One-Minute Speeches, Round 3: November 30, 2018

Focus: What delivery skills do we need to practice?

1. Warming up by circling the wagon with your personal speech goals

2. Assigning roles, being an empathetic audience, and delivering your speeches

a. Assign one time keeper. 

• Hold up your hand when there are 10 seconds left. 
• The speaker must remain standing for at least 50 seconds, even if that person runs out of things to say. 
• You can let the speaker go 10 seconds over, but then you have to cut him/her off.

b. Assign someone to film each speech (optional, but encouraged). 

• The filmer must send the video to the speech giver once all the speeches have been given.

c. Please be efficient in transitioning from one speaker to the next. MAKE SURE ANY SLIDES YOU MAY HAVE ARE IN YOUR SHARED FOLDER.

3. Reviewing your goal: Did you meet it? If so, how did you improve? If not, what do you need to work on over the next two weeks?

HW:
1. For MONDAY: 

• Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.
• IF YOU WERE ABSENT TODAY, YOU WILL GIVE YOUR SPEECH ON MONDAY.

2. For TUESDAY: Assigned book club reading and syllabus-creating. Feel free to Google search "Teaching ______ (name of your book)" and utilize activities and questions that are already out there. Just be sure to cite on your syllabus which websites you used.Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.

Transcendentalist Book Clubs, Day 1: November 29, 2018

Focus: What does it take to be self-reliant?

1. Warming up by connecting to your peers' perceptions of self-reliance (10 minutes)

• Priority #1: Make sure your blog is complete and posted.

• Priority #2: Leave comments others' blogs. Intellectual reflections? Emotional reactions? Questions? Please be specific and thorough (much like Fishbowl blogging).

• Priority #3: In your book club book, try this out: Flip through the reading you've done in your book so far. Are there any lines in your book that connect to "Self-Reliance"? Or to the idea of transcending something? Mark them on comment in the margins, or add them to your blog or syllabus.

• As a class: According to Emerson, what must we do to be self-reliant?

2. Engaging in your transcendentalist book clubs: Day 1 (40 minutes)

3. Completing a quick exit ticket (5 minutes)

HW:
1.  For FRIDAY:

• Prepare your one-minute speech (click below to see the topic you signed up for). PLEASE USE AT LEAST ONE SLIDE OR PROP IN YOUR PRESENTATION, BUT NO MORE THAN THREE.
• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.
• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.

2. For TUESDAY: Assigned book club reading and syllabus-creating. Feel free to Google search "Teaching ______ (name of your book)" and utilize activities and questions that are already out there. Just be sure to cite on your syllabus which websites you used.

Self Reliance: November 28, 2018

Focus: What does it mean to be self-reliant, and why did the Transcendentalists value self-reliance

1. Warming up with a satirical criticism of millennials and their lack of self-reliance; creating a "Self-Reliance" post

• Before watching: What does it mean to be self-reliant? Create your own definition.

• While watching: To what extent is the video's criticism accurate? Do you think millennials lack self-reliance? What enables this?

• After watching: Based on your definition, would you describe yourself as self-reliant? Why or why not?

2. Taking time to read "Self-Reliance" and journal/blog

If you finish early, click HERE for a recent article about helicopter parenting.
Reading...

• Read Emerson's "Self-Reliance" (there's a vocab sheet if you're getting stuck).

• Let your eyes skim over the lines that don't interest you as much.

• Let your eyes settle on the lines that resonate with you. Underline them.

Journaling...

• Find 3-5 lines from the essay you appreciate/love/agree with. ENTER THEM IN THE BLOG JOURNAL (the one you kept for ELIC).

• For each line you've chose, reflect and react. You can simply write, you can create a short video, you can draw and upload your drawing, or you can include a combination of photographs and writing. 

• Use your reaction to figure out why you're connecting to the lines you've chosen. Why does this matter to you? Why should this matter to everyone?

• "To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature...The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child." -- from Emerson's "Nature"
•  I chose this image of my three-year-old and five-year-old, bundled up in sweaters, jackets, and hats, because they beg me each morning and afternoon to go outside. They enjoy the quiet darkness of a winter morning. They can't wait to kick their legs on the swings in the summer. In the fall, they chase leaves, In the spring, they taste rain and leave sloppy footprints in the leftover snow. When did I stop going outside to play? 

HW:
1.  Assigned book club reading and syllabus-creating for Thursday. Feel free to Google search "Teaching ______ (name of your book)" and utilize activities and questions that are already out there. Just be sure to cite on your syllabus which websites you used.

2. For FRIDAY:

• Prepare your one-minute speech (click below to see the topic you signed up for). PLEASE USE AT LEAST ONE SLIDE OR PROP IN YOUR PRESENTATION, BUT NO MORE THAN THREE.
• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.
• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.

Going Book Clubbing: November 27, 2018

Focus: How do we set up successful Transcendentalist book clubs?

Please turn in your signed letters.

1. Warming up with brainstorming ideas for your final speech: What is your ideal America? (15 min)

2. Offering you an overview of book clubs: Your freedoms and responsibilities

• Click HERE for a sample book club syllabus.

3. Setting your own schedules and manifestos

• Fill out the bookmark: Which reading will be due which days? Who will be in charge of the syllabus each day? Please write this on your bookmark AND in your calendars.

• Create a shared folder called "Book Club Folder." It should be shared with each member of your group and placed inside your Transcendentalism folder. ALL SYLLABI AND CLASSWORK must be placed inside this folder.

• Complete your book club manifesto and place it inside your shared book club folder

HW:
1.  Assigned book club reading and syllabus-creating for Thursday.

2. For FRIDAY:

• Prepare your one-minute speech (click below to see the topic you signed up for).
• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.
• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.

Your Verse: November 26, 2018

Focus: What will your verse be?

1. Warming up with three good things and reflections on your memoirs

"That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

From Walt Whitman's "Oh Me! Oh Life!"

2. Offering you an overview of the final speech and brainstorming possible topics for your speeches on ideal visions of America

• As you peruse the links below, take out one index card for each commercial. 

• Jot down the specific vision of America that each offers. 

• Another way of thinking about it: What do we, as Americans, value? What do we want our country to be?

Michael Phelps/Rule Yourself
Women's Gymnastics/Rule Yourself
Jeep: Free To Be
Jeep Superbowl: Portraits
Liberty Mutual
Nike: The Jogger
Nike: Excuses
Nike: Extra Time
Go Army
iPhone/FIFA
iPhone/Olympics 2016
Dicks Sporting Goods: Gold in US
Visa Go World
Dove: How Our Girls See Themselves
Be Brave
Michael Jordan: Failure
Subaru: Daughter
Ram Trucks: Farmer
Ram Trucks: The Courage Inside
Still I Rise: University of Phoenix
Panera: Eat Clean
What Will Your Verse Be?

If you can think of other ads/short videos that focus on ideal visions of America, please e-mail them to me right away & I'll add them to this list.

3. Collecting, ranking, and specifying your ideals by personal interest and importance

• Click HERE to enter your final speech topic.

4. Finalizing your transcendentalist book clubs

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: 

• Bring your book club book and signed letter to class.

• Make sure your Gothic assessment is complete and inside your shared folder.

2. For THURSDAY: Assigned book club reading (to be determined by club on Tuesday).

3. For FRIDAY:

• Prepare your one-minute speech (click below to see the topic you signed up for).
• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.
• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• Finalize your topic for your FINAL SPEECH by entering it here.

Mastering the Gothic Unit: November 16, 2018

Focus: How do we apply what we've learned throughout the Gothic unit?

1. Warming up with and overview of the timed writing: Click HERE.

2. Composing a Gothic timed writing on The Village

3. Wrapping up by making sure your essay is inside your shared Gothic folder

HW:
1. If you did not finish your timed writing in class, please finish over the break (no later than Tuesday after break).

2. For TUESDAY AFTER BREAK: Bring in your transcendentalist book and your signed proposal.

3. For FRIDAY AFTER BREAK: Start preparing your one-minute speech for next Friday, November 30. Use the rubric to guide your preparation. If you have not yet selected your topic, please do so immediately.

• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

Close Reading The Village: November 15, 2018

Focus: How do we analyze evidence from a film?

1. Warming up with a "Friday" freewrite on The Village and 9/11:

M. Night Shyamalan (writer, director, and producer of The Village) has stated that he created this film in response to the post-9/11 culture of fear and hysteria. 

• Where do you see this film specifically addressing post 9/11 culture? 

• What does this film have to say about our semester questions:
• What do Americans fear?
• What do we do to feel safe, and does it work? Why or why not?

3. Performing a sample close reading of a scene together to get you ready for your end-of-unit assessment tomorrow

Gather evidence: List at least three specific details from this scene that could be read symbolically. Look especially for details that can be read in at least two different ways.

Find the pattern: Brainstorm what ideas theses details have in common.

Connect to something bigger: Look through our Gothic mysteries and your Village viewing guide. Does anything here connect to the ideas/evidence you just explored?

Draft a thesis: Compose a thesis statement that asserts how one of the Gothic elements or a specific symbol reveals a larger theme about fear and/or safety (a Level 3 idea) in The Village. What do we fear? What do we do to feel safe? Does it work?

Sample: In The Village, M. Night Shyamalan uses the Gothic element of the forest's uncanny sounds to illuminate that our greatest fears result not from external forces but from our own insecurity and imagination.
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Switching gears!

4. Offering you the transcendentalist book club overview and giving you time to browse and start forming groups

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Finalize your thesis for tomorrow's in-class writing on The Village. Click HERE for a detailed overview of the timed writing expectations.

2. For TUESDAY AFTER BREAK: Bring in your transcendentalist book and your signed proposal.

3. For FRIDAY AFTER BREAK: Start preparing your one-minute speech for next Friday, November 30. Use the rubric to guide your preparation. If you have not yet selected your topic, please do so immediately.

• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

Exiting The Village: November 14, 2018

Focus: What Gothic elements does The Village use, and to what purpose?

1. Warming up with mental jousting on The Village

2. Watching the ending of The Village with a critical eye

3. Composing a thesis statement about the symbol of your choice and posting it on today's blog

Ex: The Village uses the symbol of _______________ in order to illustrate that / criticize how / suggest that _________________ (thematic statement about what we fear and/or what we do to feel safe).

HW:
1. By TOMORROW: Please peruse the one-minute speech topics and make your selection by inserting a comment with your name next to the question you want.

• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

2. For FRIDAY: This Friday we will have an in-class writing on The Village. If you miss any days of viewing The Village, you need to watch the film by Friday. If you're absent on Friday, you need to finish the timed writing on your own time by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving break.

Considering Symbols in The Village: November 13, 2018

Focus: What symbols does The Village use, and to what purpose?

[If you were absent yesterday: Setting up our close reading of The Village

• Click HERE for the viewing guide.

• Make a copy and save it in your Gothic lit folder.

• This will turn into your Gothic unit assessment; please use the viewing guide thoughtfully and thoroughly.]

1. Brainstorming connotations of different symbols using the following: Your brain, research, the film

2. Watching The Village with a critical eye

3. Wrapping up with new symbols and new takes on old symbols

HW:
1. By THIS THURSDAY: Please peruse the one-minute speech topics and make your selection by inserting a comment with your name next to the question you want.

• 2nd hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

• 6th hour: Click HERE for your speech topics.

2. For FRIDAY: This Friday we will have an in-class writing on The Village. If you miss any days of viewing The Village, you need to watch the film by Friday. If you're absent on Friday, you need to finish the timed writing on your own time by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving break.

Entering the Village: November 12, 2018

Focus: What Gothic elements does The Village use, and to what purpose?

Reminder: I'm grading your Gothic journals; if you have anything you need to hand in, now is the time.

1. Warming up with three good things and Grammar You Must Know #4

2. Setting up our close reading of The Village

• Click HERE for the viewing guide.

• Make a copy and save it in your Gothic lit folder.

• This will be a big part of your Gothic unit assessment; please use the viewing guide thoughtfully and thoroughly.

3. Watching The Village with a critical eye

4. Wrapping up with your viewing guide questions 

HW:

1. For THURSDAY: Short in-class assessment on Grammar You Must Know #4.

2. For FRIDAY: This Friday we will have an in-class writing on The Village. If you miss any days of viewing The Village, you need to watch the film by Friday. If you're absent on Friday, you need to finish the timed writing on your own time by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving break.

We Wear the Mask: November 9, 2018

Focus: What does it mean to wear a mask?

1. Warming up with a short vocabulary assessment on "The Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary

2. Enjoying a Friday freewrite: "We wear the mask."

3. Group readings of Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask":

Round 1 (Vocabulary): Footnote the words you don't know, then look them up.

Round 2 (Coding): Highlight the words and phrases that you associate with "the mask" in one color. Then, highlight the words and phrases you associate with what's really underneath the mask in a different color. 

Round 3 (Motifs): In the margins, explain what patterns you notice among words associated with the mask. Then, explain what patterns you notice among words associated with what's underneath the mask.

Round 4 (Tone): Skim back through our tone words (linked HERE). Which word best captures Dunbar's tone? Support your thoughts with three words or phrases from the poem.

Round 5 (Context): Take a moment to look up our author, Paul Laurence Dunbar. What aspects of his life might connect to this poem? Write them down underneath the poem (if you need help, check out the image at the top of today's blog).

Round 6 (Theme): What do you think Dunbar wants us to understand better or differently after reading "We Wear the Mask"?

4. Enjoying grid group discussions to sort through your Level 1 and 2 questions

• Topic #1: How do people initially react to Mr. Hooper's veil? What different types of reactions are there throughout the story? How does it affect his relationship with Elizabeth?  How do people's reactions to the veil / opinions of Mr. Hooper shift by the end of the story?

• Topic #2: What do other people (including Elizabeth) see the veil as a symbol of? What does Mr. Hooper say it's a symbol of on the last page? What do you think it symbolizes?

• Topic #3: Which lines did you mark as displaying some aspect of the uncanny? How does the veil weaken Mr. Hooper, and how does it empower him?

HW:
For MONDAY: All make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks due. 

The Minister's Black Veil: November 8, 2018

Focus: Why does the minister wear a veil, and how does this relate to the "uncanny"?

1. Warming up with one last round of "Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary fun

2. Reading "The Minister's Black Veil" and marking the text for signs of the uncanny:

3. Enjoying grid group discussions to sort through your Level 1 and 2 questions

• Topic #1: How do people initially react to Mr. Hooper's veil? What different types of reactions are there throughout the story? How does it affect his relationship with Elizabeth?  How do people's reactions to the veil / opinions of Mr. Hooper shift by the end of the story?

• Topic #2: What do other people (including Elizabeth) see the veil as a symbol of? What does Mr. Hooper say it's a symbol of on the last page? What do you think it symbolizes?

• Topic #3: Which lines did you mark as displaying some aspect of the uncanny? How does the veil weaken Mr. Hooper, and how does it empower him?

4. Thinking "outside the box" by creating masks to explore Hawthorne's imagery, tone, and themes

HW:
1. Finish your mask assignment if you did not finish in class.

2. Prepare for tomorrow's brief assessment on "The Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary.

The Uncanny, Take 2: November 7, 2018

Focus: What aspects of the familiar and unfamiliar makes us feel fear?

1. Warming up a Quizlet Live review of "The Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary

2. Daring to explore Gothic Mystery #3: The Uncanny

3. Reading/listening to "The Minister's Black Veil" with a focus on the uncanny and an overview of your mask assignment

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Finish reading "The Minister's Black Veil"; bring any mask materials you might need tomorrow.

2. For FRIDAY: Short assessment on "The Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary.

3. For MONDAY: All make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks due.

The Uncanny: November 6, 2018

Focus: What aspects of the familiar and unfamiliar makes us feel fear?

1. Warming up with a finishing "The Tell-Tale Heart" and enjoying a vocabulary challenge:

• Use the vocabulary from "The Minister's Black Veil" (on Quizlet) to create a wanted sign for either "The Tell-Tale Heart" narrator or for one of the characters in "A Rose for Emily." 

• You must have a picture, a description of the character's appearance, what the character might be armed with, an explanation of the character's crime, and the reward.

• Use at least 5 vocabulary words from "The Minister's Black Veil," but the more, the better.

2. Performing a little psychoanalysis on "The Tell-Tale Heart"

3. Daring to explore Gothic Mystery #3: The Uncanny

4. Reading/listening to "The Minister's Black Veil" with a focus on the uncanny if time allows

HW:
1. TODAY: Make sure your memoir has been submitted to www.turnitin.com by 4:00 pm today.

2. For FRIDAY: Short assessment on "The Minister's Black Veil" vocabulary.

3. For MONDAY: All make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks due. 

Poe and Repression: November 5, 2018

Focus: What do Poe’s stories teach us about repression?

1. Warming up three good things on reflections on Friday

2. Returning briefly to themes from "A Rose for Emily" and grid groups

Topic #1: Plotwise, why might Emily have killed Homer Barron and slept with his dead body for forty years?

Topic #2: On a symbolic level, what do her actions suggest? What do the details of the house symbolize? If we're looking at the house as a character, why was Homer Barron's body kept in the attic?

Topic #3: Thematically, what does this short story teach us about isolation? Insanity? What aspects of small town southern life might Faulkner be criticizing?

3. Enjoying Gothic Lesson #2: Repression

4. Listening to Edgar Allan Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart" and analyzing the role of repression

HW:
For TOMORROW:

• Submit your memoir to Turnitin by 4:00 pm.

• Finish the “Tell-Tale Heart” questions for Gothic Mystery #2.

One-Minute Speeches, Round 2: November 2, 2018

Focus: How can we develop our confidence in delivering speeches?

1. Warming up with a 5-minute Friday freewrite:

• In your opinion, what is the best or worst movie ever made, and why?

2. Interviewing your partner and preparing your one-minute speech

• Click HERE for the slides.

3. Delivering your partner one-minute speeches

4. Reflecting on your own speech and filling out the self-reflective rubric

HW:
FOR FRIDAY-TUESDAY: Continue working on your ELIC-inspired memoir. If you'd like to conference, come on by! I'm off 1st and 3rd, and I am around after school.

Final drafts are due between Nov 2 and 6 by 4:00 pm in www.turnitin.com.

Redacting "A Rose for Emily": November 1, 2018

Focus: What is the nature of the Gothic relationships in Faulkner's story, and what themes do they contribute to?

1. Warming up with redacted poetry

2. Applying it to Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" to isolate a single relationship:

• House--Host (Emily)

• House--Guest (townspeople)

• Host--Guest

3. Enjoying a gallery walk of each other's redacted poems with a thematic focus:

• What topics arise from these poems?

• What does Faulkner want us to understand better or differently about _____ (insert your favorite topic here)?

4. Unraveling Gothic Mystery #2: Repression

5. Offering you a preview of tomorrow

HW:
1. TODAY: Please finish filling out the last section of the Gothic Mystery #1 Note Catcher if you did not finish in class.

2. FOR FRIDAY-TUESDAY: Continue working on your ELIC-inspired memoir. If you'd like to conference, come on by! I'm off 1st and 3rd, and I am around after school.

Final drafts are due between Nov 2 and 6 by 4:00 pm in www.turnitin.com.