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ENG 12H

Monthly Archives: September 2012

weekly reflection. due Mon Oct 1

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in Uncategorized

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Remember that these reflections are due by 8am Monday.

Your own reading notes are the best place to start fishing for ideas.  I find that weekend reflections are a chance to synthesize ideas that have been percolating during the week.  Typically, between the weekends, I write brief notes about connections that occur to me.  The reflection challenges me to test those connections by trying to explain and interpret them.  I encourage you to do the same.  If you want to use this Friday’s idea-pairings as grist for your mill, please do.

Your reflections do not have to directly address the reading or discussions, but they may.  I hope that the material we read gives you ideas to consider and connect.  I also hope that this venue frees you to write in other than a strictly analytical mode–i.e., the mode you used in the tone essay.  This alternate venue does not automatically preclude analysis, but your primary purpose is not to present a formal analysis.  Instead, you are making personal connections that mean something to you.  Remember that you can be personal without being private.  Finding that line is one of the challenges and rewards of this reflective writing.  Write freely with your associations, while making sure that you express your ideas as clearly as possible.  Clarity, as many of you acknowledged in your post-conference summaries, demands proofreading.  The best writers proofread before publishing.  Take that extra time.

agenda. Fri Sep 28

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in agenda, Beowulf

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Tags

shape meaningful schemas

REMINDER: TONE ESSAY REVISIONS DUE TO TURNITIN BY 4PM TODAY

idea-pairings to consider–for today’s listening and this weekend’s reflection:

ring-giver & treasure-hoarder

Beowulf as hero & Wiglaf’s lament (3076 ff.)

even-temper & fury

realistic scenes & fantastic scenes

Cain-and-Abel story & “claims of kinship” (2601)

other pairings from your own discernment

listen to Seamus Heaney read selections from the end of the poem  (2529 ff.)

before we start listening, mark these lines in your book:

2538-91, 2631-38, 2646-93

2694-2739, 2743-72, 2779-2808

2809-26, 2830-35, 2842-63, 2873-2930, 2933-35, 2999-3027

3028-3057, 3076-3182

agenda. Wed/Thurs Sept 26/7

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in agenda, Beowulf, reading

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read Beowulf at least through line 2400

email a brief response–using clear, complete sentences–to these question:

What are three significant ways in which the dragon’s portrait differs from that of Grendel and Grendel’s mother?  What makes these differences significant?  In other words, what makes them meaningful to the overall poem? What brief excerpts support your answer?

if you want,

use the remaining time to revise your tone essay,

which is due to TURNITIN by 4pm Friday

agenda. Tues Sept 25

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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interesting questions and developments–in Beowulf

small groups first;

those groups lead discussion, anchored in passages they find

 

upcoming block class: Mr. Brown’s model essay for “Infant Laughing”; time for essay revision (and consultations, as needed)

 

weekly. due Friday Sept 28

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in Beowulf, homework, reading, submission

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Week’s assignments (due Friday):

finish reading Beowulf,

submit revised tone essay to TURNITIN.  (See my post-conference reflections in past KWL post.)

_______

As you read the last third of Beowulf, consider some of these questions, which have emerged from recent student reflections:

Grendel: nature or nurture?  In other words, does Grendel act from natural impulse or conditioned response?

If he does, why does the Beowulf-poet show any sympathy for a creature like Grendel?  How does sympathy for the monster contribute to the poem’s integrity?  In other words, how can you make the case that this sympathy fits the poem’s overall design?

What implications result from a hero and monster who seem to have some common qualities? (remember white-board class activity)

Does the poem devote more lines to celebrations and feasts than to battle scenes?  How do the relative numbers of lines affect the overall poem?

How does the poem balance, or reconcile, the themes of individual glory and the communal well-being?

Does the depiction of Grendel’s mother evoke more or less sympathy than the poem’s portrait of her child?  What new ingredients, if any, appear in the characterization of this second monster?

agenda. Mon Sep 24

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in agenda

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A block: conferences

conferees, email your summary of issues addressed in today’s conference; non-conferees, follow agenda for C/D blocks

C/D blocks:  read at least three weekend reflections (one from each section) , and write at least one thoughtful response;

read on in Beowulf, taking notes on one or more of the questions emerging from recent student reflections (see “weekly. due Friday Sep 28“)

week’s assignments (due Friday): finish Beowulf, submit revised tone essay to TURNITIN

Regular weekend Reflection explained

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in submission, writing

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Since this weekend brings our first Regular Reflection, I want to explain my thinking.

What’s due when?

A blog post published before 8am Monday morning.  Use at least 250 words.

What are we we writing?

When I introduced the idea in class, I said that I have enjoyed the chance to reflect on my reading and the thoughts or feelings it ignites.  Such reflections also give me a chance to connect various threads to one another–to synthesize (weave) them into coherent observations about the reading or about life.  I am committing us to this project–at least for now–so that you have the same chance to enjoy the process of reflecting and connecting.  You pick the ideas, reactions, patterns, insights, feelings evoked by applying your mind and heart to our material from the week.  For example, this past week, we spent time considering “the heart of a monster,” as well as details in poem’s imagery. Two groups wrote dialogues between Cain and Abel.  By no means must you confine yourself to these elements, but something in those arenas may produce a thread you want to express. If an idea carries over (in your mind) from more than a week ago, develop that.  Be careful, though, to try to use something from the past week, so that you do not miss the chance to digest recent material. If it helps, feel free to peruse my blog, maroonballoon.wordpress.com.  Granted, the topics there probably differ from the ones you will pursue, but some of my posts may give you a sense of the style and purpose of such reflections.

For whom are we writing?  How do we best shape it?

You are writing primarily for yourself, with the general reader beside you.  Watch the associations your mind is making; let them happen.  From those connections, make meaning for yourself.  When you do this, the reader beside you benefits, also.  Remember to proofread, though, because that general reader’s new insights depend on your writing precisely.  You care about these ideas enough to express them; convey them as clearly as you can.

Experiment w/ tags and/or categories

These features of wordpress allow you to track your recurring ideas over time.  Find ways to use either feature, or both, to your advantage.  Later in the year, you could use emerging patterns to fuel other kinds of writing.  Categories work best for units or books–for instance, poetry, Beowulf or Frankenstein (when we read that novel).  Tags can mark themes you find in your posts.  For example, maybe you tend discuss beauty, challenge, joy or patience.

On occasion, I will ask permission to re-blog, which signals special success

My asking such permission means that your published post demonstrates a distinctive level of personal integration.  In other words, you are internalizing and digesting the material and its related ideas, in a personal way–a way that means something to you.  Such posts also read especially clearly.  Another measurement I imagine using:  would I like to share this post with colleagues and other adults because of its special insights?  I expect valuable posts from everyone, while reserving the option to recognize special successes.

agenda. Fri Sep 21

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in agenda

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A block (only) conferences—first five (second five on Monday)

Cain/Abel dialogue project: create and perform

Notes on Weekend Reflection, elaboration forthcoming (as of Friday 10am)

Experiment w/ tags and/or categories

on occasion, I will ask permission to re-blog, which signals   special success

e.g., personal integration

clear

worth sharing w/colleagues because of insight

some relationship to our reading/discussion

synthesizes strands of recent thoughts

monster test. please respond to this experiment, when you have a chance

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in general info

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agenda. Wed/Thurs Sept 19/20

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by bllbrwn423 in agenda

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While the rest of the class conferences with me, please do the following, as you read toward line 2000 (for Monday). Do this work on your own; don’t outsource or sub-contract. Remember that part of the context for this work is this weekend’s regular reflection, which will appear as new post on your blog before 8am Monday.

If you are not conferencing with me today, please email me some of your reading notes before class ends.  If you are conferencing, email me–during class–your brief summary of issues in your writing that we discussed.  This summary gives you the chance to digest the conference, as well as give both of us a record of what we addressed. 

summary–write 5-10-sentence summary of plot so far

physical details–mark some lines that use especially specific and memorable language that appeals to your physical senses

keel and comprehension–consider Heaney’s sentence on xxi, in terms of the physical sensations, as well as the broader understandings the poem encourages

themes–consider the poem’s themes, like suffering, courage, wyrd, treasure, etc.

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