Grades up to Date

All grades on Pinnacle are currently up to date with respect to work handed in in class and through Google Drive.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

12.20 - Assignment Revision and Completion

At the beginning of class today, we watched two videos of baby sloths to help soothe and relax everyone before getting into our work. The focus for today was on completing and revising assignments before break.

The break is an opportunity for everyone to get caught up on and revise work. What was not finished today in class should be finished when we return from break. Assignments which we were focused on today include:

Poetry Out Loud theme prompt

Poetry and Language


Anthem Chapter 1 Post-Reading Questions

Anthem Chapter 2 Questions regarding Equality and Liberty's relationship

Anthem Chapters 3 - 7 significant passages regarding the damage created by government control

Individuals should also be working on any other assignments that they need to complete or revise.

The sloth videos from today were:

Homework:

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

12.19 - Squaring Up on Assignments

Today, everyone had the period to work on completing a variety of recent assignments as well as work on other assignments that they needed to complete or revise.

Computers were available for people to use in doing their work and I conferenced individually with students regarding questions that they had about assignments.

The assignments on which we were focused today were:

Anthem Chapter 1 Post-Reading Questions

Anthem Chapter 2 Questions regarding Equality and Liberty's relationship

Anthem Chapters 3 - 7 significant passages regarding the damage created by government control

Poetry Out Loud Poem Theme Essay

Poetry and Language


Homework:

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

12.18 - Damage from Control in Anthem

Today, we were focused on reading chapters 3 through 7 in Anthem and looking at the effects of the control that the government exerts over people in the book.

We began by looking at the ways that society exerts control over teenagers in our lives and what the unintended consequences of that control can be. An example of this from class was how everyone is encouraged to "respect your elders." A student shared that this is intended to help us value knowledge, skill, and wisdom that come with age, but can have the unintended consequence of ignoring knowledge, skills, and wisdom possessed by young people.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on this work using the Anthem - Control Damage assignment.

At this time, individuals also took turns completing the Endicott Research Survey which asks students about their perceptions and opinions on our school.


Homework:

If you did not do so in class, continue working on the Anthem - Control Damage assignment everyone will have some more time in class to work on this tomorrow.

Finish the Poetry Out Loud theme prompt if you have not yet done so.

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you have not yet done so.

Complete or revise assignments as necessary.

12.17 - Poem Themes

In today's class we were looking at the themes and significance of the poems that people selected to recite for Poetry Out Loud. To prepare for this, we took a look at a poem together and how to successfully use quotes from a poem with our writing prompt. The writing prompt is included below. The poem we were looking at was "Under One Small Star" by Wislawa Szymbroska.

(click image to enlarge)

Text in blue shows how I set up the quote by paraphrasing part of the line before using the parts of the quote on which I wanted the reader to focus.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, everyone shared their response with someone near them. We then went around and shared out which lines people had selected to write about (results below):

(click image to enlarge)

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on their response to the Poetry Out Loud theme prompt. I was on hand to answer questions.

Homework:

Finish the Poetry Out Loud theme prompt if you did not do so today in class.

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you have not yet done so.

Complete or revise assignments as necessary.

12.16 - Poetry Out Loud Recitations

We started today's class with some discussion about metaphor (using a comparison between one familiar object to describe another familiar object so that we appreciate both in a new way). Then, everyone wrote an "I am..." metaphor poem in their writers journal (prompt and example below).

Next, we had a review of the Poetry Out Loud rubric. In reviewing the rubric, we got familiar with the poem "Litany" by Billy Collins. We then used the Poetry Out Loud performance rubric to assess a recitation of the poem by a three-year-old fan. Below are the videos we watched in class.

After everyone had a chance to evaluate the three-year-old's performance, we discussed the rubric. Students then had a few moments to review their poems and we used the rest of the class to deliver recitations.

We will have time tomorrow to complete the last few recitations and have follow-up recitations for anyone who feels their recitation today did not represent their best form.


Homework:

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you have not yet done so.

Complete or revise assignments as necessary.

12.13 - Poetry Out Loud Recitations

We started class today by reviewing the “Poetry and Language” sheet that everyone worked on yesterday with the substitute. To review this sheet, I shared a copy which I had completed for my poem (Poetry and Language exemplar). In looking at this example we covered the following two main points for unfamiliar words and familiar words.

1 - Unfamiliar Words - If there are words that you don't know, look the words up in the dictionary. Then explain what that part of the poem means accounting for your new understanding of the word.

2 - Familiar Words - For words that you do know, look up their meaning in the dictionary to get a sense for how they are different from other similar words (e.g. how is "terrible" different from "bad"). Then discuss how that word relates to the meaning of the poem (why did the author say "terrible" when they could have said "bad"? How does "terrible" affect the meaning of the poem).

Everyone had about fifteen minutes to revise previous responses if necessary or complete the assignment. Further revisions or work on the assignment should be completed for homework if it was not completed in class.

We then took a look at the Poetry Out Loud competition scoring rubric that we will be using to assess students' performances. I went over the rubric with everyone and then we watched a sample Poetry Out Loud performance for the poem "The Song of Powers."

We then created a presentation order on a volunteer basis. I ended up presenting my poem, "To a Mouse". Recitations are being recorded so that I can assess the overall performance in class and then go back and assess the accuracy of the recitation later. This is also helpful if anyone has a question about why they received a particular score. People will be able to recite their poem another time if they wish to improve their score.

We will finish presenting poems on Monday.


Homework:

Be prepared to present your Poetry Out Loud recitation for Monday if you did not present today.

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you did not do so today in class.

Complete or revise assignments as necessary.

12.12 - Poetry and Language (Substitute)

I was out sick from class today so a substitute was covering the class today. The directions for the substitute were as follows:

Students can then complete the “Poetry and Language” sheet using their Poetry Out Loud poem.
They should have a copy of their poem. There are some black and yellow books behind the teacher’s desk if they don’t have their poem. They can also print the poem from the Poetry Out Loud site.

When students are done with this, they can do any of the following:

Finish reading chapter 2 of Anthem and responding to the following questions:

1 - Why does Equality 7-2521 love Liberty 5-3000? What does his love for her tell us about him?
2 - How is love treated in Equality's society? What risks is Equality taking by falling in love with Liberty?

complete the “Poem Tones” worksheet
quietly work at memorizing their Poetry Out Loud Poem
other work that can be completed independently

Homework:

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you did not do so today in class.

Respond to the chapter two questions listed above if you did not finish them in class.

Finish the Poetry and Tone sheet if you did not do so today in class.

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem in preparation for our presentations on Friday.

12.11 - Poem Recitation / Anthem Chptr 2

We started today's class with 15 minutes for everyone to work on their Poetry and Tone sheet.
If this was not finished today in class, it should be finished for homework.
This sheet should help give people an idea of the tones present in their poem and what emotion they should use in presenting it.

Next, we returned to practicing our poem recitations. Everyone had about 10 minutes to practice reciting their poem.

We then returned to our work with Anthem. We began with the following prompt question which people responded to in their writing journals:

What can you learn about someone based on the relationship partners they choose (friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, spouses, etc.)? Explain your responses.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt we discussed student responses to these questions. Responses looked at how you learn what somebody values and what sorts of things they are interested in through the different people that they choose as relationship partners.

We then began working with chapter two of Anthem. People were reading or reviewing the chapter depending on whether they had already read it or not. After doing this, everyone responded to the following questions:

1 - Why does Equality 7-2521 love Liberty 5-3000? What does his love for her tell us about him?

2 - How is love treated in Equality's society? What risks is Equality taking by falling in love with Liberty?

Everyone had the last 20 minutes of class to work on these responses.


Homework:

Bring in a hard copy of your Poetry Out Loud poem for class tomorrow. 

Respond to the chapter two questions listed above if you did not finish them in class.

Finish the Poetry and Tone sheet if you did not do so today in class.

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem in preparation for our presentations on Friday.

12.10 - Poet Warrior

We started today's class by watching two Poetry Out Loud performances from Poetry Out Loud's competitions. In watching these presentations everyone took note of the following two elements in their writer's journals:

1 - What tones do you see the performers using in their recitations? How do they communicate these tones to their audience?

2 - These performances are in a recitation style. Based on what you observe, what are some of the characteristics of the recitation style?

After everyone had a chance to respond to these questions, we discussed everyone's answers. Significant points that people noticed were:

Performers communicate their tone via expression in their voice, facial expression, how quickly or slowly they speak, how quietly or loudly they speak, and using pauses in their recitation.

Characteristics of the recitation style are delivering the poem while standing in one place, communicating emotion through the use of voice and facial expressions, and using dramatic hand gestures. While hand gestures are dramatic, we also noted how they were not over done. Gestures are used at very specific moments to make certain parts of the poem stand out.

We then began working with a Poetry and Tone sheet which will help everyone to start thinking about the tones and emotions that are present in their poem. Everyone had time to copy their poem out onto this sheet and to begin to analyze tone.

After 10 minutes, we took a break to practice reciting our poems. Everyone first practiced reciting their poem with a partner. I then introduced a recitation game called "Poet Warrior" that people could play with their partner as sort of a challenge and way to help keep the continued repetition engaging.

Details of this game are as follows:

(Click Images to Enlarge)

We practiced our poems until the last ten minutes of class. In the last ten minutes of class, everyone returned to working on their Poetry and Tone sheet (now hopefully with a better understanding of their poem through the additional practice in reciting and working with it).








Homework:

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem in preparation for our presentations on Friday.

Make sure you have finished your outline and formal response to the question about federal prison inmates and internet access.

Make sure you have finished responding to the post-reading questions for the first chapter of Anthem.

Bring in a hard copy of your Poetry Out Loud poem for class tomorrow. 

12.09 - Inmates and the Internet / Anthem Chptr 1 Questions

At the beginning of class today, we returned to our discussion of whether or not inmates in federal prisons should have access to the internet. We began with everyone writing down their general perspective on the topic. I then handed out outline sheets which everyone filled out to develop their perspective on the topic. Everyone completed the outline sheet and then wrote their response formally in paragraph form.

After everyone completed this, we went around and shared out whether or not people felt inmates in federal prisons should have full access to the internet, no access to the internet, or limited access to the internet. In this share out we came down to a tie between limited internet and no internet.

Next, everyone returned to working on the post-reading questions for chapter 1 of Anthem. Everyone had the rest of the period to complete these questions.

For class tomorrow, each person should bring in a printed copy of their poem.

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish your outline and formal response to the question about federal prison inmates and internet access.

If you did not do so in class, finish responding to the post-reading questions for the first chapter of Anthem.

Bring in a hard copy of your Poetry Out Loud poem for class tomorrow.

12.06 - Internet Access for Prisoners

In looking at Animal Farm, "Harrison Bergeron," and Anthem, we have been talking about the ways that governments control and restrict access to information. While we, as Americans, live in a very free and open society, even our society sometimes has to restrict and control information. One way that this happens is in federal prisons where inmates do not have access to the internet. This serves both to further restrict inmates activities (one of the main goals of prison) and prevents prisoners from committing further crimes in prison (stalking, threatening, making illegal sales/purchases online). However, inmates who were imprisoned before the internet was as developed and widely used as it is today are released into a world that is very different from the one they left and this limits their opportunities to positively engage in society upon release.

In class, we read the following article to better understand this situation.

Internet Access in Prison

After reading the article we read and responded to the associated questions. We began discussing individuals' perspectives on these questions and moved to a fish bowl format to enable people to be better heard in this discussion (guidelines for a fishbowl discussion are below).

(Click Image to Enlarge)

We will return to our work with Anthem next class.

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish reading chapter one of Anthem. We will have time to finish responding to the questions tomorrow in class.

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem.

 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

12.05 - Routines and Government Control

We started today's class with the following writing prompt which everyone responded to in their writer's journal:

Describe your daily (Monday - Friday) routine. Be sure to include at what times you do things and where you do them. This can be written as a narrative, chart, or bullet points.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this question, we shared out some general features like who gets up earliest and who stays up latest. Then we went around and everyone shared out one thing that someone could learn about them by looking at their daily routine. We used this discussion to transition back to looking at what life is like for Equality 7-2521 in Anthem.

I read the passage from pages 27-28 in the  Anthem Setting the Scene Questions handout and then we discussed everyone's responses to questions 5 and 6. Everyone then had the rest of the period to finish reading chapter one and to respond to the post-reading questions for the  Anthem Setting the Scene Questions. 

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish reading chapter one of Anthem. We will have time to finish responding to the questions tomorrow in class.

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem.

 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

 

12.04 - Equality 7-2521 and Society in Anthem

Our focus for class today was on what Equality 7-2521 in Anthem is like as a person and what his society is like. To guide us through this work, everyone had a copy of the following handout:

Anthem Setting the Scene Questions

We began class with everyone responding to the first two pre-reading questions:

1 - What are some ways that other people control what happens in your life?

2 - What are some ways in which you establish your identity as an individual?

After everyone had a chance to respond to these questions, we discussed students' answers. From here we transitioned into reading chapter one of Anthem. We stopped during our reading to answer questions three through six after reading the selected passages on the sheet as part of the whole chapter. Everyone responded to these questions using evidence from both the featured passages and the rest of the chapter. We will resume working with these questions tomorrow.

Homework:

If you did not finish responding to questions 3 - 6 of the Anthem Setting the Scene Questions in class, do so for homework.

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem.

 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
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12.03 - Poem Message and Imagery / Anthem

At the beginning of class today, everyone practiced reading their poem out loud for three minutes. In doing this, everyone was encouraged to read the poem once through and then repeat reading it until time was up or repeat specific sections until the end of the 3 minutes.

Next, we returned to working with the illustrated stanza sheet for the Poetry Out Loud poems people have selected. Today, we focused on the question on the back at the bottom of the sheet:

Identify some key images from the poem that you feel are important to the overall meaning of the poem.
Describe how these images enhance the overall meaning of the poem.

In class we discussed how these responses should contain the following pieces of information:

1- Identify and explain the theme/message of the poem (using examples from the poem).

2 - Two images/moments that are key to understanding/appreciating this theme.

3 - Discussion of why these images/moments are key to understanding this theme.

Everyone had about 20 minutes to respond to this question.

I then handed out copies of our next book, Anthem and everyone signed them out using the online sign out form.

We then read the first three pages of the book together and everyone took notes on the following points in their writer's journal:

What is Equality 7-2521 like as a person?

What is the world in which Equality 7-2521 lives like?

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish the processing question on the back of your illustrated stanza sheet for your poem.

 

Practice your Poetry Out Loud poem.

 

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
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12.02 - Illustrated Stanzas

At the beginning of class today, I shared a mailer that I received from the Ayn Rand Institute to promote Rand's works. We reviewed the definition of Objectivism (the rational pursuit of one's own happiness). As a group we read over the mailer and then everyone responded to the following prompt question in their writer's journal:

Is this sort of promotion in keeping with the ideals of Objectivism or does it go against them? Explain your response.

Extra time: What do you think about this sort of promotion (fun contest? tacky ad? clever marketing?)

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' responses.

Next, we transitioned to working with our Poetry Out Loud poems.

I talked a little about memorization and how a key to memorization is connecting with what you are memorizing in different ways. One way that people have found helpful in connecting to something they have to memorize is to clearly visualize what they are saying.

To engage this memorization technique I provided students with an illustrated stanza sheet for their poem. I described how to go about completing this sheet. It is important for drawings to be detailed so that each person is developing clear visual imagery to go with their poem. This does not mean someone has to be a good artist, they just have to have a drawing with plenty of detail. I used the first stanza of my poem "To a Mouse" as an example in class (see below).

(Click image to enlarge)

Illustrations should have more detail (be much fancier) than this illustration.
Due to time constraints, I sketched out the first few ideas for my illustration.

Everyone then had the next 25 minutes to write out and illustrate the stanzas/visual sections of their poem. At the end of class, we went around and everyone shared out what their poem was and what they felt it was about.

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish your illustrated stanza sheet for your poem.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.26 - Poetry Out Loud

The first half of today's class was focused on exploring some ideas that will be important in reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. We will start this book after the break.

Today we did an activity in which everyone had a name and a job assigned to them as part of constructing a perfect new society. After having this name and job assigned, everyone reflected on whether or not they thought the plan would work and why/why not.

Next, we looked at how language can be used to separate people and single them out and make them feel like they aren't a part of the group. To prevent this, we made the rule that no one could use the words I, me, mine, you, your, yours, he, she, her, him, his, hers. Instead we spoke only using "we, us, our, and ours." With these rules, everyone talked to a couple of people in which they discussed the following questions:

What is going to be happening this weekend for the holidays?

Which holiday is the best holiday?

Following these discussions, we discussed what it was like to restrict language in this way. These are all ideas we will look at more in this unit.

Next, we started working with Poetry Out Loud. I read the poem I am going to memorize ("To a Mouse") to the class. We then reviewed the guidelines and practice tips for Poetry Out Loud.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to read poems and identify poems they may be interested in reading. The approach for reading poetry today was to be a lot like looking at a restaurant at a menu where you review a lot of the items and keep in mind what sounds best before making a final decision.

The Poetry Out Loud poem finder page is a great resource in looking for poems.


Homework:

Read through a variety of poems for Poetry Out Loud and find a poem that you would like to memorize and recite (choose a poem you want to explore and would like to work more with).

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.25 - Roots and Prefixes Set 7 / Revisions

At the beginning of class today, everyone had a few minutes to review their roots and prefixes from set 7. We then played language ninja for ten minutes as a means of review. After the game, we had the set 7 quiz which we corrected together when everyone was done.

In the remaining half of the period, we reviewed class performance on recent assignments and talked about what worked well and what needed improvement on these assignments generally (slides below).

 (click image to enlarge)

(click image to enlarge)

Several students then helped me to return work and I handed out grade report sheets. Everyone had the remaining time in period to complete any missing work and revise any assignments scoring below a 92. During this time, I met individually with students to answer questions and talk about assignments.

Homework:

Complete or revise assignments as needed.

11.22 - The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song and Ayn Rand

Today in class, we returned to our work with "The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song." We listened to the song again and then discussed everyone's reactions to and interpretations of the song. We used the following set of lyrics to guide our discussion and in the next part of the activity:

The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song

In our discussion, we focused specifically on the lines:

It's a very dangerous thing to do
Exactly what you want?

Because you cannot know yourself
Or what you'd really do 

With all your power

Everyone analyzed these lines in their writer's journal. We then reviewed the main idea of Ayn Rand's theory of Objectivism and then everyone had the rest of the period to respond to the prompt analyzing how she would respond to this song.

Homework:

Finish responding to the prompt analyzing how Ayn Rand would feel about The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.21 - Ayn Rand Research Wrap-Up

Today in class, everyone was working independently to finish their two paragraphs on what Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is and what in her life lead to the creation of this philosophy.

People were wrapping-up their work according to where they were at in the process. The steps in order were:

Complete Research (finding seven relevant facts from three sources)
Outline (establishing a thesis and using facts to help prove it)
Writing (use the outline to write two paragraphs answering our research questions)

In class, we went over what each portion of the outline would do and talked about possible responses to these different sections of the outline. Our notes on what each portion of the outline would do were as follows:

(click image to enlarge)

Materials used today included:

Ayn Rand Research sheet
Ayn Rand Research documents

Research outline and response

At the end of class, we listened to "The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song" by the Flaming Lips and everyone responded to the questions below. We will be working with this song more next class.

 

(click image to enlarge)

Homework:

Finish all steps of the Ayn Rand research if you did not do so in class.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.20 - Ayn Rand Research Outline and Response

We started today's class with the following writing prompt:

(click image to enlarge)

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students answers looking at who agreed, who disagreed, and who felt conflicted about her perspective. This lead us into discussion of the terms, "objective" and "subjective" which we defined as follows:

Subjective - a perspective based on personal feelings or opinions

Objective - a perspective that is universal, not based on personal feelings or opinions

We discussed how Rand's perspective on love is that it should be an objective decision in which we decide to love people who are worthy of our love. Some people in class argued that love is an entirely subjective experience and no one can say what it is like for someone else. 

This lead us back to what objectivism means and how Ayn Rand came to this idea. 

In getting back into this, everyone finished their Ayn Rand research and then organized their responses to the questions through the provided outline:

What was Ayn Rand's social/political philosophy?
How did she come to this philosophy?

After everyone finished the outline, there was time to turn the outline into a formally written response.

Materials used today included:

Ayn Rand Research sheet
Ayn Rand Research documents

Research outline and response

Homework:

If you did not do so in class today, finish your research, outline, and response on Ayn Rand's political/social philosophy of Objectivism and how she came to this philosophy.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.19 - Ayn Rand Research

We started today's class with the following writing prompt:

In your opinion, what is the most important thing in life?
How does someone achieve, find, or hold on to this?

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' responses. The range of responses from class was:

Love
True Love
Love, Happiness, Peace, Food
Happiness
Food
Food and Water
Success (Power/Money)
Non-ignorance
Knowledge

We then watched Mike Wallace interview Ayn Rand (video below).

While watching this video, everyone considered the following question:

What would Ayn Rand say the most important thing in life is?
According to Rand, how would someone achieve this?


After we watched the video and everyone had a chance to respond to the prompt, we discussed students' responses.

We then discussed how Rand's response helps to give us some perspective on her philosophy, Objectivism. This lead us back to our research on Ayn Rand where everyone is gathering information on what Objectivism, her social/political philosophy, is and how she came to develop this philosophy.

In class, everyone use the Ayn Rand Research sheet to record their facts. I also had a number of research documents available for people to use in gathering this specific information about Rand.

Ayn Rand Research sheet
Ayn Rand Research documents

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish finding seven facts that provide information on Rand's social/political philosophy of Objectivism and what influenced her to come up with this philosophy.

11.18 - Revision and Ayn Rand Research

We started today's class with an assessment review of the "Harrison Bergeron" and "2081" theme comparison assignment (see below). In this we looked at trends in what people were doing well and which points seemed to trip people up in completing this assignment.

Everyone then had time to make revisions to their responses or to complete their response and turn it in if they had not done so already. People who had not yet turned this assignment in were asked to review and make any necessary changes based on today's feedback.

 (click image to enlarge)

Next, I handed out grade report sheets for the second quarter so far while some students helped to return assessed work. Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on these revisions and work on finding their facts about Ayn Rand our Ayn Rand research project.

In class we discussed how the seven facts (from three different sources) that people find should help answer the question:

What Was Ayn Rand's social/ political philosophy?
How did she come to this philosophy?

The computers in the back of the room were available for people to use as they completed their revisions. Everyone needed to check in with me to make sure all revisions were caught up before moving on to using the computers. The work progression for today is included below.

Work Progression

Complete/Revise "Harrison Bergeron" Story v. Film

Complete/Revise "Harrison Bergeron" and "2081" Theme Comparison

Revise roots/prefixes quizzes

Complete Ayn Rand research

Tomorrow we will look at writing our paragraphs on the Ayn Rand research.


Homework:

Complete any work on assignments that were not finished today in class.

For tomorrow, have your seven facts on Ayn Rand that help answer our question about what her political/social philosophy was and how she came to that philosophy.

11.15 - Ayn Rand Research

At the beginning of class today, everyone had time to review the set 6 roots and prefixes. We then played a round of Language Ninja (rules below) to review for our quiz.

(click image to enlarge)

After playing Language Ninja, we had the set 6 roots and prefixes quiz. As people finished the quiz, I handed out information about our Ayn Rand research project for people to review while other's finished.

We then corrected the set 6 quizzes which I collected back from everyone.

Next, everyone had time to work on one of our classroom desktop computers or a laptop to begin their Ayn Rand research.

In class, we talked about how the purpose of this research is not to just find general information out about Rand. The information people find should tell us about her social and political beliefs and what happened in her life that brought her to that perspective (see the discussion question on the back of the research sheet).

Everyone then had the rest of the period to find information on Rand.
We will write paragraphs about Rand next week.

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish your Ayn Rand research.
Specifics:
7 facts from 3 sources (not Wikipedia this time).
Facts should tell us what Ayn Rand believed in socially/politically and how she got to those beliefs.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.14 - Theme Writing "Harrison Bergeron" & "2081"

We started today's class with everyone taking out their theme comparison sheets for "Harrison Bergeron" and "2081" (see pages 3 and 4 of the linked document). Looking at the theme they elected to write about yesterday, everyone responded to the following prompt in their writer's journal:

Do you think the theme that you are focusing on in "Harrison Bergeron" is an important theme for us, here and now, in the US? Explain your response.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' answers. We then returned to working with partners to come up with a main idea to support the thesis selected yesterday and then evidence that would help to prove this main idea.

As a class, we talked through different possible main ideas for the various thesis statements and then talked about what sort of evidence would be best to prove those main ideas. Everyone then had time to write a formal paragraph that makes a claim about the difference between the theme as it is addressed in "Harrison Bergeron" and "2081."

With the remaining time, we prepped for the set 6 roots and prefixes quiz tomorrow by having everyone complete a root and prefix comic that makes use of three roots/prefixes.


Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish writing your theme comparison paragraph for "Harrison Bergeron."

Prepare for the set 6 roots and prefixes quiz tomorrow.
Roots/Prefixes Set 6 - List
Roots/Prefixes Set 6 - Practice

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.13 - 2081 Theme Comparison

At the beginning of class today, everyone completed the practice piece for the set 6 roots and prefixes. After everyone had a chance to complete this sheet, we reviewed answers as a class.

Next we had some revision around the comparison between "Harrison Bergeron" and the short film "2081" based on the story. The feedback provided to the class was as follows:

(click image to enlarge)

Everyone then had ten minutes to work on revising and/or completing their responses for this assignment.

Next, I put students in pairs to look at the development of theme in "2081" compared to "Harrison Bergeron" (see pages 3 and 4 of this document). Partners looked first at the different themes we identified for "Harrison Bergeron" and then talked about how these were addressed in "2081." 

The themes we were looking at were:

Equality should not impair people's talents.

Government holds back exceptional people.

Individuals should stand up to bad government.

Discussions questions about these themes that partners discussed were:

Is this theme still addressed in “2081?”
Where/When?

Do they do a better job?
How/Why?

After having these discussions, partners worked to come up with a thesis statement regarding how one of these themes was changed in "2081".

We will continue working with this more next class.


Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish coming up with a thesis statement regarding how one of the themes from "Harrison Bergeron" is adapted in "2081".
"2081" Theme Adaptation (see pages 3 and 4)

11.12 - Revision and Set 6 Roots/Prefixes

In today's class we were focused on revision of previously completed work. Anyone who had yet to complete an assignment had the opportunity to complete the assignment and those people who had already earned a 92 (our benchmark grade) had the opportunity to work on earning a 100. The assignments that we worked on today were:

Formal Diction Quiz (see Mr. Collins to make this up)

Unit 1 Roots and Prefixes Review Quiz - Revision Sheet
The 100 grade option for the roots/prefixes is available here based on a root/prefix that you choose. The assignment is modeled on Edward Gorey's alphabet drawings (though your root/prefix drawing does not have to be dark/macabre; it can be fun or straightforward). A model is available here.

I then handed out the set 6 roots and prefixes sheet which people had an opportunity to complete. For today, everyone only need to complete the front side (the root/prefix list).

Roots/Prefixes Set 6 - List
Roots/Prefixes Set 6 - Practice

Homework

Complete the Roots/Prefixes Set 6 - List.

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

 

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.08 - Harrison Bergeron and 2081 Comparison / Unit 1 Roots and Prefixes Quiz

We started today's class by reviewing the outline comparison between "Harrison Bergeron" and the short film adaptation of the story, "2081."

Our discussion specifically focused on changes that were made in the adaptation of the story and how those affected the story. Main points from this discussion were:

- In the movie, Hazel is in the kitchen for the whole broadcast instead of on the couch with George. The class felt this made the movie better because it created more tension. George has his handicaps and everyone felt that while watching it they knew he would soon forget it because of his handicaps. If Hazel were to see Harrison on TV she would at least remember it. People felt that watching George and knowing he wouldn't remember it and that Hazel hadn't seen it made it that much harder to watch because we know all along that what is happening will be forgotten.

In class, I talked about how this is an example of dramatic irony. Here, we as the audience, can see what is going to happen and understand more about the situation than the characters in it, but are unable to change the course of events.

- In the movie, the handicaps and general, overall feel is much more sleek and technology oriented than in the short story. In the story, Harrison's handicaps are much more ridiculous (red clown nose, black teeth, no eyebrows) and everyone's handicaps are much simpler. People in the class felt the sleek feeling was intended to indicate that this was in the future.

At the end of our discussion, everyone handed in the Harrison Bergeron and 2081 Outline Comparison.

We then played a round of Language Ninja in preparation for the unit 1 review quiz. The rules for this game and extra roles (aside from that of player) are below.   

 (click image to enlarge)

 (click image to enlarge)

We then had the unit 1 roots and prefixes quiz which we corrected immediately after everyone had completed it.

Homework:

Complete missing work and revise any assignment that scored below a 92.

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/piv

11.07 - "2081" Analysis and Comparison

We started today's class by watching the short film "2081" that we started in class yesterday. We had several people absent from class yesterday and the rest of the class wanted to see the beginning of the film again so we watched the full film uninterrupted. While watching, everyone was to take notes on the plot outline in the film to help in comparing it to Vonnegut's original "Harrison Bergeron" short story.

See yesterday's post to watch the short film or see Mr. Collins after school to watch "2081".

Click here to download another copy of the "Harrison Bergeron" and "2081" outline comparison.
(So far, we are only working with the first two pages of this document)

After we finished the film, everyone had the remaining time to complete the outline comparison and respond to the question on the back of the sheet regarding whether changes to the story in the film made it stronger or weaker overall.

We will continue to work with this comparison next class.

Homework:

If you did not finish your outline comparison or response to the "Critic's Corner" question in class, do so for homework.

11.06 - Harrison Bergeron (short story) vs 2081 (short film)

At the beginning of class today, everyone was working in small groups looking at sets of roots/prefixes from unit one and identifying words that make use of the roots and prefixes in that set. Each group had ten minutes to identify as many words as they could. These were then shared out with the class. The list of words generated is included below.

 (click image to enlarge)

 (click image to enlarge)

We then returned to working with the short story "Harrison Bergeron." Today, we are comparing the short story to a short film adaptation of the story called "2081" (which is the year in which the story is set).  In preparing to compare the stories, we summarized the plot outline which people took note of yesterday on a comparison sheet. 

We then watched the first half of "2081" with everyone taking notes on the exposition, inciting incident, and rising action. We will finish watching the film tomorrow and complete our notes on the rising action, climax, and falling action/resolution/denouement.

Homework:

Make sure your notes for the plot outline of "2081" are complete so far.

Study the unit 1 roots and prefixes for our quiz on Friday.

11.05 - Theme in Harrison Bergeron, Lisbon Bond Orders

We started today's class with the class working in three small groups. Each group was tasked with identifying and discussing a theme related to a specific concept (equality, government, the individual) in "Harrison Bergeron." These themes were then shared out and discussed with the class. The themes that were identified were as follows:

(click image to enlarge)

We then transitioned to looking at where careful reading and critical thinking skills are really important in life beyond high school: voting. Specifically, we were taking a look at the bond questions on this year's ballot in Lisbon.

In looking at these bonds, we read the bonds and then everyone received a typed copy of each bond, an article about bond question 1 (re: the Worumbo mill), and questions that analyze these bond questions.

Documents:
Article on the Worumbo Mill bond (link)
Typed bond questions (document)
Response Sheet (document)

For bond order question 1, everyone is to read the article and determine some of the arguments for and against the town buying the mill and then explain what they think is best to do based on arguments presented in the article and culled from their own experiences.

For bond order questions 2 OR 3, everyone is identifying significant language in the question to help figure out exactly what the question is asking and then explaining how this fits within the context of the question. The idea here is that understanding the question is half the battle and decoding language is key.

In class, partner groups looked at bond order 1 and then were assigned either bond order 2 or 3. If you are making this assignment up, just look at bond order 2.

Note: The questions on the response sheet do ask what people think the best choice is for the options listed. The questions were intended to be phrased in a manner which was not specifically asking how anyone particularly would vote though we acknowledged in class that this is a very slight difference. I was available to construct different questions for anyone who felt uncomfortable giving their perspective on the matter. I did talk about viewing discussion around voting and what the right choice is as a way to have dialogue and learn more about a topic, not a way to convince someone that your own view is correct. For the assignment there is no right or wrong answer, responses are assessed based on evidence and discussion of language (see rubrics on the response sheet).

Everyone had until the end of the period to work on this assignment. At the end we talked a little bit about the bond order questions. We will recap this reading tomorrow in class.

Homework:

Continue to study the unit one roots and prefixes for the review quiz on Friday.

If you did not do so today in class, finish responding to the questions on the response sheet for the bond order questions.

11.04 - Fairness and Equality

We started today's class by reviewing the unit 1 roots and prefixes. I handed out a list of the roots and prefixes and everyone identified as many as they could from memory. We then went back through and checked our responses (complete list below).

(click image to enlarge)

 (click image to enlarge)

We then transitioned back to working with Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" with everyone responding to the following prompt in their writer's journal:

The phrase, "Fair isn't equal and equal isn't fair" is often invoked when people talk about some circumstance or situation being "fair." 

What do you think this phrase means?

In your response, give an example that helps show what this means.

Do you agree with this phrase.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' answers. Our discussion identified that "equal" here means having exactly what someone else has while "fair" refers to a level playing field. We talked about how this could be like having two people who are thirsty and giving each person half a glass of water when one person has just been sitting around and one person just ran ten miles. Half a glass of water is equal, but it isn't fair (the person who just finished running should probably have more water as they should be more dehydrated). 

We then returned to the "Harrison Bergeron" story and "Harrison Bergeron" Plot and Theme Outline sheet with everyone looking at the story and identifying plot elements within the story. This is the work that we started last class. After everyone had a chance to revisit the story and identify these elements we reviewed the story and then talked about what message it appears to be sending (we also looked at the character descriptions to help us with this).

We began filling out what the themes for this short story could be. Everyone should finish doing this for homework.

Homework:

Study the unit 1 roots and prefixes from today's class.

Identify what message/theme "Harrison Bergeron" is communicating about equality, government, and an individual (as indicated on the "Harrison Bergeron" Plot and Theme Outline sheet).