Freshmen Final Resources

Here are several provided links for background information on various topics -

http://www.sac.edu/students/library/nealley/websites/controversial.htm - Large list of "pros" and "cons" for many issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_controversial_issues - Wikipedia page listing controversial issues. Only usable as very basic background information; will not accept as a cited source.

http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/persuasion/issues.html - Another large list of "starter links" to potential issues.

http://www.multcolib.org/homework/sochc.html - List of social issue resources from Mulnomath Library in Portland.

You are allowed to use one-page of handwritten notes of the final exam -
you must also write down WHAT SOURCES you are using on the final when you take it!

June 6th-10th - Last Week of Classes

I've decided to just compress this week into one post.

9th Grade - Monday and Tuesday were focused on the final draft of the "Romeo and Juliet" essay. Students had the laptop cart to work on editing for their final draft on Monday, and the entire essay was due at the beginning of the class period Tuesday (Entire essay means final draft+peer editing sheet+rough draft+outline).

Tuesday was an opportunity for extra credit for students who had their essays completed on time. After turning them in to me, the essays were redistributed along with a copy of the rubric. Students were asked to grade each other's essays according to the rubric, and then to staple the rubric they completed to the back of the essay.

After I grade the final drafts, I will look back at the students' grades, to gauge their understanding of the rubric. The closer the grade the student gave is to mine, the more points of extra credit they receive.

Wednesday-Thursday-Friday are focused on preparing for the final, which is based around the idea of perspective. While working on this last "Romeo and Juliet" essay, many students had a difficult time seeing from the eyes of an audience that does not have the same ideas/opinions as the students, so we are doing a small activity to work on building up this skill.

Students must pick a controversial issue off a list, and then will spend two days researching it. For the final, they will need to write about their issue, but I will not tell them whether they are writing persuasively FOR or AGAINST it until the test itself - students will have to think about their issue and research it from multiple perspectives.

10th Grade - Sophomores have been working on finishing A Separate Peace, finishing an additional chapter per day until we finish the book tomorrow. We have had one informal quiz and our final formal discussion this week, and any notes taken during these formal discussions are usable on the final exam. We also played a game on Tuesday, based on details from the novel.

The last formal discussion was very much based in the novel, and focused on these questions -

1) Is Gene reliable as a narrator? We know he lies, so is he also lying to the reader?
2) Why is Finny unable to ever really stay mad at Gene? Or do you think that he actually does get angry at Gene?
3) Why did Gene push him off the tree? What leads you to this conclusion?
4) Why do the boys call this tribunal/court into session? What purpose does it serve?
4b) How does this mirror the war around them?
5) Why doesn't Gene cry at the end of CH 12?
6) If we look at these characters as symbols, what is Finny symbolic of? Gene? Leper?

The final exam will require short essay responses (approx. one paragraph in length) to questions based on the three class discussions.

June 3rd Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen had today to peer edit their drafts for the "Romeo and Juliet" essay. I provided a peer review worksheet that is primarily focused on content. For students that missed this class, you can have a friend, family member, or other adult read through your essay as well. The main points to focus on are -

1) Does the argument make sense? Would an audience that has not read the play be able to understand what you are saying, or are there sections that need to be clarified?

2) Do you use quotes, and do the quotes actually connect to your ideas?

3) Is there a clear thesis? Does the thesis reflect the content of the essay?

4) Proofreading - are there run-on sentences, fragments, punctuation errors, etc? This is the last step in editing - if the other parts do not all fit together, perfect punctuation won't help too much.

FINAL DRAFT DUE TUESDAY, 6/7.

10th Grade - We had our second formal discussion surrounding A Separate Peace today, and then students were given the last 15 minutes of class to begin the next chapters in the book.

The main questions for this discussion are listed in the previous entry.

A final note with the discussion credit - most classes have enough students where everyone will have participated before the 3rd formal discussion. People who are the active participants in the 3rd discussion will have credit added to their score, but I will reserve those slots for people that did not participate well enough or scored low first.

Homework - Read Chapters 9 and 10.

June 2nd Daily Plan

9th Grade - Today was the last in-class day to develop the rough draft for the final "Romeo and Juliet" essay. Students were given the majority of the class period to work on their drafts, and Ms. Dobell and I worked with individual students on their writing.

I also modeled how to embed quotes into a paragraph, so that the evidence (quotes) flows smoothly into the anaysis (commentary). The class practiced with a sample paragraph, and then were allowed to continue to work on their individual essays.

Goals for tomorrow - since we will be peer editing the rough drafts today, everyone needs a PRINTED OUT, COMPETE ROUGH DRAFT when them come in to class today. The peer editing is only valuable if you have enough of an essay to edit!

HOMEWORK - If you do not have a draft complete, you will need to finish it at home.

10th Grade - We discussed the concept of rationing during wartime, and the differences between the national mood during WWII and today. Since the three sophomore classes are at slightly different points due to the scheduling of MAP testing last week, today's schedule was also slightly different for periods 1, 4, and 5.

All three classes were given some time to read in A Separate Peace, and all three classes watched a section of the documentary we had started last week about the war in Iraq. However, since Period 5 was MAP testing last week while the other two classes were able to start the documentary, we have only just started watching it in Period 5.

Students were also provided the discussion questions for tomorrow's FORMAL IN-CLASS DISCUSSION. If you were on the outer circle yesterday, you will definitely be in the INNER CIRCLE ON FRIDAY.

Main Questions -

1) Why would we ration supplies during WW2, but not today?
2) What qualities make someone influential? Can you choose who influences you or is it beyond your control?
3) How do poor decisions gain traction? Why do people follow along with an idea they disagree with?
4) Are you more likely to become like your friends, or are your friends more likely to become like you?

HOMEWORK - Read through CH8.

May 31st and June 1st

9th Grade - Freshmen have been working on their final essays for our unit on "Romeo and Juliet" this week. Both days have been dedicated to outlining and/or writing the first draft, depending on the student.

In-class, we have been discussing and practicing writing strategies as students work through this essay. We have looked at how to develop ideas, create an outline, and strategies for creating a solid first draft.

Students are encouraged to work on the body of the essay first, since it is entirely developed based on evidence from the text, and analysis of that evidence. The conclusion needs to summarize and connect the body to some greater ideas, and the introduction needs to get the reader's attention and contain a thesis. Without having a full body, both the introduction and conclusion are much harder to develop.

10th Grade - Sophomores are working on reading A Separate Peace over this week and next. The grading for this unit will be based on three formal, in-class discussions and a final exam based on A Separate Peace AND the in-class discussions.

Students receive credit for these discussions based on

1) Active Participation for those involved (each discussion involves about 1/3 of the class)

2) Active Observation for those watching (everyone else is expected to be taking notes and developing questions to pose to those discussing).

Everyone should be taking notes during these discussions, and those notes will be allowed to be used on the final test.

HOMEWORK - for 6/3, everyone should have read through CH 8.

***For students that miss discussion days***

Since the credit for this unit is based on participation, if you miss a discussion day, you will need to complete a short writing assignment over the same topics.

May 27th Daily Plan

9th Grade - One freshmen class did not meet today, as there was a film for all freshmen in honor of Memorial Day.

The other freshmen class (7th period) that did meet got an extra day to begin the outlining process for the final Romeo and Juliet essay.

10th Grade - Many students needed to retake the last B.O.E. exam, but had not made progress with scheduling a time to do so with me. So I decided that this would just be required in class, and that is what many students did on the 27th.

The B.O.E. took up approximately 1/2 of the class period, and the rest of the class essentially had a work day. They could either read ahead in A Separate Peace through CH 5, which was homework for monday, or work on their S.S.R. project due before June 10th!

May 26th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We finished the 1996 version of "Romeo to Juliet" to start, and had a brief discussion over some of the changes bade between the 1968 film and what the class just completed. There are scenes in each play that are eliminated, scenes that are extended, or events that play out slightly differently, which are at the director's discretion.

After watching the conclusion, students were assigned the final writing assignment for "Romeo and Juliet." The details of this assingment are under "ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS" on this blog (visible in the top right-hand quandrant of the main screen).

10th Grade - We started reading A Separate Peace in class, and read through Chapter 1 as a full group. The rationale behind this is that I want to make sure that all students are very clearly on the same page as we start the novel. I explained that many times the first few chapters in a book may not have a clear conflict, and are used to develop the setting and preliminary characterization (this is clearly the case with this novel).

After reading Chapter 1, we did a short activity based around descriptive writing and establishing a setting. Students had to write down a few sites in Jackson, WY, on a piece of scratch paper, which were then put into a hat. Each student would randomly pull out a site, and have to describe how to get there from the school without using any proper nouns, or describing the final destination (i.e. no street names, business names, etc). This activity requires that students think of a geographic area in terms of descriptive landmarks and detail.

Homework - Read Chapter 2.

May 23-24-25 Daily Plans

I decided to compress these all down into one post because of the scheduling for the week.

9th Grade - 5/23

We focused on finishing the character map assignment started last friday, and those will be posted on the walls this week to replace the Greek Gods Poster Projects that have been up this semester.

The rest of today's class was spent reading and translating Act 5 as a class; there are only three scenes, but as they conclude the play, it is very important that students understand the context and plot of these last few scenes. We made it to the final speeches in Act 5 Scene 3.

9th Grade - 5/24

We finished the play today, and had a short discussion reflecting on the story overall. One of the key point I made sure to return to is that this is a play - it is intended to be viewed, and viewed in one sitting. Reading it over a period of time and translating as we go along is a fairly inauthentic way of reading it, but necessary since the language structure is so different.

In terms of setting up for our final Romeo and Juliet assignment - students were asked to develop lists of tragic scenes in the play (along with the rationale for them being tragic). Students also had to list of personality traits for Romeo, Juliet, and any other characters they felt were vital and explain why these traits led to the tragic scenarios.

The final assignment will require students have a good base of evidence for both of the previous topics.

Finally, we began watching the 1996 theatrical version of the play - "Romeo + Juliet."

9th Grade - 5/25

Today was dedicated to watching the majority of the film in class. We will finish in the first half of tomorrow.


10th Grade - 5/23 and 5/24

Since I did not have all of my classes available this week due to the MAP test, we held off on officially starting our final unit on the novel A Separate Peace. Sophomores that were here received the final S.S.R. project assignment sheet - it is due anytime before June 10th, but will not be accepted after that!

We also used one of the two MAP testing days to watch part of a documentary on the Iraq war, which we will connect to A Separate Peace when we start reading it. When watching this documentary, students were also asked to think about the critical thinking unit we have just finished.

Specifically, I explained to the students that were here that any filmmaker will always have a bias, and in war documentaries, this can be much more apparent.

10th Grade - 5/25

We officially started our unit on A Separate Peace today. Students completed an opinionaire about several different topics that emerge in the story - several questions were about war, citizenship, and personal responsibility, and several questions were focused on ideas involving friendship and competition.

We used part of the class period to also review the last B.O.E. exam taken by the students. While the B.O.E. was low in terms of point value, the scores for these exams are heavily weighted and students that did not perform well should retake it to improve their grades.

May 20th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen took a break from reading further into "Romeo and Juliet" to do a very small project related to characterization. Since we have spent so much of our time focused on reading through the play, it seemed appropriate to slow down for a day, let some of the ideas and developments settle, and continue with the conclusion on monday.

Character Map - For this assignment, students are asked to create a poster about a specific character from "Romeo and Juliet."

Poster Requirements -

1) Drawn Image of character chosen
2) 3 objects in the image that represent the character's personality (for example, a sword for Tybalt would represent his combative nature)
3) 2 Quotes from the play that are stereotypical for your character (the quotes each need an explanation as to WHY they were chosen).
4) A key that explains what each object is, and why it is representative for the given character.

10th Grade - Scheduling was also different this day for sophomores, due to absences for track, soccer, and a Biology field trip. In light of these events, today was a chance for students that WERE in class to catch up with missing assignments, read, and discuss the pros and cons of the Critical Thinking Unit.

Students who have not turned in their PORTFOLIOS or ESSAY - These are both major assignments; not getting credit for them will lower your grade for the semester by approximately 5%. Any student that has not turned these in needs to see me ASAP.

May 19th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We used today primarily as a reading day to get further in "Romeo and Juliet," and should have the play finished either tomorrow or monday. Students read through Act 4 to its completion as a class, and we discussed the plans and complications which develop through these scenes.

We also watched the film version to reinforce what was read, but the majority of scenes in Act 4 are severely abridged in the film, and it essentially cuts the entire section in half.

Students were also asked to think about what character they would like to use for a mini-project tomorrow. We will be doing a body biography for characters in "Romeo and Juliet," where students need to draw a character, objects that personify them, and select quotes that represent their choice's personality.

10th Grade - Today was the final in-class workday for the final draft of the critical thinking essay. Students had the class period to continue to edit and read through their drafts.

What was turned in to me today -

1) Final Draft
2) Rough Draft - edited by me with track changes
3) Rough Draft - peer edited with editor's name.

All students were asked to check their essay again both the rough draft rubric and the final draft rubric. Each one is very clear about what needs to be in the essay for each letter grade, and I am grading these exactly to the rubric. Every student should have a strong idea of what grade they will receive before turning it in.

May 18th Daily Plan

9th Grade - First, we discussed what the next month of school will look like, since we are on the last 3.5 weeks of class for the year. Basically, I explained that we have the "Romeo and Juliet" unit to finish, and then we will have a short debate unit over several specific topics. Between the two units, this will about for 8-10% of students' total grades - so anyone who is on the cusp (i.e. an A- or a C+), what we are currently doing will have significant impact on your final grade.

We then continued on with reading the play in class, only going through Act 4 Scene 1, which sets up the final plan for the story. Students completed a worksheet where we looked at the plan and made predictions of potenially complications to the plan. Extra credit was given to the student with the most creative but believable plan.

10th Grade - Sophomores also discussed what the next month of school will look like. The final month will be similar in terms of credit to the way the 9th grader set-up is; approx 10% of the final grade for the class being based in on The Critical Thinking unit, and our next unit on the novel A Separate Peace.

Sophomores needed to turn in their Critical Thinking Portfolios today. What needs to be included is listed in last weeks blog posts.

I also returned the drafts I received last week, with corrections and suggestions for the Final Draft, which is due at the end of class tomorrow.

Common Criticisms -

Be clear! Many students still have vague vocabulary (i.e. "things") that can easily be interpreted differently by different readers.

Read it out loud! For grammar and punctuation errors, read your paper out loud making sure you match the punctuation you wrote - it will help find the natural and unnatural pauses.

Connect it to the idea of critical thinking! A necessary component of this essay is that you connect your ideas to why critical thinking is important.

Make sure to check the rubric before turning it in! The final draft should match all the criteria on the rough draft rubric AND the final draft rubric.

May 11-12-13 Daily Plans

Sorry on the fact that some of these days were not posted on time; here is a rundown of this week's daily plans.

9th Grade - We have primarily been working through "Romeo and Juliet." We have completed Act 3 in the written version of the play and in the film. Freshmen had a quiz on Act 3 Scene 4 and 5 on Friday.

An important note for next week - Monday and Tuesday 9th graders are in MAP testing. This means 3rd period will NOT meet; make sure you know what room you are supposed to go to for testing!

10th Grade - Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all days to work on the essay draft in class.

The most important thing to realize on this for students who were absent -

The rough draft of the essay was due at the end of the day on Friday. Every student needed to turn in a hard copy to the basket in class, and an electronic copy to my e-mail address. Students need to send this from THEIR school e-mail address or it will not get through to me. It is important because I will be out of town on monday, and since students will be working on their next draft, providing me with an electronic copy will allow me to edit and return their drafts to start more serious editing.

The Portfolio is also due next Wednesday.

May 12 Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen watched most of Act 3 of "Romeo and Juliet" while reading along in the book. We paused a couple of times during this section so that I could ask students some questions about empathizing with the characters.

For example, at the beginning of the unit, I asked students whether it would be fair for you to kill someone as revenge for someone killing your best friend - and most students answered "no." However, when watching the scene in the movie, most students agreed that if you actually watched someone kill your best friend, not having a violent reaction would be incredibly difficult.

Students then had time to continue reading Act 3 Scene 4 and 5, and we will have a short quiz on this section tomorrow. Basically, this is to guage student understanding of the story when we are not working as a group, and allows me to see what aspects of this play are difficult for students.

Homework - Read Scenes 4 and 5, quiz tomorrow!

10th Grade - Today was another drafting day in class using the mobile lab. Students had the full period to work on their drafts, and I conferenced with students one at a time about their specific writing.

Some common criticisms for many student papers -

Defining terms - many students have essays that use language in a way that can be interpreted differently by different people (for example, asking whether the experience of traveling in a foreign country is an "authentic" experience requires a set definition of what is meant by "authentic."). Make sure you clarify HOW you are using terms before introducing new ideas.

Vagueness in examples - "You need to think critically about things, because otherwise you might not get it." The words "things" and "it" can be interpreted as potentially anything and/or nothing - similar to the need to define terms, examples need CLARITY to work well.

Tomorrow - Draft due at the end of class; one copy printed out and turned in to the basket, another copy sent to me via e-mail.

May 11th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Classes are all back on track with working through Act 3 of "Romeo and Juliet" in class, and completed reading Scene 3 as a group.

We related the events of the last section of the story to our conversation in class yesterday - namely, does the class feel that Romeo is really threatening to kill himself, or is he being overdramatic? Along the same lines, does the class feel that Romeo and Juliet have any kind of healthy relationship, or is the entire connection between the two of them damaged?

Finally, we talked about how absurd of a story "Romeo and Juliet" is. A common perception students seem to have at times is that this story is somewhat boring, and difficult to interpret because of the Elizabethan-era English. But when broken down . . .

in approximately 72 hours, Romeo has fallen in and out of love, become heartbroken, fallen in love again, married the new girl in under 24 hours, had his best friend killed, killed his wife's cousin, and gets banished from his city.

Rather intense.

10th Grade - Today was dedicated entirely to working on rough drafts of the essay assignment in class. Students had access to the laptop cart and were given time to start typing and developing their ideas as an actual essay, beyond outlining.

Students who signed up for conferences during class today spoke with me. Every student is expected to have a five-minute conference with me about their writing topic, what evidence they plan on using, and how to best incorporate it. We will continue drafting tomorrow and friday, and the rough draft is due friday at the end of class.

May 10th Daily Plan

9th Grade - This class was overly focused on discussion, specifically over a few of the main topics that are found in Act 3 of "Romeo and Juliet."

First, students were provided a "would you rather" situation - would you rather break up with a boy/girlfriend if your parent's disapproved of him/her, or would you try to stay together, even if it meant getting kicked out of your home? This question is very similar to the scenario provided in the play, so having students think about their personal responses helps make the play more relatable.

We also discussed two major topics found in Act 3 - What defines a healthy relationship, and what makes someone attempt suicide? Students were asked to create a list of what makes a relationship "healthy," and then apply their standards to "Romeo and Juliet." As Romeo attempts suicide in Scene 3, students were asked to think about why people attempt suicide, and whether they think most attempts are legitimate, or cries for attention.

10th Grade - We began work on the Critical Thinking Unit Rough Draft. The grading for this unit was also explained -

Portfolio - 60 pts
Rough Draft - 30 pts
Final Draft - 30 pts

The reason it is laid out in this way is because the overall unit is more focused on process over product - I'd rather see that students were able to advance their thinking and writing skills over the course of the portfolio assignment into the rough draft, and then make significant changes and progress between the rough and final draft.

The class looked at the assignment sheet and rubric, worked on outlining ideas, and are working on typing their essays in class the rest of the week. Every student also had to schedule a 5 minute writing conference with me (either during class, during lunch, or after school) before Friday. I expect that every student knows what they are writing on and has talked to me to clarify strategies and understand what they should be working on; no student should be talking to me on Friday saying that they were unsure of what they were supposed to be writing.

Critical Thinking Unit - Essay Topics

What follows is a list of ideas, themes, and topics discussed during the last unit.

The list is a combination of two different periods, and each one took a slightly different direction. Any of these topics are fair game to write about - but we aware, many require tweaking to become very useful (i.e. they are too broad, too narrow, or may require information that students do not entirely possess).

How a place you have never been can have importance
Expectations vs. reality
Are your expectations realistic?
What is the point of life?
What is reality?
How people can manipulate the way you think
Who manipulates you (and why?)
Why do people join cults
How people see things differently
Long term vs. short term memory
How the different parts of the brain work with memory
teaching and learning styles - hands-on vs. verbal/listening
How to think independently
How to analyze things thoroughly
People's memories work differently
Fallacies (false arguments)
Birther arguments - why/purpose?
Was Osama assassination a conspiracy?
Was 9/11 a conspiracy?
You can give meaning to something that isn't intended
Difference between knowledge and skill
Osama Bin Laden news - critical thinking
How to become an expert/professional
Extracting knowledge - what is personally useful? Connecting the dots
Different interpretations on literature
Is there a "right" way to interpret a story?
Taking the wrong meaning from literature
Somatic Triangle - hearing to judgment

How the human brain makes meaning of words
How we dissect a poem to find meaning that might not be there
Do people blindly follow orders?Statements need to be correct or incorrect, based on what they are and who says it.
Role of Authority - does authority = correctness?
How teachers teach vs. how students learn
How do students perform based on the environment?
Teaching methods - what works for you?
Who has authority in learning?
What gives someone authority to teach?
Views that students have what they think is important.
How something is authentic? What makes something authentic?
How we are catered to by advertisement.
Do fallacies work? Why do fallacies work? Why do we listen to fallacies?
How things/places lose their "genuineness" because of expectations
Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Disneyland
Creating classes based on abilities and interests
Judgment of credibility of an author
Problem solving?
What defines "something"?
Who decides what students need to know?
Long term vs short term memory
How people perceive things - perconceived images
Deception and fallacies in advertisement
Deception and fallacies in life - what other aspects of life are misinterpreted or are genuine?

May 9th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen worked on a worksheet in class that compared the PLANNED actions of various characters to the COMPLICATIONS that occur in the plot that don't allow the plans to unfold.

We discussed that this is necessary for a plotline to move forward - if character's plans are easily completed, then there is no real conflict in the story and the plot does not move. This is increasingly complex because most stories will have many characters, each with their own plans and motivations.

To see how this plays out in "Romeo and Juliet," students broke into small groups to look at the plans and complications that each character faces in the story. To reinforce this, students also needed to find evidence from the story that proves their points.

10th Grade - Sophomores are shifting gears to start the final project for the Critical Thinking Unit. The way this assignment will work is that students will take a topic discussed in the last three weeks, and expand it into a full length essay. There is an incredibly wide range of topics discussed, and part of the goal is that students choose a topic that they have some personal interest in.

To help students work through figuring out what to write about, classes also broke into small groups to create lists of topics that we have discussed. The full list of potential writing subjects will be attached to this site as well.

Sophomores also looked at a list of common writing problems and we brainstormed solutions to them. Basically, when students start drafting tomorrow, I expect that everyone has an idea of what they want to write about, and the tools to start writing.

With participation credit for today - I explained to the class that they are working in groups to be able to help each other and come up with more ideas than they would have individually. However, if it is clear that group work is a distraction and students are not able to gain further understanding than they would individually, then it is not using our time efficiently and they will work on it individually.

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.

May 3rd Daily Plan

9th Grade - We reversed the strategy used earlier in the week, in which we read and then watched the same scenes from the 1968 film version of "Romeo and Juliet." This time, students watched the film version of Act 2 Scene 3 and 4 to get a clearer idea of the plot before reading. Ideally, having seen some of the story before attempted to decipher the Shakespearean English provides students with a clearer image of what they should be able to pull from the story.

10th Grade  - We discussed the results of the memory test that the students took yesterday, and looked at some questions involving memory - for example, students were asked to theorize as to why they scored better on some parts of the memory test that others.

We watched a short video about "Patient HM," an epilectic from the 1950s whose brain surgery (and subsequent memory damage) was the main basis for the study and understanding of human memory systems. The class them moved on from this to a few short articles on memory and learning, and we discussed how to apply these strategies to student's own learning.

May 2nd Daily Plan

9th Grade - We started back up in reading "Romeo and Juliet" in class, focusing on Act 2 Scene 1+2. We read through both scenes as a class, and while I aided students in understanding the plot in Scene 1, students had to fill out a summary sheet for Scene 2.

This is in part to make students work on translating this story more independently, rather than relying on myself and the class to help them along. I am not grading the summary sheet on accuracy, but more on effort - I want to be able to guage how students are comprehending the story, and what strategies they are using to try to interpret the Shakespearean English. Students who finished in class turned the summary sheet in.

Homework - Finish summary sheet and list off lines that are particularly confusing.

10th Grade - Sophomores moved on to another section of our "Critical Thinking" unit, looking at the psychology of learning and memory. We briefly reviewed what we have done thus far in this unit, looking at -

1) "How to Recognize a Poem" - the purpose of this reading is to identify how much a given situation and context contribute to meaning. In this example, the poem I made up was absolute nonsense, but students all developed themes and meaning for it. This does not mean that their meanings are incorrect, but the fact that they were expecting to find meaning created it. We discussed how in a class this would work with a poem, but this happens in life in many different scenarios.

2) "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" - the purpose of these reading is to compare the goals of individual students with that of the entire education system, and to realize that both do not always have goals that line up.

Today - we started looking at the psychology of learning by looking at a very simple memory experiment online. We will discuss the results of this tomorrow.

Homework - Write a short reflection on the psych experiments we discussed. The main question - do you agree with the results of the tests that you took? Why/why not?

10th Grade - Psychology Memory Tests

For our little psych experiment day . . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/index_surveys.shtml

Tests that you HAVE to take -

"Explore Your Memory" - 2nd down on the list

"Memory Training" - 11th down on the list.

If you complete both and still have time, choose a 3rd test that interests you.

Take down notes on all three tests about how you scored, and your reaction.

April 29th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen had a three-part lesson today. The first part involved a quiz over stage directions, reviewing from our lesson on this topic last week. Basically, for this quiz I gave students a blank image of a stage with some directions written, and students had to track where the actor would shift throughout the scene.

Students then had about 20-25 minutes for S.S.R. As I've explained to all classes before, the goal with S.S.R. is that students are reading something that they actively enjoy and want to be reading. If students do not enjoy the book they have chosen, they should be looking for new books and have something they DO enjoy to bring in to class. Students only receive credit for S.S.R. if -

1) They are reading what they have told me they are reading (i.e. no pulling books off my back shelf, this does not count), and
2) They spend the full amount of time reading.

10th Grade - Sophomores had a slightly modified class again, to account for the assembly yesterday around the Wyoming Supreme Court. This means that classes that did not meet yesterday were in the library today to complete the Design a Class Project.

The other two classes had their days divided between S.S.R. (see explanation for S.S.R. credit above), and a short video that highlighted similar topics to what we have discussed revolving designing classes.

Late Work for Sophomores -

• Several students are still missing two major assignments from the past two weeks.
• "Dissecting an Ad" Project - last day to turn in will be Monday, 5/2.
• "Design a Class Project" - last day to turn in will be next Friday, 5/7.

Be aware that each additional day late subtracts 10% from the total score.

April 28th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We reviewed Act 1 of "Romeo and Juliet" in two different ways today, to make sure that students are all comprehending the storyline well enough, and that they are able to decipher the old-English writing of Shakespeare.

First, we continued with their modern-English translation of sections of Scene 5 in small groups, to allow me to guage how well they are able to identify what specific passages mean (some of the phrasing is counter-intuitive).

Second, we watched Act 1 of the 1968 film version of the play. There are some minor modifications to the dialogue, but for the most part, this version is done exactly by the book. It is useful as it provides a very visual reinforcement to what we have read this week, and can help make sure that students are all on the same page in terms of comprehension as we start Act 2.

We will pick up speed with the reading next week, having less reading as-a-class and more in small groups and individually.

Homework - study for STAGE DIRECTIONS quiz.

10th Grade - Sophomores had a divided schedule, because of the Wyoming Supreme Court visit to the high school that occupied about 1/2 of the day.

For the sophomores that did have my class today - we used this period as a work-day to complete the Design a Class Project in the library. Students were shown an example of what I expect for the writing (about 1 - 1 1/2 pages long and based off the outline they worked on yesterday).

1st and 5th period were able to use the entire class period in the library, and the majority of both classes finished before the end of the period.

Homework - for those that did not finish, I will accept this project at the start of your class Friday without counting it as late. Each day past that is -10% (as it always is).

April 27th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen continued through Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet, and we completed Scene 4 and Scene 5 in class today. We did have a specific method/structure to the reading in class, where we read Scene 4 and worked on the comprehension as a class, but students read Scene 5 in small groups.

The small group assignment attached to Scene 5 was a short handout that I provided the students. Students had to read through the scene with their classmates, and then create a brief (3-4 sentence) summary of the scene.

Each group was then assigned a certain number of lines that their group had to translate into modern-day English. We will put together their modern translations tomorrow and see how well the classes could interpret what they have read.

10th Grade - Sophomores continued on with the next project for the Critical Thinking unit, specifically looking at the purpose and methodology of education. We watched an excerpt from a TED Talk video about multiple means of assessing intelligence, and discussed how there is not really a "one-size-fits-all" education system.

The project for this week - Design a Class. Students were given a template to fill out, creating an additional class to add to a high school curriculum.

Requirements -

• Create a Course Name and Description
• List the skills (Academic? Social? Physical?) that will be developed
• List the factual knowledge needed (for example, a class on American History NEEDS certain facts - cause of the Civil War, etc)
• Connections Beyond School - How does this class help students once they graduate?

We will have some time in the library tomorrow to type up a final draft of this project.

Homework - Complete Template (If not completed in class)

April 26th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen continued reading in "Romeo and Juliet," and we dedicated this entire class period to getting further in the text by reading it out loud, as a class. This is in large part because Act 1 is very important in terms of setting up the story that follows, and I want to make sure that students are exactly on the same page (literally and figuratively) in terms of comprehending the storyline.

As we get further into the story, I will start having students work more in small groups and individually, and then returning to a full class to discuss and assess.

As a class, we read through the end of Act 1 Scene 3, moving through these opening scenes slowly to allow students to get used to the old English writing style. We will move on to Scene 4 and 5 tomorrow, but had a preliminary discussion about the role and purpose of dreaming, since Act  1 Scene 4 discusses dreams.

10th Grade - We continued reading the Freire article about different methods of education, and I provided students with a simplified explanation of "Banking" vs. "Problem-Posing" education. We discussed some of the pros and cons of each system (for example, banking education can be viewed as having a lack of pragmatic application for students, but problem posing education can be incredibly difficult to standardize across a wide area, and can make it difficult to provide equal levels of education, even within one building).

Students were asked to reflect on this article for their 2nd PORTFOLIO ENTRY.

Questions I provided -

- Do you agree or disagree with the author? What do you think about "banking" vs "problem-posing" education?

- Should all schools teach the same general material?

- Who should decide what all students should know?

- Is it possible to match student's individual goals within the regular school system?

- Students have more access to information and technology now than ever before.
Is this a positive change, or are there negative implications?
(students could answer one, two, all, none, but have to write approx. 1 full page as a response).

HOMEWORK - 5th Period - Finish Freire Essay.

April 22nd Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen started reading "Romeo and Juliet" in class today. The main goal was to make sure that students are able to comprehend the older style of English writing and understand the plot in terms of a story.

We discussed a couple aspects of this process, and I gave students some ideas for how to make the writing more accessible.

1) Remember - this is a play. It wasn't originally intended to be read by one person sitting down, but was intended to be performed by multiple actors who have rehearsed. We are reading it slowly, but the entire piece is designed to be finished in a 2 hour time span (which students will see when we watch the film).

2) The version we are reading is broken down in a very specific way - every other page is simply notes for old terminology and explaining some of the puns/lines that students will likely not understand, because the language is so old. Do not rely on reading this part first! It will be much easier overall to try and read the page of the play itself, and then refer back to the notes if something is particularly confusing. However, if you can understand the majority of the writing without referencing the notes every couple of lines, the reading will go much more smoothly, faster, and make more sense overall.

10th Grade - Sophomores are done with studying the idea of fallacy, and now we are looking at some questions about theories of education. Basically, the point of the section of this unit is that students take time to reflect on their own educational histories, and think critically about what is important to know, and how do you know it is important?

Periods 1 and 4 - we started reading an article by Paolo Freire, a Brazilian educator who has had a large influence on theories of learning. The main point from Freire's article which we discussed is the role of the student-teacher relationship and how it impacts learning. Freire's discussed two styles of education -

1) The Banking System - students are seen as empty vessels who need to be "filled" with information. He argues that traditionally, much of education has followed this model, though there are many faults in it.

We stopped reading before reaching the second system, so I will outline it when we reach that point.

Period 5  - These students had the same set-up as the previous classes, but we did not begin the article. This is because I had promised all classes that they would have time for S.S.R. (Silent Sustained Reading) in class, and I had given it to all periods but 5th this week. They will catch up with the article on Tuesday.

Have a good weekend.

April 21st Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen took our last section of notes before we start reading "Romeo and Juliet" tomorrow. This lesson was specifically based around stage directions, and making sure students understand that the way characters are positioned on a stage has an important effect on the performance.

We talked about how it is easy to disregard directions when reading a play, but that the reader needs to remember that the story was not designed to be read - it is designed to be performed. This means that when reading, students should think of this in terms of a performance.

The class played a game in which everyone was given a "map" of a stage, and then had to create a six-step process of directions. One student would then have to try and follow the directions without looking at the map.

Quiz on stage directions sometime next week, following the same format!

10th Grade - Sophomores presented the Dissecting an Ad projects that we have worked on this week. Everyone who has been here for the past two days presented, and overall this went very well.

Students who missed days this week, or were unable to present today - to get credit, you can still create a Powerpoint presentation and send it to me via e-mail to get credit for that component of the project. However, we are moving on to the next topic in our unit tomorrow, and there will be no more time for presentations for this project.

Sophomores also finished with about 10-15 minutes of S.S.R. in most periods.

April 20th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We only have a few more days of prepwork before starting to read "Romeo and Juliet" on Friday, and today was focused on getting some background knowledge of the author, as well as an introduction to Shakespearean English.

In terms of background, I gave a very brief biography of Shakespeare, and students who missed class can come pick up the notes from me.

In terms of Shakespearean English, we worked with three main ideas today - omission, contraction, and sentence structure. In everyday speech, students use a significant amount of omissions and contractions - for example, the sentence - "I'ma go to the store" literally implies "I am going to go to the store." Four words are omitted, but because we are so used to it, it is easy to infer the meaning.

The exact same thing occurs with Shakespeare's writing, however, because it is in an older style of English, it can be confusing. Student have a list of common omissions/contractions to reference when reading.

The other important focus was sentence structure. Oftentimes, Shakespeare will change the subject-verb-object order to create a better rhythm in his writing.

For example, in the sentence "I went to the store" -

I - subject
The store - object
went - verb

So the sentence can be re-ordered as -

"To the store went I"
"Went I to the store"
"The store, went I to"

They all have the same meaning, but the ordering of the parts is modified.

10th Grade - Today was the last day in the library to work on the Dissecting an Ad project. Students were shown a model of what is expected in their presentation tomorrow -

1) What is the product/service and where is it being sold?
2) Who is the target audience, and how can you tell?
3) What strategies are the marketers using to make their product appealing?
4) What are the fallacies found within the advertisement?

Everything was due at the end of the class period for full, on-time credit - that means students had to turn in the ads they used, the written component, and a copy of their presentation (generally PowerPoint).

Because we are only going to use tomorrow to present, students must have their presentations by tomorrow morning. Turning this in later than tomorrow will still get credit, but the presentation component will be deducted.

April 19th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We continued our pre-reading discussion on some of the major motifs and elements that will be brought up in Romeo and Juliet. The first part of class was a discussion over the various ways of defining "love" as a concept; specifically, comparing the ideas of love, true love, lust, infatuation, crush, puppy love, etc. Students realized that the definitions are at times murky, and can shift from one to another as well.

The class also looked at some of the other topics for discussion - what kind of responsibility teenagers should have, and whether love at first sight is possible, were a few of the examples of the questions that we talked about.

10th Grade - Today was Day 2 in the library for the Dissecting an Ad project. At this point, students should all have their two ads chosen, and I provided a model of what I am expecting for the written component. Basically, each ad used needs a two paragraph explanation, typed in M.L.A. format.

The first paragraph should describe what is being advertised and where, and who the target audience is.

The second paragraph should describe the tactics used to present the product/service, and what logical fallacies are involved.

Students had the whole class period for this assignment, and will have through tomorrow to have the project fully completed. I will provide a model of what I expect to be on the presentation tomorrow in class.

Dissecting an Ad Project - Resource

The Internet Encyclopaedia of Fallacy - http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/

April 15th Daily Plan

9th Grade - ***The two periods of freshmen are still at slightly different spots, but should be on the same spot by the end of monday***

The main goal of class today was to finish the story we started yesterday, as well as complete a journal entry over several topics. The first journal entry question - would you rather be able to change one thing in the past, or look into the future once?

In 3rd period, the rest of the time was dedicated to allowing students to complete reading on their own, and then answer some reflection questions in their journals about the story.

Reflection Questions - What ONE moment in the story would you change if you were the narrator? What COULD you change?

What were the most pivotal moments in the story (what was necessary for the plot to develop)? What was planned, and was complicated those plans?

In 7th period, everyone finished the story and we had time to discuss/clarify confusing points and address these questions.

10th Grade - Sophomores continued our study on intended meaning vs. created meaning when reading. As an example, we listened to the song "Killing an Arab," by the Cure, which has very easily be misconstrued (the song is actually based on the Albert Camus novel The Stranger and has no intended racial overtone). However, it is very easy to read a racist viewpoint into the chorus, and the question becomes - is an author obligated to do everything possible to make sure the intended meaning is clear?

We continued to read the Stanley Fish essay "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One" and discussed the ideas of individual thought. Students then were given some time to do a reflective writing piece on the essay, as well as using any of the materials of the past several days.

Homework - Finish reflection on Stanley Fish essay; this is the FIRST piece for the PORTFOLIO.

April 14th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen put some finishing touches on their graphic life map assignments, and attached them to posterboard provided in class.

The rest of class was dedicated to reading a Stanislaw Lem short story. The rationale behind this is that we are looking at the ideas of choice, consequence, and identifying the difference between planned actions and complications in a plotline. The Futurama episode used was a very simplistic example - it is designed as a 1/2 hour TV show, and therefore the plot must be appropriately simplified. This short story is definitely more complex, and the differences between what is planned and what complicated the plan are more subtle.

This is a good intermediate step before beginning "Romeo and Juliet," which is the main text we will be working with. The goal is to have students able to clearly discern between intended and unintended events in a story. We will continue working with this short story tomorrow.

Homework - Have an S.S.R. book!

10th Grade - Sophomores were introduced to the major assessment for this unit - The Portfolio Assignment. Over the next month we will read a series of texts related to critical thinking skills, and requiring that students think about their own learning processes. I expect that students will write a one-page response paper to each of these texts that we read in class, outlining specific questions we will discuss for each one.

The first text, which we started today, is by Stanley Fish, entitled "How to Recognize a Poem When you See One." To prepare for this, students had to interpret a poem written on the board in small groups. After analyzing this poem, I explained to the class that it was something I had written by taking lines from random books on my desk, and there was no "intended" meaning to it. The question then becomes - are the interpretations created by the class still valid, or does the writing lose meaning because I did not intend a deeper meaning?

Fish's essay is based around this concept - whether we construct our own meaning into every situation, or if some things are self-imbued with purpose. We began the Fish essay, and will continue/respond to it tomorrow.

Homework - Have an S.S.R. book!

April 13th Daily Plan

9th Grade - The majority of the time was spent in the library, using the Graphic Life Map program provided to create a visual representation of the pivotal points students listed the day before. This took longer than intended because many students had difficultly printing, but everyone was able to complete the assignment.

3rd period had about 10 minutes left in our Futurama example of planned actions and complications in a plot line, so we finished this in class. 7th period had finished yesterday, so they had 10 minutes to read at the end of the day.

10th Grade - We continued our study of advertisement tactics and strategies, with students finishing their marketing projects and presenting them to the class. Students were asked to identify the strategies they used, where they had learned them, and how they felt their strategy was the one most likely to sell a product.

We also looked at the idea of product placement in media, and how technology changes the nature of advertisement (ex. personalized ads on the internet, Facebook using images of friends to promote a given product).

Finally, students were introduced to the concept of fallacy. In the examples we used (ads targeting teenagers), it is usually pretty easy to find the false logic. However, fallacies occur quite often in many other venues, and students took notes on the top 10 most common fallacies. For those that missed class, see me to get a copy of the notes.

Freshmen link - Graphic Life Map

9th Grade - This is the link to the actual Graphic Life Map program.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/graphicmap/

April 12th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen had two sections to today's lesson.  The first part was self-reflective, in that students were asked to list down what they considered "pivotal" moments in their own life. I provided some of my own as an example, and students were given a planning sheet to list off what moments in their own lives they considered important.

The purpose of this part of the lesson is for students to see how the same concepts we are focusing on academically are connected to their own lives; much in how we will look at the ideas of choice and consequence in "Romeo and Juliet," students should try to see how their choices in life have actual effects.

The second part of the lesson was focused on determining planned actions vs. complications when looking at a plot line. If there are no complications, the plot cannot advance because there is no conflict. We watched an episode of Futurama as a simple example, and students needed to be able to identify the planned actions in the plot, and the complications which provided conflict.

10th Grade - We spent today focused on advertisement and persuasive tactics used in marketing. As a class, we discussed the idea that marketing is often based on very specific demographics - the ads designed for teenagers are not the same as the ads designed for their parents. We dissected several ads in class - specifically, ads aimed at children (ex. Lucky Charms cereal), ads aimed at adolescents (Red Bull), and ads aimed at a larger audience (Apple Inc.).

As practice, students were given an activity in which they had to market a hard-to-sell product in a teenage demographic (for example, selling Lawnmowers to teenagers through Facebook ads). Most students came close to completion and we will finish this activity tomorrow.

9th and 10th Homework - S.S.R. sign-up by Friday!

April 11th Daily Plan

Hitting the ground running.

9th Grade - Freshmen will be starting a unit focused on the text "Romeo and Juliet" for the next several weeks. The themes in this story are quite universal, and I feel that in terms of cultural literacy, this is an important story to know.

While there are many directions of analysis we can review with "Romeo and Juliet," we will study this story as an exercise in the understanding of choice and consequence. I spoke with students today about how one of the main goals of my class is to demonstrate how the reading and writing done in class connect to life outside of school, and the ability to consciously map out the potential effects from a given cause is incredibly useful.

As an introductory activity, students played a short scenario game. Each group was given a scenario that required a difficult decision to be made, and had to 1) decide on the correct course of action and 2) explain to the class why their course of action was the best choice.

Homework - New S.S.R. Book by Friday

10th Grade - Sophomores were introduced to our new unit on Critical Thinking Skills. Basically, I explained to students that the focus of this unit is more on process than content. I also explained to students that a major aim with this unit is transparency - I want everyone to very clearly know WHY we are doing what we are doing, and how this knowledge extends beyond just my class.

As a generation, these students have more access to information than anyone else has in history. All of this knowledge is not retainable by any one person, and students will have to develop skills in understand WHAT is useful to know and HOW to learn it.

We started today by taking a brief survey about independent thought and influence, and will be looking at media and advertisement over the next week.

Homework - Have a new S.S.R. book chosen by Friday.

April 10th - Update Before Returning from Spring Break

Hi -

Hope everyone had fun over the last two weeks, and got to enjoy some sun whether they were in Jackson or elsewhere.

All assignments turned in before Spring Break have been graded and entered into Powerschool; the major ones to note are the last B.O.E. exam and the S.S.R. project (both 9th and 10th grade).

We will be starting new units in both the 9th and 10th grade classes tomorrow.

For sophomores, we will be studying Critical Thinking - in particular, students will work on learning HOW they know what they know, and what knowledge is important in life. The goal of this unit is to give students a framework for self-reflective thought processes, which will benefit them in any classroom.

For freshmen, we will be starting Romeo and Juliet, with an emphasis on reading this play as an examination into the idea of cause and effect. The question for students to think about is how a given choice now can affect one's options in the future, and how to best predict how a particular decision will play out.

Have a good last day of break, and see you all tomorrow!

March 21st Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen started a B.O.E. exam today based on reading. This B.O.E. specifically is designed to test students abilities to make predictions from given texts (fiction and non-fiction), discuss the author's intent, and create inferences about characters and vocabulary in a given piece of reading.

Freshmen had the full day today to work on this B.O.E., and will have the full day tomorrow as well.

HOMEWORK - S.S.R. Project due by Friday, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING accepted after Friday.

10th Grade - Sophomores also started a B.O.E. exam today, based on persuasive writing. Students are allowed to use any notes they have as guidelines for writing structure, but this is a fully in-class essay assignment. We used today to create an outline/begin drafting, and have tomorrow and wednesday to develop a first and final drafts.

HOMEWORK - S.S.R. Project due by Friday, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING accepted after Friday.

9th and 10th Grade!

If you have not turned in your Antigone essay (9th) or To Kill a Mockingbird project (10th), it is now 3 days late (minus 30% total grade). These are major assignments and not turning them in will SEVERELY impact your grade.

March 18th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen had today as their last day in the library to finish up the "final" draft of the Antigone essay. Students has a peer-review day yesterday, where they gave their last typed draft to a classmate to thoroughly review. Part of the grade on this assignment is how well each student was able to give feedback, because it provides another set of eyes to correct any mistakes and add in missing information before I actually grade it.

(note 3/21 - generally the students did really well on this assignment, especially those that took their editor's advice. Students who did not - unfortunately, very easy content corrections that were pointed out were not corrected, which definitely negatively affects the overall score)

HOMEWORK - S.S.R. Projects due by 3/25!

10th Grade - Sophomores had today to take notes on basic persuasive writing structure and strategy to prepare for their last B.O.E. of the year. All TKAM projects should be turned in; turning one in at this point (3 days late) means that the max score is 70%. However, this is still significantly higher than a score of 0 if it is not turned in, so make sure this assignment gets to me ASAP.

If you missed Friday, see me for a copy of the notes about persuasive writing.

Homework - S.S.R. Projects due by 3/25!

March 17th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen should have all turned in their final drafts of the Antigone essay yesterday. Because the goal is to have everyone produce the best writing possible, the best course of action was to take a day to have a thorough peer-edit looking for any content and argument errors, and then reviewing again for spelling/grammar/presentation. Students will have Friday in the library to take these corrections and develop a much stronger final draft. Ideally, everyone finishes this week with a piece of writing that they feel good about, and that can serve as a personal model for later essays.

Students who did not have their essay finished on time were given the day in the library to complete the essay; however, this means they did not have the same chance to peer-edit in class.

Homework - S.S.R. Projects due by 3/25!

10th Grade - As we have just finished up a rather involved unit with a significant final project, today was designed to be a lighter load in the classroom. Students were given part of the day to look at each other's projects and the different ways people connected media to TKAM. I also showed an episode of "King of the Hill" that borrows heavily from one of the scenes in the novel. Tomorrow we start notes on persuasive writing for a B.O.E. that students will start on Monday.

HOMEWORK - S.S.R. Projects Due by 3/25!

March 15th and 16th Daily Plan

March 15th and 16th had inverse schedules for 9th and 10th grade (so 9th grade DID NOT have a full class on the 15th, in order to register for Fall classes. 10th grade DID NOT have a full class on the 16th for the same reason).

9th Grade - Students had any extra time after registering on Tuesday to begin typing up their final drafts for the Antigone essay, but there was definitely not enough time to complete the full essay. They were given the 16th as an additional day to type "final" drafts in class without the assignment being considered late.

10th Grade - Students has the 15th to work on their projects in class, and the final result was due promptly at the beginning of class on the 16th. Registration took up the overwhelming majority of classtime for all sophomore periods, so there was no new content discussed in class.

March 14th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Today was the last day to develop a full draft of the Antigone essay in class. I provided students with a couple of example paragraphs to review before writing their own. Basically, the two example paragraphs I used to model with the class broke the writing down sentence by sentence (i.e. Topic Sentence, Concrete Detail 1, Commentary 1).

The first sample provided was very a very basic model, and is what students need to be matching at the absolute minimum.

The second example used all the same information as the first, but incorporated the quotes and evidence into the commentary, creating a much better flow. The goal would be for most students to develop most paragraphs along these lines.

For those that missed class, extra copies are available in my room.

HOMEWORK - Full rough draft ready to be typed tomorrow.

10th Grade - Today was the last day to develop any needed writing/project work for the TKAM creative writing assessment. Students could either be working on the physical part of their projects, or writing the connecting pieces. Similar to the freshmen, I provided a model connection example, using the song we listened to in class last week.

Students had the full class period to work on these projects, and they are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, 3/16. This deadline has been set for some time, so there is NO extension past this date. If you are absent, IT IS STILL DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS.

Freshmen - you are registering for next year's classes tomorrow.
Sophomores - you are registering for next year's classes Wednesday.

March 10th AND 11th Daily Plans

9th Grade - Both these days were reserved for working on the Antigone essay. On Thursday, we reviewed the components to a well-written and complete essay. Basically, students were asked to come up with all the necessary pieces to create a piece of writing that could stand alone (the expectation is that a student could give his/her essay to another adult, and that adult could make perfect sense of what the argument being proven is without having read Antigone).

The assignment sheet is attached on this blog under "Assignments and Projects." However, the basic format is a five paragraph essay, which would look like -

1) Intro - Hook, background information, thesis
2) Body paragraphs - Topic sentence, Concrete Details/Direct Evidence from the text, Commentary/Analysis and Warrant (why does your evidence connect?), transition
3) Conclusion - Wraps up the argument, provides a "so what" for the reader, potentially expands the topic beyond Antigone.

We worked on a MODEL body paragraph outline in class on Thursday, and spent all of Friday developing a full outline and starting the rough draft.

HOMEWORK - FULL OUTLINE DUE MONDAY, FULL DRAFT TO BE WRITTEN BEFORE TUESDAY.

FINAL ESSAY DUE WEDNESDAY, REGARDLESS OF ATTENDANCE.

S.S.R. PROJECTS DUE BEFORE 3/25!

10th Grade - Both these days were reserved for working on the TKAM Creative Writing Projects. On Thursday, students had time to both work in class and in the library to gather resources that could be connected to the novel, and to begin working on the written components.

On Friday, I started class by providing a MODEL analysis for connecting a song to TKAM. Using the song "Modern Man's Hustle," by Atmosphere, I demonstrated to students that there were about 16 different ways in which the song could complement the novel. Obviously using all 16 connections would go beyond the scope of what is requested (2 paragraph minimum, using every connecting piece would turn out to be 3-5 pages overall), but this was meant to show students HOW MUCH is possible.

The rest of the class was dedicated to getting actually writing done; by the end of class on Monday EVERY student needs to have a rough draft of the ENTIRE WRITTEN COMPONENT completed.

PROJECT IS DUE WEDNESDAY, REGARDLESS OF ATTENDANCE.

HOMEWORK - Project ready to hit Monday's checkpoint - all media collected and ready to go, full draft of written component.

S.S.R. PROJECTS DUE BEFORE 3/25!

March 9th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We finished reading Antigone in class today, and we discussed the merits of this story as an actual tragedy for a brief period. The majority of class today was focused on setting up the final essay assignment for Antigone. I explained to the class that

1) This is the first "real" literary response essay they have had to do for me, and
2) This is the largest graded assignment I've given thus far - it is a very significant component of their grade for the quarter.

The assignment sheet is uploaded onto this site as well.

After reviewing the assignment, the class worked together to analyze both Antigone and Creon, so that everyone has a good amount of information to begin with.

10th Grade - Sophomores had a vocabulary quiz to start off with, going over the last set of nine words (dilligent, infalliable, decree, devoid, begrudge, commence, tact, pejorative, altercation).

We then divided the rest of class into two portions -

1) Developing a full list of themes, motifs, ideas, charactes, and events from TKAM to everyone has a large list of resources to start their projects.

2) Writing the proposals for the creative writing project. We discussed the purpose of a project proposal, and the application of this step outside of school. The proposals written in class need to have a clear goal, and a written process for achieving that goal.

Homework - Prepping for in-class project work - this means getting images/songs/background information needed so we are able to work efficiently in class.

March 8th Daily Plan

9th Grade - We continued reading in Antigone, with the whole class working together to read and decipher Scene 4 and Ode 4. With this day's reading, the focus was on making sure that everyone is able to interpret the text on their own, and developing strategies to understand the reading without someone helping.

The biggest concern for students has been vocabulary - i.e. how to read when you don't know all of the words. We practiced figuring out meaning and approximate meaning from context - look at what is around the word you don't know, and work to make it fit into the sentence in a way that makes sense. Even if your definition isn't exactly on, if you can make the sentence at least make sense, the whole section of reading becomes easier.

Students then had to read through Scene 5 and complete the study guide on their own.

HOMEWORK - Complete reading Scene 5 and finish the study guide.

10th Grade - Students finished watching the To Kill a Mockingbird film, and then we discussed the final project for this unit. The outline for the assignment is available on this site.

HOMEWORK - Think of ideas for what you would want to do with this project.

March 7th Daily Plan

Apologies for getting this on a day late.

All classes had shortened periods yesterday, to allow time for a school wide survey.

9th Grade - We discussed the idea of the death penalty and capital punishment in current society, since this is a major topic in Antigone. Students were asked to write for five minutes first about what crimes they believed were fitting of a death sentence, and had to explain their logic.

Between the two classes, some of the ideas - terrorism, murder, rape, child molestation.

The general rationale for these -

1) Murder - killing a murderer is an "eye for an eye," and therefore fair.
2) Child molestation/rape - this is taking away the innocence and scarring someone for life
3) Terrorism - it is acting against the country

Of these, we can most closely link terrorism to Antigone. Students were asked to compare her actions, which go against the state/government, to the idea of terrorism in today's society. The question students need to focus on is whether or not they consider her actions punishable or not.

HOMEWORK - Finish Scene 3 Ode 3 study guide if not completed.

10th Grade - Sophomores had another three vocabulary words - commence, altercation, decree.

There will be a vocab quiz over the last nine words Wednesday, 3/9.

We spent the majority of this class period working through the TKAM film, and will have in finished on Tuesday, 3/8. At that time, I will also present students with the final assignment for the To Kill a Mockingbird unit.

Homework - Review the end of the book, COMPLETE JOURNAL ENTRIES IF LATE.

March 3rd Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen continued in their reading of Antigone by working through Scene 3 and Ode 3 in small groups. Each member of each group was responsible for knowing the details of the scene, and we had a small competition based on which group could answer my questions about the scene fastest/most accurately.

Students were also expected to be filling out the outline for Scene 3 and Ode 3, since it will be very helpful with the Antigone essay that we will start next week.

Finally, I gave students the guidelines for the S.S.R. Book Assignment. As students have been expected to be reading a book for personal enjoyment over the semester, I expect them to know their books pretty well. To both demonstrate this knowledge and to share it with the class, students must create a pamphlet that advertises their S.S.R. book to the rest of the class. Students were provided specific guidelines for what is expected with this assignment.

S.S.R. Book Pamphlets are to be turned in ANYTIME BEFORE SPRING BREAK. The absolute last day to turn a pamplet in is the Friday before Spring Break, so students need to plan ahead and work accordingly.

10th Grade - Sophomores continued watching the film version of TKAM in class, looking at differences between the film and the novel. Students were asked to pay particular attention to certain scenes that highlight the main themes of the novel.

Students also had 10 minutes to complete another journal entry; the prompt options I provided were -

1) What do you think the strongest themes are in TKAM? What leads you to these beliefs?

2) What changes do you see between the novel and the film? Why do you think the filmmaker would make these changes?

Finally, I gave students the guidelines for the S.S.R. Book Assignment. As students have been expected to be reading a book for personal enjoyment over the semester, I expect them to know their books pretty well. To both demonstrate this knowledge and to share it with the class, students must create a pamphlet that advertises their S.S.R. book to the rest of the class. Students were provided specific guidelines for what is expected with this assignment.

S.S.R. Book Pamphlets are to be turned in ANYTIME BEFORE SPRING BREAK. The absolute last day to turn a pamplet in is the Friday before Spring Break, so students need to plan ahead and work accordingly.

HOMEWORK - Finish TKAM, create and respond to your own journal prompt (should complete a set of 5 for Part 2)

10th Grade Credit Recovery - For students that did not turn in the initial set of journal entries, I will allow any additional entries that are combined with the set due Monday.

March 2nd Daily Plan

9th and 10th Grade - All periods had a sub today as I was in meetings. 

9th Grade - Freshmen should have gotten through another Scene and Ode in Antigone (scene 2/ode 2) and completed the Reading Log for that page.

Just to be sure that students completed the needed work in class, there will be a quiz tomorrow over Scene 2 and Ode 2.

10th Grade - Sophomores started the film version of TKAM  and completed another journal entry.

HOMEWORK - Read CH 27-29.

March 1st Daily Plan

9th Grade - The majority of this class period was focused on reading and analyzing Antigone. Both classes read Scene 1 and Ode 1, and were given an Antigone Reading Log to help organize the events and characters in the story.

The final assignment for Antigone will involve a literary response essay, and these reading logs serve as a very useful outline when it comes time to develop an actual draft.

We worked through Scene 1 and Ode 1 relatively slowly, to make sure that everyone is understanding the events of the story clearly. Hint - students should read this play primarily as a STORY first, and not looking at it primarily for analysis. It will be much easier to analyze later if you are able to get into the plot line - remember, this was written to be performed as an audience, with an emphasis on being able to entertain an audience.

10th Grade - We reviewed the events of Chapters 22 and 23 briefly, and it did not appear that all three periods had read as thoroughly. So for the next reading (CH 24,25,26) periods 1 and 5 should expect a summary quiz.

The majority of class today was spent discussing the idea of capital punishment, since this is a major factor in the Trial of Tom Robinson, and an important aspect of TKAM. Students were given different scenarios and factual data about capital punishment, and then shared their viewpoints and discussed the efficacy and purpose of capital punishment as a class.

The last 15 minutes were devoted to another journal entry. Students could either use some of the potential prompts that I developed, or write on any subject related to capital punishment of CH22-23.

HOMEWORK - Read Chapters 24-26 in TKAM.

Feb. 28th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Students worked almost exclusively on being able to do a proper works cited page for their Greek Gods Project. We spent the majority of the class with Lori in the library going through the process step-by-step.

The main reason I feel this has been worth focusing on is because we are aiming at college prep skills, and the ability to correctly cite sources is very common in any college. Many of the students are used to using a program called Noodletools, which organizes citations for the students, but oftenntimes the students have not been entering the correct information, and even using this program, they are not citing properly.

The goal for today was to complete the works cited page in class; as long as students were not RUSHING, they were able to do it correctly (a big hint for those that were rushing . . .). With the works cited for this project, it is either 100% perfect or 0% - no errors allowed.

10th Grade - Sophomores had a variety of material that was covered today. First, we finished the trial scene from the TKAM script, and discussed one speech in that scene in particular. There is a part where Atticus, the main character, discusses that people are willing to convict an innocent man because of an "unspoken social code" regarding race in the 1930s. I asked students to think about what other social codes exist in contemporary society, and why.

I returned the student journal entries from last week - the main criticism with the writing level was simply that most students only wrote on a surface level. As I read through entries, each one had several points that could easily have been followed through in greater depth, and this is the primary fix for the next round of entries. I am also requiring the next several entries to be done in class, and must be shown to me before students leave for the day.

Students also had three new vocab words - infalliable, tact, and pejorative.

Homework - Read CH 22-23.

Feb. 25th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Students started by sharing the tragic scenarios they had written with the class, and then students voted on which scenario best fit the criteria of a tragedy.

Today, the goal of class was to start reading Antigone. Since this is the third part of a trilogy, part of class was dedicated to going over the plotlines of Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, along with a visual family tree to get a better understanding of how these characters are connected.

As a class, we read through the prologue and the opening of Scene 1, and will continue on monday.

10th Grade - First, sophomores took a vocabulary test over the commonly misused words that were studied this past week. We also had the last few student presentations, with most periods ending on The Scottsboro Trial, since the trial scene in TKAM is heavily based on this

Students read through the script of the TKAM film to finish this section of the novel as a play, and we read through the majority of the scene. Students who missed class need to read Chapter 17-21 to catch up.

Feb. 24th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Today we introduced the concept of the tragic hero, and the class took notes on an overview of Greek Theatre and the history of the genre of tragedy.

We discussed the role of theatre in ancient Greece, and how important Dionysus was as a god for the theatre. Plays were written as part of popular competition, and the format that traditional tragedies follow stems from the plays that were successful.

Generally, we looked at three main components of any tragedy -

1) The play evokes feelings of fear and pity.
2) The tragic hero is generally good, and therefore relatable.
3) The tragic hero must perform an action that causes their own downfall.

We also had four vocabulary words surrounding Greek tragedy -

Hamartia - The Tragic Error - the mistake that brings down the hero. Often mistaken as a "fatal flaw" in their personality, but this can really just be a mistake they make.
Hubris - violent transgression - usually mistaken for "too much pride," this really means the Hero has done something that goes against the gods/order of nature.
Nemesis - retribution from the cosmos (the revenge of the gods/nature)-
Peripateia - plot reversal. The moment when the hero realizes that things are falling apart, understanding of his or her own hubris.

Student spend the second half of class working in pairs to create a short tragic story. We will present these at the beginning of class tomorrow.

10th Grade - First, students were reminded that the Reader Response Journals are a significant portion of their grade at this point, and if they are not turned in by the end of the week, it can adversely affect their grade in class by a 8-9%.
Sophomores looked at some background information about the criminal justice system, as well as statistics about prison incarceration rates, wrongful imprisonment, and witness reliability. This is because the next section of TKAM takes place in a courtroom, and much of this information is useful to know as we watch the plot unfold.

Students had a brief review period for the vocab words (commonly misued words), and then had the option to either

a) read CH 16 as a class
b) read CH 16 silently by themselves
c) if they have already read CH 16, work on the next set of journal entries.

Homework - CH 16 if not complete.

Feb 23rd Daily Plan

9th Grade - We finished up working with the idea of the Hero archetype, by developing very specific criteria for what makes someone a hero. Students completed a worksheet with 10 different scenarios, in which they had to rank them in order from "most heroic" to "least heroic." After ranking these, we discussed as a class why certain scenarios would be considered more heroic than others.

General criteria the class agreed upon - to make an act heroic, there must be an element of risk/danger, the hero should NOT be obligated to enter the dangerous situation, and the goal should be to help someone/save a life.

Students also completed a journal entry composed of three parts - 1) why they made their choices for "most" and "least" on the worksheet, 2) Someone they personally consider a hero, and 3) if their personal hero matches the criteria they cose.

10th Grade - We added in the last set of vocabulary words for the quiz tomorrow - affect and effect, accept and except.

Students also were asked to turn in their first five Reader Response Journal Entries, which are a significant portion of the TKAM unit. We had another couple of student presentations, and then worked on an in-class project called a body biography.

For the body biographies, students chose a character from TKAM and sketched them out as a blank body - inside the body various facts and inferences about that character's personality and history were written to give a more complete idea of that character.