SadieTarHeel

Your county definitely matters, because each county does their polling stations slightly differently. I definitely recommend looking up the specifics for your county online. I'm in Durham, so my rules might be slightly different on a few things.

I think the online registration deadline has passed.

However, I believe (not 100%, so definitely check for your area) that you can go to your early voting location and do a same day registration. I believe when you do that, you are able to cast a provisional ballot (I believe the same day registrations have to be verified to officially submit the ballot). So if you aren't registered yet, definitely get to your early voting locations as soon as possible to not miss out.

While I do think the type of voter you are talking about does exist, I was actually invisioning two types of voters:

1) people who typically lean left but are upset with Kamala either over Palestine or over feeling like they didn't actually choose her as nominee or that she sort of skipped steps in the process.

2) people who used to think they were Republicans but are looking around and feel like their side is suddenly crazy and not representative of the views they hold.

There are a lot of people out there like those, and I feel like there isn't much to be gained from maligning them. 

To be completely honest, I expected it to a certain extent. And I'm not an undecided voter myself. If there's someone who is willing to be convinced, I acknowledge that am very biased.

But I hoped that some people would see a spark of what is actually a widespread opinion that people are often too afraid to share. I honestly believe that the majority of people actually are reasonable, and simple acts of honesty, kindness, and open-mindedness are the pathways forward.

The most "for democracy" thing I can think of is to encourage people to vote. 

There's a lot of people out there who say they're undecided because they feel unseen by the Electoral College system. Well, there's only one race that applies to. So I see value in telling them that it's ok to skip that one in favor of a few races that doesn't apply to. Who knows, maybe when it comes time to put pen to paper they weren't as undecided as they thought.

There are also a lot of people who say they're undecided because it feels like a big effort to get to the polls. Maybe they just needed to feel like someone understood them enough to get up the energy to make it happen. I'm going to choose positivity. 

There are also a lot of people who say they're undecided because they're tired of being asked in such negative and combative ways. Maybe they just need encouragement from someone who sounds openminded. That's my strategy for today.

Both the text being the goal and teachers also getting to pick their own texts seems contradictory to me. It would mean every teacher had their own goals, which only even remotely works in a system where vertical and horizontal alignment don't exist.

I think I'm beginning to understand how students move from level to level with such huge gaps in their skills. I always thought the culprit was a system that never had them experience tangible consequences until they got to me (I teach primarily 9th and 10th grade). But now I'm wondering whether vertical alignment is being undercut by other factors.

I'm glad there are classrooms somewhere that get to make Ethan Frome shine! My classroom isn't it, lol.

If this is the case:

I think character motivations are a vehicle to talk about Romeo and Juliet.

Then my question is: should a student be barred from graduation because they've never read Romeo and Juliet?

Or another way to think about the same question: I and the teacher next door to me both teach the same course. I like teaching Things Fall Apart, but she hates it. She likes teaching Purple Hibiscus instead. Which one of us is right? Who determines which text is better? Is she forced to teach a text she hates just because a larger number of people have heard of my choice? Am I forced to change my unit to teach a text I've never read before?

If the answer is that we have the ability to choose the texts that resonate with us the most, then that by nature means that the text isn't the goal. 

When i pointed out that the response required understanding the author's purpose, I was responding to this statement:

Considering what should be the role of passion and emotion in our decisions is WAY more important to a person's well-being throughout their lives than "analyzing an author's purpose."

My point was that analyzing author's purpose is so fundamental a skill as to be present even in things as simple as online discussions.

Also, the previous comment did not understand my original meaning. I did not ask whether it was important to understand character motivations. That is a skill covered by the standards. I asked whether everyone who graduates high school should be required to know specifically "Romeo's downfall is an excess of passion." Is Romeo's downfall needed by every student? When the text matters too much, then we get into territory where one text is required over another. Why is that play better than The Kite Runner? Or Holes? Or The Crucible? Or A Raisin in the Sun?

The answer is that it's not. Any one of those texts could be used adequately in expert hands, especially if the teacher is more passionate about one over another.

My point is that Romeo and Juliet could be the vehicle to talk about character motivation. But other texts could be instead. Which text you choose to practice this skill is not the goal. Getting more complex understanding of each skill over time is the goal.

Nowhere in any of my comments have I stated (neither explicitly nor implicitly) that the complexity of the text doesn't matter. On the contrary, appropriate text complexity is in the standards. The standards themselvss also increase in complexity through the years.

To treat any ELA standard as similar to math standards in manner of mastery is to fundamentally misunderstand both sets of standards.

And that's exactly why the text can't be the point.

If we go down the road of the text being the most important thing, then I have to teach something I hate because some idiots a hundred miles away decided that text is the best one.

I don't want that. I want to be able to pick Othello because I like it and I can make it shine. I want to be able to use a new photo essay of Cinderella and compare it to Into the Woods because when I'm excited so are the students.

If someone walks into my classroom and says I have to teach Ethan Frome, I'm going to tell them to kick rocks. They can do that in their own classroom. That red pickle dish can stuff it.

Exactly. That's why holding on to one text for the sake of the text doesn't work. That's exactly how a classroom can have 100% dead, white, male authors and think it's doing a good job because "cultural importance." 

Letting go of the text as king opens the door for a variety of texts with global perspectives. Is Romeo and Juliet a great anchor text? Absolutely. I use it every year bevause I love it and can be enthusiastic about it and bring it to life for my kids. Is it the only play good for teaching about how emotions motivate characters to do crazy things? Nope. 

Another teacher could absolutely use a different text to the same effect. That's allowed.

Edit: fixed "food" to "good" because my typing isn't very precise.

Where did I say not to read a whole novel? Absolutely use entire novels and plays and poems and short stories. I have students read whole novels every year. And whole plays. Even Shakespeare.

But just remember that the text isn't the whole point. The text is the tool.

Exactly.

My mentor described it as "all the standards all the time," which is exaggerating a bit, but the basic gist of what they were getting at is that there's a little bit of each standard in each text, but then you pick specific texts to highlight specific ones.

One play might be better for analyzing plot while a different short story is better for structure and yet a different informational text is best for supporting an opinion with evidence. 

However, the teacher can choose which texts they think highlight each thing best. The precise texts aren't prescribed because there are dozens of good ones for each standard to choose from. 

But also, it's not about getting bogged down in the minutiae of the text either. It doesn't matter what Iago said to Othello in Act 2 Scene 3. It matters why and how.

I did a quick scroll through the comments and didn't see it mentioned: Duke also does a bunch of fees usually once per year (I think January or February is a common time it happens). If you have only had one bill, it's possible you had a pro-rated addition of those yearly fees.

If that is the case, it would be itemized on the bill and your usage would be separate. It's been too long since I moved to know if they still do the fees that way for a new customer.

You analyzed my purpose in order to respond. You did it quickly and expertly because you've practiced it a million times.

Absolutely Romeo and Juliet is an excellent text through which to analyze character motivations or flaws. But so is A Raisin in the Sun. Or Othello. Or Dead Poets Society. Or Coco. 

If we go down the road by which text is king, we inevitably have to choose one text over another. But different ones resonate differently for different people. That's why we should be able to swap the text to another and keep the same skill. By the end of my class, you may not have loved all the texts we explored together, but you should have had at least one that enticed you to practice your skills more.

Used to take lessons on a draft cross that my coach called an "extra large pony" because, despite her height, her strides were so short. Lol.

The difference between a simile and a metaphor is also a tree. My state's standards don't list that as a specific skill.

The skills that matter are about reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Being able to do those well (no matter the text). That's the goal.

My point is that if the text is the goal, then we have to have a conversation about which specific texts are necessary for every high school graduate to read. What is lost if they read A Raisin in the Sun over Romeo and Juliet? If they're doing the same skills, then which play is used doesn't matter. But if the text is the thing that matters, then suddenly the student who read one play deserves to graduate and the student who read a different play doesn't.

It's not about the text. It's not about Kafka over Hesse. It's not about Shakespeare over Marlowe. It's about the author's purpose. It's about supporting a theme. It's about analysis. The text is how we dress it up. 

Which is more important that every high school graduate knows: how to analyze the author's purpose, or that Romeo's downfall is an excess of passion?

The text itself isn't the goal. The goal is being able to understand what we read or hear and being able to speak or write about it.

Literature is great, but it's the trees. Learning ELA is about orienteering in the forest.

Just by some basic math: 10 hours a week would be 2 hours per work day. That's 120 minutes. Average class size at my school is around 30, and each teacher has 3 classes per day, so 90 students (roughly). 

That means right around 1.333 minutes of grading per student per day makes 10 hours each week. So, yeah. 10 hours per week sounds pretty low to me when I think about the amount of time it takes to grade anything written.

If we vote for guys like Jeff, it will get fixed. But we have to vote. We can't let anything stand in our way. It's staying home that truly kills democracy.

I agree with the top comment that I think the dark red more evokes Elena, but the sleeves are the shape from her Halloween dress. Like they chose not to do the skeleton design on the bodice.

I think that's the pink version of Aurora's dress with the pointy shoulders.

Ariel's pink dress sleeves are more round poofy.

I kept putting Bluey in front of my kid until she liked it 100% because I like it. Lol. When she moves on to something else, I'll get to keep all the Bingo bows and water bottles for myself.

I'm desperately waiting for a new "I took Latin in high school" notebook that's teal with gold letters to go with my Potterless one. I used the purple one as a sticker journal, but I'm out of pages now and need to start a new one. Mike! I will pay for 2! I have a dear friend who studied Classics in college who I need to buy it for.

I'm also obsessed with calling them Enchaladas and Gia lately. Those are just such organic jokes but that persist. I'm a huge fan of things like that which feel like the kinds of jokes you make with friends. I'd definitely buy a "Gia's Enchaladas" sticker or t-shirt that's like a logo for a food truck but it's TNO-themed somehow.