May 29, 2008

Not much to write. We finished up the movie today and handed in the review sheet. It will count for a few points.

I will not be in school Friday. I am having the students write a brief review of the movie. They will look at how to write a movie review and examine a sample review of the new Narnia movie. Again, this assignment will count for a few points. The grades are almost done.

May 28, 2008

I have not been writing much here because there isn't much to write. We have finished the big grades, and now I am just wrapping up the year. The magazine presentation is NOT due tomorrow because we are watching High School Musical 2. This is not wasting time. We first read over all the writing prompts we used over the course of the year, reminding them of what we have covered. I wanted the year to be a study of the themes from the movie. Now, as we watch the movie, we are examining the songs again and exploring the theme of the movie overall. We will finish the movie tomorrow and wrap the year up with a small reflection on the movie, which will count for a small grade. With whatever time we have, we will focus on magazines. I figured it was more important to get the movie in than finish the magazine study. As long as they get a basic idea behind the messages in ads, that will be fine.

May 21, 2008

Homework:
Study for the vocab final

Today:
Finished the FMT in the vocab book. That is the last work the students will need the book for.
We finished Text/Ad ratio and defining the audience of their magazines. We have now discussed three of the five things required for the magazine presentations due next Thursday.

I handed back work and grade slips today. The students should know how they are doing at this point.

May 19, 2008

Homework:
Bring vocab book and magazine every day
Sections 1 and 2 should have their charts and product lists done for Tuesday

Today:
Reviewed for vocab final
Continued text to ratio part of the magazine presentation.
Here is the packet I will eventually give to the students when we get paper.
Here is the web page of the new assignment.

May 16, 2008

Homework:
None
Have a magazine for Monday

Today:
We took the notebook quiz.
I collected the good drafts of the Monsters essay.
We began our work with the magazines. I have done this unit for years. The kids will get a lot out of this. In fact, they will start pointing things out to you soon enough. I will have a web page that explains the next project up early next week. I have a packet for them, but we are out of paper at the school. I will copy it when I can.

Have a nice weekend.

May 15, 2008

Homework:
Have a magazine for Friday
The notebook quiz is Friday. (See list on www.mrboz.com)
Good draft of Monsters essay is due

Today:
We read over a good example of the Monsters essay and discussed unity and details. Some classes discussed introductions as well.
We barely began to discuss the last project of the year, a magazine presentation. More details will be posted soon.

May 14, 2008

Homework:
Bring a magazine tomorrow
Revise the essays base on today's discussions

Today:
Buzzword
Discussed introductions in some classes
In some classes we discussed the ideas that should be contained in the essay

I have written my essay for this assignment: Faith and Fear in "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

May 12, 2008

Homework:
Rough draft of the Monsters essay due Wednesday

Today:
Buzzword
Reviewed calendar
Handed out grade slips. Absent students made up quizzes.
(Sections 3 and 7 will get the quizzes tomorrow.)
Work time on the essay.

I explained what I expect for a magazine on Thursday. Mainly it should have ads and articles, be age appropriate, and be something they are interested in learning more about.

May 8, 2008

Homework:
Study for unit 15 quiz on Friday
I would like to have a discussion about the Monsters essay tomorrow. Students should be ready to discuss what the technique was and if it is good. Would it work in real life as it did on the TV show?

Today:
No Buzzword
Reviewed vocabulary
Sections 3,6,7 made flashcards
Sections 1 and 2 read about the Red Scare and McCarthyism
I gave the students a suggested outline to guide their brainstorming
Writing time in class

I have a detailed page about this assignment online.

May 6, 2008

Homework:
Choosing the Right Word unit 15 and context clues
Quiz on Friday

Today:
Buzzword
Discussion
Work time from discussion ideas.

I asked the kids if humans really do scapegoat. Would we really react the way Figure One says we will react in the story? I asked them to explain three questions. The questions go from a scientific answer to a superstitious answer. When we are faced with something we don't know about, we feel compelled to find an answer, even if we have to make one up. We move into the realm of imagination.

Three levels of questions:

What we know- Why does the sun move across the sky?

Sort of know- How does weather work? Why do we get rain and hurricanes?

Don’t know- Why do bad things happen to good people?


What types of answers do we give?

This is Rod Serling's intro to The Twilight Zone:

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone."

May 5, 2008

Homework:
Pictionaries unit 15
Quiz Friday

Today:
Buzzword
Reviewed calendar
Discussed words for unit 15
Handed out the next writing prompt (I will make a web page soon.)
Watched the end of The Monsters are Due on Maple Street again now that they have the prompt.

I am curious to see how deeply the students will think about the topic. As a 39-year-old, I see some truth in what the aliens were saying. There is a strong record of humans acting just like they do in the episode. But I also know the technique will not work totally. It never has. I will write the essay as well. Each year I see different meanings in pieces of literature. We bring our own lives to a piece of art. We interpret the piece in light of our current understandings. For a 12-year-old, their current understandings are limited. I will try to help them think deeply, beyond the 2 seconds they usually take to think something through. :)

May 1, 2008

Homework:
None

Today:
Buzzword
Discussed "Scapegoat"
Watched the "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."

Today's discussion was quite interesting. I wanted to explain the origin of the word "scapegoat" because the idea is central to the show we watched. The source of the word is Leviticus in the Bible. I explained that the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, used two goats as part of the ritual. Two unblemished goats were chosen. Lots were thrown, and one goat was chosen to be sacrificed, and the other was the scapegoat. The priest would place the sins of the community onto the goat, and the animal was sent into the wilderness. On Yom Kippur today, that ritual is read about during the services. The sacrifices are not done today.

But before I told them all this, I did a little activity which they thought was pretty weird. I didn't tell them what we were doing, but I had them write their name on a card. Then I asked them to think about some dark fear or bad thing in themselves that they wish could be taken away. We all have them. Wouldn't it feel great to have it removed? I told them to think about that and symbolically place that fear onto the card. (I did not want it written down.) I put the names in a bucket and asked if they felt better. Most did not.

Before that, though, I had two students put on t-shirts. One was red and the other was orange. They flipped a coin to decide who would get what color. With the fears in the bucket, I then told the class that we would be "sacrificing" the red t-shirt animal. They had not learned about the scapegoat yet, so they were confused. The student just sat down, but the bucket was still there with our fears in it. Then I gave the bucket to the orange shirt animal and sent him away. I pointed out that our fears were gone. They were confused, but the demonstration made the idea of the scapegoat clear.

Then I showed them this picture and explained the history of the word as I said above. We then watched "The Monsters...," and I had them watch for the idea of scapegoat. The people in the movie were scared, and they wanted an explanation for the events. They wanted a scapegoat to remove their anxiety. One person was killed out of irrational fear. Steve says, "You're standing here all set to crucify- all set to find a scapegoat- desperate to point some kind of finger at a neighbor." He has it right. They will either kill something or place the blame on someone, just like the scapegoat: one is killed, and the other is sent away.

I see the idea of the scapegoat all over, especially in a society like we have now where someone else is always to blame. I will be thinking about where this next unit will go over the weekend. I want to explore the idea of misplaced blame. One idea I am thinking about is bullying. Students this age are so worried about fitting in that they will often make a scapegoat of another student. They place their anxieties on the weakest of those around them.

I would not talk about all of these with the students, but I am also thinking about the economy. Everyone wants to know why it is going down hill. What about education? Surely there is plenty of blame to go around. What about our own relationships, families, marriages? Do we ever scapegoat someone for things that we should be figuring out about ourselves? What about larger horrors like the Holocaust and Rwanda? Can we even escape from scapegoating as human beings? Is it just in our nature? I will be thinking about this over the next few days. I also want to explore if the piece will be written or some kind of public service video.