SEE FRIDAY’S POST FOR TARGETS

On Friday, we started an exercise where you pretend to interview Emerson and answer the questions for him.

The point of this exercise is to prep you for the upcoming paper:

• What lessons about life does Dead Poets Society offer modern viewers (you)? Choose a theme, and use the film as primary support as well as the writings of Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, and/or Whitman as secondary support (textbook).

PRESENTATION SCHEDULE

• 2nd Hour
  • MONDAY
    • Frank
    • Reyes
    • Bird
  • Tuesday
    • Ghotra
    • Mahner
    • Salik
• 3rd Hour
  • MONDAY
    • Shaw
    • Rowan
    • Jettner
  • TUESDAY
    • Windberg
    • Burford
    • Copado
• 5th Hour
  • MONDAY
    • Carillo Garcia
    • Vandeweghe
    • Hubert
  • TUESDAY
    • Epplett
    • Byington
    • Feighner
• 6th Hour
  • MONDAY
    • Villalobos
    • Gonzales
    • Cummings
  • TUESDAY
    • Thier
    • Colvin

PRESENTATIONS:

• 2 Friday
• 3 Monday

LEARNING TARGETS:

• Be able to explain, in your own words, the major ideas of Emerson (related to TRANSCENDENTALISM).

ACTIVITY

• Working in pairs, pretend you are transcendental journalists, travelling through time to interview Ralph Waldo Emerson:
  • Come up with FIVE questions to ask Emerson about his ideas/beliefs.  THESE SHOULD BE RELATED TO THE IDEAS EXPRESSED IN “NATURE” AND “SELF-RELIANCE”.  (the point of the whole exercise is to improve your understanding of these texts).
  • Come up with FIVE answers that Emerson might give
    • Use quotes/paraphrases from the material we have read in class.
    • Use any background research you do online.

LEARNING TARGETS:  Be able to do the following with Emerson’s self-reliance

1. Summarize the meaning in your own words
2. Be able to analyze what evidence and techniques Emerson uses to make his point
3. Be able to take a stand about how Emerson’s message is or is not relevant to today’s readers.

LEARNING TARGETS: as a result of today’s lesson you should be able to

• Explain in your own words these two things
  • How Walt Whitman’s poem “The Learn’d Astronomer” is similar thematically to Emerson’s essay “Nature.”
  • How both can be seen as examples of Transcendentalist thought.

IN CLASS TODAY

1. Practice Vocab Quiz (and quick check of worksheets)
2. Presentations (2)
3. Debrief on 5 questions from yesterday
4. Comparison of Learn’d Astronomer with Nature.

LEARNING TARGET: Be able to summarize, in your own words, the meaning of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “NATURE” (or at least the excerpt we read in class).

In Class

1. We heard three book presentations
2. We did a close reading exercise on Emerson’s NATURE
   1. I read the excerpt aloud while class followed–we discussed general meaning
   2. Second Read–everybody read solo–looking for two things
      1. Evidence that answers the question: Does Emerson like Nature
      2. Anything that completely stumped you.
   3. Discussed second read
   4. Answered Questions

DO NOT THROW AWAY THE HANDOUTS/EXCERPTS–THEY’LL BE NEEDED IN A FEW WEEKS.

LEARNING TARGETS: By the end of class, you should be able to define, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, what a Transcendentalist was all about.

IN CLASS:

1. Started with Three Book Presentations
2. Read this as an intro to transcendentalists.
3. Discussed Transcendentalism

ALTERNATIVE FORMAT/ORGANIZATION FOR PRESENTATION

1. Slide 1: MLA TITLE SLIDE
   1. Title of Book/Author
   2. Your Name
   3. Teacher Name
   4. Class
   5. Date
   6. EXAMPLE
      • Waiting for the Morning Train by Bruce Catton
      • C.E. Sikkenga
      • Mrs. Poel
      • English 10
      • 11/14/2016
2. Slide 2:
   1. Brief summary of the book (will make more sense to your readers to put it here).
3. Slide 3: Author’s background.
   1. Relevant biographical stuff
   2. Other stuff the author has written
4. Slides4-9:  NON FICTION TEXT FEATURES  (what you want to talk about is how each of these things tries to help the reader).
   1. Title: What does it tell us about the book?
   2. Front material (that’s everything between the cover and the start of the story)
      1. Dedication
      2. Epigraphs (short quotes etc)
      3. Table of Contents
      4. Visual Materials
      5. Text materials  (here you will talk about the strategies the author uses and maybe share examples)
         1. Point of view
            1. 1st, 2nd, 3rd Person?
         2. Dialogue?
         3. What does the author do well (maybe it’s description?  Maybe it’s voice).
      6. End Material (the stuff AFTER the story)
         1. Epilogue
         2. Glossary
         3. Etc.
5. SLIDE 10: Main Characters (4 max)
   1. What role do they play in the book?
   2. What is interesting about them?  What makes them likeable/not likeable?
6. SLIDE 11: Favorite Quotes/Passages and why you chose them.  What do they mean to you/how do they enhance your understanding of the book?
7. SLIDE 12: Recommendation:
   1. do you recommend this book?
   2. To Whom?
   3. Why?

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:  Info about two upcoming assignments posted to classroom.

1. Self-Assessment Journal:  DUE MONDAY:  Just type your answers right into the doc by the bullet points.
2. Presentation for Independent Reading Book:
   1. Presentation is due one week from Monday (Nov. 14)
   2. Presentations will be staggered over multiple days

Where the heck did October go????

Rest of this week

1. Read.  Prompt: what did you find most interesting in today’s reading.
2. Wed/Thursday:  updates on book project, reflection assignment #1 etc.
3. NO VOCAB THIS MONTH!