Wednesday-
We looked at our Meaningful Scenes in a peer review session that took up the majority of the class. The remaining time was spent making changes in our writings.
Thursday-
A break between the peer review and when the final drafts are due, we attended a lecture focusing on preparing for college.
Due Tomorrow: Meaningful Scene!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 24
At the end of Monday's class we started exploring the idea of "show not tell." Today we picked up where we left off and looked at some examples that hopefully shed a little more light on "show" writing. These ideas hopefully influenced our writing for the "meaningful scenes" project we began today.
HOMEWORK: finish writing your "MS" and come prepared for peer review tomorrow.
HOMEWORK: finish writing your "MS" and come prepared for peer review tomorrow.
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23
Today's class started with a chat of the two conferences on Friday (Women's and Logging) and the news highlights of the weekend. This was then followed by a summary of last Friday's activities (Gambling).
Moving into the activities of the week, we began looking at a writing assignment focusing on "meaninful scenes."
Meaningful Scenes
This writing assignment is an attempt to attach significance to small part of the world that surrounds us. By focusing on a single “detail,” we can extend thoughts until they apply to the larger “picture.” The weeds pushing their way up between the cracks of the sidewalk can be an example of struggle, nature’s perseverance to reclaim what was originally hers. A line of ants stretching down a length of wood can be a source for reflections on human philosophy and behavior: Is a life dedicated to a social, collective goal, better than one pursuing individual ones? Is it within human nature to ignore personal identity for the creation of a greater good?
This writing is an attempt to use a common sight in our lives and go beyond what is obvious and common. It is a chance to show our individuality in thinking- the path our thoughts can take when sparked by a seemingly ordinary image. Be creative, anything can have significance!
There are two basic sections of this writing assignment:
1. A description of the setting- what you are looking at
2. Your extending thoughts- what it means
• Approximately 250 words in length
We finished the class by addressing some issues with writing- showing, not telling.
HOMEWORK: come to class tomorrow with an idea for the "meaningful scene" writing.
Moving into the activities of the week, we began looking at a writing assignment focusing on "meaninful scenes."
Meaningful Scenes
This writing assignment is an attempt to attach significance to small part of the world that surrounds us. By focusing on a single “detail,” we can extend thoughts until they apply to the larger “picture.” The weeds pushing their way up between the cracks of the sidewalk can be an example of struggle, nature’s perseverance to reclaim what was originally hers. A line of ants stretching down a length of wood can be a source for reflections on human philosophy and behavior: Is a life dedicated to a social, collective goal, better than one pursuing individual ones? Is it within human nature to ignore personal identity for the creation of a greater good?
This writing is an attempt to use a common sight in our lives and go beyond what is obvious and common. It is a chance to show our individuality in thinking- the path our thoughts can take when sparked by a seemingly ordinary image. Be creative, anything can have significance!
There are two basic sections of this writing assignment:
1. A description of the setting- what you are looking at
2. Your extending thoughts- what it means
• Approximately 250 words in length
We finished the class by addressing some issues with writing- showing, not telling.
HOMEWORK: come to class tomorrow with an idea for the "meaningful scene" writing.
Friday, March 20, 2009
March 20
Opening up the class we wrote down some questions relating to our reflective essays that were due today:
1. How was the timing of the paper? (did you have enough time between drafts?)
2. What are you proud of in this essay?
3. What would you have liked to have improved/done differently with the essay?
4. Did this writing influence your perspective in any way? Why?
5. What class activities helped you with the ideas behind the reflective essay? What activities didn't help?
6. Any additional comments?
The remainder of the class was spent looking talking about the relationship between gambling and luck. A short article was read by Mr. Chan and the overall meaning was related back to our lives. Time ran short and the rhetorical element of the lesson went largely unaddressed. The conversation will resume at the beginning of class on Monday...
NO HOMEWORK
1. How was the timing of the paper? (did you have enough time between drafts?)
2. What are you proud of in this essay?
3. What would you have liked to have improved/done differently with the essay?
4. Did this writing influence your perspective in any way? Why?
5. What class activities helped you with the ideas behind the reflective essay? What activities didn't help?
6. Any additional comments?
The remainder of the class was spent looking talking about the relationship between gambling and luck. A short article was read by Mr. Chan and the overall meaning was related back to our lives. Time ran short and the rhetorical element of the lesson went largely unaddressed. The conversation will resume at the beginning of class on Monday...
NO HOMEWORK
Thursday, March 19, 2009
March 19
Details...
To open the class we had a quick quiz. I wanted to distinguish the reason behind the editing mistakes I have been finding in our writings... is it because the rules for apostrophes are not known or is it just lazy proofing? Do students know the difference between there/their, too/to, which/witch... or do we need to spend time in class on when to use each one? hmmm... just asking the question is a little disturbing...
Following this quiz we looked at some citation issues with some examples.
The end of the period was spent looking at quotes dealing with "Human Nature." This led into the journal write #7:
What is "human nature" and how does it apply to your reflective essay topic?
DUE Tomorrow: Reflective Essay!
For those that will be missing Friday:
Before we turn in our final drafts we will be writing down our reflections on the process of writing this paper. Questions to answer:
1. How was the timing of the paper? (did you have enough time between drafts?)
2. What are you proud of in this essay?
3. What would you have liked to have improved/done differently with the essay?
4. Did this writing influence your perspective in any way? Why?
5. What class activities helped you with the ideas behind the reflective essay? What activities didn't help?
6. Any additional comments?
To open the class we had a quick quiz. I wanted to distinguish the reason behind the editing mistakes I have been finding in our writings... is it because the rules for apostrophes are not known or is it just lazy proofing? Do students know the difference between there/their, too/to, which/witch... or do we need to spend time in class on when to use each one? hmmm... just asking the question is a little disturbing...
Following this quiz we looked at some citation issues with some examples.
The end of the period was spent looking at quotes dealing with "Human Nature." This led into the journal write #7:
What is "human nature" and how does it apply to your reflective essay topic?
DUE Tomorrow: Reflective Essay!
For those that will be missing Friday:
Before we turn in our final drafts we will be writing down our reflections on the process of writing this paper. Questions to answer:
1. How was the timing of the paper? (did you have enough time between drafts?)
2. What are you proud of in this essay?
3. What would you have liked to have improved/done differently with the essay?
4. Did this writing influence your perspective in any way? Why?
5. What class activities helped you with the ideas behind the reflective essay? What activities didn't help?
6. Any additional comments?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
March 18
In an effort to hammer some ideas relating to the reflective essay (that is due Friday!) into our heads we once again focused on the different parts of the essay- specifically, the four body paragraphs and the conclusion. Hopefully the stale atmosphere in the class today during lecture will not translate into essays of minimal substance...
As a lead-in to the day's activities some of the responses to the Baraka questions were looked at and evaluated. Lesson for the day: Show some thought in the work you do...
As a lead-in to the day's activities some of the responses to the Baraka questions were looked at and evaluated. Lesson for the day: Show some thought in the work you do...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March 17
A good class today. We finished off Baraka and had a discussion based around the four questions we had for our notes.
For the last 10 minutes of class we chose one of the questions and explored any new perspectives we gained after our discussion.
DUE Friday: The final draft of the reflective essay.
NO HOMEWORK
For the last 10 minutes of class we chose one of the questions and explored any new perspectives we gained after our discussion.
DUE Friday: The final draft of the reflective essay.
NO HOMEWORK
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 16
Today we watched Baraka again- we will finish it tomorrow at the beginning of class.
The draft of the reflective essay was returned. Overall, the quality was higher than the previous essay. Improvement is good.
Any students that missed Friday's notetaking were to turn them in today.
Late drafts are still being accepted (10% marked off for each day).
Final drafts of the reflective essay are due this Friday!
NO HOMEWORK
The draft of the reflective essay was returned. Overall, the quality was higher than the previous essay. Improvement is good.
Any students that missed Friday's notetaking were to turn them in today.
Late drafts are still being accepted (10% marked off for each day).
Final drafts of the reflective essay are due this Friday!
NO HOMEWORK
Friday, March 13, 2009
March 13
Another Friday the 13th...
The draft of the reflective essay is due today!
After turning in the essay we began watching the movie Baraka. The movie explores the relationship between humans and natural environment, the present and the eternal. There were four questions to answer as the "exit ticket":
1. How is the idea of routine, or ritual, explored?
2. What ideas on PERSPECTIVE does the movie raise?
3. What is the purpose of the movie?
4. What is humankind's relationship with the natural world?
The draft of the reflective essay is due today!
After turning in the essay we began watching the movie Baraka. The movie explores the relationship between humans and natural environment, the present and the eternal. There were four questions to answer as the "exit ticket":
1. How is the idea of routine, or ritual, explored?
2. What ideas on PERSPECTIVE does the movie raise?
3. What is the purpose of the movie?
4. What is humankind's relationship with the natural world?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
March 12
We touched upon the "Omelas" story once again, sharing our answers from yesterday's questions and discussing them as a class looking at the paradoxes...
Perspectives...
An important element of this reflective essay is being able to look upon our invention from different perspectives to examine the positive and negative aspects of it in our lives. To give us an idea of this we looked at street art examples the require a certain "vantage point" to make sense of the image. Too often we simply accept the given idea of something and do not take the time to look deeper, or from another angle... taking this idea of perspective, we finished the class by looking at our reflective essay focuses and tried t
o develop a more complete picture. 
o develop a more complete picture. 
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
March 11
After some reflection, it was decided that if students wanted to resubmit their character analysis paper, after meeting with Mr. Chan on an individual basis, their final grade could be changed. The process of writing and exposing ideas is important- if students want to refine their abilities then we are focusing on the right things... let's see how many takers there are...
The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas
There was some general class discussions before reading and after addressing some relevant issues with the story. This led into the final activity of the class which was Journal Write #6, addressing three questions:
What is the paradox in the story?
Would you stay or leave Omelas and why?
Is there a paradox with your focus for the reflective essay? (positive and negative aspects of your invention or innovation)
The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas
There was some general class discussions before reading and after addressing some relevant issues with the story. This led into the final activity of the class which was Journal Write #6, addressing three questions:
What is the paradox in the story?
Would you stay or leave Omelas and why?
Is there a paradox with your focus for the reflective essay? (positive and negative aspects of your invention or innovation)
March 10
Today's activities started with the handing back of the final drafts of the Character Analysis papers. For many students their final score was a shock (there was also some added confusion due to Mr. Chan's confused ideas of the grade breakdowns...). Hopefully this will prove as an example of Mr. Chan's grading- a focus on quality rather than quantity; if the soup is thin don't expect a large tip. We will see how things go with the Reflective Essay...
Tomorrow we will be reading the short story The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas. As a lead-in to the story we looked at some terms and tried to think a bit abstractly...
Vocabulary terms: Utopia, Paradox, Scapegoat. 
Quotes: (from the short story)
"Only pain in intellectual, only evil interesting."
"Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary , what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive."
Tomorrow we will look at the story and see if we can find parallels with our Reflective Writing project.
DUE Friday: Draft of Reflective Essay
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 9
Peer Work
Today we ran through our drafts of the reflective essay.
Today we ran through our drafts of the reflective essay.
Things to Consider...
Introduction:
-Is there an effective Hook?
-Is there enough background information?
-Does the author link the invention/innovation to their own life and experiences?
-Is there a thesis statement at the end that focuses the reader’s attention?
Body 1, History:
-Is there a topic sentence that focuses the reader on the history of the invention?
-Does the author present information regarding the history/evolution of the invention?
*For this first draft the author needs to include what they know, the research element will be required next draft
Body 2, American Influence:
-Is there a topic sentence that focuses the reader on the effects of the invention on American Culture?
-Are all statements supported!?
-Is the information convincing?
Body 3, Personal Influence:
-Is there a topic sentence that links the invention to the author?
-Are all statements supported with personal experiences? (Support!)
-Does the author make the influence of the invention clear to the reader?
Body 4, Future Influence:
-Is there a topic sentence that focuses the reader on the contents of the paragraph?
-Does the author extend the ideas of the inventions influence into the future?
-Does the author make guesses as to the inventions relevance in American Culture or their personal lives?
Conclusion:
-Does the author synthesize the information of the body paragraphs? (explain the meaning of the four body sections)
-Is the thesis statement addressed?
-Does the author give a philosophical thought at the end? (Extending the idea of the impact the invention has had on humans)
DUE Friday: Next Draft of the Reflective Essay!
Friday, March 6, 2009
March 6
Reflective Essay
The focus for today was the reflective essay. We started class looking at our introductions and had other students provide some constructive criticism. Moving on from there, we wrote down ideas for the body paragraphs. Finally, we examined the components of the conclusion, particularly the philosophical extension. There was a general sense of confusion in regards to this last element, but the idea behind it is closely linked with the activities of this last week. Taking the example of the muscular cow (yesterday), taking the simple idea that "to better oneself" is a noble pursuit (we all agreed in class), extending that idea far enough can result in some interesting situations (the cow was called "unnatural" or "gross"). When applied to humans the same situation occurred
...
..."Ewwww. Gross."
For the reflective essay, I want the ideas in your essays to be extended so that they have a larger significance. I want to step beyond the immediate and obvious and delve into the larger context and meaning. Let's see if we can get beyond our immediate reaction of "gross" and explore, and comment on, why we think this way.
HOMEWORK: Draft 1 of the Reflective Essay due MONDAY
Thursday, March 5, 2009
March 5
My oh Myostatin....
The beginning of class once again examined a modern development and its implications for the future. We have generally come to the conclusion that science and technology can be taken too far, but today we tried to find exactly where we find ourselves questioning what we see around us.
After this class discussion we paired up and began talking about our own ideas for the refective essay. Students took turns, one would talk while the other listened. After a minute addressing a specific question the silent student would be able to give feedback. The process was repeated for all questions and then the "listener" would take their turn as the "talker."
The class finished off with individual work on the introduction portion of the reflective essay.
HOMEWORK: finish the introduction for tomorrow's peer review.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
March 4
I was happy to hear that some students took the 24 hour challenge and tried to go without a modern convenience. There were some interesting comments on technology and its role in our lives...
Once again we looked at the basic format for the reflective essay, going into a little more detail after yesterday's cursory glance.
Introductory quote leading into the journal write:
"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers."
-James Baldwin
Journal Write #5: Respond to this painting and try to address some of the "questions" you might have.
Once again we looked at the basic format for the reflective essay, going into a little more detail after yesterday's cursory glance.
Introductory quote leading into the journal write:
"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers."
-James Baldwin
Journal Write #5: Respond to this painting and try to address some of the "questions" you might have.
TOMORROW: Journal check and have an idea for your reflective essay focus
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
March 3
Picking up where we left off...
Yesterday the focus was on inventions and their impact on American life, today we tried to narrow our sights on how they impact our personal, daily lives. Taking an invention and tracking it from its past (within the last 25 years) to the present, and then extending its use to the future was a key concern in the discussions for it's impact can be very different (think antibiotics again).
Towards the end of the class the 24 hour challenge was posed to any who would dare to take it. Can you go 24 hours without the use of one of your "top 5 inventions in your life?"
Yesterday the focus was on inventions and their impact on American life, today we tried to narrow our sights on how they impact our personal, daily lives. Taking an invention and tracking it from its past (within the last 25 years) to the present, and then extending its use to the future was a key concern in the discussions for it's impact can be very different (think antibiotics again).
Towards the end of the class the 24 hour challenge was posed to any who would dare to take it. Can you go 24 hours without the use of one of your "top 5 inventions in your life?"
Monday, March 2, 2009
March 2
Moving on...
Over the course of the previous week we looked at various items that had meaning in one way or another. The overall goal was to arrive at some sort of insight into our own lives- to develop a more discerning eye for detail and to delve into that which is generalized or common.
Today we took that search for significance and began an overview of some ideas that will eventually filter into our next writing assignment: a reflective essay.
Essay overview-
Student will be able to identify a specific modern influence that shapes their lives and reflect upon its personal, cultural, and global impact.
Today we looked at the impact that certain inventions have had on the average American, focusing on two in particular: Antibiotics and the television.
Tomorrow we will continue our discussion and focus on the inventions that directly influence our personal lives...
NO HOMEWORK
Over the course of the previous week we looked at various items that had meaning in one way or another. The overall goal was to arrive at some sort of insight into our own lives- to develop a more discerning eye for detail and to delve into that which is generalized or common.
Today we took that search for significance and began an overview of some ideas that will eventually filter into our next writing assignment: a reflective essay.
Essay overview-
Student will be able to identify a specific modern influence that shapes their lives and reflect upon its personal, cultural, and global impact.
Today we looked at the impact that certain inventions have had on the average American, focusing on two in particular: Antibiotics and the television.
Tomorrow we will continue our discussion and focus on the inventions that directly influence our personal lives...
NO HOMEWORK
Feb 26
Work with generalized statements from previous class
Journal write #4:
The end portion of the class was spent working independently on the Character Analysis papers.
Due Tomorrow: Character Analysis Papers
Journal write #4:
The end portion of the class was spent working independently on the Character Analysis papers.
Due Tomorrow: Character Analysis Papers
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