Eng 9: Laptops, Suiting Up and Oreos.

Today was our first day with laptops.  We did a pretty good job staying on point.  We really need to to be careful about getting distracted with laptop issues when we don't need to be focused on them.  (VPP could have waited.)

That said, we did some great work with Suit Up, an opportunity to get to know one another a bit better, names, strengths, weakness, Oreos.

After getting to know five other people in class, you then tackled the mini-design challenge of "How might we demonstrate a super power or kryptonite with an Oreo?"  You were allowed to use any materials in the room and could get a additional Oreos if you pitched the idea to me.

Out of Class Work

Bring In to School. Over the weekend, find three items from home that represent you in a meaningful way and bring them in.  Please do not bring anything valuable or fragile.  And these items need to be transportable in a reasonable way.  Think about what might fit in a backpack or a pocket.

Due.  Monday, 9.14.15.

Complete.  Guidelines and Expectations signature sheet.  

Due. ASAP.

If Possible, Gather.  Design Kit.

Due. ASAP if Possible.

Humanities 2BG: Doodling to Think

Today was our first day with laptops.

We'll began with our thirty circles again as a quick warm up.  This led right into the rest of our thinking.

We watched a short news clip about a recent story about a break-in in Maine.

 We  identified  the key points as a class and then set them aside for a moment, while I showed you about these super cool tools from Austin Kleon.

We'll did some work with this alphabet and saw what we can create.  I even added an alphabet item or two.

Then we'll bring it back over to the key points and find ways to demonstrate the key points using the visual symbols we can create with the drawing alphabet.   We find it incredibly helpful and powerful for people to be able to express their ideas in both words and images -- even if those images are super simple.  (Actually, simple images can sometimes do the work of representing an idea much better than complex ones.)  

From here, you will be able to choose one out of six readings/listening/watchings to explore using this new set of thinking and demonstrating tools.  All of these readings and listenings can be found on our new Google Classroom space.  

Out of Class Work

Complete.  Guidelines & Expectations signatures sheet.

ASAP.

Complete.  Personal flag.

ASAP.

AP 3G: "I Don't Miss It" and Literary 3x3

Today we marked up our first poem as a class, conducting our first collaborative close reading.  We then had our first reading discussion as a class.  

Just a point to make about summer reading; while we have not delved deep into our summer reading books just yet, we will be coming back to them again and again over the space of year.  They will inform our work and there will be opportunities to discuss them in context.

"I Don't Miss It" and Literary 3x3.

We read Tracy K. Smith's "I Don't Miss It" and did some close reading and annotating.

Then we introduced Literary 3x3.

Literary 3x3.  You can read more detail about it by reading Rebecca Daniel's explanation of William Melvin Kelley's technique in the AP Lit guide available here.

Screenshot here.

From the AP Lit Writing Guide

The idea here is that by distilling our thinking about a text down to a 3x3, we can hone our thinking and then use it as a catalyst for further development into . . . oh . . . say . . . a piece of analytical writing.  I'd argue that developing a 3x3 is completely worth your time as a pre-writing exercise during the on-demand portion of the test.

You each created a 3x3 for "I Don't Miss It."  Hold on to those.  We'll need them next class.

Out of Class Work

Read & Annotate.  True Grit Chapters 1 & 2.

Create.  Literary 3x3s.

Intro of How to Read Lit

Both Summer Books

True Grit - First 2 Chapters 

AP Lit 4B: Guidelines & Expectations, Smith's "I Don't Miss It" and Literary 3x3

Guidelines and Expectations.

After relocating to the library to escape the miserable heat of the classroom, we talked about the Guidelines & Expectations for this year.  With our small class size, many of these are irrelevant and we'll be able to customize our work even further.  I think it serves as a good base.

"I Don't Miss It" and Literary 3x3.

We read Tracy K. Smith's "I Don't Miss It" and did some close reading and annotating.
Then we introduced Literary 3x3.

Literary 3x3.  You can read more detail about it by reading Rebecca Daniel's explanation of William Melvin Kelley's technique in the AP Lit guide available here.

Screenshot here.

From the AP Lit Writing Guide

The idea here is that by distilling our thinking about a text down to a 3x3, we can hone our thinking and then use it as a catalyst for further development into . . . oh . . . say . . . a piece of analytical writing.  I'd argue that developing a 3x3 is completely worth your time as a pre-writing exercise during the on-demand portion of the test.

We ran out of time before we could create a Literary 3x3 for Smith's poem.  So you'll do that for Friday along with the following.

Out of Class Work

Read & Annotate.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor Introduction.

Create.  Literary 3x3s.

Intro of How to Read Lit

"I Don't Miss It"

Both Summer Books

Pop Culture 3B: Circles and Oreos

Thirty Circles.

We opened today with the thirty circles exercise.


We will be revisiting this exercise a bunch of times, with variations on each,  to help us jog our brains and get thinking about possibilities and creative solutions.  This exercise is used by designers, engineers, and collaborative teams in all sorts of industries to help shake up typical ways of thinking.

Circles of Pop Culture

From there we identified the various categories of pop culture and then narrowed them down to eight.  These eight will constitute our curriculum for the semester: music, film, fashion, internet/social media, food, gaming, sports, TV.

We used sets of colored circles to demonstrate individual, and in some cases group, preferences and interest in the above categories.

I will use these images (and the others provided) as polling data to help me design the course for the semester, starting with next week.

Oreo Design Challenge

With our last twenty minutes, we tackled another mini design challenge: How might we create advertisements for the pop culture we love using an Oreo?   Using only twenty minutes, an Oreo (or two), and any materials/locations in the school, create a visual advertisement for a piece of pop culture you love.

Here are a few of our results.

Friday, we'll tackle our next mini design challenge and we'll use our DEEPdt design process for the first time this year.