Intelligent Consumer: Bias

Two starts to today's lesson. The first would entail these clips:

It dawns on me that after a while, kids might not catch a William Hung reference, so feel free to just enjoy this video one without my commentary.


The question to consider is whether or not that went exactly as you thought it would? Something about Hung's appearance and behavior suggested that Simon Cowell would not be enjoying what would happen next. It is your judgement of Hung that forms the opinion before you hear him sing, which only confirms what you already decided upon in your mind. The next video obviously plays on that expectation.


A Susan Boyle reference might be closer to your memory to get the gist of what we're getting at. You can't possibly judge a book by it's cover. Unfortunately, we do -which is why we feel guilty when we're then blown away by talent. We applied the same level of judgement as we did on William Hung, and look like jerks in the process. This is our bias.

If you need an actual definition, you'd find bias as a, "prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair."

Because of our tendency to judge before actually taking the time to be considerate and listen, shows like The Voice have become a response. Case in point:


Now the idea behind The Voice is to remove all bias from the judge's path to hearing what essentially is the only important aspect of a singer -their voice. Duh. However, no one is shocked by the idea of a nun with a talented voice. Churches have songs too. The shock in this case is our bias against nuns -we don't think they're capable of being current and trendy. We don't think nuns listen to the radio. It's much like the same logic students apply towards their teachers when they make some form of cultural reference. Apparently you all think we plug into a wall and shut down at the end of the school day. We have lives too, kids. Apparently, so do nuns. Lesson learned.

We'll be progressing further with our unit on Native American writers, by covering some more recent work concerning the Native American community today. Bias is now a tool we will use to assess the writing we encounter. Now that we realize we're not all exempt from having a bias, it's an important element to identify in writing, and it relies heavily on our ability to distinguish fact from opinion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/us/wind-river-indian-reservation-where-brutality-is-banal.html?_r=0

As we cover the NY Times article, "Brutal Crimes Grip an Indian Reservation", consider the author's bias. If we can understand how the author might feel about the subject, we can then look at their motivation for writing. Questions to ask include:

How does what I'm reading tell me how the author thinks?
Why does it matter what the author is thinking?
Inversely, how might the author's opinionated thoughts affect their writing?
If I decide to side with the author's opinion, what could the author gain from my approval?

Everyone has an agenda (or motivation) behind their actions, we've established that in this class. By understanding what bias is and learning how to catch it, we can become more aware of how other's might want to try and push that agenda on you.

Identifying Main Ideas and Summarizing

By now we all know what a #Hashtag is, right? If you don't know what a hashtag is, then you live under a rock, and more importantly: How are you getting internet service from under a rock?

As we get into reviewing concepts behind summarizing, let's take a look at how I think hashtags are used best on Twitter: #FirstWorldProblems is the example we'll look at.

#FirstWorldProblems

#FirstWorldProblems

#firstworldproblems

In this instance, the idea behind the hashtag is to summarize the sentence preceding it in the tweet. Regardless of what the tragedy is that this well-to-do person is dealing with, it can simply be summed up in three quick words. Similarly, we will be learning various ways to wrap up whole entire articles and readings into summaries a fraction of their size. In a way, you've already done this when we discussed identifying themes, but we'd be getting more specific with deciding what details are important and which are not, and what is relevant at the end of the day. What a day, am I right?!

I'll leave you with this playlist of Jimmy Fallon's Hashtag game from the Tonight Show. He's got countless examples for how summary and main idea are used for FUN!

We'll be using a couple of works from Native American writers to help practice in class (also FUN!)

[9/23]

I just wanted to add a few more things that we'll go over to build on our review of Summarizing and Identifying Main Ideas:

When summarizing longer passages, including book chapters and entire articles, you can find yourself writing way more or less than you need to. This is where we as a reader need to get picky with what we're reading. 

KEEP, REMOVE, SUBSTITUTE

You don't need to remember this, because most of us already internalize these three steps when building our summaries for a passage. To spell it out, you're basically just figuring what information is important enough to KEEP in your short summary, REMOVE any details that are extra, and SUBSTITUTE those pieces information you're keeping with your own words. In other words, paraphrase.

As I mentioned, this is something we are already doing when we read -as it's probably been taught to you and repeated every year. Through a conscious effort to acknowledge what steps we take when doing this, however, we can remind ourselves of why we do it in the first place and how to improve on this skill.

Costa's Levels of Questioning

Now that we're all adults here, or like to believe we are, it's important that we start thinking like one. Smart ones. Not like adults that behave like children and play Call of Duty and eat Takis all day.


Very often, we find ourselves limiting our thinking to basic questions. What did you say? What is this? Where does this go?

If you think of questioning as a form of growing up, think of the kinds of questions you asked as a toddler:  "What is _______?" You may have been very eager to know the names of everything you could point to.

When you grew into your later stages, you may have been extremely interested in understanding the mechanics of the wide wonderful world around you and asked "Why does ______ happen?"

Unfortunately, for many of us, we remained at that level of questioning in our lives, shifting from asking "Why?" to understanding the world towards a "Why?" simply to challenge authority and get out of cleaning our rooms.

You all probably know by this point that I love to ask questions. Ask away. Challenging information and those around you through questioning is at the very foundation of change. But before we get to that stage of life-changing questioning, we need to dial it back to the kinds of questions we'd ask in the classroom.

Costa's levels of questioning help us to place the questions we ask on a scale from lower to higher thinking -the higher you go, of course, the harder your have work that brain. Honestly though, in breaking down these levels, you'll find that you don't even have to break a sweat to begin to ask the more interesting kinds of questions:

Level 1 (the lowest level) requires one to gather information. 
Level 2 (the middle level) requires one to process the information. 
Level 3 (the highest level) requires one to apply the information. 

To better understand the content being presented in their core subject areas, it is essential for students to learn to think critically and to ask higher levels of questions. By asking higher levels of questions, students deepen their knowledge and create connections to the material being presented.

I used this example in class: The Story of How Mr. Rodriguez Ruined his iPhone
By Brian Rodriguez

During school testing, teachers that are not asked to proctor exams are asked to sit in the hallway. They are to sit there in silence and nothing else is to be done. Mr. Rodriguez did not feel like complying with said instructions.

"Screw that," Mr. Rodriguez decided, "I'm playing blackjack!"

And so Mr. Rodriguez continued to sit in the hallway, entertaining himself by practicing how to count cards whilst playing on a blackjack app. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from around the corner, and hid his iPhone on his lap, under his hand. As the footsteps reached the corner, he saw that it was an administrator that was making a round of all of the classrooms testing. Mr. Rodriguez crossed his legs to further obscure the device from sight, and smiled the biggest smile he could smile. When the administrator was out of sight, Mr. Rodriguez let his guard down in relief and uncrossed his legs to return to playing. Upon moving his right leg, however, the iPhone became unstable on his left and fell to the ground.

To Mr. Rodriguez's dismay, upon picking his dropped iPhone from the ground, he noticed that the screen had suddenly turned black and white. 

"What is going with my phone?" Mr. Rodriguez asked inquisitively, as he searched the phone for any damage. There was no visible damage but the screen would not return to normal.

He could still see images clearly, but all of the color had been sucked out of the phone, as if it were something out of Pleasantville. 

"Uh oh!", exclaimed Mr. Rodriguez.

"Uh-oh is right!", responded the administrator, whom had returned and was now looming over Mr. Rodriguez's shoulder.

The End

In this example, watch how the three levels of questioning occur on a natural level:

Level 1: What is wrong with my screen? (The colors are gone)

Level 2: Why would I be able to see images so clearly, but be missing all of the color? (The cable that connects to the screen must be loosened or damaged from within the phone.)

Level 3: Now that I have diagnosed my phone, what option is most cost efficient for fixing my phone (Throw your phone away in the trash and just get a new one, Mr. Rodriguez. You're like two generations of iPhones behind. Get with the times, man.)

Hopefully my example helps to break down the levels of Costa's Questioning more easily for you guys. If not, then at least just understand the struggles I have to deal with on a daily basis with clumsy hands, expensive gadgets, and pressure from administrators.

The common misconception is that Level One questions are to be avoided in favor of sticking to Level Two and Three questions -this couldn't be further from the truth. Level One questions are often necessary to establish the group’s basic understanding of facts or situations. In order to move up towards higher thinking, we often need to make sure that we're on the same page with the basic facts and understandings. You have to know what you're going to be playing with, kids.

Obviously, questioning should not remain in Level One, but should advance to both Level Two and Level Three -to allow for further digestion and processing of the information. In my opinion, Level Three is when you're able to enjoy the information by stretching it and molding it into new questions and applying them to new situations.

We'll find time to play with developing our own questions, as it will help us in our ability to identify these questions when working on tests, discussions, or other assessments.

I personally like to play a modified version of Scattergories:

http://www.hasbro.com/games/swf/scattergories_demo3.swf

I make categories relevant to the reading (i.e. Juana) and assign what level to stick to, in place of assigning a letter to that round. Those who can ultimately stay within the level of questioning assigned, and come up with unique questions, win more points than those who have either submitted a question from the wrong level, or have created too simple of a question.

These levels, like much of the material we've been covering these first couple of weeks, will remain an important aspect of our class, so be sure to be familiar with them.

Race Politics

Another theme that will continue to play out over the course of The Pearl pertains to race relations amongst the indigenous population of this Mexican town and the European colonists that have brought their way of life to this same place. We will address the relationship and conflicts that have arisen between Native Americans and European Settlers over the course of history at a later date, but for now I'd like to bring the idea of racial conflict closer to home by discussing the current climate in our country between White and Black communities. We will be bringing in two recent songs and analyzing their lyrics in our fishbowl discussions and culminate with a review of the most recent article pertaining to police brutality.

http://mslaurynhill.com/post/95329923112/black-rage-sketch

Here is the link to the Vice article on police brutality:

http://www.vice.com/read/is-obedience-the-only-way-to-avoid-police-brutality-915

I will refrain from going too much into discussing the topic here, because I'd like the fishbowl discussion in class to be driven strictly by your opinions, but here are the questions I will present to the group to get the ball rolling:

- In what ways are the songs relevant to the topic of racial politics?
- Which song do you find more effective at communicating it’s message?
- What is the role of police within the community?
- Is obedience the only way to avoid police brutality?

Lastly, I'd like for you to connect some of what will be explored concerning conflict between races, and elements of abuse of power to what we will be dealing with as we continue with Kino's struggles in The Pearl.

Themes

Virtually every form of media comprises of some sort of message being delivered. When media is used for storytelling purposes, that message becomes a theme. Themes are essentially topics or subjects that can be communicated as inherently important and worth the audience's attention. They can be as simple as figuring out that the theme explored in Lil Jon's "Turn Down for What" is to party.

Themes can range from generic topics, such as Love, Family, or War -or they can grow increasingly specific ("Differences in abilities don’t have to be limiting" is a great example of a very focused theme).  Below you'll find a website that lists some common themes found in storytelling and literature:

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingabookreport/a/themelist.htm

Their description goes further by describing ways in which themes present themselves -either through a common pattern or motif reoccurring throughout the story, or as a result of a build up of events culminating with the theme. Some are easy to identify almost immediately, others take time to sink in and come to full realization.

Either way, themes are used because they are the common denominator of our lives. We deal with what are essentially themes everyday, broad or specific. It's essential to use themes in a work because they provide a connection with the reader. To say a theme in a work, for example, is Family would immediately resonate with the audience's personal knowledge of families.

As you watch these trailers, try to figure out what themes are prevalent:




Now because themes go back as far as oral history and storytelling, we're bound to come across the same themes throughout various works.

Case in point:

When the movie Avatar was releasing in theaters, everyone was talking about it. This was James Cameron's latest major work since Titanic, and was to be the first major motion picture using using groundbreaking new 3D technology - expectations were high.



As was expected, the results were mixed, but fell short of where most people thought. Primarily, the biggest criticism was the value -with IMAX 3D tickets at 20$ per adult, there were complaints about whether it was worth the price to essentially watch the same movie for the 3rd time. When that argument was thrown around, these were usually the movies they were referring to:



The Last of the Mohicans synopsis: "As the English and French soldiers battle for control of the North American colonies in the 18th century, the settlers and native Americans are forced to take sides. Cora and her sister Alice unwittingly walk into trouble but are saved by Hawkeye, an orphaned settler adopted by the last of the Mohicans."



Pocahontas synopsis: "An English soldier and the daughter of an Algonquin chief share a romance when English colonists invade seventeenth-century Virginia."

When you return to looking at Avatar, you see the same basic trio of themes explored almost to the T,

-Love
-War
-Colonialism

Take a look:

Avatar synopsis: "In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora."


We look at these three very similar works and we ask ourselves: Why are these themes so popular that the basic story is recycled over and over to push these themes forward?

Or, maybe you don't ask yourself that. Either way, it's a message that begs for your attention.

[Magical segway into introduction of course novel] (Lesson from 09/16)

You can find countless examples of stories and theme collections being recycled, much for the same intent of pushing a message that begs to be heard by the audience. One such concerns the collection of the following themes:

- Fortune
- Corruption of morality
- Family

See if you can spot how these themes become prevalent to the story in these works



And while there is no official trailer for The Pearl by John Steinbeck, we can resort to it's synopsis:

"Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf beds that once brought great wealth to the Kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana, and their infant son with meager subsistence. Then, on a day like any other, Kino emerges from the sea with a pearl as large as a sea gull's egg, as "perfect as the moon." With the pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and of security.... A story of classic simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale, The Pearl explores the secrets of man's nature, the darkest depths of evil, and the luminous possibilities of love."

The idea of fortune, itself, goes back to a medieval concept of philosophy known as the Rota Fortunae, or as we've come to know it as:

This ancient way of seeing the world basically implies that we are all in constant motion on a revolving course of good and bad fortune. We have our good days and our bad days -there are even moments where we experience fits of lucky streaks or the opposite. Either way, this vertical wheel reminds us that what goes up, must come down. In literature, this element of rising and falling is commonly portrayed in a character's status over the course of the novel. Often times, we're introduced to a poor man who comes up big, or a superior individual who loses everything. We see this in our everyday lives as well:

There are of course more underlying themes that push forth throughout the course of reading The Pearl, and we'll address them soon enough. For now though, reflect on this theme of Fortune and Corruption. Is it possible to win big in life and still manage to maintain a sense of integrity?

9/11 and What it means to remember

Every academic year, there is an obligatory portion of the day at school designated towards referring back to the events of September 11th, 2001. This being the 13th year since then, I emphasize the word obligatory, because for many it feels exactly as such. Naturally, we're referring to a tragedy that for many of us is still very recent and deserves it's acknowledgement and respectful consideration. However, especially in our classroom as the years go by, high school students in your position will find themselves continually separated from the issue -making it hard to feel personally affected. In adapting the issue and making it more relevant, I would like for us to address the topic of remembrance as a broader scale.

This Sunday, the first season of the HBO series, The Leftovers, had it's final episode for the year. In case you're not familiar with the show, here are a couple teaser trailers. The premise basically being about people trying to move on with their lives, 3 years after a sudden and unexplained vanishing of 2% of the world's population (~140 million people).



The show allegorically tells a story of grief and loss and how communities respond to tragedy. In many ways, mirroring how our community may have reacted in the wake of 9/11. Amidst the characters, there is a cult-like group of people wearing all white -The Guilty Remnant. In the series, their main objective is to act as living reminders of the tragic events of that October 14th, three years prior. They do not speak, they are always smoking cigarettes, and their presence is seen as a blight on the community because people would like to just move on from the tragedy -something the Guilty Remnant resists by constantly finding ways to bring the tragedy to everyone's immediate attention.



The second teaser trailer embedded here is interesting in that it borrows its lines from a famous work of poetry:

"I wish I could translate the hints about the [departed] young men
     and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring
     taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and
     children?

They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,

[. . .]

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to [depart] is different from what any one supposed, and
     luckier."

  -From "Song of Myself, IV" by Walt Whitman

The specific passage from Whitman's works does a good job of highlighting many of the themes associated with this allegory of loss and grief. It asks you to see the tragedy itself as a dividing force between the past, present, and future. For those of us that remain, we can't help but see the day before tragedy as such a distant pass, despite it having even been a few hours away. While we mourn the tragedy and those that are no longer here with us, there is also a sense of nostalgia that begets a sort of envy for those same individuals -they will never have to know the chaos that consumes our lives post-tragedy. Even now, as we reach over a decade later, we look at the 1990s as this great time in our history. "Even the cartoons were better", some people go as far as arguing over.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/dec/22/fiction.dondelillo

In the above link, we will be reading an article by Don Delillo, published three months after that September 11th. The article itself is a heavy read, coming in at 12 pages, but you will have ample time to read the text closely and mark whatever you find interesting enough. Namely, focusing on the parts that you think best reflect what Whitman touches on in his poem, which in turn also matches the tone of the series trailers you watched above. It is also worth nothing that you will find that this article doesn't really fall into any particular category of writing that you may have covered in years before (persuasive, argumentative, expository, explanatory, informative, etc.). Rather, Delillo's writing seems to cover the tasks that each of those categories would have been solely responsible for. I'm not saying that this is the kind of writing I am expecting for you to produce in this class -although it'd be worth a try. What I want is for you to begin to see writing as the free-form expression it is. Delillo obviously has his task, purpose, and audience in mind while writing -but he is not restricting himself to a certain style or mode -at times his writing feels like an essay, and other moments feel poetic or like something out of a movie.

In closing, and going back to the main subject at hand, it's important to remember how much time has passed between September 11th. Last year with my class I pointed them towards a website:
http://www.911day.org/

With it, we discussed the idea of what we CAN do in our lives to move on forward with their lives while not dishonoring those lost. The website encourages people to make the day a positive experience by committing acts of kindness for the sake of those gone.

Moreover, at the end of this first season of the The Leftovers, the tone takes a decisive contrast in tone. Whereas the major bulk of the season dealt with the chaos and  raw emotions still prevalent amongst the people still alive, the final scenes find instances of hope amongst a few of them as they experience a moment of clarity in realizing that new life and rebirth can exist in the wake of the tragedy. Likewise, eventually in these classrooms, we will one day be visiting this topic with a group of students born on 2002 and so on -acting as further examples that we can and must move forward with our lives and not feel guilty about forgetting, but finding ways to honor those that have left.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Later this year we're going to get into To Kill a Mocking Bird, which features probably one of the best characters in American literature -Atticus Finch. In the book, Atticus has an iconic line, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (Lee)

Personally, that's been a quote that I've made a conscious effort to follow since I read it in Sophomore year of high school, and today we're going to try and understand it through Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

I'm not necessarily trying to brainwash you all into living by the same credence as I. More-so, it's important that we as readers are able to analyze motivations and infer as to why people, or characters, behave a particular way. There's also a much more light-hearted way of seeing the quote as:

So let's steal some shoes -which is a less creepy transitional phrase than "let's climb into some skins".

Abraham Maslow followed the humanistic movement of psychology in the 1940s, which essentially stood by the belief that all humans are inherently good to themselves -we all want to aspire towards a better life for ourselves. In treating mental patients, Maslow attempted to skew his perspective in a way that didn't just see them as a "bag of symptoms" -or what one thinks is wrong with that individual. Instead, looking at what that individual is seeking in their life to satisfy their needs. Thus, Maslow composed a hierarchy, or order, of what needs we all require in our lives:

Following this graphic, the hierarchy operates by working your way up from the bottom -like this guy.

As humans, the primary thing we are concerned with are bodily needs -Physiological- basically how we're going to keep ourselves physically alive. It is only after we are certain that we can keep ourselves running, that we concern ourselves with staying safe, seeking connections, feeling good about ourselves, and ultimately reaching what Maslow terms "Self-Actualization".

"What a man can be, he must be."

This quote forms the basis for the final stage of the hierarchy, referring to what one's full potential is and the realization of that potential in their lives. Basically, it's that tiny spark inside you that wants you to be what you've always dreamed of being. Everyone essentially craves going that far in life, but it's a feat that many never truly reach. It's why rich people or those that you would think would otherwise be happy with themselves are not, because they're missing out on reaching whatever they perceived their full potential to be.

These levels dictate where we are in our lives, what we need, and how those needs motivate our actions. Understanding motivation is so integral to getting to know a person. It's essentially how crimes are solved: "what's the motive?" -we, as thinking humans, have a need to rationalize basically everything we encounter.

In coming to understand these levels on a more approachable level, I offer the movie, Up.

I have embedded the first few minutes of the movie, when Carl meets Ellie as a child, and followed it up with a Vimeo link to the montage that follows. As you watch, try to identify where they are as individuals on the hierarchy of needs -notice how they will constantly fluctuate up and down that order as they deal with several crises. Also, try not to cry.





http://vimeo.com/51941588

It get's me everytime.

How does understanding these characters through this lens change the way you see the movie? or the characters themselves?

Just like we are able to apply this level of analysis to the characters of this movie, we can have the same approach to analyzing several other characters, as well as real people acting in our very real world. I like it because it allows me to feel someone's pain or needs. You might like it because it gets you out of less fights with people. Give it a shot.

Update:

Here's an example of how we can apply this lens of analysis to a non-fiction article and attempt to understand the motivations of actual people -not animated grumps.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/janay-rice-on-instagram--husband-s-suspension--release-a--horrible-nightmare-125557783.html

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/ray-rice-story-shows-the-power-of-a-tape-090914

We will utilize these articles to address the vast array of controversial topics surrounding Ray Rice and his indefinite suspension from the Baltimore Ravens. In short, we will attempt to analyze the motivations behind the most recent actions of Rice, his wife, and the Ravens organization.

What do you think? Comment below and offer your OPINON on the matter. We'll be sure to have this discussion in class, so feel free to reference it any point below.

Sources:

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York, NY: Harper. pp. 91.

Berger, Kathleen Stassen (1983). The Developing Person through the Life Span.

Intelligent Consumers, part 1

Now that I've gotten you to admit that you absolutely love to read, it's important that we keep in mind the importance of being an Intelligent Consumer.

A consumer, to review, is just anyone that uses or takes in anything. You do it on an everyday bases, as much as you breathe. You're doing it now. Consuming, I mean. Well, breathing too, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Continue doing both.

It is incredibly important that you understand what you are consuming. We may be lax when it comes to watching what we eat, but we cannot afford to be as such with what we read, hear, or watch. It is so easy to be influenced into doing something you don't want to do, without even knowing it. Which brings me to my next point.

Because media is incredibly influential, there are many who choose to manipulate what we are presented with to have us believe certain values. As such, I will try to dedicate a post every now and again to calling out any offenders of our trust and innocence.

Today's transgression comes in the form of conspiracy theories and radical fanatics that would have you believe you've become a disciple of satan, simply by pouring a bucket of ice over your head in the name of charity.

http://news.yahoo.com/ice-bucket-challenge-satanic-ritual-explains-troubled-writer-183406572.html#

In the article yahoo links to, Selena Owens claims that the summer trend of posting instagram videos of people performing the Ice Bucket Challenge is in ways a pronunciation of anti-christian sentiment. The article continues, citing televangelist Anita Fuentes a her source, that there are key components of this purported ritual that give it away, including, "a water baptism" akin to the cleansing ceremony in many christian sects. She then continues to point out Oprah Winfrey in particular, analyzing her choice of words, "In the name of ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge", speculating some form of proclamation of faith for some other deity (Owens). While I commend the two on their incredibly detailed level of analysis, I have to call foul.

The problem with their analysis is that rather than treat it as a form of opinion, the article reads as if it were fact. These authors would have you believe the ice bucket challenge to very well be "a satanic ritual", rather than just point to questionable actions and open up the floor to dissenting opinon. Their rhetoric is heavily reminiscent to that of those that argue Hip Hop artists are a part of the Illuminati.



http://www.complex.com/music/2013/11/rap-conspiracy-theories/troop-sport

There are several examples of videos on youtube of religious types arguing over the presence of the devil within lyrics and visuals of hip hop media. They have their right to argue for the presence of immorality within the hop hop community, as even gender equality activists have their beef with aspects of rap lyrics. However, many of these videos are titled as, "EXPOSED" as if there were some factual evidence that has been looked over -rather than just a point of view perspective. Rapper Busta Rhymes is critical of this in an interview with MTV, commenting, "When you talk about these things and it stirs conversation that’s one thing. But within the last four years, it became mainstream American dialog" (Alexis). My point echoes the sentiments of Busta Rhymes -I'd never thought I'd hear myself say that. It's ok to have these kinds of conversations, but you have to be grounded in reality. You can't allow yourself to be misled by rhetoric intended to have you accept opinon as fact. It's the same kind of narrative that has existed as far back as critics of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".

http://www.vh1.com/music/tuner/2014-02-20/15-songs-satanic-backwards-messages/





All of this is very in tune to the commentary that argues over the media's negative influence on the youth. Whether it makes them believe in the devil, do drugs, or become violent offenders, it all goes back to one true point: Media IS very influential. Whether it makes you into a super criminal is questionable, but there's no arguing that it can make you into a "believer" of some opinion. The problem is, often times it's not the facts that are being believed.

What do you think? Comment below and offer your OPINON on the matter. We'll be sure to have this discussion in class, so feel free to reference it any point below.

Sources:

http://www.mtv.com/news/1711750/busta-rhymes-hip-hop-illuminati/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-10-wildest-led-zeppelin-legends-fact-checked-20121121/if-you-play-stairway-to-heaven-in-reverse-you-hear-satanic-messages-19691231

http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/the-dark-side-of-the-ice-bucket-challenge/

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/11/rap-conspiracy-theories/troop-sport

You love to read, face it.

We will make it a point in this class to approach any and all forms of texts. Texts does not necessarily mean books and newspapers. We encounter texts off all kinds in our everyday lives, from the screen, the page, the web, or the stage. It is ridiculous to say "I do not read" -it's just not true!

Sure, you may not feel like picking up a book, and that's fine if that's how you want to live your life. However, you'd be remiss if you didn't give yourself proper credit for taking the time to sort through the various tweets, posts, texts, and everything else that comes up on your notifications screen or feed.

Multimedia still follows the basic structures that make up the literature you've come to know and grow weary of. Video Games and movies borrow storylines from century old texts; television shows today flow just like novels -carrying many of the literary element we'll be reviewing in this course.

Rather than repeat myself, here's a quick youtube video to compliment my point:


We consume various forms of media, and we consciously do it to feel. That's the claim being made in this commercial, and it's hard to argue against it. We as humans love to feel emotions. Such emotions. Much feels. Wow.

English II: Welcome

Welcome to English II

This year, your goal is to build upon skills introduced in your English I course towards college and career readiness. In keeping with preparing our students for their place in the workforce, there will be a large focus on enhancing our skills for the 21st Century -hence this website!

Our English II course will be heavily reliant on technology, because writes with pen and paper these days!?

This website will be your portal for everything related to the course, including links, in-depth analysis, and various multimedia.

I'm still working on developing the syllabus for this course, in which you'll see the grade breakdown, and how things will run generally throughout the year. Before that, there are some essential points we need to cover.

Marking Period Grade Breakdown:

• Benchmarks = 30%
• Tests/Quizzes = 20
• Projects/Essays = 20%
• Classwork/Notes = 20%
• Journals/Participation = 10%

Final Grade Breakdown

• Marking Period 1 (9 weeks)   = 16.67%
• Marking Period 2 (10 weeks) = 16.67%
• Midterm Exam                       = 16.67%
• Marking Period 3 (10 weeks) = 16.67%
• Marking Period 4 (9 weeks)   = 16.67%
• Final Exam                             = 16.67%

Course Books:

1. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
2. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. Amistad by David Pesci
5. Anthem by Ayn Rand
6. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
7. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
8. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Important Links:

www.gmail.com
[I will require every student to have a gmail account for this class. Preferably, one that utilizes your name in the email address. No ZombieboyFTW@yahoo.com. For example, my gmail account will be brianrodriguez229@gmail.com. This account is not only for email access; it also allows you full access to the GoogleDocs suite of processing tools. It's like having Microsoft Office, except for free and in the cloud.] In addition, you'll need this gmail account to have full access to the next important requirement.

www.blogspot.com
[Just as you are reading this on my personal blog for the course, I will be requiring you to create a personal blog on blogspot for this course as well. I say personal blog in the sense that it will be linked to you individually, not like a personal diary. Not that I'm not interested in gossip and this person dumping that person for the other person's best friend, it's just not relevant to this specific course. Instead, you will be blogging simultaneously with the course, reflecting on weekly lessons and providing writing samples of your own. This is an academic blog, so you will need to write formally. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are all key to maintaining credibility with your academic blog. This blog will be accessible by anyone, including family, friends, classmates, and your educators/academics alike. No pressure.]

www.dropbox.com
[Dropbox is another example of a cloud-based service that you have at your disposal in this course. You may create your own account if you're interested, and access it from any potentially any computer, tablet, or smartphone. It's a great way to not lose things -and as teenagers, face it, you lose things. I have a dropbox account to keep track of all materials pertaining to this class, and I will send out links to access folders on a weekly basis, so that you can keep track of any missing work. For example, this is the link to this week's folder:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ehnqj0bz1prr879/AAAO_2YHanC64Ya1B6R5G3F4a?dl=0
There's probably nothing on there yet, but you'll be able to see anytime I add anything on there. My main goal is to cut down on paper waste in this class, so if there's no need to print anything, I won't. If I do, and you lose it, it's on you to either reprint it from the dropbox or work off of the computer.]

www.remind.com
[Remind is a great tool I'll be using on occasion to send out information and communicate any last minute, details to the class. Each class will have it's own sign-up. I would prefer you utilize your gmail acccounts to sign up. You may also use your cellphones, but remember NO CELLPHONES IN CLASS.

Period 1-2: http://pdfs.remind.com/invite?class_code=943db9&class_name=Period+1-2&phone_number=%28862%29+766-6516&sms_supported=true&user_signature=Mr.+Rodriguez

Period 4: http://pdfs.remind.com/invite?class_code=77a1ca&class_name=Period+4&phone_number=%28862%29+766-6516&sms_supported=true&user_signature=Mr.+Rodriguez

Period 7-8: http://pdfs.remind.com/invite?class_code=c86e87&class_name=Period+7-8&phone_number=%28862%29+766-6516&sms_supported=true&user_signature=Mr.+Rodriguez