for incoming freshmen …

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When you watch a thought-provoking movie, binge a compelling series, or read an interesting book, you might pause for a minute to consider what’s going on here? I’m asking all of my incoming students to find books of their choice to read over the summer. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some fiction recommendations from this year’s Florida Teens Read list. I ask that you come back from summer with an analytical thesis statement hammered out based on whatever text you choose.

To get a head-start on some writing mechanics, please complete this writing diagnostic and, if you’d like, some subsequent skill practice over the summer: just join up with our class on Quill.org with the class code singer-pebble. (Once you complete the diagnostic, Mr. Benton will open up some activities to help you brush on your conventions.)

Oh, and here’s the syllabus for curious minds. Should you need any help at any point, or if you have any questions about the year ahead with Pre-IB English 2, feel free to email Mr. Benton anytime at bentonro@pcsb.org. Or join the summer Remind group on the Remind app with the code @bentonds.

Here’s the Padlet used at Success Camp for some theme claim attempts.

14 Words You Need to Know

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Below is a table containing the words that make all the difference in a competent user of English, because according to James I. Brown, Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, in his book Programmed Vocabulary, they contain the twenty most useful prefixes and the fourteen most important roots in our language. These constituent parts make up over 14,000 words in a collegiate dictionary size or close to an estimated 100,000 words in an unabridged dictionary. In other words, you should know these words and understand why they mean what they mean since doing so will grant you a superior vocabulary.  Click it for a slightly larger view.

 

100 Books Worth Reading

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If you’re looking for a book to challenge yourself with this summer (on top of summer reading), peruse this list.  Each of these works is very meaty, deep in meaning, ambiguous enough for interpretation, yet forceful enough to have had a lasting impression on Western culture.  Some are old; some are new.  There are writers of all nationalities included here, and the books’ years of publication range from the 16th century to today.  They have nothing in common other than the fact that they’re all legit literature.  Look a few up on Wikipedia; read the first chapter/scene: get a feel for the work.  If you find one that grabs you, read it in a scholarly way.  You’ll enjoy it more anyway if you grab onto some big theme early on.  Plus, you’ll remember it all the better.  I’ve intentionally avoided listing books that are already a part of SPHS’s assigned reading, so this is a deeper cut of works.  (A note of caution to sensitive minds: Some of these stories do include some sketchy content, so read at your own peril.)

  1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (not the sci-fi story by H. G. Wells)
  2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski
  4. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  6. King Lear by William Shakespeare
  7. Billy Budd by Herman Melville
  8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  9. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  10. The Awakening by Kate Chopin Continue reading →

Literature Improves Thinking

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Are you uncomfortable with ambiguity? It’s a common condition, but a highly problematic one. The compulsion to quell that unease can inspire snap judgments, rigid thinking, and bad decision-making.

Fortunately, new research suggests a simple antidote for this affliction: Read more literary fiction.

A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call “cognitive closure.” Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and uncertainty—attitudes that allow for both sophisticated thinking and greater creativity.

“Exposure to literature,” the researchers write in the Creativity Research Journal, “may offer a (way for people) to become more likely to open their minds.”

Djikic and her colleagues describe an experiment featuring 100 University of Toronto students. After arriving at the lab and providing some personal information, the students read either one of eight short stories or one of eight essays. The fictional stories were by authors including Wallace Stegner, Jean Stafford, and Paul Bowles; the non-fiction essays were by equally illustrious writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Stephen Jay Gould.

Afterwards, each participant filled out a survey measuring their emotional need for certainty and stability. They expressed their agreement or disagreement with such statements as “I don’t like situations that are uncertain” and “I dislike questions that can be answered in many different ways.” Continue reading →

’24–25 at the End

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How fortunate I am to have had something that’s so difficult to see come to an end. Thank you, my students, for your part in our class this year. It’s been an honor and a privilege to know and to work with each of you: I’m grateful for all the highs and lows.

My classroom will be empty for a little while; I’m sure it appreciates the disco nap before August. I’ll leave all the current Remind groups open should anyone need to get in touch. Email works too.

Freshmen, read something! Practice your grammar on Quill. Rest up for sophomoric adventures. (The new freshmen will benefit from your kindness and guidance.)

Seniors, go be incredible. If you learned anything from me, please use it. Refine your talents. Defy convention. Serve others. I’m so proud of you.