October 31, 2016 -- Monday

On the board

1. handout of B. the G. Chapter 4 vocabulary

2. write a word related in some way to each of the vocabulary words  

       a. rhyme or

       b. shared prefix/suffix/root or

       c. synonym or antonym

     Examples:   algorithm....algebra

                         cope...copious

                         lurched...searched

3.  Chapter 2 of B. the G  pp 73-83

READ 097-6                     Vocabulary for Chapter 4 in B. the G.             (2016.10.31)

optimistic                              cope                                     physiological                   reappraising

tranquility                             buffer                                  predicament                    adversity

longitudinal                          bereaved                           scripted                             excruciating

clutching                                rumble                                  lurched                                soothing

relentless                               foraging                             loathing                              hysterically

algorithm                                simulated                           mimicked                            perpetrator

rivalries                                    exploits                              implications                     nodes

hackers                                    anthropology 

More examples of  working with the above vocabulary
word families               vocabulary word               synonyms/antonyms
rhymes
                                      nodes                                intersection/crossing
                                      optimistic                         hopeful  versus pessimistic
tranquil                          tranquillity                       peace(ful)
emulation                      simulation
                                      hacker                               pirate
                                      rumble                              fight
                                      predicament                      situation
cleaved                          bereaved                           
imply                             implications


Students worked on Chapter 2 of B. the G  pp 73-83 in class: dictionary, word origins, thesaurus, analogies


Homework:
1. study for vocabulary test on Chapter 4 of B. the G.
2. write 300-word reader response to chapter 7 of Powers

October 28, 2016 --  Friday


On the board:
1. pronunciation (can you?)  Puzzle  "English Is Hard"
2. Grades to this point --- Have you checked?  What is your current approximate grade?  -- If you decide to drop (not that I want you to, you understand) you need to do it before November 4th in order to receive any refund.
3. pp. 58-69   talking about learning (how to learn) vocabulary
4. Ch. 4 upcoming vocabulary test

Handout 1  --- sentences with cognates/homophones "English Is Hard"
1 The bandage was wound around the wound.
2 The farm was used to produce produce.
3 The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4 We must polish the Polish furniture.
5 He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6 The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7 Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8 A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum
9 When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10 I did not object to the object.
11 The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12 There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13 They were too close to the door to close it.


Examples of strategies for learning words
1. autocratic -- Autocratic rulers drive expensive autos.
    association with images  -- expensive auto/car
    word families -- prefixes -- auto
    auto is short for automobile, self-moving
    autocratic ruler rules by himself
2. scrutinize -- 
    Scrutinize your opponents' records and 
     publicize their mistakes.
    association with rhymes
    word families?  Are the "ize" from scrutinize and the "ize from
           publicize the same?  Let's check into this.

Handout 2

READ 2016.10.28

Re-read pages 67-69 and follow the instructions

Learning and remembering vocabulary:

Context Clues-- hints!--words in phrases--look for synonyms and antonyms

Association with images---"Autocratic rulers drive expensive autos".-

Association with rhymes-- "Scrutinize your opponent's record and then publicize his mistakes!"

Recognize meaningful prefixes, roots, suffixes -- What "families" does each word belong in

(of course) dictionary

flash cards

Homework:
1. study for vocabulary test (Chapter 4, B. the G.) on Wednesday
2. read pages 69-72 in B. the G. and do exercises 2.7 and 2.8

October 26, 2016 -- Wednesday

On board:
1. adjectives
2. about the Cubs --  handout from NY Times  "The Cubs Reach the Promised Land.  Now What?"  by Rich Cohen
3. what you wrote about the short story by Ethan Hunter
4.  homework -- pages 58-69 in B. the G., read and do the exercises

READ 097-6    Warm-up   2016.10.16     Wednesday      Write 5 adjectives (not swear words!) about your feelings regarding the Cubs-Indians World Series game last night.  I feel ---

1

2

3

4

5

Then pick out 5 adjectives from the NY Times reading about Cubs’ fans feelings, now that the Cubs are more successful.

1

2

3

4

5

Student adjectives: amused, devastated, hopeful, stressful, careless

NY Times article adjectives:  un-wrecked, befuddled, encapsulated, hopeful, Ecclesiastical, waiting (adj?  verb?  depends on usage in individual sentence

YouTube video of Steve Goodman singing "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"

Discussion of Chapter 6 of Powers

Homework:

1. pages 58 through 69 in B. the G., read and do the exercises

2. start thinking about a vocabulary test on Chapter 4 of B. the G.

October 24, 2016  -- Monday

On the board:
1. Warm-up handouts
      a.  Chicago Tribune article    "Leadership Chicago Street Gangs Vex Police Efforts to Quell Violence"  by David Heinzmann
      b. vocab., questions, your answers
2. Short story by Ethan Hunter    (B. the G.)
     page 192
3. Vocabulary .... general

NEIU.READ.097-6 warm-up                       October 24, 2016 --  Monday

Thinking about reading --  Do you know what these words mean?

Introspection                                    cogitation

contemplation                                   reflection

self-analysis                                     meta-cognation

Start reading the Chicago Tribune article (handout) about gang violence in Chicago.  Then do the short warm-up assignment below.

1     Think about how you feel while you're reading? 

2      What are you thinking while you're reading.

3     On a separate piece of paper, write 3 or 4 sentences in answer to these questions. I will collect your answers in 10 minutes. 

As you work on the short writing sentence, don't forget the "Three Questions"
     Topic?
     Details?
     What does the author want me to think or know about the topic?

     The above three are about finding the Main Idea

Don't forget the "Kimmel Question"  -- how do I feel about what I'm reading"


Discussion of short story from textbook and related article from the Tribune

SHORT STORY -- IMPORTANCE OF VALUING YOUR OWN LIFE
ARTICLE -- POLICE EFFORTS TO END GANG VIOLENCE



Word game -- word chain
Divide into groups
Each word must have 3 or more syllables, and words may not begin and end with the same syllable.
Some of the words the class generated...
inclusion
neuroticism
mechanism -- NO, because it begins and ends with "m"
molecule
eco-system
meta-cognition
nationalism
meteorite
episodic
concentric
nonchalant
titanic

Gummy candy for group that won!

Homework:
1. pp 198 in B. the G.  -- "write about the selection" -- "How do Andy's thoughts of his own life evolve from the beginning to the end of the story??
2.  Reader Response to Chapter 6 of Powers

October 21, 2016 -- Friday
"Work-in-progress"

Warm-up  2016.10.21

Four-syllable words --

1. write 4 starting with E

2. write 4 starting with T

3. write 4 starting with S

Mending Wall

BY ROBERT FROST

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs.

                      

                                              The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself.         

                                      I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."

Spaces (gaps!) were put in to help clarify the meaning.    Find the main idea, using the three questions:

Who or what is this reading about?  (topic)

What are the major supporting details!?

What is the message the writer is trying to convey?

(And don’t forget the “Kimmel Question.”  How do I feel about it?)

Homework:

B. the G. pages 192-201  

October 19, 2016 -- Wednesday


On the board at the beginning of class

1. B. the G. page 151    3  Questions
2.  more on chapter 4 of B. the G.   "Main Idea"  pp. 153-156
3.  Article about Justice Sotomayor


Handout about questions to use when you are trying to figure out the main idea -- from page 151 of
B. the G.

Using Questions to Find the Main Idea

B. the G. page 151

1. Who or what is this reading about?

2. What are the major supporting details?

3.  What message is the author trying to convey about the topic?

And there is one more important question that is not in the textbook---  "How do I feel about this chapter/article/novel/information that I have just read?"    This question is CRUCIAL for remembering material.


Article from Slate about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- link    http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/10/11/supreme_court_victim_impact_statements_justice_limit_them.html 

[Discussion of political orientation of various media, from Left through Center to the Right]


(Ultra far left) Stalin           Left            Center          Right             (Ultra far right) Hitler

                                          liberal                                conservative
                                                    Democrats          Republicans
                                                      Obama
                                                                Clinton          Bush
                                                     Slate                                Fox News
                                                                NY Times
                                           social programs                 pro-business (de-regulate
                                           regulate business                lower taxes
                                                                                      anti-union
                                                  Sotomayor                             Scalia
                                   
Students worked in groups on the homework assignment.  Each student must hand in his or her own version of the homework, even though there was collaboration in class.


Homework due Friday:
Chapter 4 of  B. the G.
pages 156-158
Exercise 4.5   Using questions to find stated main ideas
Passages A, B, C, and D
Answer in complete sentences

October 17, 2016 -- Monday    


Word search for weather words (except for "arboretum"

Problem words on Chapter 3 Vocabulary Test

Make scrambled words out of them.  Then trade with your neighbor and solve.

Philanthropist                                    disciples

Affluent                                            bolstered

Curb                                                  eco-consciousness

Menial                                                fledgling

Versions of the above words, scrambled, but on the board.  Discussion of meanings.

Note regarding the syllabus -- DON'T write the Cornell notes on pp 285-287, though the syllabus says to do so.

Reading from Chapter 5 of Powers, through p. 128   (part of the difficulty of remembering what happens in the book has to do with unfamiliar personal names and place names)

Homework:

Reading log for chapter 5 due Wednesday

October 14, 2016 -- Friday


On the board--
1.  Two handouts
        A.  Verb game -- explanation will follow
        B.    Famous poem. ("Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost)
2.  Topic!  Main idea!  Supporting details, major and minor!  -- concepts applied to poem, above, but helpful no matter what you read.
3.  Chapter 4 of B.the G, pages 142-144


Topic/main idea/ supporting details

The Bible.    God and human beings (list of major humans, including Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Abraham

The Odyssey.   Odysseus and his journey home to Ithaca, past Scylla and Charybdis and the Sirens and Circe)

The Wizard of Oz.    journey towards the Wizard so Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion can try to get what they want

Textbooks.      Biology, botany, cells, mitosis, meiosis


Handout of word-game -- transformation of verbs -- Mrs. Kimmel suggested  "read" and "write" but the class practiced with "go," which turned out to be pretty difficult

go   going   travel   so    forego   walk    I go to school every day.   went  run  stop  stopped    shopped    bought    buy    I like to buy clothes.   "rebuy"?    "reshop"?   (we got bogged down here)


Homework:
On Monday, hand in the rest of the assignment on pp 285-287 of B. the G., this time doing  "outlining" and "mapping" .  Each assignment is worth 30 points, just as the previous two assignments   "annotating" and "note-taking" were worth 30 points each .  The item below is from the syllabus.

"Bridging the Gap  (TA=text assignment) Read Ch. 6, pp 272-290

                                                Using the selection on page 285, complete:

                                                            Annotating      (30 points)**

                                                            Note-taking     (30 points)**

                                                            Outlining　　 (30 points)**

                                                            Mapping　　  (30 points)**

                                                Each one separately for the same selection"     

October 12, 2016 -- Wednesday

Mrs. Kimmel was absent.  The substitute notes for Ms. Wee, who took the class, are as follows:

"Thank you again, in advance, for taking my class today.

            "There is a short-ish vocabulary test (based on Chapter 3 of Bridging the Gap) that students are expecting;  and I am including the copies here.  We discussed the content and style of the test in advance, so no questions should be necessary.

            "As they finish and hand the test in to you, they can take the article about the recent Nobel Prize winner in medicine and physiology, Professor Ohzumi.  They should take notes on it using the  “mapping method”  that we discussed in class today, Friday, and hand the notes to you, as well.

           " If there is still time left, they can work on one of their Context Preps for the rest of the time.

            "There is a short writing assignment due this day, Wednesday, a 300-word reader-response to the fourth chapter of the novel we are reading, Powers, by Ursula LeGuin.  Please accept those assignments if they give them to you."

October 7, 2016 -- Friday   (work in progress?)

On the board:
1. handout on types of note-taking ... Which do you prefer, and why?
2. Sentence expansion... One word sentence "Read!"  Expand it by adding 10 [!!] more words
3. pages 117, 125, 133 in B. the G.
4.  more... how to use copy machines, for example


Jesus took some people out of the room to show them how to use the copy machines.


Example of #2
Write!
Write it!
Write it off!
Always write it off!
They always write it off!
Do they always write it off?
Why do they always write it off?
Accountants, why do they always write it off?
etc.

Why?  Trying to expand sentences yourself makes you more aware of how long sentences are developed.  The expansion always starts with a verb.  If you are having trouble with a sentence, try to find the main verb, first, and then see how the other words/meanings fit around it.

Handout on the types of note-taking.  Several members of the class said that they prefer Cornell notes to any of the other types.

Developed from 
 http://www.sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html  



Full-chapter test for B. the G. Chapter 1 was returned to students.

Homework:
Study for test on vocabulary for Chapter 3 in Bridging the Gap .  Be sure to study pages 117, 125, and 133

October 5, 2016 -- Wednesday


On the board when students came in --
1. read the handout and write down 4 items that surprised you
2. find the 3 longest words in Chapter 3 of B. the G., with the
fewest repeat letters
3.  Powers
4.  p. 272-290 in B. the G.   


Surprising items in the article about Australia, because the teacher is encouraging fast reading, because the teacher thinks toilet paper is inherently hilarious, and because the teacher loves Australia:
--toilet paper as landing lights
--toilet paper lit up in cans or pineapple rinds
--Cobden flies 100,000 miles a year
--a toilet paper roll with burn for 30 minutes

Long and interesting words from B. the G.
emphasizing
judgmental
etc.

Played "hangman" with the word, 'unintentional'  -- Tyson presided, and Jose won!

Discussion of Powers

a. Hoby, an enslaved 13 year old, "sent to Hester" 
    because of brutal bullying incident
b. Torm, 13 year old son of the Master 
    (euphemistically called "the Father") sent for sword training
    because of brutal bullying incident -- punishment?  reward? --         Everra says it's punishment, but Gav thinks it's a reward --  
    certainly Everra wants to get him out of the classroom
c. Miv, enslaved 6-year old, dies because Hoby and Torm bully him
d. Evvera, enslaved teacher in the House who has both 
    enslaved and free children in his class
e. trip to the farm (without Hoby and Torm, 
    which makes Gavir happy)

Bridging the Gap  (TA=text assignment) Read Ch. 6, pp 272-290    Due Friday

                                                Using the selection on page 285, complete:

                                                            Annotating      (30 points)**

                                                            Note-taking     (30 points)**

                                                            

                                                Each one separately for the same selection     

                                                If necessary, make copies of the selection on page 285 

                                                                  so that you can hand in the annotations 

                                                                  without tearing pages out of the book

Class discussion of note-taking, especially the Cornell notes system.

Video about ethical, generous business practice（a theme of Chapter 3 of B. the G., see the readings about Toms Shoes and Mme. C.J. Walker), Bombas Socks

https://www.facebook.com/bombassocks/videos/1141472972601062/?pnref=story 　　
Homework:
1. do the Annotating and Notetaking assignments for Friday, using the same reading passage, pages 285-287  in B. the G.
2. vocabulary test on Chapter 3 of B. the G. next Wednesday