Saturday, September 04, 2010
The World's Greatest English Class Rules and Grading Standards
Welcome to The World’s Greatest English Class. Read the following sheet very carefully. Contained herein are the rules, regulations, and policies that you will be expected to follow. The literary material we cover in this class will somewhat loosely correspond with the historical material you will be covering in your World Studies class. In this class, you will be assessed in several different ways, from essays and papers to speeches and group presentations. Our overarching objectives for this year are that each member of The World’s Greatest English Class is prepared for the high school exit exam, has significantly improved their reading and writing skills, and has learned some appreciation for literature in its many forms. All of the class materials will be available for download on the class webpage at www.worldsgreatestenglishclass.com. This is hardly a new concept, but one we will be taking to new levels this year. This will require additional foresight on behalf of the students, the teacher, and parents.
Download a copy:
Rules and Grading Standards for English 2 and English 2 Honors. Part One
Rules and Standards Part Two
09/04/10 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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Monday, August 23, 2010
Formatting Your Essays — James Logan Style
When writing essays for the Worlds' Greatest English Class, students are required to follow rules for formatting, or arranging the appearance of, their papers.
08/23/10 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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Sunday, September 17, 2006
From the mouths of babes...
On the first day of school, all of my English classes were required to write an essay that required them to reflect on their last year's English class. Here are some of the more memorable passages.
"She thought flash cards was the ultimate in learning fun."
'English class last year was light weight fun."
"I love it when people crack jocks"
"I really look forward to my shopmore year."
"What I disliked about her is that she was a lesbian, but it didn't bother me completely because I love lesbians. The thing was she didn't look right being a lesbian. Otherwise, she was not much of a problem. She was a lovely teacher."
"She was also very nerdy she loved and talked about nerdy stuff like Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and many of the video games where you have to kill people with magic."
"I also want to learn to write this much without being intimidated by a hammer in a teacher's hand."
"In contrast to my English teacher's 'exceptional' way of teaching, her classroom smelled. It wasn't exactly bad, but every morning it was something different, which added to the uneasiness. Most concluded that it was what the teacher had had for breakfast, but I, for one, do not jump to conclusions so quickly. She had always claimed there were mice. Well, what happened to them? Did they all move to the new building when the old one was destroyed, or perhaps their little mousey ghosts haunt the building with an odor. I may not know, but the nose does not lie."
09/17/06 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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Sunday, September 10, 2006
"A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows." O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862–June 5, 1910), whose clever use of twist endings in his stories popularized the term "O. Henry Ending". His middle name at birth was Sidney, not Sydney; he later changed the spelling of his middle name when he first began writing as a journalist in the 1880s.
Read
Heart of the West, a collection of short stories by O. Henry, one of
15 of his works available from Project Gutenberg.
William Sydney Porter in his thirties.
09/10/06 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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Friday, August 25, 2006
"There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted." James Branch Cabell
James Branch Cabell (April 14, 1879 - May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell's surname is often mispronounced "Ka-BELL", he himself pronounced it "CAB-ble". To remind an editor of the correct pronunciation, Cabell composed this rhyme: "Tell the rabble my name is Cabell."
Read Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell,
one of a dozen works availble free from Project Gutenberg.
James Branch Cabell
08/25/06 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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Thursday, August 03, 2006
"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." Baruch Spinoza
Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento d'Espiñoza in his native Amsterdam, was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher. He is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy and, by virtue of his magnum opus the Ethics, one of the definitive ethicists. His writings, like those of his fellow rationalists, reveal considerable mathematical training and facility. Spinoza was a lens crafter by trade, an exciting engineering field at the time because of great discoveries being made by telescopes. The full impact of his work only took effect some time after his death and after the publication of his Opera Posthuma. He is now seen as having prepared the way for the 18th century Enlightenment, and as a founder of modern biblical criticism. Gilles Deleuze referred to Spinoza as "The absolute philosopher, whose Ethics is the foremost book on concepts". (Deleuze, 1990.)
Read Spinoza's The Ethics, one of
12 examples of his work available free from
Project Gutenberg.
Baruch Spinoza
08/03/06 |
Posted by teacher | Category General
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