and, and, and has on us.
- And probably for many days, as he sunned it with smiles, hiding his true feelings from the foe.
- Garden of Eden imagery:
- Original sin, deception, death as the result.
- Is there a connection between the speaker and Satan, who tempts others to eat the forbidden fruit (with death as the result)?
- It's not clear why the foe would come in and eat the fruit...
- Meant to steal it from someone he considers a foe?
- Or was he deceived into believing they were friends? "Stole" could be the speaker's choice of wording because that's how he sees it.
- What matters more, though, is that the speaker is glad about his apparent (outstretched) death.
- Is it a good thing that the foe died?
- Or is it revealing how the speaker has become the kind of person who would think it's good that his foe died?
- Did the foe deserve this?
- It seems not since exact same wording in first stanza, just replaced friend with foe.
- The difference is how the speaker handled it.
- This could apply on national levels, but most likely personal: neighbors, spouses, etc.
November 19
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
We spent some time talking about some questions that usually pop up about The Grapes of Wrath. Discussion:
- Some things illustrate the farmers' connection to the land, such as Muley's description of his father's death and his first sexual experience.
- Both happened in the fields.
- Life (activities that are central to life and can even create life) and death are intimately connected to the farmland.
- These events are landmarks in our lives (pun intended).
- Look for Jim Casy to be a Christ figure. He may be through being a moral leader, but he recognizes that people in his time and situation need a leader to follow.
- The dialect and how it reveals character. Jim Casy talks differently from most of the Joads, and the elder Joads talk noticeably different as well (even more colloquial).
- The relative value of money. The tip that some truckers leave for a waitress in the section for Monday is 50 cents. That doesn't sound like much to us, but $0.50 in 1939 was worth about $8.50 today. That's a pretty good tip for what the guys bought...
- Some of the basics of how the Joads treat non-family members and how nameless people (bankers, salesmen, etc.) treat others.
November 20
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- I also talked about how Steinbeck was most likely a communist.
- I brought up this quote from the wikipedia article about the film:
- "Originally allowed to be shown in the Soviet Union in 1948 because of its depiction of the plight of people under capitalism, it was subsequently withdrawn because audiences were noticing that, as shown in the film, even the poorest Americans could afford a car."
- And that reminded me about an article about how the TV show Dallas has been credited with weakening communism as well.
The Grapes of Wrath: Analyzing the "intercalary" chapters and how they relate to the nation as a whole during the Dust Bowl:
- Five small groups will explain one chapter (1,3,5,7,9) by finding 10 phrases, quotes, sentences, situations that illustrate the given chapter.
- For example, the turtle in chapter three, is symbolic of the migrants. Like him, they are carrying everything they own "on their backs," and they are plodding along on the move. There are others who have it way better than the migrants and who try to avoid contact with them (like the woman driver), and there are others who have it better who go out of their way to make things even worse for the migrants (the male driver).
November 21-23 Thanksgiving Break
November 26 (snow day)
November 27
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
- Gentle sounding: addressed to a little lamb, but also the sounds, the soft L sounds, are gentle
- Simple vocabulary, basic words without multiple or hidden meanings.
- Even their lengths are simple: most are one syllable, a few have two syllables, none have three
- A sing-song tone, and a simple, childish view of the world: life is good, everything is happy and safe and in harmony.
- The first stanza is a question (who made you, little lamb?)
- The second stanza is its answer (God [Jesus] made you.) And that's good enough for the child. Simple question, simple answer, done.
- It's as simple as the first question of the Catechism.
- The lamb's maker is Jesus, for he was called a lamb -- the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12)
- He was meek and mild (Jesus: "The meek shall inherit the earth," Matthew 5:5).
- He became a little child (Merry Christmas!).
- Then the speaker identifies him/herself as a child and says that he too is called by Jesus' name (as a Christian).
- And he blesses the lamb in God's name. The world is good. Everything is awesome! (through the eyes of a child)
- "Why is it spelled that way?" Remember when Blake was writing. There were few (and even fewer good) dictionaries.
- Harsh sounding: addressed to a tiger, but also the sounds, the harsh T and G sounds, are completely different from the previous poem.
- More advanced vocabulary, complex terms, terms of violence and struggle, pain and toil.
- Not a sing-song tone, and the view of the world is much more complex, even despairing.
- ALL stanzas are questions (15 question marks! wait... 15 question marks?!?) -- really the same one question: "Who made you, tiger?" and NONE of the questions are answered.
- Every line of the poem (with the possible exception of line 9) has at least one reference that could allude to Satan as the Tyger: burning, night, immortal, fearful, distant deeps, burnt, fire, aspire, seize, fire, etc.
- It sounds like making the Tyger was a lot of difficult work -- dangerous (who could do it, who would dare to do it?), hot (as in a forge), and heavy (twist sinews; hammer, chain, anvil).
- Many words would describe working as a blacksmith.
- Many things in the poem also remind us of Frankenstein, the idea that a person/monster was made from a bunch of parts.
- The entire fifth stanza is an allusion to Satan's rebellion in heaven and the war between the angels and demons.
- The last stanza is an echo of the first -- because the question hasn't been answered yet.
- The only change between the two is the could/dare switch. Who would DARE to make something like this?
- Just in case you didn't think this poem was directly connected to "The Lamb," the fifth stanza asks, "Did he who made the Lamb [note the capital L] make thee?"
- Related: How could God -- who made everything good -- make Satan as well?
- Essentially, why is there evil in the world?
- If God is good, why would he allow evil to exist?
- How could God let this happen?
- We talked about the multiple layers of the poem.
- It is about an actual tiger. (How could the same God who made lambs also make tigers?)
- It is about Satan.
- It is about evil in general, all at the same time.
- The world is confusing and dangerous, and there are much fewer (if any) answers than questions.
- Welcome to the adult world of experience...
November 28
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
First stanza:
- Southern wild = Africa? Jungle?
- Blake is playing around with multiple meanings for black and white -- colors, good/evil, innocence/sin, understanding/ignorance.
- This boy is black (skinned) but his soul is white (innocent, pure).
- The English child is white (skinned), as white as an angel. But is he like an angel?
- The black boy is black as if bereaved of light, but that doesn't mean he's stupid.
- Wisdom vs. knowledge.
- His loving mother taught him beneath a tree -- connection to nature, out of the Sun.
- He wasn't taught in a school, but he has learned what's more important than what's in books.
Third stanza:
- God lives in the Sun?
- How are they similar? Heat (love?) Light (knowledge/understanding) Center (gravity, of central importance).
- Both are also comforting and give joy, as well as life.
- The poem doesn't mention night. There is no "night" around God just as there is not darkness around the Sun.
- Our purpose in life is to learn how to love.
- In Sun language, we soak up beams of love (from God/Sun). So, it's good to have a suntan... and a love tan?
- Our bodies and faces are clouds or shady groves that block the Sun (that get between us and the Sun, either to protect us from its intensity or to block us from seeing it clearly. Perhaps both.).
- When we can stand to be in the Sun, when we have learned how to love, we will die
- Then we will hear God telling us to come out of our groves (bodies) and rejoice around his golden tent like lambs, which are often symbols of innocence (e.g. the Lamb of God).
- He says the same things his mother lovingly said to him to the English boy -- he cares about the English boy as a parent to a child, and as a teacher to a student.
- When we are dead and in heaven...
- I'll shade him from the heat (God's love) until he can stand it -- because he's not used to it yet -- he's not "love tanned."
- The black boy will be able to bear it more because he has a better, more natural understanding of God's love.
- Plus he would have cultural differences that result from slavery and racism.
- He will treat the English boy like a parent treats his own child, stroking his hair. Silver hair of an angel?
- Then... I'll be like him (although I'm not like him now). Then... he will love me (although he doesn't love me now).
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
As well as what was on the quiz, we talked about the need for leadership.
- And how Ma and Tom are emerging as leaders, even though she's a woman, and he's not the oldest man in the family.
- The bankers, big-business owners, etc. as "monsters" who don't care about the little guy at all.
- The little guys as sympathetic characters who don't deserve what's happening to them, look out for each other, and treat each other like family.
- the "virtuous poor"
- We compared this to other times when people live by the Golden Rule and treat others as family.
- Hurricane or other natural disaster.
- Terrorist attack or mass shooting.
- We'll have more to say about this later when the Joads are at the government camp.
- There are still rules that apply, even though law enforcement is unfair to the Okies, and their societies have essentially collapsed.
- These communities that sprout up along the way have their own codes of conduct that involve dating/courting, murder, death/burial, sharing, etc.
- We compared this notion to other fictional times when people come together to survive despite the end of civilization as they knew it.
- The Walking Dead.
- Lord of the Flies.
November 30
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Some years, after seeing where he was born, we spend a few minutes looking at places with odd names.
Stanza 1:
- Looking down (and feeling down?).
- Lonely (a negative term).
- Day time.
- Personification of flowers: crowd, host (welcoming), dancing.
- This is a vast separation between a cloud (the speaker) and the vales and hills (whoever he feels separated from).
- Looking up at the stars.
- Night time.
- Comparison to stars means these flowers are a heavenly host (like angels?)
- More personification: tossing their heads (which suggests laughter, joy) and dance.
- Looking around.
- Waves are also personified (danced). He didn't realize it right away, but later he realized he can think of the flowers this way.
- Personification (of flowers): glee, company.
- Looking inside himself.
- Solitude (a positive term, as opposed to loneliness).
- "bliss of solitude," perhaps even suggesting it is intentional.
- He can choose to dance with the daffodils just by using the memory of this experience.
- Wordsworth's connection to Nature is apparent.
- Transcendence from the mundane/physical world (looking at flowers) to having a spiritual realization.
- Dance is in every stanza (dancing, dance, danced, dances).
- The orderly metrical pattern and rhyme scheme make it something one could dance to...
- Wordsworth was feeling lonely, and we can't know exactly why, but perhaps it was because he was living at the end of the Age of Reason and at the forefront of the Romantic Period.
- Perhaps he felt lonely because he didn't know any other Romantics at the time.
- Also, Wordsworth and the other Romantics believed poetry should be for the common man.
- This poem is about an experience that anybody could have.
- And it's written in a way that anybody could understand and relate to.
- He has an emotional reaction when he sees a rainbow. It's something beautiful and awe inspiring.
- I think it still is for many of us today. I often see pictures of rainbows on people's Facebook pages.
- Think about what the first rainbow ever meant.
- After Noah's Flood, it was God's covenant never to flood the earth again.
- Are there other religious connections?
- The last line mentions piety [holiness], and it's possible that the three So's suggest the Trinity.
- So was... So is... So be it = past, present, and future.
- If his heart is ever unable to leap up at the sight of something so beautiful, then life isn't worth living anymore.
- And notice that this is the shortest line in the poem.
- The format of the poem fits its meaning.
- If he ever gets so that he doesn't react this way, his life should be cut short.
- "The Child is father of the Man."
- This is a famous line.
- Irony -- it seems backwards. Men are fathers of children.
- But it's true -- the person you are as a child "gives birth" to the adult you.
- You're not the same person, exactly, but you are closely related.
- He wants his days to be connected by natural piety.
- There can be multiple meanings here:
- Treating nature as something holy.
- Something that's natural for him, a part of him.
- There can be multiple meanings here:
December 03
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Short story: Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Rule of Names"
Assignment (due Friday): Write a response that explains what you were thinking when reading and then how and why that changed as the story progressed.
December 04
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
December 05
Assembly
December 06
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Discussed questions from the quiz as well as how we see John Steinbeck's socialist views throughout the book, especially in this section at the government camp.
- I also made the point that many authors have their stories reveal their political or social views.
- Compare Steinbeck's socialism with Ayn Rand's anti-communism and George Orwell's anti-totalitarianism.
- And we also wanted to know if the Great Depression was really that bad...
December 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias":
- Checked out the basics on PBS and the historical Ozymandias, aka Ramesses II.
- As opposed to the comic-book character or the episode of Breaking Bad...
- We checked out some pictures of this statue, which it seems was originally almost 60 feet tall! image 1, image 2, image 3
- This is a sonnet. We looked for the shift, which isn't all that easy to nail down. The rhyme scheme is probably a clue: ABABA CDC EDE FEF.
- The most likely spots are after line 8 or after line 11.
- Most of us thought it was 8 because of the shift in focus from the crumbled statue to the inscription on the pedestal.
- The sculptor had great skill in capturing the likeness of the pharaoh because we can still see his attitude:
- frown, wrinkled lip, sneer, and the cold command which reveal his passions.
- The inscription: He is a king over other kings. He is mightier than mighty people. (i.e. Sit down!)
- It's an ironic statement on this inscription now that the statue has crumbled (half suck, shattered) and since there's not really any evidence of this guy's greatness that has survived the ages (nothing beside remains, decay, wreck, bare, level sands).
- Now, why might Shelley write about this for an English audience in the early 1800s?
- Perhaps because he was warning them about how "Pride cometh before a fall."
- Consider how great the British Empire was at that time ("The sun never sets on the British Empire" because it stretched across the entire globe) and how it has since collapsed -- even to the point where Scotland voted very recently on whether to secede from the United Kingdom, and it was a close vote...
December 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner":
- We checked out the metaphor of an albatross (around one's neck)
- And we looked at how big an albatross is compared to a man.
- It's worth checking out the poem's wikipedia page.
- Also, he believed that mankind needs to have a proper relationship with Nature in order to live properly and in order to have a proper relationship with God.
- Can this entire story be read as a metaphor for Christianity?
- Compare it to a Christian's experience of sin, redemption through Grace, and penance?
- This is similar to what happens in this poem:
- Without thinking about it, a person did something wrong -- something that he probably wouldn't do if he had time to think about it.
- Why would he do it when others would never do that?
- There are 7 parts. What is significant about the number 7?
- The creation of the earth in Genesis
- The seven deadly sins
- The seven virtues
- The poem is cyclical, both with the setting (mentioning the wedding) and also with the mariner's trip and return in the narrative.
- Coleridge was led by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant to believe that true religious experience is one that is felt through faith, not one that is a matter of reason or understanding.
- We took note of the rhyme scheme, including internal rhyme.
- One out of three wedding guests is stopped by this old sailor before the guest can get to the wedding.
- We talked about how we know the ship is sailing to the south (position of the Sun) and how they must have sailed to the Antarctic.
- The wedding is starting ("Here Comes the Bride"), but the old man won't let him go before hearing the story...
- Ice bergs, danger; but then an albatross flew up, bringing good luck?
- (We looked up where albatrosses live.)
- They fed it, and it became a sort of pet of the sailors... until the speaker shot and killed it!
- Why would he do that?
- He didn't know.
- Have you ever done something stupid (reaction, reflex, without thinking) and you couldn't explain why?
- That's actually a somewhat legitimate reason, because there are some things that we do without thinking about.
- They have a lot to do with what type of person you are. What are your instinctive reactions?
- This is related to the notion of Coleridge's philosophy of religion, that is it something felt but not understood.
December 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
We're going to start part 2 today. Notice that there are 7 parts.
- What is significant about the number 7? Perhaps some of these (maybe even all of these) are in play, to a certain extent:
- The creation of the earth in Genesis
- The seven deadly sins
- The seven virtues
- The seven ages of man
- Lucky number 7
- We talked about how we know they're heading north now.
- The other sailors believe this was a bad thing, to kill the bird.
- But they change their minds when they think the bird also brought fog/mist, which are very dangerous for sailors.
- The breeze stopped completely.
- The Sun is red at noon ("Red Sun at morning, sailors take warning..."), and there's no drinking water.
- These are some of the most famous lines in English poetry: "Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink."
- He sees some strange, slimy sea creatures and wonders if he's hallucinating...
- The men are pretty sure they are being cursed by something that followed them from the Antarctic -- the bird's spirit, or Mother Nature's wrath, or a demon.
- They hang the huge bird around the speaker's neck. (This is where the metaphor comes from.)
- Something comes up close to the ship. It's another ship!
- But some bad associations (connotations): the masts block the Sun like bars in a dungeon (stanza 8), and they look like ribs of a skeleton (stanza 10).
- There's only a woman and Death (the Grim Reaper) on the ship, and they are apparently playing dice, gambling for the souls of the crew.
- This is an allusion to the myth of Falkenberg from the Netherlands. (Check out the first two paragraphs here.)
- Cool simile: "Fear at my heart, as at a cup, / My life-blood seemed to sip!"
- Everyone else (200 men) dies on the ship, and they all look at the Mariner and curse him as they die.
- With every death, he hears the sound of a crossbow shot, reminding him of his guilt!
- Notice that every part of the poem (at least so far) ends mentioning or alluding to the death of the albatross.
December 12
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7
- Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
Part 4:
- The wedding guest worried he's talking to a ghost, but the Mariner assures him he's still alive.
- Again, he says he saw thousands of slimy things in the sea (which he first saw in part 2).
- It sounds like he's being negative here (slimy things, rotting sea).
- He tried to pray, but he couldn't... He tried to die, but he couldn't.
- He went on like this for a week!
- Then he uses some much more positive words to describe the sea snakes.
- They are glossy, velvet, golden -- as opposed to slimy...
- We're watching a religious conversion here.
- He now sees the ocean snakes (which he called slimy or gross before) as beautiful, using words like "shining white," "elfish light," "rich attire," "glossy green," "velvet black," and "golden fire."
- He loves these things, and he blesses them unaware. (He repeats this.)
- He was unaware of why he killed the albatross -- something beautiful and good -- earlier.
- And now he has completely changed his perspective on Nature.
- And all of a sudden, he can pray again! (because of his religious conversion)
- And all of a sudden, the very heavy albatross falls off his neck on its own.
- The weight has been lifted.
- The speaker's change brings about changes in nature:
- The rain returns (big time).
- There's just one rain cloud. (Just one sent specifically sent for him?)
- He's getting rained on like a river is pouring on him.
- He's being purified, baptized, cleansed.
- The wind comes back. But he never feels it... like it's a spirit wind...
- The crew's bodies (including his nephew's) rise again and man the ship, although it wasn't their souls that returned.
- There were good spirits ("spirits blest") that came and took control of the bodies to help the Ancient Mariner return to England.
- He's not feeling wind, perhaps, because there's something moving the ship from beneath.
- That same spirit that was under the ship after he shot the albatross is back.
- The ship basically rocks back and forth for a while and then shoots forward so quickly it makes the mariner pass out (stanza 21-22).
- This reminds me of some toy cars that work that way...
- While he's unconscious, he hears two voices talking about him.
- One (the spirit that's moving the ship, apparently) asks if he's the man who killed the albatross.
- The other voice, a softer voice, responds that he has done his penance -- and he will continue to do more penance.
- This is similar to the idea of purgatory.
- Perhaps talking to strangers (including this wedding guest) is part of his penance...
December 13
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth-century foundational works of American literature (and those that affected American lit.), including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
Part 6:
- Who are these two voices he hears while he's passed out and the ship is traveling at warp speed?
- Possibilities include the sailors' souls, birds, or even angels (we know they can fly, that one calls the other "brother," that they need to fly higher, and that they will be late if they don't hurry).
- He wakes up and sees the bodies standing there, looking at him.
- He still felt -- and probably still feels -- guilty ("The pang, the curse, with which they died, Had never passed away").
- He feels a wind blowing, but it's not making waves or affecting the water. It feels like a welcoming wind.
- And the ship moves swiftly, but it's not the breeze that's moving it ("On me alone it blew").
- It takes him back to where he started, and the word kirk stands out as a noticeable word from part 1.
- The bodies are still on the deck, but now they have angels ("A man all light, a seraph-man, On every corse there stood") that are glowing red standing over each one.
- These serve as a beacon -- kind of a reverse light house -- that allows people on shore to see the ship even though it's nighttime (previously he said the moon was out).
- The angels wave to him as they leave, and a boat comes up with three people in it.
- Apparently, they saw the lights from shore and came to investigate.
- Among these men is a holy hermit who will "shrieve my soul, he'll wash away The Albatross's blood" -- forgiveness for his sins.
- This hermit is holy and closely connected to nature (he prays all day, and he kneels on moss when he does so).
- The three in the boat are confused by how this ship even made it here -- the sails and the ship are in horrible shape, not fit for sailing.
- So how did it get here?
- The ship sinks just as the boat comes up, and the speaker is pulled into the boat.
- This reminds me of the end of "The Pit and the Pendulum." This is a deus ex machina plot device.
- The three in the boat think he's dead until he moves his lips and starts rowing the boat.
- I wonder what he looked like if they thought that...
- He wasn't swimming. He was floating as if dead.
- Did he really die? Has he been brought back to life?
- Did he at least die symbolically? Now he has a new life.
- He told this story to the hermit, and feels "free" after confessing it.
- Every once in a while, he has agony until he tells the story again.
- He just "knows" who needs to hear his story, e.g. the wedding guest.
- The wedding is now over -- the wedding guest missed the entire thing, but the mariner leaves him with some parting words:
- "He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."
- "He prayeth well, who loveth well
- Man's relationship to nature is of utmost importance, and it affects his relationship to God.
- The wedding guest is sadder (why?) and wiser (why?) for having heard this.
- Is he better off? (Why or why not?)
- And notice that the guest slept on it before he "rose the morrow morn" sadder and wiser.
- This sleep could be a metaphorical death and resurrection, the "birth" of a new man, thanks to the mariner's story.
- I think this poem is way more interesting when we consider how it is a metaphor for Christian beliefs of sin and redemption.
If that's true, who are the other people (e.g. the hermit, the wedding guest)? - And why does it happen at a wedding? Why not just have the speaker address the reader directly?
- Perhaps it is because of what weddings represent: A new beginning. A joining of two separate entities (in this case, mankind and Nature?) into an intimately connected relationship that will last until one of them dies.
December 14
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
In library for AR tests and to find your next AR book.
- When you find your book, or if you already have it, you can use the rest of the hour to read.
December 17
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
- We saw on his Wikipedia page that Shelley was a controversial figure for his social and political views, and this is definitely about those. It's borderline revolutionary.
- Does this compare to "Beasts of England," the song the animals in Animal Farm?
- Lots of questions in the first half, then it shifts into statements (with the exception of line 27) for the second half.
- Lots of references to hard physical labor, the type of which the average person would do: plough, weave, sow, forge, etc.
- This poem is talking to people who do these things and telling them that the fruits of their labor (fruits both literally and metaphorically) are being stolen from them by lords, tyrants, drones, imposter(s), the idle.
- Those who steal are also written about as vampires, as they "drink your blood" (line 8), sucking the life out of these people.
- Stanzas 5-6 play off each other
- the first saying what is happening
- and the second saying that what the Men of England are doing is good
- but they should be doing it for themselves rather than others.
- The tone shifts again for the last two stanzas.
- It seems to take an almost sarcastic approach, employing reverse psychology and verbal irony (cf. "Old Ironsides" by O. W. Holmes).
- Here it sounds like the speaker has given up on his audience as he tells them to get back in their low, cold, dank places (cellars, holes, cells) and to be OK with the chains that they themselves made being used to restrain them.
- Likewise, they should use their work implements to dig their own graves and make their own burial clothes, because England is going to be their tomb.
- In other words, they are allowing themselves to be worked to death for the benefit of others
- they might as well dig their graves, lie down in them and die...
- Whom, exactly, is he speaking to? All men of England, or just some?
- Are these questions (stanzas 1-5 and line 27) rhetorical questions, or is he expecting answers?
- "Drones" (line 7, 11) plays of the "Bees of England" (line 9), which itself plays off "Men of England" (line 1).
- What do drone bees do?
- Who are the drones in this context?
- Who are the other bees mentioned, then?
- And what is a secondary meaning of the word drones besides bees?
- What's at play here?
- Weapon, chain, scourge (line 10). What are these things used for?
- Are they for different things, or is there something that unites them?
- Why might Shelley use the words wherefore (which means "why," not "where") and ye in this poem when they were already old-fashioned words by his time?
- What is the tone of lines 21-24?
- Inspirational? Defiant? Defeated?
- What is the overall tone of the poem?
- Inspirational? Defiant? Defeated?
- It says this is a song. Actually, some groups (e.g. the English labor movement) have set it to music.
- Is there something about it that could be used as a hymn or rallying cry?
- Do you think Shelley is calling for a violent rebellion, or does he want something less confrontational?
December 18
QUIZ: The Grapes of Wrath part 4
December 19-21
EXAMS
SECOND SEMESTER
Throughout the semester, I'll be reading (usually 1-2 paragraphs per day) from the book Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds, by Richard J. Light.
January 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
We read and discussed an article about the man who (most likely) inspired Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe.
January 08
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.1-3 (introduction explaining how much research went into the book)
Some more about Robinson Crusoe:
We spent just a couple minutes looking at some locations:
I also talked about how we have changed as a result of modern conveniences:
January 09
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
We checked out biographical information about our next poet, John Keats.
January 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
John Keats's "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer":
John Keats's "When I have fears that I may cease to be":
January 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
John Keats's "La Belle Dame sans Merci":
Throughout the semester, I'll be reading (usually 1-2 paragraphs per day) from the book Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds, by Richard J. Light.
January 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
We read and discussed an article about the man who (most likely) inspired Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe.
- what a privateer was
- This is the island where he was stranded; it has since been renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.
- Still, fewer than 1,000 people live there today.
- the many similarities between the accounts
- the strength of Sellkirk's religious beliefs when he was stranded
- forced to live without his vices -- made him a better man
- most importantly: how the money he had after his ordeal made him less happy than when he was alone on the island but had all his necessities.
- We looked up how much money that 800 pounds would be worth today using a British Pounds inflation calculator and an exchange-rate calculator to determine that it was over $230,000.
- how the novel is
- part adventure
- part Christian allegory [we spent some time talking about sin, suffering, and redemption], and
- part utopian attack on British society (at the time, which was slave-holding, imperialist, greedy, etc.)
January 08
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.1-3 (introduction explaining how much research went into the book)
Some more about Robinson Crusoe:
We spent just a couple minutes looking at some locations:
- Guinea, which is mentioned in Robinson Crusoe, so we know where he is in the world.
- and Robinson Crusoe Island, one of the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile, where Alexander Sellkirk (from yesterday's article) was stranded (look at the name of the second island in the Juan Fernandez islands).
I also talked about how we have changed as a result of modern conveniences:
- I told the class about a time when I was getting ready to teach this book for the first time.
- I was sitting in a drive-through line at McDonald's, and it was taking longer than normal to get the food.
- And then it struck me:
- I was in my car (I didn't even have to get out of my car!) waiting to get food (hot food, no less) that someone else had made for me.
- I was going to pay pocket change for it, and I was able to order from a wide variety of choices.
- I was even able to customize my order.
- And still I was getting upset that it was taking a couple more minutes (minutes!) than normal.
- That should sink in for a second. This kind of thing is normal these days.
- The many time-saving devices and methods we have these days have made us under appreciative of how much work and time go into these sorts of things, or at least used to go into them.
January 09
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
We checked out biographical information about our next poet, John Keats.
- We checked out the basics about his life, particularly how short it was and how he is widely recognized as one of the greatest English poets, despite his very short life.
- Check out some images of Grecian urns: urn 1, urn 2
- Notice the artistic skill necessary to write this poem: 5 stanzas, all 10 lines each; all lines are exactly 10 syllables long (with the possible exception of line 13, depending on how it is punctuated and pronounced, e.g. sensual as two or three syllables)
- The speaker is looking at the images on this urn while considering the closeness of his own death. He seems jealous that the images will never die, never change.
- He seems to be talking to the urn, saying it's married to quietness, a foster-child of silence and time, keeping the history of trees
- The urn expresses a tale better than poetry can, perhaps because it's a physical object and does not rely on language to communicate.
- A picture is worth a thousand words? (On an urn it's worth even more since it's 3 dimensional? Even more permanent?)
- Then he asks about the locations, people, gods, and their activity on the urn.
- A youth is playing pipes in this scene; while heard melodies are nice, these unheard ones are sweeter, presumably because they'll last forever.
- Similarly, the trees can never lose their leaves.
- There's a lover about to kiss his beloved, and while he will never get to kiss her, at least her beauty, their love, and their bliss will never fade.
- The tree will always be in the prime of life, in Spring, just as the piper's songs will always be new, and the lovers' love will be warm, young.
- This scene is far above any human experience, which eventually leaves (play on tree's leaves?) a real heart with sadness, sickness, discomfort.
- Notice repetitions of the words concerning timelessness: never and nor ever (4x) and for ever and for evermore (7x) throughout the poem, but mostly here in the center of the poem.
- The speaker asks the priest in the scene who those with him are, where he's taking the cow, where they are coming from.
- Notice how positively the scene (which really could be quite gruesome) is written about: green altar, silken flanks, garlands, little town by river, peaceful citadel, pious morn.
- Perhaps a hint of sadness at the end in desolate, although it's used in the context of the city's emptiness due to the unity of the people in the community ritual.
- !s as a clue to the speaker's emotional state.
- They seem to have started in the middle (lines 20, 21, 25) and built up to this stanza (2x in line 41, then lines 44 and 45)
- This silent urn makes him consider things deeply, just as thinking about eternity does.
- When the speaker and his entire generation is dead from old age (or death at a young age, as awaited the poet), this urn, which is a friend to men, will still be here -- although it may not be entirely happy, as it's in the midst of other woe than ours.
- Still, it provides us with a message: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," which is "all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
- We speculated (well, Mr. B speculated) what the final lines -- the urn's message and the assurance that its message is all we actually know and all we need to know -- actually could mean.
- (Including Mr. B's joke: based on this, one could tell an ugly person who hasn't said anything yet to "Stop lying!")
- Gods chase.
Round vase.
What say?
What play?
Don't know.
Nice, though.
January 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
John Keats's "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer":
- This poem is about reading George Chapman's translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
- Keats experienced an emotional reaction from the poem, and he sought to describe it here.
- Before reading, we looked up a bunch of words that looked unfamiliar:
- bards, fealty, Apollo (god of many things, including poetry), demesne, serene, ken, Cortez, surmise, Darien
- This is a sonnet, so we examined the metrical pattern (iambic pentameter, 10 syllables per line) and the rhyme scheme (ABBA x 2, CD x 3)
- Based on the rhyme scheme, we figured there would be a shift at line 9.
- Then we noted where the end marks were ; .; : ; . and broke the poem down into those sections.
- I read the poem aloud, and we talked about it as we went.
- I've travelled all over the place, and I've seen great things.
- At this point it's not clear if he means actual places or literary settings.
- Now it seems he's talking about literature since he brings bards (storytellers) and Apollo into the picture.
- He's heard a lot about this Homer guy, who has a wide landscape (Greece, Troy, and in between).
- But the speaker has never really "gotten" it... until now, now that he's read Chapman's version.
- "Then": This is the turn, the shift in focus.
- He felt like someone whose job or hobby it is to watch the skies (we pictured someone looking through a telescope) who finds a new planet.
- We considered the excitement that would accompany this discovery.
- Then he compares the experience to that of Cortez (although he may have him confused with the conquistador Balboa) seeing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean from up on a mountain top.
- It'd be like a whole new world (well, ocean...) has been opened up to him.
John Keats's "When I have fears that I may cease to be":
- This is a sonnet, so we're going to look for a rhyme scheme, a metrical pattern, and (most importantly) a shift in thought. The first two some times reveal the latter.
- Lines 1-4 use farming imagery to explain how he feels about dying (young), before he "harvests" all that's in brain and stores it in "granaries" (i.e. stacks of books).
- Lines 5-8 use stars/constellations to show his lofty inspirations, perhaps connected to great legends after which the constellations are often named.
- Lines 9-the first half of 12 are addressed to another, whom the speaker loves and it seems will only be able to love for an hour -- a short time indeed. He laments that he won't get to see her any more and that he will never enjoy having a one-sided love -- either his unrequited love for her, or her love for him which he won't be able to return.
- Lines 12-14 are the turn, and they explain the three whens from lines 1, 5, 9. When he thinks about those things, he feels utterly and completely alone, saying :"on a shore [an image of solitude] / Of the wide world I stand alone and think / Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink."
- On top of the shore, even though the world is wide, he stands alone, and Love and Fame (two of the most important things for many of us, if not all of us) sink to nothingness because they really won't matter to him once he's dead...
January 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
John Keats's "La Belle Dame sans Merci":
- First we talked about the title: the beautiful woman without pity.
- Then we spent some time analyzing a bunch of paintings that were inspired by and based on this poem, such as the following:
- I pointed out how there are two speakers in the poem: the first in stanzas 1-3, then another for the rest of the poem.
- The speaker is asking a knight what is wrong, why he is alone and so pale.
- He repeats his question (lines 4-5), the 2nd time with !, which suggests the knight didn't answer (maybe even didn't hear).
- The setting is dreary, most likely about this time of year, as the sedge is withered, no birds are singing (3-4), the squirrel has a full "granary"(7), and the harvest seems to have been recently completed (8).
- He repeats the notion that the knight is pale ("a lily on thy brow"), but now he adds that he looks sick with a fever ("anguish moist and fever dew, / And on they cheeks a fading rose [blush] / Fast withereth too") (9-12).
- There are some possible symbolic connections to lily, but it may just be about his face being white. (The symbolic meaning for lily has changed over the years: Middle Ages = spirituality; Ancient Greece = sexuality; Christianity = chastity.)
- The new speaker, the knight in question, answers the question.
- He says he saw a beautiful woman in the meadows, and it seems there was something magical about her since she's described as "a faery's child," and "her eyes were wild." It's also likely that she was dancing, as "her foot was light" (14-16).
- We also noticed how the paintings that had her hair very long (especially the one with her hair wrapped around the knight's neck!) were quite accurate to the description in the poem.
- The knight made some flower jewelry for her -- a garland, bracelets, and even a belt (the "fragrant zone"). In return, she seems to love him, even making a "sweet moan" (17-20).
- He puts her up on his horse, and he looks at her and only her the rest of the day (21-22).
- During which time, she bent over (in his face, apparently) and sang a faery's song to him (23-24).
- "manna dew" (is that like Mountain Dew...?). That's interesting, because that's what God fed the Israelites when they left Egypt (Exodus).
- She says (and he says he's sure she says) "I love thee true," but it must not be in English if it's in a strange language.
- So how does he know? Body language? Tone of voice? Magic?
- Or is he guessing...?
- She takes him to her magical cave, and she's crying for some reason that isn't clear. He shuts her eyes with four kisses.
- We checked out symbolic meanings for the number four, but none really stood out.
- They were the four earthly elements, the four seasons, and mankind (four limbs).
- He kissed her eyes shut, but then he fell asleep.
- His dream was pretty sad, and it was the last dream he ever had, meaning he keeps having this dream, he hasn't had a different dream since then, or he hasn't been able to sleep since then.
- This happened "On the cold hill's side." What about her grotto?
- In his dream, he saw kings, princes, and warriors, all pale (and all male, apparently). Death-pale.
- That's not good...
- They warn him about the woman, crying "La Belle Dame sans Merci / Hath thee in thrall!" So it's too late? And they seem to be in the exact same situation. She has conquered all of these powerful men.
- Why is her name the only thing in French?
- Apparently, this warning woke him up, so the kings, princes and warriors were in his dream, and he was still "On the cold hill's side." He woke up where he fell asleep under her spell, and he's still here.
- And he's still here (how long has he been here?) waiting for her to return, even though it's getting late in the year.
- It's interesting that the first and last stanzas end the same way, even though they were spoken by different men.
- The repetition of line 4 in line 48 suggests that nothing has changed since the beginning of the poem. The arrival of this new person has not brought the knight any hope of escape.
- Whoever (or whatever) this woman is, she clearly has the knight under her spell.
- She may symbolize a woman, women in general, beauty, an addiction or obsession of some sort...
- My take on it is that she can be any of those things, but the author probably intended her as a representation of life, which John Keats knew was slipping away from him when he wrote the poem.
- See here (interpretation #3: terminal illness) for more details about that.
January 14
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
We took a look at the basics about Isaac Asimov
- It's very impressive that he published works in 9 of the 10 classifications in the Dewey Decimal scale.
- He's considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers from his era, including Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land) and Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey).
- You should understand the basics about entropy before reading this story.
- We'll talk about the story more tomorrow, as reading it took the rest of the hour.
Students were given the writing assignment for this short story, which involves reading another short story (very short, in this case) and responding to a writing prompt.
- This assignment is due by midnight the night of Tuesday, January 22.
January 15
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Short story "The Last Question":
- I read segments 2 and 3 aloud, and I pointed out some of the things below as we went.
- Note the cyclical nature of the story, both from one section to the next and the story as a whole ("restarting" at the end).
- Other similarities between segments:
- relationships
- co-workers, family, other explorers, etc.
- curiosity and concern about what will come after us
- The energy will last much longer than our lives, but what about our descendants?
- the expansion and progress of humanity
- exploration, technological advancements that improve human life, etc.
- technology getting smaller and smaller while also getting much more efficient (cf. our computers and phones today)
- relationships
- Note the ending and whether or not Multivac is "God."
- It's very close to all-knowing and all-powerful at that point...
- This reminds me of a book I read last year: Dan Brown's newest book, Origin.
Yesterday, students were given the writing assignment for this short story, which involves reading another short story (very short, in this case) and responding to a writing prompt.
- This assignment is due by midnight the night of Tuesday, January 22.
January 16 (two-hour delay)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
We checked out the biographical details of Walt Whitman's life here.
- Most years, that leads us to look up further details about free verse.
- I usually speak a little about his experiences as a nurse during the Civil War, and we spend a bit of time looking up details of his sexuality, as well as his opinions about slavery, Shakespeare authorship, and alcohol.
- Like the metaphysical poets, Whitman is drawing a comparison between two very different things so we can see something profound.
- His soul is like this spider, trying - over and over again - to latch on to something stable to either go across the great expanse or to get down from there
- The spider is on the edge of a cliff, all by itself. The feeling of being completely alone, about to fall, unsafe, etc.
- Just as the speaker's soul (he addresses the 2nd stanza to it) is alone ("surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space").
- Like the spider's repetitively launching its web, the soul is doing all it can (musing, venturing, throwing, seeking) to make a connection to something bigger than itself, to figure out the rest of the "vacant vast surrounding" ... without succeeding.
- It needs a bridge, it needs an anchor, and/or it needs something to catch its flimsy little thread (gossamer = cobwebs from small spiders) onto.
- His soul needs a person or -- more likely -- God or something unmovable and unmistakable to connect to in order to be secure enough to move on (over a bridge) or down (using an anchor like a rock climber would) and to make sense of (seeking the spheres to connect them) the universe (the measureless oceans of space).
- We use models like this to explain where we fit in "the grand scheme of things," but the speaker's soul has nothing like this to attach his anchor to, so he feels like he's drifting in "measureless oceans of space."
- No rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, but still poetic elements -- repetition, alliteration, assonance, and "loaded words."
- "When... when... when... when." The speaker is inactive during this part of the poem: I heard, I was shown, sitting.
- Also, the scientific and orderly terms: proofs, figures, ranged in columns, charts, diagrams, add, divide, measure, lectured.
- Notice how the form of the poem fits the meaning -- the first four lines get longer and longer, because the speaker is going on and on and on...
- Then there's a shift in form (no more when's) as well as action -- the speaker does something: rising, gliding, wander'd, look'd up.
- It's also significant that the speaker wanders off by himself (before, he was in a lecture hall with enough people for there to be "much applause").
- He can't explain ("unaccountable") why he felt tired and sick, nor can he explain his experience like the lecturer would (mystical: spiritual and not able to be sensed or explained/measured by science; it's also alludes to a direct connection with God, in this case through nature).
- The job of science is to explain, but it can't explain everything.
- It can't explain the most important things.
- Back to the title: "learn'd." Is he poking fun at the speaker by intentionally mispronouncing learned (a two-syllable word when used as an adjective), making it seem like the speaker is an uneducated rube when in fact the speaker really is the one with a more "perfect" understanding of the stars?
- And then we spent a couple minutes checking out this illustrated version of the poem.
- We focused on how well it showed what was in the poem in most cases, and we talked about details that were added (such as the grade on his paper/test).
January 17
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Walt Whitman's "Had I the Choice": Questions: Trading what for what? What qualities does the sea have? Symbolism?
The speaker would be willing to trade all of these things:
- The greatest of all poets, throughout time? Homer (ancient), Shakespeare (Renaissance) and Tennyson (modern -- for Whitman).
- The greatest characters of these poets.
- The best wit, meter, conceits, rhymes, and delight
- The undulation of one wave, so he would have its trick
- Or one breath from the sea, as long as it would last in his poem by leaving its smell.
- Nature's power, beauty, and poetry, are so powerful, he would trade all the skill and history of the other poets for the smallest sample of them, as long as he could get them right in his own poetry.
- The ship as a metaphor for a country.
- The ship of state is an ancient and common -- and perfect -- metaphor for a country.
- It needs a captain, crew, unity and teamwork, a destination (moving forwards or backwards), safety (safe at port, "storms" or being attacked/taken over), etc.
- The speaker seems to go through similar stages to the 5 stages of grief: first shock, then denial, and then acceptance.
- First stanza:
- Abraham Lincoln as the captain, the Civil War as the "fearful trip" = the ship has come through the storm and is near to port, but the captain has fallen down dead.
- (Lincoln was killed just 5 days after Lee surrendered to Grant, ending the Civil War.)
- The country won and was re-unified, just as the ship won the prize it sought. Bells are ringing in celebration.
- The ship has a steady keel (it's back on course), although it is grim and daring after what it has been through.
- But O heart! heart heart! = he's totally shocked by the sight of his dead captain.
- Abraham Lincoln as the captain, the Civil War as the "fearful trip" = the ship has come through the storm and is near to port, but the captain has fallen down dead.
- Second stanza:
- He's asking for the captain to rise up because he's in denial about his death (even though he just said he's dead in the previous line).
- The flag, the bugle, bouquets, and wreaths can all be used for celebrations and also for funerals (e.g. flag at half mast, bugle playing "Taps").
- Everyone wants the captain there; they are celebrating his and his ship's arrival home
- Again, these terms could just as easily describe a funeral.
- "Father" illustrates how close he feels to the captain, and his arm beneath his head shows that he's physically right there with him.
- He wishes it were all a dream, a nightmare. Again, denial.
- Third stanza:
- He's coming to accept that his captain is dead. "Father" again. Arm under him again.
- Repeat: the captain got the ship here safely, despite the fearful trip.
- He calls for the country to celebrate ("exult" and ring) its victory while he mourns the loss of the captain.
- It's personal for him, and he's not leaving the captain's body alone on the deck, even if others are celebrating.
January 18
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Walt Whitman's "There Was a Child Went Forth":
- Free verse poetry. Even though there is no rhyme scheme or metrical pattern, there are poetic elements, such as loaded words, metaphorical language, repetition of words and phrases, repetition of ideas, etc.
- This poem reminds us of a line from Wordsworth's "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold": "The Child is father of the Man."
- All these sights and experiences -- good and bad -- affected the child and stayed with him throughout his life and into his adulthood.
- The first object he look'd upon, that object he became. Does that mean his first impressions were the longest lasting, most effective?
- These had short-term effects -- as short as part of the day -- or long-lasting (permanent?) effects -- for many years or stretching cycles of years.
- When he was young, the world was young, and he saw the wonder of Nature -- new-born animals (lambs, litter, foal, calf) and the mystery of fish swimming in water.
- Notice all of the "And the"s in the early part. This has a couple effects:
- It makes it seem like this is happening quickly, as things do happen quickly for children -- new things are happening all the time.
- It also sounds like a child telling a story, repeating part of something over and over.
- When he was older, he saw things as older (e.g. blossoms, then fruit), and he also saw things that weren't all good and innocent anymore (weeds, drunkard, quarrelsome boys, and even the barefoot negro boy and girl, where he apparently realizes differences between people and the way they are treated differently).
- Most notably, his parents have the greatest effect on him: "They became part of him."
- That doesn't surprise us. Ask people who has affected their lives the most, and the most common answer will probably be "my mom" or "my dad," followed by the other.
- Again, not everything was positive, at least about the dad. The mom is pretty much idealized, but there are some mixed memories about the dad (good: strong, self-sufficient, manly; and bad: mean, anger'd, unjust, followed by more...)
- I think it's important to remember that this is the child's impression of the father (which affects him still today, apparently), not necessarily the father's actual intentions or actions (speaking of "unjust [punishment/discipline]," for example).
- We also see doubts raised, which reflects the uncertainty of adulthood.
- Examples include such questions about the goodness of God in Blake's "The Tyger" as well as uncertainties from our own lives:
- What should I do with my life?
- Should I go to college?
- Which college should I go to?
- What should I major in?
- Is there a God? etc.
- Examples include such questions about the goodness of God in Blake's "The Tyger" as well as uncertainties from our own lives:
- The "camera" then raises and pans out from him to the surrounding city (crowds in the streets), then water and the whole village, then some of the atmosphere in a view from three miles away.
- The view then pans out even further to include the horizon's edge, suggesting his exit to the rest of the world.
- His experiences (and therefore the things that affect him) have expanded to everything around him, everything he has experienced and will experience.
- This child is never given a name, because he stands for all people, as the end of the poem shows -- he "will always go forth every day."
- I am this child. You are this child. All of us are this child, and all of us are this adult.
- We should consider the kind of effect we have on others, especially those younger than we are, our younger siblings and our children, for example.
January 21 (no school)
January 22 (had a sub since I was in an IEP meeting)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- (If time) We looked more closely at her most famous novel, The Color Purple, and then we noticed that it was on the list of most challenged books.
- (If time) We spent some time looking at titles on the list and examining what landed them on the list.
- We noted how the house looks very small and inexpensive, yet there seems to be a great deal of pride, orderliness.
We read the first six paragraphs together and discussed the following:
- How we learn a good deal about the setting and the type of person mother is from the first two paragraphs.
- Paragraphs 3-4 tell us a lot about the mother's relationship to her daughter Dee.
- Paragraphs 5-6 reveal the reality of mother's lifestyle and self-perception compared to her ideal self.
- There are clear signs of poverty, ignorance and poor education on the part of the mother, mother-daughter conflict ("the way my daughter would want me to be"), racial conflict, and Dee's pride.
- Why we feel more sympathy for the mother instead of Dee.
- How the narrator switches between and combines names used for Dee/Wangero and how that shows confusion with her identity.
- The title is about the quilt especially, but also the butter churn. Compare how Dee views these things to how mother views them.
- How this is a modern retelling of the city mouse and the country mouse.
January 23 (no school)
January 24 (no school)
January 25
learning target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.13-14
- 90% of time in college outside classrooms; it's a must to make connections between the 10% and the 90%
check out biographical information about e.e.cummings
- all notes directly related to cummings will be in lower case, whether he would want it that way or not :)
- we noticed how the form fits the function of the poem.
- the poet is able to make meaning using a chaotic, irregular form -- much like following a grasshopper around.
January 28 (school cancelled)
January 29
learning target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
e. e. cummings: "here is little effie's head":
- gingerbread for brains
- not very flattering
- we can make things (even people) out of gingerbread, but it's not very strong or substantial, or really that attractive either.
- these crumbs (what a great word for what's in her head) are small, worthless, remainders
- the six crumbs are about potential and obligation, which Effie must have not lived up to:
- they never say what they did, specifically.
- they say what they didn't do (nothing wrong) or what they were in general terms (we were good)
- some more great words:
- "crumbs chuckled": one reason for chuckling is out of nervousness, which seems to apply here.
- compare with other potential words: laughed, giggled, snickered, guffawed.
- "don't punish us for we were good": they seem defensive, even first thing.
- "with some shame / whispered": probably the most ashamed because it's the word must, which denotes an obligation to do something.
- "(want a match or can you see?)": her head must be large enough (for a brain), meaning there's room for more than just crumbs, yet it's dark enough (because it's empty) to require a match to look around.
- "subjunctive crumbs": subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred"
- "mutilated thumbs": even without being mutilated, if someone had all thumbs, it'd be almost impossible to get anything done.
- "the innumerable capering damned": just how many people are like this, like Effie? are they damned for the same reason?
- "crumbs chuckled": one reason for chuckling is out of nervousness, which seems to apply here.
- why is God there in the first place?
- her soul never came out of her body, so he's there looking for it -- perhaps in a morgue, as it mentions pulling up a sheet at the end
- did she have no soul at all?
January 30 (school cancelled)
January 31 (school cancelled)
February 01
learning target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7
- analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
- surprisingly, involvement in clubs/activities and work hours don't hurt grades, but they do make students happier and feel more satisfaction with college life
in-class writing exercise: "l(a": 2 minutes to read, re-read; 8 minutes to write (with some hints "if you're stuck" spaced throughout). we talked about the following:
- the form of the poem and how it matches the meaning
- the individual words
- the word groups
- the shape of the poem
- the direction of the poem
- the division of the words -- broken up, separated
- the images and feelings associated with the poem
- we don't know if this is the first or the last leaf or one in the middle; all that matters is that it is alone.
- and we don't know where it goes, exactly. we just know that it is alone.
February 04
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain: (characterization of parents, true motivation of doctor, etc.)
- similar to last time (and surprisingly), having a job doesn't hurt grades, even if the work schedule is not flexible
- We will read a shorty story of his now and some of his poetry later on.
- Looked up details about diphtheria and pictures
- How does the author tell us a great deal about the family without "telling" us?
- How do they treat the doctor, and why?
- Buzz words (e.g. "hurt").
February 05
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain: (characterization of parents, true motivation of doctor, etc.)
- again, similar to last time (and again, surprisingly), more work means more satisfaction with work, especially for female students.
- Examples of what the use of force does to the parents, to the girl (she becomes heroic in the eyes of the doctor), and to the doctor - how he is overtaken with rage and even feels like killing the father, hurting the child.
- He becomes "beyond reason" and "unreasoning," like an animal.
- Why doesn't he wait? Is it just that there have been two kids who have died, or is it about his emotions?
- He was so mad that he wasn't thinking clearly.
- We also talked about times when we or others have been so mad that (we admit now) we weren't thinking clearly.
- I think that's why many of us can relate to this story, and I think that's what this story is all about.
- The title is a clue that this is the focus.
February 06
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- students who volunteer have slightly higher grades than those who don't; athletes have lower grades but feel happier than other students.
- This got us talking about college, and students asked me a few questions about my experiences in college (jobs, social life, etc.)
- i read the opening to virgil's aeneid ("I sing of warfare and a man at war") for comparison in order to make the point that "olaf" is written in the epic style about a new hero, but a pacifist hero.
- epic heroes embody the values of their culture, and cummings is trying to popularize new values, the value of objecting to war.
- we talked about what a conscientious objector is (including the movie hacksaw ridge as an example).
- here's a trailer for that movie. it's a great movie -- you should definitely watch it if you haven't seen it yet.
- his commanding officer tries to talk olaf into fighting, but when he still resists, the officer allows the noncoms to "persuade" him with violence, apparently by giving him a swirly (icy waters, which others stroke with brushes, muddy toiletbowl) while others beat him with blunt instruments.
- but, true to the spirit of real pacifism, olaf does not fight back. he doesn't even get angry.
- the colonel (silver bird) left, ostensibly to go shave, but that's just an excuse to be out of the way when the real torture starts.
- people yell so much they lose their voices, and they kick olaf so much they wreck their boots.
- they also "skillfully applied" red-hot bayonets to his rectum, probably sodomizing him with them.
- still, olaf won't give in, and he won't swallow their "sh**" (love of war).
- the president is involved, and he has olaf thrown in a dungeon -- which brings medieval torture to mind, if it wasn't there already -- and olaf dies there.
- the speaker hopes to see Christ and olaf, and he seems to equate the two.
- if not that, then he wants us to note the similarities between them:
- innocent, beaten by others he was trying (or would have tried) to help, never fought back, ended up being killed, (at least seemed to) forgive his assailants even while they were killing him.
- if not that, then he wants us to note the similarities between them:
- the speaker reiterates at the end that it wasn't cowardice that made olaf reject war but his bravery.
- here's an interesting article about an author who was inspired by reading this poem.
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- the impact of art classes on students' career choices and other future decisions
e. e. cummings: "anyone lived in a pretty how town":
- "anyone" and "no one" seem to be individual people, but their names also work on another level, meaning that -- literally -- no one loved anyone in this town.
- pay attention to the way the people act in this town (besides anyone and no one). what's pretty about this town?
- how is this town pretty?
- this title reminds me of people asking "funny how" when told something is funny, since there are different types of funny.
- it doesn't answer, it asks us -- it doesn't seem pretty at all.
- plural words (everyone, men, women, children, someones, etc.) are used for other people of the town, and they are never written about in a good way;
- "anyone" and "no one" seem to live their own way, pursuing their own happiness; both positives and negatives (line 4: "he sang his didn't he danced his did")
- "no one" has things in common with her husband, "anyone": she laughed his joy she cried his grief.
- the rest of the townspeople are always negative
- "sowed their isn't and reaped their same"
- "said their nevers,"
- and even sleeping -- as opposed to living -- their dream
- and children learn from the adults that "no one loved [anyone] more by more."
- even though "someones married everyones," they didn't have things in common:
- they "laughed their cryings" instead of joy, as with anyone/no one.
- when people in this town grow up, they forget to remember things
- we took that to mean they forgot how to trust, accept, love, etc. like children seem to do naturally, at least more often than adults.
- no one cared when anyone died:
- again, note the double meaning as 1.) character names and 2.) literal meanings.
- "women and men... went their came"?
- either this is backwards (normally we say something "came and went") or else these people are going in circles, stuck in a rut, and reaping whatever (the negativity, for example) they are sowing.
- we also note the revolving seasons and days (or weather), and how it has the effect of showing that time is passing
February 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
- Here's the pencil that's talking.
The prompt:
As you read the passage, consider how the author uses
- evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
- reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
- stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.
- Explain how you understand the quote near the beginning (“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”)
- What surprised you the most in this essay? Explain.
- How do you react to the author’s use of the word “I” as if the pencil is talking? Explain.
- What do you think of the word “miracle” to describe the creation of a pencil? Explain.
- How would you explain the theory of “The Invisible Hand” in your own words?
- What do you think of the author’s notion that we don’t need the government (via the United States Postal Service) to deliver mail?
- What other things might the author -- or you, for that matter -- say could be done by “The Invisible Hand”? Explain.
- Do you look at your pencil -- wooden or mechanical, or pen, for that matter -- differently now? Explain.
- What other products are “seemingly so simple” as well? Explain.
- Does the author “go too far” or exaggerate too much to make his point? Explain.
February 12 (snow day)
February 13 (snow day)
February 14
learning target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
e.e.cummings' poem "next to of course god america i":
- (first, i told the class it's a jumble of things they've heard before)
- the speaker has jumbled bits and pieces of familiar political songs and speeches in a way that doesn't make sense
- this may shock you, but there's a definite rhyme scheme
- actually, it's a sonnet
- trying to make an order out of it, but it's still nonsense, scrambled
- the speaker (a politician?) is not supposed to make sense
- he's just repeating the words he's "supposed" to use to show his patriotism
- the narrator of the poem (who says the last line) has also inverted normal word order
- "drinking quickly a glass of water," as opposed to "quickly drinking a glass of water
- it's possible this is done just to maintain the rhyme, but it could also be that the narrator has been affected by the speaker's speech.
- and what he says about the speaker drinking water implies that the speaker is not drunk, which obviously would affect his speech
- this is the way he "means" to speak, his words a chaos of political jargon
- here are some more explanations if you want more.
- it's nice to have someone read this out loud in order to hear the flow (and interruptions) of the poem.
- nine is the title of the poem -- it was the ninth poem in the collection.
- the interruptions of the clock and the kisses make parts difficult to read.
- notice how the poem can be read clearly and more easily by taking out the tics and tocs and extra kisses.
- notice how there are no rude interruptions during the section about Spring.
- There aren't any punctuation marks of any kind there
- (although there rarely are any in cummings's poetry, anyways...)
- There aren't any punctuation marks of any kind there
- but Spring is left to flow on its own, naturally, at its own pace.
- i asked the class a few questions:
- when did you wake up this morning?
- not one person said "at a time that was natural for me to wake up."
- what time will you eat today?
- again, their answers were with regard for the clock, as is so much (all?) of our lives, these days.
- It's not natural...
- when did you wake up this morning?
- so what about the kissing at the end?
- perhaps he's saying when Spring comes (when we are living life naturally?), we'll be interrupted by kisses instead of by the clock.
- but if that's what he's saying, it isn't that way now, because the clock interrupts that part of the poem as well...
- i pointed out how our lives are regulated by clocks and other kinds of schedules all the time.
- consider how today is Valentine's Day.
- what really makes it more romantic than any other day? nothing. it's just "supposed" to be.
- again -- not natural, not happening naturally on its own; artificial.
February 15 (no school)
February 18 (no school)
February 19
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
Imagism:
William Carlos Williams: "The Great Figure":
- Imagism - it's easy to see the same thing going by, even though he uses only words to describe it.
- Things are jumbled together at the end, simulating the chaos of the scene
- Similar to how the painting I Saw the Figure Five in Gold has the 5 getting closer, simulating that number (on the front of a fire truck) getting closer all in one image.
- Here's an article that explains the relationship between the poem and the painting, which was inspired by the former.
- I saw this painting in The Met when I went to New York. (Note to self: 2017.08.02 - last picture)
- Poetic structure (# of syllables and words per line/stanza) without rhyme or meter
- Depth of meaning with VERY little
- A lot DOES depend on a wheelbarrow where there are chickens: planting, harvesting, carrying food for chickens, maybe even carrying eggs
- pretty much every job on a farm could be made easier with a wheelbarrow
- It's easy to picture this. We did a Google image search to see how many have pictured it in art form.
- We see a few things about him here:
- His selfishness at taking the plums when he knew (or remembered too late that) she wanted them
- His remorse over eating them
- His desire to explain that he enjoyed them, as if to make up for eating them, or to excuse it.
- We see a few things about their relationship here:
- How she cares about him
- How he's basically mothered (does he not even know how to make tea, even though he's a doctor?)
- Does she not know his tastes, or (more likely) is she concerned about making him something he will want?
- The reminder at the end about the telephone is another example of something a mother would say to her child.
February 20
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Biographical information about T.S. Eliot
Background to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":
- A brief introduction to some of T.S. Eliot's other works
- The Waste Land
- Murder in the Cathedral (the murder of Thomas Becket, about whom we talked last year when we read Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales)
- and his essay on Hamlet, which I take issue on
- specifically how he says Hamlet's delay is "unexplained," even though Hamlet explains the delay when he says he wants to kill Claudius, but he wants to kill him when he'll go to hell instead of heaven
- It was a shift from a time when men thought they were capable of constructing something indestructible and permanent -- yet it sank on its first voyage.
- And it was a shift from a time when warfare was seen as noble and even gentlemanly
- e.g. Civil War soldiers trading with the enemy during the night, or the early part of WWI with soldiers playing soccer and celebrating Christmas with the enemy during the first winter of the war
- to a time when that notion of war is replaced by machine guns and weapons of mass destruction (poison gas, etc.) and a distance from the enemy, who in turn is vilified as monstrous by propaganda.
- Time to read this explanation.
- This dense reading took the rest of the hour.
- "emotionally stilted," "solipsism," "neurotic," and indecisiveness
February 21
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.10
- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- Students had a few questions about my experiences in college, so we talked about those.
- professors who inspired me
- professor who had a debate (and totally embarrassed his opponent)
- the epitaph - how the speaker (in Dante's Inferno, like Prufrock, apparently) is willing to tell the entire truth without holding anything back since the listener will not be able to repeat it to the living.
== We took a two-minute break in between here because this is some pretty heavy stuff. ==
Let's have Anthony Hopkins read it to us.
- We spent some time talking about overall impressions and sections that stood out.
- This part was mostly student led to see what they thought about it.
- We noticed parts that have rhyming sections but that there isn't an overall rhyme scheme and metrical pattern.
- an example of fragments placed together into something new
February 22
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Back to "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" (for one more day):
Students were given six targets and some time (20-25 min.) to examine these in the poem:
- all of the things repeated, and the effect that has on us
- (it makes us realize that the speaker is stuck in a rut, going around in circles)
- (especially the very beginning: 3x "Let us go" -- Do they actually go? What's taking so long to get going?)
- his obsession with how others see him
- (his face, bald spot, thin arms and legs)
- (preparing a false face in order to meet the other faces)
- his depressing thoughts about his life when he's old
- (just about what he'll wear and where he'll walk, not about his family, friends, accomplishments, etc.)
- the level of misunderstanding between people
- (2x "That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all.")
- (And "It is impossible to say just what I mean!")
- Notice how the punctuation is a clue to his frustration with this.
- (more questions as we get further into the poem, as he's getting less and less sure of himself -- more doubts)
- (more exclamations as we get into it -- he's getting more frustrated)
- Examples of metonymy:
- (calling himself a crab or lobster by saying "I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.")
- (Instead of talking about women, he says, "And I have known the arms already, known them all")
- The speaker's comparisons to prominent figures -- John the Baptist, Hamlet, perhaps Odysseus (the part with the mermaids) -- and how he will never measure up to them -- pessimism.
- How he's describing things using fragments and making a larger meaning out of them.
- In a similar way, he uses the fragments of poetic forms (noticeable rhyme scheme and meter in small sections) to show that there is not total chaos or nihilism, rather that some form of order can be constructed out of the modern world.
- It might not be easy, it might not be something we're comfortable with, and it might not be what we want it to be, but we can make some sense of it.
February 25
Learning Target:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
- Students are quite likely to have classes set up this way, especially smaller classes.
- We examined the details of his love life for a few minutes because we found conflicting evidence.
- One source claimed his second marriage lasted decades, and Wikipedia didn't mention this wife at all. Instead it focused on his relationship with a man named Harold Jackman.
- We talked about how the word "even" intensifies the lady's opinions -- she thinks a lot of unfair and ridiculous things
- The word "class" reveals how she sees people.
- "lies late" and "snores" means she will be able to sleep in, and not just take a nap, as snoring implies deep sleep.
- Poor black cherubs (child angels) will still be poor, and they'll have to wake up much earlier, and they'll have to do chores there, as well.
- If this happens in Heaven, this must be God's plan for her class and for black people.
- We also considered the rhyme scheme and the meter, and we discussed how this small poem says so much!
- We talked about how the speaker was so excited to be there (heart-filled, head-filled with glee)
- Some other kid was staring at him
- They were both 8, most likely, because they were the same size
- The speaker was nice, but the other kid stuck out his tongue and called him the N-word
- Where would an 8-year-old learn to call someone else that?
- The speaker was there for between 6-8 months, but this is the only thing he remembers.
- We considered the other things he probably would have seen in Baltimore over that amount of time
- Zoo, aquarium, ball games, museums,
- We considered the other things he probably would have seen in Baltimore over that amount of time
- This is years later (enough later for him to write good poetry).
- We talked about the kinds of things we remember from that age (3rd grade?)
- A lot of them are traumatic, although some of us could remember far more than one thing from that time.
- This is a sonnet, so we were on the lookout for a shift in thought. It's revealed by the change in rhyme scheme.
- We see evidence that the speaker trusts God, and he trusts that God could explain some things that are very unfair: moles' blindness, human death (even when we were made in God's image), the endless torture of Tantalus and Sisyphus
- The speaker also readily admits that God's ways are not understandable to men.
- We even noticed a correlation to Blake's poem "The Tyger" when Cullen says "What awful brain compels His awful hand."
- Blake also included a catechism in his poem "The Lamb."
- Another student was reminded of Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."
- The speaker is OK with all of that, but it still surprises him that God could make a poet black and bid him sing.
- This is the most unfair thing in all the world and in all mythologies. Why?
- It seems it's because God made him, God made him a poet, and God made him want to sing, but no one will take him seriously and no one will listen, simply because he is black.
- He is endlessly tormented unfairly (and more severely than the previous examples, which he can readily understand) because of his condition.
February 26 (had a sub)
Students were given time to read independently.
February 27
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.51-52: how students are more engaged, better prepared, and learn more when they study in groups of 4-6 students.
- This is true even if they study in a group as little as once a week.
- We spent some time looking up some information about Harlem, since it's specifically called "The Harlem Renaissance."
- We clicked around a bit to see how it compares with the other boroughs of New York City.
- We spent some time examining the controversies that still don't have solid answers about his sex life and political views.
- I want students to see a few things about the authors we read:
- They were real people with complex lives.
- While we can speculate, there's a lot we still don't know about them.
- (the title for the play A Raisin in the Sun, which we read in Historical Fiction, comes from this poem)
- Connection: "I have a dream."
- And what does it mean when a dream (especially that dream) is deferred?
- All of the things mentioned have to do with waiting (raisins drying out, meat spoiling, etc.)
- Almost all of the images in this poem are ugly, painful, gross, dangerous (both spreading disease and explosive); the only possible exception is "Or crust and sugar over / like a syrupy sweet," but the "crust... over" doesn't sound very good, either.
- We noticed how almost the entire poem is comprised of questions, giving the effect of the poet really wondering and really worrying, because this is happening right now and he needs to know.
- We noticed the most violent reaction is last, suggesting that this is the trend for one's reaction, and there is no answer -- it very well could happen, and at any moment.
- We compared this to the debate among Civil Rights leaders as to whether non-violent protests were more effective than violence and militarism.
February 28
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
QUIZ: first half of Robinson Crusoe
Discuss first half of Robinson Crusoe using these slides
- Phrases that perhaps apply to this novel:
- “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
- “The ingenuity of man.”
- “It can always get worse.”
- The book as three things (besides just a good story):
- a defense of the middle station in life
- Divine intervention or luck/accident?
- How many things are in our lives that we don't actually need. (If you had 10 minutes to leave your house forever, what would you take?)
- The allusion to Abraham and Dives
- Why he bothers to keep track of the days (we compared it to similar stories: prisoners during a long sentence, Rey in Star Wars: Episode VII, and seniors counting down to graduation: there's a goal in mind, even if it's out of sight).
- His first year on the island -- Communion, religious significance.
- All the work that goes into even the smallest things, such as baking bread. Even those of us who have made bread "from scratch" bought the flour and the yeast... and the pan... and the oven...
- And we often spend some time talking about the true value of money (how much is your car worth? your house? your work?)
March 01 (half day)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
- We talked about what it's like to be the only minority in a class (in previous years, I've had students who had experienced that their whole lives), and it seems that hasn't been the case for the speaker's entire life (having started in Winston-Salem, NC, then Durham, NC, and then gone to Harlem)
- He doesn't seem to live near his school, either; it seems like he has to travel quite a ways to get back to his room, so he's far removed in another way from the rest of his class.
- He professes to hear Harlem, but also broader New York as well.
- We looked at the map of this part of New York City (Columbia University, the YMCA in Harlem, the streets -- although it seems some of the streets have been renamed since 1921 [MLK, Malcolm X, etc.]).
- It was good that we did this because it reinforced how real this poem was, plus we got to see the distance involved. It was walking distance, but that doesn't mean it was "close."
- He stresses his similarity to the rest of humanity, or at the very least Americans, when he describes his likes and his diverse taste in music.
- He asks if what he writes is colored, as if it isn't (and we asked if he had written a response to a normal assignment and not put his name on it, would his professor know if "the black kid" wrote it?), but then he says that since it is him, it can't be white, either.
- He stresses the interconnectedness of his teacher and himself, and in my favorite part of this poem, he calls that "American."
- Then there are the divisions: the professor may not want to be part of him, but the speaker turns that around and admits he does not want to be part of the professor very often, either -- but they are part of each other, and that's unavoidable.
- "As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me," is a gentle way of suggesting it, but he has something to teach his older, whiter, freer professor, and this really did come from the speaker's heart.
- He doesn't seem to be enraged by the separation ("although you're older -- and white -- and somewhat more free"), but he does seem to be frustrated or maybe even mildly upset at the most.
- It's interesting that he says the instructor is only "somewhat" more free. Does that suggest that the speaker is not as badly off as he could have been (compared to slaves, for example), or is it that the instructor is somewhat limited/controlled as well?
- We also noted that there are some poetic elements here and there (alliteration: Bessie, bop, or Bach; and personification: addressing Harlem), but there are also at least two places where he rhymes: at the beginning when quoting the instructor and at the end when talking directly to the instructor. Is the speaker showing that he has learned from the instructor? Is he showing him that he can talk like him, blend in?
- His assignment: to write something true, from the heart. It really seems like he did that here.
March 04
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.54-55: the importance of writing well
- > 90% of alumni rank "the need to write effectively" as "of great importance."
- Repeated: "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
- We know that rivers are often used symbolically for journeys, and we know that his ancestors have been on a voyage throughout history to where they are today.
- How they were treated throughout history and at different locations is the issue, I think.
- Lots of I's and My's. The "I" of the poem clearly is not just the speaker but his entire race.
- Euphrates: "the fertile crescent"; the cradle of life, or at least civilization -- his race was there.
- Congo: central, sub-Saharan Africa. Other than that, I'm not sure what's symbolic about it.
- We spent a little time examining how large Africa is. Here it is compared to the size of the U.S.
- The Nile: one of the greatest ancient empires, extremely influential in art, economics, science, etc., and it's in Africa.
- And then the Mississippi (which he spends the most words on): the greatest river of the greatest country in the modern world.
- Its connection to an event in Abraham Lincoln's life, which was a trip he made when he was fairly young.
- Why not other great rivers (the Thames, the Amazon)?
- Historically, the black races are not nearly as connected to those locations.
- Also, note the passage of time, from bathing at dawn in the Euphrates to seeing the sunset over the Mississippi.
- The verbs he uses throughout the poem are also interesting: bathed, built, looked, and heard (singing). Do they suggest stages of his race's (civilization's) life?
- (echoes of Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing"?)
- "Brother" implies a familial, even friendly, relationship despite the unfair treatment of the speaker;
- he still has a good attitude about it (laughing);
- "tomorrow" most likely means "in the near future," and the speaker seems to think that he's going to have to take matters into his own hands -- not in a violent way, but in taking a stand -- he'll stay at the table without being asked, and no one will dare tell him to leave;
- and he seems to think they'll want him to stay, as he is now beautiful (acceptable), and so they'll be ashamed, presumably for the way they have treated him in the past.
- The beginning says he sings America, and the end echoes that with a slight change: "I,too, am America" -- a definition, a reality.
March 05
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact: sonnet structure, if/then setup, comparison to Hamlet's soliloquy ("If we must").
- new students are interested in sciences -- and female students are as well.
- We spent some time here because, as before, we found evidence of a controversial sex life as well as an admiration for (and later a disgust with) communism, the latter of which we discussed with regards to the appeal of the theory of communism to those suffering from racial bias.
- Another sonnet
- We analyzed some places where the metrical pattern (iambic pentameter) doesn't fit, and we tried to find ways to fix them by removing syllables.
- We checked out some pictures to illustrate the fight against oppression, non-violence, and this talk about dogs/pack, etc. 1 2 3 4 5 6
- He doesn't want to die, but he argues that some ways of dying are better than others.
- Animals used in the poem illustrate the wrong way to die (hogs) and racists (dogs, monsters, pack), although the mention of dogs also serves as a reference to police (or just attack) dogs barking at black people during race riots or lynchings.
- We looked at the words used to describe racists:
- bark, mad, hungry dogs; monsters; common foe; thousand blows; murderous, cowardly pack
- And the words that describe the audience:
- not like hogs, hunted and penned; our accursed lot;
- nobly; precious blood; defy; honor; kinsmen; outnumbered, brave; one death-blow; men; fighting back.
- He wants to die nobly (apparently not by fighting back violently) and force even the monsters to honor him when dead (cf. MLK, Jr.)
- He calls for a fight, but it must be the right fight -- a deathblow (the Civil Rights Movement itself?) in response to their thousand blows
- We noticed how this sounds similar to a general trying to rally his troops right before a difficult battle.
- He uses terms like "thousand blows" and "deathblow" in a way that leads us to believe he's OK with losing some battles in order to win the war.
- Compare this with Hamlet's soliloquy:
- Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them.
- Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
(Read in small groups. Students were asked to consider the following:
- the house, based on the three possibilities below
- the door
- the emotions of the speaker
- This is another sonnet
- It seems this is not about the president but a typical white person's house used to represent white culture. Really, it could be about all three (the White House/President, a particular white person's house, and white culture symbolized as a "house") all at the same time.
- The speaker is angry, resolute, yet courageous and proud -- unbent
- He imagines how white people see him on their "decent" sidewalk as a savage
- He sees their glass door shut to him -- similar to the idea of a glass ceiling, he can see through it into their life, but he is blocked from ever entering it
- A glass door (especially when McKay was writing) would have been very luxurious and expensive, yet this one is also secure.
- Still, glass is fragile -- it can be broken given enough pressure in the right spot...
- Also, consider how doors often represent opportunity ("opportunity knocks") -- this is opportunity not open to the speaker.
- Every hour (constantly) he seeks wisdom to prevent any rash actions on his part, as he is held to "the letter of your law," meaning it's not a law that is equally enforced, either as Jim Crow laws or the laws of society being unequally upheld.
March 06
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.70-71: debunking myths about science classes #2:
- students prefer professors who focus on research.
- The first eight lines make up one sentence.
- He's taking it all in, one thing after another without a significant pause.
- It's overwhelming to him, and he is overcome with emotion as he remembers his home/childhood in Jamaica.
- Imagery:
- low-singing rills (small streams) = sound
- many other parts of the poem are easy to picture
- it's easy to imagine ourselves on the sidewalk with all of these beautiful fruits right in front of us
- "mystical blue skies / In benediction over nun-like hills"
- He's playing around with religious and holy feelings here, but there's also word play with the nun-like, which could mean a few things (and perhaps all of them at the same time):
- they are hunched over like nuns praying
- they are as pure or "untouched" as nuns, who pledge to remain celibate
- there are "none like" these hills (they're unique)
- He's playing around with religious and holy feelings here, but there's also word play with the nun-like, which could mean a few things (and perhaps all of them at the same time):
- As stated above, the speaker is overcome with nostalgia, and he can't even stop from crying due to longing for the old ways.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask":
- We spent some time talking about what masks are, what they do, why people wear them, etc.
- We talked about what things can be revealed by cheeks and eyes (which the masks in question cover up).
- He asks a question and then answers it:
- Why should the world know? (rhetorical question)
- No, they shouldn't know -- they should only see the mask, not the truth.
- Clay = hard ground when dry, sticky or slippery footing when wet.
- Either way, it's not a pleasant type of soil to walk very far on, especially as far as he makes it sound near the end.
- The world is dreaming -- not reality, fake, fantasy -- because the reality is hidden by a mask.
- We also examined the rhyme scheme and metrical pattern.
- The lines "We wear the mask" don't fit in with the obvious rhyme scheme or the meter (all other lines have 8 syllables)
- Perhaps this is because the masks aren't real, they aren't connected to reality, and so they don't fit.
- These masks don't change the reality of the situation: torn and bleeding hearts, tears and sighs.
- They just hide the pain.
- And wearing a mask to hide pain seems reasonable.
- Most of us really don't like it if others see our pain, especially if they are enjoying it.
- good vocab. word: schadenfreude
March 07
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
- the vast majority of students do feel prepared to take math and science classes at the college level.
- many students (39%) who major in the humanities regret not taking more science classes.
- This poem went over very well, and the obvious nature of the metaphor does not cheapen the comparison since it is such a perfect metaphor.
- We noted that the poet did not live through slavery (b. 1872), but that he can well understand a slave's plight through sympathy.
- Of course, he certainly suffered from racism and Jim Crow laws, even if he was never a slave.
- We noticed the exclamation points as well as expressions like "alas" and "ah me" that reveal great emotion.
- That makes sense, as it's a poem about feeling the same emotion as a caged bird.
- We saw that the poem "takes place" in the spring, as he mentions certain things in the first stanza:
- wind stirs, springing grass, first bird sings, first bud opes, etc.
- We talked specifically about the word choice and imagery in each stanza:
- peaceful and spring like in stanza 1
- sun is bright, wind stirs soft, springing grass, river flows like glass, bird sings, bud opes, faint perfume
- peaceful and spring like in stanza 1
- painful and imprisoned in stanza 2
- blood, cruel bars, pain throbs, old scars, keener sting
- sore and pleading in stanza 3
- bruised, sore, beats, would be free, a prayer from heart's deep core, a plea
- Students recalled reading something similar by Maya Angelou
- We saw that it was the title of one of her autobiographies (she wrote 7!).
- We compared her poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" to this one
- She compares the situations of the free bird and the caged bird
- The free one is written about in similar terms to that of Dunbar's first stanza, and they are all positive terms:
- a pleasant wind, a pleasant stream, the sun shining
- The caged bird is behind bars of rage, wings clipped, feet tied -- all negative terms -- yet still trying to sing
- and what a powerful phrase: "grave of dreams"
- We noted the connection to instinct in the caged bird.
- Although it has never been free, it still longs for its natural state
- This is why this is such a great metaphor for people growing up under slavery or racism but yearning to be free.
March 08
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.72: debunking myths about science classes #5:
- work load in science classes is the same as (languages) or barely more (humanities, social sciences) than other classes.
- grade competition in sciences (which, we speculated, is due to curving grades).
March 11 (no school)
March 12
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Briefly looked at Allen Ginsberg's history and learned about the Beat Generation.
Allen Ginsberg: "Homework":
- We talked about the laundry imagery used (laundry, dirty, soap, scrub, wash, clean, rub, wipe, flush, rinse, drain, bleach, cleanse, wringer, drier, etc.)
- He doesn't spare any continent -- the whole world is in need of some serious work (with the exception of Australia -- we couldn't find a river or anything mentioned from Down Under)
- We also examined the use of different colors throughout the poem, which is important when one is doing laundry.
- azure / blueing - azure is such a positive word for a vibrant blue. Someone doing laundry would want to restore that color to a garment.
- bleach - used as a cleaner, but also will turn things whiter (like clouds)
- blood / Agent Orange - they'd go together in the "reds" load of laundry, but these also go together due to recent wars.
- Agent Orange was used during the Vietnam War, which Ginsberg was very much against.
- gray - the gray could represent the color of the police uniforms in a police state and/or the type of existence the people have in a police state.
- There seems to be considerable word play with the conditions of the "articles of clothing" and where they are; for example, "dirty Iran," where it is sandy; "Ivory soap," and then mentioning Africa (which has an Ivory Coast); "oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico"
- He's also concerned about the damage that's being done by pollution (something you'd want to wash out of your laundry)
- But the effects of pollution on the world of today as well as the monuments left over from centuries ago (the Parthenon and Sphinx) are his concern.
- The title is also clever -- "Homework" as in an assignment, and there's work to do.
- But unlike school work, which we might do AT home, the work is for the improvement OF our home.
- And this is going to take a long time -- perhaps even an aeon (a billion years).
March 13
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
- without exception, these are rated as the most demanding but also the most loved classes.
Before reading today's poem, we skimmed through this site's introduction to the poem to find why it's significant.
- It has influenced a lot of political and cultural movements that still exist today.
- It really does feel like the rant of an angry man yelling in public -- and it often was just that, as Ginsberg performed his poetry at live readings.
- personification throughout the entire poem (directly addressing America almost the whole time).
- We spent some time examining most single lines to see if we could determine what he was getting at.
- Most of the time, it was very obvious: "Go f*** yourself with your atom bomb."
- Sometimes more obscure, but we could often guess: "America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 17, 1956." Perhaps this is how much money he had in his pocket or possession when he composed the poem on that date.
- Some lines were mysterious to us: "America the plum blossoms are falling."
- There is a section of rhetorical questions near the beginning.
- He speaks often of anti-war sentiment, mental health issues, pro-communism/socialism/unions.
- He's speaking of current events as well as America's past (e.g. Sacco and Vanzetti, who were executed almost exactly 30 years earlier).
- There's also a large section near the end where the speaker takes on the voice of another, most likely that of someone who disagrees with him.
- This voice says things about Russia (and China, which is mentioned less often) being an enemy as well as using racist language and insisting that communists will force Americans to work 16-hour days -- things that Ginsberg did not believe.
- This voice is made to sound stupid, like a caveman, in order to ridicule it (e.g. "That no good. Ugh. Him make Indians learn read").
- At the end of the poem, the speaker comes back to his own voice by returning to the word I.
- Additionally, he says that he is going to have to be the one to do the work, at least part of the work, which means a few things:
- He is not just complaining here -- he's going to do the work himself
- The work will be difficult work -- he'll have his shoulder to the wheel, so this isn't a minor task that will require minimal effort.
- Additionally, he says that he is going to have to be the one to do the work, at least part of the work, which means a few things:
March 14
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed) -- Friday and Robinson, morality, happiness in the middle station (which is also the author's main theme)
Robinson Crusoe, part 2:
- The footprint: the drama and mystery behind only having one there.
- How Robinson's imagination gets the worst of him because he only has partial knowledge -- fear of the unknown.
- Response to “Today we love what tomorrow we hate; today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.” -- He has wanted someone else since he got on the island. Now he doesn't want that...
- Is cannibalism wrong? Is killing wrong? Are there ever exceptions?
- Moral relativism. (Caution: I think if you're going to really believe in [extreme] moral relativism, you can't say the Nazis were war criminals, that 9-11 was wrong, or that beheadings by Isis are wrong.)
- Someone who didn't believe in moral relativism: Charles James Napier.
- Check out the first three paragraphs here for his example.
- Comparing Friday to Europeans we've seen in the book: kinder, more faithful, more agreeable (a book against racism, imperialism?)
- Motivation for ministering to Friday: sincerely wanting him to believe, or cultural/personal superiority?
- It's noteworthy that one of the first words Friday learns is Master.
- And Friday learns English rather than teaching his language to R.C.
- How much more we learn when teaching others.
- Robinson & Friday vs. the cannibals: not a fair fight despite the numbers, but is it a "just" fight?
- The allusion to the last part of the Book of Job (when everything that had been taken from him was restored, and then some).
- Happiness in the middle -- when all your needs are met, but you don't have more to worry about. RC was happier on the island alone than he was back in England as a wealthy man. "Money can't buy happiness."
- racism / racialism
- wealth / social class
- religion
- happiness (e.g. Crusoe's father's advice)
- justice / justification (especially with Crusoe's decision to attack the cannibals)
March 15
in the library for AR #3 deadline
March 18
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds: p.77-78: foreign languages in college:
- without exception, these are rated as the most demanding but also the most loved classes.
- The title alone says a lot. Animals howl -- and because they're in pain, or they're sad, or angry. They don't howl out of joy, that's for sure.
- I pointed out the atmosphere of this public reading of Howl, how there were dancing girls, wine, and "free satori" [spiritual enlightenment/awakening/understanding from Zen Buddhism]
- Jack Kerouac started chanting "Go!" after each line of the poem (probably during parts 2-3, but possibly in part 1 as well)
- Ginsberg's life seems very ... chaotic and filled with turmoil -- being involved in a burglary ring, and institutionalized for psychiatric reasons
- He had an interesting response to a heckler -- saying that nakedness was what he was trying to prove, and then removing his clothes and daring the heckler to do the same while saying that "The poet always stands naked before the world."
- How can you respond to that? -- The heckler just left...
- The Sphinx as a monster that posed riddles -- if you didn't solve the riddle, it would devour you.
- Compare with Oedipus, who solved the riddle of the Sphinx.
- So Ginsberg is setting himself up as someone who has solved the riddle and can explain the answer to the rest of us.
- Moloch - a god whose worship included child sacrifice.
- It's pretty clear that Ginsberg is saying America is worshiping Moloch. So how are we sacrificing our children, and what are we sacrificing them for?
- Again, if we don't solve the riddle, you die -- or the children will die.
- There are numerous clues that he's talking about America. (We'll look for them tomorrow.)
- Should we shout Go! after each like like Jack Kerouac did...?
- Carl Solomon - the poem itself is dedicated to CS, but this part is directed toward him as the second person in "I'm with you in Rockland."
- The speaker (if not necessarily Ginsberg) is with Solomon in Rockland -- perhaps both literally and metaphorically "with" him.
- Rockland is a mental hospital where both Solomon and Ginsberg were institutionalized at the same time.
- Solomon was a writer who is best known for his book Report from the Asylum: Afterthoughts of a Shock Patient.
- No surprise -- the poem mentions shock therapy in this section.
March 19
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
- alumni advice: 94% say take more language classes; only 6% say take as little as possible.
- Even 60 years after the live performance of this poem, we can easily feel the speaker's angst and agitation.
- The feeling of the speaker is probably more evident than in any other poem we've read or will read this year.
- His jumble of everything together (part 1 seems to be one giant sentence) has a lot to do with that effect.
- We didn't spend much time talking about most of the individual "events" or "scenes" in part 1 (there are just so many...), but we discussed the effect they have on the reader.
- how it's overwhelming, the kind of chaos and danger he can communicate through vivid description
- drugs, sexuality, crime, political activism, etc.
- I reminded the class that there are echoes of Hebrew poetry (compare to the Old Testament), where poetry doesn't rhyme or even have a metrical pattern but rather relies on the repetition of an idea for effect (especially the Psalms, ex: Psalm 136); there are also other allusions to Biblical content, such as "for seven days and nights with brilliant eyes, meat for the Synagogue cast on the pavement" and mentioning Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified.
- Another interesting example from the very end of Part I:
- "eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani": the opening words of Psalm 22:2 in Hebrew.
- This translates as "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me"
- This is also something Jesus said on the Cross.
- Largely, we looked for connections to the following concerns:
- politics/economics
- crime/drug use
- sexuality
- and, most importantly, sanity/madness
- On this last one, we have good reason to believe that at least many of the things mentioned in the poem are directly related to Carl Solomon's life and experiences, as many things mentioned are also in the biography section of his Wikipedia page (New York, CCNY, Dadaism, Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, Rockland Psychiatric Center, and shock treatment, among others).
- Anyone wanting a brief explanation of the structure of Part I can find that here.
March 20
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
- Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
- foreign-language classes are so well loved because they are structured to do what works best.
- The Sphinx as a monster that posed riddles -- if you didn't solve the riddle, it would devour you.
- Moloch - a god whose worship included child sacrifice. It's pretty clear that Ginsberg is saying America is worshiping Moloch. So how are we sacrificing our children, and what are we sacrificing them for?
- There are numerous clues that he's talking about America: dollars, Congress, skyscrapers, factories, smoke stacks, oil and stone, electricity and banks, monstrous bombs, and of course, "American river," etc.
- Should we shout Go! after each like like Jack Kerouac did...?
- Carl Solomon - the poem itself is dedicated to CS, but this part is directed toward him as the second person in "I'm with you in Rockland." The speaker (if not necessarily Ginsberg) is with Solomon in Rockland.
- Rockland is a mental hospital where both Solomon and Ginsberg were institutionalized at the same time.
- Solomon was a writer who is best known for his book Report from the Asylum: Afterthoughts of a Shock Patient. No surprise -- the poem mentions shock therapy in this section.
- A lot of this section seems to allude to Solomon's delusions -- who even has 12 secretaries to kill, for instance?
- Knowing that many (all?) of these things mentioned are part of Solomon's delusions makes Ginsberg seem much more sympathetic to others' situations.
March 21
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed) -- Friday and Robinson, morality, happiness in the middle station (which is also the author's main theme)
- this is the #1 concern of faculty and students (and Mr. B's advice is to do your part -- get to know the adviser, meet fairly often, etc.)
- He had a pretty interesting life, even being sent to a prison for hardened criminals when he was about 18.
- We actually had the poet read this for us.
- It's good this way because it shows he's not bitter about any of this. He has a humorous take on the whole situation.
- We examined the parts that were idealized, stereotypical.
- We compared those to the parts that were realistic, possibly even pessimistic.
- We also talked some about how it's awkward meeting new people, especially the parents of a boyfriend/girlfriend.
- It can be difficult to know how formal or how "real" to be with them.
- He seems to want to avoid doing things just because he's "supposed to" do them.
- Examples include getting married and being good, which are brought up next to each other in the first line and again in the fifth stanza ("But I should...").
- As part of not doing what he's supposed to, he'll take his girlfriend to cemeteries instead of to see movies.
- Stanzas 3-4, we notice more wanting to avoid convention -- Instead of saying "I do" saying "Pie glue!"; everyone knowing what he's doing on his honeymoon -- and not wanting to as a result.
- 2nd stanza, he's noticeably uncomfortable meeting her parents: "back straightened, hair finally combed, strangled by a tie"
- We talked about the differences between how parents tend to see their child's boyfriend ("He wants our Mary Lou!") as opposed to the girlfriend (cool, someone likes our son!).
- Stanzas 5-7, imagining what kind of husband he'd be (what a let-down he'd be) and what kind of father he'd be -- he wouldn't be the kind who got the best for his kids (the Parthenon for a playpen), but he'd have a run-down apartment for his family, and he wouldn't even have a job, despite the many bills to pay.
- Last couple stanzas, he comes to believe that he should get married, but he can't imagine there's someone compatible with him -- even throughout history there hasn't been one for him.
- It ends on a sad note, and we notice that he never makes a decision either way about whether he should marry or not.
March 22
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
Discuss "Bomb," by Gregory Corso
- The shape of the poem is somewhat interesting, but we also noticed that the topics dealt with (themes, patterns, trends, etc.) tend to go by in waves.
- Constant throughout, though, is the idea that he does not hate the bomb (2nd line), as he acknowledges in what could be the most important line in the poem that "you are as cruel as man makes you and you're no crueler than cancer."
- There's a section where he lists weapons, going back to prehistoric times, Biblical times (jawbone of an ass -- Samson; David a sling) as well as some people who are famous for using those weapons (tomahawk Cochise) as if to equate the Bomb with other forms of violent death -- even from good people, like St. Michael, St. George, and King David; he then mentions other forms of death that are less violent (car crash, falling off a roof, cancer, and old age -- which is repeated for effect) in order to equate them as well.
- Later on, he contemplates specific people's deaths, including "my own."
- A later section (on our second page) goes through mythological references (even an allusion to sports -- Hermes racing Owens, similar to other sports references we saw earlier -- visiting team, home team) as well as Christianity and other religions, specifically Buddha.
- In this section, it sounds as if the speaker is praying to the bomb ("O Spring Bomb / Come with thy gown of dynamite green").
- Shortly after this, there are patterns of rhymes (zig and zag / thy binging bag) and alliteration (carrion stars charnel planets carcass elements / corpse the universe) that make the poem seem more like a song.
- Speaking of songs, there's a spot near the top of our 3rd page that predicts that bombs become butterflies (quite a comparison...) and then mentions many different songs -- German, two very long American songs (which we took to be an allusion to the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), as well as Rissian and Chinese songs.
- However, there will never be an Eskimo song, as they will never need nor be able to produce a nuke.
- Using the word "song" in place of "bomb" has another effect on it, making it sound entirely safe and not dangerous at all -- nothing to be afraid of. (More about that at the end.)
- There's also a storybook section (Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel, Hollywood) followed later by a scientist section (Oppenheimer, Fermi, Einstein) where they are written about in a very neutral manner -- not as heroes and not condemned as villains for devising the bomb, which is in keeping with the statement near the beginning that the bomb is only "as cruel as man makes" it.
- This part is followed by a part that reminds us of tribal chants (taking us back to our roots?) that brings up comparisons that suggest a natural life cycle (skies/suns, moons/stars, winds/clouds and rains, lakes/oceans) and natural animal (the tail the fin the wing).
- He ends with another line that could compete for the most important line in the whole poem: "in the hearts of men to come more bombs will be born," and we noted that there have been many more (thousands) nukes made, and there are also different kinds of bombs now (9/11 attacks, drones, climate change).
- On that note, some years, we talk about how a major concern now is drone strikes, for their possible infringement on privacy, the distance between the attacker and the target (which dehumanizes warfare even more) as well as for their ease of use.
- If this poem were to be written today, it may be called "Drone" (and shaped like a drone...?).
- Finally, the very end of the poem is curious. It mentions bombs plunking on the earth's empires with "moustaches of gold."
- After a little research, I found a reference to the god Peroun (explained in footnote 24), a Slavic god of thunder who was worshiped with sacred fire and the sacrifice of prisoners and children.
- Most importantly, Corso makes it plain in his interviews as well as the poem that we should not fear "the bomb."
- To fear or to hate is easy, and so many people then were afraid of dying from nuclear weapons -- there's still quite a bit of that today, e.g. weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
- But Corso's point seems to be that death from one thing is like death from another thing.
- Or as he said in an interview, "death was the big shot to handle... not just the Bomb."
March 25
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- how important this is, how it will take planning, and how it can be done even at a large school.
- students who put in the effort (rather than just getting the adviser's signature on their schedule) get way more out of these conversations
Prior to reading "To Build a Fire," we discussed the following:
- Instinct vs. intellect (knowledge about how cold it is) again.
- The man's pride (part of his intellect) is his undoing. He's not afraid enough of the risks he is taking.
- Realism/naturalism and detachment from events, similar to a reporter just giving the facts -- no opinions or feelings about them.
- How he treats the dog.
- Why he even has the dog with him in the first place.
- Perspective: how we see things through the eyes of the dog in a few places in the story.
- If time, we also talked about what we know about human instinct (babies crying when hungry or uncomfortable) and animal instinct, mostly with our pets' behavior (barking, howling, swimming, grooming, following others, etc., etc.)
- Instinct vs. upbringing.
- If time, we discussed how much humans rely (or don't) on instinctive behavior, but also how our instinct is to fit in with our surroundings.
- Some years, we look up some interesting stories about children raised by animals for comparison.
- If time, we discussed how much humans rely (or don't) on instinctive behavior, but also how our instinct is to fit in with our surroundings.
- Students will have time tomorrow in class to continue reading it.
March 26
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
- Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
- from an interview with a student regarding his academic adviser.
- It helps to make sure everyone knows what he means by a liberal arts education.
- I also often talk about my thoughts on college, specifically how I don't believe everyone should go to college and how too many people rack up student-loan debt only to get a job that didn't require that (sometimes even any) degree.
- instinct (survival) vs. intellect (in this case, proud, foolish)
- the dog's perspective vs. the man's perspective
- naturalism: an unemotional, unsympathetic, objective narrator
March 27
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
- an example of how students can get far more out of these sessions when they don't go in just to get a signature.
Time to read "The Cold Equations."
- Tomorrow, an assignment will be posted in Google Classroom that'll be due on April 15. That gives students the freedom to complete it during or after spring break.
March 28 (half day)
discuss initial reactions to the stories and point out the requirements for the written response
April 08
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text (themes of Hamlet: trust, political vs. personal, revenge vs. justice, suicide.
Handout: soliloquies and other important lines (taking notes on this is an assignment).
We talked quite a bit about the importance of Hamlet as inspiration for other stories (e.g. The Lion King, for perhaps the best-known example) as well as the most-written-about work of literature. Among many others, most notably the following:
- Freud's interpretation (Oedipus Complex)
- How it relates to Machiavellianism.
- trust issues, hidden motivations, the standards we hold ourselves to vs. the standards we hold other to, revenge vs. justice, and suicide.
- why theories are often (at least slightly) different from reality -- compare calculations in physics, chemistry, or weather forecasts with reality.
- the topic of suicide (motivations, what happens to the "soul" when people die, etc.).
More about the influences of Hamlet can be found here. It's a list of Hamlet references in popular culture.
- We spent a few minutes scrolling through it looking for things we've seen or have heard of.
- A partial list of the most notable ones: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Strange Brew, Veggie Tales, Pinky and the Brain, Frasier, Gilligan's Island, Happy Days, Monty Python, The Simpsons, South Park, Sons of Anarchy, Doctor Who, Calvin and Hobbes, Mass Effect, Warcraft, Borderlands 2.
April 09 (seniors have the day off)
April 10 (had a sub -- Mr. B. was administering a test for the juniors all morning)
option 1: read (or find) an independent-reading book
option 2: work on latest short-story response ("To Build a Fire" & "The Cold Equations," due Monday, April 15)
April 11
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Handout: soliloquies and other important lines (taking notes on this is an assignment).
Hamlet day 01
We read/watched Act 1, Scene 1 (exactly ten minutes in).
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- King Hamlet's death (bitten by snake?)
- his conflict with Norway -- fought and killed the King Fortinbras, King of Norway
- how Prince Fortinbras (King of Norway's son, if you couldn't guess that) is gearing up for war to attack Denmark for revenge
- how Denmark is preparing for war as well
- King Claudius and his relationship to Prince Hamlet -- they hate each other, but in front of others, they play it cool.
- Queen Gertrude's marriage and how it's legally incest -- and why that would bother Hamlet (personally and patriotically)
April 12
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- We spent time on Hamlet's first two lines, "A little more than kin, and less than kind" and "Not so, my Lord; I am too much i' the sun," and their multiple meanings.
We read/watched Act 1, Scene 2 and part of 3 (30:00).
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- King Claudius and his relationship to Prince Hamlet -- they hate each other, but they play it cool in front of others.
- Queen Gertrude's marriage and how it's legally incest -- and why that would bother Hamlet (personally and patriotically).
- Hamlet's trust issues and his suicidal thoughts.
- Hamlet's first soliloquy
- Death wish, depression over dad's death and mom's wedding, comparisons between his father and his uncle, upset at how much his mom has changed (used to love King Hamlet), he considers it incest, and he can't speak because he's not sure who's working with Claudius.
April 15
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- (It takes maturity to do this, but it is a great way to improve yourself.)
- It's a great idea to keep track of your time to see how you spend your time. A decent sample (1-2 weeks) will give you a lot to consider.
- Here is a time-log sheet you could use.
- My advice it to put a couple of these sheets in a bin or box you have for things you're taking to college.
- This is something that could be extremely helpful your first semester of college -- to see how you are actually spending your time (it's a good idea to think of it like spending money).
We read/watched Act I, scenes 4-5 (stopped at 00:45:20)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- Laertes' advice for his sister (Hamlet doesn't really love you)
- Ophelia's response (practice what you preach)
- Polonius' advice for his son (although it's basically all cliché advice)
- Polonius' order for his daughter (avoid Hamlet)
- Hamlet's conversation with his father's ghost
- Claudius killed him; get revenge
- don't do anything to the queen
April 16
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
We read/watched Act I, scene 5, Act II scenes 1-2 (stopped at 01:02:45)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- Hamlet's conversation with his father's ghost
- Claudius killed him; get revenge
- don't do anything to the queen
- Hamlet's happy because he found something out
- going to act insane
- makes his allies swear not to tell anyone about this
- end of Act I, so the quiz over Act I will be tomorrow
- Act II:
- Finding the truth by lying (using examples from Polonius' plan to have Reynaldo spy on his son).
- Claudius and Gertrude planning to use Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet
- Use their friendship to their advantage.
- It's important to note that R & G and also the queen want to help Hamlet, but Claudius is doing this to keep an eye on Hamlet for his own purposes.
- Hamlet acting crazy with Ophelia (which looks like he's upset that she broke up with him).
April 17
M-STEP testing took all hour, so Mr. B. was busy.
Students in AP English had time to study/read Act I of Hamlet (including No Fear Shakespeare).
- The quiz over Act I will become a practice quiz that we'll do in class tomorrow, and we'll try to finish Act II tomorrow as well.
April 18 (blood drive)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Hamlet day 05
We read/watched Act II, scene 2 (stopped at 01:18:00)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- Hamlet acting crazy with Polonius -- double meanings.
- Fishmonger = pimp (check out the last sentece here).
- Insulting Polonius by "reading" rude comments about old men (when he's really just saying what he thinks of Polonius to his face).
- More of Hamlet's testing people.
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern (Denmark a prison?)
April 19 (no school -- Good Friday)
April 22
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
We read/watched to the end of Act II, scene 2 (stopped at 01:36:45)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- The arrival of the players (actors)
- Hamlet wants to hear some lines, in part to see how well they act, perhaps.
- But more importantly, he wants to hear about a son (Pyrrhus) getting revenge for the death of his father (Achilles) by killing the enemy king (Priam, King of Troy).
- He also wants to hear the lines about the queen (Hecuba) sad about the death of her husband.
- He wishes his reality was like the fiction = that his mother was as sad about the death of his father.
- He's impressed by the emotion shown by the actor over the death of a fictional king, and it makes him feel like he's not emotional enough over his own father's death.
- And more about finding the truth by lying.
- Hamlet's plan ("the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king").
- Act III:
- Polonius and Claudius spying.
- "To be, or not to be..."
- Hamlet's suicidal thoughts: why he has them, why he decides not to kill himself.
April 23
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Quiz: Act II
We read/watched to Act III, scene 2 (stopped at 01:51:00)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- Hamlet's conversation with Ophelia -- happy to see her, then mad when she "breaks up with him."
- And then really mad when he tests her and she fails the test.
- Why Hamlet doesn't want any more people to be born, and his advice to Ophelia about going to a nunnery (which was slang for a whore house).
- Hamlet's threats to kill Claudius (everyone who's married can live, except for one person...)
- Claudius' plan to send Hamlet to England.
April 24
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Hamlet: we read/watched Act III, scene 2- (this version has these scenes overlapping) (stopped at 02:10:56)
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- The play within the play! (And why Hamlet calls it The Mousetrap.)
- Hamlet acting crazy when he's in public (but notice he doesn't when just with Horatio)
- Hamlet's sexual comments in front of Ophelia.
- He is mad at her for breaking up with him. This is like a fight between lovers in public. Uncomfortable.
- It also makes people think he's upset about / focusing on her and not on getting revenge against Claudius.
- Hamlet directs a lot of comments about love and marriage at his mother to make her feel guilty about her second marriage.
- Claudius' reaction the the play, and Hamlet's glee now that he knows the truth
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trying to "play" him, but they can't even play a simple musical instrument.
- Claudius' prayer (or lack thereof...)
- Hamlet's delay? Some people call it "procrastination."
- Many people believe Hamlet's "fatal flaw" is that he just doesn't want to kill Claudius, and so he delays / procrastinates.
- Example: T.S. Eliot's essay "Hamlet and His Problems" mentions how "the delay in revenge is unexplained on grounds of necessity or expediency."
- But it is explained. Hamlet explains it himself.
- Hamlet's father is suffering in Purgatory.
- Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer in the afterlife as well.
- "Because he's not a murderer," for instance, which is bull crap.
April 25
Morning disrupted by breakout sessions about drugs, anxiety, distracted driving, etc.
April 26
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
- Besides what's on the slides, we talked again (briefly) about whether or not Hamlet procrastinates -- which at least some people don't even debate, they just assume that he does procrastinate and then debate why.
- "Because he's not a murderer," for instance, which is bull crap.
- He killed Polonius immediately, and he thought that it was Claudius who was spying.
- "Because he's not a murderer," for instance, which is bull crap.
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- He holds up pictures to show his mom how she stepped down from her husband when she married Claudius.
- This is yet another example of something fake (they're real pictures, but they're not the actual people) to show someone the truth.
April 29
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7
- Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
QUIZ: Hamlet Act III (moved to tomorrow)
Another example of people misreading the play is the debate over whether or not Hamlet has an Oedipus complex (click here and search for "Hamlet" for an example of this way of thinking).
- We have no indication that Hamlet is sexually interested in his mother and that this is why he's mad at Claudius.
- He doesn't want his mother committing incest. (Would you?)
- Especially if the new guy was way worse than his father.
- He doesn't seem to hate Claudius for personal reasons (to become king himself), but rather for the good of his country and his mother.
- His father was a way better king and husband than Claudius.
- And we also get the sense that he really loved Ophelia, not that he was using her for any reason, sexual or political or otherwise.
- True love, like friendship, is a two-way relationship.
Preview of each scene in Hamlet prior to watching it.
- Claudius' plan to get rid of Hamlet.
- Hamlet's word play.
- Besides what's on Slides, we talked about how all these Norwegians are going to fight over land in Poland that's so small, they can't even have the battle on the land in question, nor will they have enough room to be able to bury the dead from the battle there.
- Again, Hamlet feels like he's reminded of not acting soon enough and with enough anger over something that matters much more (the death of his father) compared to these guys fighting to the death over some land that's so worthless.
- Hamlet compares his reaction and lack of action to Prince Fortinbras's activity.
April 30
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
QUIZ: Hamlet Act III
Hamlet: Preview Act IV, scene 5 (much less than previous years due to the quiz taking longer than normal), using Slides. Watch Hamlet in class. (stopped at 02:46:44):
- Besides what's on Slides, we talked about Ophelia is losing it, partly because of the way she broke up with Hamlet (because her dad told her to) and how he reacted to it (by saying he didn't ever love her and acting insane), but mostly by the death of her father -- even moreso because it was Hamlet who killed him...
- Ophelia may be insane, but her singing is revealing.
- Her songs are about the loss of someone recently buried (her dad) and a man cheating on or leaving his girlfriend after they've slept together. He had promised to marry her, but now he doesn't feel like he needs to after getting the milk for free.
- Laertes comes back and wants revenge for the death of his father.
- Many Danes also support him because they're now mad at Claudius.
- (This is exactly what Claudius was worried about earlier, and it's why he sent Hamlet away.)
May 01
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Hamlet: Preview Act IV, scene 7, and started Act V, scene 1, using Slides. Watch Hamlet in class (stopped at 03:09:20):
Claudius manages to shift the blame onto Hamlet so Laertes is mad at him instead of Claudius.
- Ophelia comes in and really ruins Laertes' day with her insanity.
- He says if she were still normal and asked him to get revenge, it wouldn't be as persuasive as this.
- Horatio receives a strange letter from Hamlet that says he's back in Denmark after being taken by pirates and left on the shore naked.
- He also sends a letter to Claudius, which he gets in the next scene.
- How Claudius is using Laertes, so he has to manage his anger by shifting it to Hamlet
- not by letting him cool down so as not to be angry any more.
- Claudius wants him angry -- he just wants him angry at Hamlet so he can use him against Hamlet.
- The plan to kill Hamlet and the backup plan.
- Whether or not Ophelia committed suicide, and how that distinction mattered back then for their belief about whether or not she'd go to Heaven (and so whether or not they should give her an actual funeral or just put her in an unmarked grave).
- Claudius is making sure she gets better treatment (than a typical suicide would normally get) so that he gets and keeps Laertes on his side. He's manipulating Laertes to use him against Hamlet.
May 02
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
QUIZ: Hamlet Act IV
Hamlet: Preview Act V, scene 1 and part of scene 2, using Slides. Watch Hamlet in class (stopped at 03:33:05):
- We talked about the wordplay of the gravediggers
- their jokes, but also the se defendendo section: whether it was suicide or not, and how that was basically a transcription of an actual court case, the records of which Shakespeare would not have had access to, as an actor/playwright -- but which Edward de Vere did have access to...
- Hamlet's different opinion of death (no longer blood-thirsty for Claudius' death) now that he's killed Polonius, held Yorick's skull, and sees Ophelia's funeral.
- How we all come to the same end: No matter if we were as powerful in life as Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar, our bodies (after decomposing) could be used to stop up a barrel or a hole in a wall.
May 03
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
Hamlet: Preview the rest of the play using Slides. Watch Hamlet in class (finished):
- Why Laertes is upset about the lack of funeral ceremony.
- How both Laertes and Hamlet try to prove their love to Ophelia by offering to be buried with her.
- How Hamlet read the letter that instructed the King of England to kill Hamlet, and how he replaced it with one that said the same about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
- We talked about whether or not they deserve such a fate.
- Hamlet seems to think they do. He says they "made love" to their employment.
- Oscric and his overly formal actions (his hat) and words.
- And how Hamlet outdoes him to make fun of him.
- How there are odds (a handicap, a spread) on the fencing match to make it more fair.
- Hamlet believes he will win at the odds, although he may not defeat Laertes outright.
- Besides what's on the slides, we talked about how Hamlet's situation is mirrored in that of Laertes and Fortinbras.
May 06
QUIZ: Hamlet Act V
May 07
TEST: Hamlet
May 08 (AP test)
Check out the basics of Robert Frost's life.
Robert Frost: "The Road Not Taken":
- We discussed the rhyme scheme and the metrical pattern
- We noted the most common reading of the poem ("Go your own way"; "Don't follow the crowd") and how that is supported in the poem when it says he "took the road less traveled by"
- But the speaker also negates that by saying a few times that the roads were "just as fair," "the passing there / Had worn them really about the same," and "both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black"
- It seems to be more about the act of making a choice to go down one of the roads (for whatever reason) and how that decision changed his life permanently -- and he wasn't able to go back, as he suspected when he made his decision
- We talked about his sigh in the last stanza and how that could be good/nostalgic or bad/painful
- We compared this to having grandparents or even parents tell us about major decisions in their lives and the impacts they had, as well as the major decisions of the next few years for every student in this class: college/career/marriage/kids/etc.
- Frost seems to be warning the world (as well as the individual, whose own life could be considered his world) about the destructive nature of two emotions -- (inordinate) desire and hatred
- We also noticed that most of the lines in the poem rhyme with "fire" or "ice" (the exceptions are "hate" and "great")
- We talked some about the dangers of desire and of hatred.
- More importantly, we spent time comparing this poem to notions about hell found in Dante's Inferno
- According to Dante, there are 9 circles of hell -- there are 9 lines in this poem
- Those who suffer for crimes of desire/passion are near the top of hell;
- Those who suffer for crimes of betrayal (i.e. Satan and Judas) are in the lowest levels
- Frost seems to have replaced betrayal with hatred as a worse (the worst) sin for his own purposes, perhaps because of the recent war (the poem was written in 1920)
- The circles of hell get smaller as Dante descends, and while there is a small line near the top of this poem, it ends with two short lines, giving it a cone shape overall
- Lastly, Frost changes more than just hatred for betrayal when he says that ice and fire are equally destructive forces, each of which would be sufficient to destroy the world (or the individual).
May 09
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
- These non-academic groups have an impact on students' academics because they provide a balance and support.
- We discussed the questions on these slides.
May 10
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text: attitudes towards life and death, and the concept of human life compared to a garden (planned out, weeded, watered, etc.).
Short story: Kurt Vonnegut's "2BR02B":
- (can use these slides for class discussion)
- Connection to Hamlet's most famous speech (which is about suicide).
- We also noted similarities to other things many students have read, such as Brave New World (society reaching stability) and "Harrison Bergeron" (also by Vonnegut).
- The symbolism of the painting.
- It's a metaphor for civilization in this story's setting.
- The sanitized names for things: the place where people die (e.g. de-louser, and easy-go, etc.) the Federal Bureau of Termination.
- What life would be like without disease or aging, or without any problems at all...
- I had students consider their favorite TV shows.
- Some of the responses were The Walking Dead, Criminal Minds, One Tree Hill, X-Files, The Flash, Arrow, and Gray's Anatomy
- Most of them, no surprise, deal with conflicts and other problems or challenges that people face.
- That's what makes these shows interesting.
- It doesn't prove that we want controversy, danger, dilemmas, etc. (or at least this much) in our lives, but it may reveal that life without any of things would be boring -- or not worth watching.
- We also considered people who do great things in life, and how they all had to overcome great challenges that made them who they were.
- Names that came up included Gandhi, Malala, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Jesus
- Even our fictional heroes have to overcome major struggles: Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen, and Kvothe.
- Why does the father kill the doctor, the nurse and himself?
- Why not three random people? Why not the painter, who wanted to die?
- Did the doctor and the assistant "get what they deserve" this way?
May 13 (deadline for AR tests)
Learning Target: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.6
- Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement): How honoring this citizen actually reveals what the fictional society values.
W.H. Auden: "The Unknown Citizen":
- The dedication at the beginning: his designation as initials and numbers (unknown name)
- We have a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is where we honor people for their heroism and sacrifice even when we don't know their names. They honor this guy for being normal, conforming in every way.
- We noticed that the government in the state sure has a lot of information on their people: how often they go to the hospital, what things they own, and even their opinions (e.g. peace/war, reactions to advertisements, etc.).
- Lots of reports -- on him, on his union, from his teachers.
- We spent some time talking about the word "saint," since the speaker mentions its modern and old-fashioned meanings (old-fashioned = religious, extraordinarily good, involved in a miracle; modern seems to mean "normal in every way," as the poem says)
- Changing the meanings of words reminds many of us of Newspeak in 1984.
- He works at Fudge Motors Inc., which we took as a play on Ford Motors Inc. with the added benefit have what we associate with fudge: fudging it, or faking it, a sham.
- He does what he's supposed to, buys what he's supposed to (to keep the economy moving?), and thinks what he's supposed to -- even if what he's supposed to think changes.
- And he doesn't just think it, he's willing to go to war for them if he's supposed to.
- Eugenist: they must be trying to plan their society genetically, and he even "did it" like he was supposed to...
- Twisted words with deeper meaning: "Our teachers report that he never interfered with their education." -- We took that to mean he didn't interfere with the education [cough -- "brainwashing" -- cough] of his own children.
- "Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd."
- Compare that to all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
- The speaker in the poem called two (free / happy) of those three things absurd.
- So he has life, but what is life without those other two?
- It's exactly what people running the society of this poem want.
- We compared his life to that of cattle:
- Expected to go with the flow, go where directed.
- Reproduce by guidelines of genetic science.
- Their happiness and freedom are "absurd" concerns.
May 14 (most seniors' last day)
One Sentence Only?
May 15-16 (senior exams)