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. . . mainly school stuff
Apr. 23rd, 2002 05:25 pmwretched, wretched day in english today, but a good day in health.
ok, so for each book we do characters, symbols, theme, whatever. And for theme she always gives us the most fucking stupid things: jealousy, ambition, greed, "things are not always as they seem", good vs. evil, friendship, god knows what else.
And today they give us a hand-out on theme. The year is almost over and they've finally decided to tell us what theme is. Let me quote. "In any story at all complex, we are likely to feel that a one-sentence statement of theme leaves out a great part of teh story's meaning. Though the theme of Othello may be expressed as 'Jealousy exacts a terrible cost,' such a statement does not begin to suggest the range and depth of Shakespeare's play. Any successful story is a good deal more and means a good deal more than any one-sentence statement of theme that we may extract from it, for the story will modify and expand this statement in various and subtle ways."
Now, with that in mind, how can you give a one word theme, if a one sentence theme is not enough? It doesn't even fit the definition of a theme: the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story. A word is not a statement, an observation, a truth, or even a generalization.
OK, forget that. Our student teacher, who has the mental power of a. . . a. . . I can't think of anything stupid enough. She says that a theme has to be a sentence, with a subject and a predicate.
and then she proceeds to tell us these "themes" for Moby Dick:
-whaling as a metaphor for life
-man's search for knowledge
-man's attempt to control nature (not "Men cannot control nature though they try". . . just "man's attempt to control nature")
-man's attempt to conquer what is bigger than himself (again. . . see above)
-all actions have relevancy in this world (that doesn't even make sense)
-things are not as they seem (1. this is recycled from MacBeth. It didn't make sense them, it makes even less sense now. 2. what the hell??? That doesn't fit Moby Dick at all! What in Moby Dick is deceptive?)
-the universe is unknowable (this one actually kinda makes sense!!)
-Revenge
-Greed
after telling us that we have to have a subject and a predicate, she proceeds to give us a list of things without subjects and predicates. After telling us we cannot use one word, she uses one word. And I think revenge was her example. "You can't use revenge as a theme, but one of the themes is revenge."
And also, where is "tolerance" (to put it as she would say it) or "Everyone can and should try to be open-minded toward their fellow man because external factors don't effect internal factors" (as I would say it). Which is what I got out of the book, which is actually an important life lesson.
And now she wants us to find textual references to support the themes she gave us. Themes which a) aren't themes b) don't make sense and c) have nothing to do with the book.
So I'm not doing that homework, and I don't care what she does.
You know how sometimes when students are telling what their teachers did they tend to exaggerate or leave things out so people will be more likely to side with them? Well, I am not doing that here. This is all true, exactly what she said. ("You can't use revenge as a theme, but one of the themes is revenge." was what she said, I just got rid of the bits in the middle, for those of you who didn't catch onto that)
oh god. How am I supposed to get through 2 more months? And yesterday she seemed to be trying to say something about someone being gay, like, she kept hinting at it, and I wanted to raise my hand and say, "OK. . . so. . . maybe they're gay. So what??" There was absolutely no point to what she was saying. None.
I cannot handle this.
Oh, and I got a 93 in English for the third quarter, which is lovely, I'm happy to have over a 90 and all. But my teacher (and I use the word loosely) gives me my grade and says, "But I know you can do better Laura. I want you up there. Do you understand?" And I'm like "uhh, yeah. . ." and I'm kinda smiling nervously and walking away. And she's like, "Laura. Do you know what I mean??" And I'm like, "whoa!" (in my head) and backing away, I just kinda smile and nod. . . it sounded like she wanted me to bribe her!! Or do a sexual favor or something! I had no idea what she was talking about, did she mean something specific? I do try my best on everything (except for this one homework, and the fact that I used the sparknotes) (I'm actually wondering if I should do the homework, cos I have so little control over my grade, but I don't even know what those "themes" have to do with Moby Dick, much less how you find them. Aren't themes supposed to be a a little more general?) so there isn't anything that I can think she'd be talking about. I mean, I hate her and stuff, but I got full credit on class participation (we did it ourselves and then she looked at it, and she added the two points I'd taken away) (out of like, 20 or something). So anyway, I can't figure out what that was about, unless she thinks I'm not working as hard as I could.
One day something funny happened. . . we were all talking about how overwhelmed we were with the AP, and how hard it is to get everything done. And the student teacher is like, "well, you'll have to get your priorities straight." And we're all like, "yeah, and AP comes first." And she was shocked!! XD
uhm, so yeah. i leave english every day vibrating between homocidal and suicidal. Usually more homocidal. ::sigh::
But I left health in a very good mood today!! :D
(actually, this bit is a little pointless, but fun--probably only if you know the people though)
I don't know if you remember me talking about Jamie and Aron? The other pair of Academons twins? Aron is very smart and nice, and Jamie is silly and funny and a little less smart and in my health class (I found out that Aron is in Meghan's healt' class). And today we were given a ditto to work on, it had an alcoholism word scramble, and a drug terms thing that was fill in the blanks, but the words in the word box were scrambled too. And he told us we could work with a partner. I didn't know anyone else in the class and stuff, so I was gonna work alone (fine with me, for the record ;) and I hear, well, actually I hear "Red! Red!" and then realize that what I'm actually hearing is my last name, which doesn't really sound like "red" but that's ok. lol. I figured out that Jamie was talking to me. XD Wheeeee! So we worked together. After I told him, "which one I was". -_-;;; You'd think as a twin he'd be able to figure who's who!! We can tell them apart! Then again, Jamie's considerably taller than Aron, and cleanshaven, and has braces and clearer skin. Aron's shorter and has a little goatee and really big feet and no "teeth thingies." (and kinda acne. . . not too bad. or maybe I just don't notice it anymore. me and Katie think he's pretty good looking.) XD Anyway, it was fun, and very amusing, and we did pretty well. We had to steal some from Naphtali and Jenna, but that's ok. lol. (at least we finished)
Uhm. And I have to do a timeline of significant political events in Great Britian from 1800 to 1914 by Monday. Hmm.
And today was my last day working with the little kids at Lennox. :-/ Ah dear. I worked with Norman again. Actually, I didn't have to do like, anything. I got a packet of my own and did it to make myself an answer sheet and to have something to do. But I was there for him, I think part of what he needs is attention. He did twenty questions, which I've been led to believe is good for him (I think this was in like, half an hour or a little more) and I only had to help him with one! He got all the others right on his own. He just got "congruent" confused with "similar". It was kinda odd. Out of nowhere, he kept saying that he could make origami airplanes. First he just said that, and I said something along the lines of "Oh, cool, I can do some origami but I can't make an airplane." And then he was telling me about the different names of the planes, and then he told me the name of the book. All these out of nowhere. I've no idea if he was opening up to me. . . or what? And before we started he had taken a book out (we work in the library--Mrs. Roger lacks a classroom) and it was something on the development of the atomic bomb, i think. And he wasn't reading it, he was just leafing through and looking at the pictures. I wasn't sure what to do, so I decided that rather than take the book away from him I'd just look through it with him. ::shrug:: I don't know. I'm not good with kids, but I hope that I managed to help Norman at least a little.
I have to finish my lab and do some multiple choice questions on the social studies chapter. (and the english which I'm boycotting)
Me and Katie have downloaded some video clips from Michael Palin's Hemmingway Adventure!! And they are the CUTEST thing!! ::dies::
Ok, that was a really long entry, and congratulations if you got through it. lol.
ok, so for each book we do characters, symbols, theme, whatever. And for theme she always gives us the most fucking stupid things: jealousy, ambition, greed, "things are not always as they seem", good vs. evil, friendship, god knows what else.
And today they give us a hand-out on theme. The year is almost over and they've finally decided to tell us what theme is. Let me quote. "In any story at all complex, we are likely to feel that a one-sentence statement of theme leaves out a great part of teh story's meaning. Though the theme of Othello may be expressed as 'Jealousy exacts a terrible cost,' such a statement does not begin to suggest the range and depth of Shakespeare's play. Any successful story is a good deal more and means a good deal more than any one-sentence statement of theme that we may extract from it, for the story will modify and expand this statement in various and subtle ways."
Now, with that in mind, how can you give a one word theme, if a one sentence theme is not enough? It doesn't even fit the definition of a theme: the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story. A word is not a statement, an observation, a truth, or even a generalization.
OK, forget that. Our student teacher, who has the mental power of a. . . a. . . I can't think of anything stupid enough. She says that a theme has to be a sentence, with a subject and a predicate.
and then she proceeds to tell us these "themes" for Moby Dick:
-whaling as a metaphor for life
-man's search for knowledge
-man's attempt to control nature (not "Men cannot control nature though they try". . . just "man's attempt to control nature")
-man's attempt to conquer what is bigger than himself (again. . . see above)
-all actions have relevancy in this world (that doesn't even make sense)
-things are not as they seem (1. this is recycled from MacBeth. It didn't make sense them, it makes even less sense now. 2. what the hell??? That doesn't fit Moby Dick at all! What in Moby Dick is deceptive?)
-the universe is unknowable (this one actually kinda makes sense!!)
-Revenge
-Greed
after telling us that we have to have a subject and a predicate, she proceeds to give us a list of things without subjects and predicates. After telling us we cannot use one word, she uses one word. And I think revenge was her example. "You can't use revenge as a theme, but one of the themes is revenge."
And also, where is "tolerance" (to put it as she would say it) or "Everyone can and should try to be open-minded toward their fellow man because external factors don't effect internal factors" (as I would say it). Which is what I got out of the book, which is actually an important life lesson.
And now she wants us to find textual references to support the themes she gave us. Themes which a) aren't themes b) don't make sense and c) have nothing to do with the book.
So I'm not doing that homework, and I don't care what she does.
You know how sometimes when students are telling what their teachers did they tend to exaggerate or leave things out so people will be more likely to side with them? Well, I am not doing that here. This is all true, exactly what she said. ("You can't use revenge as a theme, but one of the themes is revenge." was what she said, I just got rid of the bits in the middle, for those of you who didn't catch onto that)
oh god. How am I supposed to get through 2 more months? And yesterday she seemed to be trying to say something about someone being gay, like, she kept hinting at it, and I wanted to raise my hand and say, "OK. . . so. . . maybe they're gay. So what??" There was absolutely no point to what she was saying. None.
I cannot handle this.
Oh, and I got a 93 in English for the third quarter, which is lovely, I'm happy to have over a 90 and all. But my teacher (and I use the word loosely) gives me my grade and says, "But I know you can do better Laura. I want you up there. Do you understand?" And I'm like "uhh, yeah. . ." and I'm kinda smiling nervously and walking away. And she's like, "Laura. Do you know what I mean??" And I'm like, "whoa!" (in my head) and backing away, I just kinda smile and nod. . . it sounded like she wanted me to bribe her!! Or do a sexual favor or something! I had no idea what she was talking about, did she mean something specific? I do try my best on everything (except for this one homework, and the fact that I used the sparknotes) (I'm actually wondering if I should do the homework, cos I have so little control over my grade, but I don't even know what those "themes" have to do with Moby Dick, much less how you find them. Aren't themes supposed to be a a little more general?) so there isn't anything that I can think she'd be talking about. I mean, I hate her and stuff, but I got full credit on class participation (we did it ourselves and then she looked at it, and she added the two points I'd taken away) (out of like, 20 or something). So anyway, I can't figure out what that was about, unless she thinks I'm not working as hard as I could.
One day something funny happened. . . we were all talking about how overwhelmed we were with the AP, and how hard it is to get everything done. And the student teacher is like, "well, you'll have to get your priorities straight." And we're all like, "yeah, and AP comes first." And she was shocked!! XD
uhm, so yeah. i leave english every day vibrating between homocidal and suicidal. Usually more homocidal. ::sigh::
But I left health in a very good mood today!! :D
(actually, this bit is a little pointless, but fun--probably only if you know the people though)
I don't know if you remember me talking about Jamie and Aron? The other pair of Academons twins? Aron is very smart and nice, and Jamie is silly and funny and a little less smart and in my health class (I found out that Aron is in Meghan's healt' class). And today we were given a ditto to work on, it had an alcoholism word scramble, and a drug terms thing that was fill in the blanks, but the words in the word box were scrambled too. And he told us we could work with a partner. I didn't know anyone else in the class and stuff, so I was gonna work alone (fine with me, for the record ;) and I hear, well, actually I hear "Red! Red!" and then realize that what I'm actually hearing is my last name, which doesn't really sound like "red" but that's ok. lol. I figured out that Jamie was talking to me. XD Wheeeee! So we worked together. After I told him, "which one I was". -_-;;; You'd think as a twin he'd be able to figure who's who!! We can tell them apart! Then again, Jamie's considerably taller than Aron, and cleanshaven, and has braces and clearer skin. Aron's shorter and has a little goatee and really big feet and no "teeth thingies." (and kinda acne. . . not too bad. or maybe I just don't notice it anymore. me and Katie think he's pretty good looking.) XD Anyway, it was fun, and very amusing, and we did pretty well. We had to steal some from Naphtali and Jenna, but that's ok. lol. (at least we finished)
Uhm. And I have to do a timeline of significant political events in Great Britian from 1800 to 1914 by Monday. Hmm.
And today was my last day working with the little kids at Lennox. :-/ Ah dear. I worked with Norman again. Actually, I didn't have to do like, anything. I got a packet of my own and did it to make myself an answer sheet and to have something to do. But I was there for him, I think part of what he needs is attention. He did twenty questions, which I've been led to believe is good for him (I think this was in like, half an hour or a little more) and I only had to help him with one! He got all the others right on his own. He just got "congruent" confused with "similar". It was kinda odd. Out of nowhere, he kept saying that he could make origami airplanes. First he just said that, and I said something along the lines of "Oh, cool, I can do some origami but I can't make an airplane." And then he was telling me about the different names of the planes, and then he told me the name of the book. All these out of nowhere. I've no idea if he was opening up to me. . . or what? And before we started he had taken a book out (we work in the library--Mrs. Roger lacks a classroom) and it was something on the development of the atomic bomb, i think. And he wasn't reading it, he was just leafing through and looking at the pictures. I wasn't sure what to do, so I decided that rather than take the book away from him I'd just look through it with him. ::shrug:: I don't know. I'm not good with kids, but I hope that I managed to help Norman at least a little.
I have to finish my lab and do some multiple choice questions on the social studies chapter. (and the english which I'm boycotting)
Me and Katie have downloaded some video clips from Michael Palin's Hemmingway Adventure!! And they are the CUTEST thing!! ::dies::
Ok, that was a really long entry, and congratulations if you got through it. lol.
