Showing posts with label British Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Literature. Show all posts

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Why do books burn? Or rather, why burn books?

Recently, as I was perusing Twitter, I stumbled upon a cool video posted to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's web page. I thought it was appropriate for both my English II students (recently having completed their Holocaust unit) and my (1984-studying) British Lit kids. Take a look!


at 8:27 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Could "Ogilvy" happen in real life?

As we've been reading George Orwell's 1984, we've been coming into contact with more and more crazy stories that seem to show that the world of Oceania is coming to the world around us. As we discussed the manufactured soldier, Commander Ogilvy, we got into a discussion on if this could happen in real life. Here was where our discussion went to:


at 6:52 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Satire: How to get the world to pay attention to you.

Originally posted 2/13/12.

From an actual New York Times Op-Ed piece:
There are dozens of initiatives President Obama could undertake to strengthen our economic security. Here is one: He should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the $1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015 ….


Today, America has little strategic interest in Taiwan, which is gradually integrating with China economically by investing in and forming joint ventures with mainland Chinese firms. The island’s absorption into mainland China is inevitable ….


There will be “China hawks” who denounce any deal on Taiwan as American capitulation, but their fear of a Red China menacing Asia is anachronistic. Portraying the United States as a democratic Athens threatened by China’s autocratic Sparta makes for sensational imagery, but nothing could be further from reality.
Question: How do you feel about this? Does it matter if the United States is there to help "protect" Taiwan? Does Taiwan need protecting? What's so bad about China "taking care"of Taiwan, anyways?


Ok, so I realize that asking those types of questions in Taipei is grounds for dismissal, if not a punch in the head. However, please believe me when I say I'm not in favor of Beijing—I'm quoting some interesting satire written about a current event.
A satire is a literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices, abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or imperfection. Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the person or thing satirized. Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something, using wit and clever wording—and sometimes makes outrageous assertions or claims. The main purpose of a satire is to spur readers to remedy the problem under discussion. The main weapon of the satirist is verbal irony, a figure of speech in which words are used to ridicule a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the opposite of what the words say.
One of the true masters of satire is my buddy, Stephen Colbert. Here, he makes a convincing argument that the best way to take care of endangered animals is to put them on a plate.


WOW.

Today for class, we're going to read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," the satire from which all satire seems to have generated. As you read, please understand that this is all done tongue-in-cheek, and that Swift is really representing the Irish Catholics, not the English Protestants.

After this, the assignment will be for you to write your own modest proposal essay. Now, the rules of this are:

  • You must pick a real/major political/social issue in the world (e.g. drugs, murder, the environment).
  • Paragraph 1—Introduction. Focuses on the actual problems of your issue (e.g. Why it's so bad, how bad it is, how there's been no solution to it)
  • Paragraph 2 [short paragraph]—"I now will humbly propose my solution..." You give your idea of how to fix the problem. It may be a real solution, but it'd be more interesting if you gave us a crazy, ironic-flavored solution to the problem. Tell us that this will take care of your issue in 3 ways.
  • Paragraph 3—Way #1
  • Paragraph 4—Way #2
  • Paragraph 5—"Disarming." Here, you acknowledge why people might have a problem with your solution, but then you attack their attack. Brilliant.
  • Paragraph 6—Conclusion. Make us feel happy about why your possibly idiotic reason is the only reason out there. 
Have a first draft by next class!
at 2:01 PM 0 comments
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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Shakespeare in 140 characters: Brit Lit students tweet "Twelfth Night" (Part II)

In preparation for a play they will be performing for TAPA, British Lit students have been working hard on learning the intricacies of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", through reading and re-reading the text, filing out worksheets for their lovable teacher, and, most recently, tweeting the entire play to the entire world. By popular demand, here is another selection of the amazing tweets done by them.

The Characters

#Viola











#Cesario





#Orsino











#Olivia











#TobyBelch











#Maria











#Feste











#Sebastian











#AndrewAguecheek











#Malvolio











#Antonio











at 4:05 PM 0 comments
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Monday, March 4, 2013

Shakespeare in 140 characters: Brit Lit students tweet "Twelfth Night" (Part I)

In preparation for a play they will be performing for TAPA, British Lit students have been working hard on learning the intricacies of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", through reading and re-reading the text, filing out worksheets for their lovable teacher, and, most recently, tweeting the entire play to the entire world. Here is a selection of the amazing tweets done by them.

The Play


Act I, Scene 1 (#a1s1)








Act I, Scene 2 (#a1s2)








Act I, Scene 3 (#a1s3)








Act I, Scene 4 (#a1s4)











Act I, Scene 5 (#a1s5)








Act II, Scene 1 (#a2s1)








Act II, Scene 2 (#a2s2)








Act II, Scene 3 (#a2s3)








Act II, Scene 4 (#a2s4)








Act II, Scene 5 (#a2s5)








Act III, Scene 1 (#a3s1)








Act III, Scene 2 (#a3s2)








Act III, Scene 3 (#a3s3)








Act III, Scene 4 (#a#s4)








Act IV, Scene 1 (#a4s1)











Act IV, Scene 2 (#a4s2)











Act IV, Scene 3 (#a4s3)











Act V, Scene 1 (#a5s1)



















at 4:05 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, January 13, 2013

DEATH TO PPT. / Haiku Deck's superior, / and you'll see how.


I hate Powerpoints. They're ugly, they're redundant, and they're crippling to speakers. You could be the greatest speaker in the world, and when a Powerpoint appears behind you, you'll find a way to sneak peeks at the hideous monstrosity and be directed by its rigid bullet-infested format. That's the #1 reason I've not had Communications class students use presentation software as a part of their speeches—chances are, if they do, they'll simply read the main points off the screen and turn their minds off.

That's why I immediately fell in love with Haiku Deck—it's an iPad app that forces you to take all that bland, basic information and translate into its key points. With Hauku Deck, you're limited to how much information you can put on a slide, so a long, bullet-infested slide turns into a short phrase. It also features stunning images and really cool fonts, and it's super quick to put together a deck. Basically, it's the best presentation software I've seen for the iPad.

British Lit students will be using this on Monday and Tuesday to create a characteristics presentation, so take a peek at my sample (that took me <60 seconds to make) to figure out what I'm looking for.


at 4:21 PM 1 comments
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Monday, December 17, 2012

EXTRA, EXTRA: British Lit students got your Christmas reading here!

For their final project of the semester, British Literature students were assigned to show how much they understood William Shakespeare's Macbeth by making a graphic novel interpretation of the famous story. If you're looking for some cool comics to read over the Christmas break, consider a few of these great stories!
A Day
Aleena and Belle
 Annika and Sally
 Brian and Samuel
Chanda and Emily
 Christine and Kevin
 Joyce and Sian
Kelly and Mandy
 Patrick and Robert
B Day
Amy and Anderson
 Grace C. and Janelle
 Grace Y. and Kathrina
Krikki and Vivian
 Minnie and Takako
Thanks so much for your hard work, Brit Lit—excellent job!
at 7:28 AM 1 comments
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Monday, November 26, 2012

Hey, Brit Lit: Do you Noh what this is all about?

Let's see how smart British Lit are. As you watch the following video, fill out the first 2 columns of the KWL guide that I emailed to you.



at 8:30 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, November 25, 2012

British Lit: Who is Akira Kurosawa?

Originally posted 11/27/11.

In case you're interested in 1) how Mr. Webb spent his break, and 2) what's happening next in British Lit class, take a peek at this awesome-sauce movie trailer.



Any thoughts?
at 5:05 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Is MacBeth a psychopath? British Lit will soon find out...

British Lit students know that they'll have 3 essays assigned to them this semester, but we've only done one up to this point. The assignment that they'll have over Thanksgiving break will be to work on their second one, going over what we've covered in MacBeth. But the question, though, is what exactly should we do the essay over?

In reading this play this semester, it's become more and more apparent that there's something... strange going on in MacBeth's mind, and that we would be smart to explore exactly what is happening. As a hint, the assignment will focus on analyzing if the titular character is a psychopath. Question, though—do you know what a psychopath is? I've got 3 things for you to do:
  1. Watch these 3 videos:




  2. Read these articles:
    Wikipedia's entry on Psychopathy
    The Psychopath: The Mask of Sanity
    What "Psychopath" Means (Scientific American)
    The List of Psychopathy Symptoms: Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare
    ‘The Psychopath Test,’ by Jon Ronson - Review - NYTimes.com

  3. Take these tests:
    Self-Assessment on Psychopathy / Narcissistic Personality Disorder
    A psychopathy test on my shared Evernote
Once you've gone over all this, you should be more prepared for when I give you the specifics of the assignment later this/next week. Thanks!
at 10:06 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Poets and they didn't know it—Brit Lit's Sonnets.

u         /       u         /      u       /        u         /  u        /
The students of Brit Lit were given an [A]
u      /          u        /        u     /       u  /  u        /
Assignment built to test poetic skill. [B]
u          /    u       /        u           /           u       /          u    /
O'er many sleepless nights the work began [A]
u          /    u       /        u       /           u          /       u         /
And in the first few days, they got their fill. [B]

u       /     u      /   u     /        u  /     u         /
Of all pentameters, iambic's worst, [C]
u            /       u        /      u /    u       /             u                  /
With English and Italian rhyme schemes, too; [D]
u     /    u      /      u             /           u      /       u         /
Experience would help, but it's their first [C]
u     /           u    /   u  /         u       /          u     /
Attempt at poetry, that much is true. [D]

u         /                 u          /             u            /         u          /       u       /
Yet through their blood, sweat, and their tears we see [E]
u       /         u    /      u          /         u      /           u      /
Success in rhyming and ten beats per line. [F]
u             /     u       /       u        /          u    /    u        /
While many felt their work a failure be, [E]
u   /     u    /   u      /           u        /       u       /
I personally think they did just fine. [F]

u      /         u   /      u      /            u      /      u            /
So take a sec to check out all their work, [G]
u          /  u      /        u          /     u          /           u        /
And only comment nicely—kind, not jerk! [G]

A-Day

B-Day

Aleena
Annika
Belle
Brian
Chanda
Christine
Emily
Joyce
Kelly
Kevin M.
Mandy
Patrick W.
Robert
Sally
Samuel
Sian		Amy C.
Anderson
Grace C.
Grace Y.
Janelle
Kathrina
Krikki
Minnie
Takako
Vivian
Brit Lit students, you know what to do with this: comment on 5 of these posts (3 for the A-Day class, 2 for the B-Day class).
at 9:50 PM 0 comments
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Monday, October 15, 2012

Get ready for confusing homework hence / Sir Shakespeare's rhyme scheme takes some time to crack!

Originally posted 11/14/11.


For the last couple of years, I've had to spend most late Fall—early Spring mornings walking nearly a mile to  TAPA, in the (typically wet/cold) Taipei Winter rain. I hate that. So gross. Maybe my least favorite moments of my time in Taiwan.

That's part of the reason I was so excited to get a scooter is that I would no longer have to make the death march in the terrible weather. A great example of that was this evening, when, in the nastiness, I was able to speed home, still drenched, but at least in less than 5 minutes. Awesome. It was this epic joy I felt in my heart that I decided to compose a Shakespearean Sonnet to this love:
  u       /      u          /            u         /        u      /      u      /
My scooter's paint job's nothing like a Benz;    [A]
  u       /           u       /        u         /             u       /       u       /
its scuffs and scratches prove that it's been used.    [B]
  u       /      u        /   u      /     u           /        u         /
The Harley of a wealthy man who spends    [A]
  u            /      u          /    u      /      u      /            u     /
looks perfect next to my machine, abused.    [B]

  u         /      u     /   u     /     u      /      u      /
The engine of a Harley Davidson    [C]
  u        /  u   /       u        /        u      /      u      /
Will easily outwork my motorbike.    [D]
  u       /          u          /   u    /      u      /        u      /
A brand new Yamaha, so fast, so fun,    [C]
  u    /      u            /      u         /        u      /      u      /
Is nowhere near to what my motor's like.    [D]

  u           /      u          /           u         /        u      /      u       /
Yet thine two-wheel'ed steed dost daily move    [E]
  u             /          u      /    u       /        u       /         u       /
Miss Webb and I betwixt our home to school.    [F]
  u            /    u          /        u         /    u     /      u          /
While other bikes more valuable may prove,    [E]
  u        /       u      /     u        /     u      /       u         /
For transportation's value, it's my jewel.    [F]

  u       /       u      /        u         /      u          /      u      /
So let's go get some money from the bank    [G]
  u       /               u            /        u     /      u      /      u      /
Because you've earned a fill-up of your tank.    [G]
OK, how about this? Is it a true Shakespearean sonnet after all? I'd go with yes:
  • It's lyrical (i.e. not telling a story).
  • It's 14-lines long.
  • The entire thing is written in iambic pentameter.*
  • It has the English (Shakespearean) rhyme scheme of ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG.
  • It has 2 different thematic sections with a turn in the middle:
    • First 8 lines: My scooter sucks in many ways.
    • Last 6 lines: My scooter is awesome in many ways, and I will reward it (with gas).
Can you guess where this is going? If you guessed "HEY TEACH-AH, ARE WE GOING TO MAKE OUR OWN SONNETLAAAAAS?", then yes, you guessed right.

So here's the plan: starting today (for A-Day classes) and tomorrow (for B-Day classes), you'll be working on writing 14-line sonnets about something you have a love/hate relationship with. You'll need to write in iambic pentameter with a defined rhyme scheme (i.e. Italian ABBA/ABBA/CDECDE or Italian ABBA/ABBA/CDCDCD or English ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG—you pick!). Also, you'll need to make sure you label both the meter and word stresses and the rhyme scheme.

OH, and, just for an added bonus, I'll give extra points to my, let's say, top 3 favorite sonnets in both classes. You have one week to get this project done, so it'll be due at the beginning of Week of Prayer. Get started!

*One line I really had to get creative with: "two-wheel'ed." That's pronounced in 3 syllables. It's cheating, but whatever. I'm cool. I can do it.
at 4:53 AM 2 comments
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Monday, October 8, 2012

Before you turn in the any essay...



It's been a little while since I've posted on this blog, mostly because:
  1. I've been crazy busy with making assignments, working on my Masters, and grading all you work.
  2. I've been posing a lot more to the shared Evernote Notebook. (Subscribe here!)
  3. We've been hammering away at "standard" reading, assignments, and other homework that doesn't require too much extra explanation.
  4. I've been so slammed with things that I haven't been able to "play" with tech stuff and show you how to use it.
Hopefully, I'll get back onto posting on here again soon. However, until then, I've got a resource that all students, especially essay-writing British Literature kids, ought to take a look at. Before turning in a paper to any teacher (notably, myself), I'd take a peek at the following list (available for you to download here) and make sure you check everything off the list.

  1. Find and destroy the following:
    • intensifiers / de-intensifiers (e.g really, pretty, maybe, mostly, nearly, barely)
    • blah words (e.g good, bad) 
  2. Check all your verbs:
    • Are they all present? All past? 
    • Are there any be verbs (i.e. am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being)? Kill as many as you can. 
    • Did you write active sentences? Were passive sentences written by you? 
  3. Recheck for sloppy errors:
    • Are there any "red squiggly" errors? (e.g. teh, Mr. Web, alot) 
    • Is the formatting up to the teacher's standards? (e.g. margins, font size/type, tabs, title, bibliography) 
    • Did you reread your essay OUT LOUD? 
  4. Take the "Ahhhhh" test:
    • Is your reader going to be smarter/better-informed after reading this? 
    • How long is your teacher going to say "Ahhhhh" after reading it? 

I can't guarantee that going through every question will automatically earn you an A, but I can guarantee you that it'll help quite a bit. Take note!
at 8:02 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, October 7, 2012

Here's something I hate, and a way you can make sure I'm free of it

"A happy teacher grades you better than an unhappy teacher." ~Mr. Webb
Want to know something that annoys me? When I sit down to grade blogposts, read or watch your awesome work, come up with the score I'm going to give you... and then I see this:


That makes me unhappy. In fact, it really makes me angry. And, as you can probably see from the above quote, you don't want me to be angry.

So, interested in getting yourself a happier teacher? Of course you are:
  1. Go to your Blogger.com page. Once you get there, go into the Settings for your blog for my class.


  2. Change your Show Word Verification settings under Posts and Comments. Make sure you switch it to "No".


  3. Save the changes. 
Easy, right? It's so easy, in fact, that I will ask that you change this setting immediately.  From now on, each time I have to fill out word verification on your blog, I will lower your final semester score by 10%!  NO FORGIVENESS ON THIS! So do it right now!
at 1:24 PM 0 comments
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Monday, September 24, 2012

Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, episodes 7 & 8

As we study the Middle Ages in British Literature, I keep thinking of one of the greatest scholars and one of the greatest comedic minds in British history: Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame. Jones put out a really neat set of videos called "Medieval Lives" where he tracked just what it would be like living in the Middle Ages as each of the different significant players. For class (but not in class), you will be watching these videos and doing some responses to them. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:



Embed code:
<iframe width="480" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eTUPba9A6rg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Embed Code:
<iframe width="480" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GHHMfXGPN4Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So, now what? Your assignment is to watch the above videos as soon as possible. Then, you are to record a 45-60 video second response, upload it to , and embed both my video and your response into one blogpost. The 45-60 second video response should be focused on

  1. things that you learned from the video, 
  2. what stood out for you as important or significant, or 
  3. something that connects to what you've studied in class.

It should not be 45 seconds of "I LIKED VIDEO-LAH, TEACH-AH." People outside of the classroom will be able to see this; don't embarrass me with superficial observations about how it was a funny video.

Each blogpost should have 2 videos, but only one episode; therefore, your essentially making two blogposts before each class. Got it? Here's the schedule:
  • Episode 1—Peasant (Due  9/17  &  9/20 )
  • Episode 2—Monk (Due  9/17  &  9/20 )
  • Episode 3—Damsel (Due  9/19  &  9/21 )
  • Episode 4—Minstrel (Due  9/19  &  9/21 )
  • Episode 5—Knight (Due  9/24  &  9/25 )
  • Episode 6—Philosopher (Due  9/24  &  9/25 )
  • Episode 7—Outlaw (Due  9/26  &  9/27 )
  • Episode 8—King (Due  9/26  &  9/27 )
Make sure each post is a separate episode, including my video (embedded) and your 45-60 second video response (embedded). Make sure your video responses are uploaded as public on ; if I can't watch it, it doesn't count. Also, try to title the post in a consistent way, like My response to Medieval Lives, episode #1—Peasant or something.
at 4:51 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, episodes 5 & 6

As we study the Middle Ages in British Literature, I keep thinking of one of the greatest scholars and one of the greatest comedic minds in British history: Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame. Jones put out a really neat set of videos called "Medieval Lives" where he tracked just what it would be like living in the Middle Ages as each of the different significant players. For class (but not in class), you will be watching these videos and doing some responses to them. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:



Embed code:
<iframe width="480" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M6oSZzmKgIg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Embed Code:
<iframe width="480" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/85Mu4tU6Avs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So, now what? Your assignment is to watch the above videos as soon as possible. Then, you are to record a 45-60 video second response, upload it to , and embed both my video and your response into one blogpost. The 45-60 second video response should be focused on
  1. things that you learned from the video, 
  2. what stood out for you as important or significant, or 
  3. something that connects to what you've studied in class.
It should not be 45 seconds of "I LIKED VIDEO-LAH, TEACH-AH." People outside of the classroom will be able to see this; don't embarrass me with superficial observations about how it was a funny video.

Each blogpost should have 2 videos, but only one episode; therefore, your essentially making two blogposts before each class. Got it? Here's the schedule:
  • Episode 1—Peasant (Due  9/17  &  9/20 )
  • Episode 2—Monk (Due  9/17  &  9/20 )
  • Episode 3—Damsel (Due  9/19  &  9/21 )
  • Episode 4—Minstrel (Due  9/19  &  9/21 )
  • Episode 5—Knight (Due  9/24  &  9/25 )
  • Episode 6—Philosopher (Due  9/24  &  9/25 )
  • Episode 7—Outlaw (Due  9/26  &  9/27 )
  • Episode 8—King (Due  9/26  &  9/27 )
Make sure each post is a separate episode, including my video (embedded) and your 45-60 second video response (embedded). Make sure your video responses are uploaded as public on ; if I can't watch it, it doesn't count. Also, try to title the post in a consistent way, like My response to Medieval Lives, episode #1—Peasant or something.
at 4:53 AM 0 comments
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