Kakos' 4th Hour

Lost in Themselves

2006-04-23T19:54:00.000-06:00

The Tate Modern Museum (home of "The Oak Tree") recently exhibited the work of 1950s American Modern artist Philip Lorca diCorcia. Please read the excerpts below, browse the photographs on the website I've included, and respond to the questions that follow.

"For the Streetwork series, diCorcia developed a technique to photograph passers-by unawares. He set up an unobtrusive system of lights that could be activated by radio-signal. When a suitable subject walked past, diCorcia could take a candid snapshot whose elaborate lighting (in the artist’s words) adds ‘a cinematic gloss to a commonplace event’. The resulting photographs project a sense of the solitude and introspection within the bustle of the city.

"DiCorcia has commented:‘the street does not induce people to shed their self-awareness. They seem to withdraw into themselves. They become less aware of their surroundings, seemingly lost in themselves.’"

Explore the four photographs at: http://www.noorderlicht.com/eng/fest99/wonder/corcia/ph1.html

Why do you think diCorcia found these particular subjects "suitable" for his purpose? You can pick one or two, or discuss them as a single subject.

How can you relate this exhibit to the Hemingway's "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber?"

Gatsby Fishbowl

2006-04-04T15:37:00.000-06:00

Please post your fishbowl questions by 9 pm the night before you lead discussion. Be sure to clarify which chapter your questions address. Only one member of your leadership group needs to post the questions.

Convenience, Meaning, Technology

2006-03-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Mr. Fisch posted the following link on our technology team's blog, and I immediately wanted to spread it to everyone I know. If you have 8 minutes, watch this short film and post your reactions. http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Huck Starting Activities

2006-02-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

Please design an opening activity for your assigned chapters. You can post discussion questions, provide links to relevant articles, paintings, or song lyrics, or design any other insightful activity that will get your classmates involved in discussing the text. Think about characters, symbols, themes, historical background, connections to contemoporary issues, or any other methods of analysis that engage you. Show off your creative side!

Remember that your post is due by 9 pm on the night before we discuss your assigned chapters.

I Hear Arapahoe Singing

2006-02-05T21:28:00.001-07:00

Create your own verse of "I Hear Arapahoe Singing." You may follow Whitman's tone or alter it to fit your own perception of daily life at Arapahoe, but please maintain Whitman's free verse and overall style. The first line of the poem is "I hear Arapahoe singing," and the rest of the poem is up to you. Hint: Start your line with "Those, "The," or "Each." Be sure to read the verses your classmates have written before posting your own in order to avoid repeating each other. Publish ONE verse only, not an entire poem.
[Note: Whitman's original "I Hear America Singing" can be found on page 352.]

Her Letter to the World

2006-01-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

Please read the following poem by Emily Dickinson and respond to the questions below:

This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.

Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!

What inferences could you make from this poem about Emily Dickinson as a poet and a person? Examine also her picture above and comment on her expression, clothing, and/or overall appearance. How does she strike you?

Should Blogs Be Censored?

2006-01-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Blogs dance back and forth across the line between private thoughts and public space. I thought you might be interested in the following article about teenage blogging, freedom of speech, and the dangers of "exposing" yourself on the internet. Feel free to comment (as if you needed an invitation).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601489_pf.html

Resistance to Civil Government

2006-01-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Under what circumstances would you be willing to go to jail for a moral or political principle? Alternatively, explain why you wouldn't be willing to commit civil disobedience under any circumstances. Do you agree with Thoreau's decision to go to jail instead of paying his poll tax? (A poll tax, by the way, is tax on each voter.)

Private Opinion

2006-01-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

Please comment on one or both of the following quotations by Thoreau:

"Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate."

"Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost...Practically, the old have no very important advice to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and their lives have been such miserable failures...they are only less young than they were."

To what extent do you agree or disagree with Thoreau? What questions do these statements raise?

Teaching Douglass/Letting Douglass Teach Us

2005-12-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Removing the Veil

2005-11-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

Please ask 1-3 authentic discussion questions regarding Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil." Get under the veil...question the text's symbols, mood, themes, characters, and secrets. Also, feel free to link the story back to your favorite Puritan play (I'm referring to The Crucible, of course). Be sure to read the other posts before asking your question in order to avoid repeating others' observations. Remember that only half of the class is required to post these questions, but the rest of the class is welcome to do so as well.

Your questions are due by 9 pm on Wednesday night.

A Dark and Creepy Ride into Poe's Mind...

2005-11-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

Please ask 1-3 authentic discussion questions regarding Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher." Probe deeply inside Poe's twisted mind...question the text's symbols, mood, themes, characters, and secrets. Be sure to read the other posts before asking your question in order to avoid repeating others' observations. Remember that only half of the class is required to post these questions, but the rest of the class is welcome to do so as well.

Your questions are due by 9 pm tonight (Monday, November 28).

Striving for Moral Perfection

2005-11-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

As you chart your virtues this week a la Ben Franklin, write a brief journal entry to the blog addressing which virtue is posing the greatest challenge to you and why you think this is. Remember that chastity, though an honorable virtue, is not appropriate to discuss in this exercise. Please read and comment on each other's entries as well.

Drawing Electricity from the Sky

2005-11-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Examine Benjamin West's painting, Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1805). You may access this painting via the following link: http://www.frankelec.com/west_fullsize.htm. You can also find the painting on page 87 of your yellow American Literature book. After spending a few moments with the painting, please respond to one or more of the following questions:
1. What do you think the artist is trying to achieve in this painting? Consider the sometimes clashing roles of science and religion and how they function in this painting.
2. What are your reactions to this painting?
3. What do you think Benjamin Franklin thought of this portrait of himself?

Virtue: Intelligence

2005-11-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

In class on Wednesday we addressed whether or not we can improve our intelligence. Consider the following quotations:

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." --Albert Einstein

"We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought." --Bertrand Russell

Please comment on one or both of these quotations. Feel free also to use these quotations to discuss the original question: What is intelligence, and can one work to improve one's intelligence?