For Monday, Jan 28th--AP Lang

Just a reminder:  Bring your book to class for annotation check!  Blogs are due Monday afternoon as well.

BTW

I don't really understand the student expectation that we teachers 'give' grades.  We make assignments that have requirements for their completion.  If you do the MINIMUM requirements, you PASS.  If you want to make an A, we teachers are assuming you will go above and beyond the MINIMUM to do something EXCELLENT that deserves a good grade.

Daisy Buchanan does NOT love money

Sure--her voice sounds "like money" and she is vain and overly materialistic, but Daisy Buchanan is NOT in love with money.  She's in love with Jay Gatsby.  He is her unattainable American Dream.  She can't have him--not because of money but because of his lack of social status.  Even when Gatsby obtains riches and wonders, he still lives in West Egg and throws tacky parties to demonstrate his new-found wealth.  Someone from East Egg would never need to demonstrate his wealth in such an ostentatious manner.  Someone from East Egg would have nothing to prove.  That's why Gatsby is unattainable for Daisy.  No matter how much money he acquires and no matter the means of its acquisition, Jay Gatsby will ALWAYS be James Gatz, a nobody from nowhere who fell in love with an ideal.

Prezi

Prezis are my new favorite internet presentation machine.  You should definitely set up a Prezi account and create cool presentations for my class.  :) go to http://www.prezi.com/. 

The Hunger Games trilogy

In case you missed it the first day of this spring semester (2012) or in case you aren't in my spring semester classes, I am obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy.  My son gave me a Mockingjay pin for Christmas, and it was seriously one of my favorite gifts.  Before Christmas and after reading the novels a second time, I bought a book of essays by YA authors title The Girl Who Was on Fire. I emailed one of the authors because I really liked her analysis.  It compares  THG to 1984 (also love!) and V for Vendetta.  Needless to say, it's a really cool essay.  She emailed me back!  nothing brilliant, just good luck on my endeavors to write dystopian fiction and she was honored that I would consider using her essay in my English class.  kind of a neat experience for me!

"That was boring"

Sometimes I wonder if students realize how rude they can be, and I wonder when it's my job to inform/correct them.  Telling a teacher that the assignment she selected to read is boring is RUDE.  Or asking if what you're going to read is boring.  That's rude, too.  If you find something boring, DON'T tell the teacher who gave you the assignment.  Keep your opinions...and boredom...to yourself.  You are welcome to include your boredom or distaste for a piece here in your blog, but don't be so rude in class.  See, I'm not calling you out in class in front of your peers.  Don't embarrass me with your rudeness in class, either.  k? Thanks.

Something I thought was funny and relevant to our Fahrenheit 451 discussion

Look at the YouTube video that accompanies this article.  It's funny and relevant to our discussion.  http://www.urlesque.com/2010/09/30/facebook-love-story/?icid=main%7Cmain%7Cdl5%7Csec3_lnk2%7C174645