topham's corrolary

Topham's Corrolary to the General Theory of Relativity states that the first week of school is always the longest week of the year, and you have survived it! Congratulations!!! It's over! You have reached that almighty rest zone called the weekend in which football games and one-act plays reside along with a momentary return to the world of sleeping in. It may not last (cf. "Mondays") but it is nice finally to be here.

So, with all of that in mind, and with the admonition that you enjoy this weekend because you have earned it, I give you this day's notes:

CW: Today we held conferences one on one about one of your prompts. Your assignment is to do one of the following: either revise that piece based upon the feedback you received or write a new piece. If you choose to revise, please use the rainbow draft instructions that can be found here. ALSO: if you have not yet signed up for the text messaging, check the info on yesterday's blog and do so now.

E3H: Today we held a severely truncated Reading Workshop. (It will be much better next time.) Your assignment for Monday's Writing Workshop is to come in with a piece for discussion. The prompt: Create a Frozen Moment piece. Find one specific and dynamic memory from this summer and then take the most memorable portion of it (mid-dive from a cliff, standing atop a mountain looking at the world, yanking a large fish from the water, closing in for a kiss, laughign with friends around a bonfire, etc.) and freeze-frame it, stopping it as if it were a three-dimensional photograph that still somehow manages to maintain the sense of smell (and even in some cases the sense of sound). Then describe the heck out of it. Try to avoid overusing adjectives; the best descriptors are vivid nouns and verbs.  ALSO: if you have not yet signed up for the text messaging, check the info on yesterday's blog and do so now.

E2CP: Today we discussed the posters you made yesterday and introduced the concept of transcendentalism, which we will be discussing for the next couple of weeks. Over the weekend (for Tuesday), you will be reading a piece that covers a different aspect of Transcendentalism. Written by Henry David Thoreau, it is called Civil Disobedience. Please annotate it as before: find five questions about things you do not understand and five places where you feel that Thoreau is absolutely right or thoroughly wrong and explain why. For Monday, you'll need to bring in a piece of writing for Writing Workshop. Here is the prompt: Create a Frozen Moment piece. Find one specific and dynamic memory from this summer and then take the most memorable portion of it (mid-dive from a cliff, standing atop a mountain looking at the world, yanking a large fish from the water, closing in for a kiss, laughign with friends around a bonfire, etc.) and freeze-frame it, stopping it as if it were a three-dimensional photograph that still somehow manages to maintain the sense of smell (and even in some cases the sense of sound). Then describe the heck out of it. Try to avoid overusing adjectives; the best descriptors are vivid nouns and verbs. ALSO: if you have not yet signed up for the text messaging, check the info on yesterday's blog and do so now. (Isaiah, check this out: you are in the wrong class!)

For today's bit of bizarreness: