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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

04.30 - Typical Gender Characteristics and Hunger Games Themes

At the beginning of class today, we returned to work with the gender characteristics that people identified as "typically" male and female yesterday. This was in the form of an activity that asked people to sort and group similar words together and then name the different groups of words they came up.

When everyone had had an opportunity to complete their categorization and labeling of word groups, a variety of people shared out words groups they came up with (see below).

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Next, we took a look at what it's like to consider these categories and identify how they may come up in our everyday culture. On the recommendation of a student in our class, we took a look at a clip from the "Red Green Show" (see below).


After watching the video, we discussed the ways in which Red Green exhibited traits from the categories we identified as being "typically" male and female. Categories that people saw as being particularly relevant were the male categories "Work Ethic" and "Dedicated" as well as the female category "2000's" (with a lot of emphasis on creativity).

The work we did with the "Red Green Show" and gender characteristics is similar to what we will be doing with The Hunger Games.

Next, we began working with The Hunger Games by taking a look at selected vocabulary from the first chapter and sorting this vocabulary into categories like we just did with the gender characteristics. Everyone had the rest of the period to finish working with this material. Those people who were not able to finish should do so for homework.

Handouts:
Typical Gender Characteristics Categories
The Hunger Games Vocabulary Categories


Homework:

If you did not do so in class, complete the Hunger Games Vocabulary Categories activity.

Prepare for the unit 3 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.

If you have not done so already, complete sections 1, 2, and 3 of the occupations research paper.
For information and resources associated with this project see the post: Research Wrap-Up: Feedback and Resources


Complete any unfinished assignments.
Revise any assignments scoring below a 92.
 
     To see which assignments need to be completed or revised check out Pinnacle:
     In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
     Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/pin
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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

04.29 - Typical People

Today we began our work with The Hunger Games. In this unit, we will be using The Hunger Games to explore how people use skills and knowledge gained through their occupations to effect change in their society. As part of this, we will be looking at the ways in which Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark use and transform traditional aspects of their gender to succeed in the book. To lay the groundwork for this discussion I lead an activity called "Typical People." Directions for the activity and the response sheet handed out in class are below.


Following this stage of the activity, everyone also brainstormed adjectives that they would use to describe the typical man. I collected these and will use them for an activity tomorrow.


Following this stage of the activity, everyone also brainstormed adjectives that they would use to describe the typical man. I collected these and will use them for an activity tomorrow.

I collected and posted the pictures that groups drew on the board and then we proceeded with a gallery walk.

Everyone then returned to their regular seats and responded to the following question.
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Handouts:
Typical People Response Questions


Homework:
If you did not do so in class, finish responding to the Typical People response questions.

Prepare for the unit 3 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.

If you have not done so already, complete sections 1, 2, and 3 of the occupations research paper.
For information and resources associated with this project see the post: Research Wrap-Up: Feedback and Resources

Complete any unfinished assignments.
Revise any assignments scoring below a 92.
 
     To see which assignments need to be completed or revised check out Pinnacle:
     In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
     Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/pin
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Monday, April 28, 2014

04.28 - Research Feedback / Revisions

Our class today was focused on reviewing work that was completed before break, working with the unit 3 roots and prefixes, and providing feedback on the research project. At the beginning of the period, I handed out updated grade report sheets and several people helped me to return work that was assessed over break.

We addressed the different tasks for today with everyone working in small groups with four stations set up around the room. Everyone had ten minutes in each area and had the other people in their group available for support. I explained the task and materials available at each area and then I was in the fourth group looking at class performance on the research project and responding to individual questions that people had about research or other class work. The various areas set up were as follows:

- - - - - - Research Feedback - - - - - -


In this area, everyone completed the research feedback survey online.
This survey is explained in detail in the post "Research Wrap-Up: Reflection and Resources"


- - - - - - Working/Gig Assignment Completion and Revision - - - - - -

People in this location had graphs representing class performance on these assignments, overall feedback, and an example of the difference in quality between a "70" level response and a "92" (see below). There were also extra copies of all of the handouts available.
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Reading Response Questions - Gig
      Flight Attendant interview - Gig
      Professional Hockey Player interview - Gig
      Autoplant Worker - Gig

Reading questions for Working texts
      Flight attendant reading (from Working)
      Autoplant worker reading (from Working)
      Hockey player reading (from Working)

- - - - - - Unit 3 Roots and Prefixes - - - - - -

In this area, people were working to fill in the definitions of the roots and prefixes that we had in unit 3.


- - - - - - Occupations Research Discussion 
and 
Small Group Check in w/ Mr. Collins  - - - - - -

In this area, I met with people in their small groups to review class performance on the occupations research project (see below). Everyone had time to discuss specific assignments with me and to address any questions about assignments (including the research project).

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Tomorrow we will begin work on our next unit which will use The Hunger Games to focus on how individuals can use their skills to create change in society.

Homework:

Prepare for the unit 3 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday (see study sheet above).

Complete any unfinished assignments.
Revise any assignments scoring below a 92.
 
     To see which assignments need to be completed or revised check out Pinnacle:
     In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
     Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/pin
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Research Wrap-Up: Feedback and Resources

April break was an opportunity for people to wrap up their work on the occupations research project.
Following break, we will be beginning our next unit.

I'd like to know what people in our class thought of this project so I have prepared a feedback form for everyone to complete (see below). Your feedback will help me assess the project and improve on it for next year.

This is a good opportunity for me to find out which parts people really liked and which parts are okay to change.

As a reminder: The goal of this project was to familiarize everyone with the research process and writing research papers. At the same time, we were using the research process to help everyone learn more about an occupation (job, activity, hobby) that positively influences society and that is something they might be interested in pursuing in the future.

Research Feedback Survey


If you need to complete or revise any sections of the public figure project, research documents for the project are located below. You can also come by after school for help from Mr. Collins from 2 - 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
 
Research Resource Documents:

The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:

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Friday, April 18, 2014

04.18 - Revisions

We started today's class with the set 15 roots and prefixes quiz. After everyone had finished taking the quiz we corrected them together, discussing the correct answers as we went.

Next, we looked at some final revisions to assignments before break. Our revisions were focused on our work with interviews. We reviewed assignments individually with everyone having ten minutes to work on completing or revising the assignment before we went on to the next assignment.

If people did not need to complete or revise an assignment, they worked on the reading response questions for the occupations from Working and Gig (flight attendant, autoplant worker, professional hockey player).

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 Relevant Handout:

  
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Relevant Handout:
Using Interviews in Research


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 Homework:

Complete any unfinished assignments.
Revise any assignments scoring below a 92.
     To see which assignments need to be completed or revised check out Pinnacle:
     In school: 192.168.8.7/Pinnacle/PIV
     Outside of school: http://pinweb.lisbonschoolsme.org/pinnacle/pin

A number of people may need to work on completing their occupations project.
Resources for the occupations project are located below.

Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:

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Thursday, April 17, 2014

04.17 - Occupations 2000

Everyone had the first fifteen minutes of today's class to work on the practice sheet for the set 15 roots and prefixes in preparation for the quiz on Friday.

We then returned to our work with how some occupations can change over time by looking at interview selections from the book Working (1972) and Gig (2000). I handed out selections to people from Gig on the same occupation that they were reading about from Working (flight attendant, autoplant worker, or professional hockey player). I also handed out reading questions for this new selection.

We reviewed the pre-reading, reading, and post-reading questions for the section with Gig which are similar to those from Working. The difference in this question set is that the post-reading questions look at how the description of the occupation in the year 2000 compares to the description in 1972.

We also reviewed the reading annotations where people underline facts and bracket opinions/perspective throughout the reading (see example below). Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on this reading and reading questions.

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With this passage, we also revisited our discussion of language in these passages.
Some of the people in these accounts swear. I explained yesterday how I had not edited these out or censored them since part of the idea with Working and Gig is to let everyday people speak for themselves. Today we talked about how swearing is an aggressive act that people can do to assert themselves or create distance for themselves from a certain topic. Looking at this language in this way can then provide some additional insight into a person's character.

We will complete our work with these texts tomorrow.

Handouts:

Reading Response Questions - Gig


Flight Attendant interview - Gig
Professional Hockey Player interview - Gig
Autoplant Worker - Gig
Homework:

Finish reading about the occupation you selected in Gig and respond to questions 1, 2, and 3 on the reading sheet.

Prepare for the set 15 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Word List
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Practice

If you have not yet done so, finish section three of your occupations project.
I will be assessing this section and revisions to sections 1 and 2 this weekend.




Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:
NoodleTools: Getting Started
NoodleTools: Bibliography
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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

04.15 - Occupations 1972

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

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These quotes are ones which Studs Terkel uses in the beginning of his book Working.

After everyone had an opportunity to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' responses to these quotations. 

I then introduced Studs Terkel's book Working from 1972 which uses interviews to explore the working world and perspectives of everyday people. We'll be looking at interviews from this book and interviews from the book Gig from 2000. We will be reading and analyzing an interview for the same job from each book.

Everyone was able to choose one of the following occupations to read about:
Flight Attendant
Auto-Plant Worker*
Professional Hockey Player

*The interviewee for the autoplant text is also the local union president. This means that the focus isn't just on work at the autoplant, but also on what it is to be in a union. This was a large part of the auto industry in the 1970s. In class, we took some time to talk about the role of unions in the work place and what unions looked like in the 1970s.

Everyone got a copy of reading questions to guide their reading and one of the texts above (see handouts below for extra copies). We reviewed the pre-reading, reading, and post-reading questions. I explained the reading question 3 using the beginning of the professional hockey player text as an example. Underlining facts and bracketing opinions/perspective can look like this:

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Everyone then had the rest of the period to begin working with this material.

Handouts:
Reading questions for Working texts

Flight attendant reading (from Working)
Autoplant worker reading (from Working)
Hockey player reading (from Working)

Homework:

Finish reading about the occupation you selected from Working and respond to questions 1, 2, and 3 on the reading sheet. We will wrap up our work with this text next class and then look at the same occupation 28 years later in 2000.

Prepare for the set 15 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.

Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Word List
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Practice



If you have not yet done so, finish section three of your occupations project.
I will be assessing this section and revisions to sections 1 and 2 this weekend.



Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:
NoodleTools: Getting Started
NoodleTools: Bibliography
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04.16 - Polar Opposites: Jobs

We started today with an activity called Polar Opposites. In this activity, I read a statement which was also projected on the SMART board. The corners of the room were labeled "strongly agree", "agree", "disagree", and "strongly disagree". People moved to the corner of the room which reflected their feelings on that statement. People in that corner of the room took a moment to discuss their perspective on the topic and then we went around to hear out from different groups about their perspectives on the statement. When we had heard from everyone, we moved on to the next statement.

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Statements we discussed today were:
The best jobs are the ones where you make the most money.
The easier a job is, the better it is.
It is better to be a boss than an employee.
Hard working people get better jobs.
The less money someone makes, the less important their job is.
You’ll be happiest with your job if you’re the one in charge.
Everyone then had the rest of the period to complete their work with the selection from Working that we began working with yesterday (handouts available below).

Handouts:
Reading questions for Working texts

Flight attendant reading (from Working)
Autoplant worker reading (from Working)
Hockey player reading (from Working)
 
Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish the reading and questions about the occupation you selected from Working.

Prepare for the set 15 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Word List
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Practice

If you have not yet done so, finish section three of your occupations project.
I will be assessing this section and revisions to sections 1 and 2 this weekend.


Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:
NoodleTools: Getting Started
NoodleTools: Bibliography

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Monday, April 14, 2014

04.14 - Occupation Skills

At the beginning of class today, I handed out set 15 roots and prefix practice sheets. Everyone then had about ten minutes to work on the first sheet (the word list) in class. We will have the quiz for this set of roots and prefixes on Friday.

Next, we returned to working with our occupations through a couple thought experiments. In class, I explained that these thought experiments are not meant to be realistic. Instead, the ideas is to think creatively about your occupation and really explore the different ways in which we can think about how that occupation shapes a person and their abilities. Everyone worked with an assigned partner in class and wrote down their responses to these questions.

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For the final question (see below) everyone jotted down their own notes:

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In debriefing this activity, we discussed how the second section of the occupations research paper is one that should focus on the these skills and tools. These are the points which people should be researching and discussing to develop a better understanding of the contributions made by their occupation to the world. This is the aspect in people's papers that have been lacking in assessments of this section so far.

 Handouts:
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Word List
Set 15 Roots and Prefixes - Practice


Homework:

Complete any written sections of your occupations project that are not yet complete.
Section 3 of this paper is due on Friday.

Prepare for the set 15 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.

Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:
NoodleTools: Getting Started
NoodleTools: Bibliography
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Friday, April 11, 2014

04.11 - Occupations Research

At the beginning of class today we had the set 14 roots and prefixes quiz. When everyone was done taking the quiz, we corrected quizzes together as a class.

After a quick check in using the hand system (below), everyone had the rest of the period to work on their occupations research. During this time I met individually with people to check in on their progress and answer questions or otherwise help with project work.

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Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:
NoodleTools: Getting Started
NoodleTools: Bibliography
 
 
Homework:

Conduct your second role model interview with someone who is not in our class.
Use information from this interview to respond to the role model prompt.

Continue working on your occupations project. Everyone should be working on section 3 of their research project at this point.

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/pin
 
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Thursday, April 10, 2014

04.10 - A Day in the Life

At the beginning of class today, everyone had time to work on either their set 14 roots and prefix practice or their write up for their second role model interview (see handouts below). We then reviewed answers for the set 14 roots and prefix practice.

Next, everyone was asked to take about two minutes and respond to the following prompt:

What is something that you feel other people should appreciate about the occupation you have been researching?

Then, everyone broke themselves up into groups of three and used their responses as part of an activity called "A Day in the Life." I explained that this was based on an activity called "The Good Show." We reviewed how "The Good Show" works so that people would better understand how to approach the "A Day in the Life" activity (we only had time for this later activity in class though).

We did not do a "Good Show" skit in class. The skit we did do was based on this format though so I explained how the format worked and how we are modifying it to fit our occupations work.
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 We did the "A Day in the Life" skit in class.
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 People were nervous about presenting in front of the class so we broke the class into two sets of groups and groups presented to each other. Then, a couple groups volunteered to present their skit to the full class. We will continue working with our occupations projects next class.

Handouts:
Role Model Interview: Outside of Class edition

Roots and prefixes set 14 - word list
Roots and prefixes set 14 - practice


 Homework:

If you have not done so already, conduct your second role model interview with someone who is not in our class. If this is what you were doing in class today, complete the set 14 roots and prefixes practice sheet.

Conduct your second role model interview with someone who is not in our class.
Use information from this interview to respond to the role model prompt.

Continue working on your occupations project.


Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:


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/pin
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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

04.09 - Occupations Project Work

At the beginning of class today, everyone had time to work on either their set 14 roots and prefix practice or their write up for their second role model interview (see handouts below).

Next, we reviewed the sections of the public figure project (see notes below) and how to use the class site to answer any research related questions. Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on their occupations project. I met individually with people to answer questions and help them with their projects during this time.

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Handouts:
Role Model Interview: Outside of Class edition

Roots and prefixes set 14 - word list
Roots and prefixes set 14 - practice

Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
 
Interviews:
 
Outlines:
Using your research:
 
Research and Set Up:


Homework:

If you have not done so already, conduct your second role model interview with someone who is not in our class. If this is what you were doing in class today, complete the set 14 roots and prefixes practice sheet.

Conduct your second role model interview with someone who is not in our class.
Use information from this interview to respond to the role model prompt.

Prepare for the set 14 roots and prefix quiz on Friday.

Continue working on your occupations project.

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/pin
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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

04.08 - Using Interviews in Research

The focus of our class today was on how to make use of interviews when writing a research paper. This lesson was designed to help people plan their questions for their interviews and get a sense for how information from the interview can be effectively incorporated into a research paper.

Everyone had about 20 minutes to read a two page excerpt from another students' research paper in which they did a nice job incorporating an interview into their writing. Everyone then answered several questions looking at how research is used, how the interview was used, comparing these two uses, and then giving an overall evaluation of the excerpt (see handout below).

Once everyone had a chance to read the excerpt and respond to the questions, we discussed everyone's responses together as a class. This discussion lead us to the idea that an effective interview is one that brings the research (the big facts and ideas) to life and shows what that information looks like. An interview can also help fill in gaps in the research by investigating questions that were not answered in other sources. Everyone then had the rest of the period to write their research questions (guidelines that were written on the board printed below).

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 Handouts:
Using Interviews in Research

 Homework:

If you have received a 92 or higher on your interview request script, get in touch with your potential interview candidate and request an interview. If you are having difficulty with this, come and talk to Mr. Collins.

Prepare for the set 14 roots and prefixes quiz on Thursday.
Roots and prefixes set 14 - word list
Roots and prefixes set 14 - practice

Continue writing section 3 of your occupations research paper (see below for resources)


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/pin

Occupations material/handouts: 
The research project:
Using your research:
Research and Set Up:
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