Windy Ridge HS Sophomore English Assignments

2003-10-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Week 3
This week I'm going to tell you about my mother. Now you might wonder what I'm holding back, since I talked about my dad last week and my mom this week. Why not just talk about me? The answer is that I'm not holding anything back, there just isn't that much to say about me, as far as I can see.

Mom came from New York City. She is not a natural rancher's wife. She thinks like a city person. She knew nothing about livestock or machinery when she came to Missoula and met my dad. I think first of all she fell in love with the land. She never knew there could be so much land with so few people, "and the land so shapely," as she liked to say. Then she fell in love with the idea of western men, who often were "diamonds in the rough" especially when they were from educated families but also knew how to work cattle.

In short, she was romanced by the idea of the West. In reality, it is difficult for her to deal with the ordinariness of everyday life here in Montana. She misses the ballet, Broadway, and the New York Yankees.

She is a big booster of Dad to use clean power, save the world from global warming, etc. etc. etc. She likes Dad to think differently from the other ranchers, who sometimes cannot see any farther ahead than the next harvest and current cattle prices. In fact she eggs him on to think for himself and hang what the neighbors think.

I have the impression that people in New York don't care what their neighbors do, whether they approve of you, and all that. In New York, you don't know your neighbors. Or at least, you are very choosy about which neighbors you know. In Montana, there is no choice. You know all your neighbors for 20 miles around, and some you like and some you may not like, but you treat them like neighbors anyhow. You talk to them when some of their cows get through the fence. You meet them on the road. If you run out of gas, one of them loans you a five gallon can from their tank, and remembers how often that has happened.

2003-10-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Week 2
I'm sorry this is late, Mrs. Iverson, but I've been covering for my dad at the Motel most nights for the past month. Mom can do the desk while everybody's at school, but she has to cook and look after the two younger ones after they get home from school, so Dad does evenings--that's the busy time, almost always.

He had a roll-over accident on September 13th, down by Laurel, and we're just happy he's still alive and didn't break his back. So now I run the motel for most of it's busy time.

How do you like that? I'm the night manager. Have you ever wondered what it takes to run a motel? Here's the skinny. Two things have to get done: cleaning in the morning, and selling rooms in the evening. Mom and Carla Mendoza finish doing up the rooms in the early afternoon.

People start checking in about 4 in the afternoon. People come in who really want to get a cheaper deal than we're doing. I have learned to use the machine that checks whether credit cards are any good. I have learned to say to people, in the nicest way, "I'm sorry, the system must be down, but it's not taking your card right now." That's because they have charged over their limit. So they say, "Can I have the room for the $20 I have in my wallet and give you the rest after I get to an ATM in the morning?" "I'm so sorry," I say, "but I am not authorized to give out keys for less than the full amount." They give me the dirtiest looks, and then they leave. Sometimes they pretend to go to an ATM and then come back, and sometimes they just get the rest of the money out of their wallets.

Then there are the people who are not going to stay all night. They don't bring their cars up to the office door. The guy always comes in and pays really quick and takes the key. He thinks I won't remember him next time he comes in if he isn't here very long. On nights when the motel is full, and someone like that wants a room really late, if there has been someone else I don't think will stay long, I write a message on a pink slip and go knock on the door. If they are there, I act surprised, and apologize for knocking on the wrong room. If nobody answers, I use my master key to go in and change the sheets, quick do the minimum in the bathroom, and rent the room again. I tell everyone please to drop off the key in a box when they leave rather than leaving it in the room. That way, I can often find out that the short stay is over without knocking.

I don't want to know who is with these guys. I don't want to know who these guys are. But sometimes, unfortunately, they are local guys, I do know them, and it is hard to stay away from speculating who's out there with them.

I hope it's not any highschool girls. After it gets late and I think nobody else is going to want a room, I go to sleep on a cot in the office.

One night about 11:30 a trucker woke me up and I was getting him set with a room. After I gave him the key, he came through the half-door to my side of the counter and grabbed my hand and pretended to jitterbug with me. He started talking really sweet about how pretty I was and would I like to come out just for a minute and dance to the radio, have a beer with him.

I was flattered for about 3 seconds before I started fearing that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Luckily all I had to do was yell "Dad! Come out and help me!" as loud as I could, and he left in a hurry. He didn't know Dad can't get out of bed yet. When Mom came running, I told her I was scared of that customer. She told me to go to bed, and slept in the office for the rest of the night.

It had me on edge for quite a few nights after that, and the worst of it is, I don't know what would happen to Mom if somebody tried that on her. Until Dad can take over the night shift again, Mom and I are sleeping lightly and listening to every late arrival for eachother's safety.

2003-09-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Week 2
It's so embarrassing to be me. I can't get away from my nice mom and dad and be myself. If I am nice, it's because they are nice, and if I am obnoxious, it's because I'm rebelling against them, and no matter what I do, people are nice to me because they want to be nice to my mom and dad, not because they have a real relationship with me. I stand for the crossing between faith and family, two of the most sacred cows of Windy Ridge.

Faith says God will help you and me, whatever goes wrong, whatever we do wrong, if we are sincere and faithful and humble.

Family says that if your people are good upstanding hard working responsible intelligent and respectable, you get 8 strikes before you are out. What happens to people who aren't from that kind of family? They only get two strikes and they're out.

Faith says God answers prayer. We know that Dad prays over me. He's worried about me because I'm difficult, moody, arrogant, disdainful, sarcastic, and disrespectful. Since Dad is sincerely faithful, God will not let him down, and therefore, God will be on Dad's side. I don't have a chance! God will make me turn out the way God wants, not the way I want.

Family says you exist to reflect well upon us. We will take care of you and you must take care of us. It's all a big conformity mold. If all goes well, we will all look alike, see things alike, hear things the same way, think the same things, and perpetuate the family values.

I wish I could divorce myself from my family, not because they are unkind or don't try to understand, but because they don't give me any space.

I just feel like faith and family are bearing down on me like rolling boulders, and just when I need to scratch my mark in the sand, they're coming to crush me into it.

I wish my mom drank like a fish so I could be different by not drinking. I wish Dad was a complete hypocrite so I could be different by my sincerity. They've claimed all the moral high ground, and are smiling down on me, standing at the bottom of the moral hill.

I am angry beyond words at them for being so staunchly right all the time. Why don't they just fuck up once in a while?

2003-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Week 3
I just want to say that I don't think Sean's dad is a crackpot to be interested in green power generation. I heard that they call wind and solar power "green" because they don't require burning any fuel, or use of any non-renewable resource. I suppose that hydroelectric dams are also "green" but they do cause environmental problems. For instance, some animals lose their habitats when dams flood large areas. And salmon are dying out on rivers where the dams interfere with their return to spawn.

That makes me wonder whether solar or wind power could ever turn out to have negative effects. If solar projects got big enough, could they change the balance of any ecosystem? Could impeding the wind with turbines cause a change in the weather patterns downwind? Let's see. Could the gasoline powered traffic to maintain vast solar or wind power installations cause enough greenhouse gases to offset the gains? Not likely.

It's really too bad that the Colemans can't hook their turbines up to pump any unused power into the "grid". I don't really know anything about how the power system works. How do they match the power available to the power demand? Can they store power for later? Or does it have to flow straight to where it's needed?

I think next time I see Sean's dad, I'm going to ask him. I'd like to write a letter to Northwestern States Power and express my opinion that people should be able to run wind turbines and hook them up to the grid, but it would be good to know what I am talking about.

(Changing the subject)
Last night was Luther League, the first get-together since the new school year started. Pastor Ronnaberg was really excited that 47 kids showed up. From our class, Jerry, Sean, Fiona, Denise, Zoe and Alan were there.

Pastor Ronnaberg asked us what we wanted to have Luther League be about this year. That made everybody look at everybody else. If he doesn't know, how should we?

I mean, it's nice for him to consider our preferences. But is it going to matter what we say? Everybody knows that Luther League is about doing things to help the community, go on fun outings, have a party on Halloween, learn about God, and have a place to hang out and play music that is Safe and Wholesome on Saturday nights.

Did anybody suggest anything new? One of the seniors said he wanted Luther League to help the elderly with snow shoveling when it got cold. A giggly freshman said "Girls just want to have fun." Somebody said they wanted to do a haunted house on Halloween, and charge 50 cents, to donate to the food bank. Alan said he wanted to study the Book of Job because it was short, and when he read it he just didn't get it. And somebody said, we should find out if any of the other churches are putting on Saturday Night Safe and Wholesome Hangouts, and combine with them, to promote interfaith unity.

Then I opened my big fat mouth and said I thought Luther League should try to help preserve God's Green Earth. That was a thud of an idea. Sean said he liked it. Nobody else said much.

2003-09-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

Week 2
School makes things easier for me. I have homework to do. That takes my mind off Dad and Mom. This weekend I have a paper for English, a quiz on Monday in Math, a resource map of South America to draw for World History, and I'm cutting out my coat for Home Economics. My English paper is the hardest. I just have to review what's in the book for the math quiz, and do the practice problems. And drawing a map is fun. I trace from our world atlas, and then cut and paste from magazines for the resources. Finding out what resources were in which countries was pretty simple. The textbook had some, Google had some of it by searching on each country's name, and the world atlas had some. I like home economics because I use everything I learn in that class in real life. Mrs. Wilson let me sew a coat instead of a blouse because I have had sewing in 4-H for five years. I took my dad with me to the store to pick the pattern and the material, because he has the money in the family. That was kindof an awkward situation, because he is not very interested, and if you ask him anything, he gives advice that would have been good for Mom, but not for me. For example, I don't want a navy blue coat. I do want to make it in wool, lined with a pretty rayon lining. I finally talked him out of navy blue. I saw this camel and light brown small houndstooth check I really liked, so I'll have to have a solid lining. It's going to be 3/4 length with a stand-up collar and raglan sleeves, and patch pockets at hip level. On those the plaid will have to be matched. Mrs. Wilson says she has a great pattern for a knit hat and she'll help me make a hat and scarf to go with the coat. Mom didn't knit, so this will be something new for me. I like making things.
Dad also has plans for me to help him cowboy tomorrow, and it looks like it will be a nice sunny day. We have to move the cows out of one section where the water has given out. The section Dad's moving them to has plenty of grass, but not a lot of water, so he's afraid he'll end up having to truck water to them.
That's really time consuming. And he wants me to go to church. Dad thinks that church is the cure for what ails me, but he doesn't go himself. He wants to spend the time in the bar. He says he doesn't want to talk to anybody at church because somebody always asks how he's doing, and he knows they mean, "How are you feeling, you poor lonely son-of-a-gun". I guess at the bar they're smarter about what to say to a lonely rancher.

2003-09-25T22:08:00.000-07:00

From Mrs. Iverson (pay attention!)
Now, bloggers, I appreciated your first week's journal entries. However, some of them were not quite as long as I had in mind. I told you each week you should write at least one substantial entry. What do I mean by "substantial"? As a rule of thumb, let's say, to print it out would take more than one sheet of paper (double spaced, 8.5 x 11 paper, 1 inch margins, 12 point font). It doesn't have to be profound. Just let me in on what's going on in your lives.
Also, please note that you are late in posting the second week's entries. Please put a heading of "Week 2" on your catch-up efforts. You also need to post this week's entries, with the heading, "Week 3".

2003-09-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Week 2
Today I am going to tell you about my dad. Some of our rancher neighbors think he is crazy, self-righteous, or boring because he is convinced that wind is the greatest thing for making electricity to use around the place. How do I know what the neighbors think? Their kids tell me.

I hate this even more than pimples. Of course it was Dad's idea that my demonstration would be about installing a turbine. Of course, I could have insisted on doing something normal, but it's hard to say no to Dad when I know a wind power demonstration will impress the judges. And it did.

Of course, after doing the demonstration, I had to put up with the increase in razzing from the kids whose parents think my dad is a crackpot.

Is my dad a crackpot? I leave it to you to decide. Two years ago, he had a pretty good year and invested in two of the second biggest available turbines, half as tall as the ones that power companies build. He installed them up on the top of Buffalo Jump Butte. The wind comes from the southwest a lot of the time, and is funneled into the country where our ranch is by the Absaurke Mountains and the Lone Mountains. Buffalo Jump Butte is pretty high and gets a lot of wind.

Dad's idea was for the generators to make enough power that the power company would have to pay him, instead of him having to pay them. That didn't work out because the power company wasn't set up to measure power coming from my dad's generators, or to even let it come into the same system. So Dad had to set up an entirely separate electric system for the things he wanted to run off of his wind turbine.

That was a pain because if the wind stopped, those things didn't have power. Then Dad added battery storage and his wind power started really paying off. Now those two generators do all the lights and some of the other electrical things for the barn, corral, and sheds. The house is the only part that runs off of town power.

You might wonder why didn't he do solar panels. We have plenty of sun around here, too. Dad thinks they are harder to maintain, and take up space. Solar is generally more popular than wind power in Montana, but Dad is kindof opinionated. I don't really know if he is right.

Dad says he saves at least $5000 a year with his turbines and fumes that if he could hook up the house, he could save even more. I told him he should hook up the house and take it off the grid, but he said he didn't dare for fear there wouldn't be enough to keep everything in the big freezer frozen. So I said, well, just leave the freezer on the grid. Dad just shut his mouth tight the way he does when he feels like snapping at someone, and I knew not to push it any farther.

2003-09-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

My name is Zoe Yarnall. I like Math better than English, at least I did last year. In Math, the answer is either Right or Wrong. You have definite rules for how to do the problems. In English, I always seem to be lost in "generally" "try to" "the exception" "connotation" "diction level" "style" and "creative".

I like numbers. Each digit has a character that I picture when I work with it. Maybe you will think this is creative. I think they started when I was learning to write the numbers.

1 is stuck up. It thinks it is the only number that counts. I can count by 2 and 5 and 10. Multiply anythng by it and the number doesn´t change. So what´s to be so proud of?

2 is an old bentover man. He has pushed a wheelbarrow of manure for many years. He is easy to get along with. I can divide by him in my head.

3 is a grandmother with lots of stories. She is soft and round, generous, and likes to serve coffee and home made cookies under the apple tree.

4 is square. He likes to fit everything neatly together without space in between. He is important because he is 2 to the 2nd power.

5 is loud. 5 is always yelling with his big mouth. But because he is important in the base 10 world, everyone puts up with him.

6 is a playful kid. 6 always does somersaults. He is the grandchild of 3, and everybody´s friend.

7 is a little odd. It´s hard to remember the 7 multiplication table, and he always sticks out among the other numbers with his sharp elbow.

8 is beautiful. This is my favorite number. She is infinity on its edge, a perfectly balanced combination of two round shapes.

9 is the father of 6. He used to be supple and agile, but he has gotten fat. He knows many magic tricks. Like multiply him by any digit, and the digits of the result add up to him.

0 is a landlord. She is a spaceholder. She has millions. She has good sense about money. Yet she does not show off. She is called Zero.

I hope you like my numeral characters.

2003-09-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

You should try being the daughter of a minister. It sucks. You probably know my dad, Pastor Ronneberg. He tells people how to live so that God will be pleased. He tells us that God puts up with us even though we are much less wonderful than God originally thought we would be.

I am supposed to be a living demonstration of how the child of a pastor comes out. The pastor knows what God wants, the pastor does it, and I am a girl, and girls are sugar and spice and everything nice, so I should be really nice and good.

I don't really give a f*** about nice and good. If my dad ever sees this, he will soil his pants.

2003-09-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

I´m in the Cayuse Hills 4-H Club. 4-H is a lot of different things. This year my projects are Electricity and a steer. The fair was two weeks ago, and I had a lot to do to get ready for it. I had my steer to groom and train, my electricity display to finish, and I also competed in the demonstration and judging contests.

My Electricity display was about wind power generation. I also demonstrated how to do part of the installation of a small turbine. I installed a little turbine on a cut-away "peak of a roof" that I built. I used a big fan to represent the wind. I put a little turbine in front of the fan and showed how it could power a barn light. I got a blue ribbon.

This year I decided not to name my steer and make a pet out of him. Last year I had a calf I named Sleepy because he loved to lye around with his eyes half shut, chewing his cud. I spent quit a afew hot afternoons leaning against him like an easy chair down in the straw in the barn. Then when I had to sell Sleepy at the fair auction, to be butchered just like the other fat beefs, it about broke my heart. Of course, the girls all cry while there leading their calves around the auction ring. But boys are supposed to be manly. I had a hard time hiding my feelings about Sleepy.

This year with my no name steer, I didn´t even after the auction was over and nobody was looking. He pretty much stayed a bunch of steaks and hamburgers on the hoof to me. That's how my dad says he thinks of his steers. He´s been talking to the cattle buyers. The cattle market is down this year. Dad thinks he has enough grass left after the grasshoppers to keep his steers a couple of months longer hoping for a better market.

2003-09-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hi, Mrs. Iverson. I can't think of anything to say. Nothing is interesting. My dad needs me to help around the house because my mom died in January. I do most of the cooking and house work. We planted a garden in the spring, just like usual. But Mom was the gardener, so it didn't do very well this year. The grasshoppers got it all. Maybe if Mom were still here, they would have eaten her garden just as bad.

Dad is so cross because he didn't realize how much he depended on Mom. She didn't toot her own horn. I don't do anything right. Dad sits in the chair in the living room looking straight ahead of him and not saying anything. He would be fencing if he weren't so sad.

2003-09-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

I want to work on the school paper. I enjoyed what Mrs. Iverson wrote about news writing and editorials. If I were a reporter, I would be busy covering fires. Montana has been burning up, literally, this summer. We were way too close to the Hobble fire. We could see its orange light from our place a couple of nights.

Fire is not necessarily a bad thing, the scientists say. Fires open the cones of some pines, to start a new generation of seedlings. The grass the next year after a fire is greener and more lush. That is, if there is rain. The Indians used to start fires to help hunting buffalo. I guess the fire herded the buffalo to the buffalo jump, or hid the Indians who were sneaking up on them. In those days, everything was in balance. Now people have upset the balance. Some people say that global warming is just a thing city people write about to take away our freedoms. I think global warming is really happening. My dad says there have been seven years of drought over and over again in history, but nobody was keeping records, so we think that this last string of dry years is different. I still think the globe is heating up.

I want to write for the newspaper some day, and tell people things that will convince them to take good care of the land, water, and air. I have read that the biggest thing we could do now is to burn less fossil fuels. That is what makes carbon dioxide and causes the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect causes global warming. I worry about this at night. I really do.

2003-09-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

i dont now what to write. this is boring i haTETYPING OH OOPS. I HATE COMPUTERS WHY ARE ALL THE LETTERS BIG. WHERE IS THE QUESTION MARK. MS IVERSRON IM SORRY BUT I CANT FIGFURES OUT WHY THE LETTERS IS BIG.

ENGSLISH CLASS IS SO BORING IT IS MUCH MORE FUNNER AND BETTER TO GO LEARN SOMETHING USEFUL. EVEn my dad says that. there is this is a stupid computer i dont know why the letters is small. i saw my dad last week and my mom the week befor i live in a house with my grandparents well that s all i got to say.by mis iverson.

2003-09-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

My name is Rona Voertz I am 15 years old and i live in MOntana. I have brown hair and I want it to grow really long like all the way down my back but sometimes i wish it was short like Winona Rider but BUT.....i guess she was caught shoplifting. I was this movie called Pirates of the Caribean and then later my mom said it care-i-BE-anne, and my my dad said it like ca-RI-be-anne and i got confused but I love Jonny Depp I guess he's a little too old for me mom says I shouldn't date boys who are too old cause she said they know tricks. What tricks? Well, magic is stupid and I don't think she should be aftraid of stupid piles of cards or a fancy hat. Anyway, i don't date yet cause dad woud KILL anyone who asked me. Johnny Depp is weird in Pirates of the Care-i-BE-anne, but he was good in other movies. Soimetimes hes romantic. I don't really like romance movies but Pirates of the Caribean was okay. Sailing looks fun but not if theres gonna be a whole lot of crazy skeletons chasing around in their weird underware. The thing that never makes sense about spooky skeletons is how they move. Dad said I was right that things can't move without their muscles and skeletons don't have any and they don't have brains either cause they got all rotted. So how can skeletons walk and if they can't walk how are they gonna sail a big boat? None of this makes much sense to shy should i be afraid? Well, i was afraid but only a little bit.

It would be scareyer if all the bones were taken out and the muscles and brain and guts were there. I guess it would bunch up or fall over without any bones. It's like boneless chicken.

I like boneless chicken.

2003-09-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

I had to babysitt last night for my mom again. It was sooo boring. we watched The Littles now i've seen the Littles a Million Bazillion times. My mom always makes me babysit. It is sooo boring.

I want a horse but mom says we can't tye a horse up on the side of a road so i don't have one. SHe says that if i save up enough money from babysitting i might be abel to go riding sometime but she thinks western style riding is for cowboys. Well, i think English style riding is for snobs. My horse would be reall big and tall and have a beautiful white mane and the rest of it would be shiny gold. Gold and sparkly. LIke golden diamonds. I'd name my horse Golden Diamonds. I'd ride my hoorse all day long all the way to the Rockies we'd have to jump over rivers that are wider than my house. Once we were on the other side, we'd keep galloping into the mountains. That's why i want a horse. So I can gallop into the mountains and see wolves and bears. I wouldn't have to babysit. I could pick berries.

I have two little sisters. This blog thing is weird. is everyone going to read this? thats so embarassing!!! I wish i had a horse and lived on a ranch. Maybe my mom would hire someone besides me to babysit.

2003-09-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Teacher's Post
Good! You're all in. Congratulations. Remember to start each post with the heading, "Week x" where x is the number of the week. Use this same heading for all posts during the same week. Weeks start on Sunday and run through Saturday, just like a calendar.

Blog Posters Roster:
Jerry Aarmeson
Sean Coleman
Fiona Doerr
Melanie Fjare
Sybille Ronan
Denise Ronnaberg
Rona Voertz
George Wilson
Zoe Yarnall

2003-09-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well finally! First time I tried to write in the blog, I got logged in bur the Windy Ridge blog was not there for me to select.

Then I tried to find it, and there isn't a list of blogs.

Finally, I tried accepting again, and it worked, but it made me log in twice before I could post this. I hope it won't do that all the time.

Mrs. Iverson, you wanted to know if we had problems. I guess that's "yes and no".

2003-09-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Week 1
Hi, Mrs. Iverson. This has been a busy week. I'm glad you are hosting this blog. I think it will be fun to know what's going on in Sean's and Melanie's and Denise's and George's heads. Watch what you say, guys and gals. This will be better than a grape vine.

2003-09-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Week 1

This wasn't too bad. I got Dad's computer to let me onto the net and the instructions were good, so I got into this blog without any huge hassles. It did take an hour and a half to figure out little things like how to find my new email out on the web. Mom hung over my shoulder like she expected naked women to pop out of every window. Maybe she was just worried about whether I would be able to get my homework done.

2003-09-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Week 1

I thought it was amusing listening to the patter as several members of our class got their first e-mail accounts.

"Why can't I just have my first name? I'll never remember this one."

"It won't let me put my lastname in as my password."

"Did you get my email address? Did you send me anything yet?

I have had my email address for three years and am used to it. It has not revolutionized my life so far. My mom uses it to tell me when she needs me to babysit!

2003-09-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Cool, Melanie! Do camels have to do homework? I don't get it. Is this poetry? Anyhow, Mrs. Iverson, I'm hangin.

2003-09-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

I'm glad the first week of school is over. Boy, homework, homework, homework. What do they think we are? camels?

2003-09-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Week1
I got logged in to Mrs. Iverson's blog.

2003-09-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, Mrs. Iverson, I think I'm in.

2003-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Invitations are out

All of you bloggers have been sent invitations to join the blog. Be sure to follow the directions and accept the invitation. Then post something to show me you are set up. Instructions have been handed out in hardcopy in class.

"Hardcopy" is computer slang for paper printouts. This term has a slightly pejorative connotation because printouts waste paper when you can view the material electronically.

On the other hand, how well do you like reading from a computer screen compared with reading printed material? I would be interested in reading your answers to this question in your journal entries, if you don't have anything more interesting to write about.

2003-09-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

The First Day of School
The first day of school is such a busy day! All I have time to write here on my lunch break, is Welcome!

Beautiful, dry, dusty, cooling weather and shortening days hint that change is coming, so enjoy these days! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Some of you may wonder how you're supposed to do that from inside our hot old granite Windy Ridge High School. Its tall south windows let in miller moths and yellow jackets when we open them. If we don't open them, everyone gets droopy eyelids.

As you will know after our upcoming first class, the assignment today is to come back tomorrow prepared to tell me whether you want to keep your journal on paper or in the blog. If you plan to use the blog, bring your e-mail address, if you have one. If not, we will work on that tomorrow in class.

2003-08-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

School Year 2003-2004 Just Around the Corner!

I'm going to see if I can make instructions given in this blog easier to find. They are highlighted in various posts as shown in the next paragraph. The links further down in this post take you to all the key points currently posted.

KEY POINT How to Review All the Key Points

This post is a reference to which you can return, and use the links to pull up a key point. But there is an easier way. You can select just the posts that contain KEY POINTS without having to find THIS post.

See the calendar over on the right of the blog? Select "Show posts containing" under the calendar, and type "KEY POINT" in the search field. Click the Search button. Now only posts with these special topics are displayed. Scroll down through them without being bothered with any other material.

To return to viewing all the posts, select "Show 50 items from Everything Ordered by Date Created", above the calendar.

How to Start an Online Journal

Headings on Your Journal Entries

Effective Journal Writing

Course Syllabus

How to Write a Response Paper

"Tour de France" Grammar Review

How to Review the Key Points

Putting Links in the Blog

Instructions for Journaling on Paper

Bartleby English Reference Library Site

2003-08-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Decision to Make Blogging Optional
At a meeting with the teachers and principal of WRHS today, I told about my plan for doing our journal writing in a weblog. Other teachers' feedback has persuaded me to give you a choice:

EITHER write your journal entries on paper OR in this web log.

The reasons are: (1) some of you may not be able to access or use a computer as easily as others; (2) you should not be required to allow the whole class to read your journal, and (3) the technology has not yet been tested. We can't require an untested method to accomplish a required part of the curriculum. These are valid arguments.

SO here are some new instructions:

KEY POINT Instructions for Keeping a Journal on Paper

Paper journal entries must be kept in a bound "journal" or three-ring notebook. You will hand the whole thing in once a week for me to review overnight. Isolated pieces of paper are not acceptable.

Each entry must be dated, with a heading, Week 1, Week 2, etc., like the weblog.

During the first week of school I will ask you to choose paper or the weblog as your medium.

You can change from weblog to paper or paper to weblog once, any time before the end of the fourth week, but after that, no more switching unless I ask you to.

Paper journal entries require legible handwriting. If I can't read your handwriting, it is not legible. I'll try hard, but you might have to recopy some entries for full credit if legibility is a problem.

Everyone in class is welcome to read the class weblog, even though some may not be writing in it.

If you are having any technical problems, be sure to tell me about it immediately - that is at our next class meeting. Perhaps I will be able to help you get around the glitches. I need to know right away if the weblog medium is causing problems. I may have to ask individuals to switch to paper because of technical issues.

If too many of you have technical computer problems in the weblog, all the webloggers will have to switch to paper. I will decide if this is necessary, and when the switch will happen.

I encourage as many of you as possible to try the weblog. I feel it will be cool and fun.

2003-08-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

I Love Indian Summer
This is the best time of year, I think. There are two main reasons I love late summer, early fall. First, the weather is lovely, and second, school is starting. I know I'm not the only one who loves harvest time. I suppose not everyone associates school starting with having the whole world before me, starting an exciting journey. I still do, to this day.

This time of year, the giant combines caravan up the highway in trains. The trembling surfaces of oats, barley, and wheat fields go down into the combines' paddlewheels and soon exit sorted into grain and straw. I love the smell of new straw. Spread it around in the pens at the county fair, and you have sunlight and cleanliness awaiting the beautiful crop of young people with their named animals.

Out on the hillsides, the anonymous yearling steers and heifers are putting on the perfect layer of grass-fed fat. It tastes better than corn fed fat, folks.

There is food enough for all! Pumpkins, squashes, zucchini, gourds.

Time for the teenaged hay crews to take four days off for a hike in the mountains before dispersing to their scattered school years.

This time of year, from the time I was six, I got a new first-day-of-school dress. We shopped because we had all grown an inch or two. We went to the variety store for school supplies and sometimes a new lunchbox and thermos. Pencils, notebook paper, rulers, all hinted at great things to come.

There would be a new teacher. I always started out loving my teachers. Usually, the love did not fail as the year progressed.

I went to a one-room school with six windows facing south and the whole north wall filled with blackboards. Oil stove, portrait of Lincoln, and teacher's desk stood at the west end; piano, bookshelves, portrait of Washington, and door to the entryway took up the east end.

Recess was warm and dusty. Lunch included ripe pears, usually eaten in the shade behind the school. The days were shortening and cooling. At the turn from summer to fall, I felt all the anticipation of mastering a new grade welling up inside.

I hope you do too.

2003-08-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

More About Cliches
The American Heritage Dictionary defines cliche this way: "a trite or overused expression or idea." I searched on cliche in Google and found several sites that collect cliches.

Speaking of Google, have you ever searched for yourself? Google is one of the most popular web search engines, and is available from many websites. You can get it directly by using this link:
http://www.google.com

2003-08-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Twenty Fires
I count 20 fires in the latest Billings Gazette round-up of Montana fire news. Most of them are on the way to being put out, and relatively few buildings have burned. Nobody has been killed. Thank God!

I have to say right here that in a public school it is very important to respect absolutely students' differences of religious background and opinion. Some people do not subscribe to the concept of God. Many others disagree about the correct name to call God. Many agree on the name, but little else. In our country, we have agreed to disagree about religion, in order to allow freedom of religion. To create the environment for religious freedom, our country has legislated "separation of church and state." Public schools are on the "state" side of the line, and spiritual opinion is on the "church" side of the line. You may now observe that I have just violated a rule: I have instructed you to express appreciation to a deity on the occasion of fire fighters' and fire victims' safety.

I imagine myself called into the principal's office to answer for my infraction. I tell Mrs. Frederickson, "My expression was utterly conventional. In fact it was a cliche! It was an involuntary exclamation springing to my mind because I was thinking of what could have happened. I thought of taking it out, but decided it was a good example to introduce the subject of separation of church and state." I imagine Mrs. Frederickson telling me with some aspersion that she would accept my explanation this time, but that such "cliches" should never again appear in the blog, because it is considered a school publication. "And isn't there also a generally bad odor associated with using cliches in English themes, Mrs. Iverson?" she remarks, sending me out the door with my tail between my legs. Henceforth I shall try to set you the best example I can, dear students.

I would advise you to stay away from religious subject matter in our class blog.

2003-08-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Swimming to Montana
Here's what the New York Times offers today about our part of the country. It's in the Op Ed section, that's Opinion and Editorials. This is the part of the newspaper where opinion is not only good, it is required. (See my earlier post about newswriting.) In contrast to news, take a look at this article. It is, I think, an example of effective writing about something the author remembers, while putting those memories in present-day context.

I was reading the New York Times on the Internet because I was interested in the huge power outage that darkened so many parts of the North-Eastern US and Canada today. People were stranded by the millions in the city with no means of getting home for the night.

2003-08-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Updates
The Hobble Fire is 70% contained. The big powerline from Livingston to Billings lost a bunch of poles, but the cable didn't break. The good news, according to the power company spokesman, is that they won't have to trim branches for a long time.

Yesterday my well gave out after half a day of watering. I have been hurrying around rationing water to the plants, and then shutting off the hoses, letting the well slowly recover.

Blistering heat and news of fires burning all over the state have me thinking that I should become a volunteer fire fighter. It's such hot work, I'm afraid I may not be hardy enough to be much help. Alternatively, I understand that the Lutheran Ladies Aid has been making 500 lunchmeat sandwiches a day and packing them with apples, cookies, and bottled water to deliver to the fire crews at Reed Point. That sounds more like my speed, realistically.

The wind is a treacherous friend. When it brings rain, the fire sickens or dies. When the wind dies, the fire slows down; when the wind rises, the fire roars and runs riot. Please bring rain, O Wind.

2003-08-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Putting Links in Your Journal

I have just gone back and put "<--Link. Please Click to Read. " next to the links, so that anyone new to Internet browsing will catch on to what a link looks like in this blog. I'm not going to do that any more. You are not obligated to follow all of these links. However, some of them contain useful reference material and I hope that you are curious about what I've posted for your reading pleasure.

KEY POINT You too can put links in your entries!
I encourage you to do so. Here is the easiest way I know.

When you first log in to Blogger you will see information about blogging. One topic is "And In the Darkness Blog Them." That paragraph includes a link, "Blog This!" The instructions tell you to drag the link to your Links area. Since dragging a link is not something I have done every day, I fumbled a bit before it worked. Here's what you do:

Put the mouse pointer over "Blog This!". Press down the left mouse button and hold it down while you move the mouse pointer up to the word "Links" in the upper right of the Internet Explorer window. The cursor will look like a "NO whatever" symbol (circle with slash across) while you drag over places you cannot drop the link. When you reach Links, a Shortcut symbol (a white square with small black curved arrow) will appear. You can release the left mouse button now. The link drops off into your Links list. After you follow these instructions, you will always have "Blog This!" available from your Links button. Oh, those computer metaphors!

Now, any time you find something interesting on the Internet, you can post it in our blog. While you have the neat groovy cool rad webpage open on your screen, click the button with the little double arrow to the right of "Links" and choose "Blog This!" from the drop-down list that appears.

A window opens, requesting your logname and password to our blog. Enter them, and a window opens with a link written for you to the interesting webpage. Click the mouse pointer at the end of the html code that has been written for you. Press "Enter" once or twice. Add your comments, click "Post and Publish", and there it is.

Now everyone else can see at a click what you found by a stroke of unrepeatable luck.

2003-08-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Tolerance.org: Dig Deeper <--Link. Please Click to Read.
Today I sampled the first blog on the "Recently Posted" list in Blogger and it led me to this site devoted to tolerance. I just took some of the tests for hidden bias. On the first test, I came out with a slight implicit preference for black people. This was somewhat surprising since I have spent relatively little time with black people. I was happy with the result, though, because it made me feel good not to be biased against people different from me.

Then I took two other tests and learned that if these tests are valid, my conscious friendliness and receptiveness to all sorts of people are not quite in sync with some of my implicit biases. I thought I was at least neutral, but the tests found strong implicit biases against two other groups of people who are different from me. I don't know if it is possible to train myself not to have these implicit biases. Maybe I can turn acquaintances into friendships among these groups as the opportunity arises.

I would be very interested to hear about experiences you have had with someone who seemed to be biased against you. Whether this has happened to you or not, it would be really interesting, I think, to try to write a short account of an interaction from the point of view of a biased person. Then write the same scene from the point of view of the victim of bias. What if both are biased against eachother? What would the scene be like without bias on either side?

By the way, the site that started all this did not have a test for bias against Swedes or Norwegians. So there are just some things we cannot know. :-)

Indiscriminate love,
Stephanie (Mrs. Iverson to you.)

2003-08-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Newswriting
As I read the Billings Gazette today, I thought about that special genre called news writing. The rules are strict.

First, don't waste any words. Your news story gets the space in column inches that the editor thinks equals public interest in the subject. You are competing for space with all the other news writers.

Second, every statement must be factual. Fact is often difficult to establish, so news writers rely heavily on "sources," people they can quote about the topic of the story. Opinion does not belong in a news story except as a quotation attributed to someone involved. (Cynically, I comment: Even if what somebody said is not true, it is probably true that they said it.)

Third, accuracy is essential. Above all, spell people's names correctly. Don't misquote them.

Fourth, use an eighth grade vocabulary. The newspaper business exists to sell papers, the news people reason. People usually read the newspaper as a leisure activity. More difficult words may make reading feel like work, and the public will not buy as many papers.

Fifth, the leading paragraph for a straight news story, called the "lead", encapsulates the whole story. For a feature story, the strategy for the lead is to entice the reader to "read all about it". A feature is longer than a news story, and not based purely on one specific occurrence.

Seventh, after the lead, each successive paragraph or group of paragraphs should contain less important aspects of the story.

You can use the links to the Billings Gazette in the last two posts to check out what I'm saying: (1) Does the lead encapsulate the story? (2) Is the story told in quotations? (3) Do the paragraphs appear in order of descending importance? (4) Would you classify each of these stories as a straight news story, or a feature? Hint: look at the lead.

The WindMill, Windy Ridge High School newspaper
I am the advisor for the Journalism Club at WRHS. If you are interested in writing or editing for The Wind Mill, our semi-weekly publication, please let me know! I have a good group of Juniors and Seniors who worked on it last year, and we always need more fresh journalists starting out.

By the way, semi-weekly means it comes out every other week.

Bi-weekly means it comes out twice a week

2003-08-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

More from the Billings Gazette on the Hobble Fire <--Link, Please Click to Read
There's a vivid picture of the fire. Read this story to the end. You'll get a chuckle out of it.

2003-08-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

The Billings Gazette Lead Story Today: The Fire at Reed Point <-- Link, Please Click to Read.
This fire is way too close to home. I know you are all smelling its smoke and hoping they get it controlled soon. Did anyone in your family help fight it?

2003-08-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Read downside up
Reading this blog is awkward. Have I mentioned before that it makes more sense if you read the posts from oldest to newest? But you also want to see the latest addition if you have read everything up to that point. Look at the top of the blog for that.

Notice that there are archives organized by month. Today there is a July archive and an August archive. When you set out to read what is in the blog so far, start at the bottom post in the July archive. Read all my posts from oldest to newest. Then do the same in the August archive and the current blog.

I recommend that you do this reading early and often because I have posted useful information and instructions and will expect you to be aware of them.

Please let me know immediately if you are having difficulty accessing the blog to read from it. I will not accept "I didn't see that" as an excuse for ignorance of my expectations. A couple of printed copies of the blog will be available for checkout in the classroom.

Archives in a Broader Sense
Archives used to be a word that signified a library or room full of file cabinets where papers going back to old times were saved. Newspapers usually keep an archive of past issues. Government offices keep files from the past. Libraries also have old documents and periodicals.

Some people browse in archives because they enjoy the glimpse it gives into the past. Some people look in archives to write about the past in a research paper. You might want to know what happened in the world the day you were born. If you're curious, drop by the Windy Ridge Times on Main street or go down to Billings and visit the offices of the Billings Gazette. <--Link. Please Click to Read. Tell them when you were born. Take some notes. You've got all you need for a top notch journal entry.

2003-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Stephanie's Daydream Continues

As the first week of classes unfolds (in my imagination), someone asks "What's this Tour de France thing? This is an English class. That's French."

How true! English teachers get a little dotty sometimes.

I have been following the story of Bruce Armstrong and his dominance of the marathon bicycle race known as the Tour de France. I named our review of the rules of English after that race.

The Tour de France involves riding a bicycle on the streets and roads, through the mountains, countryside, towns and cities of France. And Bruce goes as fast as he can through all kinds of terrain. That's the idea.

KEY POINT "Tour de France" English Grammar Review

You start at the beginning of the Tour de France workbook, read a unit, do an exercise, take a quiz, read another unit, do an exercise, take a quiz, etc. until you get to the end. Sometimes you spin out and have to repeat a section to get it. And the faster you master the material, the sooner you can do something more interesting.

It's all at your own pace. Based on previous years' experience, some students will finish it in about 6 weeks; others will take the entire semester. It's a little dry, maybe, but it actually helps to know what you are doing with your native language.

2003-08-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

What Do I Mean By a Response?

My daydream continues. As I finish talking through the syllabus, one of you, good at math, says, "Mrs. Iverson, We're Sophomores! You have assigned us 35 pages of essay plus poetry and a short story and the journal. And how many pages are you asking us to read? You might as well ask us to write a novel."

"That's fair," I reply, with tranquillity of heart. "If you think it's not enough, you may write a novel."

When I assign a three to six page response to a reading assignment, this is what I expect to get in return:

KEY POINT How to Write a Response Paper

Heading. Use a title like "Response to Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener" Put your name on it. I will look for this to determine who gets the points.

Foundation. Write as though I might not have read the story. Give a paragraph or two about the characters, setting, and plot. I will look at this to determine that you actually read the assignment.

Thinking Phase. Relax with your eyes closed and let your mind go through the story again. Do you see any images, or mental pictures? What are they? How did you feel about what you pictured? Even if this is only a small part of the story, it is interesting to me because what your mind gives you back after reading is something that connected with something about you and your experiences. We have a dialog going on here, between Melville and you, unique you. Nobody else has seen this picture or had this response.

The Image. Tell me all about it. Where in the story did this image occur to you? Be sure to let me know which characters are involved.

What particular details struck you? Your picture is probably made up of both things the author told you and things you added. I call the things you add "elaborations". Develop your picture as much as you dare, consistent with what the author wrote. I'm looking for signs that you let the story engage you.

Your Response. Then in a new paragraph, describe your response to the image: how did it make you feel? Did it suggest some ideas? Did you want to intervene, that is, change where the story was going? Did you identify with someone in the scene? Did you think the scene was unconvincing? If so, what was false about it? I will be looking for original, non-routine responses that have a quality of emotional honesty.

Generalize. Next try to tie this discussion of a single scene to the piece as a whole. Maybe it holds the theme of the work. Maybe it is a turning point in the character's development. Maybe the story would be better if this piece had been left out or replaced with something you've thought of. These are only three examples of many that you might come up with. I will be looking for the ability to generalize, or take a focused idea and connect it with a broader idea about the reading. If my guess is any good, you have now filled almost three pages.

Repeat from Thinking to Generalizing. (Optional) Now you might be surprised how one thing leads to another, and you remember a second picture to which you have a response. Starting with a new paragraph, tell me the same things about it: the context and details, how you felt, what you thought. Sometimes the two pictures relate to eachother in an interesting way. Together, what do they say about the piece as a whole?

Ending. Once you have gotten this far, you have only to add a conclusion, pulling together your overall impression of the author's intent with what difference it makes to you. It's fun when you end essays with a question that flows from what you've said so far, as if you are inviting me into a conversation. And that is only one of the possible strategies for ending a short "response".

Editing. You probably have a three- to six-page rough draft. Give it a second reading to fix any little mistakes. If you're working on a word processor, print it. Hand it in.

If you are working on paper, make a clean copy and hand it in.

Q. What if I feel the story is boring?
A. Give me five good reasons why from the story.

Q. What if there is nothing interesting about what I pictured?
A. Don't worry, write it all out anyway. In the end you may be surprised.

Q. What if I don't feel anything?
A. Tell me what you think about the scene.

Q. Does spelling count?
A. Yes, and so does capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure.

2003-08-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

Stephanie's Daydream
I'm ready for school to start.

I daydream my way through the first meeting of this class.

When the bell rings, several of you are already finding desks in my classroom on the southeast corner of the first floor of Windy Ridge High School. A group of you pours through the door. As I introduce myself and hand out the syllabus, latecomers pop through the door at intervals, reminding me of cars running a red light, speeding as inconspicuously as possible.

Side conversations are so prevalent that I imagine grasshoppers have come inside the school. Can anybody hear me? I have vowed to treat you as the young adults that you aspire to be.

"Class! May I have your full attention! OK, listen up!" I stop and stare wordlessly at the two or three grasshoppers still buzzing. Somebody pokes one, someone shushes another, and at last I have the golden apple: your undivided attention, all eyes upon me.

I talk through the plan for the semester, which can be summarized as follows:

KEY POINT Course Syllabus

Week 1:
Read
Eudora Welty short stories: "Why I Live at the P.O.," "A Worn Path," and "The Wide Net"
The whole class blog so far -- what Mrs. Iverson wrote.
Write
Journals (this and every week). This week, just get in to post that you have succeeded with the blog technology.
Response to Welty story (Response = 3 - 6 pages double spaced, 1" margins, 12 pt font)* Due Friday end of class
Class
e-mail, Blogs, HTML, doing research on the World Wide Web

*If you cannot use a computer word processor yet, for papers, you may neatly handwrite the equivalent number of words in ink on lined notebook paper. See separate instructions for handwritten journals. Believe me, typing is faster and easier than writing in longhand because you can make corrections in a flash.
You will be taking Typing this year if you have not tested out of it, so as the semester progresses, you will be able to switch over to typed essays.

Week 2:
Read
John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry
Write
Journals (every week, I won't mention this again)
Response to one poem of Donne or Hopkins due Friday end of class
Class
Genres: journal, short story, poetry
Start the Rules of English Tour de France, a self-paced study/review of mechanics, grammar, sentence structure, paragraph structure, standard usage, and style.
Troubleshoot weblog journal writing

Week 3:
Read
Herman Melville short story, Ernest Hemingway short story
Write
Response to Melville or Hemingway due Friday end of class
Original poetry (start)
Class
Discuss all readings thus far: compare and contrast short story authors' styles, compare and contrast the poets' styles.
Find examples of effective writing (in short stories) and discuss why it is effective..
Continue Tour de France

Week 4:
Read
Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost poetry
Begin reading Willa Cather, My Antonia.
Write
Response to one or two poems of Dickinson or Frost due Friday end of class
Original poetry
Class
Poetic Forms
Effective poetic writing: examples and why they are effective
Continue Tour de France

Week 5:
Read
Continue Cather
Write
Original poetry due Friday end of class
Start original short story.
Class
The Short Story genre
Plan your short story
Continue Tour de France

Week 6:
Read
Continue Cather
Read e e cummings [Sic.] poetry
Write
Response to cummings due Friday end of class.
Continue original short story
Class
Read poetry aloud (assigned authors and your original poems)
Discuss poetic sound, tone, diction
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz

Week 7:
Read
Finish Cather.
Begin Shakespeare.
Write
Finish original short story, due Friday end of class.
10 page essay on Cather with outside sources (start).
Class
Stephanie tells you how to prepare for the mid-term exam.
Why do we still read Shakespeare?
The Drama genre
The Essay form
Developing an essay topic
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 8:
Read
Continue Shakespeare
Write
First draft Cather essay due Friday end of class.
Continue original short story
Class
The English of Shakespeare
Differences in the process of writing fiction and non-fiction essays
Volunteers will read aloud parts of unfinished short stories, constructive critiques from class
Editing your own writing
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.
Mid-term Exam Friday
Stephanie returns the rest of your assigned papers (if she has not returned them already).

Week 9:
Read
Finish reading Shakespeare
Write
Finish original short story, due Friday end of class.
Continue Cather essay (editing phase).
Class
Essay style: How to cite other writers in your essay, a.k.a. References, Footnotes, Bibliography
More volunteers to read their original short stories aloud.
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 10:
Read
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Write
Finish Cather essay, turn in Friday by end of class.
Class
In-class one-on-one consultations on essays
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 11:
Read
Finish reading Miller
Write
Response to Miller, hand in on Friday, end of class.
Class
Discuss Miller.
Discuss Journal writing experience. Critiques from Stephanie to you
Assignment of characters for Shakespeare read-through
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 12:
Read
Shakespeare again, preparation for read-through, highlight your character's lines
Write
Analysis of your character's role in the play (start)
Class
Drama is to be played, not read: discuss differences
Discuss Dream Act I, try read-through of a scene
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 13: Short Week with Thanksgiving
Read
Preparation for your part in the read through of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Write
Character analysis (finish, hand in on Wednesday, end of class)
Class
Act II, Dream, discuss, try read-through of a scene.
Continue Tour de France
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 14:
Read
Sonnets of Shakespeare
Write
Response to Sonnets due Friday end of class
Class
Acts III, IV, and V of Dream, practice read-through of selected scenes.
For anyone who has just finished the Tour de France, take Tour de France Quiz
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for writing assignments.

Week 15:
Read
None new (whew!) Review all your reading for final examination
Write
None new (whew)! except the Journal.
Class
Formal, uninterrupted read-through of Acts I, II, and III, Dream.
For those who have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for review of readings.
Stephanie tells you how to prepare for the final exam.

Week 16:
Read
Class Journals on Web log
Write
Response to something someone else wrote in the Web log.
Class
Read-through of Acts IV and V of Dream
Stephanie hands back all unreturned written assignments with critiques.
Everyone should have passed the Tour de France Quiz, use quiet class time for review of readings.
All assigned writing due by Thursday end of class if not handed in already, deadline for it to count in your grade.
Final Exam Friday

Note:
Writing handed in late (after the due date) will be graded (with some points off for lateness) and included in final grade. Late assignments will be returned after the Christmas break.

2003-08-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sex and Writing
Now that I have your attention, here is something to think about.

In our country we have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and even broad freedom of expression. These freedoms were quite revolutionary at the time our country broke away from England. Kings who didn't like what someone in their realm said or wrote could and often did imprison or kill such subjects.

What if reading and writing were taboo and the powers of society were focused on preventing anyone from writing for someone else to read, or reading what someone else wrote, unless they were "legally related"? That is, what if written communication were forbidden outside the family?

Let's go back to sex. In our interwoven official, legal, religious, and societal structure, the only pairs authorized to have sex are comprised of one man and one women currently married to each other. Legal sex is supposed to be kept private, but is licensed by the government (through marriage licenses). Although the rule is not enforceable, sex between unmarried individuals is disreputable (at least in conservative circles), and a major public relations campaign goes on constantly to dissuade young men and women from participating in the social offense of having sex before marriage. For any snooping parents, I point out that I support this rule against young men and women having sex before marriage, and trained my sons to practice self-restraint.

My purpose is not to debate the wisdom or practicality of the public regulation of private sexuality, but to get you thinking about the privilege of freedom of expression that Americans enjoy. Even teenagers are encouraged to express themselves.

The most powerful kind of expression, I suggest, is writing, because what you write may influence what people all over the world think for generations after you are dead, if your message is powerful enough. We might compare it with the effect of passing your genes down to your offspring. Write now, read later is the whole idea of written language.

In contrast, when you speak, only someone present hears. Say now, hear later is not ordinarily possible. Usually, speech is for immediate consumption, and it disappears into thin air without a trace, except in people's memories, which are notoriously unreliable. We will count recordings as a form of writing because they allow communication to cross time, and the message is reproducible as many times as desired.

What if society were as worried about writing and reading as it seems to be about sex? What if the powers of society feared what would happen if anybody could write to whomever one wanted? It might cause stupidity to be discovered and laziness to be detected. And if stupidity and laziness were brought out in the open, somebody might be discredited, and somebody else might get elected.

Let's imagine a world where it is only respectable and fully legal to write to your parents, siblings, spouse, or children, with no exceptions. Imagine that it is only fully respectable to read writings from the same sources? Imagine that the writing/reading laws are enforced more harshly upon men than women. Picture this situation: there is a widespread notion that women's biology makes it almost impossible for them to resist writing to their friends and reading the notes they received in return, whereas if men are caught reading or worse, writing for the public, no respectable girl will marry them and their opportunities to share ideas will be more and more smothered as their relatives die off.

Rebel! Take pens in hand! Keyboards, same thing! Boys, write in this blog~! Let the girl next door know your thoughts! Girls, share your illicit experiences in literature with the innocent boys! Subvert the hypothetical dominant paradigm! Free thought and free exchange of ideas~! Don't let your parents catch you writing but WRITE!!!

2003-07-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Pointers on Earning Points

KEY POINT Effective Journal Writing

Here is a Letterman Top 10 list (from less to more important) of how to earn top points for your journal writing.

10. Correct Mechanics

This includes correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, syntax, and normal English usage. We will review these features of clear, enjoyable writing in class.

9. Appropriate Vocabulary and Diction

Since this is a journal, informality is appropriate. However, sloppiness, web chat abbreviations, flouting of all formal writing conventions, and other extreme informalities you can find in some other blogs are not appropriate for this one.

8. Enrich Your Journal with Links to the Internet

When you find something you like on the Web, you can include a link to it in your journal. We will learn how to do this in class.

Use common sense in selecting links. I must inform you that the school board is concerned that students might access pornography from school computers. Doing this is grounds for suspension or expulsion. Of course, I don't think any of you would do that, except perhaps as a joke. That particular joke will not be tolerated in school.

7. Write More Frequently than Once a Week

You may find that keeping a journal is addictive. Quantity, especially when combined with quality, earns plenty of points.

6. Reflect Your Inner Life

Journal writing is a genre. Genres are types of writing defined by conventions, which are like rules. Following the conventions of a genre is a writing skill. The conventions that identify a journal include dated entries, writing about your thoughts and feelings, and the significance of what is happening to you at this particular time in your life.

5. Effective Sentence Structures

In monotonous writing, all the sentences are the same length. Passive voice is used to hide who's to blame. When you are writing about two or more similar ideas, don't miss the chance to use parallel constructions. There will be more about powerful sentence strategies in class.

4. Effective Paragraphs

You don't always have to have a topic sentence and supporting sentences, but it's not a bad idea. Try putting the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph for variety.

3. Finding Significance in the Everyday

The real secret of a successful journal is looking at the daily, ordinary details of life with increased interest. How would you describe it to someone from Afghanistan? Guys, write so that someone from Venus will get it. Gals, write for someone from Mars. Here I am using a "reference". Can you tell me to what book title I am referring?

2. Organization

Each journal entry deserves editing after you have written the first draft. Did you tell things in a logical order? Did your paragraphs help your reader to see the logic? Is there something that would be really cool if you moved it next to something else? We'll learn editing techniques in class.

1. Keen Observation

This is the most important point-winning factor in my class blog. In writing, you show keen observation by using the most perfect word you know to paint the picture. Before you can do that, you have to look sharply at yourself and your world. Take time to pay attention to something in nature, watch how someone does something, or paint a verbal self-portrait.

Your journal will be one fourth of your total grade.

2003-07-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

That Dam Wind

The westerly has been howling for 18 days, at 94 degrees F. or more. It brings the faint smell of smoke from 400 miles west. Dust picked up from my neighbor's real estate is transferred to mine. Fine silt blows under my doors in a gray drifts. Cottonwood cotton rolls up against the grass tufts and outcroppings of rock downwind from Dry Creek, ready to ignite. My eyes are bloodshot and my sinuses ache.

I remember in former days, wind brought cooler temperatures, but not this summer. Puffy white clouds occasionally hurry across, one or two together. No real shade falls on the Yellowstone Valley. Once in a while at 3 in the afternoon, a thunderhead piles up its berm of electrical tension, and I hope it won't unload on us because any moisture will probably fall as hail. I hope it won't start a "natural" forest fire that the fashion is now to let burn.

No matter how I try to baby the vegetable garden with lavish irrigation, it's blowing away. My pump may soon suck air. The peas tip over and turn white. The beans get brown edges on their leaves and short knobby beans mature too quickly. The spinach and lettuce bolt, new seeds sprout and wither. The corn is shredded and the little ears have patches of bare cob. All the squash flowers fell off.

Only the weeds thrive. The thistles and tumbleweed chuckle and gobble up ground where more tender plants have parched and died. I pull them; they break at ground level, jeer at me, and return the following week with more leaves.

All except the tourists have nightmares about fire. It takes only a lightning strike or a smoldering breakfast fire in the mountains to start another hot wind, the explosion of flame in a pine forest. It takes only a hot catalytic converter in tall grass or a carelessly stubbed-out cigarette to start the line of yellow and black scallopping across the range, fanned by the relentless wind.

I slink into the living room, hating the whine. I snap at my husband for almost nothing and then sulk behind closed curtains. Why do anything? The wind just blows it away. Is this how the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression began?

2003-07-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

Haleluya, it works.
Jerry got his first test post to show up on the blog.

Q. How come Jerry got a head start?

A. I learned I had to have an e-mail address for each student before I could set them up in the blog. Since Jerry lives close to me, I asked him to help me. Jerry already has an e-mail address, which he gave to me so I could invite him to join my blog. The invitation contained an Internet link to Blogger. When he clicked on that link, it took him to the Blogger set-up page. First he had to set up a Blogger account. Then he could use that account to log into the blog.

Q. What if I don't have an e-mail address?

A. There are many free email services on the Internet. We'll set you up with an e-mail account in class.

2003-07-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hey, I got in!

2003-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

List
Things I have to do when school starts:
1. Get your e-mail addresses.
2. Help anyone who doesn't have an e-mail address yet get one (free).
3. Tell you how to post to the blog.

2003-07-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Class List:

Aarmeson, Jerry
al Gehari, Hassan
Buckett, Susan
Chadwick, Bruce
Coleman, Sean
Doerr, Fiona
Feldman, Jonah
Fjare, Melanie
Hafterson, Terrill
Mathers, Toni
Micklefar, Grace
O'Malley, Ben
Pastille, Norris
Riddle, Judith
Ronan, Sybille
Ronnaberg, Denise
Townley, Richard
Thiess, Benchley
Voertz, Rona
Wall, Alan
Wilson, George
Yarnall, Zoe

2003-07-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Stephanie is excited!

I stumbled on to how to give you each an individual identity in the blog!

I think I will find out who you are, so I can set you up and test you.

That's three posts today. Enough! It's time to adjust the irrigation in my garden. Sun's pouring down and the squash are blossoming.

2003-07-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

KEY POINT Headings on Your Entries

There are 20 weeks in a semester and 40 weeks in a school year. Please start each week's entry with a heading stating the week of the school year, e.g., Week 1.

This will make it easier for me to pull up all of one week's postings to give you credit in my gradebook.

To make your heading look like a heading, drag your mouse over the heading and click the B button. You will see some codes around the words.

The first part in pointed brackets ( < > ) means "begin bold" and the second part in pointed brackets with a slash means "end bold" The slash means "stop doing the following code". Most html seems to be written using code pairs.

Oddly enough, I can't write out the code so you can see it, because then it's code, and the browser insists on doing the coded instruction instead of showing it to you. There may be an html code that says, "show the html instead of interpreting it". but I don't know it.

You won't see the effect of these codes in the editing screen, but you will if you read the blog by choosing "View Blog" or "Preview Your Post."

You have just had your first lesson in html coding from me.

I am aware that some of you may already be experts at html. Please let me know if you are one of those. I will need all the help I can get.

Very Important Point

If you want to read the blog rather than write in it, use this URL:

http://siverson.blogspot.com/

2003-07-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Contest to Rename this Blog

I have realized that my blog has the most unimaginative name in the virtual universe. There will be a contest to rename this blog. Best name goes on the blog. 2nd place will go in the blurb about the blog. Both winners will receive a small prize. Dubiously Honorable Mentions will be made of the most hilariously unsuitable names. You will be the judges: by ballot in class.

Here are the names of some new blogs to inspire you:

Chimpomatic <--Link. Please Click to Read.
as if i had the answers <--Link. Please Click to Read.
fly in the milk 100 histarias [sic.] <--Link. Please Click to Read.

By the way, [sic.] means that you are quoting someone else "as it was written." I marked this because the word histarias is in Spanish or Portuguese, when the rest of that blog's title is in English. I don't want anyone to think they can win a week off from writing in the journal because I misspelled something... Usually [sic.] is used to show someone else's illiteracy, that is, to quote a mistake without letting anyone think you made it.

2003-07-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Cries for Help

From time to time students have written about a crisis situation in their journals. It seems to me you might not feel brave enough to do that, now that the journal is online and read by the class. If you ever feel desperate or have an emergency situation you can't talk about, here is a place to call:

Billings Helpline
Mental Health Center
1245 North 29th St.
Billings, MT 59101

Crisis Phones:
(406) 252-5658
24 hrs/ 7 days

2003-07-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

KEY POINT How to Start an Online Journal

1. Find a computer connected to the Internet. This may be a computer at your home. Public workstations are available at the Public Library on Main Street. There are four computers in the school library and one in my classroom.

2. Launch the Internet browser. Internet Explorer is available on the school computers.

3. Enter the URL http://new.blogger.com. A URL is an internet address that usually begins "http://".

4. Log in. Account name and password will be given in class.

5. Select Windy Ridge HS Blog, upper right.

6. Make your entry in the New Post window.

7. Click Post and Publish.

8. Click the "View Blog" button. Look over your post as you finish up.

9. If necessary, click the [edit] link in the heading of your entry. You can edit now or later, as many times as you need to.

But What Shall I Write About?

Some of you may have discovered the excitement of telling your secrets in a diary. Others would rather chop burdock or clean the hog barn than take a risk like that. You can, if you like, start your first entry in your journal by telling me to which group, diarist, or I'd-rather-die-first, you think you belong. Follow that up with why you feel that way.

Definitions

Diary Account or record you maintain almost every day, primarily for yourself to read in the future.

Journal Account or record you maintain almost every day, for yourself and others to read in the future.

"di"- is a prefix that means day. "jour" means day in French. Notice that in these definitions, the chief difference between diary and journal is the intended audience. Explorers usually kept journals. Ships officers keep logs of the ship's location and any significant occurrences.

Remember that you can edit and shape the person you present in your journal. In fact, you won't be able to avoid spiffing yourself up somewhat when you know others are going to read over your shoulder. You don't have to tell the truth in your journal. Fiction in the form of a journal is a popular genre. However, it's easier to tell the truth as you see it.

In prior years, popular topics for journal entries have been:
--difficulties with parents
--difficulties with brothers and sisters
--difficulties with friends
--difficulties with school
--the details of your day
--frustration
--loneliness
--sadness
--beauty

However, in other years, the students knew I would be the only other person to read their journals unless they shared them with someone else. This year you will be encouraged to read eachother's journals in the blog. This may make a big difference in what and how you write.

There are certain topics that are none of anybody else's business. If you check out some of the many blogs online, you will find that some "bloggers" (people who keep blogs) delight in writing about these very things. These blogs are not my favorite models for our collective journal. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see me after class.

2003-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

About Me
I was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1948. Yep, I'm a certified, card-carrying, purple-wearing member of the AARP. Not sure I agree with their politics, so I may drop out [frag.].

Graduated with a major in English from the UDub in 1970[frag.]. I grew up liberated, and doorbelled for the ERA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just ask.
I've taught in India for the Peace Corps, worked as a secretary in Philadelphia, and did a spell as a stay-at-home mom in Missoula. Then I got my teaching credentials and got down to the serious business of making able thinkers and writers out of sophomores.

My husband, Tim, is your friendly County Assessor. We live on a ranchette 2 miles out of town on Dry Creek. My sons Tom and Luke are grown up and have wives and children. I won't bore you with pictures of my grandkids.

My Assets: First and foremost, my sense of humor[frag.]. I like teenagers, except when one is intentionally bugging me. I have high expectations. I know how to spell and use punctuation and grammar. My vocabulary is vast, including a large and colorful slang collection.

KEY POINT Use English Language Reference Works

The web has great sites for helping you with English rules. This is a "Link". Please Click to Read --> The Bartleby Site.

Every now and then I make a mistake and don't know I'm doing it. ("[frag.]" is a label that shows I know I've written a sentence fragment.) If you are the first to catch me making an unrecognized mistake, and can prove it using any of several standard references available in my classroom or on the web, you will win the right to skip writing your journal for one week. You can use fragments, too, if you label them as I do. After a while you may decide it is easier to write complete sentences.

My Liabilities: Computers seem to pose constant challenges for me. For example, I've seen other blogs that have lots of people making entries. I looked everywhere for how to set that up, so all of you could have logins to use for posting your writing. This multi-user feature is well hidden. So I'll show them! I'll give my blog name and password to all 23-25 of you.

Tomorrow I'll tell you more about keeping your journal online.

2003-07-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

Sophomore English, Section 1
Stephanie Iverson, teacher

Welcome to Windy Ridge High School students assigned to my class for 2003-2004.

School will start September 2, and until then you will not know which section you're in, or which teacher you will have, me or Mr. Bartz. I could find out who you will be, but I'm holding off on that. I like to be surprised. Even so, I am already thinking of you, "my class," with anticipation.

You may have heard that keeping a journal with at least one substantial entry per week has been a standard part of the English curriculum for sophomores in Montana for several years. As my experiment for the year, I have decided to ask you to submit your journal assignments via the WorldWideWeb to a Weblog, or "Blog." This will allow you to read eachother's journals. More of my plans for the year will follow.