AP Lit 2B/3B: Brainstorming & Synthesis Thinking & Mrs. Dalloway-ing

We start today with setting up our blogs.    Blogs -- and soon Google+ -- are going to be vital for folks to share the ideas and continue the conversations that get the short shrift in class.

Blog

We should be able to do this rather quickly and start our synthesis work which requires our handy dandy DESIGN KITS! Yay! (Seriously. I'm excited. A lot.)

Synthesis Thinking

We'll look at this post from OpenIDEO to get tips on brainstorming.

Then we'll formulate ideas for our synthesis essays by brainstorming connects between the works we have read and putting that on paper.  After the brainstorm, the workshop turns to construction as each group will build a powerful synthesis thinking thesis statement to serve as a model as you embark on your individual work.  

We will document the snot out of this work and put it here as well for continued referencing.

Synthesis essay rubric, culled from your group work, lands Thursday.  A workshop worthy draft is due that day as well.

This is also our opportunity to raise ideas from Ender's Game that we have not yet had a chance to explore.

Mrs. Dalloway

From there, we dive into Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.  We will discuss stream of consciousness narratives and the challenges they pose both reader and creator.  There's a great article here that discusses the syntax & construction Woolf uses in her narrative.  (Click on "Download PDF" to read the whole thing.)

And we'll start the reading together as a class so we have a shared experience with the narrative.

Homework

Blog: 3+ entries (3 effective, meaningful entries = meets; exceeds = 4 OR mindblowing, uber brilliant 3)  for Friday including 1st creative prompt:

Soundtracking a Most Cinematic Moment: Each of our novels thus far has possessed certain cinematic qualities.  Choose a passage from a particularly cinematic moment, post that passage, and link/embed a song that you believe would serve as an effective soundtrack to that moment.  Added challenge? Compose your own original.

Write: Synthesis Essay: Workshop worthy draft due in class on Thursday, 9/19
Read: Mrs. Dalloway up to "T, an O, an F."

AP Lit: Synthesis Thesis Example

AP Lit 3G: Synthesis Thinking Brainstorm

What happens when we stop worrying about being right & just generate ideas.

PACE: Heroic Qualities Brainstorming

Our ideas on what qualities a H demonstrates.

Humanities: Game Plans & Routines, Design Thinking & Cardboard Challenges

Today we introduced our weekly & biweekly schedules of how things roll in Humanities, while also spending some time getting reoriented to design thinking & developing our cardboard challenge products.

Our regular Humanities routine looks like this:

• Monday: LNGView (Local, National, Global) Reading & Blogging
• Tuesday: Vocabulary (Roots)
• Wednesday: LNGView Reading & Blogging & MUGS (Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling)
• Thursday: Vocabulary (Roots; Quiz every 2 weeks)
• Friday: Socratic Seminar & MUGS (quiz every 2 weeks)

This isn't the only stuff we do each day.  You can just expect each of those days to have those things happen AND the bigger stuff we are working on i.e. cardboard challenge.

Folks who were absent got caught up with Mr. Dunbar.  Other challenge teams went to work in room F-215 and did the following:

1. Continue work on prototypes, put together a materials list, plan dimensions and shapes.   (There will be a tool to help us with this on Tuesday.)

2. Meet with Mr. Ryder & review the DEEP Thinking stages from Mary Cantwell.  (Why do I keep saying her name?  Because she's awesome and we should give credit to awesome people for awesome work. You can follow her on Twitter @scitechyedu) 

3. Begin the work of completing the DEEP Thinking Graphic Organizer for Wednesday. 

• Where are you at with your cardboard challenge?  
• Which stages have you done work in?  
• Which stages have you yet to explore?  
• What's next for your group?

We missed one group.  We'll get them going on Tuesday.

What can you expect on Tuesday? We will start our Roots work (list #1) & it will involve our design kits.  We will give you time to fill out the DEEP graphic organizer for Wednesday and conference with Ryder & Dunbar and continue working on your designs.

Homework

DEEP Design Thinking  Graphic Organizer Due Wednesday, 9/18

Cardboard Challenge: Project must be done Oct 2nd! 

Gather resources!  Bring them in! See the Cardboard Challenge document for stuff we might need.  We have space!  We need all the cardboard you folks can find!

AP Lit 3G: Blogging & Synthesis Thinking & Letting the Woolf Loose

We start today with setting up our blogs.  

Blog

We should be able to do this rather quickly before lunch and start our synthesis work which requires our handy dandy DESIGN KITS! Yay! (Seriously. I'm excited. A lot.)

Synthesis Thinking

We'll look at this post from OpenIDEO to get tips on brainstorming.

Then we'll formulate ideas for our synthesis essays by brainstorming connects between the works we have read and putting that on paper.  After the brainstorm, the workshop turns to construction as each group will build a powerful synthesis thinking thesis statement to serve as a model as you embark on your individual work.  

We will document the snot out of this work and put it here as well for continued referencing.

Synthesis essay rubric, culled from your group work, lands Wednesday.  A workshop worthy draft is due that day as well.

Mrs. Dalloway

From there, we dive into Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.  We will discuss stream of consciousness narratives and the challenges they pose both reader and creator.  There's a great article here that discusses the syntax & construction Woolf uses in her narrative.  (Click on "Download PDF" to read the whole thing.)

And we'll start the reading together as a class so we have a shared experience with the narrative.

Homework

Blog: 3+ entries (3 effective, meaningful entries = meets; exceeds = 4 OR mindblowing, uber brilliant 3)  for Friday including 1st creative prompt:

Soundtracking a Most Cinematic Moment: Each of our novels thus far has possessed certain cinematic qualities.  Choose a passage from a particularly cinematic moment, post that passage, and link/embed a song that you believe would serve as an effective soundtrack to that moment.  Added challenge? Compose your own original.

Write: Synthesis Essay: Workshop worthy draft due in class on Wednesday, 9/18
Read: Mrs. Dalloway up to "T, an O, an F."

PACE: Heroes & Journeys, Rubrics & Standards

Quite a lot to do in the space of a Monday starting with your chosen adventures, Hunger Games and Adventures of Ulysses.

Heroic Journey

We'll start with fast brainstorming sessions around heroic qualities.  Take a look at these tips from IDEO about brainstorming.

You will break into your reading groups and see how well you did with your first reading assignment.  Who is caught up? Who is a little behind?

Your first group task?  Create a reading schedule that takes us to Sept. 30.  Make sure you share it with me.

Your second group task? Complete the first two sections of the I Am Hero Lit Circle Graphic Organizer Week #1 using our brainstorming notes.

Unpacking Standards

From here, we take a minutes to dig into our rubric and unpack the reading standard.  It's important to understand what is asked of you and why.  This may seem like tedious work at first and it should start giving you some ideas for future projects.

Homework

Reading
Teacher PACE: Finish book by Sept. 30
Student PACE: Your group's next assignment.

Reading/Writing
Teacher PACE: I Am Hero Graphic organizer #1: Due Friday, Sept 20

Next Class: Meet in Food Court for a Heroic Journey!