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On with the show, this is it ...

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Welcome to the core class you need in order to do everything else you want

to do in life. It's true. You need to be able to think and speak and write in 

order to pass History or English or Chemistry, or even ... your Driver's Permit

Test. And I have the tricks to pass the Permit test, by the way. Just ask me for

them once we get back to the classroom. We'll take a day to get you ready.

But first, before moving on to English, we need a bit of Latin and  Greek. Yup ...

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The Tridium: Long ago, a famous man named Aristotle taught that the first

things anyone needs to learn are simple ways of thinking clearly and expressing

yourself. The first classes to be mastered back then were Logic, Rhetoric, and Dialectics. Don't sweat it. Those are simply old words for three basic skills you learn in English classes today. Simply put, here's what I want you to be able to do by the end of the year:

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Think Clearly

Express Yourself Well

Negotiate Effectively

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The Goal: Whether or not you can identify and define a participial or a gerund (which are funky old grammar terms), what really matters is whether you can think, write/talk, and collaborate with others. That's what you can learn this year in our classroom. Of course, learning to think clearly, speak eloquently, and negotiate effectively are up to you. As another famous teacher once said,

"I can only show you the door; you have to walk through it."  

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So let's get walking. The door is in front of you. I am beside you.

We're ready for a journey called English Class. And maybe, just maybe,

I'll be able to free your mind up to think and speak (and write) and

even argue about the things that matter to you.

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There's more to come. Stay tuned. For now, it's simply, on with

the show, this is it.

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