Friday, February 26
To cap our unit on Emerson and Thoreau, we gave the last word to the Transcendentalists by watching the very beginning of the recent PBS documentary series on our National Parks, the first episode of which is titled "The Scripture of Nature."
HW due Monday:
Read the biographies of Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 296-97) and of Herman Melville (pp. 311-12) in the textbook. The will be a brief quizlet over them.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 25
We discussed further the meaning of the battle of the ants and the story of the loon in "Brute Neighbors." Mr. P gave his perspective, as contained in his 87-word chunk:
People believe that they are all powerful, and that their conflicts and concerns are at the center of the cosmos. Careful observation of nature, however, reveals that human life in fact plays a minor role in the universe. Nature dwarfs human endeavors and thwarts all human attempts to conquer it. The battle of the ants, when viewed up close, is seen to far outstrip the fabled battles of the American Revolution, and the solitary loon, aided by the wind and rain, eludes and outlasts its human pursuers.
We then whether this chunk, which is structured
CM
CM
CM
CD
violates the rules of good expository writing. (Some said yes, because it starts with CM's and ends with CD's, rather than the other way around; Mr. P said no, it observes the fundamental principles.)
We discussed further the meaning of the battle of the ants and the story of the loon in "Brute Neighbors." Mr. P gave his perspective, as contained in his 87-word chunk:
People believe that they are all powerful, and that their conflicts and concerns are at the center of the cosmos. Careful observation of nature, however, reveals that human life in fact plays a minor role in the universe. Nature dwarfs human endeavors and thwarts all human attempts to conquer it. The battle of the ants, when viewed up close, is seen to far outstrip the fabled battles of the American Revolution, and the solitary loon, aided by the wind and rain, eludes and outlasts its human pursuers.
We then whether this chunk, which is structured
CM
CM
CM
CD
violates the rules of good expository writing. (Some said yes, because it starts with CM's and ends with CD's, rather than the other way around; Mr. P said no, it observes the fundamental principles.)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 24
We put several students' 87-word chunks under the document camera and critiqued them, both for form and for content. Near the end of class, students added punctuation marks to an especially opaque sentence from one chunk in order to render it intelligible and correct.
Students submitted their chunks.
We put several students' 87-word chunks under the document camera and critiqued them, both for form and for content. Near the end of class, students added punctuation marks to an especially opaque sentence from one chunk in order to render it intelligible and correct.
Students submitted their chunks.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 23
Students received back their "Anti-Nature" mini-essays and spent several minutes making corrections in response to Mr. P's corrections and comments.
Afterwards, we began reading about the Battle of the Ants in the "Brute Neighbors" chapter of Walden, paying special attention to the Homeric allusions. Students will complete the reading on their own, as part of the assignment due Wednesday.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the selections from the “Brute Neighbors” chapter of Walden (pp. 240-43, up to the “Conclusion”) and type one 87-word chunk answering the following question: What meaning or purpose do the Battle of the Ants and the Story of the Loon share? (Or, put differently, what common statement do the two incidents make?) Combine CM and CDs.
Students received back their "Anti-Nature" mini-essays and spent several minutes making corrections in response to Mr. P's corrections and comments.
Afterwards, we began reading about the Battle of the Ants in the "Brute Neighbors" chapter of Walden, paying special attention to the Homeric allusions. Students will complete the reading on their own, as part of the assignment due Wednesday.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the selections from the “Brute Neighbors” chapter of Walden (pp. 240-43, up to the “Conclusion”) and type one 87-word chunk answering the following question: What meaning or purpose do the Battle of the Ants and the Story of the Loon share? (Or, put differently, what common statement do the two incidents make?) Combine CM and CDs.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 22
Prior to students getting their Anti-Nature paragraphs back (tomorrow) we looked at sample papers (some good, some not) under the document camera, focusing especially on the papers' voice in the sense of the appropriateness of their diction to the task at hand, and on the papers' conclusions. Certain papers were faulted for their excessive informality (inf!) and for their failure to conclude by revisiting their theses.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the selections from the “Brute Neighbors” chapter of Walden (pp. 240-43, up to the “Conclusion”) and type one 87-word chunk answering the following question: What meaning or purpose do the Battle of the Ants and the Story of the Loon share? (Or, put differently, what common statement do the two incidents make?) Combine CM and CDs.
Prior to students getting their Anti-Nature paragraphs back (tomorrow) we looked at sample papers (some good, some not) under the document camera, focusing especially on the papers' voice in the sense of the appropriateness of their diction to the task at hand, and on the papers' conclusions. Certain papers were faulted for their excessive informality (inf!) and for their failure to conclude by revisiting their theses.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the selections from the “Brute Neighbors” chapter of Walden (pp. 240-43, up to the “Conclusion”) and type one 87-word chunk answering the following question: What meaning or purpose do the Battle of the Ants and the Story of the Loon share? (Or, put differently, what common statement do the two incidents make?) Combine CM and CDs.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wednesday, February 10
Students filled out Writing Improvement Goals forms.
We watched parts of Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog's film about Timothy Treadwell, who lived amidst grizzlies in Alaska for 13 summers before finally being eaten by one.
HW due Thursday:
Anti-Transcendentalist two-paragraph mini-essays. See Monday.
Students filled out Writing Improvement Goals forms.
We watched parts of Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog's film about Timothy Treadwell, who lived amidst grizzlies in Alaska for 13 summers before finally being eaten by one.
HW due Thursday:
Anti-Transcendentalist two-paragraph mini-essays. See Monday.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tuesday, February 9
Mr. P announced a postponement of the two-paragraph mini-essay due date from Wednesday to Thursday.
Mr. P read "The Rat Race Explained," a modern fable relevant to Thoreau's call to "simplify, simplify," and we read more in Walden.
HW due Thursday:
Two paragraphs in defense of technology/civilization and in opposition to returning to Nature. See Monday's log.
Mr. P announced a postponement of the two-paragraph mini-essay due date from Wednesday to Thursday.
Mr. P read "The Rat Race Explained," a modern fable relevant to Thoreau's call to "simplify, simplify," and we read more in Walden.
HW due Thursday:
Two paragraphs in defense of technology/civilization and in opposition to returning to Nature. See Monday's log.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday, February 8
We read the most famous section of Walden, in which Thoreau explains why he went to the woods.
Students received two brief handouts (see Documents), and we went over the assignment they are linked to; that assignment follows.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the two handouts (see Documents), on the Nukak-Maku and animal mothers, and write (type) two brilliant paragraphs rebutting the tree-hugging, hippie commie Transcendentalist propaganda of Ralph Waldo, WALL-E, and Henry David about getting back to (ugh) Nature. You may refer to the handouts or simply use them to get you thinking.
We read the most famous section of Walden, in which Thoreau explains why he went to the woods.
Students received two brief handouts (see Documents), and we went over the assignment they are linked to; that assignment follows.
HW due Wednesday:
Read the two handouts (see Documents), on the Nukak-Maku and animal mothers, and write (type) two brilliant paragraphs rebutting the tree-hugging, hippie commie Transcendentalist propaganda of Ralph Waldo, WALL-E, and Henry David about getting back to (ugh) Nature. You may refer to the handouts or simply use them to get you thinking.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wednesday, February 3
We completed an exercise in combining sentences, an exercise in which there were no correct answers, but in which it was possible to create more effective and less effective sentences by combining shorter sentences in different ways.
HW due Friday:
Assignment to be typed.
For each of the ten "Words to Own" in the selections from Walden (pp. 234-44, EOL) supply:
(1) a dictionary definition;
(2) two found sentences using the word with the same meaning as it has in Walden;
and
(3) one sentence of your own using the word with that meaning.
We completed an exercise in combining sentences, an exercise in which there were no correct answers, but in which it was possible to create more effective and less effective sentences by combining shorter sentences in different ways.
HW due Friday:
Assignment to be typed.
For each of the ten "Words to Own" in the selections from Walden (pp. 234-44, EOL) supply:
(1) a dictionary definition;
(2) two found sentences using the word with the same meaning as it has in Walden;
and
(3) one sentence of your own using the word with that meaning.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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