Who We Are

The tentative agreement (wherein teachers take a voluntary pay cut) passed.

I'm not officially hired back yet - the hope is that I'll be offered a position in July - but the district now has the necessary money (in theory - nothing's ever set in stone these days) to hire back those of us who received pink slips.

For those of you who were concerned about whether I'd be reachable via e-mail, it looks like my usual address will still be operational!

See you at graduation! I'll be watching over the Sc-Z section.

...goes up tomorrow...spread the word...

This follows the same format as all of your other blogs save "The Future Freaks Me Out" - a minimum of two well-written paragraphs containing at least seven sentences apiece. Feedback is encouraged (as always), but no longer required.

EDIT: Some have pointed out that I never included a due date. One would be helpful, wouldn't it? This post is due by 4:00pm on Tuesday, June 9th!

(For additional fun, try to guess what I mean by the "house that fire built" - besides the fact that it's a song title, of course.)

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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What time is it now?
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If you have any questions about our text or the PowerPoint, ask them here!

Here is a truly gigantic PowerPoint. I have no idea how I'm going to fit almost fifty jam-packed slides into a single period, but I'll do my best.

Third Period: You should read this tonight, because I will be blowing through it tomorrow at an incredible rate of speed.

Second Period: You're working in the library tomorrow, so it's imperative that you download this, read it, and understand it. If you have any questions, ask me tomorrow during class or during our Online Study Session. I would offer a repeat lecture at 6:15pm, but I know some people have commitments to work or friends.

Anyway, long story short: Read this. You'll need it. If you get this stuff, and you've read the book, you'll pass the quiz with flying colors.

Back to the creative writing desk...let's see if we can shatter the all-time comment record! (Although we'll probably break it during the last thread...)

EssayPrompt2009.doc

(Bonus points to anyone who actually either gets the poetic reference or knows the song!)
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How does one rebuild a life?

(Another simple Feraco question, eh?)
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I re-worked some of the final assignments. This should leave us with 1010 points for the semester, which means we'll either get to curve one of the quizzes, reduce the final assignment from 2% of the total grade to 1%, or simply abandon an assignment if the time crunch proves too excessive. I think this makes for a leaner, meaner schedule.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Your essay prompt can be found here.

I strongly suggest reading over the prompt and looking for evidence over the weekend. If you can't finish a three-page rough draft in fifty-five minutes, you need to start writing before school begins.

Also, don't forget your annotations for 1984 or your ID card Monday; I'll be checking the entire book's worth of annotations while you write.

Here are some things to help you while working today/tomorrow/Tuesday: 1984's entire text (available for free online), the rubric we'll be using (although I'm sure the formatting will look weird), and some essay guidelines and helpful tips.

EDIT: I could be wrong, but I think I have everything except Peace Day #1 (which was returned) here. If there's a question you don't understand, make sure you ask your classmates for help! Also, there are free versions of the 1984 text online, and you can search them if you're desperate for an answer.

Giant Sheet of Questions - sorry it's not more attractively formatted...
War Day #1
War Day #2
War Day #3

This thread is a place for you to draw upon the knowledge of your community. However, its purpose is for clarification, not simply for answering questions.

If you're confused, think about the kid who raises his hand and says, "I don't get it." Now think of the one who says, "OK, I understand X, and I think I see why it's important - __________________ - but I don't know if that's correct." Who's more likely to get a good answer?

For example, a bad question would be something like "Who is Ampleforth, and why is he important?" That's just lazy. Not only do I expect you to have read the book well enough to identify everything we've covered, but the opportunity to ask that type of question has passed - you should have asked me that today.

(If you do have this sort of question, go to one of the free text editions of 1984 online, hit Ctrl+F, and search "Ampleforth.")

The type of question you need to ask is Question: "OK, I understand that Ampleforth's a poet who works for the Ministry of Truth, and I know that Winston sees him in the cafeteria and in prison. I don't understand why Feraco thinks he's important - he's in jail for leaving "God" in a poem, but why does that matter?"

Appropriate Response: "Well, Ampleforth matters because his crime matters. First of all, Orwell was a language nut - just look at Newspeak! Secondly, look at the word he left in. Remember how religion has been banned in Oceania? Being imprisoned for leaving "God" in a poem symbolizes the destruction of the human spirit. If you think about it, the entire purpose of the Ministry of Love - especially Room 101 - is to defeat the soul."

You would, of course, thank this person for giving you that answer in your reply.

As far as study materials go, I've taken the liberty of posting some PowerPoints. The question sheet will follow once I've combined all of my documents and notes.

Learning How to Smile - the introduction to 1984
The Only Things That Matter - 1984's first third
Heavy is the Cost - brand new to SFHP!
The Epic Review

Good luck! I'll be watching.

Does it comfort you to know
You fought the good fight?
Basking in your victory,
Hollow and alone...

Here's the second installment. Print this out and bring it to class with you tomorrow, and work on it tonight if you can!