Humanities: 8th Grade Vids & Get 'Er Done Work

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

PACE: Pitches & Trailers Decided

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

AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone, Diction, Frankenstein, and Art!

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)

Humanities: Magician Scot Grassette

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

PACE: Macbeth Pitches

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

AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone & Frankenstein & On Demand Writing

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

"Prometheus" by Lord Bryon

"Prometheus Unbound" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Prometheus" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Due: Monday, March 17

Comments on Frankliners are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Wednesday)

Comments on Synthesis Essays are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Sunday)

Revision Due Dates Are Coming.

Remember!  Analytical and writing process paper due in early April!  

Humanities: Symbolism & Matt & Kim & Speak

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

8th Grade Transition Video

Due: April 15