December 16- Finish Who am I? paper

Today we discussed what Showing vs. Telling looks like. Then we worked on our paper for another 30 minutes. Here is the rubric for the Who Am I paper:

RUBRIC

Development in your character. (10 Pts)

Smooth sequence of events (10 Pts)

Highlight FIVE times the story contains Show not Tell (5 Pts)

Punctuation, capitalization, title (10 Pts)

1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12 font (10 Pts)

Total (45 Pts) 

December 14- Structure your story

Today we talked about how to create in your story a smooth sequence of events. To that end, we worked on a worksheet that should be picked up in the classroom.

We then worked on our story for another 30 minutes. Wednesday will be the last day to work on the story.

December 10- Begin Who am I? paper

We began working on our Who am I? paper. We went through the assignment and did some brainstorming on what we might write about:

IT’S TIME TO WRITE YOUR OWN STORY!

Task: Tell a personal story that helps explain an aspect of your developing identity. In other words, share something that happened in your life or something you went through that has shaped who you are or taught you something.

Checklist:

o Your story must show development in your character. You must have a reflective component - WHAT did you LEARN from this? How does this story tell others about WHO you ARE?

o You must create a smooth sequence of events that creates a coherent whole.

o You must include sensory language and lots of DETAILS to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. (Show, not tell)

o You must use correct punctuation, capitalization, and grammar in your writing.

                                                                                   

o You must have a title

o Your final work should be 1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced, and “Times New Roman” 12 font.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Read through each of these. Put a check mark in five that you could possibly write about.

• A best or worst day
• A time you struggled or made a mistake
• A “first” in your life
• A moment from a complicated relationship
• A time you moved
• A time death affected you
• A time you were ashamed of or proud of a relative
• A time you supported a friend
• A family tradition or ritual that matters
• An anecdote about your name and why it makes you who you are
• The day you met a friend
• A strong belief you have and how you got that belief
• A moment when you found yourself admiring someone in your life
• A time an illness or injury taught you a lesson
• A time you had a run-in with the police

Words that might describe you:

Choose 6 of words that describe you 

1.                                                                                            2.

3.                                                                                  4.

5.                                                                                  6.

Now for three of them, write down a time where you showed this quality (a couple of sentences each).

1.

2.

3.

December 8- Lessons worksheet

Today we read our last stories from House on Mango street and completed a worksheet that will help us write our "Who Am I?" paper.

Mango Street Lessons

Sandra Cisneros wrote House on Mango Street to show how the many different events in her life helped to change her into the person she is.

Pick two of the stories that we read in class and write down what you think she learned about herself or about who she wanted to be.

Story #1 title:

Lesson she learned about herself or about who she wants to be.

Story #2 title:

Lesson she learned about herself or about who she wants to be.

Now do this for two stories we haven’t read in class.

Story title #1:

Lesson she learned about herself or about who she wants to be.

Story title #2:

Lesson she learned about herself or about who she wants to be.

Now go around the room and find people who have read the same two stories as you. Write down what they put as lessons learned.

Story title #1:

Lesson she learned.

Story title #2:

Lesson she learned.

Lastly, find one person who a read different story than you. Write down the story title and lesson learned.

Story title:

Lesson she learned.

December 2- Sally

We read "Sally" and then wrote a page on a person who is quiet and by themselves... what things are going on in their head? What is their home-life like (we made these up).

Then we read "What Sally Says" and wrote down what advice we would give to her.

November 30- crazy thing

We read Meme Ortiz and then wrote 1/2 page on the craziest thing we've ever done in our life.

November 19- One Good Day

We read "One Good Day" in our House on Mango Street book. Kids partnered up and took turns writing sentences that would be a part of a "good day"

November 17- Begin House on Mango Street

We are beginning our next unit today- reading The House on Mango Street.

I read the first 4 chapters out loud and we wrote a page on the following:

• Write on your own house
• One that you used to live in
• One that you would like to live in

Write a 1/2 page on your name

• What does your name mean?
• How do you feel about it?
• Any nicknames?
• Would you change it
• Funny story behind it

• Write on First, Middle or Last name

October 30- Continue work on Newspaper

We continued working on our Newspaper. We will work on it one more day and then be finished.

Template

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HGaldxXW5zSBSiLXszsqCYGvJCkRzg7Axn3z00AtxVA/edit

October 25- Newspaper article

We began independent reading and also our final project for To Kill a Mockingbird:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Final Project

You will be working in groups of 5 or 6 to create a newspaper related to reading of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

• Each person in your group will be responsible for the content of one page.
• All members will work together to create an original, creative, professional-looking publication.  Check paper for spelling/punctuation.
• All parts of your newspaper should relate to the time period of the novel (the 1930s).
• All sections of the paper will be shared with each member of the group, put together into one doc, and then shared with me.

Your paper should contain the following:

ü  Front Page:  3 to 4 Articles. The original name of your paper on a masthead, at least one major national story, at least one major story relating to the events in To Kill a Mockingbird, appropriate photographs and graphics, a legend for the interior of the paper.

ü  Sports and Leisure Page:  3 to 4 Articles. Any articles relating to sports and/or leisure activities of the 1930s, or stories about sports and leisure activities mentioned in To Kill a Mockingbird (i.e. football, sharp shooting, gardening). Must include advertisements, and photographs.

ü  Arts and Entertainment Page:  3 to 4 Articles. Any articles relating to movies, fashion, and music of the time period and anything else related to entertainment in the 1930s or from the novel (i.e. Halloween play, church social). Must include advertisements and photographs.

ü  Obituaries (should be chosen by someone who finished or is going to finish the book): An obituary for each person who died in the novel as well as people who died in the 1930s. Be sure to include how they died, what family members they left behind, and a little information about what they did in the community of Maycomb.

ü  Classifieds Page A list of things for sale, announcements, people looking for dates, services offered in the community, events coming up, etc.  Everything that you put in the classified section should relate to someone, something, or some place in To Kill a Mockingbird (i.e. a bake sale going on to raise money to help rebuild Miss Maudie’s house).  The more items you can think of to put in the Classifieds, the better.

ü  Editorials/Staff Credits: 2 or 3 Letters of personal opinion to the editor on topics relevant to the 1930s or events that take place in the novel.  A political cartoon should be included as well. A list of all of the people who worked on your paper and what their jobs were.  It should be a column with names on the left and jobs on the right under the word “Staff.”

(If your group only has 5 members, Obituaries and Classifieds should be put on the same page.)

Here's a template to use for your newspaper page.

Good web pages to review:

A site with information about movies, print and society

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html

A site about the New Deal and the Great Depression

http://newdeal.feri.org/

Thousands of photos of the Great Depression

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html

Articles about the Great De[ressopm amd the Stock Market Crash

http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp?CRID=1930s_america&OFFID=se2&KEY=1930s

The history of film in the 20s and 30s

http://www.filmsite.org/30sintro.html

October 22- Baltimore poem

We read chapters 20-22.

We also read the following poem and answered questions about it.

Read the following poem and answer the questions to the best of your ability. Keep in mind all of the issues we have been discussing while reading To Kill a Mockingbird.

Incident

Countee Cullen

Once riding in old Baltimore,
    Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
    Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
    And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
    His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore
    From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
    That's all that I remember.

1. What is your interpretation of the poem?

2. What message or lesson does the author want you to take away from having read this?

3. How does this poem relate to our reading of To Kill a Mockingbird?

October 20-Open Minds worksheet

We worked on a sheet in class- If you need a copy, come see me.

October 16- extra credit

EXTRA CREDIT FOR

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

1.  Express your ideas about the meaning of the book’s title in a poem, poster, or song with illustrations and color

2.  Retell a memorable incident from your childhood

3.  Lee describes several places in Maycomb, such as the Radley house and the courtroom.  Make a map of Maycomb, or create a drawing or model of one specific location.

4.  Illustrate (draw) the personality of one of the main characters in the book.  You might combine quotations from the novel with a portrait of the character you choose. 

5.  Compare an incident in To Kill a Mockingbird with a current event or an event in history.  Explain the similarities in an essay or show them in a poster.

6.  Write an editorial or design a poster to help people overcome the “disease” of prejudice.

7.  Create an editorial cartoon that expresses your opinion about an issue in the book.

8.  Write and perform a song that expresses your opinion about an issue in the book.

9.  Write and act out a scene in the book.

October 14- Story Impressions and read chapters 17-19

We began by working through the following vocab:

Story Impressions- You will write a story (an essay? A self-help paper?) using All of the following words. If you don’t know what they mean, look them up. CIRCLE the words in your paper.

Craniologists:                                                       Eugenicists:

Social Darwinists:                                                          Under girded:

Mongrel race:                                                       Inclusive :

Pervasive:                                                             Implied :

         

         

Impute dishonorable intentions:                                    Derisively:

Sadistic:                                                               Socially repugnant:

When finished, students read chapters 17-19 and worked on the following worksheet:

Chapters 17-19

For each character:

1.)    What important facts do they bring up about the case

2.)    Copy down quotes that show how they act

	Witness	Atticus Finch
Heck Tate 222-226	Facts	Facts
	Quote	Quote
Bob Ewell 227-238	Facts	Facts
	Quote	Quote
Mayella Ewell 239-252	Facts	Facts
	Quote	Quote
Tom Robinson 254-265	Facts	Facts
	Quote	Quote

October 12- Courage quote

We began by diving deep into the following quote on courage:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on, you’ll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make that journey.

Students wrote on the meaning of the quote, discussed in groups, then thought of someone who has courage as described in this quote.

We also read chapter 16.

October 8- Comic strip chapter 15 and vigilantes

We began class by discussing what vigilantes are. I showed them four videos:

 Motorcycle vigilante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo3cVuvVRUE

Ferguson
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2855736/Ferguson-police-shut-armed-Oath-Keeper-vigilantes-guarding-rooftops.html

Superheroes
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/real-life-superheroes-transform-masked-5313086

Texas Cop Blockers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2897638/The-Cop-Block-videos-Texas-gun-activists-confronting-officers-streets-strapped-handguns-assault-rifles.html

Students then answered the following:

Pros and Cons of Vigilantes

If you were a vigilante, what would you fight against/for?

What would a vigilante group at school look like?


Next we read chapter 15 and worked on the following worksheet

The men who came to the jail. What did they want?

What about them made them especially dangerous?

Who does Scout recognize in the group?

What type of small talk does she make?

Why does Mr. Cunningham finally decide to leave, taking the rest with him? This is a more difficult question and should be answered in more than two or three sentences.

Now, make a comic strip of the scene. For six panels, include quotes for the people and/or narrative along the bottom.

October 2- Independent Homework

You will be emailing your idea for an independent homework with me.

In your email, I would like you to answer the following:

1. What are you going to do (will probably be more than one thing)
2. What will be finished by Thanksgiving
3. What will be finished before winter break
4. What help you need from me to complete your project
5. What made you decide on these ideas for your independent homework

My email is jschachter@madison.k12.wi.us


A LINK TO THE AUDIO OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

 http://johnsontwality.weebly.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird-audio.html

We also read chapter 12 and answered the following questions

- Write down three things that Scout learns about black churches

-What does she find out about Tom Robinson?

September 30- parenting examples

Today we read chapters 10 and 11 in class.

We also worked on the following parenting examples with a partner.

Now some parenting examples from To Kill a Mockingbird. Remember-Scout is seven and Jem is eleven. Answer each part in 2-5 sentences

1.    Your children want air rifles. Do you buy them? 105

What does Atticus do? Why?

What would you do? Why?         

2.    Your children have been playing a game where make fun of their strange neighbors. 65

What does Atticus do? Why?

What would you do? Why?

3.    Your son has vandalized the flowers of a cantankerous, elderly neighbor.137

What does Atticus do? Why?

What would you do? Why?

4.    Your children are getting bullied and harassed at school because of something you’ve done. 100

What does Atticus do? Why?

What would you do? Why?

5.    Your daughter has been using swear words more and more often.104

What does Atticus do? Why?

What would you do? Why?

Also- Students should be ready to pick an independent homework project to share with me on Friday.

September 28- Atticus quote #2

Today we discussed chapters 8 and 9 and got deep into another of Atticus' quotes. Here it is:

Page 101

“Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change… it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning.”

“Atticus, are we going to win it?”

“No, honey.”

“Then why—“

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said.

Highlight the lessons that Atticus wants Scout to learn (there are two)

On the back of this sheet, write down your thoughts about each of these lessons

September 24-Walk in someone's shoes

We began by discussing more about our independent homework. Students should know what they are going to and talk to me about it by the end of next week.

We then worked on a quote from To Kill a Mockingbird.

Page 39-
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Explain:
1.Who he is referring to,
2. What he means,
3. How you could use this advice

then
List two characters who Scout could use this advice with. What might she discover with each one?

Read chapters 8 and 9

September 22- Independent Homework

Today we read chapters 6 and 7 in class.

We also began thinking about our independent homework. Here is the outline for the homework.

Why I’m offering self-directed learning as homework:

Two reasons:

ONE: The best way to learn is to choose a topic that interests you. 

TWO: The quickest way to kill an interest in learning is to be forced to learn about things that have no interest to you.

What I’m expecting from you:

• I’m expecting you to figure out what things you want to learn about (with optional help from me)
• I’m expecting you to develop a plan for learning about these things that you can present to me (with optional help from me). 
• I’m expecting you to start working on this immediately, continue working on it throughout the quarter, and finish one week before the quarter ends.

1. What are you interested in?  Focus on things you CHOOSE to do outside the classroom. 

2. What would you like to learn/read/write about?

3. Are you already in a group that discusses any topic?

4. What do you see yourself doing after high school? 

5. What Language Arts skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) will you need to be successful in whatever you choose to do after high school?

Already know what you’re doing? Great! Come see me before school, after school, or during lunch, and we’ll get you going.

Don’t know what you’re doing? No problem. I’ve got lots of ideas. Bring this worksheet in to me before school, after school, during lunch, or during lunch and we’ll figure it out together.

Some ideas of what to do for the Independent Homework

Generally speaking, you will have to pick two of these- I figure you’ll spend anywhere from two to three hours PER WEEK on your project.

Projects that have been done in the past by other students:

• Journaling
• Build a Little Library
• Read a book
• Read a magazine
• Develop a website
• Act/participate in a play or musical
• Go to a play or musical
• Write a letter to the newspaper
• Participate in a club
• Write an article about:
• A sporting event
• A restaurant
• A movie
• A topic of your choice
• Research a hero and write a paper on it
• Research any topic of your choice
• Present information that has been researched to the class
• Present information that has been researched to the rest of the student body
• Start a petition and get students to sign it
• Write the script for a short film
• Act and shoot a short film
• Do a music video
• Pen pal
• WRITE

o   Write poetry

o   Write fiction

o   Write non-fiction

No matter what you choose, make sure to clear it with Schachter within two weeks of the start of each quarter.

*I also have some worksheets that you can choose to do if you are having a hard time figuring out what you want to work on.

September 22 - Homemade Clock

Copy and paste this article into a Google Doc.

Instructions for reading: Read through the text and underline three parts that:

Make you question, Make you think, or Make you confused.

NPR Texas High School Student Shows Off Homemade Clock, Gets Handcuffed September 16, 2015 Bill Chappell A 14-year-old boy says he was just trying to show off his engineering skill when he brought a digital clock he had made to his new high school in Irving, Texas. But Ahmed Mohamed was detained and reportedly suspended from school, after a teacher thought that his clock looked like a bomb. The aspiring engineer repeatedly said that it was not, in fact, a bomb. But the teacher and the principal of MacArthur High School were alarmed. They called police, who questioned Mohamed, handcuffed him and led him out of school. He was then fingerprinted before being released to his family, who say he received a three-day suspension from school. "Cool clock, Ahmed," President Obama wrote in a tweet around midday Wednesday. "Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great." ... The police tell local news outlets that while they acknowledge that Mohamed didn't try to perpetrate a bomb hoax, they were also unsatisfied with his explanation. "He would simply only tell us that it was a clock," police spokesman James McLellan says. "He didn't offer an explanation as to what it was for, why he created this device, why he brought it to school." Responding to questions about the incident, the Irving school district released a statement in which it said that students and staff at its schools are encouraged to report any suspicious behavior. No criminal charges were filed — but Mohamed's family says the school and police overreacted. And the case has raised questions over whether Mohamed was treated with particular suspicion because of ethnic and religious bias. "I think this wouldn't even be a question if his name wasn't Ahmed Mohamed," Alia Salem of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations tells local news WFAA. "He is an excited kid who is very bright and wants to share it with his teachers." Representatives from CAIR will reportedly be attending a meeting later today between Mohamed's parents and school officials. ... Mohamed says he wanted to show the engineering teacher there what he'd done over the weekend: take apart a clock and rebuild it inside a pencil case. Resembling a small briefcase, the case has a hologram of a tiger on it. "It was the first time I brought an invention to school to show a teacher," Mohamed tells WFAA in an interview taped in his bedroom, where circuits and wires sit on shelves alongside basketballs and footballs. Here's how things unfolded, according to The Dallas Morning News: "He showed it to his engineering teacher first thing Monday morning and didn't get quite the reaction he'd hoped for. " 'He was like, "That's really nice," Ahmed said. "I would advise you not to show any other teachers." ' "He kept the clock inside his school bag in English class, but the teacher complained when the alarm beeped in the middle of a lesson. Ahmed brought his invention up to show her afterward. " 'She was like, it looks like a bomb,' he said. " 'I told her, "It doesn't look like a bomb to me." ' "The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn't get it back." Ahmed Mohamed also gave the newspaper his account of the day in a video in which he says, "It made me feel like I wasn't human. It made me feel like I was a criminal."

September 16- creepy story

As a way to connect to our story, we watched a video entitled "murder in a small town" and wrote the outline to our own creepy story.

Here's the link to the small town video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe3RPEOyQGs

And here's the outline for our own creepy story:

Your job is to create your own creepy story.

Key components:
Creepy person: 3+ characteristics

Creepy house: 3+ characteristics

What happened: 5+ sentence description

How was this discovered: 5+sentence description

In addition: read pages 20-42 in To Kill a Mockingbird.

September 14- Finish Quote paper

We finished working on our quote paper today, but we also began reading our next book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Students should finish reading chapter one.

September 10- quotes paper.

Today we began working on a paper that will help our understanding of the themes central to the book we will be reading. Here is the outline of the assignment:

Thematic Quotations Paper

Some themes in To Kill a Mockingbird are prejudice, education, Tolerance, courage, and justice. In this activity, you will be writing an interpretation of a quote that illustrates the theme and explaining why you agree with the quote.

The Process

Decide which theme from the following list you will write about.

·         Prejudice

·         Tolerance

·         Courage

·        Education

·        Justice

Go to a quotations database website.  A good one is Quotationspage.com, then search under SUBJECT INDEX.

Search the database for a quotation on one of the above themes that you most agree with. 

You will then write a multi-paragraph paper interpreting the meaning of the quotation.  Make sure to:

·         Copy the quotation directly and cite the author

·         State what you think the quotation means.

·         Use specific examples to explain why the quotation has some truth behind it.  I will be expecting these examples to be well thought-out and fully explained.  Be sure to make it clear how the example supports the truth of the quotation!

You will be giving this paper to another student for the purpose of peer editing. 

If you need a stronger outline on how to setup your paper, here it is:

1^st paragraph:

          Introduce your quote and who the quote is attributed to

          Explain what you think the quote means

2^nd paragraph

          Explain, using specific examples, why you think this quote has some truth behind it. This is where you are convincing the reader of your claim.

3^rd paragraph

          Concluding thoughts on the topic (connect to your personal life or examples. Thoughts on the author of the quote or its meaning to you).

          

September 8- National Anthem and To Kill a Mockingbird Anticipation Guide

Today we discussed the Pledge or National Anthem being played in school. Students wrote 1/2 page to a page about:

1.    How you feel about the National Anthem being played in school.

2.    Why you choose to either sit or stand.

3.    What you are thinking about during the song.

4. If some people stood, would you? If everyone stood, would you? Explain why you think that is.

Then we discussed the book we are going to read- To Kill a Mockingbird. Students filled out the following Anticipation Guide:

Anticipation Guide for To Kill a Mockingbird

For each statement, circle which answer is truest for you.  Then write a sentence or two explaining why you think that.

All men are created equal

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

Girls should act like girls and boys should act like boys

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

Nobody is all good or all bad

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

Under our justice system, all citizens are treated equal by the court system

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is true

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

No one is above the law

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

Education is the great equalizer

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

When the law doesn’t succeed in punishing criminals, citizens should take the responsibility to punish them

Strongly agree             agree             disagree             strongly disagree

Explain:

My idea of a hero is…

When I think of the south, I think of…

When I think of the great depression, I think of…