2/1/07 Q – Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution. – Stanley Arnold

2/1/07 C – Notes on procedural changes, Spring Term syllabus, English 3 Final exam review.

2/2/07 Q – The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [June 2006 Critical Lens]

2/2/07 C – Difference between Response and Critical Analysis as required on ELA Regents; meaning of “Critical Lens.”

2/5/07 Q – Calamity is the test of integrity. – Richardson

2/5/07 C – Plan of Action for Critical Lens essay (using 2/2/07 Q): Introduction and thesis; interpretation of critical lens.

2/6/07 Q – Our trials are tests; our sorrows pave the way for a fuller life when we have earned it. – Jerome P. Fleishman

2/6/07 C – Plan of Action for Critical Lens essay: Discussion ¶s; textual analysis.

2/7/07 Q – Fire is the test of gold, adversity of strong men. – Marcus Annaeus Seneca

2/7/07 C – Work on essays, using model paragraphs and reference materials. Share-out of thesis statement.

2/8/07 Q – The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. – Abraham Lincoln

2/8/07 C – “Paragraph About Nothing” mini-lesson/discussion; work on essays.

2/9/07 – WRITE FINAL ESSAY.

2/12/07 Q - Adolescence is a border between childhood and adulthood…teeming with energy and fraught with danger. – Mary Pipher

2/12/07 C – Ideas/discussion about Adolescence. Begin reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

[Mr. Braiman absent from 2/13-16. The following assignments were provided to students in advance, and to the covering teacher:]

2/13/07 Q – “Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” – Mr. Spencer to Holden, p. 8

2/13/07 C – Read through the end of Chapter 2 (p. 16) of The Catcher in the Rye, write response. Response topic: Adolescence. Guiding questions: What is our initial impression of Holden Caulfield? How does he feel about his school? His situation? Mr. Spencer? The advice he receives from Mr. Spencer? Anyone or anything else?

2/14/07 – No class due to weather-related circumstances.

2/15/07 Q – I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. – p. 16

2/15/07 C – Read Chapter 3 (pp. 16-26), write response. Response topic: Narrative voice. Guiding questions: Why does Salinger use the first-person point of view to tell the story from Holden’s perspective? What do we notice about Holden’s “voice?” What effect does Holden’s “voice” have on the reader?

2/16/07 Q – Just because they’re crazy about themself, they think you’re crazy about them, too, and that you’re just dying to do them a favor. – p. 28

2/16/07 C – Read Chapter 4 (pp. 26-35), write response. Response topic: Cynicism. Guiding questions: Why is Holden so bothered by Ackley and Stradlater? How might we view them as individuals if we were to look at them objectively, rather than from Holden’s point of view? What else bothers Holden, and why?

[Winter Break.]

2/26/07 Q – The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same. – Steve Conrad

2/26/07 C – Essay assignment: How to Behave When Your Teacher is Absent.

2/26/07 – Notebook check #1 begins; one table per day, in rotation.

2/27/07 Q – To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice. – Confucius

2/27/07 C – Discussion, suggestions, proposals for solving the “Sub Crisis.”

2/28/07 Q – I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot. – p. 18

2/28/07 C – Review Chapters 1-3; write response using Response Topics and Guiding Questions assigned previously.

3/1/07 Q – All I need’s an audience. I’m an exhibitionist. – p. 29

3/1/07 C – Read/Review Chapter 4 (pp. 26-35), write response. Response topic: Alienation. Guiding questions: Why is Holden so bothered by Ackley and Stradlater? How might we view them as individuals if we were to look at them objectively, rather than from Holden’s point of view? What else bothers Holden, and why?

3/2/07 Q – Some things are hard to remember. – p. 40

3/2/07 C – Read Chapters 5-6 (pp. 35-46), write response. Response topic: Inner Conflict. Guiding questions: How and why do some of Holden’s actions contradict his thoughts? Why is Allie so meaningful to him? Why does he fight with Stradlater?

3/5/07 Q – I felt to lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead. – p. 48

3/5/07 C – Read Chapters 7-8 (pp. 46-58), write response. Response topic: Loneliness. Guiding questions: What further evidence have we that Holden is not well mentally? What does Holden seem to want most of all?

3/6/07 Q – Once I get started [lying], I can go on for hours if I feel like it. – p. 52

3/6/07 C – Finish Chapter 8 (up to p. 58), write response. Response topic: Lying. Guiding questions: Why does Holden lie to Mrs. Morrow? What enables Holden to lie so easily and effortlessly? How do we assess Holden’s course of action?

3/7/07 Q – Sex is something I just don’t understand. – p. 65

3/7/07 C – Read Chapters 9 and 11 (pp. 59-66, 76-80), write response. Response topic: Sexuality. Guiding questions: How do we account for Holden’s ideas about sex, girls, relationships, etc? How do we reconcile those ideas with his thoughts about Jane in Ch. 11? Why would/should this book be “banned” for its approach to this topic?

3/8/07 Q – I was surrounded by jerks. I’m not kidding. – p. 85

3/8/07 C – Read Ch. 10 segment (pp. 66-68), then read Ch. 12 (pp. 81-86), write response. Response topic: Introspection. Guiding questions: Compare Holden’s thoughts about Phoebe to those about Allie, D.B., his parents, others. What further insight do we gain here, regarding Holden’s worldview and capacity for self-examination?

3/9/07 Q – I never seem to have anything that if I lost it I’d care too much. – p. 89

3/9/07 C – Read Ch. 13 (pp. 88-98), write response. Response topic: “When-push-comes-to-shove.” Guiding questions: Why does Holden think he’s “yellow?” Why is he really? How is that related to his actions at the end of the chapter?

3/12/07 Q – I couldn’t pray worth a damn…I kept picturing old Sunny calling me a crumb-bum. – p. 100

3/12/07 C – Read Ch. 14 (pp. 98-104), write response. Response topic: Bravado. Guiding questions: How do we assess Holden’s thoughts about religion? Why is he unable to pray? Why does Holden antagonize Maurice? What, if anything, should he have done instead? What effect will this have on Holden overall?

3/12/07 – Notebook check #2 begins.

3/13/07 Q – G-ddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell. – p. 113

3/13/07 C – Read Ch. 15 (pp. 105-113), write response. Response topic: Money. Guiding questions: What is Holden’s view of the way money affects the world in general, and him in particular? Why does Holden make a date with Sally and not call Jane? What is the impact of Holden’s encounter rwith the nuns?

3/14/07 Q – Certain things…should stay the way they are. – p. 122

3/14/07 C – Read Ch. 16 (pp. 113-122), write response. Response topic: Nostalgia. Guiding questions: What makes Holden feel nostalgic in this chapter, and why? Why is the museum so meaningful to him, and in what way? What ‘hints’ does this chapter provide as to the meaning of the book’s title?

3/15/07 Q – I swear to G-d I’m crazy. – p. 124

3/15/07 C – Read Ch. 17 (pp. 123-134), write response. Response topic: “Crazy.” Guiding questions: How does Holden’s date with Sally go? Why does it end the way it does? Why does Holden keep calling himself “crazy” in this chapter?

3/16/07 Q – I’m sort of glad they’ve got the atomic bomb invented. – p. 141

3/16/07 C – Group Activity: Discussion questions for The Catcher in the Rye.

3/16/07 – Moot Court Problem (Writing Project #2) distributed. Students assigned to read the problem and cases over the weekend.

END OF FIRST MARKING PERIOD.

3/19/07 Q – Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly. – Plato

3/19/07 C – “The Trolley Problem;” compare legal and moral obligations of people faced with similar choices in different circumstances. What should be the outcome in each case, and why? Why is the same essential choice morally acceptable in one case and not the other?

3/20/07 C – While children do not “shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate,” the nature of those rights is what is appropriate for children in school. Veronia School District v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995)

3/20/07 C – How to read precedent cases; what to look for when studying the law.

3/21/07 Q – The protections of the First Amendment do not generally apply to conduct in and of itself. – Blau v. Fort Thomas Public School District, 401 F.3d at 388

3/21/07 C – Discussion and notes on precedent cases, Bannister and Blau; Facts, Issue, Holding, Reasoning.

3/22/07 Q – On the scale of values of constitutional liberties, the right to wear clean blue jeans to school is not very high. – Bannister, 316 F. Supp. At 188

3/22/07 C – Discussion and notes on strengths & weaknesses of both Appellant and Respondent arguments, based on precedent cases.

3/23/07 Q – The boundaries of a student’s free-speech rights in public school are particularly difficult to set. – Griggs v. Fort Wayne School Board, 359 F. Supp. 731 (N.D. Ind. 2005)

3/23/07 C – How to write point headings, questions presented. Samples, templates distributed.

3/26/07 Q – [The] extent of discretion allowed school officials depends on the nature of the speech…and the reasonableness of the regulation. – Long v. Board of Education, 121 F. Supp. 2d 621 (W.D. Ky. 2000)

3/26/07 C – Sample brief argument paragraphs distributed; discussion and notes on Issue-Rule-Analysis-Conclusion (IRAC) method.

3/26/07 – Notebook check #3 begins.

3/27/07 Q – Liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations. – West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, 300 U.S. 379 (1987)

3/27/07 C – Work on brief; point headings, argument.

3/28/07 Q – School officials are best able to determine what rules are reasonable and necessary. – Livingston v. Swanquist, 319 F. Supp. 1 (N.D. Ill. 1970)

3/28/07 C – Work on brief; point headings, argument.

3/29/07 Q – Teenagers are people who express a burning desire to be different by dressing exactly alike. - Anonymous

3/29/07 C – Discussion and notes on how to deliver oral arguments.

3/30/07 Q – All that is necessary is a reasonable connection of the rule with the proper operation of the school. - Stevenson v. Wheeler County Board of Education, 306 F. Supp. 97 (S.D. Ga. 1969)

3/30/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – Oral Arguments; auditions, notes.

3/30/07 C (Pd. 6) – Read Ch. 20 (pp. 149-157), write response. Response topic: Death. Guiding questions: How do we interpret Holden’s thoughts about death in this chapter? Why does he have such a difficult time grappling with it? How might his drunkenness affect his thoughts?

3/30/07 – FIRST DRAFT OF BRIEF DUE.

4/2-10/07 - SPRING BREAK

4/11/07 Q – Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.

4/11/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – Read Ch. 20 (pp. 149-157), write response. Response Topic: Death. Guiding questions: How do we interpret Holden’s thoughts about death in this chapter? Why does he have such a difficult time grappling with it? How might his drunkenness affect his thoughts?

4/11/07 C (Pd. 6) – C.A.P.S. Presentation.

4/12/07 Q – I just felt good, for a change. – p. 159

4/12/07 C – Read Ch. 21 (pp. 157-166), write response. Response topic: Home. Guiding questions: How and why has the tone of the narration changed at this point? How do we assess Holden’s interaction with Phoebe, now that we’ve met her? How to we interpret her character?

4/13/07 Q – What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… - p. 173

4/13/07 C – Read Ch. 22 & 23 (pp. 166-180), write response. Response topic: The Catcher in the Rye. Guiding questions: What is the “catcher in the rye” and how does Holden identify with that?

4/16/07 Q (Pd. 1 & 3) – “I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall.” – Mr. Antolini to Holden, p. 186

4/16/07 Q (Pd. 6) – Quiz

4/16/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – Read Ch. 24 (pp. 180-193), write response. Response topic: Ambiguity. Guiding questions: Why does Holden visit Mr. Antolini? How does this compare with his visit with Mr. Spencer? Why does Holden react the way he does to Mr. Antolini’s actions at the end of the chapter?

4/16/07 C (Pd. 6) – C.A.P.S. presentation

4/17/07 Q (Pd. 1 & 3) – Quiz

4/17/07 Q (Pd. 6) – “I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall.” – Mr. Antolini to Holden, p. 186

4/17/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – C.A.P.S. presentation

4/17/07 C (Pd. 6) – Read Ch. 24 (pp. 180-193), write response. Response topic: Ambiguity. Guiding questions: Why does Holden visit Mr. Antolini? How does this compare with his visit with Mr. Spencer? Why does Holden react the way he does to Mr. Antolini’s actions at the end of the chapter?

4/18/07 Q – If you had a million years…you couldn’t rub out even half the “F*** you” signs in the world. It’s impossible. – p. 202

4/18/07 C – Read Ch. 25 (pp. 194-205), write response. Response topic: Depression. Guiding questions: How & why does Holden re-think what happened at the Antolinis’? Why does Holden have difficulty crossing the streets? Why is he so bothered by the graffiti? How do we interpret his plans?

4/19/07 Q – Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. – p. 214

4/19/07 C – Read Ch. 25-26 (pp. 205-end), write response. Response topic: Breakdown. Guiding questions: What, finally, makes Holden happy, and why? What realization does he reach? Why does he, as narrator, decide to end the story here?

4/20/07 Q – The human heart has ever dreamed of a fairer world than the one it knows. – Carleton Noyes

4/20/07 C – Midterm Exam Assignment distributed (ELA Regents Session Two, Part B from 1/07). Review overall task for “critical lens” essay; review and compare anchor papers from previous essays & discuss ways to improve scores.

4/23/07 Q – Imagine all the people / Living life in peace – John Lennon

4/23/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – Review plan of action for Introduction paragraph of critical lens essay.

4/23/07 C (Pd. 6) – C.A.P.S. presentation

4/23/07 – Notebook check #4 begins.

4/24/07 Q – Don’t stop thinkin’ about tomorrow / Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here / It’ll be here, better than before / Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone – Fleetwood Mac

4/24/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – C.A.P.S. presentation

4/24/07 C (Pd. 6) – Review plan of action for Introduction paragraph of critical lens essay.

4/25/07 Q – There will be miracles after the last war is won / Science and poetry rule in the new world to come – Billy Joel

4/25/07 C – Review plan of action for Discussion paragraphs of critical lens essay; discuss possible analyses of all three books.

4/26/07 Q – The future ain’t what it used to be. – Yogi Berra

4/26/07 C – Grammar review: Sentence construction and diagnosis. (Students scheduled for trip Friday write final essays today.)

4/27/07 – MIDTERM EXAM / FINAL ESSAY

4/30/07 Q (Pd. 1 & 3) – In a thousand years, when people learn about America…the Constitution, rock-‘n-roll, and baseball. – from the film “Frequency”

4/30/07 C (Pd. 1 & 3) – Introduction to Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella; view segment of film “Eight Men Out;” association exercise: baseball and religion.

4/30/07 (Pd. 6 & 7) – C.A.P.S. presentation

5/1/07 (Pd. 1 & 3) – C.A.P.S. presentation

5/1/07 Q (Pd. 6 & 7) – In a thousand years, when people learn about America…the Constitution, rock-‘n-roll, and baseball. – from the film “Frequency”

5/1/07 C (Pd. 6 & 7) – Introduction to Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella; view segment of film “Eight Men Out;” association exercise: baseball and religion.

5/2/07 Q – If you build it, he will come. – p. 3

5/2/07 C – Begin reading (pp. 3-15), write response. Response topic: Dreams. Guiding questions: What kind of man is Ray Kinsella? How does he know what the Voice wants him to do? Why does he decide to do it? Other general impressions?

5/3/07 Q – I have sensed the magic growing closer, hovering somewhere out in the night like a zeppelin, silky and silent…. – p. 3

5/3/07 C – Read up to p. 19, write response. Response topic: Magic. Guiding questions: What does Ray think of what happens on the field? Does it matter whether or not it’s “real?” What about Shoeless Joe himself? What further religious/spiritual elements do we see?

5/4/07 Q – Even for dreams, I have to work and wait. – p. 26

5/4/07 C – Read pp. 23-32, write response. Response topic: Patience. Guiding questions: What new ideas, particularly conflicts, arise in this section? Why does Ray seem so concerned about the costs of building the field? What is Ray’s next task, and how does he know?

END OF SECOND MARKING PERIOD

5/7/07 Q – My journey will be like going out to hunt stars with a net on a stick. – p. 39

5/7/07 C – Read pp. 32-39 and 41-42, write response. Response topic: Being on a mission. Guiding questions: What does Ray discover about his “mission,” and about J.D. Salinger? What could be the meaning of the lesson Ray’s mother taught him? What elements of the traditional “mythic quest” do we see? Any parallels to The Catcher in the Rye?

5/7/07 – Notebook check #5 begins.

5/8/07 Q – This land is foreign to me. – p. 57

5/8/07 C – Read pp. 42-43 (bottom), then 46 (middle)-51, and 52-59; write response. Response topic: The journey. Guiding questions: How might we characterize Ray’s journey eastward? What does he learn/discover at each stop? What further religious or mythological parallels do we see?

5/9/07 Q – The fates are known to play tricks on innocents. – p. 64

5/9/07 C – Read pp. 59-70, write response. Response topic: Expectations. Guiding questions: How does Ray’s initial encounter with Salinger go? How dies it compare with Ray’s expectations? How does Salinger seem to regard Ray? Who does he go along with Ray’s “invitation?” How does Kinsella (the author) deal with the challenge of using a real, living person whom he has never met as a literary character?

5/10/07 Q – “Writers are magicians…[they] live other people’s lives for them.” – Salinger to Ray, p. 82

5/10/07 C – Read pp. 71-73 (one ¶ after * * *), 75 (* * * - bottom), 77- 85; write response. Response topic: Heroes & villains. Guiding questions: What purpose does the introduction of Mark and Mr. Bluestein serve? How is the relationship between Ray and Salinger developing? How are their respective roles developing?

5/11/07 Q – …baseball is the most perfect of games, solid, true, pure…If only life were so simple. – p. 92

5/11/07 C – Read pp. 85-94, write response. Response topic: Baseball, life & rules. Guiding questions: What specific connections to The Catcher in the Rye are made here? How are they significant to this story? How does Ray finally come to an understanding about Salinger’s isolation? What is Ray’s next task?

5/14/07 Q – One who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. – Chinese proverb

5/14/07 C – Review/compare midterm essay and anchor paper. Formulate two (2) questions, where you anticipate the answer will help you score higher on your final exam than you did on the midterm.

5/15/07 Q – “…the time is right…when all the cosmic tumblers have clicked into place and the universe opens up…and shows you what is possible.” – Ray to Salinger, p. 99

5/15/07 C – Read pp. 94-108, write response. Response topic: Epiphany. Guiding questions: What do Ray and Salinger discuss and discover on the way back to Salinger’s home? What happens when they arrive, and why? Now what?

5/16/07 Q – “Writers write. Other people talk.” – Salinger to Ray, p. 109

5/16/07 C – Read pp. 108-119, write response. Response topic: The Search. Guiding questions: How can we describe Ray & Salinger’s experience at Cooperstown? What are they looking for? What do they find? What is happening to Salinger? Who is Eddie Scissons and why is he important?

5/17/07 Q – “Memory’s a funny thing…It’s almost like you brought Doc [Graham] back to life.” – p. 128

5/17/07 C – Read pp. 122-132, write response. Response topic: Memory. Guiding questions: What do Ray & Salinger discover in Chisholm? What effect do they have on that town? What kind of man was Doc Graham? How does his baseball “career” fit in?

5/18/07 Q – “It’s a sad time when the world won’t listen to stories about good men.” – Salinger to Ray, p. 133

5/18/07 C – Read pp. 132-134, 136-143, write response. Response topic: Life Stories. Guiding questions: Why is Ray so interested in the stories Doc Graham has to tell of his life? What connection could there be between “Shoeless Joe” and “Moonlight,” both the nicknames and the men? How does the “magic” occurrence here compare to those we’ve seen so far?

5/21/07 Q – “Hardly anybody recognizes the most significant moments of their life at the time they happen.” – Doc Graham to Ray, p. 146

5/21/07 C – Read bottom of p. 145-153, write response. Response topic: Pivotal Moments. Guiding questions: What does Doc think of his one and only Major League game? How does he regard his life as a whole? What is his wish, and what do we make of it? What conclusions do Ray and Salinger draw from their experience at Chisholm?

5/22/07 Q – Everything seems smaller than I remember it. – p. 178

5/22/07 C – Read pp. 172-184, write response. Response topic: The Return Home. Guiding questions: What does Ray discover about his farm and field upon his return home, and why? Where does it fit in with his mythic/spiritual journey? Why does Ray think of Annie’s parents at this point? What about Eddie Scissons? Why does Ray bring him to the farm?

5/23/07 Q - …who will see the wonders of the night, and who will see only an empty field… - p. 196

5/23/07 C – Read pp. 196-206, write response. Response topic: Faith and High Stakes. Guiding questions: Who can see and who can’t, and why? How do each of the characters react to what happens on the field? Why does Ray turn down Salinger’s offer, given the stakes? How does the author juxtapose the events in this section with the very real, very serious threat that hangs over the farm, the field, and Ray?

5/24/07 Q - …when most people reach for that heart’s desire…they are rewarded with snarls, frustration and disillusionment. – p. 218

5/24/07 C – Read pp. 206- 4^th ¶ on 209, then 214-219, write response. Response topic: Reaching for a Dream. Guiding questions: Compare Ray’s response to the revelation about Eddie Scissons to Mark’s. Why do they react differently? How do we account for what Eddie did, and Ray’s response thereto? What is the significance of what we learn about Gypsy, Richard’s girl?

5/25/07 Q – “Walk into the world and speak of baseball. Let the word flow through you like water…” – Eddie Scissons, p. 229

5/25/07 C – Read pp. 219-229, write response. Response topic: Baseball as Gospel. Guiding questions: What happens to Eddie in this segment, and what does it mean? How does it connect with the “sermon” he gives on pp. 227-229? Why is Ray still unable to approach the catcher? What might happen to Shoeless Joe and the other White Sox if/when the field is destroyed?

5/29/07 Q – “Success is getting what you want, but happiness is wanting what you get.” – p. 230

5/29/07 C – Read pp. 229-239, write response. Response topic: Fulfillment. Guiding questions: In what ways are Eddie Scissons’ dream, and life, fulfilled? How does this apply to the advice he gives Ray? What further insights does this section give us regarding the “religion” of baseball?

5/30/07 Q – “You’re all crazy…you sit around with your weird friends and stare at…nothing.” – Bluestein, p. 244

5/30/07 C – Read pp. 239-249, write response. Response topic: Reckoning. Guiding questions: How does the author Kinsella raise the tension in this section? How is it then broken? Why might this be the climax of the story? How is Moonlight Graham’s story resolved, and what do we make of it?

5/31/07 Q – “America has been erased like a blackboard, only to be rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked time…” – Salinger, p. 253

5/31/07 C – Read pp. 249-256, write response. Response topic: Baseball. Guiding questions: What do we make of Salinger’s speech, and his “dream?” What do Ray and Richard achieve here, and how? What is resolved in this section, and what is left to resolve?

6/1/07 Q – “…what a story it will make…a man being able to touch the perfect dream.” – Salinger, p. 263

6/1/07 C – Read pp. 259-end, write response. Response topic: Rapture. Guiding questions: Why is Ray so upset? Why was Salinger “chosen?” Reconsider: “If you build it, he will come;” “Ease his pain;” “Go the distance;” “Fulfill the dream.”

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