Blogging for Dummies

To post your response, click on the “Comments” link following the specific prompt. Some recommendations, requirements, and reminders:

• Sign with your first name so I can give you credit. Never use your full name.
  
• Keep it brief: about 150 words does the trick. You don’t need to say everything at once, just make a solid point. More will overwhelm your classmates.
  
• Proofread your work. You may want to compose your response in Microsoft Word and then paste it in.
  
• Unless you are the first to post, acknowledge at least one comment made before your own. You might support (and extend), challenge, or qualify positions that have already been taken.
  
• Support your ideas with specific reasons or examples; be respectful; basically, treat blogging like a very public class discussion.
  
• Try not to wait until the last minute!
  
• Let me know if you have any technical problems. In a worst case scenario, print out or email me your work.

Blog Assignment #1: Public Humiliation

Read the news articles below, then post a response to the discussion prompt.

• Justice as a Morality Play That Ends With Shame (New York Times)
• Shame on You (Washington Post)

What is your position on the role of public humiliation as punishment in the criminal justice system today? Is it appropriate? Is it effective? Support your view with appropriate evidence.

The deadline for posting is 11:59p on Wednesday, April 9th.

Blog Assignment #2: Exploring Transcendental Thought

Read and annotate the excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.” Consider the various arguments Emerson makes, considering specifically what he says about the importance of non-conformity and independent beliefs.

To what extent do you agree with the ideas Emerson expresses in “Self-Reliance”? Consider the virtues and the costs of such emphasis on individualism. Do you believe that there’s too little, too much, or just the right amount of emphasis on individualism in our society today?

As we continue to discuss The Scarlet Letter, consider how Hawthorne might answer these same questions. What does Hester (“little accustomed, in her long seclusion from society, to measure her ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself”) suggest about Hawthorne’s beliefs?

The deadline for posting is 11:59p on Friday, April 11th.

Week of April 7th

Monday, April 7th (U)
• Due: Reread Scarlet Letter, Ch. I-III.
• Class: Lesson on Scarlet Letter, Ch. I-III. Sign up for literature circles.

Tuesday, April 8th (M)
• Class does not meet today.

Wednesday, April 9th (T)
• Due: Blog on public humiliation (by 11:59p). Reread Scarlet Letter, Ch. I-III.
• Class: Lesson on Scarlet Letter, Ch. I-III.

Thursday, April 10th (W)
• Due: Reread Scarlet Letter, Ch. IX-XII.
• Class: Lesson on Scarlet Letter, Ch. IX-XII.

Friday, April 11th (H)
• Due: Blog on Emerson excerpt (by 11:59p). Reread Scarlet Letter, Ch. XIII-XV.
• Class: Lesson on Scarlet Letter, Ch. XIII-XV.

Monday, April 14th (F)
• Due: Reread Scarlet Letter, Ch. XVI-XX.
• Class: Lesson on Scarlet Letter, Ch. XVI-XX.

Note: If you are not planning to sit for one of our practice exams, be sure to get a copy of the test questions (due the Friday before vacation).

Literature Circle Selections

Click here to see summaries of each book (taken from Amazon.com) or click on the title to go directly to its entry on Amazon. Remember that I need your choice on Monday; email me if you'll be out of school.

Books Relating to Medicine:
• Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science
• How Doctors Think
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Books Relating to American History & Contemporary Politics:
• In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
• The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
• Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
• A Walk in the Woods

Books Relating to the Workforce:
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
• Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
• The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Books Relating to Struggling in America:
• There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America
• Random Family
• Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America’s Educationally Underprepared

Books Relating to Negotiating Cultural Differences:
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
• Paris to the Moon

Books Relating to the Nature of Good and Evil:
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
• In Cold Blood

Books Relating to Language & Literature:
• Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
• The Power of Babel

Books Relating to Science & Technology:
• The Mismeasure of Man
• Silent Spring
• Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
• Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology
• The Female Brain

Week of March 31st

Monday, March 31st (T)
• Due: Vocabulary exercises for Unit #6.
• Class: Lesson on tone.

Tuesday, April 1st (W)
• Due: Finish tone exercise and definitions. Be sure to have finished reading “The Custom House,” of course!
• Class: Lesson on “The Custom House.” Teaching assignments made.

Wednesday, April 2nd (H)
• Due: Read and analyze article for literary criticism jigsaw (précis and reaction).
• Class: Wrap up “Custom House”; literary criticism jigsaw.

Thursday, April 3rd (F)
• Due: Review your assigned chapters in The Scarlet Letter.
• Class: Lesson planning in groups.

Friday, April 4th (S)
• Due: Work on lessons. Submit draft plans by the end of the day on Friday.
• Class: Introduction to April break literature circle titles; lesson planning.

Monday, April. 7th (U)
• Due: Review Ch. 1-3 in preparation for today’s lesson.
• Class: Lesson on Ch. 1-3.

Week of March 24th

Monday, March 24th (H)
• Due: Start reading The Scarlet Letter.
• Class: Satire assessment (timed essay).

Tuesday, March 25th (F)
• Due: Read Rex Murphy editorial; work on Scarlet Letter.
• Class: Debate Rex Murphy editorial; introduction to Puritanism.

Wednesday, March 26th (S)
• Due: Work on Scarlet Letter.
• Class: Guidance appointment for course selection.

Thursday, March 27th (U)
• Due: Completed reading assignment on Scarlet Letter.
• Class: Introduction to Romanticism and Transcendentalism.

Friday, March 28th (M)
• Class does not meet.

Monday, March. 31st (T)
• Due: Vocabulary exercises for Unit #6.
• Class: Lesson on tone.