Learning Out Loud

Organizing the Class with Google Docs

2012-01-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

Today (the 2nd day of the class) was the introduction to Google Docs in my Honors English 11 classes.

I always love this day. The features like real-time sharing never fail to elicit "wows" from students, and it's important that they get a strong understanding of how to login. In my English classes students submit most of their written work on Google Docs, and I also grade it online.

When I began teaching with Google Docs, organization was the biggest challenge that I faced. I want to use this blog to show the way I introduced Google Docs.

Logging In
A key step on the first day of Google Docs is getting everyone on the same page. I noticed that most students had Google or GoogleApps accounts, but those that didn't needed to be quickly brought up to speed. I set up a new GoogleApps account for one students who had no account.

Other students had to negotiate security hurdles that blocked them from Google Docs (I usually blame the browser for blocking security access to Google Docs--Internet Explorer and Firefox are frustrating, and I have tried to install Chrome on all of my classroom computers). Today I noticed that our local network security was the problem, and I headed it off by routing through a different, wireless router.

Creating the Page
The first step for any Google Doc is the title. I call the "daily doc" a Notebook, where I expect students to input their daily work. I made sure that all titles had the student's name included, which would make grading easier. I noticed that one student had entitled his work, "Marcelo's (handy dandy) Notebook." Good for him! Glad to see someone is already having fun.

Sharing the Page
Once students had entered their first daily assignment, I made sure to have them Share it with me. This is a key step, and students who fail to share their notebooks don't get lessons graded. My Google teaching address, mrdittes@gmail.com, is posted on the board throughout the year. I also made sure that "Can Edit" was selected

Once students had shared their pages, the "administrative" work is done. I will be able to see all future updates (in real time, no less). Their future challenges--besides keeping up with the daily work--will be managing logins, overcoming gaps in wireless service, and keeping the computers working.

Managing the Class

On the Back End, that leaves me with a Docs file that looks like the picture. I have two dozen new shared documents for each class. It's very easy to lose track of these documents as others are added or updated. That's why it's important for me to find a way to keep each class's documents in one manageable place.

For this, I create a new Collection. I give the collection the title of the class that I manage/teach--in this case "English 11 Honors, 2nd Block." I will now be able to have all students' notebooks in this folder. As an added bonus, I make all of my English-related folders blue. It helps to distinguish them from the German and Creative Writing classes that I teach.

Next I select all the documents shared with me by the 2nd block class. I select the folder icon at the top of the document list, and select "English 11 Honors" as the destination folder (see picture below).

Now I'm ready to manage--even if I may not feel so ready to grade! I have the class's papers together, and I can efficiently keep up with the work my students are doing--at least on Google Docs. A myriad of other online projects: Sites and blogs, to name two, are waiting for me to review and grade. If only organizing my non-Docs projects were as easy as this.

It is a good rule of thumb to be sure that all documents on your home screen are organized into one collection or another. This makes it easier to find stray assignments, presentations and lessons. In the final result (shown below), the blue-colored Collection Name is part of the master list, too, making the notebooks from all my classes very easy to access.

Technology: Do I HAVE To?

2012-01-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

Today's New York Times features a program in Idaho that is pushing computers and computer-based instruction into every high school in the state, much to the chagrin of teachers who are already teaching successfully with traditional methods.

While Idaho may seem a long way from tech-saturated locales like Silicon Valley or the Research Triangle, I've been following Idaho for some time, ever since learning about the distance-learning teachers who were using computers to instruct students in the state's many isolated, mountain locations.

This step, though, is huge. And the top-down approach the state is taking is doomed, I believe.

Trust me, I teach in a state whose leaders' love of innovation is matched only by their disinterest in teachers' opinions.

First, the policy doesn't include teacher buy-in (there was no mention of teacher training in the article, but I'm going to give Idaho the benefit of the doubt and assume that there will be dozens of hours provided--and paid for--per teacher). Worse than the idea of Idaho students being trapped with 20th-century learning tools to me is the thought of classrooms where student computers are gathering dust or being used sporadically.

When I was just starting my teaching careers, a mentor told me, "James, there are two types of teachers: speedboats and barges. The speedboats need to be able to get where they're going; the barges need to get out of the way." There will always be "barges" in teaching--and many of those barges will be very good teachers, despite the lack of gee-whiz teaching methods and technologies. And to be honest, "speedboats" like me often need barges to keep us focused on which direction along the river we need to go.

Technology in the classroom is needed for American students, but there is a right way to get there, a very, very simple way:

A simple series of financial incentives would encourage teachers to get the necessary training and implement the policy, especially if the state or school district is willing to provide the computers upon completion
Can we get over the "us vs. teachers' unions" argument? The Idaho politicians are clearly trying to use this argument in supporting the policy, despite over 75,000 signatures of a petition against the radical policy. Teachers' unions are the teachers. As a manager, I would rather work with one union than have 75,000 teachers e-mailing me and raising hell.
Jobs matter. One motivation mentioned by Times writer Matt Richtel is the desire to cut teaching jobs. As much as I love bringing technology into my English and German classes, my family comes first. I'm not going to adopt a policy that will lead to my replacement. Assuring teachers that jobs will remain stable, even for a set period of 10 years or so, would go a long way towards increasing buy-in.

My classroom is paperless. I would love a state-issued laptop for myself and my students. But my classroom and use of technology didn't come on the orders of some politician or local bureaucrat. I wanted to develop it, and because it came from me--and not from "on high"--it will work for my students.

Teachers aren't widgets. We got into teaching because we had a lot of ideas (about teaching, about kids, about our content area) that we couldn't wait to practice in the classroom. We are lifelong learners who can adapt, given the right circumstances. We are warriors who will fight back at any sign of disrespect or coercion.

What a Difference a Year Makes

2011-12-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm wrapping up another semester here in Tennessee, grading final papers, taking time to assess students--to assess myself.

But looking back over the span of a year, I can't help but feel giddy, both for the classes I teach and for what the future holds. The end of 2011 marks the end of what is probably the most remarkable period of professional growth that I have ever experienced.

I always assign a persuasive essay for my English 11 final. Last year five students submitted their exams as Google Documents. This year every student completed a Google Site in which their persuasive essays included traditional elements like MLA works cited and outlines as well as multimedia graphics, charts and hyperlinks. The gap between five online Docs and 23 online Sites is a fit metaphor for the kind of changes I've seen in my classroom.

Catching "The Paperless Bug"
It was during the summer of 2010 that I caught a computer virus--not the one that erased my hard drive, but one that infected me with a desire to find an answer. I was taking an online course in PBworks, developing my knowledge of the use of wikis in the classroom. My mentor in the course, a Spanish teacher from Pennsylvania, mentioned that he was "not paperless yet" but soon hoped to be.

Paperless? It sounded like science fiction to me. I'm an English teacher. If I haven't graded reams of paper every month, I don't think I'm doing my job right. Still, I had caught the virus, and an infection was a matter of time.

When I got back to school that August, the media center had a stack of old computers waiting for shipment to central office for disposal. I commandeered four of them and set them up along the back wall of my room. I had been assigned a new class to teach--creative writing--and with these four, aged, Windows 2000 computers, the Paperless Bug kicked in.

Within the first week of the Creative Writing class, students were infected with the Paperless Bug. Three students began bringing their own laptops to class and posting assignments on the PBworks wiki I had created for them. All four donated computers were occupied during class. Still, a handful of students worked on paper and submitted assignments each day. But by the midpoint of the semester, the majority of Creative Writing students were working and publishing online.

Concurrently, I taught two standard-level English 11 classes. The Paperless Bug didn't catch on here as quickly for two reasons: (1) there were more students in a classroom with only four computers, and (2) I had been teaching this class for years, and I was set in my "tree-killing" ways. Still, I had struggled for years with library polices that wouldn't allow students to save their work, take it home, and then bring it back to the library.

Google Docs, a tool with which I had created all of six documents by that time, seemed like a solution to the problem. I encouraged students to set up Google accounts, and by the end of the semester five students--of about 40 I taught--expressed a desire to do ALL their work in Google Docs! (Again, I remind you that I was using donated Windows 2000-era computers.)

A realization struck me as I printed out those five Google Docs papers for grading: what if I didn't have to print out papers anymore? What if the grading were online, just like the compositions? I knew the answer was out there, if only I could find time! (It's every teacher's favorite excuse, right?)

El Nino and Everything After
Then it snowed. It snowed and snowed. It snowed a lot last winter. We had twelve snow days last winter, and as the first snowflakes began to fall, I logged into Google Apps Education, and started toward becoming "GQ," a.k.a. Google-Qualified.

The course was challenging, hours of poring through directions and learning the apps in the Google Suite.

On the eleventh snow day, I was GQ, leaving me one, entire snow day to enjoy! I was ready to teach with GoogleDocs, schedule with GoogleCalendar, create with GoogleSites and communicate via GMail. But more importantly, many of the lessons I had learned from PBworks, were read-made for this brave new, paperless world.

The last snows of February were now melting. I was GQ, one step closer to Paperless.

All that I needed now was computer access. For everyone.

The Unrealized Investment
Of course the whole while I was seeking answers to questions about grading online and encouraging students to post their work on the Web, there were others at my school working even harder to get technology into the classroom. My administrators, particularly my principal, Mr. Crook, were also beating the bushes for ways to bring technology into the classroom.

After my Creative Writing class had infected four young writers with the Paperless Bug, my principal came forward with a modest proposal: some instructional moneys, about $1,000, to purchase a few more computers for my classroom.

This proved to be one of greatest investments in education I have ever seen. I began pestering everyone I knew: laptops or micro PCs? could I afford two or three? how about four? I asked everyone I knew until I got this response from a contact at Central Office: Volunteer State Community College had offered to donate some used laptops, maybe I could check there.

It took another two weeks to get in touch with the contact at VolState. By then, the laptops had been given away to the county EMS, but I had learned an important lesson: with $1,000 "in my back pocket," there was really no limit to the number of computers I could get for my classroom.

Two months later, near the end of February, I got an unsolicited e-mail from my contact at VolState. "I have about 30 computers I can donate. When can you pick them up?" it asked. I remember reading that e-mail in the middle of my 1st-block class. I let out a "Whoop!," ran across the front of the classroom, and did a baseball slide out the door of the room. It was one of my best moments as a teacher, and when the students heard that 30 computers were on the way, they were pretty excited, too. Just not as excited as I was.

Looking back, I didn't spend a dime of the $1,000 my principal had proposed for the new computers. Yes, there were some accessories that I later purchased--electrical strips and extension chords--but the money was invested wisely. I had $1,000 backing up my new teaching ideas; $1,000 saying, "I believe in you," and that was just as important as the purchase of new technology.

I spent nothing, yet I gained everything I had wanted for my classroom--really, more than I could have imagined getting with a purchase order.

Looking back, one truth strikes me more than any other. There are computers out there--and the online tools I use with my classes don't require high-price, up-to-date computers. In fact, for every principal wracking her brain to find more technology for her school, there is a manager in her community trying to figure out a place to send an old computer.

Putting it All Together
It took about a month to get the donated computers up and running, leaving me my spring break to make the Paperless Classroom a reality, about eight months after I had caught the bug.

My Creative Writing students moved seamlessly onto the wiki. I also had two classes of honors English 11 students. I set up a Google Site for the class, and taught students how to use a "notebook" on Google Docs for their daily work. Every week or so, I'd find a new wrinkle in Google Apps to introduce: from presentations to map-making activities, from blogs (called "Announcements Page" in Sites) to drawings.

The cool thing was this: I kept learning, and the students kept teaching me. They grew tired of using actual books, so I found online links to most of the works of American Literature. They wanted to use music, so I found ways to stream the songs I used in my lessons.

On the other hand, I struggled to keep up with the grading--the output was 35% higher than in a normal class. I had to grade submissions in many different formats: Google Docs, blog posts, online presentations, class presentations. Students finished these projects at a much quicker rate than they had in my previous classes. To be honest, this is one element of the Paperless Classroom that still challenges me. As classes ended last May, I had been paperless in all classes for the final nine weeks of the year.

Where I am Now
The beginning of school brought new challenges. To Creative Writing was added German 1 and English 11 standard, the class that had pushed me into Google Docs a year earlier. The full extent of my learning will be detailed on upcoming blogs in "Learning Out Loud," there is precious little space left here.

What a difference a year makes! I look back on on year ago--those five GoogleDocs final exams--with equal parts wonder and weariness, and I look forward in 2012 to sharing more of what I've learned along the way.

Five in Five: a five-year Timeline to Innovation

2011-12-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

This week IBM released its sixth-annual list of innovations that it feels will be game-changing. From the end of junk mail (yay!) to the development of smart phones that read minds (yikes!), it's a fascinating look into the future.

The development that struck me the most was IBM's assertion that the "Digital Divide" would soon become a thing of the past. This prediction is based on the astounding growth of mobile technology: Under current rates of growth, 5.6 billion mobile phones will be sold every year by 2016. That number would cover 80% of the 7 billion people currently on the planet. This is an astonishing rate, and the numbers would suggest that access to the World Wide Web will soon be the exception rather than the rule (if it isn't already in developed nations).

From my teacher's desk, however, I see a different kind of Digital Divide. I have a 1:1 computer-to-student ratio in my classes. For 90 minutes a day, at least, my students have access to information and online learning tools.

Yet even within a classroom with a 1:1 ratio there is a digital divide. It isn't between those with fast computers and slow ones. It is between those who actively use the Web to do their work for them and those who see the Web merely as a resource for entertainment and leisure.

By the third week in the semester this year, a gap opened up. By that time, students had learned to access the Internet tools we were using in the class, and many of these students were getting ahead of my knowledge of these tools. Yet there were students on the other side of the divide. When technical problems arose (anything from a lost Internet connection to a mis-typed password), they gave up. By the time I arrived to correct the problem--usually by encouraging them to simply try again--they were far behind the learning curve.

I just can't describe how frustrating it is to see a student who has a laptop on their desk and a smart phone in their pocket, yet be unable to use these tools for learning.

In a way, this demonstrates the importance of problem-solving. Successful learners are equipped with tenacity, the mental determination to develop alternative outcomes once they seem blocked. For example, it's like two people trying to operate vacuum cleaners. When the outlet won't work, one looks around for another working outlet; the second gives up and takes a break to wait for a technician to solve the problem.

It reinforces to me as a teacher the need to teach problem-solving skills, along with the curriculum standards. (I teach English, and I'll admit that I have often seen that skill as "math teachers' job.")

But this Digital Divide also points out a huge divide that educators see every day. It's the difference between those students who take an active role in education, and those who don't. It's the difference between students who see a high school education as a tool to get them into a career, a college, a lifetime--and those students students who arrive everyday seeking entertainment.

Bridging this education divide is what I've been trying to do as a teacher for many years now. Perhaps this technological analogy is the ticket to helping me address it with a higher degree of success.

Has the Paperless Classroom Made Learning Better in English 11??

2011-12-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the semester, and students are wrapping up final projects, getting ready for finals.

Teachers are getting ready, too. I know that I'm already looking forward to my classes next semester. I will teach two blocks of English 11 honors as well as German 2.

More importantly, I'm studying the grades my students have earned this semester. How are they? Are students failing? Why? Probably the most important question for me is this: could I teach this class any better next time?

This was the 5th year I have taught English 11 at SCHS. Nearly every year has been different, but this year I took a huge step in my teaching, bringing computers into the classroom and teaching with Google Docs.

I had "experimented" with using Google Docs last spring with two honors English 11 classes, and the response was encouraging. We learned more, and students were more enthusiastic about the class. Plus we got to do some awesome, unbelievable projects.

The results of a paperless English 11 standard aren't quite so cut & dried. I'd like your help interpreting them.

The best measure of how well students have learned in my classes is the grades they earn. I posted grades today, and they were one of the most bizarre sets of grades I have ever seen.

First the good news. Of the 23 full-semester students I have, ten have a B or higher, including four with 100% or more in the class. Needless to say, this is the highest ratio of A's and B's I have ever had in a standard class. Usually standard classes have one or two A's and a high number of B's and C's. Not this year. Only three students currently carry a C (see pie graph).

There are several conclusions we can reach about this record number of A and A+ students:

These are brilliant 11th-graders
They know how to use Google Docs and Google Sites
They have a very good teacher who made learning fun and easy
English 11 was probably a little too easy

Now the bad news. The largest share of students--as of Wednesday--are students who are failing: 8 of 23. There are several qualities that these eight students share

Only one had completed the Final Draft of the 19th Century Research and s/he had earned a 60% on that draft
Absences were a major problem, with the average number of absences being 9.5--a maximum of 16 and a minimum of 0 absences
They know how to use Google Docs and Google Sites
They have a terrible English teacher who bored them into a failing grade
English 11 was probably a little too hard

(Let me emphasize here that these are final grades, and I expect to see many current F's raise themselves to passing over this final week. Still, it is an important look at the class.)

For me, the two biggest factors in the failing grades had nothing to do with computers.

Students were assigned Huckleberry Finn to read over the first 11 weeks. We had musical lessons to build interest--we even staged a rafting race--yet only five of 23 students completed the last blog post--that means only five of 23 students bothered to read an assigned book.
The 19th-century Research paper, our first researched assignment, was another lesson that too many students failed. On the day it was due, only nine of 23 had uploaded a completed essay. We took three weeks to prepare for this paper, and we had the computers in the class (we didn't have to go to the library or wait for the mobile lab), still the vast majority of English 11 students were either late, or they still haven't completed the assignment to this day.

What has English 11 really been like for you? It's easy for me to compare the class of '13 to the classes of
'09, '10, '11 and '12 that I have taught previously, but how has this class compared for you?

More important, beyond the students and the teachers in the room, how has the Paperless Classroom helped you (or hurt you)? Would you recommend it for next year's English students, or is a return to paper a better idea?

Your feedback is really important to me, and I'm offering up 15 bonus points (about two daily assignments) to get your feedback on English 11 and the Paperless Classroom.

The Future of the American Teen

2011-12-05T13:46:00.001-08:00

As this video shows, the idea of the "teenager" is only about 65 years old, dating back to the years that followed World War II. Before the War, you were a kid until you were an adult. For many kids, adulthood began between 14 and 17, when you got a job to support your family, or you started a family of your own.

But here's the question: what is the future like for teens?

With higher education costs spiraling out of reach for many families and jobs harder and harder to find, what are teenagers going to do? Is there life after high school, or will adulthood now begin the day after high school graduation.

In many ways, your generation is in a "Golden Era" of teenager-dom. Multiple media outlets provide entertainment targeted to your interests. Movies, clothing retailers, Internet apps seem to go out of their way to make your teen years meaningful (and expensive). Compared to this, the teen years of your parents' and grandparents' generations were relatively boring and tame. Your great-grandparents were the last American generation without teen.

What do you think being a teenager will be like for future generations? Will it involve school, relationships and jobs to the same extent that it does today?

Watch the video below, and leave your feedback.

Here's my take:

I see the teen years getting longer, not shorter, with "kids" finishing college in their mid-to-late-twenties with generous breaks in between for travel, work and volunteerism. In the future kids will each English in Korea for a few years, volunteer with a church mission, or take a job as a teacher's aide before they "grow up."

What do you think? I can't wait to learn...

Are You Ready to work in a Job that's In Demand?

2011-11-21T13:17:00.001-08:00

TIME Magazine just released a feature on "Nine Jobs of the (Near) Future," which provides ideas that you might pursue as you look forward to your future.

In the workforce, supply and demand dictate that high-paying jobs aren't necessarily jobs that require a lot of college. For example, underwater welding specialists (pictured) make up to $150,000 a year. That's a lot more than teachers, as well as many lawyers and doctors.

For example, one job that would really interest me is a statistician. In school, I was always good at math, but I never really knew that I could make a career in it. Most of the math majors I knew in college became teachers. Statisticians make $200,000+, and they use numbers to predict and interpret huge amounts of data. If I knew then what I know now, I would be a statistician, I'm just saying.

BONUS: Look through the selections that TIME provided. Are their any jobs that you might be interested in getting into after high school? Why or why not?

Final Huck Finn Reflection: Huck's Best Friend

2011-10-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

In the closing chapters of Huckleberry Finn, Huck's best friend, Tom Sawyer, shows up and offers a way to help Jim get to freedom.

As the story ends, however, Huck faces an interesting choice. Along the route down the river, he has learned about people he shouldn't trust--people like The Duke and The King--and about those that he can, people like Jim.

This leads to my question: who is Huck's best friend as the book comes to an end. Is it Jim? Is it Tom? Or is it no one?

Support your answer with examples or quotes from the book. Keep your answers to 100-200 words.

Do SCHS Students Have Enough Web Access?

2011-09-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last week New Canaan High School in Connecticut cut off all web access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

It was just for a day.

It was a protest.

Students at NCHS have access to social networking sites, the same as we have access to CNN or Google, but they turned off Twitter and Facebook at their school in protest...in protest on behalf of students who don't have access to social media at school.

Students like you.

More and more the debate on education is ranging towards whether or not districts have the right to block student access to the Web. Students and teachers from around the country are mobilizing, writes the New York Times, arguing in favor of more access.

What do you think? Do you appreciate the New Canaan High protests? Would learning improve at SCHS if we had access to Twitter and Facebook, or would it just be another distraction?

Leave your comment below (+5 points).

Friendship and Trust: Reading Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 18-23

2011-09-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Up to Chapter 18, Huckleberry Finn has been the story of an improbable friendship between a runaway slave and a runaway boy. After the steamboat wreck, Huck and Jim are separated, and though they will find each other again, they will no longer be just a duo.

In a series of adventures, Huck meets individuals whom he can't trust. These encounters serve to strengthen his bond with Jim (and make Jim look a lot wiser), and they also show what "real life" was like for many in America.

Describe one of the characters Huck meets in this section. Be sure to tell

why she/he is untrustworthy, and
what group in America that Mark Twain might have been describing.

IF YOU DO NOT LOG IN, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS INCLUDED IN THE ANSWER. GRADES ARE BASED ON THE QUOTES & FACTS YOU USE TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION.

Help a Teacher Out, Vote for my Huckleberry Finn Rafting Project

2011-03-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

Every semester I celebrate the completion of the book, Huckleberry Finn with a regatta.

It's a simple idea, really. Eyeballs aren't the sole requirement for reading books. It takes minds. And minds long to put great ideas into action.

Our schools' shop teacher, Coach Anderson, takes over my class for a day, teaching students how to lash cut pieces of wood together to make a raft. Students bring in their own doodads to personalize the rafts. Then, on one glorious Friday, we launch them in Station Camp Creek. We watch them glide past snags, through rapids. We groan as they get stuck in "dead water" or trapped in sloughs (can you see the vocabulary at work here?). Students return and write stories about their rafts' adventures.

But there's more. I have always dreamed of rafting on the Cumberland River (which is about a mile downstream along the creek). I don't just want to read Huck Finn, I want to be him.

Weareteachers.com recently launched a contest: create a popular teaching idea and get $200 funding and a Flip camera to record the lesson. I jumped at the chance.

I'm ready to build a real, life-sized raft--my classes with coach Andy's. I'm ready to put it into the water at Bledsoe Creek State Park (about 12 miles away) and float it all the way back to my school. I'm ready to dress myself in rags and wear a straw hat. I don't care.

I just need your vote. Go to the contest. Vote for my project (pretty please). Let's see if we can win this thing!

Are Parents Too Involved in the College Admissions Process?

2011-03-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

In this interview with TIME.com, author Andrew Ferguson provides some of the highlights (and lowlights) of his son's efforts to get into college. You will find more in his book, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College.

The ACT Exam is coming up, and many 11th-graders are preparing themselves for college applications in the fall.

How are you feeling? Are you and your parents stressing out over getting into the "right" college? Are you satisfied with your game plan to this point?

+5 BONUS: Describe the steps you have taken to get into college so far. Has it been stressful or easy? Describe ways that this article--or lessons in English 11--have helped you to understand the application process.

Coming Soon, The Paperless Classroom

2011-03-08T11:18:00.001-08:00

My spring break this year will be really, really busy.

Volunteer State Community College donated 34 computers (including about 28 laptops) to Station Camp High School, a down payment on a Paperless Classroom for my class and--hopefully--many, many more here.

The computers are currently in the teachers' lounge, where they will remain until I can install Windows and make sure they are ready for the classroom. Besides Windows, the only other software we will install will be an Internet browser. The work will be turned in on wikis and through Google Apps.

I can't tell you how exciting this is for me as a teacher--and those of you who are SCHS students, staff, or parents, I hope you're excited too.

Currently my Creative Writing class is paperless. I've got the lessons to take English 11 paperless, too, but until now I didn't have the computers. (About three to five kids per class already have laptops.)

Now I'm ready to go! This means that I'll need to completely change the way I teach the books on tap for 2nd 9 weeks--The Grapes of Wrath and The Road. That's not a problem for me, though. I'm ready for a new challenge!

Can't you tell?

World War I, Finally Over

2011-03-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

With news this week of the passing of the final American veteran of World War I, Frank Buckles, I must admit to one irreverent thought:

He was a lot luckier than the first American to die.

I looked up the first American casualties of the war. There were three.

Sometime in the night of October 2-3, 1917, Corporal James B. Gresham (pictured) and two of his men, privates Merle D. Hay and Thomas F. Enright, were preparing in their trench for an attack on German lines. Without warning, a German raiding party attacked and killed these three "doughboys." I doubt they even got to shoot back.

They were the first American victims of an orgy of slaughter. Over the next 13 months of fighting, more than 115,000 Americans died in the fighting, and that bloodbath was paltry compared to the 1 million Britons, 1.4 million French, 1.8 million Russians and 2 million Germans who died.

The New York Times article on Buckles's death describes his determination at 16 to join the armed forces and his choice to become an ambulance driver. What I found most fascinating was a memory Buckles recounted of French troops drinking wine and expressing enthusiasm for a return to the Front. It flies in the face of modern World War I narratives (such as the book, Birdsong, which I just finished) which emphasize the demoralized nature of Allied forces.

“What I have a vivid memory of is the French soldiers — being in a small village and going in to a local wine shop in the evening,” he told a Library of Congress interviewer. “They had very, very little money. But they were having wine and singing the ‘Marseillaise’ with enthusiasm. And I inquired, ‘What is the occasion?’ They were going back to the front. Can you imagine that?”

21st Century Teaching

2011-02-03T08:15:00.001-08:00

Today I assigned a Thesaurus activity, based on the language of the Declaration of Independence.

There were 18 students in the class:

Two went to the computer to look up the words
Twelve downloaded apps and used their phones or iPods
Three scanned through the pages of something called a "book"

Gatsby: Who Is He?

2011-01-20T11:25:00.001-08:00

Throughout the 20th Century, The Great Gatsby was a popular book because it brought to life the "Roaring '20s:" jazz, Prohibition, the 'motorcar,' and the fabulous wealth that was building in American cities at that time.

Today we are far closer to the centenary of Fitzgerald's writing of the book in 1923 than we are to the Jazz Age. This means that we read the book in a far different way.

In class I have tried to demonstrate that the characters in Gatsby have become archetypes. In class, we looked at comparisons that writers had made between the characters and Presidents Bush and Obama.

How do you connect with the characters in The Great Gatsby? Do you see any connections between them and those that Fitzgerald created? He certainly had others in mind when he wrote the book. For example, the athletic, free-wheeling Jordan of the book was based on a female golfer Fitzgerald knew, Edith Cummings.

Who is Gatsby? Is there someone you know--either privately or in public life--who:

began at the bottom but worked their way up to become a success (Gatsby)?
has a careless, destructive attitude because everything has come easy for them (Tom Buchanan)?
gave up on true love to live a lush, comfortable life (Daisy Buchanan)?
embodies one of the other characters in the book?

In your answer, use quotes or specific scenes from the book to support the connection you make. I will be reading your responses to (a) gauge whether you read the book or not, and (b) learn more about the book from you.

Join the Discussion: Should Huckleberry Finn be Censored?

2011-01-06T14:10:00.001-08:00

Everybody is talking about Huckleberry Finn these days. A new edition of the book has been released that censors the "N-word," substituting the word, "Slave."

As I said in class, Huckleberry Finn is one of the most banned books in America. In recent years the main complaint against the book has been the racial terminology that Twain used.

Most English teachers and professors defend Twain's terminology. The book is a masterpiece, they say, and he used the terminology to point out Whites' intolerance and needless prejudice against African-Americans.

Indeed, by the end of the book, the escaped slave, Jim, emerges as one of the heroes of the book, especially as compared to Tom Sawyer. If you read the whole book, you won't be prejudiced, no matter what language is used.

Other people insist that changing the word doesn't change the book. It just makes it more accessible to readers who might be offended by racial slurs.

THE ASSIGNMENT: The New York Times featured a number of voices in its "Room for Debate" feature this month. Read through the essays and find one of the authors who deserves your response. Post your response to as a comment below this blog.

[Directions: be sure to reference a quote from the essay or some of the writers' details in your comment. Write about 75-100 words.]

Logical Fallacies Crossword Puzzle

2010-12-16T07:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the final bonus assignment: a crossword puzzle for logical fallacies.

Good luck! It's been a great semester.

Meine Familie: the Other Side of World War I

2010-11-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

[I'm re-posting this essay from my personal blog for those of you who are interested in how the story of World War I intersects with my family's history. It shows a number of things that I admire about America. There is a bonus question below.]

I spent the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend cleaning up my study. This is something I do just once ever three or four years (or roughly twice as often as my 2nd-least-favorite chore, cleaning the garage).

As I was organizing the files, I came across this picture.

I have a number of military men in my family tree. My family research is thick with the military files of my Grandpa Dittes, who was an Army MD in Australia & New Zealand during World War II. I have the flag that draped my Grandpa Mooney's casket when he died in 1981, recognizing his service in the Navy during World War I.

I also have this postcard--a link to an army man about whom I know very little.

The postcard is addressed: Familie Gotthold Dittes, Delikatessen Geschaeft, Broklyn (sic) New York, Amerika. It's amazing, the spare address. My great-grandfather, Gotthold Dittes, indeed owned a grocery story in a German section of Brooklyn. His wife, Anna Katherine Funk Dittes, was a cook who ran the deli.

It is signed, "Schwager und Brueder," leaving me with no certain first name. I know his last name, of course. The man in this picture is my great-great uncle. His last name, like my great-grandmother's, was Funk. He was one of 10,000 young men from the city of Ulm to sign up for the imperial German Army during the opening years of the Great War.

I read the card closer. It is difficult because of Fraktur, the German form of cursive that makes some of the letters quite difficult to make out. I'll try my best.

"Muensingen, 6/6 1915." Muensingen was the site of the Duke Albrecht Barracks, a training site for soldiers ready to ship off to the Front. During a break from training, my great-great uncle had gone to a photo studio to have this card made. Observe his well-groomed mustache--I doubt it looked so nice once he made it to the trenches. His uniform is crisply pressed, his bolt-action rifle looks ready. Does he look fierce? Not to me, he doesn't.

I can make out little else from his note. He wants my great-grandparents to see his picture as a soldier "bild als Soldat." I find the word, "family." My German isn't good enough to read the whole note, much less peer between the lines at his thoughts.

In 1915, the war still seemed winnable for all sides. There had been heavy casualties, but the bloodbath of 1916 was still in the future. Here in the States, my grandparents were still speaking German in their deli and in their home. Gotthold had arrived just ten years earlier, Anna had come in 1901. My grandpa was just three years old.

Perhaps it's because it's Memorial Day, but I wonder how the war went for my great-great uncle. My cousin, Frank, has told me that my great-grandmother exchanged letters with family throughout the war--or at least until the United States entered the war against Germany (I'm sure familial communications were hampered by this fact). He has told me that Anna's three brothers served in the German Army and that all three survived.

While Memorial Day is an American celebration, this picture brings me to another conclusion. It makes me think of the soldiers on all sides of a given conflict. Their shared concerns for families and loved ones behind the lines.

It makes me glad to have grown up in a family with a unique perspective on the two greatest conflicts of the 20th Century--whose deep ties bridged the gaps erected by emperors, generals and dictators.

BONUS: What was your family's experience during the Great War? Ask a grandparent or other family member, and share your family's experience here. [+8 points]

Paul Laurence Dunbar's Civil War Ties

2010-11-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

This week we studied the great American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose poems embodied characters at the end of the 19th Century.

Dunbar, who grew up in Ohio and graduated as the only black student in his class at Dayton Central High School, would radically change poetry through his use of characterization and elements of black dialect. Some of the 20th-century writers he inspired included Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, whose autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," took its title from the first line of his poem, "Sympathy."

Though he was born after the Civil War, Dunbar was linked with one of the key African-American events of that war: the formation of the 55th Massachusetts, the regiment featured in the movie, Glory.

BONUS: What was Dunbar's connection to the 55th Massachusetts? Leave your answer as a comment to receive +4 bonus points.

Tom Sawyer's Allusions

2010-11-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

In chapter 35, Tom Sawyer grows frustrated with Jim's confinement, stating that "You got to invent all the difficulties." He has been reading books, and he knows all about the way that escape stories should go.

To prove that his plan is best, Tom says:

"Well, if that ain't just like you, Huck Finn. You can get up the infant-schooliest ways of going at a thing. Why, hain't you ever read any books at all?--Baron Trenck, nor Casanova, nor Benenuto Cheleeny, nor Henri IV (of France), nor none of them heroes?"

BONUS: what are these stories that Tom is referencing? Research the four stories at the center of Tom's complaint in two sentences or less, then tell what the four characters had in common. (+7 points) [Picture: Baron von Trenck]

Mark Twain's "New" Biography

2010-10-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

November 2010 marks 100 years since the death of Mark Twain.

It also happens to be the month that his complete autobiography is released by the University of California Press.

What?

An autobiography is a recollection written by the person who lived it (sometimes with assistance from a professional writer). For example, President George W. Bush will publish an autobiography of his time as president after the election.

How, then, can Mark Twain publish an autobiography 100 years after his death?

Bonus: Post the answer as a comment to earn five bonus points.

Huckleberry Finn, chapters 34-43: Escaping the Hard Way

2010-10-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

The final ten chapters of Huckleberry Finn relate the return of Tom Sawyer to the narrative. (When it was released, Huckleberry Finn was a sequel to the shorter, blither novel, Tom Sawyer.)

Disguised as "Cousin Sid," Tom helps Huck to free Jim in an elaborate, hilarious prison break. In Chapter 42--after surviving a gunshot to the calf--Tom also resolves the central conflict of the book: Jim's struggle to attain freedom.

In your final 100-word essay, discuss Tom's contribution to Jim's escape and, ultimately, Jim's freedom. Did Tom Sawyer end up helping Huck & Jim or hurting them?

Use details and quotes from the book to support your answer.

A Picture that Traced a Dead Union Soldier

2010-10-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

The picture below has a fascinating story. It was found in the hand of dead Union soldier soon after the Battle of Gettysburg. Wounded, he had wandered into the town, he had fallen against a fence, and he had died there. This picture was probably the last thing he looked at before closing his eyes a final time.Who are they? They would appear to be the man's children. Perhaps they had sent this picture to him to help him remember, to remind him what he was fighting for. They are so young. They look so sad. They weren't orphans...yet.

Who was he? This photograph set off a nationwide search for the children (this was a time before dog tags or regular identification of the bodies of fallen soldiers). The story is told in a series of blogs by filmmaker, Errol Morris, in the New York Times in 2009.

Bonus: read the blog and find out how this photograph was used to find the family of the dead soldier. What was his name? Where did he live? What were the children's names? (+5 points)

Huckleberry Finn, chapters 17-33: Whom Can You Believe?

2010-10-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

One of the first lessons we learned was "don't talk to strangers," and there was a good reason for that lesson: you can't trust everyone; some people are just out to hurt you.

The story of Huckleberry Finn is really a story about a boy learning to trust. The people he should trust--his pa and his friend, Tom Sawyer--aren't really trustworthy. And he has traveled down the river with an escaped slave that most people would argue should not be trusted.

This reaches a climax in Chapter 31, when Huck decides to write a letter to Miss Watson. He wants to tell her where Jim is and how to get him back. That's the truth, after all. If he confesses, then he'll be right.

But it would also be wrong, returning a many to a life of slavery--and a friend at that. The moral climax of the book happens here:

I took [the letter] up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:
"All right, then, I'll go to hell" -- and tore it up.
It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head, and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't. And for a starter I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog.

Think of the people Huck met in this section of the book. Are there any who are trustworthy? Are there any who aren't? Give specific examples or quotes to show what Huck learned about trustworthiness.

Are you Ready to Teach Yourself?

2010-09-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

An Indian educational researcher, Sugata Mitra, has introduced a fascinating concept: any group of students at any grade level, given a computer, can harness the power of the World Wide Web to teach themselves anything.

And here's the kicker: they don't even have to speak English or any other language they are using for research. (One key is a "grandmother cloud," whatever that might mean.)

Watch the video and answer the questions below to earn bonus points.

1. What was the "grandmother cloud" and how do you think it helped the kids to learn the answers to these complicated questions.

2. Imagine that Mr. Dittes, on the first day back from Fall Break, wrote on the board five objectives for the 2nd Nine Weeks:

Research first hand accounts of the Civil War Era and describe the war from the perspective of a (1) unionist, (2) confederate, or (3) slave. Use MLA formatting to cite your sources within the paper and in a separate Works Cited.
Write a paper that describes a person. This paper should include at least three interviews, and all sources should be cited within the paper and in a separate Works Cited.
Demonstrate an understanding of the novel, Huckleberry Finn, by (1) constructing a wooden raft to float down Station Camp Creek and (2) writing a story about life on that raft using Twain's storytelling methods.
etc., etc. (Those are the first three objectives of the 2nd Nine Weeks)

Now imagine that he pointed to the computers in the classroom and said, "Go do it. I need your stuff turned in before December 18

a. Would you learn more if the class were run this way...or less?
b. What kind of "cloud" could you call upon for help/encouragement?
c. What would you expect Mr. Dittes to do, if he weren't in front of the class teaching every day?

(7 bonus points, 1 daily assignment)

Thinking About College--and Melville

2010-09-23T04:36:00.001-07:00

In her column this week, "Why does a Corvette cost less than a year of college?" Froma Harrop quoted Herman Melville in making the case that colleges had spent way too much on administration and new buildings.

"A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard."

College is expensive. Many of them no longer offer a good educational investment. For years we have justified additional expenses for college by knowing that we will earn more money with a college degree than without one.

BONUS: If Melville gained his experience in a whale ship--and went on to become one of the greatest writers in American history--what is an alternative way that you might consider of gaining knowledge and building your future outside of college?

Leave a comment below to receive your credit.

Are There Modern Romantics?

2010-09-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Romantic Era was ground into dust by the Civil War.

The blood of tens of thousands of Union soldiers not only cleansed the nation of slavery and united 38 states into "one nation," it also ended the idealism and recklessness that we find in writers like Whitman and Thoreau.

Yet there are still Romantics among us--there always will be.

If you're interested in more contemporary stories of people

whose love for nature and extreme individualism carried on the traditions of the Romantic writers, you may be interested in these source.

Best-selling writer, Jon Krakauer, traced the story of Chris McCandless in his book, Into the Wild. McCandless gave up all ties to society and family and wandered the American West as a vagabond, until his untimely death in Alaska. Sean Penn directed a high-quality movie based on the book in 2007
Another American Romantic, Everett Ruess, disappeared in the canyons of southern Utah in 1934. His story and his motivation inspire lovers of the outdoors, even today. I first learned of him through the article, "What Happened to Everett Ruess?" It's a great, great read.

Bonus: Read or watch one of the sources listed above and demonstrate the connections you found between these individuals and Romanticism (be sure to use at least one quote from the person or the story).

Are there other artists/singers/writers today who are Romantics? Find a modern-day Romantic and make the case to Mr. Dittes for their inclusion in the Pantheon.

YAWP!!

2010-09-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 16, we studied Walt Whitman. He's one of the truly most radical of the Romantics, and we did a couple of radical things.

First, we "connected" with a blade of grass. That's right, we went outside, picked a blade of grass and connected. Some wrote about the food chain, and our relative location to grass in that food chain. Others mentioned how they had been stepped on many times, yet they kept on growing.

Our second activity outside was a loud, "Yawp." We walked across the student parking lot. William Lee Golden, of the Oak Ridge Boys, lives on the other side of Station Camp Creek. Since he looks so much like Walt Whitman, we "yawped" in his direction.

Some students, like Austin M and Kenoa blurted yawps that echoed all the way to the quarry and back. Others like Gracie and Davis were more ladylike in their yawping. I didn't hear any barbaric yawps, at least not in 1st block.

Do you see the resemblance?

Walt Whitman, 1860

Mr. Golden, 2010

I doubt he heard us.

What do you think? Are there any Oak Ridge Boys lyrics that are Romantic? Whitmanesque? Bring some in for extra credit.

Huckleberry Finn, chapters 9-17: A Friendship Grows

2010-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

In the second section of Huckleberry Finn, which we read as we studied Americans' relentless westward expansion and horror-filled Gothic lives, Huck and Jim grow as friends.

Nowadays, interracial friendships and romances are so common, they seldom even get noticed. From Eminem and Rihanna singing in a duet to Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in "Shanghai Knights," race isn't something we expect to fight about anymore.

But in Huck Finn's day, before the Civil War when slaves like Jim had no rights, race was a big deal. The idea of a white boy--even one as poor and woebegone as Huck--forming a real relationship with a black man like Jim was quite revolutionary.

Chapter 9 of your reading began with Huck and Jim setting off from Jackson Island down the Mississippi. Throughout a number of adventures, their loyalties were tested--especially as Huck found people all too willing to kidnap an escaped slave and return him for a nice reward. By Chapter 17, they had become separated after a harrowing midnight tangle with a steamboat.

For your essay, please write 100 to 150 words commenting on the nature of the friendship between Huck and Jim throughout chapters 9-17. Do you think they became friends, or are they just using each other to gain freedom? Please use details from the reading to support your answer, and use at least one quote.

Leave your answer as a comment in the box below, and be sure to include your name in your answer.

Gothic Reading Quizzes

2010-09-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

We had so little time in English 11 this week--what with Homecoming and all--I assigned the following stories for outside reading. (Click on the name of the story you read to take the quiz.)

"The Fall of the House of Usher," pp 297-308

"The Devil & Tom Walker," pp 236-245

"The Minister's Black Veil," pp 318-327

If you read more than one story, you may receive extra credit. Please take any extra-credit quizzes after everyone in the class has taken a quiz on Tuesday.

Sacagawea's Grave

2010-08-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite ways to learn is through travel. Whenever I get the chance, I hit the open road and travel to someplace new.

In the summer of 2009, my family and I took the ultimate road trip: Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone. As we were returning to Denver from Grand Tetons National Park, we passed through the Shoshone Reservation in central Wyoming.

There we visited Sacagawea's grave.

This blew my mind. A widely accepted story goes that Sacagawea died of an illness just six years after returning safely from the Lewis & Clark expedition.

But the Shoshone on the Wind River Reservation insist on a different story. They claim that Sacagawea eventually left her abusive French husband, Charbonneau, and returned to her people--including her brother Cameawhait, with whom she had been reunited on the expedition.

The have pictures at the museum there of a wrinkled elderly woman, taken around 1884, at which time Sacagawea would have been 96 years old. They told stories of her, and had marked her grave and that of her son, Jean-Baptiste (his burial here is also under dispute).

Here are a few of the pictures I took.

My son, Owen, is in front of a statue of Sacagawea at the grave yard. She holds in her hand the seashell that she brought back to her people from the Pacific Ocean. (She also saw a beached whale there.) Notice behind her the high, wind-swept plains. The reservation is far from the tree-covered slopes that the Shoshone occupied at the time of Lewis & Clark.

This is the gravestone of Sacagawea. A stone for Jean-Baptiste is located right next to it.

What do you think? Could Sacagawea have survived into her 90s--to see a time when her people were confined to a reservation? Or did she die in 1809, leaving Jean-Baptiste and her newborn daughter, Lissette, in William Clark's care?

BONUS: Find two or more accounts of the death of either Sacagawea and/or Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau. Evaluate the sources, describe which account you consider to be correct, and explain your reasoning. (15 points)

Re-living the Revolution with Thomas Paine

2010-08-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today we read from The Crisis, Number One, the pamphlet written at Valley Forge in the dark winter of 1776 that summoned the powers of America's greatest propagandist, Thomas Paine, to keep colonial soldiers from giving up.

"These are the times that try men's souls."

The words are immortal and comforting, even today, during difficult, trying times for our country.

President Obama certainly identified with Paine. In his inaugural address, he channeled the words of "The Crisis, Number One" to rally the nation to come together and face the economic crisis that was at its worst the winter he came to power. Unfortunately, the country failed to unite under his leadership in the way it had after 9/11, Pearl Harbor, or during the Great Depression, and the consequences of this are still playing out.

The most famous quote from The Crisis is the opening line, "These are the times that try men's souls." It would have been appropriate on January 20, 2009, near the nadir of the current economic crisis.

But Obama chose another quote, one which he hoped would rally the country together to face the challenges of rebuilding a country that had--morally, economically, diplomatically--stumbled. Here is the quote:

"Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it."

See how he used the quote below in the video of Obama's speech. Skip to 17:30 to really get the full effect of the way he uses the Paine quote.

Paine wrote thirteen editions of The Crisis, writing throughout the war and into the first year after victory. His essays read as fascinating looks into the times, mentioning recent losses or victories and imploring people, both in America and England, to give the Revolution a chance.

BONUS: Read one of the thirteen editions that Paine wrote. Write 100-150 words, describing historic details you find written there and summarizing the ideas Paine took from them. (15 points)

Huck Finn: Essay Questions, first eight chapters

2010-08-23T13:07:00.001-07:00

In these first eight chapters of Huckleberry Finn, I see connections with the literature that we read (covering American literature from pre-1492 to the writing of the Constitution in 1787-88).

I see a lot of Thomas Jefferson in Tom Sawyer, the way he set up a gang of robbers and tried to govern them.
I think Jim, with his superstition and his witchcraft, would have been quite infamous in Salem.
I think the Widow Douglass and Jonathan Edwards had a hell of a lot in common
I read about Pap and Huck's struggles to be free of his drunkenness, and I can almost see King George III, fighting to keep the American colonies under his thumb.
I try to see similarities between these events and me. I connect with the stories and the characters.

How do you connect with Huckleberry Finn? What are some stories from the reading that you identified with? Leave your answer as a comment below.

To receive credit, agree or disagree with one of the connections I mention above in an essay of 100 words. You will be graded on the strength/originality of your thesis and conclusion (5 points) and how well you use details from the book to back up your ideas and demonstrate your reading (10 points). Leave your answers as comments below this post. The last day to receive full credit is Sunday, 29 August.

Modern-Day Joad?

2010-08-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture and my first thought was to laugh. My 2nd thought was "21st-century Joads"! Look at the way that car is loaded up. I can almost see Al driving that thing from Oklahoma to California.

Huckleberry Finn an Introduction

2010-08-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Why should we read Huckleberry Finn?

It's a question that is appropriate for this English teacher. After all, it's one of the most banned books in America. It's nearly 140 years old. What use could it be for a 21st-century 11th-grader?

The answer is "Everything."

Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel prize-winning 20th-century American author, wrote of Huckleberry Finn, "It's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."

This semester, we will be studying American literature. Huckleberry Finn is a key that unlocks all of the literature before it. For example:

it features characters who are as hellfire and brimstone in their religious outlook as Jonathan Edwards
there are witches and superstition enough to satisfy the imaginations of a whole passel of Salemites
there are struggles for Independence from an oppressive, abusive father--and the equally oppressive, abusive institution of slavery
there are Romantic characters, whose lives are shaped by their imaginations, and there are realists who are able to see things the way they really are
characters pop up who mirror writers and personalities that lived in America before and during the Civil War

Why Huckleberry Finn? It's the best thing. It's the key to understanding American literature, both before and after Mark Twain. It's a fun read.

This blog will be used to keep up with what students have learned as they read. Your comments will be read carefully and used to grade your performance on this reading assignment. Hopefully, as we read Huckleberry Finn together, we can learn from each other, even as we learn from Mark Twain, and American master-storyteller.