All Blog Posts (12)

CONSIDER:

"Nature" or "Nurture"?

Over the past week you have read material on the nature of love, the phenomenon of romantic attraction. Is it based primarily in the evolutionary roots and coded into our genes, or is it more a matter of cultural mores and socialization into a specific society?

Dopamine, serotonin, oxytoxin -- estrogen, testosterone -- physically mature adult homosapiens. Is this our biological human nature? Are we "biologically trapped"?…

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Is it true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Explain.

Respond to the following quotation:

"The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express."

~Francis Bacon

Write your definition of beauty in ten words or less.

You are directing a production of The Crucible. You have to decide whether or not to include Act 2, Scene 2 from the play's appendix. You realize Arthur Miller wrote it later than the rest of the play. Some productions of the play do not include this scene.



Write a paragraph explaining whether you will include it or not and why. Be sure to defend your rationale for including or not including this scene. Be creative, and write as if you are truly the director. This assignment… Continue

Homework due on Monday, October 19: Go to the following site for the text of the essay, "Too Much Pressure." After you read the essay, you need to answer all the questions (ON A PIECE OF NOTEBOOK PAPER) for meaning, writing strategy and language in complete sentences.

http://www.oralhistorykorea.org/eng_comp/archive/socialscience/Colleen%20Wenke-Too%20Much%20Pressure.pdf

Ultimately, though, I do think that systemic change in how society writ large operates is crucial. At a larger level, we need to create a new social contract so that ordinary people don’t feel the rules are stacked against them and rich people don’t feel they are above the rules. This means creating more economic security and increasing social mobility, so that everyone who plays by the rules can enjoy a decent standard of living; it means reforming the justice system so that anyone who breaks… Continue

A respected friend and colleague, Damira Volic, told me something she tells her students, something I believe is quite profound: "When I see you years from now after you have graduated, and if you ask me if I remember the grades you earned in my class, I won't. But I will remember your character."

How do you interpret her statement? What do you think about it? What are the implications of what she said?

Internet cheating clicks with students

More plagiarizers using technology for unfair edge

By JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM



Posted: Dec. 14, 2006



When a student in teacher Aaron Walker's literature class at Brown Deer High School turned in a paper on "Of Mice and Men" and "A Raisin in the Sun," Walker knew something was wrong when he saw a reference to a third work he hadn't assigned.



It didn't take Walker long to figure out that the student's paper wasn't… Continue