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For Nikki, and anyone else who missed them:

Rome, Early Republic

Ancient Greek Philosophy

Click to download, then open in Windows Media Player.

So, as I mentioned, I’ve been re-reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

Throughout the book, Rubin discusses several rules or tips she lives by. Some of them she calls the  Secrets of Adulthood, others are the Splendid Truths, and the most important category are her Personal Commandments. Her most important personal commandment is to Be Gretchen (her name is Gretchen, see?).

Rubin repeatedly returns to this commandment, describing both how important it is to figure out what she really wants in any given situation, and how important it is not to do something just because it seems like the right thing to do or like the thing others would do. For example, she says she wishes she enjoyed skiing. Many of her friends enjoy skiing, it seems like good exercise, it would be a great activity to get her daughters involved in. Unfortunately, she has to face the fact that while skiing is fun for other people, it wouldn’t be fun for her. She enjoys being indoors and warm, preferably while reading a book. So even though she wishes she were different, she has to Be Gretchen and do what’s right for her.

I started thinking about this personal commandment when my kids and I were reading a picture book called Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed by J. C. Phillips.

Wink is a kid who desperately wants to be a ninja, but he keeps getting in trouble for doing things that make him stand out. Ninjas are supposed to be stealthy, right? His grandmother repeatedly tries to cheer him up, suggesting a visit to the circus might be really enjoyable, but Wink just keeps resolving to try harder to do what his sensei asks of him. But toward the end of the book, Wink comes across a young circus performer trying to perfect his act, and Wink is able to help him. The circus boy’s family is hugely impressed by Wink’s skills as a performer, and give him lots of attention and applause. The book ends perfectly, with Wink joining the circus to do ninja tricks and be applauded by an audience.

Wink’s sensei sees the show and says something like, “Running water will always find its way,” which to me is just another way of saying we will end up doing what we are truly called to do, even if something else seems better or more worthy.

Be Gretchen.

Be Wink.

Be You.

Books are awesome, aren’t they?

Hi students! I know you have some questions and concerns about your blogging project. Here for your edification and future reference are the requirements and guidelines for your blogging projects.

• Post weekly. There will generally be a specific assignment to post on, but if there isn’t, you will be expected to choose your own topic related to our classwork or your reading.
• Posts are due by 8:10 am on Friday mornings.
• There will not be a post due during your spring break.
• Comment on two of your teammates’ blogs and two blogs of non-team members each week.
• All significant writing assignments you do for class will be posted to the blog. You will be expected to comment substantively and productively on each other’s essays just as you do each other’s reading responses.
• Include a properly-credited image with each post. We will discuss how to do this in class.
• Include at least two links in each post. Within reason, link to everything you discuss.
• Our blogs are completely transparent to the public and can be accessed by search engines. To maintain an appropriate level of security/anonymity, always use only your first name (and last initial, if desired). Do not make specific references to the name or location of our school or community.
• Never post anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want posted on a billboard in town.
• I encourage you to invite your friends and family members to read and comment on our blogs.
• Your comments should be thoughtful and should add to the discussion. Take care that your tone remains respectful and friendly at all times. Before you post a comment, ask yourself if it adds to the discussion. Would you feel comfortable discussing this comment with Mrs. Ratti’s grandmother? Would you feel comfortable sharing it with the grandmother of the person you’re addressing?
• You will be able to sign up each week to use the mobile lab in our classroom until 4:00 on Tuesday. You also have access to library computers each day during your lunch period. It may be possible to use the library before and after school as well. You should see the librarians about this and let me know if you need help arranging library time.
• Do not make excuses. Plan ahead, and solve problems. Meeting your deadlines will be part of your grade.
• Each person will receive an individual grade at the end of the nine weeks. This grade will be based on the following components:
• Control of standard English (spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc)
• Writing style
• Content—are your posts thoughtful, interesting, and thought-provoking?
• Use of multimedia (images, links, etc)
• Meeting deadlines
• Each group will receive an overall grade based on the same basic criteria as listed above. HOWEVER, group grades are only for your information and are not part of your English grade. Instead, we will give blog awards in the following categories (tentative):
• Best blog
• Level 4 blogs
• Best blogger
• Level 4 bloggers
• Best posts
• Best comment
• Best “About Me” page

I know we are going to run into bumps along the way (metaphor), and I expect that we’ll end up somewhere different from whereI expect (paradox), but we’ll work it out together. What I need from you is some honest effort to do good work, work worth showing off. I know you all are smart and awesome  and able to do amazing things.

Post your thoughts and questions in the comments, and ALWAYS remember you can email me (or send a message on Engrade) with any questions or concerns. I think this is going to be fun.

(Famous last words?)

I am re-reading The Happiness Project, a nonfiction book by Gretchen Rubin.

I stumbled across Ms. Rubin’s blog  several years ago, before the book was published, and while she was actually doing the project. I looked forward to reading it each day because it seemed like she always had something interesting, thought-provoking, or inspiring to say. Most of the posts were about being happier, obviously, but they were specific with insights from literature or science. I found myself applying some of her rules and advice in my life. As the publication of the book got nearer, I became really excited to read it and actually ordered it in hardback! This is a big deal for a cheapskate like myself!

As 2011 recently rolled over to 2012, I found myself wanting to make some resolutions. Actually, I found myself wanting to be happier, and I thought living differently might help me achieve that. It’s not that I’m UNhappy– I love my life! But I am often frustrated, tired, and distracted, and I always feel like I could be doing better if I were just trying a little harder. I have three children and a demanding job, plus a house and yard my husband and I have to take care of. There are always chores that need to be done, and I never seem to get enough sleep.

Ironically, I felt like I was too frazzled and tired to think straight enough to make resolutions that would help me be less frazzled and tired and think straighter. (Ironic. See what I did there?)

So I found myself wanting to re-read The Happiness Project. In the book, Rubin tackles a different topic each month and makes resolutions related to that topic to help improve her happiness. January is energy, February is love, March is work, and so on. Throughout the book she talks about other people’s theories of happiness and reports on how her efforts worked out for her.

So I picked up the book last night and read the first three chapters compulsively. I already felt more clear-headed and had a better idea of where to start. On almost every page there was a passage I wanted to discuss in class.  Try this one from pages 35-36:

To feel more energetic, I applied one of my Twelve Commandments: “Act the way I want to feel.” This commandment sums up one of the most helpful insights that I’d learned in my happiness research: although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel because of the way we act. For example, studies show that even an artificially-induced smile brings about happier emotions, and one experiment suggested that people who use Botox are less prone to anger, because they can’t make angry faces. The philosopher and psychologist William James explained, “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” Advice from every quarter, ancient and contemporary, backs up the observation that to change our feelings, we should change our actions.

This kind of blows my mind. We all think we act angry because we feel angry, right? But there’s evidence to suggest that if you act differently–calm and patient instead of angry– you can actually change the way you feel. You can make yourself less angry by NOT punching things. Whoa.

As I re-read this fun book, I plan to make my own resolutions chart for the year, focusing on one major resolution or area per month. I think there’s an app for that so I won’t have to keep up with an extra notebook. I’ll let you guys know if I end up happier or not.

Needs Analysis

Friday we got several papers back and today I handed out a conversion sheet that shows you how to translate your 1′s, 2′s, 3′s, and 4′s into letter and number grades.

Friday we took a few notes (act, scene, roman numerals, stage directions, and dialogue). Today we added lots of vocabulary words to our vocab list.

Also today, we finally started reading the play. We got about halfway through the I.1 (Act One Scene 1). We are hoping to finish the first act by Wednesday and have our quiz on Thursday. Hopefully it won’t snow.

Yesterday (Wednesday): Honors classes did the “lite” research described below. 3rd, 5th, and 6th periods finished their vocabulary stories. Click Here to get the vocabulary list if you lost yours.

Today (Thursday): Everyone is taking a quiz on Shakespeare’s background and the vocabulary. Anyone who doesn’t make a 3 will take it again.

We are also studying the prologue to the play and discussing our expectations. We’re also discussing PUNS! I love puns! Here’s the sheet I gave out in class, and here’s the other list. There are also lots more puns here. Enjoy! (Warning: sometimes people don’t like people who love puns, so you may want to keep it to yourself if you’re a punny gal like me.)

Tomorrow, believe it or not, we will actually start reading the play. I know, it’s about time!

Today we’re going to prowl around on the web and see what we can find out about Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. You have two goals:

1. Answer the rest of the questions about Shakespeare from your KWL and
2. Find out some other interesting facts (10-20) about Shakespeare or the time period

I’ve compiled a few links to get you started. To help make sure you’re getting good information, try to stick to .org, .net, .edu, or .gov sites, plus these that I’ve provided.

Whenever you run across an interesting fact, write it down. Use the link numbers to identify your source.

Links should open in a new window. Close the new window to return to this site.

Wikipedia isn’t the most scholarly site, but it’s a good place to start. Browse this first for general information:

0. Will Shakespeare (Wikipedia)

Then, choose some of these to investigate:

1. Elizabethan Costuming Page
2. Tudor Costumes for Kids
3. National Museum of Women in the Arts (Women and Arts in the Renaissance)
4. Queen Elizabeth I
5. Renaissance Food
6. Shakespeare’s Biography
7. Language of Shakespeare
8. Elizabethan English
9. Shakespeare’s Life and Works, plus general Elizabethan info

We’ll share our findings in class. Have fun, and learn a lot!

Hey dudes.

Monday

Yesterday in class, we watched a short video on Shakespeare’s life and career as a prologue to our Romeo and Juliet unit. If you missed class or just want a review, click on the yellow link below. Choose a program for viewing the video (any media player should work fine), then give it a minute or two to download. The video should start playing as soon as the download is finished. Let me know in the comments (or in class) if you have any trouble viewing the video.

video-life

Tuesday

Today in class we’re going over Shakespearean vocabulary. Here’s the list.  Write a story using all the words.

Later gators!

click here

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