Don't be afraid of what you've learned...

This is a song, Blitzen Trapper: Furr, and I was listening to it on my way to Minnesota (!!!) when I started thinking about the Apollonian and Dionysian ways that people live.

The man joins a wolf pack and describes how he turned to the wild and let the Dionysian traits take hold:

"And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong

For my flesh had turned to fur
Yeah, and my thoughts they surely were

Turned to instinct and obedience to God"

Oh the ways that we can relate literature to our everyday lives...

So, as Blitzen Trapper says in the song,

If you're gonna get made

Don't be afraid of what you've learned...

Shmoop

I believe Shmoop came up in Thursday's class. Mr. Noll informed me last fall of Shmoop's literature guides and teacher resources, but like most things, it slipped under the radar. This is my favourite description from the "Why You Should Care" opener for The Awakening

Nowadays, Edna would be an artist – you know, paint always under her fingernails. She’d dig smocked dresses and the skinny jeans trend. Not to mention sexual liberation. But in The Awakening, Edna drowns. And that, more than anything else, tells you why you should care.

Even if you didn't have to read this book, wouldn't the mention of skinny jeans and sexual liberation get you to pick it up? Ok, maybe not...

If you are waiting out the rain and wind like I am (or just being plain lazy on Day 2 of Spring Break 2010) check out Shmoop.

The painting featured in this post is titled The Awakening Conscience by William Holman Hunt

It was painted fifty years before Chopin wrote her novel, but could easily serve as a representation of Edna Pontellier.

Prestwick Pictures

On the way down to Florida I started reading The Awakening. A couple chapters in, I noticed that the picture at the beginning of each chapter wasn't the same, which caused great excitement. As the book progresses, the girl's eyes in the picture begin to open. The pupils and the iris begin to become more defined. Finally the picture isn't the same!

Letting Students Choose Their Own Books?

The Canadian Newspaper The Globe and Mail features a story about how letting students choose the books they want to read makes them better readers. Your thoughts?

Fool by Christopher Moore

This is the book Charlie was talking about in class today. It is written from the perspective of Pocket, Lear's fool, and sounds downright hysterical. Thanks for sharing, Charlie! Click on the post title to access a link to the Barnes and Noble review.

I've got a B&N gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I might just have to pick this one up over break.

Harvard bashes AP courses

Interesting article on a recent book published by Harvard Education Press. There are some interesting views on the value of AP courses and the dangers of "teaching to the test"

It presents some good insights. I'm intersted in your thoughts as "near" alums of the first AP class at BHS.

Is it Spring Break Yet????

The answer is no. Sorry.

But we're close, oh yes, we're oh so close!

Did you submit your Law Day Essay? You have 18 more minutes (as of now) to email your essay along with the required info (see previous post) to David_L_Grumbine@Whirlpool.com

For tomorrow's class: please complete the reading of Heart of Darkness along with your vocabulary list for the novel. You should average around 10 words a chapter (a minimum of 30 words).

Your critical examination question is also due. This should be typed, double spaced, 1-2 pages.

See you Thursday!! And remember, the best reading position for the last chapter of Heart of Darkness is sitting upright in an uncomfortable chair with plenty of light and the book open before you on a hard surface. Reading on the couch, in bed, or in a hammock may result in literary apnea - falling asleep while reading.

Heart of Darkness Audiobook!

I hope this works for everyone :) it helped me through 1984 and this book!

LAW DAY ESSAY CONTEST

This is just a reminder that the deadline for the Law Day Essay contest, sponsored by the Berrien County Bar Association, is due on Wednesday, March 31, at 4 PM. I am willing to drop off your essay and don't forget you can email your essay (500-800 words) with the following information:

Student's name
Home address
Email address
Home telephone number
Sponsoring teacher and high school - (Sarah Carter Conklin/Bridgman High School)

The essay can be emailed to David_L_Grumbine@Whirlpool.com
or faxed (269) 923-3919

Winners of the contest will be selected at the sole discretion of the selection committee and will be based upon: Composition, Theme, Creativity, and Details/Research

Email me if you have any questions. I'd be happy to give your essay a quick look before you submit it.

Citing dialogue from Lear...and MORE!!

If you are citing a dialogue exchange between two or more characters from King Lear, you should SINGLE space and block indent (always use a single space indented block quote when citing more than three (3) lines). It should look something like this:
Goneril: Dad is out of control
Regan: This is true. What do we do?
Goneril: No matter what he says, we're cutting his entourage of
knights and not letting him in to the castle.
Regan: But it's storming and really nasty outside.
Goneril: Seriously, Regan, you're such a daddy's girl.
(act. scene. lines)

If you have additional citation questions, see the website from Colby on the back of the assignment handout or drop an email my way.

And thanks to Allie for this clip of the 1974 production of King Lear with James Earl Jones as Lear. And you thought he was good as Darth Vader...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftW7WcoOuU8&feature=related

King Lear/A Thousand Acres

Please be sure to bring your copy of A Thousand Acres to class on Wednesday, March 10. You will have a writing response on ATA due Friday and depending how long it takes to get through the first part of Act IV, you may have time to get started on your homework.

Remember to bring both the play and the novel with you to each class. On the odd day that we finish early (yes, I know this has yet to happen) you can fill your extra time getting caught up on the outside of class reading.

And speaking of that out of class reading, hopefully you were able to make some headway on A Thousand Acres. We only have three more classes before we finish Lear and Act V is a short act.

ALSO: This is a reminder that your registration and check for the AP English exam is due MARCH 17 (a week from this Wednesday). Checks should be made payable to Lakeshore High School and should be dropped off in the guidance office. Please see me or Ms. Cuthbert if you have any questions.

Dubliners

For Wednesday's discussion on Joyce's Dubliners, you need to come prepared with a detailed explanation (on paper) describing the moment of paralysis or epiphany that occur in each of the stories (14 total). See pages 6 and 7 for further explanation. If you are not sure about some of the stories, post your questions on the blog. I expect you to help each other out, so you may not hear much from me.

One of my goals this semester is to encourage discussion outside of class - especially among the rogues who fly under the radar (you know who you are!)

Remember, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. Dubliners, though more accessible as short stories, can be challenging due to Joyce's use of slang, irony, and description.

I look forward to our class discussion. Please let me know if you have questions

I Need Help

I need help trying to figure out exactly what it is I am supposed to do over break. I am reading The Dubliners, and I read my book for the report, but I am not sure what to do for the assignment for Bartleby the Scrivener. I know we need to give the book talk, with:

Info

Brief Summary

Explanation of interesting ideas/ themes

Analysis of favorite passage

Visual

Delivery

I do not know how we are supposed to give a summary without re-telling the story, however. Is that not precisely what a summary is? If "do not re-tell" means "don't make your whole presentation the telling of the story," I can do that. I am just really confused....Help!

Poetry

I thought I was understanding poetry and how the literary terms were used in the poems and now I've realized I really don't. Writing this essay was extremely painful for me. Everytime I wrote something, I was automatically stopped by confusion partly by me and partly by the poems.

I have discovered that I am the type of person that has to talk things through with other people -- discussion. Whether I'm just listening or including my ideas, this is the only way I comprehend anything.

I can tell you what I think "I never saw a Moor" means and I can tell you what I think "'Faith' is a fine invention" means, but can I explain them? This essay has proven me completely wrong. I know I need to ask questions, but I don't know what questions to ask. When I sit in class, everything makes sense. When I sit at home staring at my blank word document, I feel overwhelmed.

Composers and Poets

As I was reading "The Tiger", I suddenly had this strange harmonious tune in my head and realized that I had sung a song based off of this poem in seventh grade. The same thing happened when I read "My mistress' eye" because the poem below it "Crossing the Bar" was one of the SSAA pieces at Honor's Choir this year. This has happened with about 15% of the poems I've had to read in high school. I find it helpful to have a song to go along with the poem because the tempo, key, and what time it's in show a lot about the poem. Also the length of the note help show which words should be emphasized. Just a little thing I found interesting as I was reading.