Eng 9: Struggles, Empathy & Self-Advocacy

We started a empathy & self-advocacy two-day experience in English on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our goal is to build up our capacity for understanding the struggles of others, helping them find solutions, and better understanding our struggles and strategies for asking for help.

That's a lot of commas.

Here's what we've done so far . . .

We started with an anonymous Google Form and gathered up examples of struggles we know folks -- and ourselves -- experience.  Here are screenshots of the results.

We conducted a Notice (Observations)/Wish (Reactions)/Wonder (Questions) with this data.  Here are a couple of the results from this work.

Mrs. Grohoski then distributed index cards with a struggle on one side and a blank on the other.  We made three columns on the blank side: Difficult, Easy, and Help Needed.   We tried to get into the POV of someone with that struggle and list tasks that might be difficult, those that might be easy, and help that person might need.

After a minute or two to process on your own, you circulated around the room and gathered input from several folks, adding to the columns.

You then had five minutes to write/record from the point of view of a person with this struggle.  Imagine what a typical school day morning is like for this person.   Use 1st person point of view ('I got up this morning . . . ) to create a journal/video/audio.

We synthesized that point of view into trying to fill out a scholarship application from the point of view this same character.  We did not give you much guidance in filling it out because we want you thinking about what it's like to struggle when you are unsure of an answer -- what do you do? What would this person do?  How might they respond to this challenge?

Period 4B managed get into a little jenga block roots 2 activity.

Next class, we will have four new stations, we will be practicing self-advocacy and we will be getting caught up on blogging and putting evidence of learning in our Eng 9 IN folders.

Due Today.

8 Box.  Who Am I (At This Moment)

Notice/Wish/Wonder  over "So What Are You, Anyway?"

Pop Culture: Design Challenge: Design a Band

Pop Culture: Design a Band

We start today with this "How Might We . . . ?"

How might we create an intentional band out of random elements?  

This will be run similar to a DEEPdt  flash lab.

DISCOVER.

Make a list of bands and artists that you believe have really great names. Even if you don't love the music or consider them a favorite, you hear the name and think, "that's a great name."  Throw in good names of movies, good names of books, TV series, while you are at it.  

Put three of your favorite names -- music or not -- and put each on a sticky note and up the marker board.

I notice.  I wish.  I wonder.  We'll look at those band names up on the board and discuss using only those stems to start our thinking.

EMPATHY.

Partner with someone you don't know particularly well.

PART 1. 

4 Questions

1. How big of a role does music play in your life?

2. When do you listen to music?

3. What sorts of music do you listen to in those times? Bands or artists

4. Tell me about a time  you remember listening to band, going to a concert, or having another experience with music that you really enjoyed.

PART 2.

3x3 Interviews.  Three questions.  Three subjects.

1. What sorts of fonts appeal to you?  Handwriting? Block? Serif? San Serif?

by mostash.

2. What colors appeal to you?

by Dehahs.

3. Do you prefer realistic or abstract images?

Realistic To Abstract from kyoung

Collect your responses and include them on your blog post when you discuss the album art you create.  Use what you know appeals to others visually to inform your choices.

EXPERIMENT.

Create-A-Band Process 

I'd Give Credit to the Creator of this Process  But It's From a While Back & I Can't Recall the Link! #arghface.

1. Go to the Random Article link on the Wikipedia front page. (You can find it in the top left navigation menu.) The title of the random article is your new band/artist's name.

2. Go to the Random Quote link on the Quotations Page front page. (You can find it in the left side navigation menu.) You will get a list of random quotes. Pull either a full or partial quote from that page. That is the album title for your band's latest release. (You might also find some song titles this way as well.)

3. Go to Flickr and click on the 'Interesting Uploads from the Last 7 Days' link. (You can find it by scrolling down and looking beside the 'Take the Tour' link.)

4. Pull that information together and then use an app like Pages, Google Draw or Google Docs, a photo editor like iPhoto or Gimp, or any other application that lets you manipulate words and images, and create your album cover.  Export your finished work as a .JPG and post it or  PDF and screenshot it and post it on your blog.

PRODUCE.

5.  On your blog, create a context for your band.  Who are the members?  How did they form and when?  What genre(s) do they play?  What was the gig that led to them making this album?  Where do they play? In other words, what is the story behind the band?  

Here's the big huge giant challenge of this creative endeavor: take those random elements from above and make them all seem intentional.  How might you create sense out of what might be nonsense by applying the filter of music to it?  What does this say about the power of music?

6. In a separate blog post, choose an artist or band you enjoy.  Select an album by that performer. Explore the relationship between the artist's name, the album's name, and the cover art for that album.  To what extent do they align?  Where do you see a clear relationship between the visuals and the music?  Where do you see it not working out?  What about the band's logo or the font used on the album cover?

One to two descriptive paragraphs with visuals to illustrate.

Extra helpful?  Embed some Vimeo links or Spotify links or other ways of proving your point through the music.

You might get some inspiration for your album covers here

10 Iconic Album Covers (Yahoo) Here

99 Well Designed Album Covers (Inspiredology) Here

21 Great Albums with Not So Great Art (AV Club) Here

Lego'd Album Covers Here

Next class we'll get into some feedback rounds for our bands.

English 9: Who Am I (at the Moment) and Who Do I Want to Become Begins . . .

Last week we started our year long theme, though I didn't say anything about it being our year long theme because . . . uh . . . I'm not sure why.   But I didn't . . .

Who Am I (at the Moment) and Who Do I Want to Become is all about exploring our identities, our personalities, our values, our abilities, as they are right now, determining who we want to become in the future, and asking the most important question: how might we get ourselves from here to there?

Last week we looked at our multiple intelligences and our mindsets.

We used this survey from LiteracyWorks to help determine our multiple intelligences and took screen shots of our results.  Here's an example:

Later in the week we examined to extent to which we have growth and fixed mindsets.  We started by looking at objects in the room that represent how we feel about our intelligence.  We each chose one, took a picture of it that highlighted how it represents our feelings, and then put it back.

We watched this video that helps explain the difference between the two.

Two of the three classes did some work with scenarios, looking at how someone with a growth mindset would respond to a situation vs how someone with a fixed mindset would respond.

Then we used this inventory from Mindset Works to determine where our mindsets fall on the spectrum between fixed and growth.  

We took screenshots of the results again.   This time, however, we also found a sentence from the results that we believe describes us very well -- the inventory nailed it -- and a sentence that we were not so sure accurately describes who we are -- ehhhh..not sure sure about that one- -- and put those sentences in a Google doc.

To bring it all around full circle, we then wrote about how the object we found at the beginning represents our mindset -- whether fixed, growth, or somewhere in the middle.   We put that on a Google doc and then some folks started to copy and paste that information to their blogs.

Here's a sketchnote of how we went about doing this work. 

If you were able to get all of this work done in class last Thursday and Friday, you did not have homework.  Otherwise, you needed to finish completing the survey, finding the sentences that describe and do not describe your mindset, and then explain how that object represents your mindset.

It should be on a Google doc and placed in your English 9 IN folder.

Also in your English 9 IN folder should be your super power/kryptonite writing.

Now . . .  Monday and Tuesday . . .

Tuesday may look a little different but here's what happened on Monday . . .

We explored the basics of sketchnotes!

Then we worked with poetry Jenga and created a few poems in the moment.

Then we started reading "So What Are You, Anyway?" by Lawrence Hill, a story about a young woman on a plane dealing with some less than kind fellow travelers.  I explained how the Notice/Wish/Wonder graphic organizer works.

Then we broke into 4 Stations, each of which are described on the sketchnoted signs below with instructions.  Anything that was not completed in class became homework due at the next class.

Here's a link to the 8 Box of Who Am I (at the Moment)

Links to Roots 2 are over in the toolbar to the right under "Roots & Quizlet"

Pop Culture: Music Roots Review & Country Vs. Hip-Hop

Music Roots.

Last week we used our time together to explore the roots of music. I  sketchnoted on the board while folks researched and we dug into musical etymology or the history of where contemporary music comes from.

Here are some of our sketchnotes from that experience.

Essentially we established that the rhythms and beats of contemporary western music originated mostly in the music of African and indigenous Latin and South American peoples, with melodies and instrumentation largely influenced by northern and eastern Europeans.

Out of Class Work from Last Week.

The homework for the weekend was to investigate the roots of a contemporary musical artist or band you enjoy and trace those roots back three generations -- not just three decades or three influences -- but three generations of sounds/styles/artists.  For example, we were able to trace Taylor Swift back to Tim McGraw (half-a-one) to Dolly Parton (two) to Hank Williams Sr (three) to Robert Johnson (four).   Create a playlist of those roots, embed that playlist on your blog and write or record an explanation of your findings.  Include links to any research you did -- Wikipedia articles, websites, conversations you had with fans, etc.

Pop Culture Lineage Project Shares.

We'll start our classes this week with a project share or two.  The one's I've seen so far are fantastic.

Country Vs. Hip Hop.

This week we'll take a look at two genres that seem -- at first glance -- to have more dissimilar than common. We'll look under the hoods of both and see if the branches of hip-hop and country are too far from their roots to be united again.

The graphic organizer for this work is in the Pop Culture 2016 Out folder in Google Drive and linked here as well.

Country vs. Hip-Hop


When you complete the graphic organizer, it should go in your Pop Culture IN folder on Google Drive so I can check out your rad thinking.

Out of Class Work.

To Be Announced.

It very much depends on how things go on Monday.  I have an idea and need to keep thinking.

Expect that there will be a blog post due by Friday and it will require creating something. 

AP Lit: Catching Up, Getting in Sync & Preparing for What Comes Next

Friday was a good day to take a breath, look at where we have been, how relatively little time we've spent together, and what is coming next on our horizon.

I also shared a story of how my dad and I destroyed a canoe in the middle of Kenduskeag Stream getting ready for a race.

(This isn't us.  This is just to give you a sense of what I avoided when we dumped above these falls.  Also, it happened several years before this.  At this point, I'm wondering why I've included this video at all.  Context.  I'm going with context.)




We did a brief review of the readings in AP Lit thus far.
Cunningham's The Hours
Foster's How to Read Lit Like a Professor Intro & Chapter 1.
Smith's "I Don't Miss It"
St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig"
as well as your own summer reading novels

We spent a little time with the PowerQuotes from Foster and connecting them to our summer reads.

I noted how Foster's first chapter functions much like a synthesis essay in his tone and approach.  It is worth revisiting as you shape your first synthesis.   Ask yourself the degree to which your essay feels like his.

We spent some time discussing the indie book project, an assignment that is due at the end of the quarter -- I've noticed a trend that so many teachers try to avoid due dates at the end of the quarter, we may actually be better served having this project due right near the end of the quarter.  Fancy that.

This led to a discussion of the protagonists in The Hours and I previewed this coming week's work which will include both a design challenge and a writer's workshop.

Here's What Was Due Friday

Read.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor Chapter 1.

Find. a POWER QUOTE.  One line from the text that you think captures the essence of the chapter.

Read.  The Hours. 173 - 195

Blog.

Start.  A Blog on Blogger for AP Lit.

(You may repurpose an old blog on Blogger for this purpose, too. I'd love to see your past work.)

Critical Creativity Post. Discuss your Oreo challenge.  Explain your intentions.

Analytical Post.   Discuss how the power quote you uncovered in How to Read Lit Chapter 1 relates to your summer reading texts.

Due.  Friday.  9.23.2016.

Here's the Out of School Work for Monday 9.26.2016 to Friday 9.30.2016

Finish.  The Hours.
Due. Tuesday, 9.27.2016
Be prepared to do some intense work with the text in-class.

Read. How to Read Lit Like a Professor
Chapter 2. Acts of Communion.
Creative Blog Challenge.  5 Course Meal. Design a metaphorical dinner menu for a dinner party at which Laura, Virginia, and Clarissa are the guests.
Part a. Use the names, flavors and ingredients of the various courses to demonstrate and understanding of the characters' journeys over the distance of the novel.
Some things to consider:
What might be served as appetizers? The main course? Dessert?
Part b. Put your design and media skills to work and create the menu itself in Google Docs, Google Drawings, hand craft it with your artistic abilities or otherwise.
Part c. Name the restaurant in which you will be serving this meal with part of a PowerQuote
from Foster Chapter 2.
For extra super bonus impress the pants off Mr. Ryder credit, actually create the meal in part or in full.  Take pictures or video.  Put it on your blog.
Due. Friday. 9.30.2016

Write.  Working Draft of Complete Synthesis Essay.
Due. Tuesday. 9.27.2016.
We will be workshopping these in class because . . .

Write.  2nd Working Draft of Complete Synthesis Essay
Due. Thursday. 9.29.2016.
We will be doing another workshop on Thursday because . . .

Write.  1st Submission Draft of Complete Synthesis Essay
Due. Monday. 10.3.2016.

Anticipate a short story or selection of poetry to read for Monday as well.
I will assign these on Thursday, 9.29.2016.  I haven't yet decided exactly what.  Next week, (10.3.2016 - 10.7.2016) we'll start off October with Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.  
I want to start it in class though.