November 28-December 2

Welcome back!  I hope you are ready to finish 2011 on a strong note.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday break with your family and friends.  We have 3 school weeks before we break again.  Sprint to the finish line.

Have a blessed week!

Smiles,

Mrs. Greene

Periods 2, 4, 6, and 7

We will begin Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" next Monday.  Make sure you're reading your memoir.  The I.R. product for your memoir is due 12/15.  You should be reading each night for at least 30 minutes in each text.  Please don't get the No Fear Shakespeare version of the play.  If you already have that version of the text, then I will allow you to borrow a copy of my play while in class.  It is important that you get an authentic experience with the text.  I will help you through difficult passages.

Monday

Class time: 

Check independent reading, memoirs

Finish The Village

3 way Venn Diagram (if time allows)

Compare movie to the texts using the following critical lens:  “Eager souls, mystics and revolutionaries, may propose to refashion the world in accordance with their dreams; but evil remains, and so long as it lurks in the secret places of the heart, utopia is only the shadow of a dream.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hw:  finish 3 way Venn Diagram; read I.R. memoirs; Get “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Tuesday

Class time:

Discussion question:  What is the worst thing that you’ve done that you knew was wrong?  Judge the characters in the movie and book.  Do you think they had shame for their actions?  Regrets?

“The History of Chocolate” framework (open-ended questions)

Discuss critical lens comparison

Counterargument

Discuss movie and novels

Hw:  finish counterargument assignment

Wednesday

Class time:

Counterargument continued

Finally- -persuasive writing assigned- -due Monday.
1.  Are good grades worth the effort?
2.  Should teens be a certain age to date?
3.  Should executions be televised?
4.  Should The Pledge of Allegiance be recited in public schools?
5.  Should Ligon bring back activity time?
Choose 1 for your persuasive paper.

Hw:   Ad advertisement due tomorrow (Come up with a product or a service.  Then, create a one page visually appealing advertisement for that product- -simple and visually appealing with limited wording.  On a separate sheet, write 3 reasons why the product should be purchased and/or used.  Write a counterargument for each point that supports why your product should be purchased and/or used);  I.R. memoirs; persuasive writing due Monday

Thursday

Class time:

Bias
McDonald's PPT

“Chief Seattle” framework 2

Counterargument

Hw:  I.R. reading; persuasive writing due Monday; get Shakespeare’s play

Friday

Introduce Shakespeare

Hw:  Get “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; persuasive writing due Monday; I.R. due 12/15

Period 5

We will begin Shakespeare on Friday.  The text is tough, but I will help you work your way through it successfully.  It is important that I get your complete cooperation during class, so time is used wisely and efficiently.  Finish FBF by December 5.

Monday

Media Center to finish Prezi

Hw:  Read FBF (Forged by Fire)

Tuesday

Class Time:

Bias defined with synonyms and antonyms

Fact and opinion

Sports report (2 teams’ views)

Identify words of bias in the articles and highlight them.  Look at the following examples:  which sentence shows a more positive outlook?  Negative one?  What would be a neutral way to report the stats of the event?

More than 900 people attended the event.
Fewer than 1,000 people showed up at the event

Hw:  Read in FBF; Bring in an article that is biased and share for extra credit.

Wednesday

McDonald’s PPT

Read biased editorial on juvenile crime and discuss aloud

Discuss Persuasive writing techniques for quiz (emotional factors; propaganda) 

Complete propaganda handout

TV survey (together) 10 minutes

“The Trouble with T.V.”

Hw:  Write a letter to author of the article discussing your own thoughts about the major points covered in the article, or write  a letter to the author about a more important problem that you’d like to see fixed because t.v. as you see it, isn’t an important problem.

Thursday

Framework #1 (“the History of Chocolate)

-discuss tone and style in “trouble with T.V.”

-“the Trouble with T.v.” counterargument handout

Hw:  Read in FBF; finish with counterargument handout

Friday

-go over Framework #1

-FBF reading quiz

-share Prezis

-Introduce Shakespeare

Hw:  Finish novel

November 21-22

This week is short because of Thanksgiving.  I hope you will have a blessed holiday.  Please take time out to share all the things that you're thankful for this year. 

Periods 2, 4, 6 and 7

Monday

The Village
fill-in-the-blank

Tuesday

The Village
Hw:  Get "A Midsummer Night's Dream"


Period 5

Persuasive/Argumentative Prezi

November 14-18. Have a blessed week!

UTOPIAN Group Project

(4 minute limit to presentations)

Utopias are pictures of an ideal world that attempt to point out the failings in our own flawed society.  (Due November 21)

Directions:  Explore a historical utopia that fits into your assigned time period.  Investigate your group’s attempt to institutionalize or practice utopian ideals on Earth. 

Pretend that you are trying to actively recruit potential individuals to move to your community to help revive your group and/or continue your current practices.  Condense the following items into major at least 6 major categories (i.e. mission, pros and cons, background/history, etc.) under which you’ll put the information that relates to your utopia.  Divide the following items amongst group members as evenly as possible. Create a persuasive advertisement (Brochure, PPT, prezi, Storybird, large poster, etc.) that includes responses to the following:

A)   What relationship exists between the fictional account of the utopia in The Giver

and the actual utopian community that you researched?

B)   What is the name of your group?  What is the significance of your group’s name?

C)   Where is the main location for your group members?  Are you/were you worldwide?  Confined to a certain area?

D)  What was/is the social structure in your researched community?

E)   What was/is the mission/goal of your researched community?

F)    If your group failed in the past, then own the pitfalls, and explain to potentials how you intend to avoid similar pitfalls in the future in order to make a successful community.  If your group is successful, then explain why.  If your group is nonexistence currently because it is still in the planning stage, then how do you know that you will be successful?

G)  What is your group’s motto or slogan?

H)  What is it about your group that qualifies it to be fit to be called a utopia?  How has your group achieved perfection?

I)      What are the pros and cons to living in your researched utopia?

J)      What is the economic makeup of your community?  How do you support yourselves?

K)  What would a typical day in your community look like?

Periods 2, 4, 6, and 7

We will begin studying Shakespeare on December 5.  We will start with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  Please check Ligon’s library first for a copy of the text and bring it to class with you on Monday, December 5.

Items to include inside the paper:  Eulogize a character

A)  Birth dates; death dates (if dead)

B)   Age; Education

C)   Living relatives of the home

D) Celebration of his/her life

E)  Remember at least one fond memory that you had with the deceased person

F)   Favorites (hobbies, colors, etc.)

G) A poem (usually at a funeral, the poem laments the deceased person)

H) Pictures from the person’s life

I)      Free choice/you choose another item to include.

We will continue focusing on nonfiction texts in conjunction with our fiction pieces. 

Monday

Annotating

Guest Teacher in class

Hw:  Finish The Giver; mini-project due tomorrow; one pager; movie form due Thursday

Tuesday

Collect homework (one pager; mini-project)

Read Lois Lowry’s acceptance speech

Utopian handout

Group work

Hw:  do your portion of the utopian project (Final group assignment due Monday November 21)

Wednesday

Class time:

Eulogize a character in The Giver (Gabe or Jonas) due Friday
3 Column notes (groups work together)

Group work  utopian community brochure (1/2 period)

Memoir-Review
"The problem with American audiences is they always want a tragedy with a happy ending."  Is this true?
Angel at the Fence:  The True Story of a Love that Survived, cancelled by publisher

Read some short memoirs in class

Select a memoir of your choice to read independently for I.R. due December 16 (have memoir book by 11/28- -parent approval required)

What does truth mean in creative non-fiction texts?

What obligation does the memoirist have to the truth?

What exactly is the truth when filtered through memory?

What exactly is the truth when filtered through POV and time?  Are there different kinds of truth..."truthiness?”

 Elie Wiesel has also been accused of "changing the truth" in his memoir Night....but does that make his memoir less credible?
-A man whose memoir about his experience during the Holocaust was to have been published in February has admitted that his story was embellished, (NYTimes Dec.2008)
Some popular YA suggestions for memoirs  (Admittedly, I haven't read them all.  So, please make sure you get a parent's approval if your are interested in reading one of the suggestions below):

 American Born Chinese

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

Last Lecture

Night

Hw:  movie form; group utopian brochure due Monday; character eulogy;  

Thursday

Collect homework (movie form)

Memoir continued

Neighborhood “walk-though”

 "walk" through your childhood neighborhood labeling who and what of each spot

Brainstorm a list of "Stories" from your past, getting to a "One time. . ."

Select some stories for memoir writing; you will write a series of 1-page narratives from your neighborhood list.

Hw:  1 page (double-spaced narrative) due Monday

Friday

Eulogy due

Group work (1/2 period)

“I have a Dream” speech:  is it a dream for a utopian community?

Hw:  double-spaced narrative due Monday

Looking ahead to next week...

Monday

11/21

Essay in a day assigned due 11/28
logos, ethos, and pathos

Option 1 Write a persuasive “essay” to the language arts department about why or why not The Giver belongs in the 8^th grade rather than 5^th grade, where most of you first encountered it.   Option 2:  Write a persuasive "essay" about why someone would or would not want to live in the type of community depicted in the novel.  Option 3:  Write an "essay" that convinces/persuades the reader of your paper (me!) to believe that Lois Lowry was trying to satirize (point out) some aspect of American culture and/or society through her novel.  Option 4:  Persuade your audience to believe (or not) that Jonas could have live happily ever after in the community in the novel. 

Share brochures for utopian communities

The Village

Tuesday, November 22

The Village

Period 5

We will begin Forged by Fire this week, the second book in Sharon Draper's Hazelwood High trilogy.   Please remember it is very important to keep up with your assigned readings because reading quizzes will be given periodically.  We will continue to look at nonfiction texts this week, focusing on persuasive writing.  You will look at eulogies this week and will be required eulogize Andy from Tears of a Tiger.

Monday

Class Time:

Finish reading Elizabeth Stanton’s address at first women’s rights convention

Answer the questions that go with it

Hw:  finish questions

Tuesday

Write a eulogy for Andy

Persuasive analysis of advertisements

PERSUASIVE ANALYSIS - ADVERTISING
1. What is the ad trying to persuade the audience to buy, do, or believe? Describe it in detail in complete sentences.
2. What are the benefits? (What need does it fulfill?)
3. IMPORTANT! Who is the audience? How do you know?
4. What evidence is there of the claim?
5. What “loaded” words or language are there? What claims are questionable? What are the logical fallacies?
6. What do the images mean?
7. Identify any bias or stereotypes.

Hw:  Finish Andy’s Eulogy -neatly typed or handwritten (due Thursday)

Wednesday
3- column notes for TOAT

Persuasive Essay in a day

PERSUASIVE PROMPTS
1. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not everyone in the
family should help with chores around the house.
2. Write a persuasive essay explaining which is better—elementary
school or junior high school.
3. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not Physical Education
should be required.
4. Choose one class from the list below and write a persuasive essay
saying whether or not the course should be required.
• Art
• Computers
• Music (which can include chorus or band)
5. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not dances should be
provided by the school.
6. Pick one class from the list below and write a persuasive essay
saying whether or not the class should be offered at your school.
• Foreign language
• Photography
• Wood shop
• Fitness class
• Self-defense
• Bowling
• Movie appreciation
7. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not television was a good
invention.
8. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not teenagers should
have a computer of their own in their bedroom.
9. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not teenagers should
have a television of their own in their bedroom.
10. Write a persuasive essay saying whether or not helmets should be
required for skateboarders, rollerbladers, and bikers.

Hw:  Begin Reading Forged by Fire

Thursday

Continue Essay in a day

Hw:  Finish Essay in a day

Friday

“The Trouble with T.V.” (textbook)

Short Week! November 7-10 Have a Blessed Week!

Periods 2, 4, 6, and 7

1.     Primary and secondary sources PPT

2.    Revisit Satire

3.  What is a Persuasive Essay (persuasion) 

What techniques would you use to persuade your friends, parents, teachers, grandparents,

4.     “A Modest Proposal”

5.    Horatian  (Includes a tinge more humor)  vs. Juvenalian Satire  (touches deep nerves in the reader, playing on majoring emotions- -if there is humor is dark or black humor or irony)

6.    Pop culture:  Rap, Hip Hop use satire

Hw:  Finish The Giver by Tuesday, November 15.; Past, Present, and Future utopia (Thursday)

Tuesday

1.       Continue “A Modest Proposal

2.       What persuasive elements are used by the author?

3.       Tone, voice, diction

4.       Background on “A Modest Proposal” and questions
5.        Primary and secondary sources checkup

Hw:  Finish Swift assignment due Wed.; Utopia research Thursday

Wednesday

1.      Satirical Persuasive Essay (Select a social issue that needs addressing, but you have to approach it in such a way that the solution, like Swift, is irrational and out there.

2.  Eugenics in N.C.  (SOAPSTONE)
HW:  SOAPSTONE; Utopia research; finish novel; I.R. assignmnet 11/15

Thursday

1.Persuasive Essay due Tuesday (draft)

2.  Utopia groups formed

Hw:  essay draft

Friday

NO School

5^th period

Monday

Persuasive techniques

“Letter to Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker”

Primary and secondary source review

Hw:  TOAT finish the novel by Thursday

Tuesday

Continue Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson

Grammar

Hw:  Writing piece

Wednesday

Grammar
Persuasive writing:  What are the characteristics?
"Address:  First Women's Rights Convention"
Discussion questions:
Satire Intro.

 

Hw:  Reading in TOAT due tomorrow;  What would life be life if no one had fought for women?  (1 page)

Thursday
Women's Rights continued
Satire Intro

Finish persuasive pieces in textbook

Begin Persuasive Essay in a day

Discuss TOAT

Hw:  What did you find interesting in Elizabeth Stanton's address?  Why do you think she reacted that way?  (1 page)  due Monday