Thursday, May 21, 2009

Performance Schedule (in order)

Wednesday
Group 1: Lindsey, Mindy, Sandy, Midori, Jenny, Anna
Group 2: Edwin, Matthew, Angelica, Samantha, Christina, Dino

Thursday
Group 3: Karen, Ian, Tom, Ernest, Julia, Hannah
Group 4: Abigail, Andie, Leandro, Selenia

Friday
Group 5: Kevin, Harry, Denis, Curtis, Edmund
Group 6: Matt E, Alex, Mario, Edward

Have a great weekend and be sure to practice, practice, practice your lines!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Reading Schedule

Reading Schedule for Othello *

5/13 – Act I, Scene iii (1.3)

5/14 – Act II, Scene I (2.1)

5/15 – Act III, Scene iii (3.3)

5/18 – Act III, Scene iv (3.4)

5/19 – Act IV, Scene I (4.1)

5/20 – Act IV, Scenes ii & iii (4.2 & 4.3)

5/21 – Act V, Scene I (5.1)

5/26 – Act V, Scene II (5.2)

*Reading should be completed by each due date. For each day of reading, two (2) reading logs are also due.

Friday, May 8, 2009

For Monday

Hopefully those of you who weren't in class have received the email by now, but your essays are due Monday in class (and posted to turnitin.com by 11:59pm). If you go into turnitin.com sometime this weekend and look at the "grademark," you will see some brief comment from me.

Also, on Monday will be the vocab quiz. Then we will begin Othello!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Thesis Info + Vocab

Here is the info from today's class on what a thesis statement is not.

Don't worry - I can tell you all need more help, so we will work more on thesis statements on Monday by going over examples. You can also check out Purdue OWL's page on "Creating a Thesis Statement."

We will also be starting some fresh vocabulary journals. I will post the words shortly.

Don't forget to take the 2nd zine survey!

HW: Get to work on your your rough drafts, and enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New zine survey

Okay, so the choices have been narrowed down a bit, and we need to agree upon a title.

Based on popular vote, we will have a very colorful zine, probably with an all-over design. We are lucky enough to have a local artist helping us out on this project - Paul Morgan, an artist/printmaker from Oakland, has volunteered to help us print (and design, if we want) the covers.

Please check out his work here and decide if you would like him to design a cover using our ideas, or tell me if you are interested in designing the cover.

After that, you can take the new survey!

Also, to address the other comments you made:
1. Yes, of course we will sell it at Lowell High School! We will also give copies to the school library along with the San Francisco Public Library's zine collection.
2. Matt, we can certainly send a copy to Obama! I'm also going to send one to Sherman Alexie since his writing inspired us.
3. Our audience is the general public - not just Lowell High School! That's why I suggested you may want to give your reader a brief intro to your community using the info you collected in your group research project. Adults may read it, teenagers such as yourselves may read it. I am also putting a few out for sale at the stores I showed you in the powerpoint - if you remember, one is in Chicago and one is in Portland, so our readers won't just be from California.

Today in the computer lab

Before you get started with your group, please take this survey about how you think our zine should look.

After you finish the survey, you can continue working on your group's section.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Essay topics

Choose one of the following topics to write about in an essay of 3-5 pages. In your essay, you should develop an argument in response to one of the following questions, and support it using citations from the text.

  1. What do you see as being an important motif in The Bluest Eye? How and why is this motif important to the novel's major themes?

  2. Which theme from The Bluest Eye do you see most reflected in your own life today? Please support your argument with specific examples from both the book and your own experience.

  3. What kind of theme about whiteness exists in The Bluest Eye? What kind of point is Morrison trying to make? You may also support your ideas with other texts we have examined.

  4. How does our society transmit certain standards of beauty, which most of us are unable to live up to? How do we see beauty ideals impacting the lives of the characters in The Bluest Eye?

  5. See Ms. Aaland if there is a topic you are interested in writing about which is not listed above.

Essays should be 10-12 point font, double-spaced, and have margins no larger than 1”. You will need to submit a paper copy in class for each of the two due dates, and you will also need to submit your essay to Turnitin.com by 11:59pm on the same day (both times).


1st draft due for peer review Tuesday, May 5th (2 copies)

2nd draft due Friday, May 8th (1 copy plus copy of 1st draft)