To My Dear Honors 10 Students,
You do not need to respond to this post unless you feel you need to for the sake of clarification.
For those of you who have already posted, you have done a very fine job. I appreciate the thought you put into your posts. One thing I want you to try do to is draw from the text to support your opinions. Try changing your opinions into arguments by offering support and evidence from the text. Remember, your posts become published material once you post it to your blog. You might want to double check and edit your post before you permanently post it. That means revision of errors in conventions, sentence fluency, your ideas, organization, word choice. Your voices come out very clear and I can hear your personalities; that is awesome. Think of your posts as a piece that you are writing for class. Even though I am not 'grading' your posts, I still want you to be aware of what you say and how you say it.
Another thing I want you to try to work on is your responses to your peers. I see a lot of "I agree with..." Try to avoid that. I want you to try to press your peers to think deeper about the text. What do you hear your peers saying and how can you respond to that? Ask them questions; even though they may not answer the questions, you have given them something to think about. You are all familiar with the seminar setting; this is the same, except online.
Finally, your blogs are going to help you when we return to school. You will be asked to write a paper about your summer reading. Hopefully your posts and peer responses will assist you in this endeavor. Don't stress about the paper now; we will discuss that on the first day back. Just get the reading taken care of for now.
I am proud of you for taking on this challenge and putting your best forward. That does not go unrecognized, nor will it go unrewarded. Now, get back to reading!
~Ms. Jesik
P.S. Don't forget to respond to my Huck Finn post below!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Dear Huck, oh dear Huck...
Mark Twain does an excellent job creating the characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry. From the Widow to Jim, he captures the essence of the deep south pre-Civil War. I want to focus on Huck. As a narrator, he is very enticing and relatable no matter what your ethnic, social, economic, or familial background is. I think it is his innocence that causes the audience to like him so much. We get to see the world through the eyes of a child who really doesn't consider the evils of the world a major catastrophe.
The scenes with Pap are the most telling of innocence from the start. Here we have a very abusive, violent, and scary situation; but Huck doesn't portray it that way. The scene when Pap goes after Huck with a knife during a drunken stupor is terrifying. But Huck relays the events so nonchalantly that the reader does not focus on the possible fatal outcomes. This is a very clever way for Twain to show the audience how carefree Huck really is. We all at one time have been free-spirited or carefree or have wanted to be; therefore, the audience can relate to Huck. His free spirit allows him to survive, and survival is definitely a theme throughout the book.
When Huck and Jim run into the Duke and King all four are apparently trying to survive. Huck just wants to live his life as he sees fit, Jim wants to live and be reunited with his family, and the Duke and King want money (because money is the key to survival, right?). This encounter shows the audience that even though all four have a different motive, they all are trying to survive. This is another trait Twain uses to help the audience relate to the characters; we all want to survive and will sometimes use methods that are considered unethical.
Huck's positive attitude is a refreshing one considering all that he had to endure. By the end of the novel we are able to see that even though want he ended up with was not what he initially wanted. That is the last strategy Twain uses to show his audience that what we think we want is not what we want at all. Huck thought he would like living in the squalor he did when he was with Pap, he thought he would enjoy traveling down the river, and he thought he would enjoy his freedom from civilization. But in reality, he wanted to be wanted. That's something we all want, even if we don't want to admit it.
Overall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a fantastic adventure novel that allows readers to travel down the river and be carefree, wreckless, fearful, angry, and satisfied without leaving the comfort of their civilized world. Twain is a classic American author for a reason; he captures the American way of life in one novel through the eyes of a child.
The scenes with Pap are the most telling of innocence from the start. Here we have a very abusive, violent, and scary situation; but Huck doesn't portray it that way. The scene when Pap goes after Huck with a knife during a drunken stupor is terrifying. But Huck relays the events so nonchalantly that the reader does not focus on the possible fatal outcomes. This is a very clever way for Twain to show the audience how carefree Huck really is. We all at one time have been free-spirited or carefree or have wanted to be; therefore, the audience can relate to Huck. His free spirit allows him to survive, and survival is definitely a theme throughout the book.
When Huck and Jim run into the Duke and King all four are apparently trying to survive. Huck just wants to live his life as he sees fit, Jim wants to live and be reunited with his family, and the Duke and King want money (because money is the key to survival, right?). This encounter shows the audience that even though all four have a different motive, they all are trying to survive. This is another trait Twain uses to help the audience relate to the characters; we all want to survive and will sometimes use methods that are considered unethical.
Huck's positive attitude is a refreshing one considering all that he had to endure. By the end of the novel we are able to see that even though want he ended up with was not what he initially wanted. That is the last strategy Twain uses to show his audience that what we think we want is not what we want at all. Huck thought he would like living in the squalor he did when he was with Pap, he thought he would enjoy traveling down the river, and he thought he would enjoy his freedom from civilization. But in reality, he wanted to be wanted. That's something we all want, even if we don't want to admit it.
Overall, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a fantastic adventure novel that allows readers to travel down the river and be carefree, wreckless, fearful, angry, and satisfied without leaving the comfort of their civilized world. Twain is a classic American author for a reason; he captures the American way of life in one novel through the eyes of a child.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Off to a Good Start!
It looks like most of you have successfully created your blogspot. Remember to check your email and the class website for any information you may need to progress through your summer reading. As always, you know you can email me with any questions you have. I plan to have a model blog for you by June 12th over Huck Finn, that way you can see what I am expecting of you and your blogs. Good Luck and I will be talking -rather, blogging - with you soon!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Let Me Introduce Myself!
Teaching a new class can be fun and scary at the same time; however, I am really excited to be teaching the Honors 10 class this year. Even though I have been teaching for a little over a decade, I still look forward to teaching new classes, meeting new students, reading new texts, and sharing new experiences and ideas. I have had the opportunity to teach all grades and abilities at the high school level and a variety of subjects. I have taught Senior to Sophomore Composition 101, Southwest Literature, American Literature, Expository Writing, and Spanish. I will also have the opportunity to teach a college composition class in the fall at the university. I am currently enrolled in an English master's program and will complete that in May of 2011. All of these opportunities have allowed me to grow professionally, academically, and individually; I just hope my students experience the same growth and excitement I have. Here's to a year full of surprises, I'm sure!
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