AP Language is a course open to all juniors at Helena High interested in a challenging course focused on rhetoric and argument.
Debate class is an elective that combines argumentation with the study of philosophy. It’s open to all grade levels.
Word Clues is an honors course open to students of all grade levels. In it, we’ll build vocabulary through the study of Latin and Greek.
The details of the extra credit piece about Jonathan Swift and recipe bloggers are available here. If you’d like to submit the piece, get it to me by Friday, January 17, 2020.
Essays: revisions of your Into the Wild and Coddling essays are due on Friday. Remember to attach previous drafts and bold changes. For Wednesday, make sure to to read “Marshland Elegy.” For Thursday, read “Polemic: Industrial Tourism.” For both, make sure to read carefully, looking for rhetorical and literary devices as well as the arguments the […]
From an essay I wrote in 2014: Our kids need to be reminded, early and often, that to effectively write an argument is to stake out new ground. To challenge the reader and even threaten her worldview. Tomorrow, when I tell my students (in the nicest possible way) that their papers bored me, I suspect […]
This is my fourteenth year at Helena High School,where I teach English III AP Language, Word Clues, Debate, and Speech. In my spare time, I enjoy grading essays, watching the San Diego Padres, and buying more books than I could ever hope to read.
I came to Helena High after a period of wandering that included attending law school for two days, coaching debate at Carroll College for four years, and teaching in Great Falls for nine months, but the real decision to become a teacher probably began in a theater in Billings, Montana, when I saw “Dead Poets Society” for the eleventh or twelfth time. As ridiculous as it sounds, that little movie helped me understand that my passion for language and literature was something that could be shared with others.
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