APEnglishTHS

Congratulations all of you.  You’ve been through an excellent year.

It has been tough–for all of us.  I have to say this might have been my toughest year since my first one.  It wasn’t your fault–there were so many things that happened to me this year: like coaching for the first time, like Link Crew (which had to end too soon), like getting kicked out of our apartment, then suing the landlord b/c he wouldn’t give us our money back, like going to appeals court for another trial with him, like working with my lovely wife during her first year (nothing’s harder than the first year of teaching), like keeping our dog walked and happy, like re-building my grandma’s garden. And then all the little day-to-day things.  Trust me, I get your busy-ness.

So, if I can leave with one last note it would be this: Every one of you I’ve met is a damn smart individual, talented; and, yes, you give me hope.  I wouldn’t be in this job if it weren’t for students like you.  So to make sure that you can spread your light, learn to say ‘no’ to those external things that try to monopolize your time: give yourself time away to take walks, to write letters, to read at your own pace, to enjoy at least one thing every day.  Our class was incredibly intense and fast, but it only lasted 10 months.  Next year will be your last at THS, and I want you to have the time to enjoy it, so balance your life, look for the good in all things, and always remember: you are the product of all your choices, so always choose so that the path you walk is the path you’re proud of.

Thanks for being my teachers this year.  And please keep in touch.

I am not sure If i was scheduled to do scribe notes, but I remember I had to do one on a friday, so might as well be last friday. If you missed class, we only watched I <3 Huckabees. And yes, it is an odd movie. If you have a problem with the language used in the movie, just keep telling yourself that they are saying DOOL DOOL. There is an extra credit paper that goes along with the movie. It is due Wednesday no later than 1 pm, and should be typed.

To all Zero Period juniors, congratulations, you survived AP English and have only Monday to gloat how the rest of us still have the class. Final exams, which are the Junior letters, and the Grendel essay are due Tuesday along with the final journals.

* Quote by Aleksandr Jablakov
* We took Grendel Quiz 1-7

again

* Soren Kierkegaard: Dane; was unsatisfied with the church
-> Three stages of life:
–> Aesthetic: Inadequate
–> Ethic: Begin to take direction in life
–> Religious: Highest stage in life
—> 2 types of religion:
—-> Superficial/Egotistical
—-> Deeper/Selfless/Sacrificial

Things We Did on 6-5-08

• Quote of The Day- “The Road to truth is long and lined the entire way with annoying bastards” By: Alewensar Jabblakey
• We discussed about the quote
• Then we took a Quiz on Grendel Ch.1-7
• Team Agamemnon presented Ch.9 in Grendel (Soren Kierkegaard)

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008.

Eldridge was gone.

Sub was here.

Finished Tuesday’s quote; if you don’t have the quote, its still on his board.

Read Grendel for HW.

Turn in your work, still have time, raise your grade.

Eldridge was gone. We had a sub. The sub wrote on the board:

06-03-08

Gribbons

0 per: write re [regarding] quotes on board, read Grendel + complete study guide

The quote for the day was: “It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, and hypocrites” - Henry Miller

Other than that…nothing else happened. And if something did happen, I’m sorry I missed it.

Quote of the day:

“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.”

- Nietzsche

Einstein is spelled Einstein, not Einstien… not that big of a deal.

Elisa’s group gave a presentation on process philosophy. It focuses on the process of formation of something, not the actual final product. It was started by Whitehead and Hartshorne.

Nihilism is to believe in nothing, at the core of existence is nothing. The dragon in Grendel in nihilistic and that influences Grendel to be so also. The shaper however is the complete opposite. He gives life meaning, even if it isn’t complete truth or reality. The shaper, like history puts a specific spin on things, they both don’t like to bring up weaknesses of those who they are glorifying.

Unferth is the ‘hero’ in chapter six. He learns from the Shaper, who lies, which means all he knows is lies. It is impossible to attain all the qualities of a hero, but our class decided it was still necessary to strive for good. Unferth states that it makes the “whole struggle of humanity worthwhile,” which is hope, the opposite of nihilism.

We briefly discussed chapter seven, only enough to talk about the sign of balance being Libra. Also, we talked about what happens after you achieve your purpose: you become a nothing because the thing defining you is gone.

*Quote of the day:   You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.                              -Nietzsche

*Mahaela and Diana presented Nihilism

• -Morality doesn’t exist
• -Existence no higher meaning
• -A universal creator does not exist
• -If there were a creator no one is obligated to worship him

*Grendel Ch.7

• -Unferth = HERO (gets it from the Shaper)   -
• sign - Libra, symbol- Scales
• *Some questions to think about…
• -Should we talk about heroism even though it’s all lies?
• -Do the lies serve a purpose?     they give you something to live for   -

While entering the room, I was asked away by Mrs.Doyle to assist her with a problem, so I missed quite a bit of what happened in class that day. When I came back, the class had just finished talking about their two presentations on Grendel topics. The first presentation was on process philosophy, and was on Sauter.

The class was then discussing Grendel Chapter 5, which dealt with Grendel’s experience with the Dragon.

We discussed astrology for a bit. Leo is the sign of the lion, showing pride and also characterized as bossy. Leo, relates to the SUN. Apollo was the sun god, which relates to prophecy and knowledge. The dragon represents a boastful and greedy being of pride. He sits upon his gold stool, or rather on top of his boobies and hermeroids, which are rubies, and gems and such.

Quote of the moment –> “Science is a method of finding truth”.

• - We had a sub, Ms. Ferrera, she seemed lost at first, but over time and with assistance, she was able to understand how our class works.
• -Quote of the day “A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can you want?” -Oscar Wilde
• -As I was busily working on the quote, and a strange rattling of keys caught my attention, it was Anthony attempting to open the door. Even though (King) Anthony is very talented, the door resisted his every attempt to keep it open. After viewing the sub’s puzzled face, I decided to go forth on the quest to conquer the obstinate door. Long story short, I was victorious.
• - Slowly but surely each student began to take out Grendel, and began to read. Discussions continued throughout the room, some educational and some rather bewildering. In all, it was a rather productive period.
• -Finis(ß Michael, Michelle and Brandon) not terminus!