AP. "Love is a Fallacy"

Comment on the rhetorical strategies Shulman uses in this story/essay.  Also add your reaction to the reading.  Find a "real-life" example of someone using a fallacy and include a link to the fallacy use and explain the type used: Dicto Simpliciter, Hasty Generalization, Post Hoc, Contradictory Premises, Ad Misericordiam, False Analogy, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and/or Poisoning the Well. 

Here is an example of Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc.

Raccoon Coat

Here is a link to watch "Love is a Fallacy."

AVID. What is AVID?

Research AVID programs and post a comment explaining the purpose of AVID.  Also post a link to an AVID video from YouTube. We will be making our own soon! 

This is my favorite: Cardboard Confessionals

1. Ishmael Beah

Research the author and the impact of the book. Post a comment with what you learned about the context. 

1. Child manipulation is a global problem.

Sierra Leone, Africa (the setting for A Long Way Gone) is not the only place children have been manipulated by adults.  Research other places in the world where this kind of atrocity has occurred. 

Post a well-developed paragraph explaining the example you found of child manipulation in the world and a link to any site that gives more information on your example. 

Here are some leads for you:    

Uganda's Invisible Children      
 Children of the Night

AVID. Foil Characters

In The Help, there are at least two sets of foil characters: Aibileen and Minny, Skeeter and Hilly. 

We define foil characters as a minor character which has traits that are in contrast with main character. It is used to make the traits of a main character emphasized.

Explain in your own words why one of these pairs are a good example of foil characters. 

Then find one example from a movie, TV show, or literary work who are also foil characters. Explain why they are a good example. Include a link with more info on the example. 

A modern example of foil characters: Edward and Jacob
from Twilight series;
one brings out the other's weaknesses.

AP. Virtual Vocabulary Presentation

This week, I want each of you to choose a vocabulary word and find a quote where someone has used the word in an article, speech, or famous quip.  You are virtually presenting your word to the class. We will view these on Friday in class. 

Please post a comment with the word, its definition, the etymology of the word (language of origin, etc.), and a little context about the quote you found. Particular information about the person who used the word is key. 

Happy hunting :) 

"Apotheosis of the Dollar" by Salvador Dali, in which you can see on the left Marcel Duchamp masquerading as Louis XIV behind a Vermeerian Curtain which is the Invisible Face, but Monumental, of Hermes by Praxiteles.

Example: 

apotheosis 
n.  elevation to divine status : deification; the perfect example : quintessence 

etymology - from Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις, from verb ἀποθεόω (“deify”) (factitive verb formed from θεός (“God”) with intensive prefix ἀπο-)

Stephen King wrote in The Gunslinger, "The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions. It was white and blinding and waterless and without feature save for the faint, cloudy haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil-grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death. An occasional tombstone sign pointed the way, for once the drifted track that cut its way through the thick crust of alkali had been a highway. Coaches and buckas had followed it. The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.”

Stephen King is a renowned author of horror and other fiction. He is from Portland, Maine. His major influences are Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple.  King met his wife Tabitha when they both attended the University of Maine. He worked as a high school English teacher for many years, starting in 1971, until his writing career took hold. 


People talking ABOUT apotheosis: 

“We are creators, and yet we naively play the role of "the created." We see ourselves as helpless sheep buffeted around by the God who made us. We kneel like frightened children, begging for help, for forgiveness, for good luck. But once we realize that we are truly created in the Creator's image, we will start to understand that we, too, must be Creators. When we understand this fact, the doors will burst wide open for human potential.”
― Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

“This is part of what it means to be a God, that You are a general principal of Being, instantiated throughout all of Being.”
― Sam Webster, Tantric Thelema

AVID. The Help

Post a comment reflecting on what you have learned about the Jim Crow Era and the perspectives of African Americans as well as whites then, particularly Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. 



You may also post one or more of your responses to this unit's essential questions: 

• Have people changed? Explain your reasoning. 
• How can writing help forge social change? 
• How much of a person's character is shaped by the times in which they live? 
• How much forgiveness does someone deserve for ignorance? 
• Who has the most influence over a child's life? 

AP. Puritan Mindset

Now that we have delved deeper into the Puritan mindset by reading "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and gotten further in The Scarlet Letter, I want you to reflect on how/if times have changed in America.

How is Hester Prynne's situation still plausible today? What makes her a relevant character?

Moreover, after being an audience member and taking on the role of giving a Puritan sermon, how do you think Hester and the townspeople would have felt at the time? Would the Puritan mindset have stymied you in your thoughts and actions? 

Going back to our original moral dilemma, knowing what you know now, do you think Hester was right to stay in Boston, or should she have fled? What were the ramifications of her choice? 

Please post your thoughts in a well-developed paragraph or two or three. 

1. A Long Way Gone Intro.

As your exit slip today, I want each of you to reflect on our Philosophical Chairs discussion about Child Soldiers, as well as the other parts of today's lesson: essential questions, literary terms, and background on Sierra Leone in Africa. 

Please comment with a detailed explanation of what you learned about the context of the book, A Long Way Gone, as well as your own opinion on Child Soldiers. 

1. Epic of Gilgamesh

I need a hero. Your mission today is to list the qualities of a hero in a well developed paragraph.  There should be at least three key character traits. Then, you must find an example of this hero archetype in the world (including stories and media) and describe why this person/character typifies the hero archetype.  Include a link to a video or picture of the hero you choose. 

This is class work, and no late grades will be accepted. 

Interesting link to view the original tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh: The British Museum