English Fury
  • Students
  • Parents
  • MixedInk
  • Contact Us

Who Will You Blame?

11/26/2017

 
Picture
At the beginning of my teaching career, I was a new teacher on fire. I wanted to change the industry of education by using my passion for learning as the fuel to propel all educators to give a damn. I promised to teach all my students everything there is to know about literature, words, writing, writers and especially reading!

So, I created this blog, R.A.W., EPIC Content, rubrics and my version of Socratic Conver-stations. I was on fiyah!

Then, just when I was floating on a cloud, an email from a parent poked a hole in my bubble and deflated my soul. In it, she blasted me for giving work that she claims her child did not have the resources to complete. She wanted her child out of my class. The expletives she used were not warranted for even the devil. But there I sat. In front of my computer. Reading my death warrant.

Then I wondered: what exactly did this parent expect me to do? Not teach her child? Allow her child to live in a world where her child could not read, write or communicate beyond a 5th grade level? Then who would she blame?

All too often, people blame others for their shortcomings. Not often enough, do people take responsibility for their role in their shortcomings.

Can you imagine a world, community or even a school, where people, citizens...students...always admitted to creating some of the situations that they find themselves in? One of my teacher mottos is: I don't give grades, I write down what you earn. That way, when my students receive failing grades and they claim, "She failed me," I always ask, what did you do? Was I supposed to do your work for you? Makes me wonder. Will you fault others for your shortcomings? Will you become a "blamer?"


​Comment on the following: Read the quote in the image above, then defend or challenge whether the statement is correct. Please be concise and make your point. Diatribes do not mean quality. 

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

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.

Due: Fri., Dec. 1, 2017 11:59 p.m. CST​​​

Keeping Up Appearances

11/19/2017

 
According to recent NPR (National Public Radio) poscasts, TEDtalks, news reports on crime and other unfavorable experiences, many minorities feel that we have to code switch in order to do the most basic task of all: live.

In 1986, an article was published in Ms. Magazine about journalist, Brent Staples, who decided to code switch after intimidating a white woman on the street. She thought he was a "thug" and ran off. Instead, he was a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, there to earn a Ph.D in Psychology. At six feet tall, he looked intimidating to her as he walked hurriedly behind her on the street, at night, trying to get where he was going.

Even I, in 2017, was told by a white colleague that, upon first meeting me and seeing my striking red hair, he thought I was "ghetto" and not very smart. I wondered why since I'd never opened my mouth to say anything to him except, "Hi."

Should code switching be a requirement for minorities?

Code switching is when minorities change how they look, speak, live or behave in order to live as "American" as possible. In this big melting pot of America in which we live, why is that necessary?


We do it for many reasons: in order to get the jobs we want, live in the neighborhoods we want, or be accepted by non-minorities.

Click on the two videos above, then respond to the prompt below.

​Comment on the following prompt: To what extent should minorities change their appearance, how they speak, live and behave in order to seem less intimidating?

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class hour.

You MUST also 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.

Due: Fri., Nov. 24, 2017 11:59 p.m. CST​​​

Since Looks Can Kill

11/12/2017

 
Picture
"Beauty is only skin deep." It is in the "eye of the beholder." But when the eye is a camera lens and the beholder is a multi-billions in advertising and fashion dollars, then beauty is defined by eating disorders/mental illnesses that dictate society must be thin.
​
There are  a few game changers. Plus-size yoga instructor, Jessamyn Stanley, urges women "to fight skinny stereotypes...no matter what their shape or size," and Sarah Rae Vargas
is big, bold and beautiful.

Nevertheless, with so many strides in reshaping other "societal norms," the definition of beauty is still heavily debatable.


​Click on the image to read the article. Look at all the images as well. Then, comment on the following prompt: How much responsibility does the media have in defueling society's image of beauty?

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

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.

These are blog posts, not essays. Your responses should not be lengthy. Be concise. Make your point, and move on.

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.

Due: Fri., Nov. 17, 2017 11:59 p.m. CST​​​

Guns. Who's Controlling?

11/5/2017

 
Picture
​Texas is notorious for its big image. Big hats. Big trucks. Big food portions. And, big numbers of murder victims from mass shootings with big guns. The latest? A mass church shooting.

There is something terribly wrong in a world where people feel like they have the absolute right to walk inside a church, a movie theater, a concert..or anywhere..and kill people.

That's exactly what happened Sunday morning. As churchgoers clutched Bibles, prayed, worshiped God and pronounced their faith, a gunman walked inside and, with a big Texas-size gun, murdered more than 20 people in cold blood.

No one knows why he did it. It doesn't matter why he did it. Knowing why may help to wrap your mind around things, but ultimately, "why" is not a problem solver, resurrecter or bandage. It doesn't heal the hurt. It simply adds to the coffin of carnage that, once and for all, needs to be laid to rest when a solution is reached on what to do about guns, or people with guns.

As the smoking guns cool from the mass murders committed with them in this country, what will we do and who will we blame? The guns? The people with guns? The government?


​Comment on the following prompt: To what extent do gun control laws really protect people from being killed by guns?

INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

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.

These are blog posts, not essays. Your responses should not be lengthy. Be concise. Make your point, and move on.


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.

Due: Fri., Nov. 10, 2017 11:59 p.m. CST​​

    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

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012


    Copyright Disclaimer
    Creative Commons License
    This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be made available by contacting mixedink@englishfury.com.

    Categories

    All
    Class Period

    RSS Feed

©2012-2023 English Fury. All rights reserved in all media. English Fury is a registered trademark owned by thawriter.biz. No part of the contents of this website can be reproduced without the express written consent of thawriter.biz.