Matt’s Class

Today, we do some reviewing for the upcoming battery of standardized state tests.

If anyone out there cares and doesn’t know, the state requires 4 full days of testing at the end of each year’s language arts class. That’s a pretty big chunk of a class to dedicate to this sort of thing, especially considering how shallow the test really is. My general policy as a teacher is to essentially ignore what I know about the contents of the test during the semester and simply provide students with as many authentic and challenging reading and writing tasks as I can. Then, shortly before the test, I spend no more than 20 or 30 minutes covering the odd grammar rules or vocabulary things that I think they might need to know. Seriously, 20-30 minutes total instruction, as far as the “teaching to the test” stuff goes.

So far (over the past 4 years), my test results have been very positive so I feel pretty justified ignoring the test, as well as the state’s schizophrenic core curriculum document which swings from vaguely general to insanely specific.

I’d rather just read some books and write about them. So that’s what we did with the rest of the day today:

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In today’s recording you’ll find all the info you could ever want about book reviews, due on March 4.

Here are links to the

READING LIST

and the place to post your book reviews:

11th GRADE BOOK REVIEWS

And then there’s the reading.

Amazingly, this already great book only gets better. Ahab’s weird adoption of Pip is so bittersweet. His upcoming speach, where he reveals his innermost thoughts and feelings to the ship’s leading skeptic, Starbuck, is one of the most touching things I’ve ever read. And then we finally meet the whale, and the ensuing fight doesn’t disappoint.

I admit, I’ve been reading ahead. Bad teacher!

Here’s the class:

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Yo.

Here’s the explanation of the last phase of revision for the Moby Dick essay. And then there’s some reading and some more talking.

Reading and talking. Pop the corn, uncork the sodas, and spin up the cotton candy machine. Because this is where the party begins:

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Yo. This is Matt.

If you want to know what happens when we learn about archetypes and then talk Moby Dick, you should listen the crap out of this podcast.

Sometimes we sound smart.

Today we sound slightly smart and quite confused.

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Here are some slides from the lessons we’ve been learning about archetypes.

Enjoy!

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Most intense BINGO game ever:

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No audio today, but I just wanted to let everyone know that the new reading list is available: LINK

Oh, you know. Some more talky-talky.

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Hey-oh.

I’ve been having some technical difficulties over the past couple of days. Mostly with my brain, forgetting to turn on the recording equipment and all. But I have a good excuse: My face hurts. I got a cold a couple days ago, and this cold has expressed itself through a face ache. It’s a little distracting.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of what we’ve done if you’ve been gone:

1. We brainstormed topics for the first writing assignment. (You can see the complete assignment via the link over there on the right-hand side of the page.) The main challenge with this was getting topics that were narrow enough. The topic “whales” won’t work for this paper, but the topic “the blowhole of the whale” might be perfect. Think about the kinds of things Melville focuses his little chapters on, and think on that small scale. Also, the topic doesn’t have to directly relate to the sea or whales. This book has big, spiritual, metaphysical, mythological types of themes that can accommodate almost any topic you choose if you get creative with the connections.

2. I introduced the new vocab list, which consists of terms we’ll be using for literary analysis of the book. You can come get the list from me in class. We also started making cards for the latest round of the famous party game, “Go Fish (Yourself),” which I personally think is a stupid waste of time, but other people seem to like. Whatevs. You can all go fish yourselves.

That’s it. Today (Friday), my goal is to remember to hit Record, so you can get a few more instructions about the draft due today, as well as some more reading and discussion.

MT

So here’s the full explanation of the writing assignment. You may want to listen to this again if you’re still confused and trying to get this done at the last minute. We also worked as a class to break down a typical chapter in the book to mine it for ideas of how to pick a topic and then expand it into a full analysis and make up some allegorical meaning. And last, but not least, we read a few chapters with some really very naughty-seeming language in which a dude almost drowns by falling into the reservoir of a decapitated whale’s head.

Yawn. Right?

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