Ar ruhama islamic elementary school

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Teaching English Literature for junior high school

How to Teach High School Literature

The best teachers are the ones who not only push you to work harder, but also to think in radically new ways. In terms of literature, this requires not only asking difficult, compelling questions, but finding the kind of texts that will help shape a varied, constructive world view for your students.

We all know that analyzing literature probably will not be a "professional" skill, so for most people the value of reading good literature is more a course in human ideas and history than a practical education.
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Instructions
1.
Remember that literature is first an art form and second an inclusive platform in which history, politics, philosophy, and any variant of humanistic or social-scientific thought can be engaged at a very high level. This means that you can not only use texts to talk about issues like character, plot and device (although these should come first), but also about how the text engages specific issues within its time of construction.
2.
For your reading list, don't just replicate the Norton Anthology. Pick authors of diverse backgrounds or whom haven't gained the popularity that others have. There is no doubt that Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great author and that he will find his way unto standardized tests, but consider other expatriates like Djuna Barnes or Gertrude Stein.
3. 3
Never just assume that high school kids won't benefit from reading something "difficult." For example, Frank O'Hara's poems are pretty challenging conceptually, but at first glance they are quite simple. In fact, his work can actually be a great way to talk about larger issues of "post-war" experience in America.
4.
Also, make sure you get a variety of forms: short stories, poetry, dramatic texts and novels. Each form has its own demands and its own way at working through literary and cultural problems. Try to get your students talking about the differences between genres (e.g., the difference between poetry and prose).
5.
When you are reading texts, don't forget to point out things like sarcasm and irony. Senses of humor may change, but there is usually a way to find a common ground with kids.
6.
When drawing up questions for papers or assignments, don't just reinforce the tired, formulaic gestures that reduce a book to a few basic components. In other words, don't just ask the students to select three "key passages" or ask them to identify who is the "main character." Good questions ask students to rationalize their decisions, and to ground their discussion of the book in specific examples within the text.
7.
Classes should be dominated by discussion, and you should resist the temptation to control it too much. In the beginning of the year this might be necessary, but kids get quite a thrill of feeling like their education is in their control, and that they have the freedom to explore the issues they won't to consider. Think of yourself as a facilitator nstead of an instructor.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

LEBANON, an arena of foreign battle

Lebanon is a country in middle east which has an area about 10.452 km, now has turned itself into an arena of foreign battles. Armed clashes between Lebanese militias in and around Beirut were not the only conflicts which took place in Lebanon. Palestinian from Lebanon`s refugee camps were also engaging in cross-border attacking the Israel villages near the Lebanese frontier which often drew military respond from Israel . in Arab league meeting in Cairo 3 November 1969, the newly founded Yasser Arafat had been given the green light to conduct these operations from Lebanese soil. The Lebanese government at that time found no way it could deny access to the fighters without alienating other Arab states and causing further expansion of the already widening Muslim- Christian rift in the country. The Israelis, however, sought a solution to their problem PLO by approaching Christian and Shiite inhabitants of the south who strongly resented Palestinians presence among them, or who simply remind there rather than fleeing north, to join with an auxiliaries forces that they were forming. This local militia would help repulse the PLO, thereby protecting Israel`s northern frontier. Saad Al Hadad a Christian which commanded this force – the southern Lebanese army. Despite this precautionary measure , however, cross border attack continue again Israel northern settlement, although that they had drastically decrease in the late 1970. In fact in the eve of the massive Israeli invansion of Libanon in 1982 something like ceasefire was prevailing around Lebanon`s sothren border, nevertheless the invasion was justified Tel Aviv as a means of ending terrorism there .
In the operation, entitled operation Galilee and directed by di defense minister Ariel Sharon , Israel forces went all the way to Beirut and they hope that they could smash all the rest of Palestinian and their allies and worked out an arrangement with Israel Christian allies that would produce peace treaty the goal of that strategies were nt achieved duet to strenuous opposition from Lebanese group and the assassination of the Israel militiamen Israel had counted a on to swing peace treaty . even more unfortunately for the Israelis, the battles of west Beirut and its occupation by their force d radicalized some Shiite, let to their cooperation with Iran and Syria and finally resulted in the war of attrition that is still causing the grieve today.

Monday, November 21, 2011