Impressive SAS

I just need to take a moment and thank you from one soul to another for the great SAS today.  Period 2 alone knocked it out of the park and just set the tone for the day.  From RM to LF to KG.  Just wow.  I am so impressed with what you are bringing to share and I sincerely appreciate the quality and care with which you are presenting.

For Monday, have the Strayed piece annotated as the capable students you are.  I look forward to discussing it with you.

Daily Journals for today and the weekend are below.  Be sure to incorporate some rhetorical devices to elevate your writing.  Just practice.

Have a beautiful weekend - stay safe and be happy.

xoxo


Daily Journal #12:  Words to live by....
Daily Journal #13:  Highlights of the month....
Daily Journal #14:  How I recharge...

Reading is Cool

Thanks for handling the work I threw at you today.  The Strayed piece "The Ordinary Miraculous" should be OWNED by Monday.  See me with questions...

Tomorrow is SAS #4.  Can't wait!

xoxo

Daily Journal #11:  Write about a favorite childhood memory and attempt to use some intentional repetition. Mimic Angelou or Strayed.

Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

Thanks for participating in class and attacking those sentences from the Klosterman piece.  Tonight (or before class, let's be real),you need to annotate and KNOW the Angelou piece I handed out in class.  If you were absent, ask someone to text you a picture, or just look it up online.  It's from Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now and is the chapter called "Passports to Understanding".

Tomorrow in class, we will have a discussion on the text, paying close attention to rhetorical devices.
Friday is SAS #4 so be ready.

Love and Light ('cause what else is there?),
Beltran

Daily Journal #10: FREE TOPIC (but I am looking to see if you are using any rhetorical devices in your work)

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Adiche's TED Talk is one for the books.  Please rewatch it and "own" her words. 

Tomorrow be prepared to present your dissected sentence if you are called.  I will be sniffing for fear.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be as hot...

Love and Light,
Beltran

Daily Journal #9:  What do you find "weird"?  Why??

Dissecting...Wait, This Isn't Biology!

First off, stay hydrated.  It's hot.

Secondly, Harvard knows what's up.  Check it out.

Third, write down one golden line you love from Klosterman's piece and dissect the heck out of it.  Look up and define all of the "tools" he's using and be ready to share in class on Wednesday.

Daily Journal below.

Love and light always.

Daily Journal #8:  Think of your favorite song.  What lyrics speak to you?  What resonates with you?

To My Seniors

Hi, lovelies. If you're reading this and you're a junior, feel free but it's for my people from last year.

I suppose there's a better way to do this, but my sun kissed body is pretty tired from the day and I needed to fix this NOW.

Back in January, those Daily Journals imploded and I told you not to ask me for a letter of recommendation. I said I'd email you. Then May happened, and my heart shattered and splintered and split. A vital part of me died. I came back to work, and I think I managed to appear put together when the the truth of the matter is that I was (and still am) grieving.

MB had to remind me on a breakfast date in July that I said I'd email people. So I did manage to send off a few before more waves of grief swept me under. And then I blinked and here we are. PR - my prince in so many ways - reminded me earlier today that there are some of you who deserve and need letters. While I'm no author, if my words can help garner you an advantage, it'd be my pleasure.

So, if you're still reading this blog, you know what I'm offering and you can ask yourself if you're one of my people. Are you in my orbit still? Do we talk? Are you and I emailing, chatting, maintaining a relationship? If so, well...Amanda Palmer it up.

Love & Light

Top Ten Books (for Tay and the rest of you who asked...)

It's nearly impossible for me to narrow down my top ten favorite books.  That's like asking a mother to decide which of her children she loves the most.  But I'll give it my best shot...

Tiny Beautiful Things - Cheryl Strayed
A compilation of advice columns that I consider a manual for life.

The Inner Tradition of Yoga - Michael Stone
Teachings on the history and philosophy of yoga.

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
A coming of age story about Janie, an older woman whose life is an inspiration to all.

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now - Maya Angelou
Teachings from a woman I consider one of my greatest teachers.

How to Love - Thich Nhat Hanh 
Meditations on the mindful practice of love.  Simplistic but profound.

In the Lake of the Woods - Tim O'Brien
A husband and wife mystery that sheds light on the secrets we all carry within.

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
A novel about the mother/daughter dynamic.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
A story of Mariam and Laila, two girls born in different generations but whose lives intersect and show the connectedness of us all.  

The Little House on the Prairie Series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Beloved history of Laura Wilder and her beautiful, enviable family.

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
A novel that shows what happens when our creations destroy.  

Why these?  Each holds a special place in my heart for not only the lessons they taught, but for the time at which the lessons appeared.  The old saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Reading is as essential as breathing.  I can't wait to share more throughout the year.  Oh, and any of you super interested can follow Ann Patchett's independent bookstore blog.  She posts a list of recommended books monthly.  Find her site HERE.  Last night I had the chance to listen to her speak at USD.  Let me leave you with her words, "I care that you read, not how you read."

Love and Light, Lovelies...
Beltran

Happy Friday

Hope y'all enjoyed SAS as much as I did.  Mad shout out to period 5 for bringing IT and to BM for his dance moves in period 6.

I'll post the Daily Journals for today and the weekend below.

See y'all Monday.

Daily Journal #5:  Everyone has a story.  What is part of yours?
Daily Journal #6:  What matters most to you?  
Daily Journal #7:  How would your best friend describe you?

Daily Journal #4: Houses (In Case You Need Help)

The house I grew up in was about 700 square feet.  It was on the wrong side of the tracks and the kitchen was so small that you could sit at the round table and open the refrigerator.  My sister and I shared a room until she went to college, and it's the house where I administered my mother's cancer medicine to her via an IV when I was 16.

The house I grew up in made me feel mostly ashamed and embarrassed.  I never had a friend over, never had a sleepover, never had anyone pick me up on a date.  The first boy I let see my childhood home was a guy I was dating at the age of 22.  My mom made him homemade tortillas, beans and rice, and when I left the room, she brought out all of my school pictures - kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The house I grew up in sits in a town that I will never visit again.  When my mother moved off of Margaret Street into a custom built house my sister bought for her, she left behind the structure that had shamed me so.  When my mother died this past May, we packed up her house and all the memories, sold it within three days, locked the door and drove off blinded by tears of grief and rage.

The house I grew up in doesn't match the life I live now, but to a small family of three, it was indeed a home.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

Thanks for annotating like you urinate today...I will be going though your work on the Klosterman piece and we will be using it again in class on Monday (just so you know).  And mad respect for the period 3 moves to Whitney today...it's completely allowed to have fun and be smart all at the same time.  ("I wanna dance with somebody...with somebody who loves me...")

Tomorrow we will be entering the arena (anyone???) for SAS Round #3.  Some of the classes have sign-ups and some don't so be ready either way.

Next week will see us working with words and the nuance of language with connotation and denotation.  If you're my students, you understand what I just did there.

And as a plug for all that is good in this world, remember that readers write and writers read.  There's no magical formula for getting better.  You just do the work.  BE TRUE BLUE.

Much love and see y'all tomorrow,
Beltran

P.S. You should be emailing me frequently to establish a connection and to share your thoughts about class.  This is an interactive experience, y'all.  xoxo

Daily Journal #4:  Topic = Houses.  Go.

How To Mark a Book OR Read, Baby, Read

Thanks for showing up today...hope you learned something valuable.

Tomorrow, a little reading and annotating to see if you were paying attention...Also, SAS Round #3 on Friday so be prepared.

Daily Journal #3 below.

Love and light,
Beltran

Daily Journal #3:  Tell me about a book that you own.  (Not own but OWN.)

My Boyfriend Shawn

Hands off, y'all.  He's taken.  Kidding, of course...or am I?  Please rewatch today's TED Talk by Shawn Achor and fall in love all over again.  Pay attention to how he uses anecdotes and humor to disarm the audience and make his research relatable.  And pay attention to what he is actually saying.

Read for pleasure tonight - carve out 15 minutes to just feed your brain.  And don't forget to bring your book with you tomorrow as well as How To Mark a Book.

I look forward to seeing y'all tomorrow...Daily Journal #2 prompt below.  Beneath the photo of my boy, that is.

Daily Journal #2:  What does happiness look like for you?  

Thus It Begins

Stuff happened today.
It went down,
Were you here?
Hope you were.

xoxo

Daily Journal #1:  If you were allowed to vote, who would you vote for in the upcoming presidential election?  WHY? Also, give an interesting fact about any other politician you know of.  

Who I Am - Or, I DID MY HOMEWORK, How 'Bout You?

When I was five years old, I realized that my life was finite.  I sat on the back porch steps of my childhood home staring at a pecan tree and when one of the nuts fell to the ground, it struck me that the tree had been around longer than me and would be around long after my body returned to dust.  I wasn't frightened by that discovery - almost more comforted by it because I knew then what I still know now - what really matters.

I was - and still am - an excellent student.  I earned nothing less than an A in my academic career, I was involved in everything from Student Council to orchestra to Academic Decathlon.  I took AP everything and was accepted socially by all the different peer groups that look very similar to the ones we find in the halls of PLHS.  I scored perfectly on my ACT, was accepted to all the colleges I applied to including Wellesley, Yale, and Rice and ended up with a full academic scholarship to the Harvard of the South.

But none of that actually says anything about me.  It just shows you that I could (and can) play the game well.  Perhaps what you should know is that I am a faithful friend, a loyal person to my people, a mother to two beautiful souls, and a wife to a beloved who is the true definition of a man.  I'm a sister and despite having lost both of my parents in less than 2 years, I am still a daughter.  Purple is my favorite color and reading and writing is like breathing to me.  Without it, I would not exist.

I'm highly observant and wickedly gifted when it comes to details but you could place me in a forest and ask me to count the trees at which point I would ask, "What trees?".  I didn't start drinking coffee until after I had my eldest daughter.  I don't function well on little sleep and Lenny Kravitz is my number one crush followed closely by Benedict Cumberbatch.  I don't know what that tells you but it's true.

I drink a cup of warm lemon water every morning, I practice yoga both on and off the mat, and when I fall for you, I fall hard and fast and get all sorts of hurt.  My mantra for life comes from the incomparable Cheryl Strayed and I live each moment adhering to her wisdom to be brave enough to break [my] own heart.

If you are one of my people, you know it, and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you including dousing you in truth tea.  The opposite of my love is indifference and my playlist is as diverse as the world we live in.  I believe in tiny threads that connect us all and my favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption and my favorite sport is baseball.  Go Cubs.  Go Rangers.

I'm a native Texan who is as comfortable in a pair jeans as a fish is in water, and teaching is my calling.  I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in gratitude and I am surrounded by magic every day of my life.

I live and love wholeheartedly and I am your 11th grade English teacher this year.

Buckle up.

The Thrill Is...

...Still here.  Despite it being the end of day 14 of school, I am still hopeful and excited about the intelligence, personality, and attentiveness of you APES (AP English Students...no offense).  Thank you for presenting - those of you who did, that is.  It's not an easy thing to do and even though this class might require less in terms of grades, it certainly does require more in terms of courage. So get into the arena...

As a little inspiration, reread Teddy Roosevelt's amazing quote.  It inspires me each day.  Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Love and light,
Beltran

P.S. - for the one who asked, I sign off with "love and light" because what else is there?  We aren't here on earth for our finite period of time to walk around with our hands balled into fists...we are meant to enter into the complicated, messy business of loving and seeing the light in one another.  It's much easier to build a wall than a bigger table but I invite you to sit with me.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

~ Citizenship in a Republic, 1910

Diagnostic Day...

...Never fun but a necessary evil for AP exam preparation.  Besides, learning to read and write well are important.

We will be working with your tests on Monday but for tomorrow, be ready for SAS Round 2.  I'm looking forward to learning from you.

Have a happy rest of your day and know you are loved. Oh, and in an effort to respect your time, here is the text you will need to have read and annotated by class on Wednesday 9/21. 

xoxo

These Are My Thoughts

As Alicia Keys once sang, I keep on falling...I was very impressed with the presenters today and mad shout outs to those of you who clearly propelled yourself forward even though presenting is the last thing you wanted to do.  Mad respect.

Tomorrow isn't going to be sunshine and roses because we have an AP diagnostic - just a little baseline to see what you can and cannot do.  Please come to class with a pencil since we will be doing multiple choice.

Thank you again for your effort.

See y'all tomorrow.

xoxo

TED Talk Tuesday - Benjamin Zander

Thanks for the attention today in class, lovelies.  Here's the link for today's TED Talk by the effervescent Benjamin Zander.  Please rewatch and do what a student does...I will be asking some contextual/background information questions about the talk so make sure you look up rhetor information as well as any allusions you didn't quite get.

Also, tomorrow, I will be choosing from volunteers for the 9 Voices assignment.  Nothing fancy necessary but for the love of all that is good, don't just put lipstick on a pig and say it's not a pig.

And finally (there's a signal word), just in an attempt to get to know you better and as a nice little check to see if you read the bliggity blog, there's an assignment due Monday. Parameters below.

Love and light,
Beltran

Answer the following prompt: Who are you?
Format:  Typed, Times New Roman, size 12 font, double spaced.  At least a page long but can be longer OR handwritten in dark blue/blue ink, at least one page front and back or longer.

If any of you have printing issues, I will accept work via google docs (educator98@gmail.com) or via email (ybeltran@sandi.net) IF IT IS SUBMITTED BEFORE FRIDAY 9/16 BY MIDNIGHT. 

P.S. - Check this out Mitchell.  

The Rhetorical Triangle and 9 Voices

Thanks for the attention in class and for taking some good notes.  Hopefully you learned about the doozy of a Rhetorical Triangle - kinda like gold if you ask me.  It is truly the foundation of the class and of life in general if I am being honest.

For Wednesday, have the 9 voices/rhetors assignment ready.  If you were absent, please see me or better yet, a classmate for some notes.  I will be picking from volunteers on Wednesday.

See y'all tomorrow for TED Talk Tuesday.

xoxo

SAS Roundup

I'm supposed to post a roundup, I know. But I'm finding it difficult to articulate the amazingness I saw. Perhaps you just had to be there? At any rate, tomorrow = more learning. Bring your best self.

Xoxo

Very Impressive

Y'all brought it...particularly the ones who ponied up, went first, dared greatly and stepped into the arena. I'll post an SAS Roundup sometime this weekend. Thanks for making my heart explode.

Xoxo

SAS Round 1 Tomorrow

Thank you to the ever lovely Amy L. for presenting today.  I am utterly biased, but she is a rockstar in my book.

For tomorrow, be ready!!!

-Introduction
- Credible Sources
- Background Information
- Summarize
-Questions
-Thank you

Email me with questions.

xoxo

What A Student Does & Haiku History

First off, thank you for showing up to class both physically and mentally.  Secondly, we covered expectations for "how to be" a student.  (See the picture below.)  Also, we are getting set to rumble in the jungle tomorrow with Haiku History.  If you were absent, get a classmate to text you a picture of the document.

Come to class tomorrow PREPARED. 

We will "play" with the haikus and hear from a guest presenter.

Can't wait.

xoxo

Brene Brown - The Power of Vulnerability

Just a coincidence that Brene Brown juxtaposes power and vulnerability?  Just a coincidence that rhetoric is the basis for the class or that dear ol' Aristotle had some canons and one of them is Memory?  At any rate, rewatch/finish the first TED Talk before class tomorrow.  You can find it here. 

As for commenting on the biggity blog, please answer the question you'll find below:

Do you believe you are worthy of love and belonging?  Why?  Why not?  Explain. 

I won't be publishing your comments but I will be reading them just to see who is who.

I look forward to seeing y'all tomorrow.  

Love and light,
Beltran

See Y'all Tomorrow

Hope y'all enjoyed the three day weekend...kinda makes me wonder why this is not something we get to experience weekly.  I'm ready and excited to see you for TED Talk Tuesday.  No need to prep anything...just show up with an open heart and mind, though that seems to be work (at least for me) every single day.

Though I am not excited about two kid drop offs, 5:30 wakes and slugging it through traffic, I am thankful that I get to do something I love with other fish who seem to get it.

Love and light,
Beltran

Happy Friday

We made it, lovelies!  Thank you for presenting today in class. We ran out of time in period 7 but no worries. And Period 3, your first presentation opportunity is forthcoming.

So what does a student do over the three day weekend for our class?  You review the material you've been exposed to and rewatch "This Is Water", reread your notes, remind yourself of the learning you did.

And to period 5, I just read your responses to my questions. Your words are loud but your actions must match. I look forward to seeing ALL of you on Tuesday.

Have a happy and healthy three day weekend,
Beltran

The Circle Thingy

The Circle Thingy is in fact a thing.  Ahhhhhhh!  Thank you for showing up today and dancing to the glorious Stevie Wonder and his diddy "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours".  Tomorrow, we have 6 word memoir presentations.  It will be fabulous!  Be ready and willing to present.

I do believe "it's too late to turn back now...I believe, I believe, I believe I'm falling in love..."

xoxo