11.26 - This American Life Socratic Seminar

Today, we finished listening to episode 538, "Is This Working?" of This American Life.

We then had a Socratic seminar around this podcast using the questions people generated as part of their preparation and new notes and perspectives from the third act of the podcast.

Handouts:
Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, complete and hand in the Socratic seminar prep sheet.

11.25 - This American Life: Is This Working?

We started today's class with an opportunity for people to revise their Poetry Out Loud performances. From here, we moved into listening to the episode of This American Life that we will be discussion tomorrow in our Socratic seminar. We reviewed the process for a Socratic seminar, how to take notes during the podcast, and then began listening to the podcast (see links below). In class, we listened to the first two acts of the podcast with everyone completing the Socratic seminar prep sheet on these acts.

This American Life, "Episode 538: Is This Working?"

Transcript for Episode 538

We will finish the podcast and have our seminar tomorrow.

Handouts:
Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet

Homework:

Use your notes and the transcript (above) to complete the Socratic seminar prep sheet.

Revisions:
Salt Water Tones analysis - due Wednesday, 11/26

11.24 - Debate Prep, Basic Principles, Socratic Seminar Intro

In class today, we brainstormed topics for debate that we will use to learn how debate works and to construct arguments using the appeals and rhetorical devices that we have been learning about.

We spent the other half of our class identifying basic principles for social interaction that we will use to guide us as we approach discussing and debating topics in which people may be very emotionally invested and which may prove divisive.

I spent some time at the end of class, introducing people to a discussion format that we will be using this week called the Socratic seminar. We will work more with this tomorrow.

Handouts:
Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet

Homework:

If you are revising your recitation of your poem tomorrow, practice your poem tonight.

Revisions:

Salt Water Tones analysis - due Wednesday, 11/26

11.21 - Why Someone Should Read Your Poem

At the beginning of class today, we spent some time talking about the school competition for Poetry Out Loud (see Mr. Collins if you are interested in competing in the school competition).

Next, I handed out a prompt asking people to look at their poem and explain why it is one that people should read (see prompt handout below). As part of this, we talked about how a text can be either a window or a mirror. If a text is window, it lets you see another place, time, or another person's perspective. If a text is a mirror, it encourages you to reflect on your life and experiences and to think about them differently or more deeply. Looking at how the poem functions as a window or a mirror can help to explain why someone should read it.

Everyone had the rest of the period to work on this response. If people needed more time on this, they could finish it for homework and hand it in on Monday.

Handouts:
Why Should Someone Read Your Poem (POL Prompt)

Homework:

If you did not finish your response to the "Why Should Someone Read Your Poem" prompt, do so for homework.

If you plan to revise your recitation for Poetry Out Loud, prepare for that recitation next Tuesday (11/25).

If you did not complete it already, complete the Unpacking Your Poem sheet.
Revisions:
Salt Water Tones analysis - due Wednesday, 11/26

11.20 - Poetry Out Loud Recitation

Today's class was dedicated to sharing our Poetry Out Loud recitations.

11.19 - Poetry Out Loud Recitation Practice

Today's class was focused on practicing recitations for Poetry Out Loud. Everyone worked with a partner to practice reciting their poem. We used feedback and the standards on the Poetry Out Loud rubric to focus both improvements and feedback on qualities that will be assessed tomorrow.

Towards the end of class, we took time to review class performance for the six paragraph TED Talk essay and the Salt Water Tones writing assignment (see below for feedback).

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Click Image to Enlarge

Homework:

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday,11/21).

Revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21
Salt Water Tones analysis - due Wednesday, 11/26

11.18 - Poetry Out Loud Assessment

At the beginning of class today, everyone had time to practice their poem. I then handed out copies of the Poetry Out Loud assessment rubric that we will be using (see below).

We reviewed the rubric together as a class and then used it to assess various Poetry Out Loud performances. This review was intended to help people plan their own recitation through a better understanding of the Poetry Out Loud assessment rubric and what works in terms of recitation styles.

Some good videos to check out include:

Handouts:

Poetry Out Loud - Recitation Assessment Rubric


Homework:

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday,11/21).

Prepare for the set 7 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.


Revisions: 
Dystopian Writing Assignment (due by Friday, Nov. 21)

11.17 - Tone Maps

we looked at how the tone used in a piece of writing can be expressed verbally. To do this, we looked at the sentence "I never said she stole my wallet" and how the tone and meaning of that sentence can be changed by placing emphasis on different words (example sheet below). Everyone worked with a partner to identify changes in meaning and tone and then we came together as a class and people shared out their interpretations.

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Next, we looked at how the tone in a poem can be mapped out to better understand how it should be read and recited. Poetry Out Loud uses the poem "Jenny Kissed Me" to show this:

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Everyone then had the rest of the period to write out their own poem and map out its tones (see handout). I was on hand to check in with people and talk about their poems as necessary.


Handouts:

Tone Map

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish mapping out the tone of your poem for homework.

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday, 11/21).

Work on any or all of the following revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21

11.14 - Poem Storyboards

At the beginning of class today, everyone had several minutes to practice reciting their poem with a partner. Following this, everyone had about ten minutes to share and proof-read their "Salt Water Tones" essay response.

Next, everyone created a story board for images in their poem as a way to help interpret and visualize the poem. This series of visual images will also help people to memorize their poem (see below for instructions and an example).

Example story board from my poem, "Ecology" by Jack Collom

Click Image to Enlarge

Handouts:

Poem Storyboards

Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish your poem story board.


Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday, 11/21).

Work on any or all of the following revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21

11.13 - Salt Water Tones

We started today's class with five minutes of fiction writing. I brought out my cat-themed activity cards and each person chose a card that they felt communicated a clear and interesting emotional tone. Everyone then had five minutes to write fictional pieces that used this tone (the writing could, but did not have to be related to the picture since our focus was on tone). Everyone could work on one piece or multiple pieces. At the end of the five minutes, people shared their writing with a partner and then several people shared their pieces with the whole class.

Next, we revisited the poem "The Ocean Chews Things Up". People shared the annotations that they had come up with with a partner and then we reviewed these annotations as a class. In our review we looked at how tone is established in the poem and how that relates to the poem's meaning. We then looked at the writing prompt which compares these poems (see below).

This prompt asks people to look at how diction is used to establish tone in the poem. For our purposes, people should also feel free to consider uses of figurative language and imagery in the poem and how those affect tone.

Handouts:

Salt Water Tones


Homework:

If you did not do so in class, finish your "Salt Water Tones" response in class.

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday, 11/21).

Work on any or all of the following revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21

11.12 - Dimensions of Tone

We started today's class by looking at the different tone changes that people made to the song "Front Porch Swing Afternoon" that we looked at on Monday. We also created some sentences to communicate tone and looked at how adjective and verbs could be improved to make tones more clear.

Next, we looked at other dimensions of tone which included:

Subjective (opinion) vs. Objective (neutral)
Informal vs. Formal
Emotions

Everyone then took a look at the poem "The Ocean" by Nathaniel Hawthorne analyzing the poem for the various dimensions of tone that we addressed in class. We then came together as a group and people shared their annotations (these annotations can be seen here).

People then worked with a partner to begin annotating "The Sea Chews Things Up" for tone. These annotations should be completed for homework.

Handouts:

Salt Water Tones: "The Ocean" and "The Sea Chews Things Up"


Homework:

Finish annotating "The Sea Chews Things Up" for its use of tone.

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday, 11/21).

Work on any or all of the following revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21

11.10 - Identifying Tone

At the beginning of class today, I handed out a sheet which identifies a variety of different kinds of tones that can be used in writing. People used this list to select three tones and write sentences using those tones. These were then switched with a partner to see if that partner could identify the tone.

Next, I handed out copies of lyrics to Jamey Johnson's song "Front Porch Swing Afternoon" and people had ten minutes to read the song and identify uses of language and images that created certain tones. These were annotated on the sheet and then shared out to the class as a way for us to develop a common understanding of how tone is established in writing.

People then got together with a partner and a fresh copy of the song with the task of adding in and changing words to create different tones within the song. We had time to share out one of these before the end of class.

Today in class we also looked at assignment completion since a number of people had not submitted the formal TED Talk analysis that was due last Friday. I introduced the "not prepared for class" form which can help people keep track of what prevented them from completing an assignment and which I can use to look at overall patterns in assignment completion.

Handouts:
Tone Words List
"Front Porch Swing Afternoon" lyrics

Homework:

Memorize your Poetry Out Loud poem (recitations are on Thursday, 11/20 and Friday, 11/21).

Work on any or all of the following revisions:
TED Talk Formal Analysis (6 paragraphs) - due Friday, 11/21
Gubernatorial Logical Fallacy Analysis - due Friday, 11/21
Lessig or Meyer Formal Analysis (See 10.17 and 10.21) - due Friday 11/21

11.07 - Poem Analysis

Everyone was working today to begin unpacking their poem by annotating it and using the "Unpacking Your Poem" sheet to analyze their poem (see below). I met individually with people to talk about their poems and we spent some time talking about figurative language, denotation, connotation and tone.

Handouts:
Unpacking Your Poem
Figurative Language help sheet

Homework:

Complete your annotations and the unpacking your poem sheet on your Poetry Out Loud poem.

Work on memorizing your poem in preparation for our class recitation on Thursday, Nov. 20th and Friday, Nov. 21st.

11.06 - Poetry Out Loud Poem Selection

Today in class people signed up for the poems they would like to recite for Poetry Out Loud and then had time to begin working on memorizing their poems. We then spent some time with everyone reading their poem to a partner. This lead us towards some poetry analysis. To get into this analysis we went over some basic terms that can be helpful:

Diction - word choice
Denotation - the definition of a word
Connotation - words and ideas associated with a word
Tone - emotion the author conveys
Figurative language - non-literal language, language that has a meaning beyond what is being said

I then handed out a sheet detailing how to unpack meaning in a poem. We reviewed this information and talked about what poem annotation would look like.

Handouts:

Unpacking Your Poem

Homework:

Work on the formal analysis of your TED Talk (due tomorrow)

TED Talk Analysis assignment

Begin your annotations on your Poetry Out Loud poem.

11.05 - Poetry Out Loud

Today's class was focused on starting Poetry Out Loud. To do this we took a look at two poems and how they convey a meaning and message. We looked at Robert Burns' "To a Mouse" and E.E. Cummings' "me up at does".

Next, we took a look at how best to select a poem which people will be analyzing, memorizing, and reciting. Since this is also a national competition we looked at what to consider when selecting a poem based on whether it was for competitive purposes or class purposes (see handout).

I then showed everyone how to navigate the Poetry Out Loud website to search for a poem. People had the next twenty minutes to look for a poem. The idea was to spend this time reading poems and, even if you found the poem you want to recite, keep reading poems just to get a sense of how your poem compares to other poems and for the sheer enjoyment of reading poems. We will continue working with this next class.

Handouts:

Poetry Out Loud - Choosing a Poem

Homework:

Work on the formal analysis of your TED Talk (due this Friday, 11/7)

TED Talk Analysis assignment

11.04 - Revising Analyses > Poems

At the start of class today, everyone responded to the following writing prompt in their writer's journal:

What did we do this quarter?

(3 minute brainstorm)

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed people's responses and impressions of the quarter. There will be a more organized and formal mode for feedback, but this served as a review for what we have covered so far.

Next, I returned assignment that had been submitted and assessed for quarter one along with updated grade report sheets.

Everyone then had until the last ten minutes of class to work on revisions to their TED Talk analysis.

In the last ten minutes of class we took a look at Robert Burns' poem "To A Mouse" to talk about what makes poetry different from prose writing and how meaning is conveyed in poems. We will continue with this discussion next class.

Handouts:
TED Talk Analysis assignment

Homework:

Work on the formal analysis of your TED Talk (due this Friday, 11/7)

11.03 - Peer Review

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

Summarize the TED Talk you analyzed in exactly three sentences.
In an unlimited number of sentences, discuss why your talk is interesting or important.

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed students' responses to help give everyone a sense of the diversity of talks covered in class. Next, we reviewed the rubric for the TED Talk analysis and discussed what made for effective feedback. The points we addressed in class were that helpful feedback identifies the following:

- what someone should add to their paper
- what is already good in the paper
- parts of the paper that should be changed and suggests what that change may look like
- repeated mistakes in spelling or grammar usage

People then worked with a partner or partner(s) reading one another's papers and providing feedback in the form of comments throughout the paper and then a summary of the most important feedback in the "plus-plus-delta" format. In this format a "plus" (+) is a strength of the paper that the author should keep doing and a delta (a triangle symbol) is an area that the author could work on changing or improving.

Everyone had the rest of the period to proof read their partner's paper and provide feedback.

Handouts:
TED Talk Analysis assignment

Homework:

Begin making revisions to your TED Talk analysis based on peer feedback.