Ms. Paul's DSA English Blog

I know not all of my students are religious, so forgive me for discussing religion this week if that offends you.  Or skip ahead past my personal thoughts and reflections and move on to the work for the week.

This past week and a half I have been struggling with the aftermath of the theft of my wallet and iPhone by one of my students.  I wrote about it last week, angry and hurt by what had happened.  This past week I may have seemed very Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde in my first period.  In the same hour I would go from peaceful to scathing.  I was struggling with waves of emotion that would take me out of a place of acceptance to a place of irritation and hate. I would be okay and then all of a sudden I’d remember that one of the innocent looking faces in front of me had violated my trust and respect.  I found myself withdrawing my love and then resenting my students even more for the fact that I was doing this.  I didn’t want to share myself with them, and sharing myself is what I do best!

All week I have been praying for the ability to forgive whoever did this.  I have been praying for the ability to forgive myself for being careless with my valuables and praying for the courage to continue to love and trust despite what has happened.  I know my internal conflict has seeped into my ability to teach this week and I hope you can understand.  I am a flawed human being wearing my humanity like a badge this week.

Love,

Ms. Paul

Academic Content for the Week: For all, progress reports will be mailed this week.  Only 18 days into the quarter and it does seem like it flew by.  More work throughout the next weeks will help to balance out your grade.

SOPHOMORES:

Monday — You read Chs. 6 & 7 of Things Fall Apart over the weekend and we started the Character Poster Activity today to put faces to all the names.

Tuesday — Finish Character Posters and review for the first test on TFA.

Wednesday — Quiz, Chapters 1-7 Things Fall Apart;  Character Posters Due

Thursday — Start Part 2, Chapter 8;  Get some more handouts (yay).  Finish reading Chapters 8 & 9 tonight.

Friday — Review Chapters 8- 9

Weekend — Saturday is the Sophomore Snow Trip!  Also, read Chapter 10.

JUNIORS

Monday — Review the two short stories from last week, “The Rules of the Game” and “Daughter of Invention”  Discuss the two mothers and their attitudes toward assimilation.

Tuesday — Non-fiction short unit on assimilation begins.  Read “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk” (aka “Quiet Girl” in the Reader) by Maxine Hong Kingston.  Answer Q’s #4 & 11 on page 1291

Wednesday — Review “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk” and write on the following topic:  Discuss how the narrator struggles to accept her traditional Chinese traits through the incident with the quiet girl.  Use at least one quote to support your ideas. Due Thursday.

Thursday — Read “Straw Into Gold” by Sandra Cisneros;  Answer margin questions in the Workbook;  Homework:  read “Only Daughter” in the reader

Friday — Review “Only Daughter” and compare to “Straw Into Gold”

Weekend — No homework

I don’t know what to say about this week.  To be honest, I am very disoriented and distracted right now.  A student stole from me last Thursday and it has sent me into a dark place.  In my first period, a student went into my purse, stole my wallet and my iPhone.  Since then, I have not only had to deal with the irritating “things to do” regarding changing passwords, blocking and reissuing cards, suspending mobile service and reactivating to a new phone, filing police reports, putting up posters, sending emails,

but also with the nagging, never-ending questioning of whom could have done this?  And worse, why did they do this?

So, I apologize for my lack of focus on your curriculum, but my world has been jarred from its normal rotation, and it’s taken a lot of focus and redirecting to stop looking into each face each day and not think to myself that this innocent looking child could be a thief.

I know material items can be replaced.  What is giving me bad dreams at night is that personal relationships, which I aspire to build as a teacher through respect and trust, are not easily rebuilt.  I found myself becoming numb inside, trying not to care about my students, putting up protection so I don’t get hurt.  Seems pretty emotional, but I do feel violated and I’m working through it.  I know it was only one person and I have over 100 students.  Students, who, for the most part would never think of such a thing.  And for you, I get up again in the morning, but on a happy face, and try to do better.

Sophomores: Getting back to Things Fall Apart!  It’s a great novel and I’m sorry we had to put it on the shelf for a week.  I also didn’t get to properly kick it off since I was out sick two weeks ago.

Monday — Review and discuss Chapters 1 & 2;   College Reflection Essay DUE@4 p.m.

Tuesday — Okonkwo’s Circle (handout):  Get all those African names straight; Read Ch. 3

Wednesday —  Reading Day:  Finish Chapter 3 & 4 Tonight

Thursday — Put a face to a name:  Okonkwo’s World Character Posters;  Read Chs. 5 tonight

Friday — Review Ch. 5;  Finish posters

Weekend: Read Chs. 6 & 7

JUNIORS: We’re going to try out the new textbooks this week.  We’ll finish our civil rights/assimilation poetry and move on to some short stories and memoirs/non-fiction.

Monday — Present Poetry Posters and read poems as a group.  We had a great start on Friday so let’s continue the trend!

Tuesday — Finish poetry poster presentations.  Writing assignment: How does the poem your group “unlocked” respond to/try to overcome the obstacles of racism and assimilation?  What does the speaker/poet say should be done about it?  Requirements: 2-3 paragraphs with a thesis and using examples/lines from the poem to support.

Wednesday — Turn in writing assignment.  Start new textbook.

Thursday — (In the new textbook) Contemporary Fiction, Unit 6, Ch.16

Friday –

Weekend Homework:

Here are the requirements for the essay you will write about your experience at UC Berkeley:

College Visit Reflective Essay

In a 3-paragraph reflective essay (and about 300 words), write about your experiences at and insights from our college visit.  Answer the questions:  In what ways was the college visit what you expected?  What surprised you?

Remember to focus your essay on comparing your preconceived thoughts and expectations about college before we went and whether they were met or not, and what impressed you most about the school in regards to the: Admissions, Students, Classes and Faculty, Housing, Campus Life, Cost and Financial Aid.

1^st Draft Due:  Monday, February 22^nd – typed, proofread, clean copy (50 points)

---

2^nd Draft Due:  Monday,  March 1^st – revised, posted to your student blog  (75 points)

REMINDER For BOTH Drafts:  12 POINT FONT, DOUBLE SPACED, WITH NAME, DATE, PERIOD IN UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER

We had a great day though we barely made it on time to our tour! Weather was so gorgeous and a great way to see the campus. Here are a few pics I took.

The class of 2012 is visiting UC Berkeley this Wednesday!  We’re also going to have a visitor from the team who is bringing you the College and Career workshop, Mr. Mike Sack.  He will be going with us on our tour of UCB and talking to you about the academy and the workshops.  Mr. Sack is super nice and loves kids!  Juniors, don’t fret, you are going to get your week of college workshops and a visit to SF State in March.

SOPHOMORES:  Unfortunately, we have to put Things Fall Apart on hold and jump into some College Readiness workshops to prep and reflect on our trip to UCB.

Tuesday:  College Readiness Workshop#1 “Why Go To College Anyway?” (with Ms. Paul) and #2  Myths & Facts about College, Researching UCB

Wednesday: UC Berkeley Visit — bring your workshop notes and questions to write and prepare notes for your essay

Thursday: College Readiness Workshop #3:  College Visit Reflection;  Reflective Essay assigned, due Monday

Friday:  College Readiness Workshop #4:  ”What Do I Need to Do to Get Into College?”

Weekend HW:  Finish UCB Reflective Essay — due by 4 p.m. on Monday 2/22

JUNIORS

Tuesday:  Begin discussions about assimilation.  In the reader:  Seven poems from Against Forgetting:  The Struggle for Civil Rights; “Letter to the Academy” , “Let America Be America Again”, “I Have Seen Black Hands”, Immigrants in Our Own Land”, “How We Carry Ourselves” and “Oppression”

Tuesday Homework:  ”Unlock” one of the six poems (see notes from last week on unlocking a poem’s meaning).  Due on Thursday with your poster.

Wednesday:  Sub Day — Finish poetry;  make a poster/collage one of the Seven Poems — Gallery walk on Thursday (finish poster/collage for homework) — Include 3 lines from the poem and 2-3 visuals or dominate images from the poem, as well as a title.

Thursday:  Gallery walk poetry collages;  In the reader, “Never Marry A Mexican” by Mexican American author, Sandra Cisneros

Friday: finish “Never Marry A Mexican” writing assignment.

The second semester is now here and this is my first blog of the new semester. Last week I failed to blog. I was busy getting grades in and my sophomores were taking the CAHSEE.

Now we’ve all created goals and action plans for the semester and we’re ready to go! February is not only a short month but we have two Mondays off. Excellent! This week is short and was a bit uneven as far a curriculum goes. This is because the house of Paul got sick and I lost my voice and was out Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s day and a great holiday on Monday. Here’s what we did:

Sophomores:
Mon. Holiday
Tue. Finish resume planning workshop
Wed. Watch “Animal Farm” movie (if I’d known this would be my only day with you, we would have done something else)
Thu. Start our new book _Things Fall Apart_. Read Chapter 2 by Tuesday
Fri. One class went to the rally and one class didn’t.

Juniors:
Mon. Holiday!
Tue. Finish Resume planning workshop
Wed. Read Two poems on immigration from the reader
Thu.Finish two poems
Fri. 3rd period Rally, 4th period make collages for poems

The end of the semester is this Friday. Grades will be ready by next Tuesday 2/1 and report cards will be mailed by the first Friday in February. Oh, that’s also the day we have our I.D.entity performances! But first thing’s first already. It’s been quite a semester for me. As my students already know, there have been some ups and downs. Coming back to work and leaving my daughter in the care of others hasn’t been easy on me. And I know my teaching hasn’t always been at 100%, well heck if I’m being honest, I’m not sure it’s even been at 80%, but sometimes you can’t give it all in every area of your life. I know many of you have had to learn lessons about prioritizing, time management, and asking for help this semester. Well so have I.

I know that for some of you it hasn’t been easy not getting the best grades, but you are still hanging in there and learning the best you can. My hat’s off to you. Welcome to the DSA and you can be proud of the fact that you are choosing to put yourself in the hands of quality educators that will try their best to challenge you and give you opportunities for mental, emotional and interpersonal growth. Trust us, you will not regret it if you stick it out 3 years!

Now, here is the plan for the week, our week of finals:

SOPHIES:
Monday. You finished reading Animal Farm over the weekend, and today we will review the last 3 chapters. I’m dying to have some fun, so we’ll split into groups and write skits that summarize the chapters.

Tuesday. The day before our final. I’ll give you time in class to do some studying for the plot diagramming section of the final. The rest of the studying is up to you.

Wednesday. 1st Period: 8-10 am. 2nd Period: 10:35-12:35 pm. If we have extra time we’ll watch the movie.

Next week preview: It’s back-to-back testing! The CAHSEE is next week! Borrow a study book and prepare yourself.

JUNIORS:

Monday. It’s a No

Ack!  Can you believe it?  The semester is almost over!!  One week from today (Wednesday 1/20) is the first day of Final Exams.  My grading IN box is becoming a mountain of work to do!  This week is also the Senior class’ Green Bizz presentation, so there’s lots of energy buzzing around the DSA this week.

I know it’s Thursday afternoon and the week’s basically over, but here is what we did and what you will do over the weekend:

SOPHOMORES:

TUESDAY:  Study Guide for Chapters 5-7 due today;  We reviewed a bit via a Reading Check (Quiz).  Then you got a handout entitled, “Techniques of Propaganda”.  We defined 3 terms:  Propaganda, Scapegoat and Tyrant

WEDNESDAY:  The Pepsi Challenge Day One;  We finished reading about propaganda techniques then we got into groups.  Each group was given one of the techniques of propaganda and had to write and act out a skit persuading all sophomores to drink pepsi.

THURSDAY:  Finish the Pepsi Challenge;  Start looking at which propaganda techniques the pigs use in _Animal Farm_.  This is on page 28 of your notebook.

FRIDAY:  Review the propaganda techniques you found yesterday in the book;  Do some in class reading today.

WEEKEND:  Finish reading Animal Farm! (Chapters 8-10)  Complete the study guide.

JUNIORS!  We continue our unit on Media Literacy, focusing this week on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Educational Media and the value messages in them.  This will be on the final!

TUESDAY:  Introduce Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs;  We discussed what we need to survive and what we need to thrive and that advertisers present false solutions to real needs.  Do we need to eat?  Yes!  Do we need to eat McDonald’s?  No!  Will McDonald’s also bring us friendship and happiness?  NO!!  Homework was to find a print ad that exploits real needs.

WEDNESDAY:  Continued discussion of Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy.  Share ads and then look for the hidden promise of a fulfilled need (subliminal advertising).  In class writing to discuss the ad and how it promises to fulfill at least 2 different needs and how.

THURSDAY:  Educational Media Bias;  We discussed the Dos and Don’ts of Dating and started to watch a 1947 Educational video entitled, “Are You Popular?”  (Handout on this was given out)

FRIDAY:  Education Media Bias, Day 1.  Continue discussion of how value  messages are embedded in educational media.  Introduction to PSAs.

WEEKEND HW:  NO LOGO FASHION SHOW on Monday!  Come to class wearing (head to toe, back to front) NO Logos!

It was a great time! Thanks for being there and supporting our students!

Donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti by texting to 90999