Thursday, November 29

Open-book quiz over "The American Renaissance," ( pp. 206-14 in the textbook.)

Back to "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Wednesday, November 28

Dependent and independent clauses.
Starting from Mr. Clegg's Knowledge Bowl Question of the Week (What type of clause results if we precede the following sentence with the word 'after'?: 'The guys cleaned their fish?'), we proceeded to investigate the three types of dependent clauses (adverb, noun, and adjective), and then to focus on adverb clauses via two worksheets which were due at the end of class.

HW due Thursday: Read pp. 206-214 in Elements of Literature, and prepare for a quiz over the reading at the start of class.

Tuesday, November 27

Close reading of passages from Ralph Wado Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" (pp. 294-295 in Elements of Lit).

Monday, November 26

We put various students' possible research topics and questions under the document camera and discussed them, with the aim of clarifying what makes a good topic and what Mr. Potratz in particular is looking for.

In periods 3, 4 and 6 Mr. Potratz also stressed Pacific Northwest Native art and culture as a rich vein to mine for topics and a field in which there are many resources in the Seattle area.
He told the class about his Thansgiving trip to the Anthropology Museum at UBC in Vancouver, and what he learned about Bill Reid, who Mr. Potratz thinks would be an excellent topic for a research paper.

Tuesday (Per. 3) and Wednesday (Pers. 4, 5 &6), November 20 & 21

Handout: Suggested topics for the 2nd-semester research paper

We discussed and briefly investigated sample topics for the research paper.

HW due Monday, Nov. 26:
TYPE three or four possible topics for your research paper, and for each topic provide at least one question you would seek to answer.
ALSO, bring your King County Library card to class with you.

Monday, November 19 (Periods 4, 5 & 6))

Students turned in the HW assignment, and we read from "Nature" together, focusing especially on the "transparent eyeball" image (question 4). We looked at one student's paragraph on said eyeball and its symbolism.

Friday, November 16
(Period 3)

Students turned in the HW assignment, and we read from "Nature" together, focusing especially on the "transparent eyeball" image (question 4). We looked at one student's paragraph on said eyeball and its symbolism.

Thursday, November 15

Lexicography exercise. Small group activity: Define "nature" with at least four different meanings, and an example of the word in use for all four.

Mini-lecture: Changing connotations of "nature" in American Literature. Puritans, founding fathers, romantics.

HW due Friday (period 3) or Monday (periods 4,5 & 6):
Read pp. 216 & 217 and pp. 219-221 in Elements of Lit.
Write two short paragraphs or one longer one answering either question 3 or question 4 on page 228, first column.

Wednesday, November 14

Quizlet over pp. 138-150, introduction to American Romanticism. 5 questions, 15 pts. total.

Word pairing activity in small groups. Classic/Romantic word pairs.

Tuesday, November 13

Dictionary exercise, using the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, to explore the history of the words [romance,' 'romantic' and 'romanticism' as introduction to the new unit on the Romantic Movement in American literature.

HW due Wednesday:
Read pp. 138-150 in Elements of Lit. Quizlet over the reading to begin class.

Friday, November 9

Students submitted their slavery essays, including rough drafts, peer edit sheets, and any other earlier stages still in their possession.

We watched 30 minutes from Volume 3 of the documentary film Slavery and the Making of America.

Thursday, November 8

We went over MLA citation and Works Cited entries, then Mr. Potratz read aloud the classic oration, "What to the American Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass.

HW due Friday: Final draft of the slavery essay, with any earlier stages still in your possession.

Wednesday, November 7

Peer editing of rough drafts, working in blocks of four, and evaluating for content and organization. (Those without rough drafts completed grammar worksheets.)

HW due Friday: Final draft of slavery essay with all its prior stages.

Tuesday, November 6

We divided ourselves on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line and conducted an informal debate on the resolution which is the focus of the essay: supporting or opposing the abolition of slavery.

HW due Wednesday: First draft of the slavery essay, for in-class peer editing.

Monday, November 5

Integration of quotations into text -- handout and worksheet, turned in at the end of class.

Friday, November 2

We reviewed sentence outline form, then looked at MLA citation procedure and the Works Cited page. Finally, we evaluated several more thesis statements.

HW due Monday: Typed sentence outline of the slavery essay, with revised thesis statement.

Thursday, November 1

Students turned in their typed thesis statements and we evaluated several of them using the document camera.