Congradulations to Amadu Barrie, Osborne High School 2009 STAR STUDENT. He will be honored tonight at a banquet.
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February 2009
February 22, 2009
February 20, 2009
Honors American Lit/Week of Feb. 23-27
This week we will view a 7-minute clip from Malcolm X. We then will participate in an AP-styled timed write.
The reading passage focuses on Malcom's encounter with his eight grade teacher. Mr. Ostrowski.
The video clip will focus on Malcolm telling Laura of his mother's struggle to raise her family and his experience in a white middle school in Michigan.
The essay you will write focuses on finding Malcolm X's purpose in writing the piece, his intended effect, and the rhetorical strategies used to achieve his purpose.
We will view clips on Malcom's descent in life as he hits the streets of Boston and Harlem as Detriot Red. We view his incarceration and his transformation in Minister Malcolm X.
We will also read a poem by the poet Etheridge Knight called "Hard Rock Returns to Prison for the Criminally Insane. The assessments for the Malcolm X Unit can be found at:
"Hard Rock Returns..." - Etheridge Knight
Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Hard Rock / was / "known not to take no s(tuff)
From nobody," and he had the scars to prove it:
Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts above
His yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut
Across his temple and plowed through a thick
Canopy of kinky hair.
The WORD / was / that Hard Rock wasn't a mean (brother)
Anymore, that the doctors had bored a hole in his head,
Cut out part of his brain, and shot electricity
Through the rest. When they brought Hard Rock back,
Handcuffed and chained, he was turned loose,
Like a freshly gelded stallion, to try his new status.
And we all waited and watched, like a herd of sheep,
To see if the WORD was true.
As we waited we wrapped ourselves in the cloak
Of his exploits: "Man, the last time, it took eight
Screws to put him in the Hole." "Yeah, remember when he
Smacked the captain with his dinner tray?" "He set
The record for time in the Hole—67 straight days!"
"Ol Hard Rock! Man, that's one crazy (brother)."
And then the jewel of a myth that Hard Rock had once bit
A screw on the thumb and poisoned him with syphilitic spit.
The testing came, to see if Hard Rock was really tame.
A hillbilly called him a black son of a (gun)
And didn't lose his teeth, a screw who knew Hard Rock
From before shook him down and barked in his face.
And Hard Rock did nothing. Just grinned and looked silly,
His eyes empty like knotholes in a fence.
And even after we discovered that it took Hard Rock
Exactly 3 minutes to tell you his first name,
We told ourselves that he had just wised up,
Was being cool; but we could not fool ourselves for long,
And we turned away, our eyes on the ground. Crushed.
He had been our Destroyer, the doer of things
We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do,
The fears of years, like a biting whip,
Had cut deep bloody grooves
Across our backs.
- Etheridge Knight
Hard Rock / was / "known not to take no s(tuff)
From nobody," and he had the scars to prove it:
Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts above
His yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut
Across his temple and plowed through a thick
Canopy of kinky hair.
The WORD / was / that Hard Rock wasn't a mean (brother)
Anymore, that the doctors had bored a hole in his head,
Cut out part of his brain, and shot electricity
Through the rest. When they brought Hard Rock back,
Handcuffed and chained, he was turned loose,
Like a freshly gelded stallion, to try his new status.
And we all waited and watched, like a herd of sheep,
To see if the WORD was true.
As we waited we wrapped ourselves in the cloak
Of his exploits: "Man, the last time, it took eight
Screws to put him in the Hole." "Yeah, remember when he
Smacked the captain with his dinner tray?" "He set
The record for time in the Hole—67 straight days!"
"Ol Hard Rock! Man, that's one crazy (brother)."
And then the jewel of a myth that Hard Rock had once bit
A screw on the thumb and poisoned him with syphilitic spit.
The testing came, to see if Hard Rock was really tame.
A hillbilly called him a black son of a (gun)
And didn't lose his teeth, a screw who knew Hard Rock
From before shook him down and barked in his face.
And Hard Rock did nothing. Just grinned and looked silly,
His eyes empty like knotholes in a fence.
And even after we discovered that it took Hard Rock
Exactly 3 minutes to tell you his first name,
We told ourselves that he had just wised up,
Was being cool; but we could not fool ourselves for long,
And we turned away, our eyes on the ground. Crushed.
He had been our Destroyer, the doer of things
We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do,
The fears of years, like a biting whip,
Had cut deep bloody grooves
Across our backs.
- Etheridge Knight
AP English Language and Composition/Week of Feb. 23-27
Monday-
SENIOR CAPSTONE RESEARCH: We will continue to finish typing our paragraphs 3 to 8. I will put a color coded sample paragraph here:
Download Color Coding Paragraphs 3 through 8
After you type up the paragraphs, follow the instructions on the above handout.
Tues-Wed. Feb 24/25-
We will begin reading Peter Singer's "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" and reinforce ethos, pathos, and logos with regards to argument. read it at:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/19990905mag-poverty-singer.html
You can view a video summary of the essay at:
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-429820406356478614&hl=en&fs=true
We will also work on finding evidence in the last round of AP Synthesis Essays (hiphop). We will work through them before I assess them.
On Thursday/Friday we will discuss the "Live Free and Starve" Read it at:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/diva/1997/10/16diva.html
Assessments for "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" and "Live Free and Starve" can be found at:
February 16, 2009
Honors American Lit/Week of February 17-20
The A Raisin in the Sun performance schedule-
Today Feb. 17- Groups will rehearse in the second half of class.
Wed. Feb. 18- Act I Scene 1 and 2 and Act II Scene 1 groups perform
Thur Feb. 19-Act II Scene 2 and 3 groups perform.
Today in class we read the poem by Etheridge Knight "Hard Rock Returns to Prison for the Criminally Insane" . We will view a clip from the film "Malcolm X".
This week we will begin working on the essay frame for a "Role Model" essay that will be submitted on:
User Name (your name) John_Smith
i.d.: your lunch number
find the PHOnline Essay Grader
Choose the Prentice Hall Gold Level Literature
Choose Writing for Assessment: Role Models for Your Generation
The prompt: Think of an American, living or deceased, who is a role model for today's young people. Write an essay that explains this person's qualities and achievements that make him or her admirable.
February 08, 2009
February 01, 2009
AP English Language and Compostion:Week of Feb 2-6
Today in the lab:
I will check your 60 notecards. You will divide the stack into 6 piles. Each pile represents the 6 body paragraphs (of the 10 paragraph paper) where note cards are necessary. After I sign your checklist, then I will teach you how to select your best 12 notecards.
You will type your tentative thesis sentence to the place in the following link:
http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/ap-englishresearch-papertentative-thesis.html
There are two quizlabs due today: "On Civil Disobedience" and "I am Joaquin"
This week we ask: Is Hiphop a legitimate art form?
We will listen to the following NPR pieces:
Obama Hip-Hop: From Mixtapes To Mainstream
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96748462
Black Masculinity: Dueling Images Of Power
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96785017
and view a portion of an interview with Michael Eric Dyson--view it here or download the transcript
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/18/professor_and_preacher_michael_eric_dyson
Download Professor and Preacher Michael Eric Dyson on Hip Hop
Next Tuesday/Wednesday February 10-11-In a group of five (I will choose), you will select a hiphop song to analyze using the SOAPStone model. No profanity or offensive language please. Your SOAPstone should be accessed from a student account to display on the SMARTBOARD. You are encouraged to bring in a music clip.
On Tuesday/Wednesday February 3-4:
we will work with the latest timed-writes (higlighting thesis, evidence, and commentary)
On Thursday/Friday February 5-6:
there will be a three-passage AP=style multiple choice practice. The "On Civil Disobedience" is one of the three passages. The other two you will see for the first time. Bring your DIDLS Breakdown sheets for the assessment. We will also discuss Michael Eric Dyson's "Know What I Mean" excerpted from NPR.
Click here to get it:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11829316
Honors American Lit/Week of Feb 2-6
I have reopened all the old quizlabs. You can still submit the 2 schools-essay. C'mon my friends---you can raise your grades where they need to be.
There are two quiz assessments due today:
"On Civil Disobedience" and "I am Joaquin". Good luck getting these in on time.
We will be rewriting the timed-write/draft of your Luis Rodriguez analysis of "Always Running" that we wrote on Thursday.
Download Luis Rodriguez writing prompt
You will type your thesis sentence and choose your best body paragraph for submission. You will type it on Microsoft Word and paste it to this site:
I will also collect the "Walkout" viewing study guide.
This week: We begin studying "A Raisin in the Sun"
