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…

September 3rd- First Writing

Nice job getting this far!

This blog is your way of staying up-to-date even if you missed class.  I will post on this blog every day everything that we did in class and what assignments you should be completing at home. Anytime you are missing an assignment, you can check this blog to keep you caught up.

Now that you are here, I want you to send me an email (jschachter@madison.k12.wi.us) with this information on it:

SHORT, EASY WRITING

1. A word or phrase you can make using some or all of the letters of your name.

2. The first time you realized you were pretty good at something. What was it?

3.A time you saw someone do something that made you laugh.

4. Your favorite thing to do at home.

5. One thing you would tell the President if you could tell him anything you want.

6. Tell me some things I should know about you as a student (your learning styles, what teachers do that you hate, what teachers do that you love, your thoughts about reading and writing).

7. Tell me some things I should know about you as a person (tell me about your dreams, your family, your deep thoughts, your shallow thoughts).

8. Now I want to get a sample of your writing...I want you to be creative and spend some time on this part.

LONGER, DEEPER WRITING

This should be about 200 words...

Describe an experience you've had in your past that was exceptionally scary, fun, life-changing, or interesting.
I want to hear about you, but I also want to get a sense of how well you can write. Try to be detailed and creative. I don't need you to have perfect grammar, but the worse your spelling or punctuation is , the more difficult it is for me or anyone to understand what you're saying. If you are going to write something, make sure your reader can understand it, otherwise it is almost like not writing anything at all.