Day Sixty-Six / 12.17.10

Today we presented our holiday projects. Then, we discussed lyrics by Linkin Park, exploring how they use literary devices to convey their message.

Have a happy holiday break!

Day Sixty-Five / 12.16.10

Today we started with a Picture of the Day:

We journaled on: Do you find this image truthful? What kind of theme does it represent? Any other thoughts or feelings this image evokes?

Next, we looked at a sample script. You can use the following preview to help you write your script for your film.

Script

Then we went over a "principled" IB learner, then went to the computer lab to work on our projects.

Day Sixty-Four / 12.15.10

Today we started with a quote by Muriel Rukeyser: "If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day. For there would be an intolerable hunger."

We journaled on:

Is poetry a natural part of ourselves?

Would we have to make poetry, if it was not made for us by others?

Do you hunger for poetry?

Then we took the -graph vocabulary quiz. Then, we went to the computer lab to work on our holiday projects.

Day Sixty-Three / 12.14.10

Today we started with a quote: "The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious." We reflected on: Is comedy art? Should art be lighthearted (or more so)? Can art still be serious?

Then we finished reading Christmas 2009. We discussed the form of the poem. You should know words like rhyme scheme, stanza, sestet, and couplet. Next, we talked about creating our own holiday stories. See the below sheet.

Holiday Project

Finally, we worked in the computer lab on our projects.

Day Sixty-Two / 12.13.10

Today we started with an On-Demand writing task, where we had to summarize an article on Kwanzaa.

Then, we started reading Santa's Last Ride, a narrative Christmas poem.

Day Sixty-One / 12.10.10

Today we started with a quote from C.S. Lewis: "I can't imagine [someone] really enjoying a book and reading it only once." We responded to the following prompts:

What are the advantages of second readings?

If you are not inclined to read a book twice, does that mean you didn’t enjoy it?

Next, we reviewed some Hanukkah article mini-summaries. Then we covered the following handout on responding to prompts:

Addressing the Prompt

Finally, we listened to these NPR broadcasts about "Hitmakers." And then we analyzed the lyrics from a song by the Fray.

Day Sixty / 12.09.10

Today you had a substitute teacher. You had the following quote:

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." -CS Lewis

You wrote on:

Do you agree or disagree with the quote?

How can school help develop your morals?

Then you worked on summarizing A Christmas Miracle, based off your Sum It Up! sheet. Then, you read an article on Hanukkah, then worked to write a mini-summary of the article.

Day Fifty-Nine / 12.08.10

Today we started with a poem by E.B. White:

"The critic leaves at curtain fall

To find, in starting to review it,

He scarcely saw the play at all

For starting to review it."

We then wrote on:

When you are reviewing something, or summarizing it, do you forget to enjoy it?

Does reviewing / summarizing it limit your ability to partake in the story?

Then we took a Vocabulary Quiz. Next, we reviewed what we'd read in The Christmas Miracle, then we finished reading the story. After we finished, we continued to write about the story on our Sum It Up! sheet.

Day Fifty-Eight / 12.07.10

Today we started with a clip from Ratatouille. Then we discussed this quote from the clip: “But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.” We wrote on the following prompts:

Does your opinion/review matter?

Is the critic a vital part of the writing process?

Next, we read a non-fiction article called "Christmas Decorations." We then wrote mini-summaries on this piece. Finally, we started reading The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

Day Fifty-Seven / 12.06.10

Today we started with a quote by John Updike: "Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a [big event] not subject to pages of holier-than-thou second-guessing in The New York Review of Books.” We reflected on:

Do you look to be awestruck/surprised/entertained when you read?

Does thinking about books / writing about them lessen the experience?

Then we looked at our mini-summaries from The Tie Man's Miracle. Next, we started talking about major, 3 paragraph summaries. They are below:

Summarizing

Then we worked on completing the following sheet for a summary of TTM.

Sum It Up!

Day Fifty-Six / 12.03.10

Today we started with two quotes, and we chose which quote we liked better. Your choices were:

“Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life.” (Karl Marx)

OR

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it” (Charles Swindoll)

We then debated the topic. After that, we reread The Tie Man's Miracle on our own, then discussed the progression of the plot. Finally, we began summarizing the stories events (while we did this, I handed back you rough drafts).

Your Final Draft Hero Paper is Due Tuesday!

Day Fifty-Five / 12.02.10

We started with a vocabulary quiz. Then we responded to the following quote by George Saunders: “I loved [Thomas Wolfe’s] big-heartedness and the way, apparently, he had just taken his life and made a huge book out of it." We wrote on the following topics:

Does this “making your life public” make for good writing?

Can inspiration happen to us from the daily things in life?

Do you write about your life (journal, poems, etc.)?

Then we corrected our peers' Rough Drafts. Finally, we read the book The Tie Man's Miracle, by Steven Schnur.

Day Fifty-Four / 12.01.10

Today we started with analyzing a piece of art by Lois Jones, from our art lecture yesterday. Her "The Ascent of Ethiopia" is below:

Then we responded to a quote from JD Salinger's Franny and Zooey: "I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I’m sick of myself and everybody that wants to make a splash.” - Franny

We journaled on:

Is it courageous to be a nobody?

What drives our desire to be popular, successful, have lots of friends?

Is making a “splash” the best we can do with our lives?

Then we studied for our vocabulary quiz, which will be tomorrow. Finally, we worked on our rough drafts, which are due tomorrow.