Question 2

Many of you have stated that while the lives of the citizens of the world state are full of pleasure, they seem empty. What makes a life full and rich? Is having a full life the same as having a happy life?

Discussion question 1

With the pro-d and being sick, I'm a bit behind. I have, however, noticed that no one actually responds to these till late Sunday.

Question 1.
Many of you predicted that Bernard will lead some sort of rebellion against the world state. Will it be possible for him to overcome his conditioning and social experience?

English 8 Quiz

Hey English 11, don't worry about this post, it isn't for you.

English 8 H - Sorry I didn't get this out earlier. Hope you had fun in the library!
Here are some details on tomorrow's quiz. It will be practical - that is, you will use your skills. I am going to give you a short story, or an excerpt, to read. You will show me that you can ask questions, make connections, and visualize the text (draw an illustration/diagram/map). You will make predictions and inferences, and give specific textual evidence for your inferences and predictions. Finally, you'll write a short summary and I will ask you a few comprehension questions.

I am about 90% sure I will be back with you tomorrow, so we will also finish those last few presentations! See you D block, Ms. A.

Monday-Tuesday

On Monday, you had reading and reading log time, and then worked on a character map. I was sick and Mr. Lowall was in - it sounded like he was able to bring in some interesting perspectives.

Tuesday we looked closely at part 2 of Chapter 5, Bernard's solidaridy service. I think this is the moral low point of the whole novel: it is a perversion of religious experience that leaves the participants feeling empty, rather than connected.

On Thursday you will be writing an in-class essay (topic: How does the World State control its citizens?). Wednesday we will look more closely at essay conventions. You will be allowed to bring in an outline, so you may wish to begin preparing.

Group Discussion Day 2

Today we covered a new reading strategy, Reading for Purpose. As a heads up - I will be quizzing you on the reading strategies we've learned. They are powerful tools that you can apply to your life and education.

We continued with Brave New World and group discussions. I hope you can see that the more you prepare for your discussion, the more you get out of it. If you don't do your reading and your prep, you may be letting your group down.

For homework, you need to read up to the end of Chapter 4, and complete all sections of your reading log for chapters 1-4.

Discussion Question 2

People in the World State in Brave New World do not have freedom, but are taken care of - they have jobs, food, and access to leisure activites. What's more important - having your basic needs met (food, shelter, water), or freedom?

Web discussion question 1

Do you think the people living in the World State in Brave New World are happy? Why or why not?

Chapter 3

Wednesday-Thursday, we covered chapters 1-3. My hope is that you have an understanding of the setting of the novel - that is, the social dynamics, the values, and culture of the World State. We need to understand the World State before we can understand the characters within it.

Tomorrow we will be working in groups to discuss the novel. You have all been equipped with role sheets that you will need to complete before class. Preparing for conversation should allow you to discuss the novel - the events, the themes, the characters - and also the big ideas and connections you've made.

Reading Strategies

My focus this week is to use the beginning of Brave New World to teach reading strategies. Reading strategies are things good readers do to help themselves understand the text better. They make reading more work, but much more rewarding. Some strategies include:

-asking questions
-making predictions
-making inferences
-visualizing the text
-knowing when you don't know
-making connections
-reading with a purpose

We have covered Asking Questions and Visualizing the Text. The rest are coming up. Your reading logs are designed to give you practice in applying the reading strategies. Your job as a reader is to know when you don't understand, and see what you can do to begin understanding. Reading is one of the most complex tasks that we ask our brains to do - it goes far beyond sounding out the words. Becoming a better reader will support you in all your classes, and well beyond the classroom.

Homework: Please read Chapter 2 and do your 8 questions. You will use your questions to launch discussions in your small groups tomorrow.

Brave New World Chapter 1

Thanks everyone for posting below! Glad to see some engaged conversation.

Today we began reading Brave New World and talked about the Reading Log assignment (handout available to the right of your screen). The first chapter of the novel is quite difficult. Huxley intends to (and I think he succeeds) overwhelm us, his readers, by suddenly immersing ourselves in a strange and new environment. That's why there's so much complex vocabulary, and the processes are never fully explained. Remember, the director is talking to citizens of the World State - they know things that we don't, yet. If you're confused, don't worry: you're supposed to be somewhat confused. We will continue reading together tomorrow.

For homework, please complete your chapter 1 illustration. Remember it can be a diagram, flowchart, whatever, as long as it's a visual rendering of the ideas in the chapter.

If you have questions about the novel and don't want to ask in class, you can post them below (and in this case, anonymous is OK) and I will do my best to answer.

Brave New World - Intro

Today we started Brave New World, and previewed some of the important themes of the novel. On Monday we will break up into study groups, the group of people who will work with you through the unit.

Homework: Please bring in a quote about happiness or freedom, from any source. Print it large enough that I can post it up. You also need to do your web post.

Discussion Question #2

This week, you read several fairy tales and fairy tale adaptations. If you had your own children, or young children in your life, what kinds of stories would you read to them? Why?

Discussion Question #1

I believe that self-monitoring, or adapting your behaviour, language, and style for different audiences, is important. Some of you argued in class today that instead, you should always be true to yourself, and do as you please without being concerned with the reactions and responses of others.
Add your opinion to the mix.

Audience

Wednesday: small group presentations. Thanks for taking on the responsibility of marking.

Thursday: Mr. Smith came in and spoke about Writing 12. The idea of audience has come up a few times in the last few days; that is, the careful consideration of who you are writing for. We all have so many qualities, abilities, and parts of ourselfs. Well-adjusted people are able to be true to themselves in all situations, but do so with an awareness that it's appropriate to show different parts of yourself, at different times.
So do successful writers. You use all kinds of different modes in writing - grocery lists, lab reports, text messages, love letters, Christmas cards, journals, Facebook comments, more. The language you use in each of these modes is (or should be) different. It doesn't mean you aren't being true to yourself; it just means you are judging which of your many abilities you are putting on display.

Weekend homework (in case you want to get a jump on it) part 1: one blog post - questions are above. Part 2: find a quote about freedom or happiness. It can be from literature, music, pop culture, history, anything - it's easy to use internet searches to find quotation databases. I want to put them up in the classroom (they'll relate to inquiry questions for Brave New World), so please make them large enough to be legible from afar.

Critique work day.

Today we worked on our Fairy Tale critiques. They are due in-class tomorrow and should be 1-1.5 pages long, double-spaced. Please make sure your critique goes beyond summary and includes analysis.
Small group presentations will take place tomorrow. Be prepared to give your group a quick book-talk and share your ideas about analysis.

This link will take you to the peer-assessment rubric - give it a click to see what an A looks like.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASOfJIO2s-NAZGM1cjhieDNfMTZjM2dmcG5mMw&hl=en

Fairy Tale critique

**Handout links have been reconfigured! They should work now.**

Today we began learning logs. You will be responsible for a daily learning log. Please write down the class goal, and then respond to the question. I will collect the logs biweekly, and they will be worth 10% of your grade. Please get a notebook!

We also began our fairy tale critiques. Handouts are on the side. You will be responsible for an informal, peer-assessed presentation. Please don't get too worried about the presentation - it'll be conversational and relaxed, and to a small group of your classmates. You will also be writing a brief critique of a fairy tale. We will use class tomorrow to work on the critiques (on the laptops).

I'm extending web discussion by one day. You need to comment on one question by tomorrow. If you would like to use an alias, please let me know who you are.

Reading assessments

Today we read Cinder Edna, and then completed the departmental reading assessment. If you were not in class I will need you to do it next week. It isn't for grades, but is rather a piece of formative assessment - it allows me to see what you know.

Web discussion questions are now live and commenting will be open until Monday morning. Web commenting is worth 10% of your grade. You are allowed 2 "free weeks" - that is, weeks where you do not comment. Every other comment missed is a deduction of 1 point. There are 18 weekends this semester, so if you participate in 12 web discussions, you will receive 6/10. If you participate in 16, you will receive 10/10. You are welcome to follow the discussion and comment more than once. Web comment questions also make for great dinner table conversation!

Enjoy the weekend.

Week 1, Question 2

***Directions are posted below. You only need to choose 1 question to respond to.***

I think we all agree that the real world exists in shades of grey, not black-and-white when it comes to good and evil. However, are there examples of absolute and complete evil in the world? If so, will there ever be a way to rid the world of it?

Week 1, Question 1

Aristophanes was a guy who hung out with Plato (a very famous Greek philosopher) back in the day. In one of their discussions, Aristophanes described his understanding of love. He believed that originally, human beings were these big, happy blobs. There were 3 kinds of blob: one that was all male, one that was all female, and one that was hermaphrodidic (had male and female components). Zeus (an ancient Greek god) chopped them all in half, and mended them up, so that each being became two separate entities. Everyone was scattered all around the world. Now we say that we are looking for our "other half" to go back to that primal, happy, state. So we can never really be whole until we find that other person.

What do you think of this story?

Fairy Tales class 1

Today we began our Fairy Tales unit. There will be 2 major assessment pieces for this unit: a fairy tale critique (short written piece plus short presentation), and a group re-write of a fairy tale. We will (hopefully) be going over to Stride to read our fairy tales to real, live children. More details TBA.

To introduce the unit, I read a bizarre re-telling of Cinderella, we watched a clip from Shrek, and discussed some of the conventions of a fairy tale, and some of the ways contemporary writers play with those conventions to create humour and satirize. I will try to post the powerpoint on the side.

No homework today; however, if you have a particular fairy tale that you'd like to work on, please bring it in.

Also, I am going to post 2 discussion questions above. Please choose one to respond to. Responses need to be in standard written English, and should be several sentences long. You may answer the original question or respond to another comment. Your response can include a link, but please explain why you chose the link/video.

We will be doing this every week and it is worth 10% of your mark. The questions will usually be general and philosophical in tone, but will be inspired by the work we've done in class.

Love and communication.

Today we talked about communication and did a couple of activities to emphazise how important the non-verbal is. Here is an example from the wonderful world of the interweb:

Consider the case of Arlene:
Arlene is attractive and has no problem meeting eligible men — it’s keeping them that is the problem! Arlene is funny and a good conversationalist, but even though she laughs and smiles constantly, she radiates tension. Arlene’s shoulders and eyebrows are noticeably raised, her voice is shrill and her body stiff to touch. Being around Arlene makes many people feel uncomfortable. Arlene has a lot going for her that is undercut by the discomfort she evokes in others.
Arlene is articulate, attractive, and well-intentioned, but she struggles to connect with others because she isn’t aware of the nonverbal messages she’s communicating. But she can break this pattern if she learns to pay attention to the wordless signals she sends and receives:
Arlene notices that her date is tapping his fingers and that she has been swinging her leg and foot. He looks bored, and she feels tense all over. Taking a long, deep breath and a swallow of wine, she feels her shoulders drop and her jaw relax. Arlene leans across the table and breaks into a warm smile. Her date smiles back, and their eyes meet and hold. She has also used her new observational skills at work and is now much more comfortable interacting with others in that setting. (from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/eq6_nonverbal_communication.htm)

See, I told you this class would help with your love life. I'm joking, but serious at the same time (what's the emoticon for that?). How you use your body makes a HUGE difference in how people respond to you.

I have changed the comment settings so that you do NOT need an account to post. Please post below so that I know you've figured everything out.

Tomorrow we will begin our Fairytales unit. If you have any favourite stories from childhood, you are invited to bring them in!

First day.

Today we went over the class outline and expectations, and started to get to know one another. You seem like an energetic, positive group of people and I look forward to working with you.

Quick follow-up on our end-of-class conversation about classes you enjoyed. It sounded like many of you value independence, and classes that you can be social in. If you can show me that you are willing to engage and work hard, I can offer you plenty of independence. You will work hard - no slacking off, please - but I will do my best to make the work you do valuable. I also agree that having a social community in class is important, and that's why we'll spend time this week getting to know one another, and eventually, spend a lot of time working collaboratively.

Homework: please have a parent/guardian complete the parent letter, and bring it back to school. Also, please say hello beneath to confirm that you understand how to comment. It looks like you will need to create a Google account. If you already use Gmail or Blogger, you have one; otherwise, go to http://www.google.ca/, click on "Log in" in the top right corner, then click on "Create an account now". It will lead you through a simple process, then, when you're ready to comment, you'll log in with your username and password. If you are confused please ask me and I will help you.