This is the home of Schulenberg's AS10 class. It is at this site where you may find homework assignments from class, inquiry requests, and supporting documents for class material.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Class today: January 29th

1. Get out your "Three Bears" stories. Please switch stories with a partner. Read through their version of this story.

Answer the following questions: Write them down on paper.. you will turn these in at the end of the hour.
1. How are the bears portrayed.. positive? negative? 
2. How many bears are there in the story (for example.. there were always four in my story)
3. How is Goldilocks portrayed? 
4. How does the story end? 
5. What is the moral of this story? 
6. What differences do you see in your partner's story in relationship to your own? 
7. Do you feel that there is significance in the differences? 
8. What similarities to you see? 
9. Is there a significance in the similarities? Why do you both include these elements? 
10. Why is this story one that everyone knows? 

2. Once you have answered all of these questions... go through them with your partner.
Now answer the following questions:

11. What do the two/three of you notice about this story beyond just the plot?
12. What purpose does this story serve to society? the family? the individual? 

3. Now open the link:
3 Bears History
Answer the following questions together:

13. In what ways has the story changed from the version you have written down? 
14. What do you feel is the significance in these changes? 
15. What influenced these changes? Speculate. Guess..   Imagine. 
16. What are some things you never thought of in consideration of "The Three Bears" that this information illuminated? 
17. What are some conclusions that you can make about the study of literature? Society? 
18. What questions do you have? 

Staple your questions together.. make sure your name is on your paper. Please turn in to me before you leave.

4. Read and take notes on the following link:
Study of Literature

5. Homework.
Next, you will need to take a copy of the "schools of literary thought". Please read through these questions and TRY.. try... to write a short summary of what you think each school of theory addresses.  Use the questions to see common threads... concerns. Have this for FR

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Class for Thursday, January 29th

1. You need to write down the story of the Three Bears. How you think of it... with the elements that you know.

2. You need to look over the following link.  Jot some notes down and be ready to talk when you get to class on Thursday.

Three Bears History

Friday, January 23, 2015

Class today: January 23, 2015

As we are preparing for Monday's grammar test, we are going to get back into our groups from yesterday, and we are going to address the elements that you will see on the test. 

1. Terms. You will have approximately 10 of the 34 terms on this test. There were quite a few of us who did not take the terms portion of the first test seriously. You must know the elementary jargon of a subject before you are able to master it.  Take out your definitions and/or flash cards and as a group, you are going to review the 34 terms. 

2. 10 major diagrams. On scratch paper, when your team is ready, see who can jot down all of the 10 diagrams first... in order and numbered accordingly. When you are done, see what ones you are missing. Did you just forget? Do you not understand this certain diagram? They have a logical progression; talk through this progression. 

3. Sentence diagramming:  Here is a link to 10 sentences that covers most of the skills addressed in the 10 diagrams. The are a combination of the skills, so the diagrams won't look EXACTLY like the templates.. it is a blending of the templates. Work through these together. 

4. Writing and Reading application. There will be a couple of questions on this test that will ask you to apply what you are learning about grammar to the writing process and the reading process. These questions are critical thinking questions. They will assess your ability to think beyond the concrete and put your knowledge into application/analysis. As a group, look through the following diagrams from the opening lines of some of the most famous books of all time. Talk about what kind of impact recognizing the parts of sentence, clauses, phrases, etc., help your comprehension, as well as the art of the writing.  I love this poster! 

Here is a link to an article that shows each diagram a little closer: 



Thursday, January 22, 2015

Class today: January 22, 2015

1. We will be covering the last two major diagrams today- Phrases and Clauses; Compound Sentences. Review 6-8 diagrams after we are finished.
You will be placed in groups of 3-4. Together, you will need to go through the following practices. Work through on paper as a group, then check the solution. Mark a star beside the questions you got right on the first attempt. If you missed it, talk about what was the aspect you missed, and why.

2. Practice:
Gerunds, Infinitives, Participles

3. Practice:
Gerunds and Participle practice

4. Practice:
Phrase/Clause Practice

5. Practice:
Phrase/Clause Practice

Work on your own on the following:
6. You will need to now review, record, and remember the information on COMMA USAGE found at the following link:
Comma Rules
and
Comma Rules- OWL


REMEMBER:
Friday: State of the Union assignment is DUE!
Monday: Grammar/Mechanics Test

LMC SURVEY
Survey

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Class today: January 20th

Remember the definitions of the following two terms:
CLAUSE
PHRASE

What is the difference between these two "groups of words"?

Take out your notes...  review the following two links:

1. Diagramming Verbals- Gerunds, Participles, Infinitives

2. Subordinate Clauses- Diagramming


Video Refreshers:
Diagramming Relative Clauses
Diagramming Subordinate Clauses
Diagramming Verbals


HOMEWORK:
State of the Union Assignment-
 Here are some links to the live feed of the SOTU-
1. PBS- State of the Union Site
2. White House State of the Union Site

The speech starts at 8:00 PM- January 20th
Pick a network.. they will cover it live.

SOTU Issues...
Here is a link that can help you prepare for the issues that the speech will address:
State of the Union 2015 Issues Guide

Interview with President Obama's speech writer:
Interview with Cody Keenan

THE ASSIGNMENT:
1. Watch the State of the Union with a pen and paper.
2. While the President is speaking, listen closely to his syntax. Are you able to distinguish the parts of a sentence? Can you hear independent clauses and subordinate clauses? What about modifiers? When are phrases used? How?
3. Once you get in the swing of listening in this manner, drift into analysis. How does his grammatical constructions help deliver his message? When does he choose simplicity? When does he utilize modifying phrases? Why? Advantage? Disadvantage?
4. How does the President and his speech writers have command over the use of syntax? Remember the purpose of communication is to "get stuff"... How does having control over syntax and diction aid him in presenting his message and agenda?
5. Jot down as many ideas and conclusions that you can during the speech. You will be turning in the notes.
6. After you are done, write a summary of this experience. What did you learn? How did this type of listening approach help your comprehension?

ALL DUE ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 23rd.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Class today: January 16th

You will be working in teams today..

1. As a group, diagram the sentences from the following link. Label the part of the sentence, function of word, phrase, clause. Once you are done with each sentence, check your work by hitting "solution", found beside each sentence.

Practice #1

Practice #2

Practice #3


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Class today: January 15th

Application day!!
As requested (maybe not directly), today we are going to put your new-found grammatical knowledge to use..  Yes, you can define grammatical terms... Yes, you can diagram the earliest basic structures.. But as you all know, these skills are all on the lowest rung of Bloom's Taxonomy. Yes?
Whereas you must be able to do these skills first, we are now going to move into the WHY??? (This is what you are all starving for in grammar education).

This is going to be challenging, so be open minded and just try!
Take a lot of notes about your ideas and questions!

Therefore, we are going to be examining two of the major purposes for wanting and possessing excellent grammatical skills. This is the WHY?!
1. Writing expression
2. Reading comprehension

You will be reading the following article by Montserrat Dominguez.
1. Read it once completely.
2. Now you will be doing, solely, a "sentence diagramming" read. In this read, I want you to be looking for the "main line" of meaning. This means, in each sentence, ask yourself: where is the subject? where is the predicate? is there an object? is this a transitive verb or an intransitive verb?
3. Once you have figured out the "main line" of meaning in the sentence (in compound sentences, this will be the independent clause).  Is there a subordinate clause before or after the "main line"/independent clause? How is it working?? Is it giving more information about the subject or the predicate??? (Adverbial or Adjectival?)
4. After reading paragraph 1 in this manner, stop and reflect. Ask yourself the questions: How did her style of writing and placement of these components enhance/detract from her purpose? (Now, keep in mind, she is a professional writer.. she has command over grammatical structure.. therefore, she will be purposefully considering the "vehicle" that carries her ideas. Don't jump to it is more difficult because it is beyond just the basic sentence structure)  Really think about the syntax structure.
5. Now, reread paragraph 1 AGAIN. This time you will be doing a "reading comprehension" reading. With this read you are going to need to balance your recognition of the grammatical purpose of the word with the meaning of the word/group of words. Pause slightly after each sentence and think about how this structure informs your understanding. How does finding the "main line" help you comprehend the meaning of the writing.
5. On a piece of paper, write "paragraph 1" and reflect upon your findings. I am not going to micromanage your writing by asking you specific guiding questions to respond to in your reflection. Just do a thorough reflection of both types of readings and your results.

On to paragraph 2...  and so on... make sure you read the "postscripts" in your initial read, but you do not need to include them in your analysis.

"How Can We Not be Afraid" article

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

For Thursday, January 15th

On to INDIRECT OBJECTS: Indirect objects receive the action of the DIRECT OBJECT! Remember: The direct object answers "WHAT" of the action of the PREDICATE! Indirect objects answers "TO/For".
AND
Conjunctions: words that connect words, sentences, phrases and clauses... You will see them ON the main line of diagramming (i.e. connecting 2 or more direct objects, or 2 or more subjects), they will connect compound phrases (think two prepositional phrases), they will also connect two different clauses (independent and subordinate).

Review the following slides 1-16. This will review and ADD indirect objects and conjunctions. Be very familiar with these additions on Thursday. (take notes)
Sentence Diagramming review and additions (with British Lit!) (Thanks Dr. Wheeler)

Good things to note:
1. How to recognized and diagram the implied "You" (x)...
2. How to handle the negative "not" (as an adverb)
3. Object complement examples (after the direct object)
4. Indirect objects... how to spot them and make sure that they are IO.
5. How to diagram compound phrases... (slide 13)
6. How to diagram conjunctions (slide 13-16)

Monday, January 12, 2015

Class Today: Monday, January 12th

Looking a little closer at adjectives and adverbs today...  Qualifiers and Quantifiers

Both qualifiers and quantifiers PROCEED and MODIFY  the noun and supply specific detail in a sentence... Qualifiers are hidden as adjectives and adverbs, while quantifiers disguise themselves as words that tell how much. Quantifiers usually appear in front of nouns (as in all children), but they may also function as pronouns (as in All have returned).

Here are the most common qualifiers in English (though some of these words have other functions as well): very, quite, rather, somewhat, more, most, less, least, too, so, just, enough, indeed, still, almost, fairly, really, pretty, even, a bit, a little, a (whole) lot, a good deal, a great deal, kind of, sort of.


Remember, we are studying grammar not for grammar-sake, but for its application into the world of communication. If you have a command of your language, you can understand it better, communicate it better, craft it better.... with the study of mechanics, we are balancing it with its application. Study both sides equally!

Review the following link: 
Overused words- qualifiers


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Class for Monday, January 12th

Happy Court Warming!
Wear your jammies today!

1. Finish defining grammar terms. Study.. study.. Use flash cards! Learn forwards and backwards!
2. Finish the Sentence Diagramming- The Basics link we started working on in class on Friday. Go through this a few times.. This should help you reinforce what we have learned in class.


Test is on Tuesday.
Come see me, if you need help!!! You can do it!!

Here is the Sengram APP for your phones, if you would like!
SENGRAM APP- iTunes