Blog Archives

Ring Around the Rosie

5/12/2019

Look, consider it all, then comment intelligently, academically and with fidelity.

1. INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

2. Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five.

3. You MUST respond to at least TWO other posts from any student. Your replies cannot be identical comments on different posts and posting shallow comments such as "I agree" or "I disagree" will earn you a zero. Make sure your reply addresses the comment that you are responding to.
Be sure to--

Be clear about your position
Provide specific support for your argument
Use rhetorical devices and other grammar elements
Write EPIC Content-Engaging, Powerful, Informative, Creative

CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school or your parents with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not respond AND comment on TWO others, you will not receive credit for this assignment. It's all or nothing.

Due: Sun., May 16, 2019 11:59 p.m. CST

If you would like to submit a topic for discussion, submit it here.

Steph, Steph, Side-to-Side

5/9/2019

Steph Curry's wife is in hot social media water over comments she made about feeling unattractive to other men. As I read the comments about Ayesha Curry's comments on "Red Table Talk" about her insecurities, I became perturbed at some of the comments, especially from men.

We live in a society where women are objectified based on societal standards that don't seem to even be realistic. We have been reduced to being desirable based on how we look outwardly. We tear women down. On a daily basis.

Women, especially, are going broke, losing their minds, compromising their integrity, jumping into loveless relationships, all for the sake of being wanted. It is exhausting trying to be the right weight, height, class, color, natural, synthetic, made up, dressed up..you name it.

Then, along comes women like Curry who, with real tears in her eyes and heaviness in on her heart, are publicly open and honest about how they feel about all the madness. And what happens? She's crucified! The same men who objectify them (building what they envision as the "perfect woman") tear them to shreds and make them feel horribly worse about themselves than they did before. And the comments from some women! Girrrlll.....Is this a paradox or what!

Should Curry have not shared her feelings? You know, the very thing experts say you need to release or lose your mind? Should she have not commented publicly? And live up the the fake standard that society say celebs are? What are women supposed to do when they feel vulnerable? Less desirable, unfulfilled? Curry is 32 with three kids, a strong value system and a husband who gets more attention from other women on a daily basis than she could ever give, and we, as a society, are telling her that she has no right to want to feel attractive by no other male species if it is not her husband. Does this means he's not making her feel attractive? How come we haven't heard from her husband?

Her "need" doesn't come from a lack of talent, money, fame or material possessions. It comes from human nature and needing to feel needed. Period.

If nothing else, from this moment, I have learned that you can't win for losing.

Watch the clip above by clicking on the image. Read some of the comments. Look around on the Internet at other comments. Then, consider it all, then comment intelligently, academically and with fidelity.

1. INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

2. Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five.

3. You MUST respond to at least TWO other posts from any student. Your replies cannot be identical comments on different posts and posting shallow comments such as "I agree" or "I disagree" will earn you a zero. Make sure your reply addresses the comment that you are responding to.
Be sure to--

Be clear about your position
Provide specific support for your argument
Use rhetorical devices and other grammar elements
Write EPIC Content-Engaging, Powerful, Informative, Creative

CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school or your parents with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not respond AND comment on TWO others, you will not receive credit for this assignment. It's all or nothing.

Due: Sun., May 12, 2019 11:59 p.m. CST

If you would like to submit a topic for discussion, submit it here.

Love is...

5/1/2019

Recently, I had some conversations with my students about relationships: what dating is, what it should be, how students define it. What love is, what it should be, how students define it. I was shocked that most teens believe that dating, or boyfriend/girlfriend or girlfriend/girlfriend or boyfriend/boyfriend, means commitment and more profoundly, love.

I've overheard conversations between some teens who confess their undying committed love about their partners. Then when asked how long they've been dating, the answers vary from six months to two years. I'm always shocked.

Surprisingly, teens believe that they know what love is at this age, yet they are so uncertain about everything else in life: their careers, their emotional states, their home life, their after high school plans, their sexuality, their religious/spiritual beliefs, their very futures! But ask them about love and they are absolutely sure that they have all the answers.

They speak and behave as if they've never heard of infatuation, obsession or possession. While I don't want to get into the semantics of it all, I wanted to create a post that hopefully makes teens think internally when they think, externally, that they are in love. I wanted to be neutral in my position because for some, this topic is a sensitive issue. However, I will make this one point: love is not jealously, obsession, possession, anger or rage. Love means letting go, loving you more, saving yourself for your future spouse. But in this news clip, love means jealously, rage and death.

Watch the vid above and read the article in their entirety. Consider it, then comment intelligently, academically and with fidelity.

1. INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

2. Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five.

3. You MUST respond to at least TWO other posts from any student. Your replies cannot be identical comments on different posts and posting shallow comments such as "I agree" or "I disagree" will earn you a zero. Make sure your reply addresses the comment that you are responding to.
Be sure to--

Be clear about your position
Provide specific support for your argument
Use rhetorical devices and other grammar elements
Write EPIC Content-Engaging, Powerful, Informative, Creative

CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school or your parents with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not respond AND comment on TWO others, you will not receive credit for this assignment. It's all or nothing.

Due: Fri., May 3, 2019 11:59 p.m. CST

If you would like to submit a topic for discussion, submit it here.

Mixed Ink

Mixed Ink is our class blog, the window into our souls. It was designed to improve students' writing, critical thinking and communication skills by giving them a platform to provide meaningful content based on their interpretation of what they see.

Although the students receive a grade based on a rubric for completing this assignment, they are not graded on complexity of thought. This is a place where students of all levels can freely, confidently and creatively express themselves and their opinions in a nonjudgmental platform. They are required to respond to and critique each other, but degradation, slander, lewdness, etc., will not be tolerated.

Bridge Builders

All subjects are vital to learning, but English is the bridge of communication. So let's build the arch, one word at a time...

Grading Rubric

Learning Objectives

Communicate effectively
Be aware of current events
Write concisely
Boost critical thinking skills
Be accountable
Follow directions
Have a voice about what goes on in the world around you