LA event 11/1

If any of you are passionate about climate change and/or in Los Angeles tomorrow...

progress report evaluation

It's (already) that time again!  This is our last progress report before the final push for the semester report card.  In a perfect world, grades wouldn't matter except as an indicator of what we know and what we have yet to learn.  In this world, grades are currency and they are emphasized so heavily that some people get confused about the purpose of learning in school. 

However you think about grades, I want to make sure we share an understanding of where you are excelling in this course and where you need support in order to improve.  If you were in class yesterday, thank you for answering the evaluation questions.  If you weren't in class, or if you didn't finish, please answer the questions (below) on paper and give them to me today (Thursday, October 31) so that we have time to talk in case there is a wide gap between my evaluation and yours.  -Mahalo.

october 31

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes:  "What's He Building in There?" by Tom Waits; "Halloween (Michael Myers) Theme" by John Carpenter; "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson]

Since today begins Dia de los Muertos, three options (one for each death, or each face plus a bonus):
1. What role does fear (of death, of loss, of discovery) play in books and movies?  What role does it play in your own life and decision-making process?
2. What masks do people wear in everyday life, i.e., how/why/when do we intentionally adopt personae that serve purposes other than reflecting who we are with integrity?
3. As you think about the first tune of the day, what is it about what the storyteller DOESN'T say that creates suspense?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Why stories are more memorable than lectures
3. Continue "The Road Not Taken" -- must be posted or recited by tomorrow (Friday)

bullying article

The Greater Good magazine is a publication of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.  It's mission is to "turn scientific research into stories, tips, and tools for a happier life and a more compassionate society."

This morning I ran across this article in The Greater Good about ways to prevent bullying.  Each nonfiction article I find is an excellent opportunity to analyze the author's argument, and sometimes it also gives me the chance to ask about your experience as students.  After all, it's one thing for adults to make educated guesses about bullying, but sometimes their policies feel like the parent standing outside the back to school dressing room with clothes you wouldn't be caught dead in.

Please read the article. Then, in a comment to this post, please reflect on your lived experience and comment on whether you think the article is credible and true.  Mahalo.

october 30

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Emerson's transcendentalist contemporary (there's a mouthful!) Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "Men have become the tools of their tools."  What do you think he meant?  Do you agree?  Why/why not?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Cake Wednesday: the cover letter
3. "The Road Not Taken" recitals
4. Meet Ralph

HW:
1. Progress report week: self-assess your portfolio
2. If you haven't yet posted your poetry recital video, this is an excellent time.  More live performances tomorrow.

how to get a world-class education for free on the internet

I remember seeing this story last year and just ran across it again-- you can learn the best information from the best resources without paying a dime.  So what are you waiting for?  You can see the whole story with all of the links HERE.

what i'm reading (late october)

Sometimes students ask me what I'm reading.  For the last few years it's mostly been nonfiction; there are so many things I want to understand about the world.  Apart from what I find on my own, I love it when a person I respect recommends a book about something I think I already understand.  This challenges me to keep an open mind; when I start reading I consider a familiar topic from a completely new perspective.  That's the case with The Oxygen Advantage.  It's a book about how breathing more effectively can help with everything from stress to performance to weight loss.  I'm only a couple chapters in, and I haven't yet cross-referenced the research (which I will, because (a) I'm a curious geek, and (b) I'm not about to take one stranger's word about something as important as breathing), but so far the ideas are consistent with what I remember from biology and I'm already seeing positive results from the few practices I have tested for myself.  This isn't an endorsement yet, but the book is definitely thought-provoking.

This past weekend I did pick up a novel, and the action moved so quickly that I plowed through it in a few hours.  Zero Sum Game was perfect timing: my daughter's in fifth grade, and already she's had three teachers in a row who have basically done everything they can to make math less interesting, so she's not as excited about it as she used to be, which is a damn shame.  I was thinking about this a couple weeks ago when I read a review of a book written by a young woman about a protagonist -- also a young woman -- who is an assassin with mad skills, including an insanely keen grasp of math that allows her to think and do things that you and I can't.  Add an international plot, mind control, logic, and lots of suspense and explosions in LA and the surrounding desert, and I was hooked.  It's nowhere near age appropriate for my kiddo, but I'll save it for her just in case. :)

*If you follow the links for the book titles, you'll notice they lead to Powell's instead of Amazon.  This is because Powell's is one of the world's greatest independent bookstores (which you can visit in Portland, OR) and I want to support them instead of an industry-eating, ICE-supporting monopoly.  In this society and economy it's important to support the businesses you believe in.