Tuesday, October 31, 2017

10/31/17

Today in class, we began to discuss modernism, and compare it to rationalism. We used the novels The adventures of Tom Sawyer and The adventures of Huckleberry Finn as examples. We showed how society and wealth are manipulated by the upper class, and how there is a rift between the social classes. We also discussed the writings and thoughts of Malcolm Gladwell, and how he portrayed modernist ideologies. Tom Sawyer romantic qualities: Clever little kid, play games, big imagination, play in the woods, happy ending, specific good and evil.
Changes from romanticism in Huck Finn: drunken and abusive father, surrendering power, escaping, morals, more serious tone, showing of status, addresses world issues, evil of slavery, lacking freedom, race ties to all aspects. Ernest Hemingway credits Mark Twain and Huck Finn as the beginning of modernist literature, modernism says the world is more complex than it appears, destroys absolutes and promotes complications and “grey areas”. His writing shows was of dealing with perception and meanings because of it. He also states form is just as important as content. We also got our copies of The Great Gatsby.
To apply this to the real world, you could look at society from a more modernist perspective, showing a more realistic aspect of life, as opposed to the romantic view of absolutes. By applying a thinking point that applies both rationalist and romantic views, you can make a setting that is more modernist. The book we are about to read gives a historically fictional account that is very comparable to the lifestyle lived by those in the 1920s.

Monday, October 30, 2017

10/30

On Monday October, 30th our objectives were to identify tactics that make an argument effective and to analyze how modernism reveals more complex relationships through romanticism. We started off the class by receiving bagels from one of the people from the winning group of the game, Finn. That was a very kind thing to do and it also related to our topic of romanticism. It showed the higher class(winning group) sharing their wealth to the lower class(losing teams). It is very uncommon to see in today's world. The one percent don't like to share their money to the poor people. That leads to the next thing we did in class, which was watch a short video and write down things we found in the video to be useful. The video was about the distribution of wealth in America. The video goes into detail about what the distribution really looks like and what people think it should look like. Then Mr.Rivers went over the main idea of the video and put down two questions on the board which were what was the argument and how it was supported. We had to answer on our own and then in our groups. The argument was that the 1% of people had way to much money while the lower 80% had little to no money at all which is horrible. He proved it by giving many charts and statistics of the topic and those supported the statement well. He also gave us information like salaries and jobs to show the difference between everything. Then for the last few minutes of class we started to go over a slideshow about Malcolm Gladwell who wrote the outliers. In the outliers it talks about the American dream and where its coming from. He believes it comes from legacy and opportunity. Legacy being what you were born in to and opportunity being what is given to you.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Oct. 27, 2017 Friday

On Oct. 27, 2017 in American Literature we reviewed our class from yesterday. Yesterday we played an American Dream game. Group one had the most resources and in the end won the prize. Group one had the best fortune with pens, scissors, 1 sheet wood paper, 1 sheet white paper, 1 sheet striped paper, 1 paper ruler, 1 glue stick. While group three had the worst fortune with Pen, 1 sheet wood paper, 1 sheet waves paper, 5 paper clips. Group one ended up winning, because of their good fortune. In class we dove into the fact that the ones with the best fortune are typically the ones who get the American dream. Although, if everyone worked together than everyone could get the American dream (at least from the game).

In class we analyzed the allegory for capitalism. (Allegory- A web of symbols that work together to develop a complex metaphor) Also, we evaluated the complexities of STATUS and FAIRNESS in the American Dream. The class discuss how the American Dream is accomplished with good fortune. Making the American dream unfair to people that come from low status, though through hard work and much luck raising your fortune will be accomplished. Making it easier to achieve the American Dream.


To elaborate and bring new information into our class on Friday, I found an example of how a famous rapper with low status and bad fortune achieved the American dream. An example would be the rapper Slim shady aka Eminem aka Marshal Mathers raised his status through hard work and luck. (I wanted to sight the movie 8 Mile, but the school restricted access to that movie trailer.)

Game of Trades

Yesterday in class, we played a game. The game consisted of 4 envelopes and each envelope contained a different set of resources. Each team had to make shelter, food, a book, and minerals. Some of the materials that were included in this game were: different prints of papers (blank, polka-dot, wavy), scissors, glue, paperclips, and a pen. Each group had until the end of the class to finish and whoever finished first won and the first place prize was a bagel. My group (#4) almost won the whole game. Towards the end of the game, another group approached us asking to combine our resources for exchange of half of our bagels. Aside from that, I think that our group almost won because we were pretty good at trading for other resources. I think that the simpler someone proposes a trade, the more the other person is to trade.
This game represents the American Dream and how coming together to work on something can benefit us all. There were groups that did not trade their resources or were more difficult to trade with.

American Dream experiment

Why we lost: our failure was because of our lack of communication. We failed to agree on anything and that cost us time then in the trade department we did a good job but the trades took a lot of hard work to achieve and maybe to many resources. That is a big reason why we lost. If we just grouped up with the other group we would have won.

Reveal/ expose about American dream: This experiment reveals that the American dream doesn't usually go to plan and that finding things like resources is a very hard thing to do.

Game

In class today we played a game. My group had won, because we had more objects than everyone else. 

This game exposes that the American Dream is not always fair and that the rich will do anything to stay rich and that the poor will do anything to become rich. The American Dream is like the jungle, ´´eat or be eaten.´´ 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

American Dream Game

Today in class we played a game where the class was split into four teams, and the first one to complete the four tasks won. My team lost because we spent to much time trying to trade because we didn't send enough people out. If we sent more people to trade with the other groups we could have won. The winners will be getting bagels on Friday.

Game of Trades

In class today we played a game geared toward the understanding of the American Dream. This game was called "Game of Trades" My group was successful in winning the challenge! At first I was skeptical of our chances to win since everyone else seemed very motivated to win the prize. Although, I decided to participate by working through the problems our group had in the region of time management. I felt that Finn did a great job of organizing our group tactically, by talking to other groups and making far trades. Sean and Dom helped the group by reading over the sheet and understanding exactly what we as a group need to do to achieve the win. Jerry did a nice job of keeping the group relaxed by staying calm the whole time. I believe that my group won, because of how well our personality's worked together.
The games was targeted to show us how hard achieving the American dream just really is. Achieving the American Dream takes hard work and a little bit of luck. The luck comes from the advantages or disadvantages someone might start out with. Although a person might have a disadvantage the Game of Trades showed us how hard work and persistence might help to gain more advantages. The American dream is a hard goal of accomplishing, but Game of Trades explains how one might achieve their dreams later on no matter what their advantages or disadvantages are.

Game Of Trades

Today in English we played a game called 'Game of Trades', which is supposed to symbolize the making of a new life for you and your family and living 'the American Dream'. The object of the game was to fully achieve your goals of shelter/housing, food, education, and resources with the starting materials you had. Now of course, you did not start out with all of the resources that you needed so you had to trade resources with other tables or 'countries'. My team lost the game because, in my opinion, we did not trade enough right in the beginning when the other players/countries didn't know what they needed or didn't need resources-wise. My group waited till the very end to trade, thus hurting us because everyone else had the all the resources they needed and didn't want to trade them away for something they already had. It was actually really hard to trade items because you not only wasted time trying to trade with people, but there is also no way of knowing if that group is actually going to trade with you. This correlates to what we are learning in class about the American Dream because it shows that even though people start out with different resources at their disposal, they all start out at the same place and with the same goals. The different resources each group had and the need to trade between groups symbolized that it takes cooperation and multiple people to achieve your goals. However, it also teaches you that people won't always be there to help you and you have to make your own choices and live with the consequences, like my group did for not trading with other groups/countries.

Game of Trades

     In class today we were put into groups. Within those groups we were given materials to complete certain tasks but not enough materials to completely finish all of said tasks. With this we were set forth to trade, negotiate, and plan out with what we were given. Some groups decided to make alliances, others made deals about the prize that we'd receive. All types of tactics were used in order to become the first group that completed every single task. Our group, we didn't have multiple things however we persevered through that and managed to complete 3 out of those 5. We decided to group up with another group trying to complete the task in exchange for half of their winnings. Sadly though, we didn't win because another group went out and did what they were supposed to do and win and I personally congratulate them for that accomplishment. However, it was a little annoying because it felt like our group just could make quick, fast, and efficient trades. The activity was kind of fun tho and hopefully we could do some more things like that in class.
     This can be used in real life because with business there is always things like this happening. Even someone who wants to make it big starts off limited, however they do everything in their power to make sure that they fulfill what we know as the American Dream. Communication and being able to collaborate is going to be an important skill we need for the near future and when we're in the 'real' world.

Game of Trades

In class today we played a game called the Game of Trades. The objective was to use your given materials--for instance my group's were scissors, a blank piece of paper, a dotted piece of paper, and five paper clips--and create 4 or 5 items with the materials given and by trading said materials. We were only given one class period to complete this activity, and due to a fire alarm our class was shortened. But while playing the game of trades I think my group's biggest weakness was lack of communication. We had trouble figuring out what things to trade with/for, dividing tasks, and finding our footing in the beginning of the game. Once we began to really figure out what we needed, things started to fall into place. But that only happened with 10 minutes left in the game. We started to collaborate with another group by promising them parts of our bagels for their completed structures, which I think would've worked out had we had more time. One of our strong suits was 'thinking outside the box', or in other words thinking of other ways to obtain materials and even fully made structures to try and win. But in the end time was our enemy.
This experiment revealed that the American Dream can be a lot harder to achieve than it seems. There seems to be a lot of bartering and even scheming to get what you want, which is not what I think of when I hear 'American Dream'. Trying to make ends meet can be difficult, especially when what you need is so specific. Overall I think this activity brought to light that the american dream may be this wonderful ideal, but it is much harder to achieve then what it seems.

Game of Trades

Today, we did an activity called Game of Trades, which is literally just a rebranded, school approved version of Settlers of Catan. My group, consisting of Sean H, Lauren, Jerry, Dom, and I, were the winners, with only seconds to spare. The goal of the activity was to collect resources and build certain requested items within the class period. The class period was shortened due to a fire alarm, so the time was limited. My group was very lucky because we were given almost all the resources we needed, and one of the two we needed was very easily obtained. Diplomacy was difficult, because it was a work of give and take, and it was complicated when coming to an agreement. This shows in the American Dream that while everyone has the same opportunities, they do not start in the same spot, making it slightly unfair. Because of the efficiency my group had, it shows that embellishments are useful, as big words with small meanings make deals easier. The American Dream is achievable, but very difficult depending on from where you start.

Game of Trades

Today we had this game to reflect on the American dream to reveal something crucial about the american dream. The game was about teams having their own resources to start with and must use them to make a home, food, a book, and minerals in order to win. My team lost the game of trading because we weren't willing to trade any supplies even the ones that we didn't need because at the . It was hard to trade supplies that you were currently using to build a house and when we were done using said supplies nobody would trade for them because a.) they didn't need it because they all ready had said supplies, or b.) They wanted supplies that we could not afford to give up because we needed those supplies to make something else like the book. I feel like other mechanics should have been implemented into the game because, in real life people don't just trade to survive, if you're starving and have nothing to offer, or you have something not of worth to anybody around you what else is their left to do but steal to feed yourself and the rest of your family, I mean it's not stealing if you don't get caught.  After we were done using are supplies no one wanted them because they had what we had or, just didn't need any, that made me wish that we could go to war just to obtain the resources we needed. The game was fun, but I think the groups had almost the same starting set ups as the other teams. I mean the winners probably aren't complaining. So what I'd like to think that we could do this again but just with some fixed problems so that trading is always effective in the long run.

Game of Trades 10/26

Today in class we played a game. This game was called the Game of Trades and the objective was to, obviously, trade. To win the game you and a group had to collect resources to build needed essentials for your civilization to flourish. Alas, my team did not win and our civilization crumbled like the old Roman Empire and left for absolutely no one to remember. We lost because of a couple reasons, the first reason I believe we lost is because we were dealt a bad hand to begin with. We were dealt wood for our home, 2/3 of our food,and a cover page for our book. We also were dealt a pen and paper clips. The pen only had one use and that was the book so it was practically worthless unless someone needed it to complete their civilization, but at that point we would have already been defeated. The paper clips, were essentially useless but thanks to the superior intellect of our scientists, our civilization figured out a way to make our paper clips able to cut raw materials. The second reason we lost was because of our inability to persuade anyone to trade these materials for essential materials.
This relates to the American Dream because I think the message was the American Dream cannot be achieved by yourself. I think it requires a team, AND a free market to sell and buy goods that are needed for your own success. Without trade, achieving the American Dream would be damn near impossible and that is what I think this activity was meant to teach us. I also feel that this was to expose us to how to accomplish goals in our life, and even if it does not seem like it, we as humans require trading and capitalism to make money and achieve a modern sense of the American Dream. But overall this activity was a very efficient way to grasp the concept of the American dream and learn a sort of bartering system. And in the Game of Trades, you either win, or you die.

American Dream 10/26

Today in class we played a game that represented working towards the American dream. We could only use what was given to us or make trades with other groups to complete the tasks given. A few of the given tasks were build a 4 x 4 house with a roof made out of striped paper; another task was make a hamburger with 3 different sheets of paper. The house represented shelter and the hamburger represented food. On the list there was also education and minerals.Whoever finished the task first one won; my group however lost. I think we lost because we didn't make enough trades for other resources like scissors. We also were not at all organized and everyone was talking over each other which slowed us down. This experiment revealed the American dream takes work and resources with communication and more time. The real American dream however would actually be a lot harder than this game because not all of the resources needed are accessible to many people.

Activity day 10/26/17

Today in class we did this activity that made us work as a team. We were broken up into 4 teams and each team got different materials. For example, in group 4 we had 1 sheet of blank paper, 1 sheet of dotted paper, 5 paper clips and scissors. And with those materials we needed to make certain items like a ring, hamburger, house, and a book. We had until the end of the period to finish all of the things we needed to make and whoever gets all of it correct and finished gets a free bagel tomorrow morning. My team lost unfortunately, however we were able to get all of the pieces together but not on time. Our plan was to get all the materials that we needed to make the things and we sort of had all of them but we were short on paper. With at least 5 minutes left we decided to have a trade off with Sean's group and if we won we would give them half of our bagels but we didn't finish in time. I believe we lost because my team wasn't communicating as much as I wanted them too and it was just one person would take this object and work on it themselves. While the rest of the group just sat there and did nothing. I also believe that if we communicating more we could've won the free bagels but that just wasn't the case. And to be honest personally I usually like to take control of any kind of situation and when I tried to do this I think everyone else that I worked with is the same way and they started to go off to do what they wanted to do.  It was a fun activity and the whole purpose of it was to see how well we can communicate as a team.

Overall this activity can be used in today's world when you are working on a project with multiple people and/ or if you are stranded somewhere and you have limited resources you need to learn how to communicate with other people to get what you need. This activity made me realize how important it is to communicate because if you were stranded and had limited resources you need to be creative and know how to persuade the other people to give you their stuff. 

Game of Trades. October 26, 2017

Today in class we had the pleasure of playing a very fun game. What is that game you might ask? Well, it goes by the name of "game of the trades" the game was based on the American dream and we need to use the resources we had to build various objects such as a house, food, literature, and shelter. my team unfortunately lost because we took to long to come up with a deal with another team to work together and split the profit. The game was very fun and make me ponder on how the romantics used to live and how hard it was to evolve.

Game of Trades

In doing the activity we did in class today, a lot of communication and collaboration was necessary.  It was extremely difficult in my opinion trying to figure out exactly what we needed to accomplish in the amount of time we had. Each item needed to be made a certain way and with certain materials which other groups may have had.  In order to get these materials we had to trade, however my group had issues trying to figure out what and how much of something we could have traded. 

My group could have worked together better, but the whole situation was very overwhelming and personally I don't like activities like that.  Towards the end of it we started to come up with more of a strategy, it was too late though.  Our group and another group were trying to so to say "ally" with each other in order to have one of us win.  This could have worked if we had thought of it in the beginning. 

Other things that set us back was the amount of resources we had.  We started to use things in different ways just to try and get things made.  For example we attempted to hold the four pieces of the house together with the paper clips by piercing the paper and twisting the paper clips closed.  Along with this we did the same thing with the paper clip on the spine of the book. 

It was an interesting ways to challenge us and to see how well we could work together to figure things out.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

American Dream: Rationalists vs. Romantics 10/25/17

Today's class was mostly a review of the American Dream, rationalist and romantics. We did this activity that we had to compare what a rationalist school would be like and what a romantic school would be like. We discussed that a school that was more rationalist would be more strict and that the classes you would take would be more math and science rather than history and English. We also stated that there would be no outside classes and that the grading would include nothing arbitrary. One person also brought up a good point that the school would be more like a tech-school, meaning that we would get to choose our career and study that rather than taking classes that weren't needed. On the other hand if the school was more of a romantic style they would focus more on staying outside and doing fun things like hiking, yoga, etc. We also said that there would be no grading systems because as a romantic they believed that it was artificial and not necessary. One key word that defined a romantic was "inclusion" at a romantic style school they would include everyone even if they just wanted to study.  A romantic is more laid back and a rationalist would be more strict and focused. One other thing that was brought up in class is that romantics will live in the moment and appreciate everything while a rationalist would focused on school and their future. 

We can apply what we learned in class today but knowing that schools in the west and in Finland have more of the romantic idea. Where they only go to school for a certain amount of hours and they tend to learn what the teacher wants them to learn rather than following a curriculum. It has been proven that students that go to Finland have higher SAT scores and a higher education in general. The bigger picture is that if every school started to switch from being rational to romantic than more of us will be able to succeed stress free.

American Dream: Romantic & Rationalist 10/25/17

Today in class we continued to talk about Romanticism connecting to the American Dream.  To do this we had to do a scenario where you were either running a rationalist or romantic school.  My group did a romantic school, which we then decided would have outdoor classes, more art classes, life skill classes, no standardize testing, and grading based on participation or little to no grading at all.  For romantics believe grading and tests are artificial and a waste of value.  For students who would want a more rationalistic class would be able to get a class because romantics want to include everyone. 

On the other hand other groups that had rational school had things a little differently.  They would offer maths, sciences, histories, and Englishs.  People would also be able to get college credit to further their future.  As grading goes it would be from evidence.  Extra curricular would also be available.   In another words it could be more of a technical school due to the fact that people go to those schools because they know the career path they wanna go on.  It's logical and to the point at starting your future.  Teachers in this school would definitely stick to the book and not go off task.  Real world classes are important as well like Financial literacy.

We then went on to talk about how more schools take on a rationalist approach, but some schools to have a more romantic way to teaching.  Such as schools out west and schools in Finland who ultimately have a higher education and SAT scores.  As they connect to the American Dream because romantics live in the now and escalate knowledge for life, along with learning what you want when you want.  While rationalists focus on the building onto the future, to go to college, and to get a good job.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Review and Dark Romanticism 10/24/17

In today's class the objectives were IWBAT: analyze the range of romantic tone and IWBAT: evaluate themes in short stories of American Romanticism, especially as they relate to the American Dream. As we were doing our objectives Mr.Rivers had us do a little review on what the American Dream was and some of the things that were brought up were that it is focused on our "freedoms." To go a little deeper in what freedoms were mention were freedom in religion, jobs, and he literal meaning of freedom of space. Although all those examples were good we mostly focused on how America had literally so much space during that time period. We talked about how with space people were allowed to build up on their own businesses and how that would affect economy. However, we did mention that to be able to get money you need to spend it in order to receive.  Another thing that was brought up about the American Dream was "talent +hard work = an increase in status" which also went along the idea of starting a business.  We did another review on what romantics were and how they were mostly about nature and not about statistics. But one new thing that we learned about Romantics were that there can be a different side of them which we call Dark Romantics. We read a passage and it contained all these negative spiritual things that portrayed a dark romantic. The definition of  dark romanticism is authors who embodied romantic ideals but with negative tones and pessimistic themes. Some examples of authors that are a dark romantic is Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Even though, a romantic and a dark romantic differ they all still believe in absolute. When I say absolute I mean truth, beauty, good, evil etc.
The idea of dark romantic and romantics can be used today when one is reading a book or a poem. That person could identify whether it is coming from the perspective of a romantic or a dark romantic and then you can apply all the characteristics of a romantic to further your knowledge. 

10/24/17 Romantic Tones

Today, our class' objectives were: IWBAT analyze the range of romantic tones, and
IWBAT evaluate themes in the short stories of American Romanticism, especially as they relate to the American Dream. The class started off today analyzing a text to see if it was romantic or not,"In truth, all through the haunted forest, there could be nothing more frightful than the figure of Goodman Brown. On he flew, among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gesture, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter, as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him. The fiend in his own shape in less hideous, than when he rages in the breast of man." Phrases from the text like, "haunted forest", and,"like demons", show that these tones were from Dark Romantics.
Dark Romantics were authors who embodied Romantic ideals but with negative tones and pessimistic themes. For example, themes like fearful, foreboding, diabolic, ghoulish, cynical, and vindictive are more negative tones. Two famous authors who were Dark Romantics were Edgar Alan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Dark Romantics believed in absolute truth, beauty, good, and evil.
Towards the end of class, we got in our groups and continued working on assignment #10, which is to read Rip Van Winkle and pick out the different tones that stand out in each colored section. Learning more about Dark Romantics how their use of more negative tones and themes and how to pick those out when reading. This way we are now able to understand the deeper meaning of the text and analyze the correct tone/theme.

10/23/17

In class on Monday we continued talking about tone. We started class by analyzing a picture from the Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving). We first discussed in our groups what we saw and what tones came from the picture such as Nature and Relaxation, then we shared as a class. After discussing the Rip Van Winkle picture we were told to read and analyze (in our groups) for tone the green section ONLY, of the Rip Van Winkle Full Text. After 5-10 minutes the class discussed what tone were found, such as Nonchalant and Belligerent. After finishing the green section we were directed to complete reading the Full text and find tones in every section (color). The assignment was going to be homework if not finished, but the teachers felt that the students had used the time given in class efficiently and had achieved adequate work. The students will finish the assignment tomorrow (10/24/17) in class. The work that we did in class relates to the outside world because when you analyze text for tone you understand how the author feels (if he is biased). Knowing how to analyze a situation is an important life skill. 

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Friday 10/20/17

In class on Friday we talked about tone and how tone affects readers. We started the class talking about the a character from The Breakfast club, We looked at the means of jock and student athlete. This than went on leading us into the differences between Denotation and Connotation. We than looked at 3 paragraphs from Diedrich Knickerbocker's "Rip Van Winkle" We looked for as many tones as we could, using textual evidence to back up the tone.
We finished the class with Mr. Rivers telling us that "#10: What Romantic themes does this text support about America?" Is not homework and that we will be looking at this document in class on Monday.
Tone relates to real life because while writing a essay or any thing you need to be able to have a tone that will help give your point across, and help the reader see from your point of view. 

October 20, 2017 (Tone)

On Friday in class we started talking about tone in writing. How tone can affect the reader's understanding of the subject. Although, the very first thing we did in class on friday was deciding if the two sentences on the board meant the same thing. The sentences on the board were referring to an actor in the movie, The Breakfast Club. The sentence was almost the same except one thing was different, the use of the word jock verses the term student athlete. The class decided that these two sentences were different because of the difference in connotation. We then defined two words which were Connotation and Denotation. Connotation is what the certain word implies, and Denotation is the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests. The next thing we did in class was talk about tone and how it affects a piece of text. The text we used to improve determining the tone was from Rip Van Winkle. Each group found a tone in the text and was able to back it up with evidence from the text. Example, In the text Rip Van Winkle the tone is appreciative of the Adirondacks. And we know this from the text because the author used words like “magical hues”

Also, the #10: What Romantic themes does this text support about America? is not homework! Mr. Rivers said we will be doing that on Monday. What we worked on in class relates to the outsider world, because when reading articles or documents it’s important to understand what the author’s feelings toward something is. If you can find the tone of the text than you will understand if the author has a certain bias to what they are staying. To pull outside information on what we did in class Tone “is the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing or even a situation” (google dictionary).  https://www.google.com/search?q=tone%20definition&rlz=1CAHPZV_enUS762US762&oq=tone%20de&aqs=chrome.0.0l2j69i57j0l3.4916j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Themes and Topics

     Today in class, we were required to come up with a paragraph theme for a poem that we were supposed to choose out of three from a romantic poet named Walt Whitman. We had spent about 15-20 min on our Chromebooks typing and helping each other with the paragraph theme. Afterwards, we were shown a picture of Yosemite Valley that in groups we discussed and analyzed how it made us feel. Words like tranquility and serenity were used. This goes to show why romantics wanted to be with nature. Even though the picture that was shown was not a true depiction of Yosemite Valley, but it made people who lived in the east wanted to go and live in the west. This really caught the eyes of people who didn't really get and couldn't get education and felt that the nature and new scenery was something worth going to.
     This can be used today because also in class we were talking about how boring it is living in the East. Many people even today want to go to the west just to visit one the National State Parks. Like back then with the Manifest Destiny, today some people still want to go west. We can use analysis on different things as well to help us understand things we may not fully comprehend. Also using themes can help people with understanding books, passages, and poems a lot more.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

10/17/18 Blog #2

We started the class off today by going over our daily 'I Will Be Able To". Today's was; be able to differentiate between topic and them & be able to articulate sophisticated themes through drafting and revision of paragraphs (and their individual components). We then took out our notebooks and went over the last of the three thematic myths in order to better understand what a theme actually is:
#3- (Wrong): A theme can be one word long. (Correct): No, that's  a topic!
Mr. Rivers then added more details and information about this last topic. He wrote: A single text can develop many topics! An example is the Declaration of Independence which contains many topics in it. Such as, independence, Freedom, Citizenship, Rebellion, and Rights. Rivers then went on to say that (depending on perspective) the main theme(s) of the Declaration of Independence were/was:
- POV of the writers of the Declaration: Rights belong to white, male landowners.
- POV of Elizabeth Stanton (a feminist in the late 1800s): Rights should not exclusively belong to men, white women also deserve rights.
Once we had finished with taking notes, Mr. Rivers had us all log onto Google Classroom and start a new assignment with our groups. He then told each group to open 'When I Heard a Learn'd Astronomer'  by Walt Whitman and then write two lists, a topics list and a themes list of all the topics/themes in the text. He explained that there are two different types of topics, concrete (ones that you can see and touch. Such as nature and math) and abstract (ones that you cannot touch and see. Such as feelings and emotions). Afterwards, he asked each group to  on Google Classroom a overall theme that they saw throughout the passage.

This lesson connects to real life because in school, when writing an essay, you need to be able to pull topics and themes out of sources in order to support your claim/thesis of your essay.

10/17/17 Blog #2 Themes and Topics

Yesterday in class, we learned the differences between topics and themes. A theme is a particular assertion (claim) about a topic. A topic is an idea or subject that occurs in a text. For example, our class analyzed the poem, "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer", and picked out different topics and themes of the poem. Some of the topics of the poem were stars, math, astronomers, and boredom. There are two different types of topics which are either abstract or concrete. An abstract topic is a topic that has a more depth analysis where as a concrete topic is more explicitly stated in the text. So, the topics stars and astronomers are concrete topics because they are explicitly stated throughout the text and the title. Lastly, math and boredom would be considered abstract topics because as a reader, you can interpret these two topics from the text. At the end of class, we were able to take these topics and turn them into themes. Each group posted on Google Classroom and abstract theme and a concrete them. An example for a concrete theme that Anna wrote was , "Nature is an alternative place for students to learn," whereas the topic of this theme is nature. An example for an abstract theme that Luke wrote was, "When an independent person is bored, it unlocks the door to creativity because boredom causes the mind to wander," where the topic in this theme is boredom.

After learning about the different aspects that goes into themes and topics, we can now develop more complex themes and topics throughout each paragraph. Each paragraph should include a topic sentence, evidence, analysis (connecting to the evidence), and a conclusion/transitions. Also, now we can break up different ideas in our essays by using both abstract and concrete topics in each different paragraph.

10/18/17 Blog #3

We started the class today talking about the difference between describing something (yourself, the day, work, etc.) as being good and being well. The main differences between the two were that the word 'good' was an adjective and a noun (which means that it can be used to describe a person place or thing), while the word 'well' is an adverb and a verb (which means it describes an actions. For example;  '...he ran very fast'). We then went on to read/look at each of the themes that the groups came up with yesterday about Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer". Each group then chose which theme was the best by judging who had written theirs with the most clarity and specificity. Mr. Rivers said that in order to be clear, your theme had to be short, simple, and concise while also being specific by including the, who, what, when, where, why, and how about a certain text or example. Overall, Luke Romano's group had the most votes for it because his groups theme was the perfect blend of both clarity and specificity.

We then began a new assignment in class involving the 'Romantic Themes' slides and 'Romantic Texts' document. Mr. Rivers explained that each group would first pick a slide on the 'Romantic Themes' presentation, then pick a poem written by Walt Whitman from the 'Romantic Texts' document, create a list of topics and themes, and finally, write one paragraph below the slide about how the poem each group selected embodies romanticism.

This lesson can be applied to real life because in everyday life, it is important to be able to distinguish certain details among multiple texts and then write them in your own words while also making it clear and specific what you are trying to do.

Developing Themes and Finding Topics 10/18/17

Today in class we began by going over the themes we had posted on the classroom yesterday from the poem, "When I heard The Learn'd Astronomer."  Discussing which themes were efficient and was able to get a clear point across.  For example one theme was, "When an independent person is bored, it unlocks the door to creativity because boredom causes the mind to wander."  This theme had clarity and specific factors.

The class then moved on to creating themes and finding topics in a poem. We had three to choose from, "Song of Myself," "Song of The Open Road," and "I Hear America Singing" which my group did.  In choosing this poem pulled certain topics from it such as, singing, America, songs, jobs, etc.  We then began to develop themes from these like, Singing can help people reflect on their lives, Songs help to express emotions, etc.  To to this we annotated the poem first finding the meaning.  We then had to reflect on how the poem embodies Romanticism.  Which in this case our poem talks about American people reflecting on their lives, so a romantic would like seeing people choosing their paths and talking about their role in the world without factual statements.

This poem it self relates to the real world because of how it talks about the people in America.  It states in the poem, "I hear America singing...The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing." It is telling all the stories of the people in America through song, and that overall everyone "sings" together.

Overall this class time allowed us to further understand how to annotate poems, find topics, and develop themes. Pulling clearly stated topics explicitly stated in the text. Along with finding the heart on the text which is the theme.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Friday the 13th

Friday 10/13/17

In class we continued on about the Romanticism Characteristics,we read a poem and  found as many characteristics as we could in it. Then we finished with that and we watched a video as a class, "2 AM: Smiling Man - short film" We than went on to create a backstory for this video with the point of view as the smiling man or the person he chased. Friday was a easy day, nothing else really happened that day.

You find the Romanticism Characteristics in real life, All you have to do is look around, many of the characteristics can be found in nature.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Romanticism: Class 10/12/17

In class today we left 'Rationalism' behind and opened up our minds to the concept of 'Romanticism'. Our objective was to analyze how the products of rationalism encouraged the backlash of romanticism. Romanticism is the polar opposite of rationalism in every way. People who believe in romanticism believe in the value of feeling and intuition over reasoning, placing faith in inner experience and the power of imagination, and shunning the artificiality of modern civilization. Seeking 'unspoiled' or undeveloped nature is also a component of romanticism, along with the preference of youthful innocence to educated sophistication. Championing individual freedom and the worth of an individual are important points as well as using nature's beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development. Romanticists also use the past as a learning tool and they distrust progress.We learned about the Industrial Revolution of 1760 to 1840, which caused more jobs in the economy and more goods being produced cheaper. Romanticists rejected the idea of factories and industrialization, thus their distrust of progress. The idea of 'Manifest Destiny' caused many people to go west in search of jobs, money, and land. This movement along with the large population of immigrants coming into the country caused a change in culture and beliefs which in turn caused citizen's minds to turn from rationalism to romanticism.
 Romanticism, although we may not know it, is everywhere in modern culture. Today it can still be found in literature as well as art pieces and music, but also in beauty and food products and how they are used. With a rise in self awareness and people looking more and more for natural ways to do things in their everyday life, it seems as if romanticism is on the rise within typical American households. More and more people are using natural hair products, eating organic foods, spending time outdoors, and even using essential oils for medicinal purposes, while yoga and meditation are being prescribed by doctors. All of these things promote romanticism because they are all natural products and are used for natural self wellness.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Assessment Tuesday

In class on Friday, October 4 we reviewed for the test coming up on Tuesday. Mr. Rivers informed the class to think of a thesis before we walk in on Tuesday to take the assessment.In the beginning of class the question about imagery and pathos/logos was introduced, "If imagery can create pathos, then what creates logos? What tools can rationalists use to further their argument?" After discussing the question with our groups we had to rank which of these examples create a rhetorical essay best. The examples were structural tools,sounds, imagery, and mixed bag of tricks.

Next in groups we looked over text and had to answer the question, "HOW does the text support rationalism? Develop (in your groups):". After reading the text in groups we worked on developing a thesis. We first made a basic thesis than worked on a specific thesis and finally came up with a clear thesis. After developing the clear thesis we posted the thesis as a class comment.

Also for the assessment on Tuesday you should remember that writing is a process and a clear thesis is easier to develop after going through the three steps of making a basic thesis and a specific thesis . Also on Tuesday you can walk into class with a thesis for the assessment. The rubric is online for the test. Lastly, use the most significant evidence to support your thesis.


Thursday, October 5, 2017

The Perfect Thesis

For todays class we improved upon the giant mega thesis we made as a class yesterday. Yesterday all groups were responsible for making a thesis containing only one element of having a perfect thesis these things being the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Then Rivers just mashed them all together to make this conglomerate thesis. Today we had to take the 133 worded thesis and shorten the word count as a group while also having it retain all the parts that make it the perfect thesis. At the end of class we took a look at evey groups version of the class thesis and had to decide which was the better one that you that was the best and better than yours. Doing all of this stuff with the thesis we made helps us become better writers because it shows us what a thesis made by a highschool junior should look like, what it should require. The thesis should make writing the rest of he essay easy because at  that point you're only stateing your evidence. I onl hope this helps me with writing my own essays in the future.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Per. 1 Class 10/4/17


Today in class we reviewed the three appeals/devices used in rhetorical literature; ethos (ethics/credibility), pathos (emotion) and logos (logic, statistics, fact). Mr. River's then called on the class to talk with our groups to discuss what we thought were the top three devices/ways to develop the Pathos appeal. Although every group had something different, most agreed that cacophony and euphony were fundamental to the development of Pathos. My group had put down that euphony/cacophony, Anaphora/Antis-trophies and Metaphors were the most effective way to develop the Pathos appeal. However, the largest portion of the class today was spent on something different than Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Around halfway through class, Mr. River's introduced a way to make our essay thesis statements much better through adding extra detail by using the 'formula': who, what, when, where, why and how. Each group was assigned one of these terms and had to apply it to a sample thesis statement in order to make it more detailed (this document is easily accessible on the period 1 google classroom page). My group was assigned the 'what' term for this assignment. The sample statement started out as:
- "Jonathan Edwards uses metaphor, hyperbole, and tone to create a text that supports emotion over logic."
At the end of the exercise, the sample statement looked like this:
- "Jonathan Edwards, an American preacher and philosopher in the 18th century, uses read this sermon in North Hampton, Massachusetts where Puritans had established in Massachusetts Bay, created a statement back in 1741 by using multiple literary devices such as metaphors to help listeners hear what he is saying, hyperbole to exaggerate his point, and tone to give the listeners a dark look on the topic, to create a text that supports proving that he uses emotion over logic by persuading sinners to clean up their lifestyle and to fear God while keeping their faith because emotion would resonate and relate better to someone who follows a religion because religions are usually built on faith and emotion. He uses religion to scare them, which was prominent at the time, to support emotion over logic."
This shows that the use of the who, what, when, where, why and how 'formula' to create a better and more detailed thesis statement really works.
The way that we can connect this lesson to the world around us is when (if you do) you write a college essay explaining why that college is the right choice for you, you want to make your opening paragraph/thesis not only sound great but also hook whoever is reading the essay into reading more about you and why their college is right for you. Another time in life that we could connect this lesson from class is when you are writing in general, wether it be for a career, school or job. The 'formula' for the thesis statement will always help your essay start out sounding smoothly and intelligent.


Thesis Statements 10/4

Today in class, we continued our discussion on ethos, pathos and logos. After we wrapped up that discussion, we had to choose 3 different types of rhetorical devices that connect with pathos, which shows emotion. Lastly, we learned how to take just a simple thesis statement and turn it into a more complex thesis statement. The example that we used to begin this lesson was the statement, "Jonathan Edwards uses metaphor, hyperbole, and tone create a text that supports emotion over logic." To make this thesis statement more informational and complex by using the guidelines of who, what, where, when, why, and how. So that simple thesis statement turned into, "Jonathan Edwards, an American preacher and philosopher in the 18th century, uses read this sermon in North Hampton, Massachusetts where Puritans had established in Massachusetts Bay, created a statement back in 1741 by using multiple literary devices such as metaphors to help listeners hear what he is saying, hyperbole to exaggerate his point, and tone to give the listeners a dark look on the topic, proving that he uses emotion over logic by persuading sinners to clean up their lifestyle and to fear God while keeping their faith because emotion would resonate and relate better to someone who follows a religion because religions are usually built on faith and emotion. He uses religion to scare them, which was prominent at the time, to support emotion over logic."

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos The Rhetorical Triangle (10/3)

So today in class we learned a refresher in the rhetorical triangle. There are three parts to the rhetorical triangle. 3 sides of a triangle three parts of the triangle. The three pieces of the rhetorical triangle are from ancient Greece and founded by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. The three pieces of the triangle are as follows; Ethos-credibility  Logos-Logic  Pathos- Emotion When these were founded by Aristotle he was mainly focused on logic because rhetoric cannot be argumentative without facts and statistics and overall logic. Now talking about the current time period that is getting studied in our class (rationalism from the mid 18th century to 19th) they also focus on logic the same as Aristotle but they also focus on ethos and almost ignore pathos. Since this time period is focusing solely on rationalism, almost everything argued requires a scientific basis with facts and stats. But the speaker must be credible for people to actually believe him/her. This is where ethos, or credibility comes in. Now this does not mean that pathos was never used. Pathos can be use to argue something that is controversial or gets the crowd riled up. By tying in pieces of evidence that make an audience feel something can be very helpful in swaying the vote.
All of these parts of the rhetorical triangle are essential to today's arguments. The arguments today require ethos for people to listen and logos for factual evidence so the argument at hand actually has reason. pathos can be used at times, and can actually be very powerful under the circumstances. Pathos is often used during speeches or rallies to inspire and rile the audience. Even the patriotism that we all feel to our country is reliant on pathos. The pride and honor we feel for being Americans is a perfect example of ethos. So this is most of what we did in class, but as always a highly recommend you check in with Mr. Rivers or a classmate to get the missed notes.

10/3/17

In today's class, our objectives were evaluate how ethos, pathos and logos affect the rhetorical quality of the text. Also, the evaluation of rhetorical and literary devices develop pathos, ethos and logos. We reviewed rhetoric which means arguments. Pathos is an appeal to emotions. Logos is an appeal to logistics/ facts. Ethos is an appeal to credibility usually from past. A rationalist would rank these:
logos-> Ethos-> Pathos

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Rationalism (9/29)

Today in class we finished going over our Literary Toolbox and moved on to a new topic about trends. The objective of the day was to apply a historical lens to identify literary and rhetorical trends and evaluate how changes in writing reflect changes in history, philosophy, and culture. A trend is something that catches on in society, but comes and goes, as it is constantly changing. We then talked about a lens, which affects how something is viewed and makes certain details vivid and others dull. Some examples are feminist lens (looking for feminism) and economic lens (looking for economics). Another example would be a historical lens, which is looking patterns/trends over time. We can connect it to literature because one of the first American literary trend was Rationalism. During the 1700s-1850s, rational thinking started to catch on. People were making decisions based on evidence and logic rather than emotional reasons based on religion. Before this era of rationalism, the pilgrims sought for religious freedom because they were persecuted in England, thus coming to America and starting a new life. Some sticked to the pilgrim's ways and did not support the trend of Rationalism as it goes against some religious beliefs like slavery. Americans believed the most efficient way of picking cotton was through slavery, in their eyes, they thought it was logical as it brought them success for free. Americans ignored their religious past and didn't feel that there was anything wrong with slavery. All they really cared about was money, and the best way at the time was using slaves. This trend did however, spark the importance of education. America needed bright minds that could bring forth smart decision makers for the betterment of the nation. Instead of people relying on religious truth for help, they used numbers and statistics to justify their decision making.

This relates to our world today because we have still have people who stand by religious truth. On the other hand, we also have rational people that believe in science because of the facts and hard evidence. Trends are important today as they can change a whole country a whole. Since trends are always changing, people are too. We are definitely not the same kind of people as we were back then. All in all, we make trends so that we can be different from the normal individual so that we are unique in our own way.


Advantages of Rationalism:
  • Objective and scientific views of the universe
  • Logic and reason help to establish infrastructure
  • Remember: this is a new nation
  • Numbers/statistics justify decision making
  • The idea that there is a singular BEST choice
  • Education is important

Disadvantages:
  • Infrastructure, founded in injustice, slavery, civil rights denied based on “science”
  • Best choice, unforeseen circumstances
  • Education, important for the rich, white, and men (own land). This perpetuates status












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