mrewing

 

Journal Entries - 12th Grade

Page history last edited by Mr. Ewing 8 mos ago
Journal Entry Date Assigned
#1 What does it mean to be American (think globally and locally)? 09/09/08
#2 What makes us human and why is it important? 09/11/08
#3 Name a single event that has had a major impact on who you are. Explain how. 09/12/08
#4 What would you do if you had to give up everything and leave where you live? How would you feel? 09/16/08
#5 How does being male or female in society affect who you are as a person? How does it affect how people perceive you? 09/19/08
#6 What roles do we play in school, work, society, our families, our circle of friends, and in other areas? This generally and specifically. 09/23/08
#7 "I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am." - Joseph Baretti. Respond to the quote by Joseph Baretti. What does it say about mankind? How does it relate to you? 09/25/08
#8 "Standing Up" Choose a time when you did something that took a lot of nerve, a time when you didn't follow the crowd or a time when you stood up for your beliefs. Perhaps your friends were urging you to do something that you were uncomfortable with and you chose not to cave into peer pressure. Maybe you took a stance on a political issue that was important in your community, or you might have Whatever you choose, think about the details of the event and write a story that tells about what happened. Your narrative should show your readers why you decided to make a stand or try something that took nerve, give specifics on the events, and share how you felt after the event. (ONE FULL PAGE) 9/30/08
#9 "Setting Things Up" Write a half page about the setting you are in right now. Be detailed and use vivid description. Think about your 5 senses (what do you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste). 10/2/08
#10 "Lightbulb Moment" Think of an experience when you realized that you suddenly understood an idea, a skill, or a concept you had been struggling with--it might be something related to a class that you took or a specific athletic skill you were trying to perfect. Write a narrative that tells the story of your movement toward understanding. How did you finally come to understand? What changed your perceptions and gave you a new understanding? Your page should help readers understand how you felt to struggle with the idea or skill and then to understand. (ONE FULL PAGE) 10/7/08
#11 "How I Write" Are you the type of person who : thinks before you write, write before you think, or write while you are thinking? Explain. Do you also look and edit your writing before you move onto the next sentence, next paragraph, or I never edit! 10/09/08
#12 "Time Machine" If you could go back in time and change one event in history when and where would you go? What would you change? Describe how the change you made would affect the events that follow. 10/14/08
#13 "Same Story Different Tune" Why do stories change over time as they pass from one person to another. How do they change and what reasons do storytellers have for adding or leaving out details. Think of a time that you were told the "same" story by different people. How much did the story differ and why? 10/16/08
#14 " We Have An Issue Here" I want you to think about the issues that have come up in the Presidential Election (that we deal with all the time). What issues are important to you and why? 10/21/08
#15 "Two Sides to a Coin" Just like there are two sides of a coin there is two sides to any argument or story. After watching 2 videos about Proposition 8 respond and talk about what tactics were used to sway the viewer. Were they effective (did it work?) Yes on Prop 8 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zbpDe_QhS0 No on Prop 8 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tEKK6La6pk 10/23/08
#16 "Personal Rituals" Describe a personal ritual that you, your friends, or your family have. Think about the personal steps that you always go through when you prepare for an exam. Do you sit at a desk, spread books and notes across your bed, or use the kitchen table? There are numerous things that we do for which we create our own personal rituals. Choose one event--studying for a test, writing a paper, dressing and warming up before a game, or preparing and having a special family meal. Narrate the events that take place when you complete your ritual so that your readers understand the steps that the ritual includes and why you complete them. 10/28/08
#17 "Being Unprepared" Because you have been sick, out of town, busy at work, or working on other homework, you didn't have time to study. Think of a specific time where you felt unprepared and narrate the events (tell the story). Your story should be detailed enough to relate how you felt being unprepared 10/30/08
#18 "Childhood Event" Choose a vivid time from your childhood. Think of events that stand out. Narrate the events related to the childhood memory that you've chosen so readers can understand why it is memorable. 11/04/08
#19 "Being a Teacher" Teaching someone else how to do something can be rewarding. Think of a skill that you've taught someone else how to do. Perhaps you taught someone else how to swim, showed someone how to bake a soufflé, or helped someone learn how to study more effectively. Think about the events that made up the process of teaching the skill, and narrate the story for your readers. 11/06/08
#20 "The Writing Process" Where in the writing process are you? Are you in the Prewriting Process (generating ideas), the Writing Process (taking ideas and crafting them into a story), or the Editing Process (making changes, fixing spelling/grammar, making improvements)? Pick a point in the process and ask yourself: "Should I be further?" What is your plot, conflict, resolution, setting, characters, etc? Do your events (points in your story) connect? Use this journal to assess where you are in the writing process. 11/13/08
#21 "Judge for Yourself" How does it feel to be judged by peers, friends, family, teachers, etc? How does it feel when you have been wrongly judged? Describe a time in your life when you were judged and it affected you deeply. 11/18/08
#22 "Open Dialogue" Why do we engage in dialogue? What do you personally like about conversing with others? Remember a times when you had a conversation with someone and got a lot out of it. Describe it. 11/20/08
#23 "Story Starters" Pick one of the following story starters to start a story and use your journal time to develop a one page story with detail: 1. The airplane sputtered and sank low into the jungle. 2. The floor of the haunted house creaked after every step. 3. I heard a scary noise in the closet. 4. A piercing scream broke the silence. 5. I saw the strangest thing at the park last night. 11/25/08
#24 "Thanksgiving" What things are you thankful for? Explain why. What if all the things in your life that you were thankful for suddenly went away? Lastly, what does "Thanksgiving" mean to you and how do you celebrate the occasion? 11/26/08
#25 "Are You Ready?" With college application deadlines wrapping up and the 1st semester of your senior year ending, the pressure is on! Do you think you are prepared for life after high school? What are your future plans? Do you have the skills to be successful? If not, what do you need? 12/2/08
#26 "Passion" What is passion? Define passion in your own words. What are you passionate about and why? Is life worth living without passion? How do you know if you are passionate about something? How does it make you feel? (Respond to this prompt after reading John Boorman's Quote about Passion) 12/4/08
#27 "Lives of the Rich and Famous" People have always been curious about the lives of famous people. Think of a current celebrity who interests you. What kind of things would you like to know about this person? Where would you go to find such information? 12/9/08
#28 "World At War" "This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games." - William Burroughs (1914-Present) What does Burroughs mean in this quote? What does he say about us in relation to war? Do you agree with his views? 12/11/08
#29 "Worst Day Ever" We have good days and bad days. Occasionally, we have a horrible day that makes us throw up our hands and exclaim, "What is the use?" Try to remember one of your "crappiest" days. Explain what happened, how you felt, and how you got through it. 12/16/08
#30 "What I Really Want for Christmas" If you had the choice whether to give a needy family the holiday of their dreams by taking them off the streets and welcoming them into your home or having a ridiculously extravagant holiday vacation with your family what would you choose? Why? 12/18/08

 

#31 "New Year's Resolution" What is a resolution? Webster defines it as: (n) firm determination. Knowing this, what are you determined to do this year? What can you improve upon from last year (2008)? Explain how you think you can work on improving on a daily basis. Lastly, why is it important that we focus our energies on getting better? 1/6/09
#32 " " Think of a time when you protested or stood up for an injustice. What happened? Describe in detail. Did people take notice? Was your voice heard? What was your lasting impression / feeling about the event? 1/8/09
#33 "Self Evaluation" On a scale from 1-10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) gauge: Your effort, information learned, information retained, and academic improvement. What can be improved? How can you do this? 1/16/09
SECOND SEMESTER BEGINS JANUARY 20TH 2009
#34 "Evil Government" "If government were a product, selling it would be illegal" - J. O'Rourke - What did O'Rourke mean by this? Was he thinking of illegal drugs / stolen properties? Why would he compare government to these things? Is he trying to convey aspects that governments stand for like: power, authority, & control? Why would these things be illegal? Take a stand and defend your point of view 1/22/09
#35 "Words" - Words add to the senses. The words for the dazzle / Of mica, the dithering of grass, / The Arachne integument of dead trees, / Are the eye grown larger, more intense. - Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), U.S. poet. “Variations on a Summer Day.” - Respond to this quote by Stevens by answering: 1) What does Stevens say about words? 2) What do words mean to you? & 3) What would a world without words be like? Explain in detail. 1/27/09
#36 "Masks" "We wear the mask that grins and lies." - Paul Dunbar (1872-1906) U.S. Poet -- "Masks are what they seem to be; not so the faces beneath them." - Mason Cooley (b. 1927) -- Respond to these quotes by exploring what they mean with written text. Next, respond to the following: Alex and his "droogs" don masks when they go out to commit violent acts, effectively concealing their identities. When have you put on a "mask" to protect yourself. Think about times when you acted differently when you wanted to be accepted, wore different clothes to alter your appearance, or other instances when you "masked" your true self for certain reasons. 1/29/09
#37 "Dichotomy" Alex seemingly shows us two different sides of his “personality.” At times he seems overcome by blind violence and unable to contain the symphony of assaults he lays upon his victims. Other times he seems outraged by the insulting and curt behavior of his lackeys. Why and how do you think Alex acts like this? How is he able to keep both sides of his “personality” separate? Why do you think that violence does not really bother him, but other rude or impolite gestures set him off? 2/03/09
#38 "Controlling Government" Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable area arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent. - Henry Lewis Mencken (1880-1956) U.S. Journalist - 1) Respond to the quote by explaining what you think Mencken is saying about government. Do you agree or disagree with his statements? 2) In the beginning of Chapter 4 Alex reveals more about the controlling government. If you could change any governmentally imposed law or rule what would it be and why? Defend your stance. 2/05/09
#39 "Foreshadow" In Chapter 4 of A Clockwork Orange, Alex has a dream that foreshadows events that happen in Chapter 5. 1) Describe a time in your life where you saw signs of things to come, took notice, and maybe avoided disaster. 2) Next, what would you do if you had the power to forsee what was to come? How would you use this power? 2/10/09
#40 In Chapter 5 of A Clockwork Orange we've seen the theme of leadership and command emerge. If you were Alex what would you have done differently? What do you think is the quality of a great leader? Are they meant to be loved or are they meant to be feared? How should leaders keep people in line? How should they prove themselves? How do leaders lose their followers? When should a leader ever step down? 2/12/09
#41 "Obsession" Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and you never get an answer. - Norman Mailer U.S. Author (b. 1923) 1.) What is Mailer saying about obsession? Do you agree? Why or why not? 2.) How does this quote relate to Alex (the main character) in A Clockwork Orange (specifically in Chapter 6)? 3.) Describe a time you obsessed over something greatly. 2/17/09
#42 "Imprisonment": "Reality is a prison, where...one vegetates and always will. All the rest - thought, action - is just a pastime, mental or physical. What counts then, is to come to grips with reality. The rest can go." - Cesare Pavese (1908 - 1950) Italian Poet. 1.) What is Pavese sayign about life? Is it truly a prison? Do you agree or disagree? Why? 2.) Describe a time where you felt imprisoned. Where were you? How did you feel? Who was supressing your freedoms? 02/19/2009
#43 "Goodness/Freewill" Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed on him? 1)The chaplain in A Clockwork Orange poses this question to Alex. What do you think about it? What is the chaplain trying to get at / what is he implying? 2) Describe a time when you were forced to be good and wanted to break free. 2/24/09
#44 "Pavlovian Dogs - Conditioned Response"
“The most famous and well-known experiment of Pavlov is that he conditioned dogs to initiate a salivary response to the sound of a bell.  He began by measuring the amount of salivation in response to only food.  Again, he noted a salivary response.  Finally, by only ringing the bell, Pavlov observed the same response as having presented food to the dogs - salivation.  These experiments defined what has been a “conditioned response.”
Since then, the Pavlovian technique has been used on people to train or teach them new behavior.  Does this seem right to you?  If yes, when is it ever appropriate to use this technique on people?  If no, why  and when is it unethical to treat people this way?
Have you ever been conditioned to react a certain way like Pavlov’s dogs?
In ACO, every time Alex witnesses violence, he will start to feel sick.  The government has conditioned him this way to keep him “good.”  Does Alex deserve it?  Do you think it’s right what they have done to him?  Do you think this is a good way to keep violent criminals from hurting people again?		 2/26/09
#45 "Murder in the First Degree" First Degree Murder: murder of another person with premeditation/ malicious aforethought.  premeditation: an action carried out with planning. Malicious aforethought: a murder carried out intentionally or with extreme disregard for human life (2 seconds of planning).  California Minimum Sentence: 25 years to life w/o parole.  Minnesota Minimum Sentence: 40 years.  In California, 14 year olds and older can be tried as an adult.  1.) Do you agree with this punishment?  2.) Should it be more harsh or more forgiving?  3.) If you could rewrite the CA law how would you change it?  Why?  4.) How would you punish a minor?  5.) Do you think a 15 year old knows what he is doing?  6.) Would you recommend Luvidico's technique?  If yes, would you attach conditions?   3/3/09
#46 “Pearls Before Swine”
Respond: In A Clockwork Orange, the doctors would play Ludwig van Beethoven while playing the film.  Alex screamed: “Stop! It's a sin, that's what it is, a fillthy unforgivable sin!”  The doctor replied, “It can’t be helped; Each man kills the thing he loves.”  -Do you think this is the right thing to do to “cure” criminals?  Kill the thing they love in order to kill their love for violence?  When is it ever right?  (good vs. evil)

- Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave protested against the US government for using their music while torturing prisoners in Guatanamo Bay.   The musicians claimed that their music shouldn’t be used in a war effort that they opposed to.  - Music is what Alex loves the most.  What is it that you love the most that you can’t bear lose its dignity? 

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” Matthew 7:6 -The Bible is being symbolic.  What do you think this quote is saying? -Have you ever been placed in this situation?  What were your pearls?  Who were the dogs?  What happened?  What did you do?   		 3/5/09
#47 "Hypocrisy" In A Clockwork Orange, we've met hypocrites like P.R. Deltoid, the chaplain and the Minister of the Interior or Inferior.  Draw the feeling of hypocrisy.  Explain hypocrisy in your own words.  What kind of moral standards do you expect yourself to live by?  What kind of moral standards you expect others to practice around you?  Do moral standards changes depending on the person's role in society? For example, what how high is your moral standard for teachers? for your parents? for your younger brother?  for yourself?  for your friends? 3/10/09
#48 “Human Dignity”
    Alex had sex with 10 year old girls.  Alex killed two people.  Alex would brutally beat up people for fun.  Alex gets off with violence and brutality.  Also, Alex is smart and Alex loves his parents.
    Why is it that despite what we know about Alex, the monster that he is, when he made himself so low in front of the mocking scientists, politicians and the chaplain, we still felt sorry for him?
    How important is human dignity?  If it was Hitler instead of Alex who was on that stage would you have felt the same way? Why? 
    If Alex somehow could have defended himself, would you feel the same way about his loss of dignity? Why?  If he was 65, 35, 25, or 13 years old instead of 17, what would you have felt?  Why?		 3/12/09
#49 “Dystopia vs. Utopia”
Dystopia is the opposite of utopia or the perfect world.  Obviously, the world depicted in ACO is a very jarring dystopia.  Anthony Burgess created a world of dystopia to teach a lesson: our world will be a miserable one without choice, an evil almost as great as violence.
    In Alex’s world, the government tried to get rid of crime and violence completely at the price of the criminal’s loss of free will.  If you can rid the world of social ills, what would they be?  How are you going to do it?  What kind of price will the removal of this social evil probably ask for? Why do you want to get rid of this social illness? 
    Have you ever read a book or seen in film in whose world you’d like to be living in?  If so, which one and why would you like to live in it?		 3/17/09
#50 "Teacher's Evaluation" List two things that Ms. Tojino had done right in terms of teaching.  List two things that Ms. Tojino did wrong in terms of teaching.  Provide survival tips for Ms. Tojino to help her survive her classes.  How should she deal with misbehaving students?  Students who are failing or refuse to do work?  What about second chances or calling up parents? 3/19/09

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.

Printable version
 
Anonymous Create an account or Log in