that left a good taste in our mouths

Thanks to everyone who shared their recipes and stories with us-- what a sweet way to end the semester.

FALL SEMESTER FINAL

Welcome to the last day of our semester.  I look forward to sharing what we've prepared with each other.  In the process, please make sure to complete the following:

1. Turn in your self-assessment (items on the white board in class)
2. Have your grade conference (optional)
3. Comment to the FOR THE WIN/TER BREAK post with your Big Question

4. POST to your blog with your Big Question topic and your intention for the winter break (title: FOR THE WIN/TER BREAK)

Reminder: I will be posting to the course blog intermittently over the break.  Every time you comment to a post, you will earn credit.  (Think of it like Instagram, but less vapid and more lucrative.)

Whether you spend the break working, playing, celebrating, or resting, I wish each of you a terrific, restorative few weeks-- see you in 2019!

for the win/ter break

Please comment to this post and let us know what Big Question you're thinking about!

could this be you?

This happened in my classroom at RHS:

finals schedule

Just in case anyone else gets as confused as I do:

Winter Finals Bell Schedule... by on Scribd

december 18

Today we are janitors and we are creators.

AGENDA:

1. Clean up after yourself.  Think back on any assignments you missed, or any opportunities for credit that you can still take advantage (like literature analyses or your blog or Read 180) -- and get to work.

2. Build something beautiful. Think about your Big Question and write an essay that explains it.  

december 17

AGENDA:
1. Discussion (topic: the connection between love and quality)
2. Plan the week
3. Return graded essays

ACTIONS:
1. Menu/story sign-up
2. Revise and post essay on your blog
3. Post your notes on today's discussion (title: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?)

december 14

JOURNAL TOPIC: (do this AFTER you write the essay)

How well did you do on the essay?  Why?

AGENDA:
1. Final essay exam
2. Journal
3. (If you have time leftover) Literature analysis reading or Read 180

december 13

JOURNAL TOPICS:
We remember big life events like weddings, births, and deaths, and we remember cultural events like holidays, but do we remember the little moments in our lives?  Describe a moment from your life that you remember clearly, but that others may not remember or even know about.  What makes this stand out in your mind?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. A final final review: lit terms + essay

POST:
How well will you do on tomorrow's exam?  (title: CALLING MY SHOT)

december 12

JOURNAL TOPIC:
What is the meaning of the saying, "The early bird gets the worm"?  Why do you think people think this is an important concept?  What if they're wrong?  What if the early bird shows up and the worm turns out to be bait, and the early bird is eaten by the cat, who happens to be a friend of the late bird, who is still sleeping in the nest and doesn't even like breakfast?  Huh?  What about that?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Study for lit terms final
(*If you feel ready, you can use period 3 for Read 180/ literature analysis work)
3. Take lit terms final

sample final essay

At the beginning of the book, Montag seems happy.  When we first meet him, he is burning books and smiling: “Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.”  He really seems to take pleasure in his job.  Burning people’s houses and all their books doesn’t bother him.  But when he talks to Clarisse, Montag realizes that there’s more to life than he thought.  When he goes home and sees that his wife has overdosed on sleeping pills, Montag realizes that she’s unhappy and it gets him thinking about his own life: “He felt his smile slid away, melt, fold over and down on itself… He was not happy.”

When we meet Montag, he doesn’t think for himself and he has an unhappy marriage.  When Montag became a fireman and got married, he made those choices without really thinking things through.  In fact, at some point he even says that he became a fireman because his dad and grandfather were firemen.  Neither Montag nor Mildred can even remember where or when they met.

Clarisse changes Montag’s mind and he starts thinking differently.  Clarisse tells him that she goes slow and notices things.  Montag starts listening.  He notices colors.  He tastes the rain.  Most importantly, we see Montag steal a book from the old woman’s house and we realize that he’s hiding books at home.  He asks Faber what the books mean and wants Faber to help him understand.  Montag also realizes he’s miserable in his marriage, and he won’t settle for the way Mildred treats herself or him anymore.

It would be easy for Montag to realize all of this and do nothing about it.  Not only is he a fireman, but reading is illegal.  Even when Montag reads poetry, the women get hysterical and turn him in.  The riders on the subway call the cops when Montag pulls out a bible.

Montag does the hard thing and takes action.  He reads.  He steals.  He actually murders Beatty, with a flamethrower, in front of witnesses.  He tells Faber that he wants to plant books at the firemen’s houses and turn them all in.

All of Montag’s actions are things that he couldn’t do at the beginning of the book.  At the beginning, he was smiling when he started fires.  He couldn’t keep doing this and feel good about himself.  So, he read, he challenged authority and his marriage, and eventually he took action to become someone new.

december 11

JOURNAL TOPIC:

This morning I ran across a letter from a famous poet by e.e. cummings (a man who hated capital letters as much as he hated fear).  The letter is called "Advice to Students," and this part got my attention:

To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

This sounds a lot like Emerson, and it reminds me of Montag.  It's a powerful, inspiring idea-- partly because it can be so damned difficult.

In this morning's journal entry, please describe how you interpret these ideas.  These authors -- cummings, Emerson, Bradbury -- are acknowledged as giants of American literature, and their philosophies on individuality is one reason why they are so widely respected.  That doesn't mean they're right, so explain whether you agree or disagree with them.  Is it important to be yourself, is it important to be the person others expect you to be, or both, or do you have a different perspective?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Prepare for essay final
3. Lit terms final (period 4)

december 10

JOURNAL TOPIC:
George Bernard Shaw was a famous author who wrote more than sixty plays and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his writing.  He was known for having a pretty sharp wit, and at some point he decided to take teachers down a peg by saying, "Those who can't do, teach."

Now, I love a good saying as much as anyone, and heaven knows some teachers earn more respect than others, but it just so happens that Shaw was dead wrong.  Before I prove it to you, however, two questions:

1. If you could pick one teacher to do the work s/he assigns, who would it be?  Why?

2. What do you think is easier-- doing something well or teaching someone else to do it?  Why?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Fahrenheit 451 essay by an author I know really well
3. Essay notes and gathering evidence for the essay final
4. Lit terms review

december 7

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Today we'll read about a bombing.  Kind of fitting, since today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  Before 9/11, Pearl Harbor was the biggest attack on the United States; unfortunately there are many examples of this sort of destruction throughout history.  Why do you think people resort to this type of violence?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Read 180/ Reading Inventory?
3. Discuss final review feedback & make a plan
4. Fahrenheit 451

december 6

JOURNAL TOPIC:
What are the biggest issues facing today's high school students?  It seems like there's a lot to choose from: divorce, substance abuse, bullying, technology, the climate, the economy, politics... Do you think it's one of these, or the resulting fatigue/anxiety/depression, or something else?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Final review: lit terms
3. Fahrenheit 451

FINAL EXAM PROMPT

In the novels Tangerine and Fahrenheit 451, some of the characters are static and some are dynamic. First, explain the difference: what makes a character dynamic?  Then, choose a dynamic character from either book and explain at least three ways this character changes throughout the book.  Why does this character change?  How does this character's evolution reflect the overall theme and tone of the book?  *NOTE: Please remember to include at least five lit terms in your analysis of the text.

december 5

JOURNAL TOPIC:
What is exciting to you about the end of the semester?  What is making you nervous about the end of the semester?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Read to the end of the chase & finish/turn in yesterday's questions
3. Final Essay: prompt & introduction paragraph
4. Fahrenheit 451 questions (group #4/ complete list HERE)

december 4

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Yesterday we read a scene in Fahrenheit 451 that was absolutely brutal.  Montag set Beatty on fire with a flamethrower.  When Ray Bradbury wrote this book, such a scene was nearly unthinkable in civilized society-- why do you think Bradbury had Montag kill Beatty instead of just run away and escape?  Is it satisfying to read that a villain dies?  If you could choose, would the hero kill the bad guy or find another way to survive or win?  Why?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Read 180/ independent reading
3. Fahrenheit 451
4. Notes on preparing for our final exam

fahrenheit 451 questions / part four

1. What is the significance of the title of this chapter? How does it contribute to the overall themes of the novel?
   
2. What is the initial mood of this chapter as Montag and Millie begin to read the stolen books?
   
3. The novel is riddled with literary allusions, references to other texts. Firstly, name a minimum of five
   authors or texts referenced in F451. Secondly, explain the author’s choice of works (why did Bradbury
   choose what he chose?).
   
4. a. When Millie questions Montag’s desire to read, Montag explodes. He says, “‘We’ve started and won
   two atomic wars since 2022!...the world is starving, but we’re well fed...Is that why we’re hated so much?...Do you know why? I don’t, that’s sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave’” (70). Why is this the first time Bradbury has given us any indication of the novel’s setting – specifically the time and the place?
   b. What does Montag instinctively hope to learn from books?
   
5. When Montag realizes that Millie will not support his desire to learn from books, he has a second
   flashback of an old man he once met in a park. Explain the significance of this flashback.
   
6. On his way to meet Faber, Montag has another flashback of a time from his childhood when he
   attempted to fill a sieve with sand only to have it continually slip away. He then has the thought that “if you read fast and read all, maybe some of the sand will stay in the sieve” (74). He attempts to read and to memorize the text he is carrying, but cannot concentrate due to the incessant wailing of the advertisements on the train. Describe the atmosphere of this scene. How does Bradbury manipulate our feelings for Montag?
   
7. Faber is an instrumental figure in this novel. He, like Clarisse, awakens Montag’s mind by telling him what it is that Montag feels is lacking in his life, which is not the books themselves, but is quality (true details that reflect life), leisure to think, and the right to act as individuals (79-81). How do the two men propose to change this state of affairs?
   
8. Describe the irony present in the line “‘The salamander devours his tail’” (82).
   
9. What is the effect of Faber’s metaphor in which he describes himself as a Queen Bee (87)?
   
10. How does the actual war (fought with bomber jets) mirror the war planned by Montag and Faber?
    
11. The conversation between Millie, Mrs. Phelps, and Mrs. Bowles is significant for many reasons. Firstly,
    what does it reveal about the women’s characters? Secondly, what effect does it have on Montag and why?
    

december 3

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Dr. Seuss once wrote, "How did it get so late so soon?  December is here before it's June.  My goodness how the time has flewn. [sic]  How did it get so late so soon?"

Here we are.  It's December.  In the blink of an eye, we'll be on Winter Break, and then-- but, wait.  Let's slow things down for a moment.  One of the things I love about reading is how the author's ideas sometimes connect with what I'm thinking, or feeling, or experiencing.  Sometimes connecting the dots takes a little effort, but the effort is always worthwhile, because whatever I'm reading becomes more meaningful in those moments.

So, here is today's journal question: what idea/s from Fahrenheit 451 can you apply to real life?  What have the characters done or said that make you think about yourself, people you know, or the bigger issues we all deal with in 2018?

AGENDA:
1. Journal (extended time; treat this like a practice essay for our final exam)
2. Reading + questions
3. Writing prompt (4th period)

Set a goal for the end of your semester.  What do you want to learn or accomplish between now and finals week?  What grade are you aiming for?  What do you plan to do over these next couple weeks to achieve your goal?  (title: MY SEMESTER GOAL)