The King Horse III / The Silver Kiss XI / The Most Dangerous Game V

Grade 12

• Discussed in more detail the image of the "Stillpoint," or the Axis Mundi. Introduced the idea of the present moment being the balance point between the present and the future, something accessible to everybody, and emphasizing the importance of experiencing the present moment in its entirety, as an athlete, musician, artist or writer does. Share the following whcih was copied as notes:

SACRED: worthy of or regarded with reverence, awe, or respect
Mircea Eliade on the Axis Mundi: “To create sacred space is to create an ordered universe emanating around a central point of reference… The experience of the sacred, by disclosing being, meaning, and truth in an unknown, chaotic, and fearful world, prepared the way for systematic thought."

• Continued reading "The Horse God" through the bottom of page 112.
• Note: I'm still missing a lot of journals from period 8. They were due in yesterday. Points will be taken off for lateness!

Grade 10

• Quiz 3
• Finish chapter 13 plus reading log for tomorrow.

Grade 9

• Journal: General Zaroff reveals his true character on page 7. What line or lines do you find the most revealing? Why? What does it say about him? How would you now describe him.
• Discuss. (Great discussion!)
• read and annotate pages 9 and 10

The King Horse (Definitely) / The Silver Kiss X / The Most Dangerous Game IV

Grade 12

• Collected dialogue essays.
• Continued reading and discussing "The King Horse" up to page 110.
• Discussed, in particular the image of "The Navel Stone," representative of the spiritual center. Analogous to the World Navel, and the Axis Mundi.
• Common App essay due for peer review on Thursday.

Grade 10

• Checked reading logs 9-12 for a major grade.
• Students worked in groups comparing literary elements for chapter 12.
• Discuss chapter 12.
• HW: Read chapter 13 to page 161, end with the word 'visit.'

Grade 9

• Students worked on summarizing pages 5 through 7 while homework was checked.
• discuss annotations for pages 6 and seven.
• HW: write the rest of the vocabulary words for the story in notebooks.

The King Horse (Maybe)/The Silver Kiss IX / The Most Dangerous Game III

Grade 12 :

• Handed back essay #4
• Emphasized necessity for careful editing. Many of these were not done to college application essay qualification.
• Collected Samurai essay
• Due to absences, "The Horse God" was not continued. Students edited essay #4. We also discussed the trials and tribulations of the Common Application website. Students should definitely be working on that now! It is a bear of a process!
• Tomorrow: Dialogue essays are due. Period 8 journals are due.

Grade 10 :

• Journal: What is the "center" of chapter 11? How do you know?
• Check chapt. 11 reading log
• Discuss journal question
• Groups: discuss and share literary elements for chapter 11
• HW: Chapter 12 plus log. Reading logs 9 through 12 will be checked for a major grade.

Grade 9:

• Read and annotate page 5 while I check vocab hw.
• Discuss page 5 annotations
• HW: read and annotate pages 6 and 7

The King Horse/The Silver Kiss VIII / The Most Dangerous Game II

Grade 12

• Handed out "The King Horse," the first chapter in Mary Renault's The King Must Die. Read and discussed in terms of historical context, imagery and as a platform for identifying the functions of myth.
• Students were told that the Samurai essay can be handed in on Monday.
• Question #88 is due on Tuesday.
• Period 8 reading logs are due on Tuesday.

Grade 10:

•  Period 1: Journal: under what circumstances was Simon turned into a vampire. Be specific.
• Discussed the significance of the 'silver kiss,' the relationships between Simon, Christopher and von Grab.
• Worked in groups comparing literary elements for chapters 9 and 10.
• Period 5: To many students were behind in the reading and reading logs to fulfill the above plan. Students who are on target were free to work on chapter 11. Everyone else was to work on catching up.
• Both periods: logs will now be checked for a minor grade on a daily basis. Anyone who doesn't have it will be staying after school, and parents called. Referrals will be sent to the office.
• Everyone: Read and log chapter 11. 

Grade 9

• Journal: Summarize pages 3 and 4.
• Checked hw.
• Pages 3 and 4 were reviewed for annotations.
• HW: Complete vocabulary definitions (words bolded and underlined) through page 8.

Peer Review /The Silver Kiss VII / The Most Dangerous Game

Grade 12

• Peer review question 88, final copy due Tuesday
• Distributed Essay questions from the Common Application. Students are to choose one, or complete an essay from another college application they are working on. These essays are the real deal.
• Common app questions are:

_ _ Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.


_ _ Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

_ _ Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

_ _ Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

_ _ A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an

experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

_ _ Topic of your choice.

Grade 10

• Journal: Fully describe Wulfram von Grab from chapter 10.
• Discuss
• Finish discussing chapter 9, begin discussing chapter 10.
• HW: Finish chapter 10 plus reading log.

 
Grade 9

• In notes: summarize the story so far.
• Check homework.
• Review page 2 of the story, annotations.
• HW: read and annotate pages 3 and 4.

Samurai Essay / The Silver Kiss VII / The Most Dangerous Game

Note: Keeping up with these blog updates has been a challenge. Comes with having 140 students!

Grade 12

• Continued writing the Samurai essay in class. This is the last period devoted to this. Essay due on Friday.
• Tomorrow is peer review for question #88.

Grade 10

• Copied vocabulary while hw was checked:

12. Anecdote: short account of an incident (especially a biographical one)
13. Profound: showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth; great, important meaning
14. Thesis: A statement that is maintained by argument
15. Annotate: to supply with critical or explanatory notes; comment upon in notes

• Discussed most of chapter 9, especially the conversation between Zoe and Simon at the door to her house.
• HW: read chapter 10 through page 116 and write a log. (This chapter is long so I cut it in half.)

Grade 9

• Yesterday's vocab:

3. Plot: the sequence of events in a story
4. Setting: Where and when a story takes place
5. Motivation: what inspires or provokes the main character in a story to action.
6. conflict: the persons or forces that keep the protagonist from achieving his goal
7. complication: events or obstacles that keep the protagonist from achieving his goal
8. suspense: a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement
9. dénouement: conclusion of a story
10. Annotate: to supply with critical or explanatory notes; comment upon in notes

• Checked HW (define first 12 vocab words bolded and underlined in the story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
• Explained the importance of annotating text. Read the first page of the story together and modeled annotating clues to literary elements (tone, theme, characterization, etc.), important ideas, confusions.
• HW: read page 2, annotate to the best of your ability.

Very briefly...

Grade 12

• Worked on Samurai essay. Will again tomorrow. Final copy of question 27 due tomorrow. Handed out 3rd Deadly Sin of Writing and Rules for Writing Dialogue.

Grade 10

• Did journal work on chapter 8. Discussed the chapter in terms of tone and character development. Chapter 9 and log due tomorrow. Quiz on chapters 5 through 8 tomorrow and log check.

Grade 9

• Went over Pigs exam. No hw.

Peer review / The Silver Kiss V / Pigs Exam, continued

Grade 12

• Class will have Monday and maybe Tuesday to work on Samurai essays.
• Reminded students that reading logs are to be a minimum of 5 minutes of writing, not 'half a page.' I will start grading them accordingly. Half a page in a standard composition notebook would take half that at best.
• Peer review
• Next essay question: #88. Due for Peer review next Thursday. The essay after that will be either the current Common Application essay question, or a question from an application being completed. This will be the real deal.

Grade 10

• Journal: What moment in chapter seven is the most significant? Why?
• Check completed reading logs for a minor grade.
• Discuss chapters six and seven in terms of literary elements.
• HW: Chapter 8 plus reading log.
• Quiz and log check for major grade on Tuesday.

Grade 9

• Continue Pigs essay. Any not done will be completed for homework.
• Next week: start short story unit.

Class Status:

Grade 12 

• Tomorrow is peer review day. As I was out today, students worked their essays for The Last Samurai.
• Next essay will be assigned tomorrow.

Grade 10

• The Silver Kiss: Classes should have read through chapter 7 today and reading logs complete.
• Tomorrow we will discuss chapters 6 and 7.

Grade 9

• Class took multiple choice part of the exam for A Day No Pigs Would Die on Tuesday. Some began planning their essays.
• Yesterday, class began writing the essay and continued doing so today.
• Tomorrow they will put finishing touches on the essay (edit and proofread). More time will be granted if necessary.

Please Stand By!

Apologies for missed updates! I'll have a summary up a little later today.

Mr. L.

For Seniors Only: Essay Question for The Last Samurai

“The journey the hero gets is the one he’s ready for.”  ~Joseph Campbell

“The hero quest does not involve simply the hero’s discovery of some boon or Holy Grail, however; it also involves finding him or herself, which ultimately means finding a home in the universe.” ~ Susan Mackey-Kallis

“They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor.” ~Simon Graham (from the movie).

Joseph Campbell says there are two types of hero: the psycho-spiritual and the physical. The Last Samurai is an archetypal story of the hero in both aspects. Indeed, Nathan Algren cannot complete the physical hero journey until he completes the other. Nathan’s psycho-spiritual transformation required a journey into the unknown, where he was subject to the functions of myth of traditional Japanese culture.

In a well written essay containing specific details from the story, explain Nathan’s hero journey in terms of the stages of the hero journey and the four functions of myth.

Characters:

Katsumoto

Nathan Algren

Sergeant Gant

Colonel Bagley

Omura

Simon Graham: translator, photographer

General Hasegawa: committed suicide with Katsumoto’s assistance

Ujio: Nathan’s adversary

Taka

Taka’s sons

Nobutada: Katsumoto’s son

Emperor Meiji


Question is also posts on Mr. L's English Classes on Facebook

The Last Samurai V/ The Silver Kiss IV / Pigs Finale

Grade 12

• Continued video
• Discussion

Grade 10

• New vocabulary:
• 8. Elfin: Relating to or suggestive of an elf. Having a magical quality or charm
• 9. Empathy: understanding and entering into another's feelings. Different than sympathy which is to feel sorry for; empathy is to feel the same as.
• 10. Hedonism: Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses
• 11. Anguish: excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain
• In groups: Discuss the literary elements of chapters 3 and 4. Add or modify reading logs.
• Checked reading logs 1-4 for a major grade.
• Chapter 5 for Tuesday.

Grade 9

• Journal: Stories often have 'atonement with the father' as a theme. In what ways has Robert demonstrated that he has taken the place of his father in chapter 15?
• Discuss
• Go over quiz 3
• Exam on Monday! Make sure yesterday's journal activity is done well:
  Using specific details from the story, choose the most important scenes that illustrate the growth and change in Robert. Start from where he is in the beginning. (Should have at least 5 events in sequence.)

The Last Samurai IV/ The Silver Kiss III / Pigs Chapter 13

Grade 12

• Continue video: Nathan has achieved spiritual peace and reconciled with his enemy.
• The boy gives him a 'gift' as he is about to 'return.'
• Continue tomorrow. Rewrites should come in as soon as may be.

Grade 10

• Review literary elements
• Seperate into groups: list important events of chapter 2. Share, construct a pragraph together
• (Period 1 finished literary elements for reading log 2. Period 5 did not.
• HW: Chapter 3 plus reading log (Period 5 does not have to do literary elements.)

Grade 9

• Journal: What may the msymboloic meanings of the seasons be? Give specific details from the chapter to demonstrate Robert's growth.
• Discuss chapter 13.
• HW: Read chapter 15 plus reading log.

The Last Samurai III / The Silver Kiss II / Pigs Quiz 3

Grade 12 

• Continued video. 
• Collected period 4 journals
• There is no definite due date for rewrites, but it is highly recommended to get them in as soon as you can.

Grade 10 

• Discussed the conclusion of chapter 1.
• Students copied model reading log for the chapter
• Started reading chapter 2 together
• HW: Finish chapter 2. Tomorrow we will generate the reading log together

Grade 9

• Took quiz on chapter 3
• Read chapter 14 for homework, plus reading log.

The Last Samurai II / The Silver Kiss I / Quiz 2 review

Grade 12

• Handed back "hero" essays
• Discussed editing strategy: proofread for sentence construction more efficiently by reading essays end to beginning.
• Continued The Last Samurai
• Period 4 journals due tomorrow
• No essay due this week. Everyone should be working on rewrites.

Grade 10

• Intro first novel of the year, The Silver Kiss
• Begin reading chapter 1. Model critical reading skills.
• Explain reading log format.
• HW: Finish reading chapter 1.

Grade 9

• Hand back quiz two, review.
• Go over constructed response. Review the meaning of "specific details from the story." Put mode;l answer on the board
• Tomorrow: Quiz 3 on chapters 9-12