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.

 

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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).

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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.

 

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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:

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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.

 

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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.

 

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11.20 - Ayn Rand Research Outline and Response

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

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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:

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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.

 

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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.   

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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:
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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.

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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:

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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).

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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).

11.01 - Roots and Prefixes Set 5 Quiz - Harrison Bergeron and Theme

We started today's class by playing Language Ninja with a focus on the set five roots and prefixes.
We then had the set five roots and prefixes quiz.

After the quiz, we reviewed the main elements of a plot outline and where those elements occurred in Animal Farm. I then handed out a sheet that defined these elements (with a plot outline map on the back). For homework, everyone should identify where these elements occur in the "Harrison Bergeron" story. We will continue working with this sheet next class.

Homework:

Use the "Harrison Bergeron" Plot and Theme Outline sheet to identify where the different plot elements occur in the story.

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

Keep up to date on your grades through Pinnacle:
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