Final Synthesis Essays are due on Thursday, 15 December (B Day) and Friday, 16 December (A Day)

2 December 2016

Today we discussed introductions and organization strategies as we continue work on the synthesis essay.

With respect to introductions, there are several strategies for raising the question at issue as an authentic question for the reader, including:

• a shocking statistic or fact that cultivates the question
• a historical example that cultivates the question
• a personal anecdote that cultivates the question
• information from a survey that raises the question
• an example from one of the texts we have read in the unit
• a ripped-from-the-headlines example that raises the question

We also used a sample enthymeme to develop a question-based outline.

At War, At Play: What We're Reading Next

Slides describing the novels in our next unit can be found here.  We'll be checking them out at the end of the week.

30 November 2016

Today we took a closer look at body paragraph structure and the ethical introduction of evidence as we continued drafting the synthesis essay.

Body paragraphs should employ the TRIAC structure. Strong body paragraphs include the following:

• Topic of the paragraph
• Refinement of the topic
• Illustration of the topic (fact, statistic, anecdote, textual evidence)
• Analysis of evidence to connect to topic
• Conclusion (that leads to the next issue)

In order to build credibility as writers, students should provide as much information as possible to precede the evidence, including the following:

• Author's full name
• "Article"/book title
• Context or occasion for the piece/context for the excerpt
• Parenthetical citation of page number (when applicable)

Including this information before the quotation provides clear context for the reader and enhances the clarity of the writing.

The Corporate Nature of American Football

Owen Cooper share these articles with me:

• The Comprehensive Illusion of Football
• The Corporate Appeal of Football

NFL Players Who Won't Let Their Kids Play Football

• The Top 12 NFL Players Who Wouldn't Let Their Kids Play Football
• Some NFL Players Say...
• 9 NFL Players...

NCAA Athletes and Pay

Check out this New Yorker article about NCAA athletes and pay.

Also, New York Times reporter Joe Nocera has numerous pieces on the same issue.

Barely getting by in the NFL

"Scout Teams, Burger Runs, and Even the Occasional Game" documents the difficulties of being a seventh-round draft pick in the NFL. Read it here.

Tackle Football Makes a Comeback

Read the New York Times Magazine article here.

Before and After Carlisle article from Radiolab

Here's the link.

28 November 2016

Today students crafted questions at issue and enthymemes, then began developing synthesis essays to support their claims.

Some additional resources include:

•   "Letter of Recommendation: High School Football" from this last week's New York Times Magazine
• "A Not So Brief and Extremely Sordid History of Cheerleading" from Mother Jones
• Radiolab's "American Football" episode
• "Are People Violent By Nature? Probably" from the Los Angeles Times
• "No Pain, No Game" from The New York Times
• "Stop Glorifying Football Players and Start Glorifying Soldiers" from Time

In class, we reviewed the synthesis essay assignment and scoring guide, and students got underway with the writing process. A first complete first draft of the essay is due on Tuesday, 6 December/Wednesday, 7 December 2016.

22 November 2016

Today students further developed topics for synthesis essays, building out specific pieces of textual evidence that could support the examination of specific strands that come out of our examination of what American football reveals about American culture and American values. Some topics students are exploring include:

• hypermasculinity
• misogyny
• a protracted "win-lose" mentality
• exaggerated patriotism/false patriotism
• the NFL and nationalism
• the illusion of impenetrability or invulnerability
• "action movie ignorance" and the unseen impact of the game
• a tendency to ignore frightening or ugly realities
• rites of passage
• committing to an identity at an early age
• the relationship between sports and education
• the culture of commodification
• mental health as a stigma
• sport as a means to build community
• sport as a way to transcend economic class
• racism
• loss of identity
• risk-taking or deep play
• CTE

Some resources that may be useful going forward include:

• Frontline's "League of Denial"
• Andrew Sullivan's essay "The He Hormone"
• PBS Newshour's "Football's Grip on America is a Double-Edged Sword"

During our next two class sessions, students will be drafting synthesis essays to support their thinking about the issues they have become invested in.

18 November 2016

We began class by discussing responses to Gladwell's essay, "Offensive Play." Afterward, students worked in small groups to develop a list of potential issues to write about for the upcoming synthesis essay. As a full class, students compiled a list of possible subjects. Next time, we'll use dialogue journals and response papers to begin to develop evidence that could support those topics.

16 November 2016

Students turned in their Dialogue Journals, then turned to the discussion of the relationship between gender roles and sports--especially football--in their lives and in the books we have been reading during this unit. Students read either Brian Phillips' "Man Up" or a series of short pieces addressing parenting and gender from the New York Times "Room for Debate" section, "Do We Need to Change the Way We Raise Boys" to deepen the discussion.

Students were given Malcolm Gladwell's "Offensive Play," which they will read and write response papers about for our next session.

14 November 2016

Today students turned in their response papers about "The Case Against High School Sports" and "High School Sports Aren't Killing Academics. We discussed these articles in relation to students' own experiences, and in relation to the books in the unit. Students were given Jane McManus' "Gym Class Heroes" to read for next session.

"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" releases on Friday, 11 November 2016

Read the New York Times review here.

7-8 November 2016

Students took a quiz over their Football Case Study books. We discussed provocative issues emerging in the texts in small groups, then as a larger class.

"The Case Against High School Sports" and "High School Sports Aren't Killing Academics," the two articles that serve as the basis for the next response paper, were passed out. Response paper #2 is due on 14/15 November 2016.

3 November 2016

Students finished IRP presentations, reflected on their group work, and spent time in small groups discussing key elements of their Football Case Study books.

1 November 2016

Students engaged in SSR and heard IRP presentations.

28 October 2016

Students engaged in SSR and heard IRP presentations.

26 October 2016

Today class began with SSR and dialogue journal work.

IRP Presentations began today.

Students responded to the following freewrite prompt: In what ways are football and patriotism linked? Think about your own experiences, things you have seen, and things that happen in the book you are reading.

We discussed their observations, making links to the texts.

Students received their first Response Paper assignment, which asks them to read Kiese Laymon's "How They Do in Oxford," then write a critical response. The response paper is due (printed) at the beginning of our next class.

24 October 2016

Today students responded to reflection questions about the College/Personal Essay writing process, then turned in all drafts, including the finished and polished revision of the essay.

Students engaged in SSR, then spent time completing dialogue journal entries focusing on one of the thematic strands in the unit. They then spent time talking with two different sets of classmates, one consisting of students who are reading the same title, and the other consisting of students reading one of the other titles in the unit.

We then finished up the Radiolab episode, "American Football," and discussed how the podcast shed light on some issues being raised in the books.

20 October 2016

Today students checked out books for the new unit, Football: A Case Study. Students may choose to read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger, or Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain. Reading calendars are linked for A Day and B Day. Dialogue journal guidelines were passed out; dialogue journals are due on 15/16 November.

Students then completed a peer editing activity with the third drafts of college essays. Final, polished essays are due for grading on 24/25 October. Students should be prepared to turn in second and third drafts, along with peer and teacher comments, with the final essay.

We then spent time listening to Radiolab's episode "American Football" to build background knowledge about the game, its history, and the issues that surround it for 21st century audiences, players and families.

18 October 2016

Students responded to the following freewrite questions: When you think of the game of football, what do you imagine or know about the game's origins? When did American football begin? Where was it played? By whom? Why?

We then read and discussed the article "Carlisle: Before and After" by Brenna Farrell. We discussed the mission at the Carlisle School and the ways the images that accompany the article provide a mirror for the school's goals.

Students then listened to the first half of Radiolab's "American Football" episode, entitled 'The Ghosts of Football Past.' Students took notes on the following essential questions: What are the origins of American football? Who or what are the "ghosts of football's past"?

There will be a quiz over the day's activities.

Reminder: revised college essays are due on 20/21 October.

13 October 2016

Today students received their comments from me on their college essays and began to make revision plans. A polished, revised, printed essay is due in class on 20/21 October for peer editing; the final essay--printed and as perfect as possible--is due for grading on 24/25 October.

Student then learned about the books they may choose from for the next unit, Football: A Case Study. They may work with Michael Lewis' The Blind Side, Buzz Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, or Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Half-time Walk. We will check books out at the GHS library on 20/21 October and begin reading then.

Students then had time to learn about the books their classmates read during the Independent Reading Project, select group members for the IRP Group Presentation, and begin planning for the presentation itself. At the end of class, students signed up for their presentation dates and times.

11 October 2016

Today students turned in their Independent Reading Project Dialogue Journals. They completed the MyStudentPath survey. They then wrote in-class essays to bring our exploration of Clifford Geertz's "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" and William Finnegan's "The Man Without a Mask" to a close. This is the first summative assessment of the semester, and the work establishes the lens we will use to move into our next major unit, Football: A Case Study.

7 October 2016

Today after SSR, students responded to the following questions in a silent discussion:

• What is the relationship between art and society? To what extent does art mirror the values of society, educate society, or provide a release from the restrictions of society?

• Is it ethical to treat cultural forms like lucha libre or cockfighting as art?

• To what extent is it ethical to incorporate violence into entertainment?

• What is the role of violence in culture?

• To what extent is it possible to understand or “read” the meaning of a cultural form (lucha libre, cockfighting, drifting) when it is taken out of its cultural context?

• Geertz’s method for reading Balinese culture takes into account economics, psychology, history, sociology, philosophy, art criticism and literary criticism. What aspects of culture does he overlook? Who is privileged, and who is marginalized in his analysis? What would you add to his method to provide a more complete understanding of the form under analysis? Why?
  
  
  They identified a question they were interested in working with and a response from one of the silent discussion commenters, and with group members, they then developed a set of issues and questions they were interested in exploring in class discussion.
  
  
  Students then discussed the issues they were interested in considering. Notes from Period 3, Period 4, Period 6, and Period 7 are available here.
  
  
  During our next session, students will write in-class essays synthesizing their thoughts about the connections between Geertz's "Deep Play," Finnegan's "The Man Without a Mask," and the topics they discussed in class. Students should bring their copies of the essays, along with notes, to class. Dialogue Journals for the IRP are due at the next class session.

5 October 2016

Today after SSR students discussed similarities and differences between Geertz's "Deep Play" and Finnegan's "The Man Without a Mask." Students were asked to come to class prepared to discuss cultural forms particular to the US that we might focus upon using Geertz's analytical model. Next class, we will engage in a class-wide discussion about the issues raised by the two essays.

3 October 2016

Today students spent time considering the last three sections of Geertz's "Deep Play," concentrating on the big ideas developed in "Playing with Fire," "Feathers, Blood," and "Saying Something about Something." We discussed the purpose of each section of the essay in the context of Geertz's larger argument and began to consider what Geertz's approach might offer us as a lens through with to contemplate specific aspects of American culture.

We engaged in some prep for our reading of William Finnegan's "The Man Without a Mask" by watching a brief film, "Cassandro's Big Fight." Students should complete their reading of "The Man Without a Mask" for our next session.

29 September 2016

After SSR, students completed their presentations for the "Odds and Even Money" section of the essay, made presentations, and took notes to develop their understanding of this portion of Geertz's piece. Students received focus questions to deepen their understanding of the "Playing with Fire" section of the essay. They need to complete those questions for our next class session, and they need to finish reading the essay.

"Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" Slideshow

"Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" Slideshow

27 September 2016

At the beginning of class, students responded to reflection questions connected to the second draft of the college/personal essay. Those questions are:

After answering the questions, students turned in their drafts, then spent time in SSR.

We then reviews "The Raid," "Of Cocks and Men," and "The Fight," the three sections of "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" students have read so far. We shared our questions and discussed the essay thus far, then moved into the section "Odds and Even Money." Students are working in groups to render assigned paragraphs in visual terms to make those paragraphs less obscure. We will continue that work at our next meeting, at which time students will share their visuals with the class.

For the next session, students should finish reading through page 385 of the essay. We will discuss the reading after presentations.

23 September 2016

Class began with SSR focusing on the IRP.

Students were introduced to the historical context of Bali, the setting of the essay we will devote the next several class sessions to discussing.

We began reading Clifford Geertz's essay, "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight"; students should read through page 374 in the packet (up until the section entitled "Odds and Even Money") for our next session.

20 September 2016

Class began with SSR focusing on the IRP.

Students provided one another feedback on their "First Lines" drafts. We then spent time critiquing a college essay, discussing what kinds of feedback we would give the writer while identifying the strengths in the work.

Students received the Personal/College Essay Assignment. Second drafts are due 27/28 September.

Students received the Independent Reading Project Group Presentation Guidelines.

19 September 2016

Class began with SSR, focusing on the IRP books. Students should plan to finish the IRP books by 11/12 October.

Students gave one another feedback on their drafts of essays responding to the Unconventional College Essay Prompts that were distributed last session. They highlighted words, phrases, anecdotes, and details that impacted them as readers, then wrote notes to one another explaining what made those specific elements effective.

Students read and evaluated "winning" essays that have gained some students access to high caliber schools, and we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of those essays. Students completed a graphic organizer that led them to focus on introductions, use of evidence, use of rhetorical strategies, and conclusions.

Students were given the First Lines Prompts. A draft using one of the first lines provided will be due during our next session.

15 September 2016

Today we began class with time for sustained silent reading as the Independent Reading Project gets underway. Students received the Independent Reading Project Dialogue Journal assignment and had time to create a first entry in that journal at the end of the reading period.

Students then offered one another feedback on the drafts of the Common App essay they brought to class.

We followed the peer review activity with some consideration of the Unconventional Prompts, one of which students will choose to use as the basis for a rough draft due at our next class session.

13 September 2016

Today students heard a presentation from the GHS counseling department about college and career readiness, offering information about the application and scholarship process and timelines for events at GHS. Afterward, students provided one another with feedback on their drafts of their passion pieces. At the end of class, we reviewed the Common Application prompts, from which students were asked to select ONE prompt to use as the basis for a rough draft. The draft is due at the beginning of our next class.

9 September 2016

Today students discussed Roxane Gay's essay "To Scratch, Claw, or Grope...," focusing on the ways she at once accepts and rejects the label of "nerd." Students developed lists of specific obsessions, pass-times, interests, and passions that define them, then began to brainstorm specific stories or situations that centered on one of those passions. They then began drafting personal essays focusing on one of those stories or situations. A complete draft of the essay is due at the beginning of our next class session.

7 September 2016

Today students reviewed provocative quotes from the Heller essay, listened to a conversation about academic freedom between actress/activist Laverne Cox and feminist theorist bell hooks, and wrote in-class preassessment essays in response to prompts tied to class discussions. Essays were due at the end of the class period. For the next session, students should review the Roxane Gay essay "To Scratch, Claw, or Grope..."

1 September 2016

Today students discussed Nathan Heller's essay "The Big Uneasy." We began class by developing questions that emerged from the essay and the research students brought to class following their reading of the piece. After a lengthy discussion, students pulled provocative quotes from the piece, then completed an exit slip reflecting on how the readings and video have impacted their thinking about the relationship between safe spaces and academic freedom.

31 August 2016

Today students began the thinking work in a pre-assessment unit that involves a set of related texts and that will culminate in a piece of in-class writing. In class, we viewed a clip from Matt Stone and Trey Parker's South Park, "In My Safe Space," then discussed the argument the video advances about the effects of the concept. Students then read and responded to "The Coddling of the American Mind." During our next session, we will discuss Nathan Heller's "The Big Uneasy" and conduct some research in class.

29 August: First Day

Today we discussed the course overview and the themes that will guide our work over the year. Students began to build community through games. The Letter of Introduction assignment is due at the beginning of our next class session. Students should also have read and annotated Roxane Gay's essay "To Scratch, Claw, or Grope..." and be ready to discuss it at our next class session.

Welcome to the 2016-2017 academic year

And welcome to the world of Themes in Contemporary Literature: Let's Play. In this course, you will have the opportunity to explore a range of ideas laced together by the concepts of game, play, sport, competition and creativity to understand how these ideas contribute to different kinds of identities in different cultures. We will explore football, boxing, baseball; we will examine poetry, drama, prose; we will write personal essays, literary analyses, theses; we will discuss, discuss, discuss. I am delighted to have you joining me in the conversation. Let's play.