Friday, December 19
Well, those students who predicted that school was over until after winter break were right, though I wish we had waited until it actually snowed (or is that snew?)!
I hope everyone is enjoying his/her extended time off.
I have
(1) an addition to the assignment I gave on Tuesday, and
(2) an assignment you may wish to get a headstart on with your family's help; it will be the final project for the semester, and there will be other assignments due before we get to it. You are not required to start work on it now, but I hope you will want to.
(1) The only addition to your assignment I will make is to change "or" to "and" in the assignment issued Tuesday. That is, the assignment is now to write TWO two-chunk paragraphs, one on EACH of the two topics. Thus:
Revised assignment due Monday, January 5:
Finish reading the selections from Walden (pp. 234-244), and write two two-chunk paragraphs explaining
(a) Thoreau's statement (p. 237), "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."
and
(b) The Battle of the Ants (pp. 240-241). What are we to take from this account?
(2) The Culture Box
Each student will construct, and present to the class, a small box representing his/her cultural heritage. See the two-page assignment sheet on the Documents page of this website for details. Presentations will be made the final three days of the semester, whenever that may be!
Feel free to email me with questions.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Mr. Potratz
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 16
We continued our close reading of the excerpts in our textbook from Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the Woods.
HW due Wednesday:
Finish reading the selections fron Walden (pp. 234-244), and write one two-chunk paragraph explaining either
(a) Thoreau's statement (p. 237), "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."
or
(b) The Battle of the Ants (pp. 240-241). What are we to take from this account?
We continued our close reading of the excerpts in our textbook from Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the Woods.
HW due Wednesday:
Finish reading the selections fron Walden (pp. 234-244), and write one two-chunk paragraph explaining either
(a) Thoreau's statement (p. 237), "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."
or
(b) The Battle of the Ants (pp. 240-241). What are we to take from this account?
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, December 15
Students turned in their HW, and Mr. Potratz read some of the poems aloud, to general acclamation.
Students silently read part of the introduction to Henry Davis Thoreau in our textbook (pp. 230-231) and then we began reading the excerpts from Thoreau's Walden, Or Life in the Woods.
Students turned in their HW, and Mr. Potratz read some of the poems aloud, to general acclamation.
Students silently read part of the introduction to Henry Davis Thoreau in our textbook (pp. 230-231) and then we began reading the excerpts from Thoreau's Walden, Or Life in the Woods.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Friday, December 12
We read the section of John Greenleaf Whittier's Snowbound which is in our textbook (pages 182-185). The poem is a nostalgic recollection of the blizzards of the poet's New England boyhood.
HW due Monday:
Write at least twelve lines of poetry about (1) a childhood memory and/or (2) the snow. Unless you simply cannot or will not abide the form, please write your lines in the same form as Whittier's poem. Three elements to imitate in particular are the meter (iambic tetrameter), the rhyme scheme (rhymed couplets), and the mixing of lines which are end-stopped and lines which run on through the rhymes (lines which are "enjammed").
We read the section of John Greenleaf Whittier's Snowbound which is in our textbook (pages 182-185). The poem is a nostalgic recollection of the blizzards of the poet's New England boyhood.
HW due Monday:
Write at least twelve lines of poetry about (1) a childhood memory and/or (2) the snow. Unless you simply cannot or will not abide the form, please write your lines in the same form as Whittier's poem. Three elements to imitate in particular are the meter (iambic tetrameter), the rhyme scheme (rhymed couplets), and the mixing of lines which are end-stopped and lines which run on through the rhymes (lines which are "enjammed").
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tuesday, December 9
Classic v. Romantic
Students worked in groups of four to form Classic/Romantic word pairings as an exercise in understanding the values associated with each literary period.
HW due Wednesday:
Read pages 219-221 in the textbook (excerpts from Emerson's "Nature") and
write two chunks in answer to the first question #4 on page 228 (the question under Shaping Interpretations concerning the "transparent eyeball."
Classic v. Romantic
Students worked in groups of four to form Classic/Romantic word pairings as an exercise in understanding the values associated with each literary period.
HW due Wednesday:
Read pages 219-221 in the textbook (excerpts from Emerson's "Nature") and
write two chunks in answer to the first question #4 on page 228 (the question under Shaping Interpretations concerning the "transparent eyeball."
Monday, December 8, 2008
Monday, December 8
Students turned in their momeworkm and wlooked at several students' attempts to express what makes Hiawatha a Romantic poem in the style of the poem itself.
We then talked about the style of the poem, analyzing its meter and rhythm. Are there four feet per line (trochaic tetrameter) or two (the Hiawatha drumbeat meter)?
Students turned in their momeworkm and wlooked at several students' attempts to express what makes Hiawatha a Romantic poem in the style of the poem itself.
We then talked about the style of the poem, analyzing its meter and rhythm. Are there four feet per line (trochaic tetrameter) or two (the Hiawatha drumbeat meter)?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Friday, December 5
Mr. Potratz distributed, and we began to read, three excerpts from Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha.
HW due Monday:
Read the rest of the handout. and
Write an answer to the following question: What makes Hiawatha a Romantic poem? Your answer must be in the form of Hiawatha itself, and must be at least ten lines, as a bare minimum.
Mr. Potratz distributed, and we began to read, three excerpts from Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha.
HW due Monday:
Read the rest of the handout. and
Write an answer to the following question: What makes Hiawatha a Romantic poem? Your answer must be in the form of Hiawatha itself, and must be at least ten lines, as a bare minimum.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thursday, December 4
Students reviewed procedures for entering papers into their efolios and were instructed in how to submit papers to turnitin.com.
Handout: Student User Guide to turnitin.com.
HW due Friday: Submit your slavery paper to (1) your efolio under the competency "Writing in a variety of forms" with commentary concerning the paper's audience and purpose, and (2) turnitin.com.
Students reviewed procedures for entering papers into their efolios and were instructed in how to submit papers to turnitin.com.
Handout: Student User Guide to turnitin.com.
HW due Friday: Submit your slavery paper to (1) your efolio under the competency "Writing in a variety of forms" with commentary concerning the paper's audience and purpose, and (2) turnitin.com.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, December 3
Students spent 10 minutes taking an open-book quiz over American Romanticism (pp. 138-50 in the textbook), and we graded the quiz together.
Afterwards we began to discuss Classicism v. Romanticism by reference to changing concepts of Nature and God, and their relation to each other.
HW due Thursday:
Transfer the file of your slavery paper to your user share in preparation for tomorrow's class in the computer lab. We will be (1) entering papers in efolios and (2) submitting them to turnitin.com.
Students spent 10 minutes taking an open-book quiz over American Romanticism (pp. 138-50 in the textbook), and we graded the quiz together.
Afterwards we began to discuss Classicism v. Romanticism by reference to changing concepts of Nature and God, and their relation to each other.
HW due Thursday:
Transfer the file of your slavery paper to your user share in preparation for tomorrow's class in the computer lab. We will be (1) entering papers in efolios and (2) submitting them to turnitin.com.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, December 2
Students returned their copies of Frederick Douglass's Narrative, and Mr. Potratz introduced the new unit, which involves a return to the textbook, specifically to the section on American Romanticism.
Next, as our farewell to the slavery question (at least for now) we listened to interviews with former slaves as recorded by workers with the Federal Writers' Project of the New Deal era.
Finally, we listened to selected turkey narratives written by members of the class.
HW due Wednesday:
Read carefully pages 138-150 in Elements of Literature, the introductory essay on the Romantic period. We will begin class with a quiz over the reading.
Students returned their copies of Frederick Douglass's Narrative, and Mr. Potratz introduced the new unit, which involves a return to the textbook, specifically to the section on American Romanticism.
Next, as our farewell to the slavery question (at least for now) we listened to interviews with former slaves as recorded by workers with the Federal Writers' Project of the New Deal era.
Finally, we listened to selected turkey narratives written by members of the class.
HW due Wednesday:
Read carefully pages 138-150 in Elements of Literature, the introductory essay on the Romantic period. We will begin class with a quiz over the reading.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday, December 1
Students turned in their creative writing pieces "The First Thanksgiving as Told By the Turkey."
We read the"Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master" (pp. 194-96 of Douglass's Narrative), and discussed its use of verbal irony (aka "sarcasm). We also discussed figurative language and artistic indirection (telling it "slant") more generally.
Students turned in their creative writing pieces "The First Thanksgiving as Told By the Turkey."
We read the"Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master" (pp. 194-96 of Douglass's Narrative), and discussed its use of verbal irony (aka "sarcasm). We also discussed figurative language and artistic indirection (telling it "slant") more generally.
Monday, December 1
Students listed what they thought were the leading visual motifs in Citizen Kane-- such as windows, statues, smoke, shadows, and the entire complex of motifs surrounding "Rosebud": the sled, the snowglobe , snow itself.
Following that we reviewed several early scenes in the film with an eye out for those motifs.
Students listed what they thought were the leading visual motifs in Citizen Kane-- such as windows, statues, smoke, shadows, and the entire complex of motifs surrounding "Rosebud": the sled, the snowglobe , snow itself.
Following that we reviewed several early scenes in the film with an eye out for those motifs.
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