Carlos Barrera

Summer Intellectual Fun

Summer Intellectual Fun

June 11th- Starbucks on E-W Connector 7PM

Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists

by Joel Best

http://www.amazon.com/Damned-Lies-Statistics-Untangling-Politicians/dp/0520219783

You can read an excerpt by going to:

http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i34/34b00701.htm

July 2nd: Picnic (bring your own food)- Fair Oaks Park, Austell Road behind Quick Trip (by Dunleigh Elementary) 7PM

Maus: A Survivor's Tale

Author: Art Spiegelman

http://www.amazon.com/Maus-Survivors-Father-Bleeds-History/dp/0394747232

July 30-Ci-Ci's Pizza on E-W Connector by Old Home Depot and across from Lowe's and McDonald's 7PM

The VIBE HISTORY of Hip Hop by Alan Light

http://www.amazon.com/Vibe-History-Hip-Hop/dp/0609805037

Monday May 5 2008

4th Block-

You will be writing an essay and posting it on to:

www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

instructions are on www.quizlab.com

2nd and 3rd Block:

Today in class we will do these tasks:

1. We will revise the best of the timed-writes and post the revised version into quizlab paragraph by paragraph.

2. Then we will use our scantron and select our two best sections of Friday's test to do on quizlab. You will be doing approximately 20 questions.

Ask me if confused.

This Friday we will be presenting our Hurricane Katrina PowerPoints.

Monday April 28 American Lit Honors

Today in class we will work on our Hurricane Katrina Project.

When you put text or photos on to your PowerPoint slides you must cite them.

Here is an example below:

And there have been numerous studies and reports that this was going to happen. So it's not like this just came out of nowhere. The Army Corps of Engineers have been messing around with this levee system for 40 years, and it's still not, after these billion dollars they spent this past year, they're still not safe (Lee, 2006).

or

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(GISuzer.com, 2005)

You will create a  Works Cited Page: This can be generated by using Citation Machine: http://tinyurl.com/3yvtvg 

Works Cited

GISuser.com. "Hurricane Katrina Satellite Image". Flickr.com. 8.28.2005. Creative Common, Some rights reserved. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser/40719712/>

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper and Row, 1937.

Lee, Spike. "Spike Lee on Race, Politics and Broken Levees." Interview with Reese Erlich. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. WLRN, Miami . 13 Aug. 2006. Transcript.


Lee, Spike, dir. When the Levee Broke: A Requium in Four Acts. 2006. DVD. HBO, 2007.

"Spike Lee Produces a Vision of Katrina." News and Notes. National Public Radio. WLRN, Miami. 13 Aug. 2006.

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This week in Barrera's class:

On Tuesday will view clips of Robin Williams in the film "Dead Poet's Society" as we learn about the poet Walt Whitman.

On Wednesday we will read several Walt Whitman poems in the Red American Lit text.

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On Thursday we will have a double-timed write --you can see the prompts below as well as view student examples for each of the two prompts:

Download timed_write_the_eagle_andthe_dalliance_of_the_eagles.doc

Download ap_english_styled_essay_thoreau_quote.doc

Download student_sample_essay_for_thoreau_quote.doc

Download student_sample_essay_of_comparison_of_eagle_poems.doc

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On Friday Blocks 2 and 3 we will have a test on the following which can be currently found on quizlab

www.quizlab.com

The AP style questions for "Between the World and Me" (Richard Wright poem)

The AP style questions for "On Seeing England for the First Time"

The AP style questions for "Preface to Leaves of Grass"

The AP style questions for "There Was a Child Went Forth"

Block 4 will have a simulated EOCT test

Thursday-Friday April 24-25 American Lit Honors

Update on Hurricane Katrina Project:

We are going to do it on PowerPoint.

1. Every group will have a cover slide and a work cited slide then you will have a slide for every member in the group. You can collaborate on all the slides but if there are 4 members in your group—these means the body of your presentation has 4 slides minimum.
2. Pick a member if the group to host the PowerPoint on their student account. I learned how to go to your accounts and put it on a flash drive. Then, I will burn the presentation on to a compact disc and also host it on the blog.
3. I will go over the due dates in class today as well as sign your grade sheets for anything that was due yesterday.

We will be in the computer lab today, tomorrow (not 2nd block), and Monday.

Tuesday-Wednesday April 22-23 American Lit Honors

I will miss one of your classes for a planning session with teachers and teach another. In the class that I am present, we will listen an NPR radio piece where Spike Lee is interviewed. Also, we will view clips of his documentary. Then, I will teach how to properly do a notecard.

In the class that Iam not present, you will read Michael Ignatieff's essay The Broken Contract. There is a quizlab on this. I have available to you the essay, the questions, and the graphic organizer given to you in class.

Download the_broken_contract_by_michael_ignatieff_the_new_york.rtf

Download the_broken_contract_by_michael_ignatieff_questions.doc

Download soaps_sheet.doc 

Monday April 21, 2008 American Lit Honors

We are beginning the GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT concerning Hurricane Katrina today.

We will be creating a wiki. Details in the classroom.

To get on the wiki site you go to:

http://pbwiki.com

Click on log in

E mail address (for everyone): mrcbarrera+writer@gmail.com

Password: barrera

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To get photographs go to

www.flickr.com

put in hurricane katrina into the search button then go to:

advanced search and click

Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content . The photos you get here are

public domain. You still have to cite these photos.

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Hurricane Katrina Assignment Check off sheet:

Download hurricane_katrina_project_check_off_sheet.doc

Friday April 18 American Lit Honors

The Research Unit

We will begin study issues surrounding the government’s response to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy on the Gulf Coast.

I will begin teaching the research process Monday in the computer lab.

Today we will listen to an interview on NPR with Spike Lee

Then we will view and discuss clips from his documentary When The Levees Broke.

Wednesday April 16 American Lit Honors

Today in class we will:

listen to a piece on NPR about Hurricane Katrina Survivors:

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5704652

Then we will view a clip from from Their Eyes Were Watching God

Then we will read from Chpt 18 in Their Eyes Were Watching God. You can read a summary of the chapter below:

Janie notices Indians leaving town and heading east. When she asks one of them where they're all heading, he says that a hurricane is coming. A couple of days go by and more Indians move out. The animals start to leave as well. Soon, people on the muck begin to leave. A friend of Tea Cake's and Janie's asks them if they need a ride, but Tea Cake refuses. He doesn't think the hurricane will ever come--it's just a little storm. People are most worried about the lake overflowing. Those that stay on the muck spend their time gambling, singing, dancing, and having fun. They are still making money from picking beans, too.

While a few of them are playing with the dice and having a good time, the wind and the lightening start to pick up. The weather worsens and everyone wonders about God and their fates.

"They huddled closer and stared at the door. They just didn't use another part of their bodies, and they didn't look at anything but the door. The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for through that door. Six eyes were questioning God." Chapter 18, pg. 150

The water starts to rise and come into the house. Tea Cake looks for a car to take them out of there, but there are none. He tells Janie to gather their money and insurance papers because they have to walk. They leave and begin to make their way through the wind and the rain. Everything is going well until big They make it to Palm Beach and the storm ends. With their saved money, they find a place to sleep. Tea Cake feels guilty about bringing Janie with him to the Everglade but she doesn't care what she has to go through, as long as she's with him:

Lake Okechobeebursts through its walls. They find a tall house and go in for a while as a refuge. They fall asleep, but Janie wakes up to the sound of the lake coming. Tea Cake urges Janie and their other friend to leave to seek higher ground, but the friend stays; he's too tired to go on. Tea Cake and Janie leave and they have to swim because the water is too deep. Janie can barely make it and Tea Cake has to help her along. They reach dry ground and Tea Cake rests. Janie gets up to get a piece of roofing to cover Tea Cake with, but she gets swept away into the water. She grabs onto the tail of the cow, but a mean dog on the cow tries to attack her. She slides down the tail, away from the reach of the dog, and Tea Cake rushes into the water with his knife. He kills the dog, but is bitten on his cheekbone. They finally reach land again.

"'Once upon uh time, Ah never 'spected nothin', Tea Cake, but bein' dead from standin' still and tryin' tuh laugh. But you come 'long and made somethin' outa me. So Ah'm thankful fuh anything we come through together.'"

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tewg/PART18.htm

Tuesday April 15 American Literature Honors

Today in class we will view the opening clip of Their Eyes Were Watching God

then--we will view a powerpoint on Zora Neale Hurston which you can access by going to:

www.hse.k12.in.us/staff/jmcgrath/Zora%202006.pdf

We will then view clips from PBS' Zora Neal Hurston: Jump at the Sun

We will read her piece "How it feels to be Colored Me" and work on the AP Style Questions

Monday April 14th Honors American Lit

Today is a day to catch up on quizlabs. The old ones expire on 4/18---we have had new ones this week and last week to do.

Tomorrow we begin studying literature by Zora Neale Hurston. We will read "How it Feels to be Colored Me"--a nonfiction piece that can be found at:

http://grammar.about.com/od/60essays/a/theireyesessay.htm

Then on Wednesday we will read Chpt 18 from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, and view a corresponding clip from the recent film.

Thursday's timed-write is based on reading Richard Wright's poem "Between the World and Me." You can find a copy of the poem here:

http://edhelper.com/poetry/Between_the_World_and_Me_by_Richard_Wright.htm

This will be the prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how the speaker uses the varied imagery of the poem to reveal his attitude toward what he has found and how it affects him, paying particular attention to the shifting point of view of the narrator.

You can find a student sample that would have earned an "8" on the AP exam here:

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/zora-neal-hurston-.html

as well as the AP Multiple Choice questions for both of this week's pieces.

This is from the cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Below is a photograph of Zora Neal Hurston

Thursday 4/3/08 American Lit Honors

Thursday's timed write is analyzing the rhetorical strategies and purpose of "On Seeing England for the First Time" written by Jamaica Kincaid.

We'll read the piece together. You will annotate it and write notes in the margins before writing the essay which will be assessed on a 1-9 AP Essay writing scale.

This is Antigua-- which is Jamaica Kincaid's home.

Wednesday April 2 American Lit Honors

Today in class we listened to a song from "Westside Story"---"I Want to Live in America" .

We listened to an NPR piece about "Real Women Have Curves" which can be heard here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=826594

We began reading Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria" which can be downloaded by looking at the bottom of yesterday's post.

We will continue viewing "Real Women Have Curves"

Here is a sample student essay for tomorrow's timed write:

Download student_sample_essay_on_seeing_england_for_the_first_time.doc

Tuesday April 1st American Lit Honors

Today in class we will study "Immigration".

We will listen to an NPR piece about Immigration and Carlos Mencia-listen to it at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5478147

Then we will read two poem by Pat Mora:

(there is an assignment on www.quizlab )

Legal Alien

Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural,
able to slip from "How's life?"
to "Me'stan volviendo loca,"
able to sit in a paneled office
drafting memos in smooth English,
able to order in fluent Spanish
at a Mexican restaurant,
American but hyphenated,
viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,
perhaps inferior, definitely different,
viewed by Mexicans as alien,
(their eyes say, "You may speak
Spanish but you're not like me")
an American to Mexicans
a Mexican to Americans
a handy token
sliding back and forth
between the fringes of both worlds
by smiling
by masking the discomfort
of being pre-judged
Bi-laterally.

Immigrants

wrap their babies in the American flag,
feed them mashed hot dogs and apple pie,
name them Bill and Daisy,
buy them blonde dolls that blink blue
eyes or a football and tiny cleats
before the baby can even walk,
speak to them in thick English,
hallo, babee, hallo,
whisper in Spanish or Polish
when the babies sleep, whisper
in a dark parent bed, that dark
parent fear, “Will they like
our boy, our girl, our fine American
boy, our fine American girl?”

We will begin viewing "Real Women Have Curves"

You can get ahead for Wednesday and Thursday (timed write) by going to these documents:

For Thursday's timed-write (a quizlab exists for this)

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/files/on_seeing_england_for_the_first_time.doc

For Wednesday (a quizlab exists for this)

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/files/Cofer_-_The_myth_of_the_Latin_women_PDF.pdf

Copy of Quizlab for Cofer's "Myth of the Latin Woman"

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/files/myth_of_latin_women_multiple_choice.doc

Copy of Quizlab for Kincaid's "On Seeing England for the First Time"

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/files/on_seeing_england_for_the_first_time_multiple_choice.doc

Monday March 31 American Lit Honors

Today in class we will go over revision strategies of our Thursday Timed Writes. Then, we will type our revised essay.

This week we will read pieces on the issue of Immigration. We will view the film "Real Women Have Curves".

Mr. B

Get a Voki now!

Wed. March 26 American Lit Honors

Today in class, we will view the end of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. We will begin a poster in a group that speculates what happens to George after the story ends.

Tomorrow in class we will read a piece from Joan Didion's "Los Angeles Notebook." We will be posting the timed write on to www.quizlab on Monday.

To prepare for this by reading the prompt and piece or by viewing at student sample essay go to this page:

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/2008/03/thursday-marc-2.html

Thursday March 27 Timed-write

These two documents are to prepare you for or for making up the timed write on Thursday March 27, 2008.

This is the essay prompt and reading

Download joan_didionlos_angeles_notebook.doc

This is a sample student essay.

Download los_angeles_notebook_student_sample_essay.doc

There will be a place to post this on quizlab.

Mon-Tues March 24-25 Honors American Lit

This week we are reading from John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men and Horton Foote's screenplay of Of Mice and Men. We are also viewing the 1992 Gary Sinese directed film "Of Mice and Men".

 

Thursday March 20 American Lit Honors

Today in class we will listen to an NPR piece entitled:

Female Soldier Reflects on Injuries, Military Service

you can listen to it at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15038708

Then we will read the story "Ambush" by Tim O'Brien from The Things They Carried. A summary of the story can be found below O'Brien's picture. We will conclue viewing the TV-14 version of Platoon.

The author Tim O'Brien is pictured below:

www.stfrancis.edu/en/student/O'Brien/index.htm

Ambush summary:

As a nine-year-old, Tim's daughter Kathleen asked Tim if he ever killed anyone. She thought that since he wrote so many stories about war, he must have killed someone. He told her he hadn't, but now he wants to tell the story of what really happened, as if he was talking to her as an adult. He begins:

The man was small and thin, and as he walked down the trail Tim saw him, was afraid, and threw a grenade at him.

Tim elaborates: he was on watch in the last hours of the night; everyone else was asleep. He saw the man coming and, automatically, without feeling anything personal or political, he threw the grenade. He saw the man start to run, and then in a puff of smoke he was dead. Tim can't forget it, and even today he sometimes sees the young man come down the trail, smile, and continue on the path, back into the fog.

Wed. March 19 2008 American Lit Honors

Last week's quizlabs are due this Friday. The Things They Carried and Platoon quizlabs are due next week.

Today in class we will listen to a piece from PBS' Frontline series entitled "The Soldier's Heart" . View it here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heart/

Then we will listen to a song called "Devils and Dust" by Bruce Springsteen.

Download a copy of the lyrics here:

Download devils_and_dust_by_bruce_springsteen.doc

We will read another story from The Things They Carried called "How to Tell a True War Story". Then we will contine viewing clips from (edited TV-14 version) of Platoon.

Bruce Springsteen performing Devils and Dust:

http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/ap/9993b601-9971-4f94-8a11-00db2a9d6828.widec.jpg

Thurs-Fri March 13-14 American Lit Honors

Marine Sgt. Griselda Benavides worked in communications during her deployment to Anbar province.

Yesterday in class, Blocks 2 and 3 worked on a 40-minute timed write that asked for the purpose of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural address and analyzing his rhetorical strategies he used to achive this. Block 4 analyzed a letter written by Chris Taylor, of Platoon, also identifying the purpose and analyzing the rhetorical strategies.We will type final draft revisions Monday in the computerlab.

Today we begin class by listening to this NPR piece:

On the Ground in Iraq: Three Women's Stories

found at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14901578

Download women_in_combat_on_the_ground_in_iraq.doc

Then we will continue reading "Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. Finally, we'll view clips from edited (TV-14 version) of Platoon.

Wednesday March 12 2008 American Lit Honors

in class we will start our Vietnam War/War unit. We will listen to the song "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan. You can find the lyrics here:

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/masters.html

You can dowload the powerpoint we will view here:

Download vietnam.ppt

We will begin to read the first story in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It is called "The Things They Carried." Then we will view the opening scenes in the TV-14 edited version of Platoon. The quizlabs for both of these are up at www.quizlab.com

These handouts will help with the Who's Who Platoon and The Things They Carried:

Download platoon_characters.doc

Download the_things_they_carried_characters.doc

Monday-Tuesday March 10-11 American Lit Honors

We are in the computerlab today. There are several quizlabs due--check out the quizlab calendar:

www.quizlab.com

Tomorrow you are in the same rooms you were in last Wednesday. Copies of this week's handouts:

Download lincoln_2nd_inaug.rtf

Download chris_taylors_letter.doc

Download didls_organizer.doc

Thursday March 5th American Lit Honors

Today in class we will listen to another song by Lila Downs, then we will hear an NPR radio piece about her that you can hear by going to:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1127992

You can hear the songs at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6444880

Then we will be doing a 40-minute timed write on "Days of Obligation" by Richard Rodriguez.

Tomorrow's scantron test for Blocks 2 and 3 are on: On Being a Cripple by Nancy Mair, On Taming a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, from Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin, and On Bird, Bird-Watching, and Jazz by Ralph Ellison. These can be found on www.quizlab.com

Tomorrow's Scantron test for Block 4 are on: The Frida Kahlo Poem, the Charlie Parker Poem, Sonnet in Primary Colors (by Rita Dove), and fiction about Frida Kahlo. These can be found on www.quizlab.com

The Singer Lila Downs:

Tuesday 3/4 American Lit

Today we will start our new unit---Frida Kahlo.

We will listen to a song "Cumbia de Mole" by Lila Downs

We will read the poem "Sonnet in Primary Colors" by Rita Dove

Download sonnet_in_primary_colors.doc

We will view paintings by Frida Kahlo. We will view a clip of the PBS documentary "The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo" and "Frida" (the edited TV-14 version from Oxygen Channel).

Tomorrow in class you will read THE FRIDA KAHLO POEMS  (http://www.exilequarterly.com/loncovs/garebian272.htmland ) and HOW TO TAME A WILD TONGUE by Gloria Anzaldúa .

Download these here:

Download the_frida_kahlo_poems.doc

Download gloria_anzaldua.doc

Download ap_multiple_choice_how_to_tame_a_wild_tongue_by_gloria_anzalda.doc

Monday March 3 2008 American Lit Honors

We are in the computerlab--you are typing timed write essay and posting it onto www.quizlab.com

Then, there are assignments due:

Assignments due tonight Monday March 3, 2008:

SOAPStone Charlie Parker Poem

Literary Terms

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin (will count as a test in the Projects/Test section of gradebook)

AP Multiple Choice Questions-Notes of a Native Son (not 4th Block)

AP Multiple Ch-Ralph Ellision's On Bird, Bird-Watching, and Jazz (not 4th Block)

AP passage practice-Ralph Ellison's Living with Music (not 4th Block)

Friday February 29 American Lit Honors

Today in Block 3 we will be writing a 40-minute timed write--after lunch we will begin composing a revised draft on www.quizlab

Today in Block 4 we will be composing a revised draft of yesterday's essay and beginning quizlabs that are due next Monday, March 3rd.

Look for the entry titled "posting the timed-write persuasive essay". Below is the prompt and some background on the prompt.

 

Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus accepted the Nobel Peace Prize this year (2006)for his pioneering program of giving micro credit loans to the poor. Yunus is the first Nobel winner from Bangladesh. The prize committee said the award also was intended to build bridges between the West and Islamic countries. Read the excerpt from his Nobel Lecture:

I believe terrorism cannot be won by the military action. Terrorism must be condemned in the strongest possible language. We must stand solidly against it and find all the means to end it. We must address the root cause of terrorism to end terrorism for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor is a better strategy than spending it on guns.

Peace should be understood in a human way, in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights.

Carefully consider the implications of his statement. Then, using evidence drawn from your observation, experience, or reading, write an essay in which you support or refute this statement that “terrorism cannot be won by the military action.”

Find out more or read ,listen, or view his lecture at:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/12/nobel_laureate_and_banker_to_the

                                                                         Download gloria_anzaldua.doc

Wednesday Feb 27 American Lit Honors

Download muhammad_yunus_essay_prompt.doc

The Sonny's Blues Oral Interpretations are to be acted out in the Little Theatre tomorrow. Each performance is between 1 to 2 minutes long. See the last Friday's post to see the rubric.

Tuesday February 26 American Lit Honors

Today in class we will close read a passage about Charlie Parker written by Ralph Ellison. We will view a clip about Charlie Parker and we will work on AP-styled multiple choice questions on the Ellison passage.

You can download the passage and questions here:

Download on_bird_birdwatching_and_jazz.doc

Download on_bird_birdwatching_and_jazz_multiple_choice_q.doc

We will also spend 20-25 minutes in groups rehearsing tomorrow's Oral Intrepretation of "Sonny Blues" by James Baldwin.

Monday February 25, 2007

We are in the computerlab today:

www.quizlab.com

Assignments due today that will be on report card:

Autobiography of Malcolm X-Nightmare *

Autobiography of Malcolm X-Trapped *

The Autobiography of Malcolm X-Conked & Laura *

On the Death of Martin Luther King" by RFK (w/answers) *

The Declaration of Independence (with answers) * (not 4th Block)

AP Multiple Choice questions:Malcolm X-Learning to Read (w/answers) *

AP Multiple Choice Questions-The Crisis by Thomas Paine (with answers * (not 4th Block)

New assignments due next Monday March 3, 2008:

SOAPStone Charlie Parker Poem

Literary Terms

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin (will count as a test in the Projects/Test section of gradebook)

AP Multiple Choice Questions-Notes of a Native Son (not 4th Block)

AP Multiple Ch-Ralph Ellision's On Bird, Bird-Watching, and Jazz (not 4th Block)

AP passage practice-Ralph Ellison's Living with Music (not 4th Block)

Friday February 22 2008 American Lit Honors

Yesterday in class we read a passage about jazz from Ken Burn's film "Jazz". Then, we began reading the first few pages of Sonny's Blues. There are two reasons for this. First, your group has been assigned a section of the story to perform. Then, you are to finish reading the story and complete the quizlab assessment for the story. You can download the story and a hardcopy of the quiz on yesterday's post.

Below is an explanation of the "Sonny's Blues" Oral Interpretation assignment for next Wednesday. I will give rehearsal time on Friday (today) and Tuesday.

Each group has been assigned a section of James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues.” You will read a one to two-minute section in front of the class on Wednesday February 27, 2008. You will pick out a part of the story that your group can effectively read aloud and engage an audience.

RUBRIC FOR ORAL INTERPRETATION OF SONNY’S BLUES

• VOICES ARE LOUD AND CLEAR ENOUGH FOR ALL TO UNDERSTAND

• PROPER EMOTION IS EVOKED IN THE READING

• THE AUDIENCE IS ENGAGED IN THE READING

• ALL MEMBERS IN THE GROUPS PARTICIPATED IN SOME WAY

• THE READING BEGAN ON TIME AND LASTED BETWEEN 1 TO 2 MINUTES

Thursday February 21 2008 Amer. Lit Honors

We will begin reading the story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin. We will also see clips from Ken Burn's Jazz. Yoo can download a copy of the story here:

http://osbornehighschool.typepad.com/barrera/files/blues.pdf

You can dowload a copy of the "Sonny's Blues" test here:

Download sonnys_blues_test.doc

Thursday Feb 14th

Happy Valentine's Day. Today we are going to do another AP-styled timed-write. We will view a clip from RFK:The American Experience and listen to Robert F. Kennedy's speech "On the Death of Martin Luther King Jr."

After we complete the 40-minute timed write you will highlight the thesis that states RFK's purpose and the rhetorical strategies. Then, a class member will assess your essay before I do. On Friday we will have a test on the passages that are mentioned in the previous post.

I will post RFK's speech below.

Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Ladies and Gentlemen...Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some -- some very sad news for all of you -- Could you lower those signs, please? -- I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. 

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much.

Feb 13 American Lit Honors

Tomorrow in class we will read two speeches. The first is performanced by Will Smith in the role of Muhammad Ali. The second speech is performed by Denzel Washington in the role of Malcolm X. We will pick out ethical, emotional, and logical appeals in both speeches.

Ali's speech can be found here:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechali1.html

Malcolm X's speech can be found here:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechmacolmxharlem.html

On Friday you should bring your copy of the DIDLS Breakdown:

http://www.kisd.org/khs/english/help%20page/DIDLS%20Breakdown.htm

We will have a test on the following pieces (All currently found on quizlab) :

Letter from Birmingham Jail (Martin Luther King)

Learning to Read (Malcolm X reading)

The Crisis (Thomas Paine)

Robert F. Kennedy's speech On the Death of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Allegory of the Cave by Plato

Mon-Tuesday Feb. 11-12

Yesterday you worked on subwork. Today we will read "Learning to Read" from The Autobiography of Malclom X. 

We''ll do a group assessment. We'll further view clips from the film. Also, we will listen to a piece about Malcolm X from NPR that can be accessed here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4507696

We will also review appeals in nonfiction: ethos, logos, and pathos

The handout can be found here:

http://www.nijomu.com/appeals.pdf.

Thursday Feb. 7 American Lit Honors

Today in class, we viewed a 7-minute clip from Malcolm X. We then participated in an AP-styled timed write.

The reading passage focused on Malcom's encounter with his eight grade teacher. Mr. Ostrowski.

The video clip focused 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 wrote focused on finding Malcolm X's purpose in writing the piece, his intended effect, and the rhetorical strategies used to achieve his purpose.

Tomorrow in class, 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.

"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 min