Déjà vu! Today we worked hard again on our artistic interpretations of the setting from Heart of Darkness. They're finally coming together and we're really beginning to understand how the setting can not only be a character, but can be more important than some of the other characters in the story.
With the passage on the board we worked towards identifying the important diction by circling and discussing specific words we thought were unique or showed up very often. This time though, we focused heavily on section 2 of Heart of Darkness.
Finally we did a little bit of test prep to round out the day. With work like this we'll be ready to move on before you know it!
Can setting ever be more than setting? Absolutely!
Today we took a close look at a couple passages from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. We made a few of connections to Frankenstien and "She Walks in Beauty," but spent most of our time looking at the diction in the passages.
After that we really had to put our thinking caps on. We each chose a specific setting from the book and worked toward turning that setting into a character.
If that setting magically transformed into a person what would they look like? Would it be a boy or girl? How tall would they be? What would they wear? On one side of a piece of paper we started drawing our characters and on the other side we began writing a short character sketch. What traits do our characters have? What would it be like if we were to have a conversation with them?
It took a minute, but we're finally opening our minds and learning to see setting as a character!
Blog: 3+ PostsReq'd Post: How might we make the last quarter of AP Lit the most exceptional, amazing powerful and important and mind blowing learning experience you could possibly have AND make the school say, "Wow. AND they learned the stuff they were supposed to learn?"Due: Friday, Mar 28Reading: Read the next 30 pages of Heart of DarknessDue: Thursday, Mar 27 (2B, 3B) and Friday, Mar 28 (3G)
Today we divided into two work sessions. One group will be focusing on producing the eighth grade orientation video(s) while the other group will be focusing on completing their process essays, DEJS, blogs, vocab and other work. The video group completed a series of empathy activities from Stanford's d.school today. We started with the share and capture method, with one person in each of two groups sharing their insights on the data we've collected from our user base. The rest of the members highlighted the big ideas and takeways from the speaker.
When used those insights to create a composite user, a profile of the typical eighth grader who will be watching and experiencing the videos we create. Also a refresher on the DEEP design thinking process.
These two experiences led to a brainstorming and ideating over how we might create 1 to 3 videos less than or equal to three minutes in length each that address the incoming ninth grader's needs.
We determined that we will make two three minute videos, one serving as a navigation guide to Mt. Blue, and the other a list of 7 tips for incoming ninth graders. We determined team leaders for each group and will spend the next three days scripting, storyboarding, determining content, style, and preparing to actual film next week. Tomorrow we also start To Kill a Mockingbird and complete Roots 11. HOMEWORK Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post:How might we make the last quarter of Humanities the most exceptional, amazing powerful and important and mind blowing learning experience you could possibly have AND make the school say, "Wow. AND they learned the stuff they were supposed to learn?" Due: Friday, Mar 28 Vocab: Roots 11 Study: Quiz & Product Due: Tuesday, Mar 25 Write: 5 Paragraph Process Essay Discuss: Your process, product, and outcome of anything you have made during the third quarter, whether for school or for work or for fun. Due: Friday, Mar 28 Produce: 8th Grade Transition Film (optional) Due: April 4th
Today we had our pitch revisions and chose to move forward with Pitches into Products. After folks delivered Macbeth-inspired pitches, we decided that several were worthy of development into trailers. We will be making trailers of Lindzee's, Mitch's and Kristen's. We divided into production teams. More about this teams to be posted on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, you will receive a production schedule that must be maintained. These trailers will go live to the public on April 11. HOMEWORK Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post:Req'd Post: How might we make the last quarter of PACE the most exceptional, amazing powerful and important and mind blowing learning experience you could possibly have AND make the school say, "Wow. AND they learned the stuff they were supposed to learn?" QUACK Vocab Unit 1 Part 2 Quiz: Friday Unit 1 Parts 1 & 2 Quiz: Thur, April 3 Macbeth: 3 Graphic Organizers: Past Teacher PACE Show Bible: Past Teacher PACE
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone, Diction, Frankenstein, and Art!
Today we started by revisiting one of our Frankenstein passages.
With the passage on the board we worked towards identifying the tone by circling and discussing the diction we thought contributed to tone. Together we decided on some very fitting tone words and created a thesis as if we were going to write an essay on tone and diction in the passage.
After that we decided it was much easier to work towards identifying tone in a passage on our own, and that's just what we did!
But we didn't stop there. We took it to the next level and drew a picture to block out everything but the words we thought contributed to tone. We then wrote individual theses based on our passages and constructed essays around them.
Though we're still exploring, we're getting a lot closer to really understanding the importance of understanding theme!
Just check out some of these awesome examples:
Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post: What are you passionate about? Write as much, draw as much, audio record as much, video as much as you can and post your passions. The subjects, the ideas, the interests that get you fired up -- that make you want to know as much as you can as fast as you can. Due: Friday, Mar 21 Reading: Read up until the bottom of page 91 in Heart of Darkness Due: Thursday, Mar 20 (2B, 3B) and Monday, Mar 24 (3G)
Today we have a guest speaker, magician and entrepreneur, Scot Grassette. He owns and operates 49 Franklin, an event center and performance arts venue in Rumford. He'll be sharing his stagecraft and magicianship as well as what he has learned about business and turning your passions into a career. It should be a pretty great afternoon. For Wednesday, you need to have completed all three of your DEJ entries on symbolism in Speak. You may want to continue on to doing three on theme in Speak if you have time. We will be tackling point-of-view in the near future. Next week, we will be focusing on creating the video for the 8th graders. HOMEWORK Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post: What are you passionate about? Write as much, draw as much, audio record as much, video as much as you can and post your passions. The subjects, the ideas, the interests that get you fired up -- that make you want to know as much as you can as fast as you can. Due: Friday, Mar 21 Study & Create: Roots 11 Quiz & Product Due: Thursday, Mar 20 Complete: Double Entry Journals (DEJs) Topic: 3 on Symbolism in Speak Due: Wednesday, Mar 19
The weather held us back, but no longer. Today's the day we pitch our ideas for TV series, films, book series and video games inspired by Macbeth. If we like what we hear, we just may create trailers for these ideas. Show bibles are due today as well. Put them in your PACE IN box on your Google Drive. Next class? We vote on whether to move forward with trailers or start something new. We also get back on track with a more regular schedule and our routines, now that Mr. Ryder will be here more regularly, the weather is improving and we have Ms. Haskell and Ms. Campbell to help us. HOMEWORK Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post: What are you passionate about? Write as much, draw as much, audio record as much, video as much as you can and post your passions. The subjects, the ideas, the interests that get you fired up -- that make you want to know as much as you can as fast as you can. Teacher PACE: Friday, Mar 21 Macbeth Pitching Power: Pitches & ShowBibles Teacher PACE: TODAY Student PACE: Update the Due Date Form Macbeth Graphic Organizers: Analysis of 3 Scenes from Macbeth (see your Google Drive for graphic organizer) Teacher PACE: Past Due Student PACE: Update the Due Date Form
This week we started to tackle tone. Little word. Big deal.
We started with an on-demand of Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us"
Tone, the speaker's attitude toward the subject, may well be the most difficult literary device to identify and characterize. We know what we mean when we say "tone of voice," and yet identifying the tone evident in a poem or selection of prose can be prove daunting and make one want to smack one's self in the face with a wooden spoon. Repeatedly.
Remember how much we've talked about diction and its importance?
When it comes to tone, it isn't just the choice of words that matter. It's their placement, the syntax, the structure. And tone? Tone is all about what the audience hears in the words, making it one of the most human-centered design elements of the entire work.
For example. . .
This video is a presentation of Jonathan Reed's "Lost Generation." Look at what happens when the words simply arrive in reverse order.
In class we discussed the difference between tone & mood. (Tone contributes to the mood.) We determined that diction, syntax (word order in a sentence), structure (overall order of ideas), and context all contribute greatly to the tone.
For the first time all year, I think, I failed to take pictures of the board and all of the notes accumulated.
That was not wise.
With the weather being what it is, one of our lessons from these two weeks is going decidedly digital and will serve as the blog post for this week. It will NOT BE DUE UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 17.
Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd:
Read, annotate & then exploring the connections & disconnections -- similarities, dissimilarities, threads, insights, reveals -- between the following poems. Consider also the subtitle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus
We continued digging into symbolism and Speak today by exploring the song "Daylight" by Matt & Kim.
DAYLIGHT
we cut the legs off of our pants threw our shoes into the ocean sit back and wave through the daylight sit back and wave through the daylight
slip and slide on subway grates these shoes are poor mans ice skates fall through like change in the daylight fall through like change in the daylight
i miss yellow lines in my roads some color on monochrome maybe i’ll paint them in myself maybe i’ll paint them in myself
these sidewalks liquid then stone building walls and an old pay phone it rings like all through the daylight it rings like all through the daylight
chorus and in the daylight we can hitchhike to maine i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home
I have five clocks in my life and only one has the time right i’ll just unplug it for today ill just unplug it for today
open hydrant rolled down windows this car might make a good old boat and float down grand street in daylight and float down grand street in daylight
and with just half of a sunburn new yellow lines that i earned step back and here comes the night time step back and here comes the night time
chorus and in the daylight we can hitchhike to maine i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home
We started by watching the video a couple of times and following along with the lyrics.
Then we marked up everything we thought could be symbolic.
Kindly ignore the WATER bottle ON the LAPTOP . . . for crying out loud people . . .
And then we created remixes to emphasize the symbolism. We cut and pasted and moved and drew and wrote to create versions of "Daylight" focused exclusively on the symbolic meanings.
It was pretty neat.
Then we moved our thinking over to Double Entry Journals (DEJs) and looking at how we can explain our thinking in writing. This is something you will need to do on Speak this week and next.
We looked carefully at what makes the difference between a MEETS, DOES NOT MEET, and EXCEEDS the standard response.
Keys to meeting?
Identifying the symbol that is being used.
Explaining what the symbol means to the overall idea the author is trying to get across.
Identifying the author and the work.
HOMEWORK
Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd Post: Take pictures of three items that symbolize who you are. They may be things you own, they may be objects you see, they may be in the school, they may be around town. Take three pictures and explain how each represents you. If you HAVE to find pictures off the web, ok. Try to make that your LAST option. Due: Friday, March 14
Double Entry Journals: 3 on SymbolismDue: Wed, March 19
Roots: Roots 11 Quiz & Product Due: Thursday, Mar 20
I haven't been here this week, so Ms. Haskell and the rest of the folks in the room caught me up to the speeds. We looked at Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" as a class because so many folks have been absent recently.
We highlighted the contrasts of light and dark, the structure of the rhyme scheme, the presence of only two nouns per line, all working toward Byron's idea of maintaining balance. We then took a look at an excerpt from Frankenstein. I selected the opening paragraph from Chapter 20.
We explored the essential questions Shelley raises: responsibility for creation, playing Creator, progress vs safety and more.
More importantly, we examined HOW she builds these ideas through structure, parallelisms, diction and imagery.
We discussed how Shelley functions as a designer of her work, thinking about the effect the construction of her piece will have upon her chief user: the reader.
Hence, the lack of breaks in the paragraph, the building intensity, the exponential degrees of growth over the space of the passage, all there to get the reader feeling an overwhelming intensity.
If Shelley didn't employ empathy to achieve these ends, I'm not sure what she used.
Design. Build. Create.
Accept. Communicate. Trust.
HOMEWORK
Blog: 3+ Posts Req'd Post:UseColourlovers.com to create a custom palette of at least three colors relating to meaning in Frankenstein. You will need to name the palette and each color within it. Be certain to choose purposeful names and push your self to go beyond the concrete. (Concrete: "blue sky" because the sky was blue.) Due: March 7 Complete: Synthesis #3 Due: Mar 7
I've been away presenting at SXSWEdu.com this week and learning tons and meeting folks I want to connect with you all. One thing I learned was a fantastic mashup/remix strategy from Kami Thordarson, an innovation coach and teacher in the Los Altos School District in California, based on the DEEP design thinking from Mary Cantwell we've been using all year. Here's what we did this morning so you can reference back to it as you create your Macbeth Pitching Power pitches over the next week. We started with three groups and quick mapping/vizthinking about we know about Macbeth.
Then we listed movies and films and games and books we enjoy.
Then we listed reasons why we enjoy them.
Then we highlighted key ideas/insights that stood out to us.
Then we took post-its and put some of those ideas from each category on to a post it.
Then we put those post its on tables.
We sent runners to grab a post it from each table.
The group generated a pitch from the three post its.
We tried to make as many pitches as we could with new sets as we could in the time given.
Then we shared and practiced delivering the pitches.
It was awesome. And surprisingly easy and not scary. Pitches and show bibles are due next Thursday. Be certain to check out one another's blogs and share ideas. Design. Build. Create. Accept. Communicate. Trust.
HOMEWORK
Blogs: 3+ Req'd Post: Put up your pitch thinking from today AND/OR link to someone else's and share your thoughts. Due: Friday, Mar 7 (Teacher PACE)
Macbeth Graphic Organizers: Must Complete 3
Teacher Pace Due Dates:
Wed: Feb 12
Tue: Feb 25
Wed: Mar 5
MUGS: Commonly Confused Words #2 Quiz: Friday, Feb 14 (NEW MAKE UP DATE - FRIDAY, Mar 7)
QUACK: Unit 1 Part 1 Quiz & Product Due: Thursday Feb 27
Think & Design: Movie/Video Game/TV Show Pitches & Bibles Due: March 13
