May 4th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen played a comprehension game to review the last several scenes read in "Romeo and Juliet." In small teams, I would give students a passage from the previous reading (for example, Act 2, Scene 3, lines 48-51). As a team, students had to be able to translate said passage into modern-day English. The team with the most clear translation (that did not cut out any information) would win the round, as well as an extra credit point.

We did this with several passages, and then began to read the rest of Act 2 in class.

Homework - Read Act 2 Scenes 5 and 6.

10th Grade - Sophomores shifted up to the next and final article for our Portfolio assignment - Walker Percys "The Loss of the Creature." The goal of this article is to bridge the gap between the psychological aspects of learning and memory that we discussed earlier in the week, and the general critical thinking unit.

This article discusses the idea of "authentic" vs "inauthentic" experience, especially in the natural world, but then connects the same principles to the school system and student learning. The overall goal is for students to find ways in which they can connect academic, classroom content to themselves in a way that is relevant and authentic. Essentially, this article is about strategies for developing instrinsic motivation, and what difficulties people may face in the process.

We read through about 1/2 of the article, and will finish in tomorrow.

What is expected in the Portfolios (due next week)

• Reflective Writing - "How to Recognize a Poem"
• Reflective Writing - "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"
• Reflective Writing - "Loss of the Creature"
• In-Class Project - Fallacies in Advertisement
• In-Class Project - Design a Course Assignment
• Reflective Writing - Psychology Memory Test

Students should hold on to everything done in this unit, as the final project will be based on expanding one of the current pieces in the portfolio.