Hi, all!
Today is the first post-Thanksgiving post! It's a short one, but then not much has happened yet since the holiday, so there is not much to post about. :-)
CW: 18 days left: Do you know where your portfolio is?
E3H: Read the links from last week!
E2CP: Scenes due next Tuesday! And I've changed my mind. Bring the Poetry book, not Short Fiction, tomorrow.
So I spent most of yesterday driving back and forth to Cedar Rapids, and that was fun. Today, I spent the day sleeping and shopping, getting ready for tomorrow. (And I got to go to Costco for the first time! Cool!)
Anyway, I promised to provide some details for the weekend. Here they are:
CW: This is the Thanksgiving letter. It is very long because it is a work in progress; I add to it almost every year in a hodgepodge of additions. You do not have to read it all. But I would like you to respond to it. :-) And for those of you who did not see it before, here is the reading workshop letter. Also: Don't forget that you need to have read Pete Ferry's book by next week.
E3H: Your assignment for the weekend is to read Chapter One of Portrait. That assignment would normally be due on Tuesday, but in this case I'd actually like it on Monday so I can check annotations and give you back your books on Tuesday. Here is a bit of useful background on Charles Parnell and Michael Davitt. It will help you to understand what is going on in this chapter.
E2CP: This weekend you should be working on the scenes you started Monday and Tuesday. For these scenes I expect the following:
Ah, the deep philosophical conundrums we ponder when we are bored...
CW: Tomorrow we'll be in writing groups. Bring things to conference, esp the new pieces!
E3H: we'll be finishing fantasias tomorrow and discussing the SC projects.
E2CP: You need to get together (virtually on in person) with your HF groups this evening to write a preliminary script for your scenes. This script should cover the entire scene, though you will be allowed to change it and adapt it as you go. Make all necessary decisions tonight (live or video, how you'll costume, etc.) and include them with the script. Turn it in tomorrow.
It is 8th period and I am fried. I am getting too old to do the stay up until 3:00 thing on a school night. :-)
CW: Prompt #11: Take any fairy tale or children's story and retell it from a perspective that will alter our understanding of the piece. The narrative should be a more mature and in all likelihood darker one than is true of the original, though you should tell the same story.
E3H: Comment on boards (ongoing). New: create a graphic depiction of Joyce's use of Stream of Consciousness (SC) in the rugby scene. Be as specific as you can about the various elements (memories) that we see in this scene, but focus on the way they move into and out of each other. Creativity counts!
E2CP: You should have read all of the book by now. Your project for this book will involve getting together with 1-3 other classmates, scripting and performing a scene based on a segment of the novel. Select a scene from among the following options and email your selection to me. (If you have a really great idea connected to a scene I do not list below, ask; you never know.) After approval, try to get together with classmates over the weekend to begin scripting and planning your scene.
Scenes may (and probably should, in some cases) include a "Mark Twain" character who is there both to serve as a narrator and to highlight the satirical elements. Costume as you'd like--within reason--and use all needed props.
This project may be done live or on video.
Scene selections:
Late starts: a blessing and a curse. You get to come in late (blessing!) but the day somehow seems to take forever (curse!). Right now I have been here about two weeks today. And I'm not leaving yet. :-)
Ah well...
CW: We'll be in workshop mode again tomorrow. BUY and READ Travel Writing!!! Reading is due after Thanksgiving weekend.
E3H: Tonight: board posts and responses on Childhood Memories. Tomorrow we will discuss these and the opening of the novel and then see some more fantasias!
E2CP: I hope that the "feud" game today was at least a little bit helpful. Tomorrow we will be discussing the Arkansas scene and the Wilkes Plantation. The book is due to be finished by Friday!
Today's Missed Conferences: Courtney, Eddie Kirstyn, Tomorrow's Conferences: Sarah, Kirsten, Nolan, Eric D, Heather, Christina, Jori, Matthew B
And now: everybody is justin!!!
OK,I admit it: I am not a fan of winter.
(I know: that's a total shock, right? I hide it so well!) The thing is that I really, truly loathe it. And I grew up in New Hampshire, where there is much more snow than there is here, and moved here, where there is much more cold than I can stand. What is wrong with me anyway? It is ridiculous: I hate the cold and I hate getting up early, so logically I am a teacher in Chicago. Oy!
Speaking of getting up early, you don't have to tomorrow! I do, but that--as previously noted--is my curse. You get a day to sleep in, which of course makes getting HW done all the more possible!
CW: Tomorrow is a work day.
E3H:
Have I mentioned that I really don't much like Mondays?
I'm not kidding! A hugely successful pop phenomenon in Japan is the "performance" of an anime-ish avatra with a live band in concert. "She" plays to sold out crowds and is amazingly realistic (not to mention gigantic).
Take a look at this:
and this:
Japan is just simply a hoot!
Anyway, about your HW for the weekend:
CW: Guess what? Here is another letter!!! Also: next week we have T-F Writing Groups and three work days...if you guys get those online sestinas done this weekend!
E2CP: WW Monday. Then: as follows:
And today, we began the presentation of fantasias in E3H...one of my favorite projects of the year. The following utterly incredible one was presented by Eddie Schutt and created using animoto.com:
I am in official "wow" mode. Great work Eddie and everyone who went today!
Major Announcement:
Tomorrow is the second Friday of November. E3H and E2CP will therefore have Reading Workshop!!!
So...for HW...
Have those RW books ready!
And CW: WG day tomorrow!
Today's Missed Conferences: Tomorrow's Conferences:
Hey y'all:
A few quick notes at the end of a long day...
CW: Today we were in WG's; tomorrow prepare for a regular day.
3H: Today we finished the musical. Tomorrow we will discuss it. After this, if anyone is ready with a fantasia, we can get them started. Portrait of the Artist is available in the bookstore for $11; buy it this week. You must have a NEW copy.
2CP: Today we started to discuss HF 8-16; we will do more on that tomorrow but you should also read 17-18.
Something new:
Today's Missed Conferences: Zack
Tomorrow's Conferences: Ben, Courtney, Katie H, Cam, Carolyn, Sarah, Matt
Yes indeed! You not only get all the benefits of a four-day weekend, but this is "Fall Back!" weekend as well, the end of Daylight Savings Time, so you actually get an extra hour of weekend to enjoy!
When it rains, it pours!
CW: We are very officially in Q2 Workshop Mode: while there may be a few more prompts, for the most part you are going to find that most of the day are dedicated to your individual progress on the pieces you are choosing as your portfolio works. Reminder: T/F are WG days, so come prepared.
E3H: If by chance you have not received the Asher emails, and I did discover that I missed a few, you'll receive them this weekend. One revision on that essay is a freebie. Note to those whose parents I met early yesterday: The printouts from the gradebook program make it appear as if your "Hunger Artist" essay is missing even though you did it. I figured that out about two hours into the conferences, but earlier I had mentioned this to several parents. Please show them this to prove that you are correct in asserting that you actually did your work.
What? The elections are done today? Whatever will the world have to talk about?
I mean seriously: have you turned on your TV or radio lately or opened your mailbox? Have you come home and had to clean the mailers from your doorknob? Well, folks: after today, it's over!
Until tomorrow. Don't forget: The Iowa caucuses are only fourteen months away.
:-)
CW: We started our new Writing Groups today. We'll be working in them MWF each week, and yes that means tomorrow. Bring in 3-4 copies of your pieces for WG conferences. Note that WG conferences count as one conference among multiple people.
E2CP: We began Writing Workshop today and it seems a positive start. We will discuss it tomorrow before moving on to Huck Finn, in which (remember?) you should have read through Chapter 8. Don't forget that all revisions, essay or WW, should follow the rainbow draft pattern (12345)
E3H: We finished watching Sunday in the Park With George, Act One in class today. We'll spend some time discussing it and its connections to My Name Is Asher Lev tomorrow, as well as more on the fantasias and maybe something about Portrait (who knows?).
Today's journal music:
And a bit of political silliness: