English Class Advice from Ms. Luck
First of all, let me speak in a broad sense concerning how to do well in my
class. This is the deal: I will show you how to do everything that I will
ask of you. If you keep up, ask questions, and try hard, you will do well.
Surprisingly, maybe, your grades are not that important to me. If everyone
got "A's," I think that would be great. But, what I am more interested in
is what you learn. Will you be ready for the next year of high school?
College? I make a point of teaching information that I know you will need.
You will have to trust me on this one. Also, and don't let this freak you
out, I don't consider you guys a "normal" English class, meaning non-A.P. or
non-Honors. I hate those labels. You guys are young enough to not realize
if you like English or not; for some, you won't get into it until college.
Know this, though, I will challenge you in order for you to see all that
English, with all its components, can offer.
Now for the advice:
1) Do you ever wonder why people are hesitant to write? Or why you are?
Let me put it this way: if I asked you to perform open-heart surgery would
you be comfortable doing that? Exactly! The reason people are hesitant to
write or read or speak in public is because they have no confidence that
they will do it well. I see it every year, as the year progresses, and
students learn how to write error-free, they begin writing very very long
pieces of writing. Why? They are confident and realize that they have
something to say. It's simple really: learn how to do something well, and
you will want to do it. Students (YOU) become proud!
2) Grammar! Ah yes, grammar. Like it or not, it's necessary. College
professors, when polled about the shortcomings of incoming freshman, said
that poor grammar skills are the number one problem with new students.
Grammar is not the enemy; it's a set of rules. No evil intent is waiting or
no transformation to "nerd-hood" awaits you if you learn grammar. Also, and
again like it or not, people judge you on how you write. If, let's say, you
are writing a memo to your boss someday, and you write it like an email/chat-
room/gobbledygook format, your boss will, pardon my language, think you are,
errrr, dumb. But, if you write to your boss in error-free text, he will
be impressed because it's so rare that anyone has the skills to do that. In
short, you will get a raise, become the CEO, and buy that boat you always
wanted.
3) Grammar #2: Here's a secret: you already know grammar! Yes, you do; I'm
serious. You just don't know that you know. If I said to you,
say, "Because I am late for school" and stopped after the word school, you
would say, Keep going, what else? What happened because you were late for
school? I gave you an incomplete thought there, and you recognized it. The
way I teach grammar, based on the sentence types, is all about complete and
incomplete thoughts. Similarly, if I gave you a complete thought,
like "School is boring!" you would recognize it. Right? Use the logic in
your brain, and you will realize you know grammar, the big parts anyway. I
assume most of you can type about seven times faster than me, and that's
cool; I am okay being a slow-typer. I have an advantage over you, though; I
go slow enough to see my errors, re-read my text, and make it grammatically
sound. Slow down!
4) The effect of grammar on writing. Imagine you have an idea that could
change the world, make everyone love one another, some great new political
theory, whatever, and you write all this down and give it to the President.
Two things can happen here: 1) you wrote the idea down with no errors.
Good. This is what will happen: the President will understand your idea.
He won't even notice the grammar. That's the odd thing, and you have
encountered this; you do not notice the grammar when there are no errors.
The writing becomes ALL about the idea. That sounds simple, but it's not.
Go read the Declaration of Independence and see how the "idea" is conveyed.
2) If you write your idea down with errors, comma-splices, run-on sentences,
fragments, etc., the reader will get NONE of the idea and simply look for
your errors -- you will look pretty dumb, and your great idea is gone.
Gone! Imagine if Thomas Jefferson wrote his great ideas down with all those
errors -- that would be bad, and he would have been judged by his writing,
and the judgement would not be good.
5) Essay writing: Here's a surpise: only 25% of essay writing is designed to
make you a better writer. That number is my own estimate and is based on
nothing more than my experience, but I believe it. Here's why -- the
word "essay" means to prove. Okay, the words you use to prove thesis (the
controlling sentence in your essay) come from your brain. You use what we
call analytical thinking skills to make an argument, prove a point, debate,
conclude, etc. So, the remaining 75% of essay writing is designed to make
you a better thinker, so someday, when you are an engineer, and your boss
asks you to design a car shaped like an apple, you can think, analyze,
deduce, imagine, create, synthesize, and question, etc. Think back to
elementary school, and the arguments that took place on the playground:
Boy#1: My dad is smarter than your dad!
Boy#2: Is not!
Boy#1: Is too!
Boy#2: Nuh-uh!
Boy#1: Uh-huh!
Boy#2: Why?
Boy#1: Because I said so!
Boy#2: You're dumb!
Boy#1: You shutup!
Boy#2: No, you, shutup!
Etc., etc., etc.
Your opinions will not win you the argument -- you need to prove your points!
Okay, this is an exaggeration, but it is how people without analytical
thinking skills argue. Some adults do this! I know, it's scary. If you
never learn them, how can you ever have them. It's not like you reach a
certain age, and some guy shows up and says, "Congratulations, here are your
analytical thinking skills!" That would be nice, but I'm afraid it won't
happen. So, in short, essay writing is about training your mind to think
critically and a little bit about writing.
6) If it's hard to think analytically, that is to be expected. If you were
to leave the classroom and go run a marathon, right now, no training, that
would be hard, too. You need to practice, go through some pain, sprain an
ankle, and maybe throwup once or twice. We say "analytical thinking skills"
because they are skills: a skill is something you can learn and get better
at. Imagine a detective without analytical thinking skills. He goes to a
crime scene, sees a body, a match book on the bedstand, and a broken
window. If this guy, or girl, can't imagine, re-create, deduce, theorize,
comprehend, compartmentalize, he will not solve this crime. Are you curious
as to the one thing you can do that will really help these skills, in
addtition to writing essays? Go ahead, guess! No, it's not video games,
although you do use some high-level thinking, at times, with those. The
answer is reading. In a study using an MRI machine, doctors realized that
when a person reads, his or her whole brain is alive: memories, logic,
abstract thinking, imagination, guessing, deducing, creating, etc. In math,
for instance, you would be using the logic side of your brain. Don't get me
wrong, math is very valuable, but it just doesn't affect the noggin in the
same way. If you want to practice and get a jump on the world, my advice is
simple: READ!
7) Reading and why you do it better than anyone else. Let me ask you a
question: are you the same as me? Are you the same as anyone else? Your
answer is probably no, or it should be because you are, in fact, not like
anyone else. Sure, we all breathe air and need food and sleep, but in our
minds, we are different. We all have different pasts, experiences,
emotions, dispositions, attitudes, memories, morals, ethics, cultural
backgrounds, geographical backgrounds, economic backgrouds, so we must be
different. Remember this idea when you read or when someone asks you to
comment on what you read. There will come a time when I ask you to comment
on a character, a theme, a setting, or any such thing we may read. When I
ask these questions, I do not expect there to be one answer written in
stone. I have my opinions, and I expect you to have yours. You interact
with a book differently from me, and that is a simple fact. What happens
when you comment on your experiences is that my view of the novel has grown -
- you may give some insight that we overlooked. Imagine if everyone
commented on the little things they saw or learned or realized in a book.
We would all be wiser. A teacher, especially an English teacher, does not
ask you about literature to put you on the spot. They do it to let you know
that you know something unique. Life is one big exchange of ideas, and if
you are not willing to change you are effectively sitting life out and
warming up the bench. In short, you have valuable opinions, and we want to
hear them. "I don't know" is not an accepted answer in my class when it
comes to commenting on literature.
8) What to do if you hate to read. Believe it or not, I used to hate
reading, and I was probably older than you are now. It's true. It is not
so much that I hated reading, but I didn't really see the worth of it. Now,
as I write this, I am surrounded by about 1,000 books that I have read over
the years. So, how did I go from being a reluctant reader to a voracious
reader? The answer is not complicated. I found the right book -- that's
it. Start here, if you like action movies, read an action book; romance:
read a romance novel; mystery: read a mystery -- you get the point. It may
be a cliche' to say the book is better than the movie, but it's true.
Unfortunately, until you have a good experience with a book, you will
probably not believe me. Just think about it: when you go to a movie, the
director had all the fun. He, or she, got to design the setting(s), choose
the characters and what they looked like, and told the story their way.
When you read, you are the director; the movie is playing in your mind.
Once you get good at it, and you will if you read, it is immensely more
satisfying than a movie. Oh yeah, remember those analytical thinking
skills, you are using those big time. You are, in effect, becoming smarter
with each word. Have you ever met anyone without an imagination? I have,
well, maybe they had a little imagination, but they are out there. People
who read, though, are not part of that crowd. Readers are the interesting
people, the smart and creative ones, the ones who think outside the box and
see the world in a new way.
9) Literary elements: It may seem intimidating when a teacher asks you what
you think about a novel, or life. The place we will start when we analyze
novels, poems, whatever is with the literary elements (see literary elements
section). If I told you we were going to read a book about the South in the
year 1862, what do you already know about that? Right, the Civil War,
slavery, Union vs. Confederates, Abe Lincoln, etc. We know all that just
from the setting. See, we are already analyzing. These lit. elements will
become second nature and will culminate with our discovery of the theme(s).
I will discuss themes next; it's that important.
10)What is a theme? First, I will tell you what a theme is not, in my
mind. A theme is not a word like love, anger, oil, friendship, politics,
etc. A theme is literally the message (not one word) the author wants us to
know about life. What do we learn about life by knowing the word hunger.
One word has no context. Remember this: a theme is advice your grandfather
would give you; that's how I remember it. Imagine your grandfather calls
you over and says, "Billy, there is one thing I want you to know about life,
and it's politics!" What did Billy learn here? Nothing! Use this equation
to figure out themes in literature:
Subject + what author wants us to know about it (in your
opinion) = theme
So, if we put Grandpa's advice into the above-equation, we would get
something vastly more helpful, like the theme below:
Politics + can cause many arguments, but it is always necessary
in order to have our democracy = theme
Important: you may have different themes than me. That's okay and great
actually. Here's the process: make a list of every SUBJECT the literature
is about and then ask yourself what the author wants YOU to know about that
subject. If you think it, it is probably a theme.
11) You feel like when you read you don't really understand what has been
written. Rookie readers often say this. To be honest, when I read an
author like William Faulkner or Albert Camous, I have to go back and read
over some parts. The way I handled this in school was to take notes. If a
text is confusing, don't assume it's because you aren't sharp enough to get
it. Consider this: an author may be vague or obscure, so we, the readers,
are forced to use more of our imagination and intelligence to figure
something out. Or, they are confusing because they want to achieve that
effect, mood, or tone. Imagine an author is writing about a particularly
interesting character, let's say, a teenager. Now isn't the thought-
processes of a teenager, at times, confusing and hard to follow. So, if you
read this and are confused, you are then in the mind of that teenager. Get
it? So, if, at times, you don't "get it," maybe that is the purpose. Of
course, as you read more and apply, instinctively, the literary elements
and, of course, your higher order thinking skills, you will get it. When it
comes right down to it, and you have actually done the reading, you will
find that you have gotten the author's message. Just remember, it's not
because you are unintelligent; it's just simply difficult text.
12) Let's talk about homework. Yes, you will have homework. Homework is
simply a way for you to practice. I remember times when I was in school,
and I would have math homework. The teacher would teach us how to do some
of the problems, but when I got to, say, question #43, a new twist was put
in, and I was lost. I will show you how to do your homework. The only way
to learn this information is to practice. Say, for example, I give some
grammar homework; it will look something like this: write ten simple
sentences with one subject and one predicate. I pretty much told you
everything I want there, right? The reason it is important to me that you
do this should be obvious, but if it's not, here's why: muscle memory is an
important factor in learning grammar and English usage. If you write
correct sentences, in practice, you will write correct sentences when it
matters. In the practical sense, if you don't do the homework, of which
there is a lot, you will probably not pass my class. The skills you learn
at home will be applied to all sorts of other assignments. For instance, as
the year progresses, I insist on students turning in work with no grammar
errors --that means not a single one. If a student knows how to write, this
isn't a problem. Again, if you stay with me, you will be that student.
Imagine how good writing can help you in all your classes.
13) Essays scare me, and I don't know where to begin. Writing an essay is
simply a series of steps (see essay section), but I will summarize the
thought-process here: 1) think of an opinion, idea, or belief (not a fact)
that you think you can prove. This statement is called the thesis, and it's
the most important aspect of your essay. The whole essay has one goal, as a
matter of fact, and that is to prove -- or at least sway the reader's
thinking to -- your thesis. 2) Once you have an idea or thesis, you need to
break it down into its smaller ideas; these will serve as topic sentences.
This sounds confusing, so let me show you how easy it is with the following
example:
Thesis = Cartoons are beneficial to kids.
Now, I will come up with reasons that I think make that above-statement
true. Again, these are simply my opinions.
Reason #1: Cartoons allow kids to use their imaginations. (Ask yourself the
question: If I prove this "reason" will I be proving a piece of my thesis?)
Reason #2: Cartoons deal with life issues in an entertaining and non-
threatening manner.
Reason #3: Cartoons model the use of humor and can facilitate social
interaction.
Now, if I was to write a five-paragraph essay, my thesis would be in the
first (Introduction) paragraph, and the three body paragraphs would be where
I would put my reasons (or topic sentences). Really, this is the hard part,
and it's not that hard. Now, I simply need to find some proof for my
reasons: surveys, statisitcs, quotations from knowledgeable sources,
encyclopedia, newspapers, magazines, interviews, definitiions, etc.
The final paragraph is called the conclusion, and it is here that I sum up
main points (in this case my reasons), explain how the whole essay works,
and finally, reword my thesis. Easy. If you need a longer essay, simply
produce more reasons or topic sentences.
14) What's in it for you? Why read? To put it simply, reading fiction is
reading about life. Your life. The experiences, emotions, thoughts, and
reactions of characters in fiction are human. Most likely, you have
experienced many of the same things as fictional characters. Just because
fiction means "not true," doesn't mean it isn't possible. Characters in
fiction often go through extreme circumstances: sadness, death, love,
murder, anger, jealousy pushed to the limits. The events are usually
exaggerated to make a point or are so extreme they make us take notice, but
take notice we do. When we read about a group of kids stranded on a
deserted island, we pay attention because that probably won't happen to us.
But, life on a day-to-day level is challenging and seeing fictional extremes
gives us some tools and wisdom with which to deal. Chances are you won't go
to these extremes, but you may, and reading about these ficitonal
experiences can give you insight into those extreme worlds. Say you are a
teen with parents going through a divorce: you are probably confused, angry,
hurt, resentful, etc. Now assume you pick up a book about a teen with
parents going through divorce -- can you learn anything here? For instance:
you're not alone, you're not the first person to deal with these issues, you
can see the results of this fictional teen's actions, and you can have a
place to explore your own feelings: contrast them with the characters.
Fiction is really about what it is like to be human. So, it stands to
reason that if we read these books about being human, we become better
equipped to go through life.
15) So you want to be a Hollywood director and create a movie. Every time
you read, you will be playing a movie in your mind. In a real movie, the
director has all the fun: he or she gets to create the settings, cast the
characters, create tone, and inject his or her imagination on the screen.
When you read, you do this, too. Don't you see images in your head when you
read? Of course you do! You are in charge; you're the director! Think of
the images going on in your mind simply from reading words. Don't you think
this is a miraculous thing? You are creating from words. Making worlds,
making characters, discovering themes. Look at Lord of the Rings: this was
a great set of movies, but the director left some things out from the
books. If you directed these movies, they would be different from his
version. Peter Jackson simply put his imagination onto the screen. Those
movies were how he saw the books in his mind. So, when you read, you're in
charge. This may be a reason why books leave a more lasting impression on
us.
16) Aliteracy vs. Illitaercy: Thankfully, none of you are illiterate,
which means you can't read or write. But, you may be "aliterate." This
term means that you know how to read, but you don't like it. This is bad!
At some point in your young lives, you came to believe that reading was bad
or a negative thing to do. Think about this a moment . . . . Okay, does
this thinking make any sense? It's information; it will inform you; it will
make you smarter, more creative, and more interesting. What is the bad part
of all that? I know why you feel this way. Reading takes some work, some
time, and some concentration and thinking. It's easier to not think or
concentrate, so we, in effect, see reading as something negative; it may not
be seen as fun. Mark my words, at some point, if you're lucky, reading will
become a daily habit, and, yes, you will like it and probably be addicted.
That is the way it goes. It's my job to try and sell you on the fact that
reading is an ally not the enemy, so keep an open mind, and I will do my
best to show you reading is crucially important. Note: In all other
countries besides the U.S., people who read are considered elite, special,
and are looked up to (from the novel: What is a Book?).
17) Why you should work your butt off in school. In the novel The World is
Flat by Thomas Friedman, the author sums up the current situation facing
American kids with this little anecdote. Years ago, parents would say to
their kids, "Eat all your food because elsewhere in the world kids are
starving. I heard that one myself, but I didn't think much of it. Now,
however, times have changed, and according to the author, the new maxim is
this: "Do all your homework because somewhere in the world some kid is
starving for your job." We live in a global environment now, and to ignore
that would be costly. What does this mean to you: studies show that kids in
countries like China and India are doing an average of four-six hours of
homework a night. In America, it's .5 hours. Why would they work so much
harder while we seem to be slacking? Well, if you listen to the news at
all, you will notice that many American companies are going overseas. Why?
Money! A data processor in India makes around $180 month, and that is above
average for an Indian salary. It makes fiscal sense to get an employee for
less than 10% of an American worker. Plus, these workers have proven they
are studious, well read, and are able to think critically. Let's face it:
America has gotten lazy, and to be competitive, you need to work hard and
realize that you will not be handed a job simply because you are an American.
Included here, just for my amusement, are Bill Gate's rules for life. Enjoy!
Rule 1:
Life is not fair - get used to it.
Rule 2:
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to
accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3:
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You
won't be a vice-president with a car phone, until you earn both.
Rule 4:
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't
have tenure.
Rule 5:
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a
different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.
Rule 6:
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your
mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7:
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They
got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to
you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the
parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own
room.
Rule 8:
Your school may have done away with winners and losers but life has not. In
some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many
times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest
resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9:
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few
employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own
time.
Rule 10:
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the
coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11:
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
See you in class for more on reading, writing, literary elements, homework,
listening, note-taking, studying for tests, behaving, success, etc.
