APEnglish–Los Al

Period 5

Amanda Aguayo

Period 5

9/9/09

Daily Scribe

1. The class was handed out our second diction worksheet.
2. The whole class went back to their sophomore English class and received their English portfolios.
3. Once we got back into the classroom, we filled out the diction worksheet.
4. The class had a discussion and went over the worksheet.
   • We shared how kindled is implied in the sentence written by E.B. White.
   • We then talked about if we changed the sentence, if it would be weakened or straightened.
   • The class made a list of action verbs that demonstrate the effects or sunlight.
5. We were given groups and together made group names.
   • The groups are our new seats.
6. We then alphabetically put our portfolios in a cabinet.
7. The class played a game.
   • In the game, we were given a sentence and then the answer to the game would give us one extra credit point. (The answer had to be two words.)

Period 6

Today, we started off with our second diction worksheet of the year.  The quote on this sheet, by Barbara Kingsolver, was “Art is the antidote that can call us back from the edge of numbness, restoring the ability to feel for another”.  We started to talk about how the word antidote works in this passage.  Since an antidote is the cure for a poison, art is the antidote which saves humans from the dullness of the world.  Next, we changed the word antidote to gift, making art a benefit of creativity rather than a necessity of life.  The last part of the diction work sheet was to make a list of medical terms, and then combine art and medical terms in a sentence.

After doing the diction worksheet the class discussed a variety of slightly, but not really, related topics.  The first is never to use society in an essay.  Since society is merely an idea, it can’t do something crazy like put pressure on you.  Mr. Eldridge stated his new crusade against society in literature.  Next, we talked briefly on “Harvey”, the movie about a man and his rabbit companion.  Lastly, we were presented with the intriguing story of Alexander the Great’s defeat of the Gordian knot.  When Alexander slashed the knot rather than untie it, he became king.

During the last fifteen minutes of class, we broke into a series of groups for a still unknown purpose.  Some group names included the “2 Asians, 1 Caucasian”, “Can We Skip”, and “The Group”.  Lastly, we played a literary sound game for some extra points and discussed the marvelously suspenseful Bedford Reader on the way out.

-Ryan Bender

Filed under: Daily Scribe and tagged "Harvey", Alexander the Great, Diction, Groups