English 11

Monday Today we watched the rest (almost) of Memento.

Friday Today we started with a discussion of a quote from Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian media philosopher:  We look at the present through a rearview mirror; we walk backwards into the future.  We then watched the first half of the film Memento. Thursday Once the journals were done, we listened to two more debates today. I discussed the possibility of doing a film study for the remaining classes and showed the trailer for The Crucible. Unfortunately, half a dozen of you have already seen it, so I will see what else I can come up with. Wednesday I was time for debating today. We listened to two debates. I am looking forward to hearing the rest tomorrow! Tuesday Please be advised that a novel autograph (about the non-fiction book from this term) will be due on Friday, June 12. This will be the last opportunity to hand in any late work from term 4 before report cards. I was away today unexpectedly. As a result, I asked that the TOC give the class a debating task...

Friday "O ur compulsion to document our lives is replacing our desire to participate in it." I am unable to find the exact source for the above quote. It was a comment made in an article in the Huffington Post about a British TV series called Black Mirror made by a man named Charlie Brooker. The reaction of the class to viewing the White Bear episode was surprising. As I watched the class watch, everyone appeared very engaged. The comments after the viewing did catch me off guard. Some people liked it, other disliked it strongly (not that surprising); others found it very disturbing and still others did not understand it. Regardless, I thought the conversation that the episode prompted afterward was very interesting. It is important to remember what satire is when viewing this series. Satire is about pointing out issues or problems in society and has at its goal the intention to bring about change. The White Bear episode is intentionally far-fetched, disturbing and ridicu...

Friday Time was provided for everyone to finish reading the story The Adjuster and to plot the style changes in the story on the plot diagram. We also watched about 25 minutes of the documentary about Omar Kahdr that aired on the CBC last night. Thursday The date for the essay on the term 4 non-fiction novel has been set for next Tuesday and Wednesday. During Monday's class there will be some time dedicated to writing a plan for the essay. Today we reviewed basic essay structure and discussed how the non-fiction essay topics would fit with the essay structure. Afterwards, we returned to reading the short story The Adjuster and noting the style changes during the course of the story. Wednesday Today was the due date for the good copy of the paragraph about "Later they'll say..." We spent some time quickly reviewing the elements of plot for a short story and then we returned to the short story "The Adjustor." During reading of the story I asked that you i...

Friday I was away today. Here are the notes I left for Mr. Allen: Silent reading for first 10-15 minutes Students have been working with the poem “Later They’ll Say She Got Lost in the Blizzard” by Lorna Crozier. They have annotated the poem and drawn out their interpretation of it. Today they must write a paragraph in which they discuss the importance of imagery (using imagery to mean vivid images) in the poem. By the end of the class, they must submit: their annotation of the poem, the graphic-novel version of the poem and their paragraph (typed, double-spaced). I have given them the 6 point scoring guide from the grade 12 provincial and told them that I will use it to assess their paragraphs. Thursday Today, at last, was the day to write the paragraphs about the Crozier poem. After silent reading was over, however, and I got the question on the board and the criteria handed out, the NetBooks were not charged up! So we did a poetry slam activity instead where teams looked at...

Friday Rather than doing the planned poetry analysis activity, last period, before a long weekend we took a look at Shakespeare's Macbeth in a variety of different ways. We looked briefly at some modern parallels to the Macbeth story: Breaking Bad and House of Cards. Next we looked at a graphic novel version of the story, and then a 90 second video clip version. Finally we viewed a 2010 version for the remainder of the class. I was a little taken aback at the level of disinterest that was demonstrated by the majority of the class. I wonder if iPhones will still be studied with such interest in 400 years? Thursday We looked at another Lorna Crozier poem today: Deer's Take on Man. I was impressed by the insights that were being discussed as everyone went around the room and wrote on the poem copies. I am always amazed at how listening to students talk, especially about a poem that is new to me, my own understanding of the poem improves.  New vocabulary word:  there were some ...

Friday We completed a few more of the poetry in film presentations. The few remaining presentations should be finished off in Monday's class. Afterwards, we took another look at Packing for the Future and I asked everyone to create their own version of the poem on the copy with blanks that I created. Thanks to CD for reading his cleaver and amusing version of the poem. Thursday After watching a few poetry in film/favourite lines of poetry presentations, we began looking at Lorna Crozier's poem "Packing for the Future." To begin I asked everyone to pick an object to carrying things into the future (backpack, garbage bag, Louis Vuiton satchel, Samsonite suitcase, cardboard box) and then I asked everyone to draw that carry-all and start filling it up with what you need for the future: objects, emotions, abstract concepts (ie. education). We looked at the contents of Cheryl Strayed's backpack in "Wild" and how she carried her burden for more than a 1000 ...

Friday I was at a district workshop again today. Here are the notes I left for the TOC. • Silent read for the first 10-15 minutes of the class • Work on their annotation for 20-30 minutes if they need to. • Individual poetry treasure hunt. Students will be searching for their own striking lines and phrases from famous poems. Send students to the Poetry In Voice online anthology in search of memorable passages: http://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems/poem-finder They should gather three passages from different poems . The meaning of the passage in its original context is less important than the power each student finds in it and the student’s ability to imagine each passage being put to use in a specific situation. If you wish, you can make this a “treasure hunt” assignment. Use the list of situations on the strips of paper; give each student a situation, and ask him or her to find three appropriate lines or phrases from the online anthology that could be of use in the context...