Humanities: Of Mice & Men Begins

Yesterday (and today) we started our work with John Steinbeck's Of Mice & Men.

On Wednesday, we started by signing out our books.  Then we took a look at the newly created Three 4 Thinking Google doc that's in the Humanities 2013 OUT folder on Drive.  You now have two options, the downloadable and uploadable PDF and the way, way cooler Google doc that you can make a copy of and then put right in your IN folder.

As Mr. Ryder read out loud, we started the process of thinking about our reading.  We completed two of the four boxes, with two more to complete another day.

Also during the reading, Mr. Ryder asked folks to make note of important words in the description of the setting, as well as key words that describe the two main characters (who we later learned to be named George & Lennie).  After everyone cut and paste those words to a shared Google doc., Mr. Dunbar made a Wordle out of the common words.  Words that stood out included "recumbent" and "Gabilan."

After Mr. Ryder read the whole first section/chapter of Of Mice & Men, he and Mr. Dunbar modeled how to do "How might we" thinking with four essential questions the class voted on for our poverty unit.

That ended Wednesday's class.

On Thursday,  class started with a roots activity.  Everyone grabbed a few Legos and built representations of roots from Roots 4.  Mr. Ryder built a ridiculously cool representation of "bell" (war), but forgot to take a picture of it.  Visiting the PACE link over to the right will take you to a list of blogs where you can see various Lego/Roots designs.

From there, Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Ryder finished their "How Might We" thinking about this unit.  We divided into four groups from there to keep working on it and so students could contribute in put.  Two of the groups made the following happen.

We returned as a class and jumped right into another chunk of Of Mice & Men.

On Friday, we will make some decisions regarding our "how might we" work and finish our Three 4 Thinkings.  We'll also do a little improvisation and a Socratic Seminar as well.

Homework
Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd:  Post three images/symbols that represent your 1st quarter.  Write a paragraph at the end that explains your thinking.

Ignites/Essays: Get Them In & Revised If You Choose  GRADE CLOSE FRIDAY

Humanities: Ryder & Dunbar Are Out & Thinking Continues

Even though Ryder & Dunbar are taking care of sick, gross, phlegm-ridden children, the work! The work it must go on!

Here's what you have to do today:

• Finish the Three 4 Thinking you started yesterday.  It is in your Google Drive.  Think to the article is on yesterday's blog post.  (I could link it again here AND I want you to get practice hunting that info down.)  When you finish it, upload that doc to your Google Drive.  (We have a Google Drive version available in the Humanities OUT folder now as well.  Just make sure you go to "File" and "Make a Copy" in Drive. That's the only way you can get an editable version.)

• Find Roots 4 in the Vocab & Roots resources in the right hand sidebar of the blog.  Find the link to Quizlet and take 10 minutes to familiarize yourself and practice.  Take screen shots of your work on Quizlet -- scores, results, etc.  Post them on your blog. We'll do an improv activity on Thursday to get more familiar with these roots.   

• Make sure your blog is up to date.  Complete the required blog post for this week.

• Any make up/missing work/revisions, get it in.  Grades close Friday.

Wrap your day by completing this form.

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Complete/Revise (If You Choose): Cardboard Challenge IGNITE & Essay

Due: Friday, Nov. 1 (Grades closing!)

AP Lit 2B/3B: Questions & Prufrock

We'll start class with an affinity mapping exercise to prime our brains for a graded class discussion Tuesday. (Yes, this day.)  It will take about twenty minutes.

It will involve sorting our Lot Jot questions and trying to find common qualities amongst the questions we ask.  

Our goal: to determine the qualities that make up effective, meaningful questions.  Thus, we'll start by sorting our questions into categories and threads that make sense to us.  And then we'll describe them. 

And THEN... the discussion.  Look to the right.  There's our discussion rubric.  We'll be following that grading criteria.  Prepare your quotes!

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Read & Annotate: Excerpts from The Flamethrowers and Bleeding Edge
Due: Thursday, Oct 31
Read & Complete: Award Winning/Finalist Book Project
Due: Wednesday, Nov. 6
Prepare for Gallery Walk & Optional Choice to Present

AP Lit 3G: Struggles with a Hotel Room

We tackled Matt Rasmussen's "In Whoever's Hotel Room This Is" today . . .

We left with more questions than answers . . . not so ironic since we started the day with working around questions.

Humanities: Poverty Questions, Power Voting & Of Mice & Men

Today in Humanities we'll continue the work we started on Friday.

We need to complete our sorting and then identify 4 questions in each group that the group believes to be valuable, meaningful and interesting questions worth answering/solving.  

We'll compile those 16 questions (4 groups X 4 questions) and run a PowerVote through Google Drive.  The 4 questions that receive the most votes become the focus of our unit.  After we vote, we'll run a "How Might We?" session to brainstorm ways we can go about answering those questions.

Meanwhile . . . as Mr. Ryder pulls together those 16 questions, Mr. Dunbar has an article from CNN.com and a Three 4 Thinking graphic organizer to help you understand the article.  Remember: graphic organizers aren't there to be annoying "worksheets" -- they are there to help you sort, organize, and think about the information you are getting from a reading/viewing/listening.  They also help the teacher folk in the room to determine whether or not you "get it."  

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Complete/Revise (If You Choose): Cardboard Challenge IGNITE & Essay

Due: Friday, Nov. 1 (Grades closing!)

AP Lit 3G: Analyzing Poetry & Affinity Mapping

We'll start class with an affinity mapping exercise to prime our brains for a graded class discussion on Wednesday.

It will involve sorting our Lot Jot questions and trying to find common qualities amongst the questions we ask.  Our goal: to determine the qualities that make up effective, meaningful questions.  Thus, we'll start by sorting our questions into categories and threads that make sense to us.  And then we'll describe them.

This should put us into a good place for asking powerful, important questions about "J. Alfred" on Wednesday.

As should . . . .

Analyzing one or two more of our poems.  We did a great job with Weise's "Goodbyes" last week.

 How do we want attack Smith's "Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah" or Rasmussen's"Skyscrapers?"

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Prepare to Discuss:
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Examine the Discussion Rubric
Due: Wednesday, Oct 30

Read & Complete: Award Winning/Finalist Book Project
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 5
Prepare for Gallery Walk & Optional Choice to Present

PACE: PACE 2013 2.0 Begins

Today we start by getting into our Ohana Teams; Ohana Teams are the support teams I've been asked to craft based on my understanding of strengths and weaknesses, personalities and talents.

Then we'll look at how to create our new Weekly Work Plans using the Google Spreadsheet.

From there, you'll have time to write the first paragraph of your Product, Process, Outcome written reflection for the I Am Hero Project.  You'll have 15 minutes in each class to work on this, one paragraph each.  You are welcome to work on it at home.  I think that you'll be able to create some quality first draft writing here in class.

What's next?  We'll get out of our Ohana Teams and start the process of unpacking our 10th grade reading, writing and researching standards as we gear up for our "Music Is Poetry Is Music" unit starting Friday/Tuesday.

What does unpacking look like?  We'll take the standards like this:

And turn them into language you can understand.  

We'll also do some "How Might We?" work with these to generate ideas for formative and summative assessments.  Formawha?  Exactly.  We need to learn this stuff so you can craft your own this winter and spring.

Homework

Blog:

3+ Posts

Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation

Complete/Revise: 

I Am Hero Projects & Revisions

I Am Hero Graphic Organizers & Revisions

I Am Hero Product, Process, Outcome

PACE: Behind the Curtain

My plans for this week.

PACE: Creating Solutions to the Work Problem

Thursday was the awesome.

While I can't remember the order in which we did all of the following, we did this.  All of it.

We took out the Contingency Diagram "People Not Getting Their Work Done" data from the other day.

Per Em's great suggestion, we plotted possible solutions on a 2X2 plot.

X axis = Now/Later

Y axis = Easy/Challenging

This work led to us establishing some "NOW" solutions.

PACE students can now establish their own due dates using the PACE 2013 Due Dates spreadsheet located in the PACE 2013 OUT folder.  I'll choose a Teacher PACE due date.  If that one works for you, leave the due date blank.  If it doesn't, write the due date to which you will be holding yourself accountable.

It looks like this.  If you turn it in on time: GREEN!  If you miss your due date.  Yellowwww.  Sad.

You will be held accountable to our timeliness rubric.

We also came up with Ohana Support Teams.  We made a bunch of decisions by consensus around this.  Those teams will be established on Monday.

We took an interest survey, the results of which we will look at on Monday as well so we can see how that information might inform our work.

Overall, our best class to date -- by Mr. Ryder's estimation.

Homework

Blog: 
3+ Posts
Req Post: Discuss today's work, the problems you see us needing to address, and your thoughts on possible solutions.
Due: Friday, October 25

Complete:  I Am Hero Work (Project & Organizers)
Place in Google Drive IN folder
Due: ASAP

Humanities: LoNGview & No Red Ink & Getting Our House In Order

Today we'll start with a LoNGview by going to our class Symbaloo.  Find an article of interest from any of the resources available.

Then we'll have our first No Red Ink experience.  The class code you need is in your email. It will astound.

From there, we'll talk about where we are headed next with our work and the importance of getting your work in if you have not already.  Grades close next Friday, Nov. 1st.

Make sure you look at the required blog post for the week and prepare for the vocab quiz tomorrow.

Homework

Submit: Cardboard Challenge: IGNITE Research Presentation (12 slides, 2 minutes)
Place in your Humanities IN Folder on Google Drive
Due: Last Week

Write: Cardboard Challenge: 5 Paragraph Essay Reflection on Product, Process, Outcome
Place in your Humanities IN folder 
Due: Last Week

Blog:
3+ Posts
Required Post: What would class be like if it was more student-centered?  What would it be like if it was more teacher-centered?
Due: Friday, 10/25

Learn: Roots 3
Word Map & Quiz (Roots 1 - 3)
Due: Thursday, 10/24

AP Lit 3B: Poetic Analysis Polling Results & KWL

AP Lit 3B 2013 Poetic Analysis KWL results are here.

AP Lit 2B: Results of GoSoapBox Poetic Analysis Polling & KWL

Link to the AP Lit 2013 2B KWL on Poetic Terms is HERE.

AP Lit 2B/3B: Better Living Through Poetry Analysis

Today we'll look at the poems you read and chose to annotate for today.

"In Whoever's Hotel Room This Is" by Matt Rasmussen

"Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah" by Patricia Smith

"Goodbyes" by Jillian Weise

We'll discuss the poetic devices on display -- start by doing a little KWL action.  We'll make a shared Google doc.  It will be glorious.

• What do we KNOW about poetic devices? (List 'em & identify purpose of 'em)
• What do we WANT to know about poetic devices? (Questions about 'em )
• What do we need to LEARN about them?  (What don't we know about 'em?)

We'll keep a back channel open today on GoSoapBox.  (Check email for the passcode.  You don't have to register.) That's a thing (back channel) we should pretty much have going all the time.

From there, the class will determine the flow.  Which poems to explore first, what we notice about our process, etc.   Next class we will look even more closely at our processes & do some work with fiction.

Homework

** All work goes in your AP Lit 2013 In Folder **

Read: Your self-selected award winning/finalist title from the Booker, National Book Award & Pulitzer in categories of drama, fiction, or poetry from the last 20 years.

Due: Tuesday, Nov 5 & Wed, Nov 6

Blog:

3+ Posts

Creative Blog Prompt: Remix "J. Alfred."  Added Challenge? Music. Video.  Yeah.

Due: Friday, 10/25

Revise:

College Essays & Synthesis Essays

Due: Friday, Oct 25 at the latest

Read & Create: Award Winning/Finalist (Formerly called "Indie") Book Project

Due: Tuesday, Nov 5 or Wednesday, Nov 6

PACE: Solving the Work Problem

On Tuesday we tried to take some action toward solving the "getting the work done" problem and we made some major headway.

We started by thinking about what PACE was like for the first three weeks and then what it has been like for the past three weeks.  We did this in three separate groups.

From there each group worked with a problem solving "contingency strategy" graphic organizer.

Each group identified a key problem in PACE based on the descriptions, then identified what conditions would make that problem worse, and then suggested ways to prevent those conditions from happening.  Even though each group was working independently, the results turned out to be very similar.

Next class we'll use a plot chart to figure out what strategies we should implement first.

Homework

Blog: 
3+ Posts
Req Post: Discuss today's work, the problems you see us needing to address, and your thoughts on possible solutions.
Due: Friday, October 25

Complete:  I Am Hero Work (Project & Organizers)
Place in Google Drive IN folder
Due: ASAP

Humanities: Looking at Student Centered vs. Teacher Centered Work

We took time on Monday to examine the ways in which the work we are currently doing is teacher-centered and the ways in which is it student-centered.

We used DEEP design thinking to help us come up with a way to do this using note cards and markers.

On Tuesday, we started the process of turning this conversation into action we can take based on this information.


I wanted to make a powerful point about student choice: when you have it, use it.  Why make boring, lame things when you have the choice to make them awesome?

Don't want to write a boring essay? Then don't!  Write the essay that would make you want to keep reading it!

Don't want to make a boring IGNITE presentation?  Then don't!  Make an IGNITE presentation you actually want to see!

Uninterested in the topic?  Choose an angle that interests you!  Maybe the history of chicken is boring, but the history behind hot wing competitions is interesting, or Colonel Sanders and his original recipe, or chicken farming in Farmington or who knows?!

Homework

Submit: Cardboard Challenge: IGNITE Research Presentation (12 slides, 2 minutes)
Place in your Humanities IN Folder on Google Drive
Due: Last Week

Write: Cardboard Challenge: 5 Paragraph Essay Reflection on Product, Process, Outcome
Place in your Humanities IN folder 
Due: Last Week

Blog:
3+ Posts
Required Post: What would class be like if it was more student-centered?  What would it be like if it was more teacher-centered?
Due: Friday, 10/25

Learn: Roots 3
Word Map & Quiz (Roots 1 - 3)
Due: Thursday, 10/24

AP Lit: Prufrock Remixing Notes & Pics

AP Lit 3G: J. Alfred Prufrock Re-Mix

Cue the horns.

HMW (How might we) craft "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock" remixes that remain true to the original while featuring new aesthetics and offering new meanings and contexts.

We started this work last week by dive bombing right into the thick of it with scissors and oversized copies and mentor texts in the form of Ellie Goulding videos.  Last week you were also to have read from a collection of literary criticism about "J. Alfred" and consider your own thinking in that regards.

Today, we will take one little step back so that we might take fifty coffee spoons forward this week.

We'll revisit the DEEP process, identify the stages through which we've already passed, and use design thinking to catapult us further into the HMW for this week's creative blog post.  This will also set up our thinking for our big, rest of the year, endeavor: personal analytical process.

As will tonight's homework.  Read and annotate two of the three selections from contemporary poets below.  As you read, consider the techniques evident that Eliot employed in "J. Alfred," as well as content and thematic connections.  

"In Whoever's Hotel Room This Is" by Matt Rasmussen

"Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah" by Patricia Smith

"Goodbyes" by Jillian Weise

More importantly, however, is to document your process.  Take pics & screenshots as you go.  Perhaps record yourself thinking outloud.  Use these prompts to guide you (however -- do not merely answer the following -- this isn't a worksheet-style list of questions)

• When do you annotate?  Before, during or after the reading?
• Do you work in pen & pencil or fingers & keyboard?
• What patterns/trends do you see in your annotations?
• Do you make connections to other texts?
• What sorts of marks and highlighting techniques do you use?

Homework

** All work goes in your AP Lit 2013 In Folder **

Read & Annotate: 

* 2 of 3 poems linked above

Document your process with as much detail and introspection and evidence as possible

Due: Wednesday, 10/23

Blog:

3+ Posts

Creative Blog Prompt: Remix "J. Alfred."  Added Challenge? Music. Video.  Yeah.

Due: Friday, 10/25

Revise:

College Essays & Synthesis Essays

Due: Friday, Oct 25 at the latest

Read & Create: Award Winning/Finalist (Formerly called "Indie") Book Project

Due: Tuesday, Nov 5 or Wednesday, Nov 6

Dallowinian Party 3G AP Lit 2013

Humanities: Scavenging & Thinking

Today will be chock full o' goodness.

We'll start with a vocab activity.  Remember, we have a quiz on Thursday (Roots 1, 2 & 3) and a Word Map due.

This will in turn lead to a mightily powerful scavenger hunt.   Bring your canteens and your pith helmets.

What's a pith helmet?  Look down.  There it is.

Post scavenger hunt, we'll continue our work from yesterday involving student choice & voice and how the class balances student-centered learning with teacher-centered learning.




The info from Monday's class is below.

We'll also talk about ways to make Humanities even better based on the above.

Homework

Submit: Cardboard Challenge: IGNITE Research Presentation (12 slides, 2 minutes)
Place in your Humanities IN Folder on Google Drive
Due: Last Week

Write: Cardboard Challenge: 5 Paragraph Essay Reflection on Product, Process, Outcome
Place in your Humanities IN folder 
Due: Last Week

Blog:
3+ Posts
Required Post: What would class be like if it was more student-centered?  What would it be like if it was more teacher-centered?
Due: Friday, 10/25

Learn: Roots 3
Word Map & Quiz (Roots 1 - 3)
Due: Thursday, 10/24