Eng 9: To Solve a Mockingbird Continues: Analysis Before the Designing

On Thursday and Friday, Monday and Tuesday, we'll be designing solutions to the problems the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird face in a two-day design sprint.  We'll be working Little Bits into the options for solutions so we may create working prototypes at the next level.

Before we get there  . . .

You have two pieces of analysis you need to complete.

1.  FLIPGRID: Scene Analysis.

In class we took a look at the jailhouse scene in To Kill a Mockingbird and explored how the filmmakers used angles, framing, composition, costuming, production design and more to deliver important messages about equality, tolerance, innocence, fear, ignorance, strength, knowledge, and more.

Now you must go to this flipgrid, choose a still shot from the collection linked there (and shared with you on Google Drive) and complete a two to three minute analysis of your own.

You might want to find the film (it's available on Netflix and can be taken out from the MBC Library on DVD) and see the moving images.  You might find some more clips on the MovieClips YouTube channel.

Post it on your BLOG and then link to that blog post on the blog tracker.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird Foreshadowing REVISIT.

Shared with you on Google Drive is a new version of the foreshadowing and symbolism graphic organizer you used the other day.  The difference?  Now you've seen the whole film.  These are no longer predictions.

Determine the extent to which your predictions were successful.   What have you now noticed about these potential symbols?  What do they mean?

Senior Seminar: Navigating Values - Writing Assessment

For the past couple of weeks, we've been discussing values and morality. We've looked at episodes of Meat Eater, readings from I Am the Messenger, talked with our SRO Office Gilbert (a.k.a. Bridgette), represented our values in LEGO/beads/Jenga or other materials, explored MIT's Moral Machine and designed morality machines of our own using Little Bits and shared them on Flipgrid.

Now you are putting together all of those pieces and ideas together to write the following.

Navigating Values

Single Point Rubric

Choose any ONE of these THREE prompts/writing styles to demonstrate your writing skills.

EXPLAIN your PROCESS.  How do you make a moral decision?

or

TELL a STORY.  Tell about a time when you made a difficult moral decision.

or

MAKE a PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT.  Convince others they should make a particular moral decision.

Criteria	Evidence of Exceeding the Standard (clever, insightful, unique, powerful, creative, meaningful, professional)	What Meeting the Standard Looks Like	Evidence of Needs for Improvement (gaps, missing pieces or evidence, incomplete thoughts)
Details (WRITING)		I like how your writing is full of showing details by appealing to the five senses in your descriptions, adding specifics to your process, or adding detailed reasons to your points..  I like how you move beyond just listing what happened and get into describing how it happened, what it looked like, what it felt like.
Voice (WRITING)		I like how your personality comes through in your writing.   I like that your use of language and details helps your reader know this isn’t just anyone’s story: this is  your story.
Organization (WRITING)		I like how your writing  is well organized, with an introduction, a paragraphs to develop your ideas and a conclusion to leave your reader and audience thinking.  I like how the order of your piece makes sense and seems intentional.
CONCLUSION (WRITING)		I like how you include a conclusion at the end of your piece  that explains why your ideas matter -- either to you or to others. I like how you leave the reader with a big idea to think about.
MUGS (MUGS)		I like how any writing included is properly spelled and features proper word usage; I like how capitalization and end punctuation seems right on; there might be a minor error or one or two mistakes because of a complicated rule (comma usage, semicolons, etc.); the basics are there
Timeliness (HABITS of MIND)		I like how you turned it in within 24 hours of the agreed upon due date
Perseverance (HABITS of MIND)		I like how you created pre-writing evidence (sketchnote, storyboard) and more than one draft (working draft, submission draft) of your essay to show that you worked through the process.  I like that you took the feedback given and put it to use.

DRAFT DUE for ASSESSING on FRIDAY, MAY 12 by the End of Class

English 9: To Solve a Mockingbird: This Week

This week we've started our To Solve a Mockingbird unit, which involves a formal narrative writing assessment (a short memoir inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird) and a design challenge sprint.

Monday/Tuesday:  May 8/9

Symbolism/Foreshadowing in TKaM.
Watch TKaM.
Writing Workshop: 4th Narrative.
Read: Indie Book.

Wednesday/Thursday: May 10/11
Watch TKaM
Writing Workshop: 4th Narrative.
Read Indie Book

Friday/Monday: May 12/15
Watch TKaM: Identify problems emerging
4th Narrative: Submission Draft DUE
Read Indie Nook


BLOG: This week.
1. Symbolism/Foreshadowing in TkaM.  See Graphic Organizer
2. SCORE the BOOK.

This week's critical creativity challenge for your blog post relates to your independent reading book:  SCORE the BOOK.

Based on what you have read thus far in your book, compose an original instrumental score(no lyrics) to accompany the reading of your book using either a digital tool (Garage Band, Soundtrap, Wolfram, BeatsLab, etc.) or live instrumentation.  You may work with a musical friend to develop your score.  Your score should be at least three minutes in length to demonstrate your thinking extends beyond just a single moment in the book and reflect typical song length -- though film scores tend to be longer.

Seek inspiration from these playlists 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuovSEX8xEHcnuLO67zykCaYU_WnSy6Ia

and

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHA-54EZhpRXKR1L5zOoDPygZoUfiIfu6

After composing your score, post it on your blog along with an explanation that connects THREE moments from the text (use text evidence) to THREE moments in your score (use time stamps) to help your reader understand your intentions.

4TH NARRATIVE.  Due Friday, May 12th.
DESIGN CHALLENGE.  To Solve a Mockingbird. Due, Tuesday May 22nd.

AP Lit: Post-Test Design Challenge & This Week's Work

Here we go . . .

Your "To Do" List for the 4th Quarter

WRITING ASSESSMENTS

FRANKLINERS short story: 1st submission Due 5/16.  Final Due 5/31 so they can be compiled in an anthology before end of year.
SYNTHESIS 3 Revising
SYNTHESIS 4 Due on Day of Final 6/6

MEDIA ASSESSMENTS

DESIGN CHALLENGE Reflection & "Ship It" Date 6/2


BLOG POSTS
2x Per Week.  Design Challenge Process.  #ShowYourWork.  Keep track of everything.


For THIS WEEK . . .

We are defining the problem that is starting from this place: How might we address the "brain drain" problem of Franklin County?

On Monday we discussed the challenge of defining this problem, seeing this problem from different points of view, and establishing our user class.

We had to do some narrowing . . . 

On Wednesday, we will work to further define the problem and identify our users.  We will use a couple of design thinking strategies and protocols to help us with this work. Remember: design is messy and requires both a bias toward action and a recognition that we may need to shift or pivot our work in a different direction.  It can be tough to reconcile what may seem like divergent problems.

For Wednesday, some folks agreed to dive into the empathy work -- connecting with both folks who might be leaving the area AND with folks who live outside the area and may need to be convinced to return AND with folks who have not lived here before.  Wow.  I just identified a third user class.  I wonder . . how might we appeal to all three with one solution?

Other folks agreed to do some more focused research on brain drain in Franklin County.

And remember through it all, we need to be thinking about how we might employ literature and our knowledge of literature into whatever solution we pursue.

That's one of our key creative constraints.  Using literature to solve the problem. Still leaves us plenty of possibilities to explore.

Pop Culture: HMW Design a Film Festival

Pop Culture: HMW Design a Film Festival

How might we design a film festival?  How might we demonstrate our listening & speaking skills via a film festival?

We'll use these for DISCOVERY phase. 15 min

http://www.sundance.org/pdf/film-guide/SFF14-FilmGuide.pdf

http://fantasticfest.com/

http://www.miff.org/

http://allsportslafilmfest.com/

http://iffboston.org/

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html

You might Notice/Wish/Wonder:

What do you notice about these film festivals?

What do you wish about film festivals?

What do you wonder about these film festivals?

OR

Rose/Bud/Thorn:

What are the roses (cool aspects) of these film festivals?

What are the buds (opportunities/ideas you have) based on these film festivals?

What are the thorns (things you don't like/find ineffective) in these film festivals?

EMPATHY phase. 15

Interview at least 2 people from another design team.

Ask these three Qs

Which genres of film do you enjoy the most?

Would you rather watch a film you love again or watch something new?

What

Ask at least one follow up question in each interview to help you program your festival.

Record the answers.

EXPERIMENT phase. 15 min.

Craft it!  Design it.  What are the films you would show?  What would it be called? Where would it be held?   Why?  Use your empathy knowledge and your discovery to help you.

PRODUCTION phase. 15 min.

DUE FRIDAY. 5/12.

Festival Title.

Theme/Concept.

Location & Venue.

Tagline/Slogan.

Poster.

Schedule & Line Up.

Programming/Additional Events.

MUST WRITE.  A pitch letter to potential investors/sponsors for your festival.  Convince them using persuasive techniques and purposeful details to achieving your goals.