Brit Lit CPI: Blogging, Bragging & Beowulf

We start with this today.

Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

We'll make some predictions about why we opened with this and how it might relate to what's coming next.

Today we start building our routines and diving into the first of the texts we're going to read this semester: Beowulf.

NO RED INK.

We'll be using NoRedInk.com this semester to help with our MUGS: Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling.  You'll be taking a pre-test today for me to get a baseline of your strengths and weaknesses in those areas.  We'll also be doing some goal setting.

I know I have a goal for you folks: complete sentences, proper capitalization, and commonly mistaken words. If you can wrangle these three things, you can navigate most any writing and communication situation: job applications, official letters, e-mails to people that aren't your friends, etc.

So, we'll get started with the Semester PreTest.

GUIDELINES & EXPECTATIONS.

After No Red Ink & MUGS, we'll review our sketchnotes from the Guidelines & Expectations quickly.  I want to make sure people understand what is being asked of everyone in the room the semester including me.

BRAGGING & BEOWULF.

Then we'll talk about bragging, about smack talk, about running our mouths, about rumors, about getting in people's faces, about how we handle them, and then taking a look at how long this has been a problem by looking at ancient and modern poetry.

We'll be breaking up the reading into group chunks with a few key questions for each.  We'll use this time to get a sense of what the heck is going on in Beowulf, the central characters, and then we'll look at the language more specifically.

We'll be using a graphic organizer to keep track of our thinking.

All of this leads to . . .

Req'd Blog Post for the Week:  Letting Fly the Taunts and Volleys of a Thousand Suns Upon the Ears of the Meek Before Us a.k.a. Running Our Mouths

Boast, brag, run yer mouth about anything you like -- just keep it relatively school friendly.  It could be aggressive and calling someone or something out or it could be talking about how great you are at knitting.  I trust you to use your best judgement there.  Remember: swearing is lazy.  It can be fun.  And it's lazy.   Your boast

Write or audio/video record two versions:
One. Your style.  Your words.
Two.  Beowulf style.  His words.

Your goal?  To show me you understand how the language used in Beowulf, the style and format, isn't all that different from today by using it yourself.

Option.  Not feeling like bragging about anything particular about yourself?  Do what the bards & the scops did back in the day: make up a character.  Just let me know whether it is invented or real.

AP Lit: Projects & On Demands & Projects

INDIE BOOK PROJECTS.

We'll start with two project shares.

ON DEMAND.
From there, we complete the On Demand: Discuss Shakespeare's use of a literary device such as allusion, symbolism and characterization to develop a theme of power and control.  15 min.  One powerful paragraph.

We'll use these On Demands as well as our last rounds for an On Demand workshop, focusing on the design of an analytical paragraph.  It will also give us an opportunity to discuss Hamlet.

HAMLET.

Finally, I'd like us to do some rapid prototyping of the character card idea so we can build some congruency.  We'll take a look at considerations we should be giving when staging our "To Be or Not To Be's" and develop a deeper list of criteria i.e. costumes, portrayal, color palette, physical setting, music (I think I'm getting a lot of it here already . . .)

HOMEWORK.

Blog. 3+ Posts.
Req'd Post. How to Read Lit Like a Professor. "When In Doubt . . . Shakespeare . . ."
How might Foster's position on Shakespeare inform our reading of Hamlet and/or our design of "To Be or Not to Be?"

Due. Friday, 2/6

Complete.  Hamlet.

Read/Watch.  (Clips on Google Drive.)

Due. Monday, 2/9

Start Designing.  "To Be or Not to Be"
Dramatic Presentation & One Page Analysis/Justification
Due.  Thursday/Friday after Feb break. 

Humanities: Roots Quiz, Culture & Theme Songs

VOCAB.

We kick off with our Roots Quiz 7.  You are all over this.  Worry not.  Do your best.  And if you are struggling with quizzes, remember that FrankenWord and other vocab work can demonstrate your understanding just as well.

5 MIN PLAYLIST.
You've got five minutes to make the playlist you will carry with you for the rest of your life.  What goes on it?  Make it now.

Here's mine.  This was stressful.


CULTURE.

We've got a way to pull all the culture work you've been doing these past couple of weeks together.

Check Google Classroom for this assignment.


THEME SONG ESSAY.

HMW express the reasons why particular songs serve as our theme songs?

We're going to tackle this essay as we have any of our design work because really, writing an essay is a piece of design.

DEEP.
Discovery. (What song might serve as my theme song? Why? Might it connect to an experience?  Might the sounds relate to me?  What might I focus on?  How might I hook the reader?)
Empathize.  (Consider your reader.  Consider your audience. What do they need to know?)
Experiment.  (Drafts.  Play around with order.  Play around with details.  Make maps.  Make sketchnotes.)
Produce.  (Complete a 1st Submission Draft.  Get Feedback.  Revise.  Reiterate.)

Today we will use a couple of brainstorming & ideating techniques including our 5 Min. Playlist  to help get us started.  Friday, we kick into introductions and thesis statements.


HOMEWORK.

Blog. 3+ Posts
Req'd Post. Drum Kit Post.  (See this week.)


Complete. Culture Graphic Organizer (Google Classroom.)  The new one.

Brainstorm. Theme song essay.

Pop Culture: Sketchnotes & Expectations, Super Bowl Ads

We'll start with finishing our sketchnotes of the guidelines & expectations for this class, sharing them, and getting ourselves on the same page.

From there we'll take a look at this year's Super Bowl commercials, one of the annual pilgrimages most of the US takes into the world of pop culture.



We'll complete this graphic organizer to get a sense of how these ads function and operate, as well as what values they suggest matter to their audience.

This is all leading to our first design challenge: HMW design advertisements for something we love?

Brit Lit CPI: Setting Up Blogs, Sketchnoting Expectations & Best Writing

Today we'll set up our blogs.  This is will be the primary place where you write and share your thinking in class this semester.

For your first blog entry, write the best paragraph you can -- an example of your best quality writing -- in five minutes.  Describe how you spent these past several snow days. Where were you? What did you do?  How did you wrangle with the snow?

After this, we'll be creating sketchnotes of the Guidelines & Expectations in groups of 1, 2 or 3.  The sketchnote should be based on the information in the packet you were given an answer these questions:

What do we need for class?
What will class be like?
How much work will there be?

Next class we dig into our first text: Beowulf and take a look at boasting and bragging and vanity plates.

AP Lit: Hamlet: Designing To Be or Not To Be Continues: Storyboards

Today we take our best, most intriguing ideas for staging "To Be or Not to Be" into the next round of Experiment phase: storyboarding.  You will create at least 4 storyboard panels for the sequence you stage, accompanied by annotations to explain the visuals.

This will lead to determining criteria for our project.  HMW demonstrate our depth of understanding of Hamlet by designing the staging of a single soliloquy?  (I intended to dictate these terms to you folks and then realized this is a great opportunity to talk about what really matters in terms of analysis, synthesis, creativity and showcasing knowledge.)

Then we will On-Demand: Discuss Shakespeare's use of a literary device such as allusion, symbolism and characterization to develop a theme of power and control.  15 min.  One powerful paragraph.

Also, we will share two of our indie book projects.

HOMEWORK.

Blog.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor. "When In Doubt . . . Shakespeare . . ."
How might Foster's position on Shakespeare inform our reading of Hamlet and/or our design of "To Be or Not to Be?"

Watch/Read. Rest of Hamlet by Friday/Monday. See Google Drive and e-mail for clips.

To Be or Not to Be.  Due Tuesday/Wednesday after break.

Humanities: FrankenWord, LNG & Teen Culture/Music Culture

Hey!  We have school today!

Remember improv?  Let's do a little of that this morning.  I've got an idea.

VOCAB.

We'll start with FrankenWord.  Take any root from Roots 7 and combine it with a Root from any other list to create a brand new word that relates to . . . wait for it . . . music and/or culture.

Remember the FrankenWord expectations.
Word.
Definition & Part of Speech.
Used in a Sentence that Shows What the Word Means.
Visual.

LNG.

From there, we will LNG because we missed out on it yesterday and we are trying to get game on with it.

MUSIC CULTURE/TEEN CULTURE.

Finally, there will be time to complete/refine our music culture/teen culture work.  Three graphic organizers are due.  One on Leader of the Pack, one on Summertime Blues, and one on a song about teen culture of your choice.  (It might be one from the playlist.)

HOMEWORK.

Blog.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post: My Heart Like a Kick Drum.  If your life  -- your self -- was a drum kit, what would it look like?  Double bass?  Bongos?  Set of toms?  Take a look at clips below for inspiration.

Neil Peart from Rush.

Art Blakey.

The famous "Amen Break" from G.C. Coleman (this has been sampled a TON.)

Buddy Rich & Gene Krupa

and Joe Morello who is crazy rad and I only heard about because of this rad teacher

Then doodle your life as a drum kit.  Actually draw it out.  Check out Mr. Ryder's here as an example.

And explain your thinking.  You might want to look at the anatomy of a drum kit.  Learn a bit about the parts and pieces and most certainly the names.

Mr. Ryder's would be super simple.  One kick drum.  One snare.  One hi hat.

• Snare. Sharp. Quick.  Super flexible & can make a lot of different sounds.  It's a lot like how he's involved in a lot of different things.  Goes anywhere.
• Hi hat.  Punctuation and that snap that goes underneath everything else.  It's my brain.  Never quite stops.  Sometimes it's constantly going because of a pedal.  
• Kick drum.  Boom.  Thud.  Right in the chest.  I love that feeling.  I love when I get hit by an idea or an experience and lands right in the center of my being.  And I hope I can create experiences for others that do that as well, whether it is in the classroom or on stage or on social media.

Teen Music/Teen Culture.  Complete the three graphic organizers.  Look on Google Classroom.

Vocab.  Roots 7 Quiz & Product (FrankenWord counts!)
Due. Thursday 2/5