Mr. Helmsing’s Backyard

Several of the tech-savy BHSN staff members are in Indianapolis this week for the annual Indiana Computer Educators’ conference.  So far Mr. Cole, Ms. Loser, Ms. Sweeney, Ms. Reeves, Ms. Frye, Ms. Seegert, Ms. Nichols, Ms. Butera, Mr. Harper and I have been blogging, podcasting, video conferencing, eScrapbooking, wiki-making, Moodling, and more as we learn how to best use the computer technology in the English Department.  The rest of this semester is going to be full of exploring…stay tuned…

…to Ms. Wohlafka, Ms. Schaffer, and Ms. Schoch for the excellent choir concert this evening!

The choir concerts are a hidden gem at North, especially since so many of our students are in choir, many of whom rarely get recognized during the day (many wouldn’t even expect them to be singers!)

The stage and decorations were ornate, the costumes were excellent, and the heart-felt singing was first rate.  My students are always intrigued to find out Louise was an opera singer in NYC before becoming a choir teacher - putting to death the old notion that those who can, do and those who can’t, teach.  I always feel more hopeful about our work as teachers whenever I attend one of our choir concerts. 

Computers and technology are great to have, but the human element of learning is key and Ms. Wohlafka, Ms. Schaffer, and Ms. Schoch are nurturing that every day. 

I’ll save a seat for you at the next choir concert!

The elements of fiction are what make literature the unique form of art that it is; every type of art has its own elements:  stage directions, scenery, lighting for theatre; pitch, acoustics, and timbre for music; light, composition, and distance for photography. 
For fiction, there are a variety of elements often working in tandem, although at times independently of each other.  From time to time I would like to share some elements of fiction for us to discuss about.  By reading works of great literature by writers who masterfully employ the various elements in their own writing, we can use these authors and their texts as models for our own writing in addition to using our knowledge of these elements as seen in practice to better inform our understanding of the texts we read and encounter daily.

From setting to characterization, from conflict to point of view, these elements and more make literature come alive.  It’s what helps to make a Stephen King story so scary or a Robert Frost poem so poignant or a Flannery O’Connor tale so ironic or a Meg Cabot novel so smarmy (sorry…had to throw that in there!)  Download, listen, think, respond, and enjoy!
 

In this Podcast, I read the first paragraph from Natalie Babbitt’s novel Tuck Everlasting and asks us to think about word choice and imagery through the details Babbitt chooses to use.

Click here to listen to the selection

Garrison Keillor selected some of his favorite poems from authors old and new shared on his daily radio program The Writer’s Almanac.  He edited an anthology of poems particularly suitable for when someone’s having a “rainy day” entitled Good Poems for Hard Times.  These poems are meant to inspire, uplift, cheer up, confront, and provoke contemplation and introspection when the sun is not fully up and bright in your day.  From time to time I’ll share some of my favorite poems from his anthology, starting with today’s poem, a brief British piece by Allan Ahlberg.

(NB: In Britain, a “rubber” is what students call an eraser)

Please Mrs ButlerPlease Mrs Butler

One of the best ways to become a better writer is simply to write…and that’s exactly what we did today in English class.

G2 chose an essay topic they felt most comfortable tackling as they responded to an in-class timed essay exam on Criterion over Dracula. 

In G4, we discussed the questions over the final chapters of Stargirland wrote a timed in-class essay over how we met our best friends (this is a narrative essay, which is different than the persuasive essays we’ve been writing thus far).  In narrative writing - such as today’s essay on meeting your best friend - the goal is tell a captivating story, with more attention to establishing setting and character rather than persuasive arguments and supportable ideas. 

Many students dropped the ball in Speech class today by not having a persuasive speech ready to deliver.  We have worked well over a week on crafting these speeches and 1/3 of the class failed this assignment by not having one ready to deliver.  For some it may be a symptom of Senioritis, for others it is forgetfulness.  In any event, it’s detrimental to your progress in the class so you’ll need to ensure your final speech (a demonstrative speech on a topic of your choice) is stellar to compensate for this hole in the grade book.

Today after school the faculties of BHSN and BHSS will convent at BHSS’ auditorium for a presentation on the New Tech High School program.  At 7:00 p.m. this evening there will be a community forum about New Tech High, but I will be at the North Choir Winter Concert!  The BHSN Choir concerts are always fun to attend and the Winter Concert is one of the year’s highlights:  you can hum along with some familiar carols, hear some enchanting classical songs fit for the winter season, and see some fun choreography with a holiday twist.  Mrs. W and all 0f the vocal music students at BHSN do a fantastic job year-round.  Come on out tonight and support our choirs!

From time to time I hope to post thoughts for your consideration about one of my passions - film.  I visit our local cinemas frequently (usually with my fellow film connoisseur Mr. Phibeck and at times with other film aficionados Ms. Sandberg, Mr. Aiken, Ms. Loser and even Ms. Sweeney and Mr. Chaffin have been known to take in a flick with me). 

Sunday evening I viewed Apocalypto, the new ‘epic film’ by Mel Gibson.  As I suspected, the theatre was not packed.  I suspect it might be due to the public out-lash at Gibson’s recent media blemishes, or because of the absence of English in the film, but it could also be due to the excessive amount of violent bloody fighting.  Its the last that sticks with you long after the film reel ends.  To know anything about the Mayan civilization is to know they vanished mysteriously without any conclusive evidence of how.  Modern anthropologists are unsure as to how their civilization died out, but from viewing this film, it’s easy to see how.  The focus seems to be on the brutality and ritualistic atrocities that come across as completely unacceptable by modern Western cultural standards.  Yet the idea of human sacrifice, like any good text - movie or book- is full of possible metaphors.  Some have said the film’s theme on human sacrifice and violence is analogous to the war in Iraq (sure to get political pundits in an uproar) while others claim it is commenting on American’s evaporating sense of community and family unity.  The film was made in Mexico with an almost completely Mexican cast of actors.  It’s visually enthralling, but the narrative is confusing…and speaking of confusing narratives…

 …I saw Stranger Than Fiction today after school.  It stars Will Ferrel and the superb English actress Emma Thompson with supporting roles by Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah.  The film is difficult to explain, except that it has some vague similarities to films such as Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.  Emma Thompson’s performance is wonderful, but the film drags in the middle after an interesting end and before a fulfilling ending.  You might have to be a literary buff (or at least have some comfortable understanding of terms like narrative, plot, subtext, etc.) to enjoy some aspects of the film. 

I’ve heard people use the word balmy six times today to describe the weather.  I am enjoying every creeping degree of it.  Snow should fall on December 24 and 25, stay around for the 26 and 27, and melt away on the 28.  That’s what I would do if I could have a tete-a-tete with Mother Nature…that and find a way to eliminate humidity.

My voice was almost 100% normal on Sunday, but by the time I began talking on Monday it was cracking again.  I visited the rennovated Indianapolis Museum of Art Sunday with Ms. Sandberg explicitly to visit a traveling exhibit entitled “ Will Boys be Boys? Questioning Adolescent Masculinity in Contemporary Art” It “examines the nature of adolescent masculinity in recent paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations and video works by 20 artists” At times both provocative and disturbing, it will certainly come up in lectures when the Honors 9 classes read Lord of the Flies in January after Winter Break!

Today the M1 class took the objective exam over Dracula - and then we sank our teeth into some perilous practice questions preparing our pusillanimous selves for Wednesday’s in-class timed essay exam.  On Friday we will begin our new novella, The Island of Dr. Moreau.

M3 talked about the ending of The Outsiders, journaled about gang issues in Bloomington on Moodle, and practiced writing about the significance and contexts of various quotes from the novel.

M4 went over more of the growing complexities and problems Philip is facing in Nothing But The Truth.  We talked about the tone of a text and loaded words, pointing out how journalist Jennifer Stewart spins the story about Philip’s suspension for the local paper.  We responded to another reading response question on Moodle and spent the last third of class working on a new Criterion essay - the topic is loyalty.  Log onto Criterion to get started!  We will discuss our preliminary drafts on Wednesday.

The last two weeks have assaulted my morale and anyone at BHSN who has been able to put up with my grumpy crankiness is to be applauded.  What started out as a cold almost a month ago seemd to go away and then came back with a vegenance after Thanksgiving and turned into laryngitis.  In most cases, acute laryngitis goes away on its own after a fwe days.  I am in day 14 and I still have it.  On Friday I felt so miserable I went to a new physician who prescribed an antibiotic treatment since most viral cases do not last this long.  Cross your fingers that I’m back to my loud, bombastic self soon.

In fact, the last month has been frustrating.  Our unit on Dracula did not take on the vivid excitement I had hoped it would.  This was my second year of teaching the text and I am finding that it may not suit the objectives of Freshmen Honors English.  It’s such a long, plot-driven novel and while it’s full of many symbols and possible metaphors to analyze, it’s too vast for the micro-level nature of a 9th grade classroom.  I think I will retire it from the 9th grade curriculum for now.   I wish we had the funding to purchase classroom sets of contemporary literature.  Ms. Loser, Ms. Sweeney, Ms. Seegert, Dr. Hoevener and I attended a workshop last week on new titles and trends in young adult literature.  Since all of the books discussed have just been published, they’re too expensive to purchase in classroom sets.  Ms. Sweeney received a grant to purchase copies of Sharon Draper’s novel Romiette and Julio, a modern-day urban re-telling of the Romeo and Juliet tale.  It’s a great read and I hope to find a way to incorporate it into my classes.   What is the direction of the Honors course though?  The approach to teaching literature based around social and historical themes is fascinating.  However, I feel compelled to focus on the ways to study literature since that is what advanced students will be doing in Mr. Hays’ 10th grade class, Ms. Frye’s AP 11th grade class, and Mr. Hays’ 12th grade AP class - writing ABOUT literature.  How do setting and point of view dictate an author’s approach?  How do authors approach characterization differently?  What are the conventions of the short story and the novel and how do their literary elements function?  Literature is an art, a Muse from ancient Greece, and must we approach it with a magnifying glass to understand its form and function?   My Honors students last year were writing much more about how literature works, but was it beneficial?  How have the shorter response-driven writing assignments on Moodle affected students’ writing this year?  Must we study the conventions and mechanics of writing in more detail (as one parent of a Core 40 student has suggested?)  These are all questions that have no easy answer. 

The G4 class is finishing reading the novel Stargirl this weekend.  We will discuss the novel and its themes in the coming week and write an extended essay about the novel after we take a reading comprehension exam over it. 

The M4 class has been reading Nothing But The Truth as we have examined the realiability of narrators in a text and the student-teacher-parent dynamic that has broken down in the novel.  How culpable are the journalist and school board candidate in instigating the miscommunication fiasco that occurs in this documentary novel? 

The M3 class has had interesting discussions about gangs, youth, and choices as we read The Outsiders.  If you have not handed in your image collage of “tough” vs “tuff” images, you need to do so this week.  We will finish the novel this week and reflect on Ponyboy’s growth and what he learned.  Can we relate to any of the Greasers or Socs in the novel?  Is that the point of The Outsiders?  When do we evaluate and appreciate a book simply for its ability to keep us entertained and enthralled and when do we step back and examine it critically?  In Seminar on Friday, I overheard many students say The Outsiders was a great book - but is it?  Why has it remained so popular for over forty years? 

 This was my first semester of teaching Speech and as the course comes to an end in a few weeks, it’s been a mostly positive experience.  What is the best way to have students improve their ability to speak with confidence?  That’s the main purpose of the class.  When the semester began in August, I had a different objective - to get students to think differently about how we communicate.  I quickly found out there simply is not enough time to teach aspects of interpersonal communication AND cover the necessary basics of public speaking and speech writing, let alone specifics of rhetoric and debate.  A semester Speech course on block schedule is likely not the most effective structure, but it’s how most of us will encounter a speech course at the college level.  One thing I will change with the next class in January is creating rubrics and scoring sheets ahead of time for EVERY speech and focus more on how to write speeches earlier in the semester.  I wanted to cover interview techniques, group discussions, giving directions, and more, but time has expired.  Part of the problem was my unfortunate absences for conferences and other professional development that always seem to happen on Gold days.  Nonetheless, I have been pleased with the growth in the students from their earliest speeches in August to their persuasive speeches we’re currently giving.  The morning announcements will never be the same thanks to Sebastian and Michael’s excellent dyamic duo AM show!

With only two weeks left in the semester, it’s time for all of us to give us as much effort as we can muster to “run to home base” for a score.  I haven’t had time at all to think about the holiday season - I’m not sure where my time goes to be honest - but I have enjoyed working closely with Mr. Cole and Mr. Ruiz this semester in evaluating Moodle and thinking of ways to use the Linux computers in my classroom to help guide students to better reading and writing.  What does the word “better” imply?  More?  Less errors?  Deeper explanation?  Verbose word use?  The longer I teach the more I begin to realize there is so much more to do and so little time to do it.

Here is a file to my first attempt at using a webcam…Mr. Helmsing’s First Video Blog

I’ve been suffering from an evil, nasty, virulent despicable cold since I was in Nashville, TN this weekend. It might be from walking around in all of the cold weather outside (even though there was no snow, it was still brutally cold!) My throat is sore, my sinuses are congested, and I’m sneezing, wheezing, and coughing (imagine those people on the cold commercials with giant red noses). If you’re not in class, you won’t have to worry about catching it from me - if you are in class…make sure you wash your hands.

Today in M1, Ms. Sandberg gave a guest lecture on pieces of art that convey the feeling of fear. Complete with sound effects, a clip from Jaws, and detailed information about some macabre paintings, we wrote personal responses to some images in her PowerPoint.

M3 finished viewing What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and we mapped on the board a complex web depicting all of the stressors and factors that are “eating away” at Gilbert during the film (Arnie, Mamma, his sisters, Becky, his job, the town of Endora itself). There are some challenging questions on Moodle for you to respond to in your Moodle Journal if you have not yet done so already.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, M4 began class by collaborating on a Moodle wiki about the foods we love to eat at Thanksgiving. Foodways is a type of folklore that analyses how the foods different groups and societies eat can tell us a lot about their culture. What do the foods you eat say about your life, family, and traditions?