Class Calendar: October 27th to November 5th

Note: Note the change to Thursday's homework below (also announced in class).

Monday, October 27th (T)
• Due: Email me a sample of your paper using a quotation; bring a draft to class.
• Class: Quotation integration workshop and practice.

Tuesday, October 28th (W)
• Due: Final paper on When the Emperor Was Divine, in perfect MLA format.
• Class: Reading poetry; using “scope and sequence” to frame the internment.

Wednesday, October 29th (H)
• Due: Are you keeping up with the election in the midst of college applications and all that other nonsense surrounding senior year? For homework tonight, take a half hour to read some newspaper editorials, watch The Daily Show on Hulu.com, listen to NPR, or otherwise get yourself informed.
• Class: Wrapping up our look at identity with “A Class Divided.”

Thursday, October 30th (F)
• Due: Reaction to “A Class Divided” (see blog post).
• Class: Wrap up “A Class Divided”; exploring choice book options.

Friday, October 31st (S)
• Due: Review choice books on blog. If you are absent from class today, email me your preferences or risk a random assignment! Note: If we are running short on time, this will get pushed to Monday. If you don't see anything on the blog about choosing books, it means we're waiting until next week to make selections. Consider it pushed to Monday!
• Class: Presidential campaign ads; propaganda and history.

Note: Have a spooky Halloween! [Insert funny joke about my costume here.] Be safe.

Monday, November 3rd (U)
• Class does not meet today.

Tuesday, November 4th
• Professional Day. No classes. Do you miss me yet? How about now?

Wednesday, November 5th (M)
• Due: Analysis of advertising (details to come). Okay, okay, get those college applications out the door already! Bring back your GRADED college essay to include in your writing folder (this is a homework grade!!).
• Class: We’ll be continuing our new unit, exploring the Nazi rise to power and the use of propaganda and euphemism. Literature circle groups will meet briefly.

Homework: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Note: If you were absent from class and need to catch up, click here to go to the Frontline video. We watched all of Chapter One and the first six minutes of Chapter Two (16 minutes in total).

Jane Elliott created privileges for her third-graders: things like extra recess time, getting to go back for seconds at lunch, and being first in line were fitting rewards for her eight year olds.

To explore what kinds of privileges exist in the adult world, read Peggy McIntosh's classic article "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." (You will need Adobe Reader to view this file; you can download it for free, or click here for a web version.)

Pay special attention to McIntosh's checklist. Use the checklist as a basis for self-reflection, asking "Can you count on this?" A "yes" answer scores 1 point. For a "no," subtract 1 point. Score nothing for "does not apply to me." The higher the score, the greater the degree of privilege one has in the context of living in the United States today.

After you have (1) read the article and (2) scored yourself on the checklist, then (3) write a journal entry about your reactions.

Were you surprised by your score, or did it confirm what you already knew? Why is privilege normally invisible and what does it feel like to make it visible? Do you agree with McIntosh's argument that the word "privilege" is misleading? If you have read the article before, have your opinions changed since the first time you encountered it?

This assignment is due on Thursday. The updated calendar is below.

A Word A Day

Do you know this website? It's often too obscure to be good for SAT skills, but why learn useful vocabulary when you can learn awesome vocabulary? This week's theme covers my all time favorite vocabulary topic: words that mean one thing ... and its opposite.

When you sanction a project, do you approve of it or disapprove? Should one be commended for oversight (watchful care) or reprimanded for oversight (error or omission)? When you resign from a job, do you leave it or re-join (re-sign) it?

When a proposal gets tabled, is it being brought forward for discussion or being laid aside? Depends on which side of the pond you're at. If the former, you're in the UK; if the latter, you're in the US.

I call them fence-sitters. They sit on fences, ready to say one thing or its opposite depending on which side they appear at. I'm not talking about politicians. These are words, known by many names: autoantonym, contranym, self-antonym, enantiodromic, amphibolous, janus word, and so on.

Sometimes it's a result of two distinct words evolving into the same form (cleave from Old English cleofian and cleofan) but often a single word develops a split personality and takes on two contradictory senses. All of us have a bit of yin and yang and these words are no exception.

This week's first word is cleave. Check out Anu Garg's site here.

Class Calendar: October 20th to October 27th

Note: Please note update to next week's assignments!

Monday, October 20th (H)
• Due: Finish reading When the Emperor Was Divine, taking notes on study questions.
• Class: Debrief on Friday’s “field trip”; international law and the internment; discussion of When the Emperor Was Divine.

Tuesday, October 21st (F)
• Due: Prepare a “micro-theme.” Review historical background packet.
• Class: Newspaper editorials and contemporary connections; discussion and development of paper topics.

Wednesday, October 22nd (S)
• Due: Work on paper draft (due Friday).
• Class: Understanding the “loyalty oath”; return “field trip” to the computer lab. If you finish early, there will be a link to some excellent further reading.

Note: Shortened period for Health & Safety Awareness Day.

Thursday, October 23rd (U)
• Class does not meet today. Work on those drafts!

Friday, October 24th (M)
• Due: Rough draft of paper for peer review. Please bring three copies (hard copy, in your hand when you enter class) so we can work in small groups rather than pairs.
• Class: Peer revision of papers, with a mini-lesson on quotation integration.

Monday, October 27th (T)
• Due: Email me a passage from your paper that incorporates a quotation from the novel. If you have any particular questions about a section, that would be a good one to use. You can paste it right into the body of the email. Send to skitsis@arlington.k12.ma.us. Then bring a clean copy of your draft to class (work on it over the weekend, please!).
• Class: Workshop on integrating quotations.

Tuesday, October 28th (W)
• Due: Revised paper on When the Emperor Was Divine.
• Class: Poetry lesson; using the “scope and sequence” to frame the internment.

Bonus: Author Interview

Click here for a fascinating interview with the author of When the Emperor Was Divine.

And while we're on the subject of bonus material, this New York Times article makes some interesting parallels between the novel and contemporary American society. It's called "One Family's Story of Persecution Resonates in the Post-9/11 World" and is actually from the education section of the paper.

A Trip to the Museum

Today we'll be visiting the Smithsonian online exhibit, A More Perfect Union. Select the "media rich" version from the introductory screen. Be sure to "walk through" the full exhibit and click on items to see more details.

Click here to download a template you can use to take notes. Print it out or type in it directly; I'll collect it at the end of the period.

If you finish early, please read the Densho Project's article on the Loyalty Oath. It's excellent.

Finally, the Japanese American National Museum has extensive online collections. If you finish your visit to the Smithsonian and have extra time in the period, check out a collection that interests you at the JANM to add to your observations (choose from photos, letters, etc).

Class Calendar: October 13th to October 20th

Monday, October 13th
• No school today. Enjoy the long weekend!

Tuesday, October 14th (U)
• Class does not meet. Enjoy the long, long weekend.

Wednesday, October 15th (M)
• Due: Review documents (posted on blog) to prepare for guest speaker.
• Class: David Raikow will be speaking to us today about international law and genocide.

Thursday, October 16th (T)
• Due: Read “When the Emperor Was Divine” (p. 49-105) in When the Emperor Was Divine, taking notes using the study questions as a guide.
• Class: Finish performances of reader’s theater; debrief and discussion of the reading and yesterday’s speaker.

Friday, October 17th (W)
• Due: Keep reading the novel.
• Class: More poetry and photography; the loyalty oath.

Monday, October 20th (H)
• Due: Finish reading When the Emperor Was Divine.
• Class: Reactions, discussions, historical context (specific topics to be announced).

David Raikow on Sudan

David Raikow will be speaking at the First Parish Church in Arlington at 7.00p on Monday, October 13th on "Conflict in Context: the Recent History of War in Sudan, and the Role of the International Community."

Extra credit (and extra karma) is available for anyone who would like to attend and report back to the class!

He will ALSO be speaking to our class -- barring crazy scheduling errors -- on Wednesday, October 15th on genocide and international law. To prepare, please review the following documents:

• The Genocide Convention, which you are already familiar with
  
• The U.N.'s page on frequently asked questions about the International Criminal Court
  
• For more on the Criminal Court, see the I.C.C.'s own information page
  
• Read about the Nuremberg Principles that evolved out of the Nuremberg Trials following WWII

We'll be joining Mr. McCarthy's class. You don't need to commit these documents to memory, but do prepare yourself mentally to ask a question or two!

Tutorial on Quotation Marks

We talked briefly in class about quotation marks but many of you would benefit from a little more review.

I highly recommend this handout on quotation marks prepared by the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.

Check your comprehension by trying this online exercise and then check yourself against the answers.

Facial Tissues

Are a beautiful thing to have in cold and flu season, don't you think?

Enrichment Opportunities

There are several exciting opportunities this month to enrich yourself (and if you come back and share it with us, possibly your grade!).

• Thursday, October 16th, 7p, Robbins Library: From War to Hope. A presentation on Arlington's sister city in El Salvador. Free and open to the public. Visit their website and see the brochure on my bulletin board for more information.
  
• Sunday, October 19th, 3p, Southern Sudanese Community Center in Arlington: Francis Bok. The author of Escape From Slavery (an amazing memoir!) is speaking right here in Arlington. I'm hoping we'll get to read his book this spring ... don't miss the chance to see him in person.
  
• Thursday, November 6th, Robbins Library: Lion's Club Speech Contest. Prepare a five minute speech to earn fame and extra credit. You need to sign up with Ms. Walsh in advance ... let me know and I can pass on the word, or see her directly over in Downs House.

Lots of cool happenings ... there won't be many more opportunities for extra credit this fall so take advantage while you can. And as always, if there's an event in the community you think we should know about ... share the word.

Class Calendar: October 6th to October 15th

Monday, October 6th (T)
• Due: Congratulations on surviving the SATs one more (hopefully last) time!
• Class: Housekeeping. Understanding the Executive Order.

Tuesday, October 7th (W)
• Due: Read “Evacuation Order No. 19” (p. 3-22) in When the Emperor Was Divine and take notes using the study questions as a guide.
• Class: Discussion of “Evacuation Order No. 19” and discussion of preexisting racism (“Prelude to the Evacuation: The Early Years”).

Wednesday, October 8th (H)
• Due: Read “Prelude to Incarceration” (historical handout).
• Class: Analysis of a government video. Shortened class today for senior photo.

Thursday, October 9th (F)
• Due: Read “Train” (p. 23-48) in When the Emperor Was Divine and take notes using the study questions as a guide.
• Class: I’ll be out of school today. Those of you who are here will be taking a closer look at civil liberties issues raised in the novel and by the historical period.

Friday, October 10th (S)
• Due: Revision of college essay.
• Class: Discussion of “Train” and fun with poetry.

Monday, October 13th
• No school today. Enjoy the long weekend!

Tuesday, October 14th (U)
• No class today. Enjoy the extra long, long weekend!

Wednesday, October 15th (M)
• Due: Read “When the Emperor Was Divine” (p. 49-105) in When the Emperor Was Divine and take notes using the study questions as a guide.
• Class: Discussion and a virtual “field trip” to the Smithsonian Museum.

The Bear That Wasn't

You're not a bear! You're a silly man, who needs a shave and wears a fur coat! You know you want to watch it again ...