Friday, October 29

Mr. P announced a minor change in the schedule of deadlines for the slavery essay: the formal outline will be due next Tuesday (11/2), rather than Monday.  To assist in writing those outlines, Mr. P distributed a hanout on outlining, to be read by Monday.

Students submitted their typed thesis statements, and we put some under the document camera and critiqued them (using primarily anaonymous examples from other classes).

HW due Monday:
Read the handout on outlining.

HW due Tuesday:
Typed formal outline

Thursday, October 28

Students turned in their vocabulary assignments for the second half of  Fred. D. and took a "not too scary" quiz over some of the words.

Students were then given copies of a speech (or more accurately excerpts from a speech) given by James H. Hammond to the United States Senate in 1858 elaborating his "Mud-sill Theory," telling the Northern elites that slavery was eternal, that they had their own slaves (in fact if not in name), and that they had best leave the South alone.  We discussed the different kinds of arguments contained in the speech.

Finally, Mr. P briefly went over what he expects in the typed thesis statements to be turned in Friday: a distillation of the central idea of your essay (as you see it now), making clear whether you support or oppose the resolution to abolish slavery, and why, in one sentence or at the most two.

HW due Friday:
Typed thesis statement

HW due Monday:
Typed formal outline 

Wednesday, October 27

Students recorded concrete details from Chapter XI and the Appendix of Frederick D's Narrative, and we moved from that to a discussion of the Appendix's function as a defense against the charge that Douglass was hostile to religion.  Douglass, like most abolitionists, believed in fact that true religion condemned slavery and that God was on the side of the slaves and their allies.

To aid in marshalling arguments for the persuasive paper, students received a handout summarizing religious arguments both for and against slavery, and we focused on the latter (having already looked at the former).  Finally, we examined "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as a document of militant Christian abolitionism: "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."

HW due Thursday:
Vocabulary assignment and vocabulary quiz.

HW due Friday:
Typed thesis statement for persuasive essay on slavery.

Tuesday, October 26

Kill a Tree Day

Students received:
(1) a schedule of deadlines for stages of the slavery essay (see Documents page);
(2) an assignment sheet for the Outside Reading requirement (see Documents page);
and
(3) a handout with excerpts from the proslaveryt writings of George Fitzhugh.
We went over (1) and (2) and began to discuss (3).

HW due Wednesday:
Read the Appendix to Frederick Douglass's Narrative (i.e., finish the book).

HW due Thursday:
Vocabulary assignment and vocabulary quiz

HW due Friday:
Typed thesis statement for persuasive essay on slavery.

Monday, October 25

After students recorded CD's from Chapters IX and X of Frederick Douglass's Narrative, we focused briefly on Douglass's attitude toward religion and less briefly on his rebellion against Mr. Covey and on slave rebelliousness in general, questioning whether white Southerners believed the slaves to be be happy children or bloody-minded revolutionaries threatening to rise up and destroy the white race.

HW due Tuesday:
Read Chapter XI

HW due Wednesday:
Read Appendix

HW due Thursday:
Vocabulary assignment, part two and vocabulary quiz.

Friday, October 22

Students received an assignment sheet detailing requirements for an argumentative essay on slavery due Monday, November 5 (see Documents page).  We went over the sheet and Mr. P answered student questions about it.

Mr P then distributed the recent vocabulary quiz, one side of which had been graded, and we graded the other side together.  Students had an opportunity to see how they had done on the quiz, after which they handed it back in.

HW due Monday:
Read Chapters IX and X and work on the vocabulary words.

Thursday, October 21
Mr. P announced changes in the second half of the vocabulary assignment, namely that the due date is postponed from Tuesday to next Thursday and that students will not be required to supply a "real world" example of each word in use.

Students turned in the websearch worksheet on arguments in defense of slavery.

Students supplied concrete details from Chapters VII and VIII of Frederick Douglass's Narrative, after which we discussed how Douglass came to rebel against slavery.  All classes agreed that learning to read was a vital factor,  We then examined closely one piece Douglass read which influenced him deeply, the dialogue between a master and a slave which he found in the Columbian Orator. 

HW due Friday:
Read Frederick Douglass Chapter IX (short).
HW due Monday:
Read Chapter X (long).
Students should do the vocabulary work as they do the reading.

Wednesday, October 20

Students turned in their vocabulary assignments for the first eight chapters of Frederick Douglass's Narrative and took a quiz over the assigned words.

We spent the rest of the period sharing information and sources from the websearch worksheets which students began working on Monday in the computer lab. 

HW due Thursday:
Completed worksheets on arguments in defense of slavery

Tuesday, October 19

We reviewed the vocabulary words which are due tomorrow with definitions and sentences (from the book, from the "real world", and from students' heads).

HW due Wednesday:
Vocabulary assignment.  Quiz in class over the words.

Monday, October 18

Students worked in the computer lab to research arguments of various types which were used in defense of slavery.  Worksheets not completed and turned in at the end of the period must be completed as homework and submitted by Thursday.

HW due Wednesday:
Vocabulary assignment covering Chapters I-VIII in Frederick Douglass's Narrative and quiz over the assigned words.

Friday, October 15

We continued our investigation of search engine techniques, focusing especially on ways of enlarging and narrowing searches in pursuit of the ideal goal: excluding all irrelevant sites without excluding any relevant ones.  Search terms which walk the line between overly narrow and overly broad, and combinations of broader and narrower searches were recommended. Intelligent combinations of operators (e.g., quotation marks and minuses) were modelled for students.

Students received a  second handout (click here) on internet research -- this one covering ways to evaluate resources we find -- the reading of which was added to the homework for Monday.

Students were reminded to be working on the vocabulary assignment.

HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 7 and 8 of Frederick Douglass.
Read the handout on evaluating internet resources.

HW due Wednesday:
First vocabulary assignment, covering Chapters I-VIII of Douglass's Narrative.  Quiz over the vocab words.

Thursday, October 14

Mr. P outlined the parameters of the first major essay of the course, a research-based argumentative (persuasive) paper either supporting or opposing a resolution calling for the abolition of slavery (the author imagining him/herself to be writing the piece in 1860).  He explained that on Monday we will be working in the computer lab to research arguments which were used in support of slavery before the Civil War.

Consequently, we spent the class today focusing on online research techniques, especially the use of the "Advanced Search" features in Google and the use of certain Boolean operators.

Students received a handout on "Implied Boolean and the Search for Wisdom."

HW due Friday:
Read today's handout (see Documents page).

HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 7 and 8 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative.

HW due next Wednesday:
First vocabulary assignment submission and first cocabulary quiz, both covering Chapters 1-8.

Wednesday, October 13
Students took either the PSAT or the ASVAB test.

HW due Thursday:
Read Chapters 5 and 6 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative.

Tuesday, October 12

Students were reminded to report to either the Library (ASVAB) or Auditorium (PSAT) first thing tomorrow morning.

Students supplied CDs from Chapters 3 and 4 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative to show they had read them.

Students received an assignment sheet for the vocabulary words in the narrative (see Documents page), and we walked through the recommended process of completing it (involving mostly cutting and pasting and a little hand work). 

We discussed some of the CDs students had adduced, with many examples of the everyday atrocities under slavery and we raised the question of how people had defended such an inhumane system.  In partial answer, we turned to Douglass's reference to the "curse of Ham" on pages five and six, examining the scriptural passage it was based on and unravelling Douglass's analysis.

HW due Thursday:

Read Chapters 5 and 6 of Douglass's Narrative.

Monday, October 11

Mr. P introduced the vocabulary assignment for words in Frederick Douglass's Narrative.  A handout will be distributed tomorrow.

As a light-hearted treatment of the confusions of American racial categories (which we discussed in a serious fashion on Friday) students watched Dave Chappelle's "Racial Draft" episode.

Next we made the connection to the first chapter of Frederick Douglass (whose genetic inheritance was half white) and we compared the racial system of the U.S. with that of Mexico, where racial mixture is the national norm and where "La Raza" -- the national race -- is an amalgam of Spanish and Indian.

HW due Tuesday:
Read Chapter 3 and 4 of Douglass's Narrative.

Friday, October 8

We continnued to discuss questions raised by Jefferson's Blood, starting from the questions which students submitted Thursday.  The most consistent focus was on the perplexities of racial categorization in our society, exemplified by such phenomena as the white-appearing black descendants of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.  Mr. Potratz contributed historical information about the principal of hypodescent in U.S. racial definitions and about anti-miscegenation laws in the twentieth century.

Thursday, October 7

Students finished taking notes on Jefferson's Blood as we finished watching the film.
Students then took a twenty-question true/false quiz over the film.
After that, students came up with three questions which the film left them with and one small section of the film that it would be most helpful to watch again.

HW:  If you have not finished the assignment due today (to read the first two chapters of Frederick Douglass's Narrative) you should do so by Friday.

Wednesday, October 6

Students received copies of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself and the assignment to read the first two chapters by Thursday (tomorrow).

In place of the SAT question we analyzed the distinction between the words less and fewer.

Students continued to take notes on major points in Jefferson's Blood.  We will finish the film Thursday.

HW due Thursday:
Read Chapters 1 & 2 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative.

Tuesday, October 5

We analyzed the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence ("We hold these truths to be self-evident . . .") as a masterpiece of parallel construction and sequential logic.

Students began taking notes on the central points in Jefferson's Blood, a documentary film about Thomas Jefferson and his descendents both black and white.  We watched the first twenty minutes, more or less, and will continue on Wednesday.

Monday, October 4

Students evaluated other students' SAT practice essays from Friday, without knowing the authors' names.  The assignment will be graded for completion (anyone who wrote a substantial essay will receive full credit), but students will be required to register feedback they receive.  Each student read essays by four others and evaluated them based on the following nine criteria:

1. Development of ideas.



Does the author have a clear and coherent point of view? 1 2 3 4 5


Does the author use reasoning to explain and support his/her viewpoint? 1 2 3 4 5


Does the author support his/her viewpoint with well-chosed examples


from reading, studies, experience, or observations? 1 2 3 4 5


2. Expression of ideas


Are the ideas presented in clear, logical sequence? 1 2 3 4 5


Are there clear transitions from point to point? 1 2 3 4 5


Are ideas themselves presented in a clear fashion? 1 2 3 4 5


3. Conventions of standard written English


Are sentences in the essay put together grammatically and gracefully? 1 2 3 4 5


Do sentences flow easily from one to another? 1 2 3 4 5


Does the author use standard punctuation and spelling?

Friday, October 1

Students wrote a practice SAT essay, replicating as closely as possible conditions and procedures of the actual test. 

Those few who were absent will need to come in after school one day next week and spend twenty-five minutes writing the essay.