User:Mjw2/A Year in the Life of Mr. L's English Classroom

A Year in the Life of Mr. L's English Classroom is an article describing a postmodern classroom and experience. The teacher of this classroom was just as much a student as the teacher. The students and the teacher collectively established a strong learning environment. This is the classroom of the future (hopefully). "A classroom should be a place where a student as well as a teacher may develop their own knowledge" -Anonymous

"All the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies" - Cat's Cradle

Goals:
 * Students will become more literate in American Literature
 * The Old Man is Jesus
 * The Crucible symbolized the Red scare
 * Grapes of Wrath is tough to read (in two ways)
 * Modernistic should be a word. Otherwise, where does post-modernistic come from?
 * Pedagogy???

"Discussions shouldn't be planned. For that matter, neither should class. The students should dictate what occurs each day." -Anonymous

In Mr. L's classroom, discussions and rants are quite common.


 * Students will develop their communication literacies and confidence in a variety of media
 * Wiki, Wiki, Wiki! Wikipedia is there for a reason, use it! Have you seen the requirements to edit or put on your own page.  It’s crazy!  Whoever said it is an unreliable source is full of #*@#.

“The discoveries of man are never reliable, it is only if you turn it into your own discovery, then it is reliable.” –Anonymous


 * Wikipedia is a source to use when someone wants to read some background information about a topic, like Mr. L’s class. Someone will only learn something when they turn it into their own discovery.

Lallilesson #1: The Doldrums


 * There is a time in someone’s life when the wind pushing their sails stops blowing. When this occurs, just say YES!

“Saying yes does not need to make sense at the time, it might in the future” –Anonymous

“Do something this weekend, even if it might be illegal. Just say yes.” –Mr. L


 * Students will become proficient in their use of comparative, analytical, and persuasive essays
 * “A paragraph should be tight like a drum-every part should sing when struck” –Mr. L

Lallilesson #2: New Orleans

You know what’s great about NO? It is that the people say yes. Mr. L said, “you can go up and begin conversations with whomever.” We should take cues from these living people. Actually, NO has the world partly figured out. Even though Katrina destroyed their city, they still had each other. I don’t know if this eased their pain because I’m not them. I’m sorry. If everywhere you went there were opportunities to discuss, then an airplane, a train, and a bus would be much more exciting. How does it make sense to sit on a tram packed with people staring at each other and nobody says a word. Just say something. Don’t worry, you don’t have to make a long story short.


 * Students will (hopefully) enjoy themselves most of the time
 * It is fair to say that I enjoyed myself. This class expanded my boundaries, stretched my thoughts, and never required overwork.  Well, at least I never overworked when we didn’t have papers to do.  So, yes, I enjoyed myself most of the time.

“Stretching your mind will make you grow more than any vitamin or steroid.” –Anonymous


 * Students will contribute to positive community atmosphere
 * This is the rule that governed all rules in Mr. L’s classroom. Classroom- a place where a class takes place.  The reason it is Mr. L’s classroom is because the students made the class.  Despite certain instances, the students decided the topic of discussion without many limits.  This contributed to a positive atmosphere.

Lallilesson #3: Bike! Bike! Bike!
 * Through biking one saves money, the earth, and lives. The lives was added in my own words.  Mr. L strongly encouraged biking as the correct way to travel.  Everyone who entered his room would see his red bike sitting quietly in the corner saving the world.  His most recent rant on biking had to deal with the oil spill.  Without the need for oil in cars, it is quite possible the oil spill would have never begun.

General Outline: (Good choice of words)
 * "Surprisingly we actually progressed, roughly, in this fashion." -Anonymous

Trimester One:
 * Fear in America (1000-1250 word paper)
 * Early American Writers (500-750 word paper)
 * "But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between." - The Crucible

Respect-Willingness to show consideration or appreciation; polite expressions of consideration

Mr. L stongly pushed for respect in the classroom.
 * "Respect creates an atmosphere that breathes thoughts into one's mind" -Anonymous

Lallilesson #4: Save your money!
 * There is no need to go spend your money on frivilous expenditures. Just buy what is needed.  Many people in the world would have enough money if they bought only what they needed.  There is nothing more to it.  Well besides getting the job.

Trimester Two:
 * Race, Class, Oppression and the American Dream (750-1000 word paper)
 * The American Moderns (1000-1250 word paper)


 * "I first experienced the full effects of not understanding something by the end of a unit." -Anonymous

Notice the lengths of the papers Mr. L wanted. He really enjoyed shore papers. Partly because of grading, but mostly because...
 * "Simplify simplify simplify. The strength of powerful writing is that it says what it means without a lot of frills. Make it simple. Use common language when making connections, that will cue your reader."

Modernism- how can anyone start post-modernism, when modernism still doesn't make sense.

"If you study something long enough, it will not always make sense." -Anonymous

Trimester Three:
 * Poetry, Letters and Song (written project)
 * Post-modernism in America (project)


 * "Well here it is. I hope these shameless lies will be true to you." -Anonymous