Humanities: Of Mice & Men Begins

Yesterday (and today) we started our work with John Steinbeck's Of Mice & Men.

On Wednesday, we started by signing out our books.  Then we took a look at the newly created Three 4 Thinking Google doc that's in the Humanities 2013 OUT folder on Drive.  You now have two options, the downloadable and uploadable PDF and the way, way cooler Google doc that you can make a copy of and then put right in your IN folder.

As Mr. Ryder read out loud, we started the process of thinking about our reading.  We completed two of the four boxes, with two more to complete another day.

Also during the reading, Mr. Ryder asked folks to make note of important words in the description of the setting, as well as key words that describe the two main characters (who we later learned to be named George & Lennie).  After everyone cut and paste those words to a shared Google doc., Mr. Dunbar made a Wordle out of the common words.  Words that stood out included "recumbent" and "Gabilan."

After Mr. Ryder read the whole first section/chapter of Of Mice & Men, he and Mr. Dunbar modeled how to do "How might we" thinking with four essential questions the class voted on for our poverty unit.

That ended Wednesday's class.

On Thursday,  class started with a roots activity.  Everyone grabbed a few Legos and built representations of roots from Roots 4.  Mr. Ryder built a ridiculously cool representation of "bell" (war), but forgot to take a picture of it.  Visiting the PACE link over to the right will take you to a list of blogs where you can see various Lego/Roots designs.

From there, Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Ryder finished their "How Might We" thinking about this unit.  We divided into four groups from there to keep working on it and so students could contribute in put.  Two of the groups made the following happen.

We returned as a class and jumped right into another chunk of Of Mice & Men.

On Friday, we will make some decisions regarding our "how might we" work and finish our Three 4 Thinkings.  We'll also do a little improvisation and a Socratic Seminar as well.

Homework
Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd:  Post three images/symbols that represent your 1st quarter.  Write a paragraph at the end that explains your thinking.

Ignites/Essays: Get Them In & Revised If You Choose  GRADE CLOSE FRIDAY

Humanities: Ryder & Dunbar Are Out & Thinking Continues

Even though Ryder & Dunbar are taking care of sick, gross, phlegm-ridden children, the work! The work it must go on!

Here's what you have to do today:

• Finish the Three 4 Thinking you started yesterday.  It is in your Google Drive.  Think to the article is on yesterday's blog post.  (I could link it again here AND I want you to get practice hunting that info down.)  When you finish it, upload that doc to your Google Drive.  (We have a Google Drive version available in the Humanities OUT folder now as well.  Just make sure you go to "File" and "Make a Copy" in Drive. That's the only way you can get an editable version.)

• Find Roots 4 in the Vocab & Roots resources in the right hand sidebar of the blog.  Find the link to Quizlet and take 10 minutes to familiarize yourself and practice.  Take screen shots of your work on Quizlet -- scores, results, etc.  Post them on your blog. We'll do an improv activity on Thursday to get more familiar with these roots.   

• Make sure your blog is up to date.  Complete the required blog post for this week.

• Any make up/missing work/revisions, get it in.  Grades close Friday.

Wrap your day by completing this form.

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Complete/Revise (If You Choose): Cardboard Challenge IGNITE & Essay

Due: Friday, Nov. 1 (Grades closing!)

AP Lit 2B/3B: Questions & Prufrock

We'll start class with an affinity mapping exercise to prime our brains for a graded class discussion Tuesday. (Yes, this day.)  It will take about twenty minutes.

It will involve sorting our Lot Jot questions and trying to find common qualities amongst the questions we ask.  

Our goal: to determine the qualities that make up effective, meaningful questions.  Thus, we'll start by sorting our questions into categories and threads that make sense to us.  And then we'll describe them. 

And THEN... the discussion.  Look to the right.  There's our discussion rubric.  We'll be following that grading criteria.  Prepare your quotes!

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Read & Annotate: Excerpts from The Flamethrowers and Bleeding Edge
Due: Thursday, Oct 31
Read & Complete: Award Winning/Finalist Book Project
Due: Wednesday, Nov. 6
Prepare for Gallery Walk & Optional Choice to Present

AP Lit 3G: Struggles with a Hotel Room

We tackled Matt Rasmussen's "In Whoever's Hotel Room This Is" today . . .

We left with more questions than answers . . . not so ironic since we started the day with working around questions.

Humanities: Poverty Questions, Power Voting & Of Mice & Men

Today in Humanities we'll continue the work we started on Friday.

We need to complete our sorting and then identify 4 questions in each group that the group believes to be valuable, meaningful and interesting questions worth answering/solving.  

We'll compile those 16 questions (4 groups X 4 questions) and run a PowerVote through Google Drive.  The 4 questions that receive the most votes become the focus of our unit.  After we vote, we'll run a "How Might We?" session to brainstorm ways we can go about answering those questions.

Meanwhile . . . as Mr. Ryder pulls together those 16 questions, Mr. Dunbar has an article from CNN.com and a Three 4 Thinking graphic organizer to help you understand the article.  Remember: graphic organizers aren't there to be annoying "worksheets" -- they are there to help you sort, organize, and think about the information you are getting from a reading/viewing/listening.  They also help the teacher folk in the room to determine whether or not you "get it."  

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Complete/Revise (If You Choose): Cardboard Challenge IGNITE & Essay

Due: Friday, Nov. 1 (Grades closing!)

AP Lit 3G: Analyzing Poetry & Affinity Mapping

We'll start class with an affinity mapping exercise to prime our brains for a graded class discussion on Wednesday.

It will involve sorting our Lot Jot questions and trying to find common qualities amongst the questions we ask.  Our goal: to determine the qualities that make up effective, meaningful questions.  Thus, we'll start by sorting our questions into categories and threads that make sense to us.  And then we'll describe them.

This should put us into a good place for asking powerful, important questions about "J. Alfred" on Wednesday.

As should . . . .

Analyzing one or two more of our poems.  We did a great job with Weise's "Goodbyes" last week.

 How do we want attack Smith's "Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah" or Rasmussen's"Skyscrapers?"

Homework

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation
Due: Friday, Nov. 1

Prepare to Discuss:
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Examine the Discussion Rubric
Due: Wednesday, Oct 30

Read & Complete: Award Winning/Finalist Book Project
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 5
Prepare for Gallery Walk & Optional Choice to Present

PACE: PACE 2013 2.0 Begins

Today we start by getting into our Ohana Teams; Ohana Teams are the support teams I've been asked to craft based on my understanding of strengths and weaknesses, personalities and talents.

Then we'll look at how to create our new Weekly Work Plans using the Google Spreadsheet.

From there, you'll have time to write the first paragraph of your Product, Process, Outcome written reflection for the I Am Hero Project.  You'll have 15 minutes in each class to work on this, one paragraph each.  You are welcome to work on it at home.  I think that you'll be able to create some quality first draft writing here in class.

What's next?  We'll get out of our Ohana Teams and start the process of unpacking our 10th grade reading, writing and researching standards as we gear up for our "Music Is Poetry Is Music" unit starting Friday/Tuesday.

What does unpacking look like?  We'll take the standards like this:

And turn them into language you can understand.  

We'll also do some "How Might We?" work with these to generate ideas for formative and summative assessments.  Formawha?  Exactly.  We need to learn this stuff so you can craft your own this winter and spring.

Homework

Blog:

3+ Posts

Req'd: Post 3 images/symbols that represent the 1st quarter for you; after posting the images, write a single paragraph of explanation

Complete/Revise: 

I Am Hero Projects & Revisions

I Am Hero Graphic Organizers & Revisions

I Am Hero Product, Process, Outcome