Class+Blog

12-1-09 Everyone did a great job with research today. There were lots of good questions and there was a lot of hard work as well.

11-15-09

I'm feeling really good about the fact that I graded all 64 of your synthesis essays this weekend. Turned in Thursday, graded by Sunday. 3 days for 64 essays is not too shabby.

11-12-09

I'm a really bad blogger.

I'm excited to see your Scarlet Letter projects tomorrow, and I hope you are all wearing ties.

You have all had great questions on these projects and on research techniques in general. I'm glad for the questions because it means that you're thinking about it, and working ahead of time.

10-5-09

I liked your questions on "Nature."

No one had questions about the Soto essay. I find this slightly scary.

Many of you are transcendentalists, and you didn't even know it.

Random observation: I find myself frequently referencing Emma Grace's, Kyler's, Amanda's, and Kyle's "This I Believe" essays, which is a good thing, don't worry.

10-1-09

Good job with the Transcendentalism analogies today and great cooperative decision-making on the multiple choice practice section.

We decided today in 3rd period that we're going to wear ties on Fridays. Because we can't wear Hawaiian shirts.

9-30-09

I have discovered that I'm not a very good blogger.

The first marking period is coming to an end shortly, and we've had a great semester so far. Recently, we've had a couple of great days, complete with both learning AND fun. And dancing. Students requested more practice in identifying rhetorical devices, so I planned a Rhetoric Relay Review. Students had to make up arguments using different rhetorical strategies or arguments containing different rhetorical flaws. I played music, and each time the music changed, students had to move on to the next station. The arguments they had to make were "You should make me a waffle," "Mrs. Hutchinson should be the Collard Queen," "Shorten the school week," and "Put a food court in the cafeteria." Everyone did a great job and I think (hope) they had a good time while learning and reviewing. The highlight came during third period, when Kyler attempted to distract everyone from their task by performing the dance to "Single Ladies" as done by Kurt Hummell on //Glee//, the official (okay, unofficial) TV show of AP English this year.

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This week, we had more music and moving around the room, this time on a "Graffiti Walk," which is a lesson I stole from Mrs. Durham, then adapted to my own purposes. I saw a lot of in-depth analysis and evaluation going on regarding those Emerson quotes. I think we have some budding transcendentalists. When we went over the comments people had made on the posters, Amanda made a comment on the poster that said "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" that made me think about how exciting is is for me as a teacher to see you all developing your individuality and forging your own paths. It made my face tingle. For those who don't know, that's Hutch-speak for it was very touching and/or made me very happy. Seeing you all learn and have those "Aha!" moments is what I look forward to and what lets me know that I'm doing what I should be doing.======

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8-22-09 Class hasn't started yet, but I did get to meet most of my AP students at Open House on Thursday. It was great to see those who I've taught before or worked with through SGA or Link Crew, and I enjoyed seeing some new faces as well. I often communicate with parents via the Internet, and I'm always happy to put a face with a name or at least refresh my memory on that, so that was another nice part of Open House. I saw some parents I haven't seen since Open House when their students were freshmen, and some who I see fairly often because of their involvement with the parent organizations at school. Students, feel free to comment on the discussion board for the blog, or any other pages that may pop up on the class website. I'm always glad for your input and I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.