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Wisdom
You want constant interaction and entertainment. You view this as a right.
Let me tell you what has not likely occurred to you: some valuable experiences will not unfold if you interact with them.
The ancient sages watched closely the animals. From the animals, man learned movement and technique that he emulated, a step in mastery of the earth.
Further refined, the sages refined these techniques into the animal styles of martial arts, of dance.
Had these people yelled out, approached the animals, the animals would have fled, and the movements and ways would not have unfolded.
The insights and techniques that man learned resulted from his employment of one of the most basic of skills: quiet invisibility.
You let fly with your loudly voiced opinion as soon as the action begins, and you alter it. The performer, like an animal, begins to observe you warily. The performance, if it doesn’t cease outright, will likely be affected.
Lao Tse advices us, simply, yet deeply: “In action, watch the timing.”
To further explain: Know when to act, and when not to.
Quiet observation is an action of considerable worth.
Sentence diagramming: modifier and article
Can you anticipate my lecture?
Sentence diagramming: The basics
“Let’s quickly review the last eleven years of your education…”
Battle plan
My colleague and I planned the first week old school on one of the last remaining chalkboards on the campus.
Wisdom
Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
— from Seneca.
Syllabus 11th grade English
Comprehensive English, grade 11
K. Andersen
kandersen@slzusd.org
kandersen@ahs.schoolloop.com
kingsleyandersen.com
With the switch from California Standards to Common Core, the curriculum this year is in a somewhat fluid state. This syllabus serves as a guideline to what will be covered within the year, with the timing and sequence to be updated online, electronically, as events warrant.
We at Arroyo are a college-oriented culture: this course will focus on preparing the student for any level of college, trade school, or career.
READING
I expect to cover these works over the course of the year:
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Into The Wild, John Krakauer
Time permitting, more works from the board-approved list may be covered. In addition, there will be short readings:
Supplemental readings of poetry.
Nonfiction articles in support of persuasive and argumentative writing and college preparatory reading.
WRITING
The essay
This year’s focus will be on the argumentative essay in which the student will state or side with an opinion and support this with evidence, reasoning, experience, and observation.
The journal
A daily informal writing of one hundred words.
The topics will largely be the student’s choice, with the primary focus of reflection, i.e., “What did I learn today? What did I experience today? How does this relate to what I already know?”
Occasionally, topics will be mandatory.
SPEAKING
The student will be expected to present to the class on topics both prepared for and random.
These speeches will be one to two minutes and will be graded on clarity and the avoidance of verbal static, e.g., “Uhhhhh,” “You know?”
LATE WORK POLICY: NO LATE WORK
There are three criteria for the acceptance of late work:
The absence is due to an incapacitating illness or difficulty, i.e., the student is physically or emotionally unable to do the work.
The student is unable to access ahs.schoolloop.com and therefore has not been informed of the assignment.
The acceptance of late work will require a conference that in the least will be a phone call or email, and at the most a personal meeting that may include counselor or administrator.
TO BE CLEAR: If the student has been informed of the due date and the specifications, and has access to the materials, and the student is not incapacitated, the due date applies.
PRINTER PROBLEMS
Printers are not provided in this classroom.
It is advised that any assignment that must be typed be printed 24 hours before deadline, so printer malfunctions such as “We ran out of ink” can be corrected.
An emailed assignment is not a substitution for a hard copy.
ABSENCES
Absenteeism is a pervasive problem in this “mental health day” culture.
Be aware that an hour-long lecture explaining difficulties of the material – often enhanced by the asking of good questions – cannot be reproduced.
In short: some assignments cannot be made up.
ATTENDANCE RECORDING
If I have marked a student absent in error, he or she has 24 hours to bring the error to my attention for correction. Check schoolloop attendance daily, and promptly respond to any Teleparent notification of absence.
If a student is tardy, he or she will be assigned a five-minute class detention at period’s end, at which time he or she will watch as I correct attendance.
ELECTRONIC RECORDING IN THE CLASSROOM
The use of recording devices in the classroom without teacher permission is prohibited (See CA Ed Code 51512 and CA Penal Code 630-632). Additionally, some parents/guardians do not want their son or daughters to be recorded. If a student wishes to record classroom proceedings, he or she must request permission on a case-by-case basis. Simply stated: ask first.
This includes but is not limited to photo, video, or audio recording.
SCHOLARSHIP
Our goal at Arroyo is to provide a student with the curiosity, desire, and ability to advance his or her education as far as possible.
Unfortunately, there is a pervasive notion in America that a formal education is worthless and a “street” education leads to a superior career choice. This often includes the disparagement of the curriculum, lesson, or teacher in a disrespectful and disruptive outburst. Disruptions of this kind may hinder the learning of serious students or those with special needs.
While the student is free to question lesson design in a respectful manner – which may need to take place during “office hours” or in conference – a disruption of the class may lead to an overall grade no higher that deficient, i.e., D.
A disruptive student will be warned clearly and parent/guardian as well as administration will be apprised of the situation, and corrective action will be expected in accord with the district’s policy of “restorative justice.”
The best rule of thumb: there is an appropriate time, place. and manner in which to express an opinion. If it is not appropriate during instructional minutes, the student and I will negotiate an appointment at class end.
QUESTIONS
The contact information in the header is arranged in order of effectiveness of prompt receipt and return. Please contact me for any clarification you may need.
Understanding poetry: repetition and parallelism
Repetition and parallelism—the use of similar constructions within the sentence—need further expansion. The queen of figurative language, repetition of sound or word or phrase slips from poetry to prose to speeches of art or urgency. Memorize this terminology, then begin to see how the great writers and orators employ it.
anaphora, the same words open the clause series
e.g., What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain?
epistrophe, the same words close a clause series
e.g., When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child
symploce, the use of both anaphora and epistrophe:
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
asyndeton, the omission of conjunction
e.g., Veni, vidi, vici.
polysyndeton, the repetition of conjunction
e.g., …men and women who spoke the language of duty and morality and loyalty and obligation.
antithesis, opposition in construction
e.g., Many are called, few are chosen.
Man proposes, God disposes.
climax, clauses ascending in importance
e.g., …three things endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Additionally, there are different forms of asyndeton for the acutely-focused student:
apokoinu: …there was no breeze came through the door.
parataxis: I weep for Adonais—he is dead.
zeugma: Mary likes chocolate, John vanilla.
Figures of repetition
A fantastic resource with which to go deeper into figurative speech and the understanding of the craft.
From the aptly-named SILVA RHETORICAE: follow the branches.
Understanding poetry: terminology mnemonics
Close readers of the lists noted that I have arranged the terminology so that the first letters create the phrase mnemonic “The airship fuel.”
see https://kingsleyandersen.com/2013/08/05/understanding-poetry-rhyme-v-2/
In v.2 I have added consonance, assonance, and repetition, thus increasing the mnemonic to “The airship fuel car.” As this may not appeal to your tastes, I offer the following mnemonics to aid you in memorizing the basics of rhyme. (If you don’t find any that stick in your memory, you are a hard nut indeed.)
Hi! Uplift a searcher
Relish fruit: a peach
A catfish pie hurler
Here, hurl a pacifist
Theirs a careful hip
Each a pushier flirt
A fireplace hurt his
A heretical fur ship
A peachier lush rift
Either hip’s a fulcra
Hire a plushier fact
A ripe flesh haircut
A haircut fire helps
Hurl a feistier chap
A filthier chap’s rue
Hurries a life patch
Charities fur a help
A spherical fire hut
He’s a spherical fruit
Uh, a seraphic lifter
Hurl a heraphic serif
Plus a charier thief
A charier he uplifts
Flip her a Eucharist
A chapel hires fruit
Preach a filthier us
Hi purchaser! A filet?
Hi! Purchase a trifle
Reach a flusher tipi
Hi! A spiteful archer
Hurl a spacier thief
A practice flier, huh?
A practice rifle, huh?
Uh a shiftier parcel
Kingsley Andersen 