Vocabulary #2

accoutrements- additional items of dress.
The women wore a vail to mass, that vail was a accoutrements piece of clothing.
apogee- the point in the orbit of the moon when it is farthest from the earth.
The moon was apogee to the earth at 9 last night.
apropos-concerning
She made a apropos comment about the qualification of this new employee.
bicker- argue
He bickered with his little sister.
coalesce- come together and form one mass.
The bushes formed a coalesce row.
contretemps- an unexpected occurrence.
The travel home had contretemps experiences, making us arrive a day later.
convolution- lots of "twists"
The story has lots of convolution.
cull- select from a large quantity.
I chose that shirt from a cull selection.
disparate- not comparable. 
The twins were not disparate.
dogmatic- lay down principles.
The teacher was very dogmatic.
licentious- unprincipled.
That girl was crazy and licentious in the way she dressed.
mete- punishment.
The mom was mete when you did wrong.
noxious- harmful.
That food is noxious to your body.
polemic- a strong verbal attack.
The dad was very polemic towards the boy.
populous- large population.
New York is a populous city.
probity- strong moral principles.
The church girl has lots of probity.
repartee- conversations with witty comments.
The comedians have repartee conversations.
supervene- occur later than specified.
The performance was  supervene.
truncate- shorten by cutting off the top or end.
He truncated that piece of wood.
unimpeachable- cannot be doubted.
The Pope is unimpeachable in the Catholic Church.

Beowulf Questions

Prologue: The Rise of the Danish Nations (lines 1-85, pp. 33-34)
#1:  "This prologue introduces the Danes" It was unusual for the way that Shield came to be ruler of the Danes because he was not born into royal blood. He was an abandoned baby who was adopted. Shields funeral was extremely flamboyant, he was buried around gold, weapons, and treasure. Shield is Hrothgar's great grandfather.

Introduction to Beowulf -- Hwaet!

• "Beowulf is both strange and familiar"
• It has some links with ancient classic poems yet it remains an ancient artifact of culture.
• The manuscript presents us with a linguistics obstacle. Old English has different grammar than Modern English.
• Spelling will seem inconsistent, even random, in our terms.
• In Beowulf, impact was always made through oral performance.
• Within the poem there is no distinction between myth and history. Beowulf cannot accurately be described as fact or fiction.
• It is a story about "those others who were ourselves. 

Notes from Textbook

The Theme of Exile
Exile- the condition of being cut off from one's homeland- may take many different forms. The theme of exile changes throughout these different poems, from seeing it as enlightenment to seeing as more cruel than death.
Tristia- Ovid, Translated by LR Lind
Book 10
---"They carry on their relations by means of their common language
While I am reduced to communication by making signs."
---"I'm understood by no one"

• Ovid is describing his fall out with his love city of Rome which he has been exiled from.

Far Corners of Earth- Tu Fu. Translated by David Hinton
---"Year after year, nothing familiar, nothing"

• Tu Fu is expressing the peacefulness he has found while he has fled to the country after being exiled, which has allowed him to become a poet.

Reflections on Week 1

#1. I do not believe that there are any factors that are going to affect my participation in the class. I believe that the way you run this class (interned blogs, etc) make it easier to participate in rather that conventional English classes with textbook and handouts because you do not need your backpack or a textbook to participate you just need your brain and a computer.
#2. My best ever learning experience was from my summer job as a nanny and teaching myself how to interact with young children. I obviously knew how to take care of children but spending 4-6 hours a day with a 3 year old and a 6 year old, really taught me things I did not know about childcare. Like learning how to participate in two different activities at once and how to phrase myself so that a three year old can comprehend what I am saying.
#3. I am most excited to have more free will in the creativeness in the work that we do in this class. Being able to write about what I think about a book not what a specific topic that all the other kids will be writing the same thing about. I think this will make a difference in my learning by learning how to be more creative in the ways of learning.

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate- report in outline
She gave an adumbrate speech and open source learning.
apotheosis- glorification of a subject.
I think that science is a apotheosis subject in school.
ascetic- extreme self-denial
She couldn't see how smart she was because she had ascetic personality.
bauble- a small ornament of little value
Christmas trees have lots of bauble's.
beguile- charm someone
My sister knows how to beguile someone.
burgeon- begin to grow rapidly.
The iPhone has burgeon.
complement- a thing that brings to perfection.
I gave my sister a complement cause her outfit is cute.
contumacious- disobedient to authority.
There is always that one kid in class the is contumacious to the teacher.
curmudgeon- a bad tempered person.
Someone is always curmedgeon at school.
didactic- convey instruction
Many of my teachers are didactic.
disingenuous- not sincere.
That person is disingenuous because they do not care.
exculpate- increase rapidly
The argument was becoming exculpate.
faux pas- socially awkward act.
She made a faux pas speech, no one laughed at her joke.
fulminate- explode
The car was smoking and was going to fulminate soon.
fustian- heavy woven cloth
My leather jacket was to big to wear with the fustian sweater.
hauteur-  arrogant
He was hauteur because he would not talk to me.
inhibit- prevent
I was inhibiting my little brother from getting in trouble.
jeremiad- long literary work
Luckily our english teacher does not give us lots of jeremiad work.
opportunist- selfish advantage of circumstances
The person who blackmailed her was an opportunist.
unconscionable- not reasonable
My teacher was giving unconscionable amounts of homework.

1987 AP Exam

1. d 2.e 3.c 4.e 5.d 6.d 7.e 8.a 9.e 10.e 11.b 12.b 13.b 14.d 15.e 16.b 17.c 18.b 19.e 20.a 21.e 22.c 23.a 24.a 25.b 26.c 27.d 28.c 29.d 30.b 31.a 32.c 47.b 48.a 49.d 50.d 51.a 52.b 53.b 54.b 55.a 56.c 57.d 58.d 59.c 60.a 61.d

NOTES:
#6. How is there a correct answer to "the way you see things" because even in a single context its still a matter of opinion.
#13. Is there really a difference between "gentle" sarcasm and just sarcasm? Is it important to know?
#19. What to do if you do not know what the quote there asking you about means.
#27. Don not know definitions of seditiousness, fraudullce, and gluttony.
#55. Never heard of adverb/adjective modifying.

Socratic Seminar: "The Right To Your Opinion"

Personal Notes taken at seminar on 8-16

• Interdependence means that everyone depends on other people.
• Ben Franklin said, " We all hang together or, we shall all hang separately."
• Our opinions are not rights.
• People often say "well I have the right to my opinion"  when they are losing an argument... if the other person has facts and logic to support there claim then using the phrase "I have a right to my opinion" is not a valid statement.
• There is not a right/wrong opinion on the political party you choose.
• On having an opinion on certain political issues on Iraq you could be right/wrong based on facts but having an opinion of your favorite color there is no right or wrong.
• 95% percent of people choose there political party based off of there parents.
• Authors put out opinions for readers to interpret. 
• People have a right to life but others have an obligation not to kill you.
• Personal opinions about Witchcraft caused controversy about Harry Potter when it was originally released.
• Everyone does not have to accept your opinion.
• You can also choose whether or not you share your opinion.
• Do you have the right to replace other  peoples opinions with yours?
• Lymbic is the emotional part of your brain.
• Schema are the routines of thinking that make life economical. 

Essay #1

The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey is a prime example of a character becomes cut off  from his "home". Odysseus has left his hometown of Ithaca and is thought to be dead. Although he is still alive, he is trapped on the island of Ogygia by the nymph Calypso. He is then rescued by Hermes and begins a journey home where he is reunited with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
Odysseus's experience while on exile is alienating because he was on this great free journey where he got to do lots of things (visiting the land of the Lotus Eaters and visiting Hades to see Tiresias) to where he is being held against his will by a women who he has no love for. He really truly just wants to go home to his loving wife and son. He also has some idea that there must be some power rifts going on with him being gone for so long which could threaten his power and his families power. He also knows that there is nothing he can do to control anything because he is being held against his will.
Odysseus's experience while on exile where enriching because he got to experience many new things, visit new places, and meet new people. He also got a closer relationship with the god Athena. Odysseus experiences illuminate this work as a whole because the whole story is about Odysseus experiences while on exile and how he ultimately reunites with his wife and son and rules his kingdom again.

Poetry #1

1. This commercial borrows quotes from the poem The Laughing Heart by: Charles Bukowski.
2. The use of this poem used in advertising by corporation may be considered ironic because it is a poem about life and this corporation is a jean company and they have nothing in common but this commercial ties them together.
3. This poem does reflect the reputation of the author because he often wrote about life events.
4.  I Goggled Charles Bukowski and used this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski.

"Dare To Be Wise"

The quote, "dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude, incipe" is from Horace's first book of Epistles. It is translated into: "He who has begun is half done: dare to know, dare to begin!" This quote is relevant to this current moment because this is my first year in your class and you are beginning to teach us a different way of learning!

My BIG Question

There is a quote that I have always remembered. I forgot who its by, and I don't remember where I first heard it but it is -- "the problem is you think you have time" -- This is relevant to my "big question" because my Big Question is: WHY DOES TIME GO BY SO FAST? ...  I have always wondered why time goes by so fast when you are enjoying yourself (summer break, vacation, hanging out with friends) but goes by so slow when you are not enjoying yourself. Does your mind totally forget about the aspect of time while you are having fun or does it just forget about it because its unchangeable? Why is it so much more relevant in your thoughts while you are not enjoying yourself?