Author: Mr. Kertes

Monday – Sept. 18, 2023

• Journal:
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal (#1)
• Lesson(s):
  • Finish quiz #2
  • Finish Lecture 1 on The Narrative Construction of Reality by Bruner (password pdf)
• Homework:
  • Read the Study Guide for the Research Fundamentals Quiz (the quiz is on Thursday)
  • Pre-read The One About Coyote Going West by King (password pdf)
  • Pre-read the truth about stories A Native Narrative by King (password pdf)

Wednesday – Sept. 20, 2023

• Journal:
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #2
• Lesson(s):
  • Story: The One About Coyote Going West by King (password pdf)
  • Start working on the essay

Thursday – Sept. 21, 2023

• Journal:
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #3
• Workshop/Conference:
  • Quiz: Research Fundamentals Quiz (#3)
    • Study Guide for the Research Fundamentals Quiz
      • Course Tip #1 – How to Achieve Your Goals in English Class
      • Course Tip #2 – Daily Dozen – Fake-It-Until-You-Make-It
      • Course Tip #3 – Read-to-Remember Strategies
      • Overview of English Course Models and Frameworks
  • Start writing the expository essay

Friday – Sept. 22, 2023

• No school

Monday – Sept. 11, 2023

• Journal:
  • Skim The Narrative Construction of Reality (pdf). Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
  • Skim the truth about stories A Native Narrative (pdf). Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Lesson(s):
  • We will go over the Course Outline (pdf), Assessments, and the Expository Essay (pdf) in detail today.
• Exercise:
  • Complete Essay Brainstorm (pdf).

Wednesday – Sept. 13, 2023

• Journal:
  • Skim The Battle of Prince Rupert. Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
  • Skim Witsuwit’en Law. Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Lesson(s):
  • Review: North Coast Narrative (Persistence and Change)
  • Review: Writing Process – Overview of English Course Models and Frameworks (pdf)
• Exercise:
  • Conference with Mr. Kertes (1st half of the class).

Thursday – Sept. 14, 2023

• Journal:
  • Which matters most: Freedom of expression or limiting speech to avoid offending or harming others? Why?
  • What is one topic (or opinion) that really bothers you when people talk about it? Describe the topic (or opinion). Explain what it bothers you to hear it being discussed.
• Lesson(s):
  • Discussing Ideas as a Class (pdf) 
  • Narrative Construction of Reality:
    • Living Next Door to Sherman (His character must have taught me English)
    • Deadly Connections: Life. Death. Agent. Orange.
    • Never Accept Responsibility: My glimpse into the life of the rich and powerful, Communists
    • Always Seek Trouble
      • When I was younger… (indexed elsewhere, too many to list here)
      • Moment of Truth (Never have I seen…) (not yet previewed)
      • Turn in the Teacher (Grade 10 Washington State History)
      • Breaking into the Hospital to See My Dad
      • Soap Box Speech (my best speech ever)
      • Dry Heaving in a Bathroom (am old and worn out story)
      • Everybody’s a Winner (not yet previewed)
      • Here, take this bundle of cash (one of my favourites, not yet previewed)
    • Tyler and Mr. T.
    • Holding Revenge Fantasies: Base five math, ten minute athlete, and address to the nation (that’ll get them)
    • The Star Crossed Self: Deciding the Destiny of Twelve-Year-Old-Tom
    • Only Through Adult Eyes: This is reality (and it’s not always fun)
      • Falling out of a truck (foreshadowed)
      • Jumping over wheat fields is actually fun (very short story)
      • Ugly swim trunks (what not to do)
      • Why I teach drama
      • Toga party (very short story)
      • The Hardest (airplane landing, ferry departing)
    • Biggest Regret(s) (preview only)
      • Mr. Griffith
      • The Best and the Worst of Me
      • Now, That Was Stupid (likely won’t share this one)
      • Losing My Innocence (airplane landing) (innocence = arrogance?)
    • Tossed Out: How not to spend your college savings (preview only)
    • Stitches for Snitches
    • Enslaved Workers in Florida Fields (please, stop joking about this)
    • My Friend in Haiti (previewed right now)
    • DC series (previewed right now)
      • McDonald’s
      • The One About the Coffin
      • Outside: Park Benches, Alleyways, Church Doors
    • Sports series:
      • Tough Guy in the Hallway
      • Student Staff Basketball
      • Duck, Duck, Tackle
      • Deciding the Destiny of Twelve-Year-Old-Tom
      • Coach Kertes (previewed right now)
      • Ten Minute Athlete
      • Impressing the Kids in DC
  • Another Kind of Narrative: https://viurrspace.ca/handle/10613/22201
• Exercise:
  • Review North Coast Narratives for quiz.

Friday – Sept. 15, 2023

• Journal (start “Scenes and Rendering Journal”)
  • Read the board. This explains the process for the “Scenes and Rendering Journal”. Write a plan for how you will start doing the life observations in preparation for the journal each day.
• Lesson(s):
  • The Narrative Construction of Reality (pdf) and the truth about stories A Native Narrative (pdf)
• Exercise:
  • North Coast Narratives quiz (we will do this at the start of class)

Tuesday – Sept. 5, 2023

• Start the 1st Theme: Place
  • Start “One Good Man” by Sherman Alexie (password protected pdf)

Wednesday – Sept. 6, 2023

• Continue “One Good Man” by Sherman Alexie (password protected pdf)

Thursday – Sept. 7, 2023

• Continue “One Good Man” by Sherman Alexie (password protected pdf)
• Literary Devices – Focus: Sensory Imagery
  • Overview of English Course Models and Frameworks (pdf)

Friday – Sept. 8, 2023

• Finish “One Good Man” by Sherman Alexie (password protected pdf)
• Sensory Imagery Quiz – see Overview of English Course Models and Frameworks (pdf)
  • Define “Sensory Imagery” (When an author creates a picture or image in the reader’s mind using all of the senses.)
  • List the five senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling)
  • Write a 6-sentence short passage that renders a place important to you and that applies sensory imagery

Last update: Monday Sept. 25, 2023

Key Ideas/Skills/Concepts

• You should have an introductory familiarity of Bruner’s theory of how narratives (stories) provide a world view (construction of reality) that includes the following key ideas:
  • Bruner applied a Western point of view, which is why he broke “story” in a bunch of pieces
  • He is trying to develop a universal (applies to all humans) viewpoint of how brains “construct reality” – his theory is that reality is constructed through social learning (Zone of Proximal Development) and this involves:
    • Language
    • People
    • Relationships
    • Stories
  • Other people (Piaget and Skinner) are known for developing other Western ways of knowing about how reality is constructed (one focused on ideas, or rationalism, and the other on watching how people behaved, or behaviourism/empiricism)
  • We will use the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky’s theory on how people learn) in this course when reflecting on your own learning
  • Bruner (a psychologist applying Western ways of knowing) will be compared to King (a Canadian-American writer of Cherokee and Greek ancestry) in terms of how each reflects on the role of narrative (stories) in helping shape how we each see the world and our place in it
• You are required to know the English Course Models and Frameworks, so far we have covered the following:
  • Levels of Analysis
  • Systems Thinking
  • Elements of Non-Fiction Writing (Five Fs)
  • Literary Devices
  • Six Stages of Research
  • Zone of Proximal Development
• Students are expected to use the following strategies in this course:
  • Daily Dozen
  • Read-to-Remember
  • Systems thinking
• Levels of Analysis (LOAs)
  • Metacognition = How do I know? (thinking about thinking)
  • Reflect = Why does it matter?
  • Connection = How does it connect?
  • Explain = How? Why?
  • Describe = What? Who? Where? When? How many?
• Stories are cognitive tools
  • Cognitive tools help you think and understand and do things using your thinking/understanding capacities, they provide meaning that you can then use to do things or make sense of things
  • Language is a cognitive tool
  • Ideas can function as cognitive tools
  • Bruner proposes that cognitive tools are stories; and that stories are cognitive tools
• Stories help make sense of reality
  • In this course, social constructive theories of learning are the basis for most of the teaching
  • This means that the course reflects Vygotsky’s theories, including ZPD and the role of cognitive tools
  • Bruner’s essay connects Vygotsky’s ideas to the “social construction through narrative”
  • The power of stories is not only a Western idea, as we see in King’s essay on narrative and in the role of North Coast narratives
• An expository essay explores a big idea about something
  • The big idea must be theoretical (it must explain, it must explain how or why, it must do more than describe)
  • As with all good writing (meaning writing that is compelling and memorable for readers interested in the topic or ideas), use story to explain/demonstrate your ideas
• A describe-explain-connect/reflect paper is a short summary of main ideas in a text or lesson that includes an explanation of the main ideas and connections to you and/or why the ideas in the text or lesson matter (why they are valuable or important in some way)
  • A describe-explain-connect/reflect paper is a quality write that should take about 30 minutes to write
  • It should be three paragraphs long
  • When writing describe-explain-connect/reflect paper for this class, use the format presented in class (lined paper, nothing in margins, name-date-class in top right of page, title below the name – to the left, indent each paragraph double space)
  • In the summary, write the main ideas in your own words (when citing another source, paraphrase is usually best, quotes are okay – but usually only quote if you will analyze the source’s wording itself)
• You should know the routine at this point:
  • SCHEDULE:
    • Lovely bells ring 1 minute before start of class
    • At the start of class you should have checked-in, have your folder (with journal), have pencil or pen, and be ready to start. You should be in your seat or almost there. The room should be quiet and devices should be sorted out (where they belong).
    • Ding-ding bell rings at the start of class. Immediately start the journal. For this unit that means:
      • Do the Scenes and Rendering Journal
    • Ding bell rings, journal is over. Be ready to start lesson 1.
    • Lovely bells ring, lesson 1 is over. Break starts. Be back in the room in 4 minutes.
    • Lovely bells ring. Lesson 2 immediately starts. When the ding rings, you can pack up, return folder, and line up at the door (please do this quietly if there are announcements at this time).
    • The final lovely bells ring when the period is over, you may leave the room as soon as they start chiming.
  • LATE: If you are late, wait until the door is opened (just a few minutes usually). Be sure to sign your name on the board by Mr. Kertes’s desk if you come in late. (For some students, just come right in. You know who you are.)
  • WASHROOM: To use the washroom, sign out (the board is now by the door) and when you return, erase your name from the board. You do not need to sign out if leaving during a break. Other than for break, only one student out at a time. Do not ask to leave but only leave in the middle of the class (not first or last 15 minutes of a period). Please be reasonable and please be respectful. (The school has rules and expectations for students in the hallway. Respect these rules and expectations. If you do not respect them, you may lose your washroom during class time privileges. The golden rule: Be quiet in the hallways, don’t bother or distract anyone when going to or from the washrooms, respect the washrooms and be reasonable/respectful.)
  • PHONES/DEVICES: No phones or other devices during lessons (when Mr. Kertes is talking or during group work, a film, guest speakers, student presentations, etc.). You may use your phone for music during a test or quiz, but Mr. Kertes may ask to hear the music (to confirm that students are not cheating) and during a test or quiz you need to set your music on playlist because you cannot use the screen at all. When working on writing or an exercise (including journal) listening to music is okay. Be sure to lower the volume and not bother others. As for food/drink, respect each other, respect the room, and if your eating does not distract or bother others then it’s okay.
  • IN GENERAL… TELL/INFORM, DON’T ASK: I appreciate communication – knowing where a student is going, if you are leaving early, plan to be late, have a trip planned, need to get something, etc. So please, keep me informed. But unless you are asking me to do something, just tell me, don’t ask. For example tell me: “I will leave early today for an appointment. I will check out when I go.” “I am getting my backpack from my last room.” “I will be right back, I have to check on something in the office.” As I said, it helps to know in case something comes up (a fire drill, for instance) but you can tell me without asking. As for asking, save that for when you want me to do something, like: “Can you meet with me tomorrow at 8:15 to go over this paper?” “I need to redo the quiz, can I meet you at lunch to do that today?”
• Systems are a bunch of parts that work together
• Levels of reading (connect/reflect, listen/experience, analyze/deconstruct) provide different ways to relate to and think about a text (such as an essay, story or poem)
• Use of literary devices (why use them?, why analyze them?)
  • Literary devices are tools to make your writing more compelling, clear, and memorable
• Use of theme (“place”) in this course – place in terms of English First Peoples authors in particular
• Reading and writing as thinking (making thinking visible) – why analyse/deconstruct
  • If you understand language and writing/reading as a system, then you can understand your writing and reading better by seeing how all of the parts work together to perform a function (to do something, such as to help you know or understand better, to remember, or to feel something)
• Sensory imagery (define, provide example, identify use in a text)

Readings

• “One Good Man” by Alexie (password protected pdf)
  • Know how this story is connected to “place”
  • Know why this story was selected
  • Know the theme (repeated phrase) and be prepared to discuss the following literary devices as used by the author in this story: allusion, allegory, foreshadowing, alliteration, and sensory imagery
  • Know how this story can be understood in terms of the three reasons a text is selected for the course
• The Narrative Construction of Reality by Bruner (password protected pdf)
  • Know that this paper explains how stories help people makes sense of, understand, reality (how people know and understand, how people develop skills to do things, how people make meaning of their world, themselves; how people connect with and work with other people — all of it, all of knowing and understanding and being and thinking, etc.)
• the truth about stories A Native Narrative by King (password protected pdf)
  • Know that this paper is summed with its line “The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.”
• “The One About Coyote Going West.” by King (password protected)
• Witsuwit’en Law by Mills
  • This paper is one chapter of a book that is about the traditional/contemporary government and culture of Witssuwit’en society
• The Battle of Prince Rupert by Brown
  • This paper is one chapter of a book that is about salmon fishing (workers, the economics of fishing, and the role of fishing on the lives of communities in BC)

Journals

• Which matters most: Freedom of expression or limiting speech to avoid offending or harming others? Why?
• What is one topic (or opinion) that really bothers you when people talk about it? Describe the topic (or opinion). Explain what it bothers you to hear it being discussed.
• Skim The Battle of Prince Rupert. Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Skim Witsuwit’en Law. Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Skim The Narrative Construction of Reality (pdf). Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Skim the truth about stories A Native Narrative (pdf). Quickly find one quote of interest. Then copy down the quote and explain why you find interesting or what you think it means.
• Write the following Scenes and Rendering Journals:
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #1
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #2
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #3
  • Scenes and Rendering Journal #4

Exercises

• Find at least three quotes in “One Good Man” by Sherman Alexie (password protected pdf) that resonate with you and explain why you chose them (why they are interesting to you).

Quizzes

• Sensory Imagery Quiz #1
• North Coast Narratives Quiz #2
• Research Fundamental Quiz #3

Assignments

• None

Tests/Exams

• None