MLK and X BSing

The honors class took small group looks at MLK and Malcolm X today with the goal being to start organizing ideas on how these two are similar and different.  Good small group discussions took place and great ideas were produced.

This weekend the honors students should each write two pages in the writer's notebook where they do some BSing (brainstorming) and exploring of the material they developed in class with their small groups and on their own.  This is not a formal paper organized into paragraphs etc. etc.  This is a written attempt for you to organize your thinking, see what you have going for you so far, demonstrate what you know and don't know.

Bring it to class on Monday ready to share your thoughts and responses.

Read Warriors Don't Cry.  To keep pace you should be reading chapter 4 pages 33-46.

In the standard class a lot of focus was on chapter 7 in Warriors Don't Cry.  It's a pretty intense chapter.  You shared some of the things that surprised you that in turn generated some decent discussion, especially in period three.  Questions were asked as well as we further our understanding of Melba and the Little Rock 9 situation.

This weekend be sure to read Chapter 8 pages 90-106.

Understanding X, MLK and Warriors

In our reduced time together, all classes worked on discussions that helped to clarify understandings of either the MLK-X connection or the book Warriors Don't Cry.

The homework for the standard class is to read and highlight and text code chapter 7 of Warriors.

The homework for the honors class is to do the same to chapter 3 of Warriors.

Discussion Catch-Ups

After being gone for two days we had some catching up to do.  Good discussions in most classes helped to pave the way for deeper understandings.

Honors:  After checking for the assignments completed during my absence, we had an open discussion on Malcom X and his "On Revolution" speech.  You came to understand his purpose in discussing the house negro and the field negro as well as his ideas of what constitutes a revolution. You identified his desire for separation over both segregation AND integration and saw that his position did make Martin Luther King Jr.'s views more palatable for the whites.  Finally, you touched on his style of speech--his presentation--and started to think about its effectiveness.

We'll probably spend some time tomorrow looking more deeply at MLK's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" to be sure we understand some of his larger points and his style.

Knowing that you will be writing a compare/contrast piece on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., I'll then have you shift to table groups so that you can discuss their similarities and differences and produce a document that you can reference as you move forward into the paper.  Can't wait to get started.

Such good discussion that tonight's homework is only to read some of Warriors Don't Cry.  You should have it finished in a couple weeks.  For pacing perspective you should be reading chapter 2 tonight.

Standard: After checking for the assignments you completed during my absence, we had a discussion over the first three chapters of the text, Warriors Don't Cry.  I stressed the need for you to text code and highlight due to the compare contrast paper that you will be writing over the book and a related video.  It's important for you to find information quickly if you are going to write an effective paper.

During our discussion we clarified some of the events that took place and discussed the effect Brown vs. The Board of Education had on Melba and her community.  We raised our essential question: Does one person have the power to make a difference in the fight against prejudice?  As you read the book, keep this question in mind and make a note of any examples either way.

Tomorrow, you'll be identifying important ideas from chapters 4-6 and keeping an organized account of the events from the story.

See you then.

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Videos

In the honors classes today you'll be watching two videos on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Take notes on what you hear the men say but also be aware of the way they say it.  Remember, you will be writing a compare contrast paper on the men.  After each video, take five minutes to write about your reaction to what you heard and saw.

Video #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4PqLKWuwyU

Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIgSFRuJxTs

After watching both videos you should write one page on Malcolm X and one page on Martin Luther King, Jr.  in your writer's notebook.

You will also receive a copy of Warriors Don't Cry today.  It is yours to keep.  Write your name in it. You have a couple of weeks to read it on your own outside of class.  We will then have a discussion and quiz over the book.

For the standard class you should be responding to the following questions today based on your reading of chapter three.  

1) Why were the Little Rock Nine considered good candidates to integrate Central High School?

2) Based on what you read in chapter three, when is a worthwhile goal too big a risk? Be specific and explain your answer in detail with examples.  

3) Was it fair for her mother to tell her that she didn’t have to go back to Central the next day? Explain your response.

Then you are going to watch a video clip of the Little Rock Nine experience.

Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MksNGcNzKc

You should take notes while watching the video and then write a full page reaction in your writer's notebook to what you saw in the video.

After you will be reading chapters 4 and 5 the rest of class and complete it for homework.

I FORGOT to add these questions to yesterday's blog.  If you missed class on Monday, you should respond to these prompts in your writer's notebooks based on your readings of chapters 1 and 2.

1) What does Grandma India mean on page 6 when she says “Freedom is a state of mind”? Explain fully.

2) How did Melba experience racism both directly and indirectly in chapter one?   Be specific.

3) How does her parents living in “constant fear and apprehension” (7) effect Melba?

4) Does one person have the power to make a difference in the fight against prejudice? Explain your answer.

1) How does the announcement of the ruling in the Brown vs. The Board of Education case effect Melba?  How does it effect her community?

2) Why does her family decide not to call the police after Melba is attacked?

3) Explain the difference between Cincinnati and Little Rock. Be specific.

4) What is ironic about Melba’s mother’s reaction to her signing up to integrate Central High School?

Letter From a Birmingham Jail

Here is the link to the Letter From a Birmingham jail.  This is an excerpt of the letter.  I want you to read this letter and take notes in your writer's notebook (at least one page) over its meaning, purpose and even its writing style.  As I mentioned last week, you will be writing your compare contrast essay over Malcolm X and MLK.  In addition to their messages, you should be considering their craft as well.    

On Revolution by Malcolm X

Honors class:

The entire "On Revolution" article by Malcolm X is now available

Here is a link to a clean version of the Malcolm X article "On Revolution".

Feel free to print off a copy and annotate it.  And please notify your peers that the clean version is available here.

Thanks.

Standard class:

Be sure to read and annotate the first chapter of Warriors Don't Cry.

Nonviolent Resistance

In the honors class today after writing your reflections and wrapping up the essential question discussion we jumped into nonviolent resistance.  As table groups you discussed what you discovered and then started to create a poster to demonstrate your knowledge both symbolically and tangibly. Kudos to period six for really stretching their imaginations and coming up with strong, original examples of nonviolent resistance.

We will finish the poster production tomorrow and share the results.  We will also discuss the "Nonviolent Resistance" article you are actively reading tonight.  Highlight and annotate it to be sure you fully grasp the message.

In the standard class we started our at times slow and painful discussion on the Brown vs. The Board of Education case.  Dialogue...conversation...discussion are integral parts of the class and of life. You need to be able to discuss what you've read, what you've researched, what you understand.  No one will want to hire (or keep employed) someone who isn't willing to (or can't) share his or her ideas when asked.

Complete the slide homework tonight and be ready to talk tomorrow.

Don't settle for ordinary.  Be extraordinary.

See you tomorrow.

Brown vs The Board of Education

Here is the link the standard classes will need to complete the assignment.  Remember you need to respond/research/analyze the slides up to slide #8 to be ready for class tomorrow.  Take those notes in your writer's notebook and be ready to discuss what you've uncovered so we can understand the Brown court case and why it is so significant.  We'll complete the rest of those slides tomorrow in class.

You received your author's craft essays back today and reflected on the writing you completed.  Be sure to keep those handy to help you improve on your next assignment.

In the honors classes we saw that what we are doing in class is relevant through a close examination of last night's State of the Union address.  Period two identified 14 separate examples of anaphora in the speech before I cut them off!  It sure does make for an emotional, persuasive, memorable, melodic, rhythmic, inspirational, motivating and artistic speech.  In addition, we all saw how the President utilized cohesive (circular) writing to start off and finish his speech.  If the ideas we are talking about in class are being used in the most important speech a president makes, then they must be pretty important.

You received your author's craft essays today.  Due to time constraints we didn't reflect today, but we'll be sure to spend a bit of time tomorrow doing so.  Keep those papers close.

You discussed the essential question today: Does one person have the power to make a difference in the fight against prejudice?  You overwhelmingly said yes (MLK would be proud) but you also noted the importance of the group.

Tonight I'm asking you to do a bit of research in an attempt to understand what is meant by "nonviolent resistance".  You are to write a page in your writer's notebook explaining what it is, what it means., offering examples, etc.  This is not just you spouting off your ideas on the topic; instead, it is a chance for you to explain what it means after you research it and generate a better understanding. That will be your ticket in to class tomorrow.

See you then.

Guest Speaker

I hope you all enjoyed Mrs. Brockmole and her discussion of her writing and publishing process.

4 unpublished books!

4 years waiting to find a publisher!

13 revisions of a book after it was accepted for publication!

But she said to be persistent and she was.  Now she's a published writer--a good one too.  Good writing takes hard work just like anything you want to be good at.  She's dedicated and all that dedication finally paid off.

 Like all good writers she spends a lot of time revising, editing and revising again.  she also spends a lot of time reading.  Reading and writing will forever be intertwined.  If you want to be good at one you better do a lot of the other.  

Her book is called Letters from Skye and it is available in the IMC.

Tomorrow I return your author's craft essays.

Tomorrow in the honors classes we'll take a closer look at our essential question: Does one person have the power to make a difference in the fight against prejudice? We might even get our first look at the book Warriors Don't Cry.

In the standard class we'll spend a little time getting to know about Brown and the Board of Education.

Well the one thing we did right
Was the day we started to fight
Keep your eyes on the prize, oh Lord

Brown vs. the Board of Education

Honors:

We took the active/passive voice quiz and there were 100%s everywhere!  Great job!

We reviewed anaphora...you still got it.

We learned four of the most important words in our nonfiction unit:

Author
Purpose
Evidence
Source (or APES if you will).

These four words fit nicely with the CRAAP Test you used last year.

Then time was racing away from us so we shared the essential question for our nonfiction/Civil Rights/prejudice unit:

Does one person have the power to make a difference in the fight against prejudice?

...but we will be talking about it in depth next week.

Instead, we jumped to our Brown versus the Board of Education research.  It is an integral part of our upcoming readings and discussions so it's important to understand it and the impact it had on American society.  With that in mind, I assigned you to research the court case in preparation for a discussion.  Here are the list of discussion points you need to research for tomorrow's Brown vs. The Board of Education discussion.  Remember each of you needs to have a minimum of one page of notes.

Brown versus The Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas, 1954)

1) Identify what it is

2) Identify key players in the event (both sides)

3) Find compelling quotes from the event itself and from those involved (both sides)

4) Identify why it was important and the immediate impact it had (be specific)

5) Identify its relevancy today (be specific)

Can't wait to hear what you discovered.

In the standard classes we reviewed active and passive voice and saw a dramatic climb in our comprehension.  Be ready for a quiz over it tomorrow.

We read an article on why we should celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.  You have two questions to answer for tomorrow.

1) Based on the information in the article, why do we celebrate MLK Day?

2) When is it okay to break the law?

Responses to those two questions will be your tickets in tomorrow.  Come prepared.  There's a lot to discuss.

Civil Rights

Period six finished their debates and presentations...finally.  Now they will be catching up with the rest of the classes as we are all moving on to the new Civil Rights unit.

We'll be taking a quiz over active and passive voice this week.

We'll be reviewing and strengthening our understanding of anaphora.

We'll also be reading about the Martin Luther King Holiday in the coming days.

Sometime next week we will start reading Warriors Don't Cry.  That reading will be supplemented with a variety of articles sure to inspire fantastic dialogue.  Time to get those discussion caps on.

Let's go!
 

Moving Forward

We completed presentations and debates today, and I'm over halfway through with the grading of the author's craft essays. Sounds like we are ready to start something new.

That's exactly what we will do starting tomorrow.  Period one (who finished their presentations last week) got a bit of a jump on the rest of the classes.

They sharpened their knowledge of active and passive voice in preparation for a quiz later this week.

They also learned all about anaphora.  Not sure what it is?  You'll find out soon.

Finally, we got a glimpse at their knowledge on the Civil Rights Movement which will be central to our readings, discussions and studies over the coming weeks.

On top of this, you'll be getting new seats and partners soon.

We are shifting geers! Let's start out fast and furious.

If you are reading this right now, we are having a snow day and you need to complete your language arts elearning.  To access the assignment you need to go to the elearning page on the PHM website.

Here is a quick link to make it easier for you.  

You'll be reading an article called "Protect Your Privacy Online" and answering some questions.

Email me if you need any help.

Active and Passive Voice

Honors and Standard: Today in both classes we looked at the differences between active and passive voice. We realized that the active voice is preferred because it emphasizes the main part of the sentence doing the action and makes for a clearer and more effective sentence.  Quick, which sentence written below is active and which one is passive?

After a long, hard workout, I came home and chugged the water by the refrigerator.

After a long, hard workout, the water by the refrigerator was chugged by me.

Let me know which one you identified as active voice tomorrow, and I'll give you a Tootsie Roll.

Here's a link to the presentation you saw in class today.  

We also continued to wrap up our debates and presentations (period one is finished!).  We'll complete some more tomorrow and hopefully are completely finished by Thursday.  These presentations should be amazing considering all the extra time you've had to prepare.

I also shared with several of you that the compare/contrast paper will be moved to later in the third quarter and be written over completely different material.  No more "Treasure of Lemon Brown" or "The Bet" or "The Monkey's Paw".  Good stories, but it's time to move on.  Since this tended to be met with cheers, I assume you agree with me.

See you all tomorrow.

Craft Paper Submissions

Honors:   Today we revisited our winter break fun.  I collected the final copies of the author craft essays.  We also listened to several presentations.  Tomorrow we will hear a few more presentations/debates with the hope of completing all of them on Wednesday.  I'll spend a bit of time on the difference between active and passive voice tomorrow as well.  It's a concept most of you are unaware of, but one that will improve your writing.  It also happens to show up on the acuity and ISTEP tests, so it's always good to be prepared.

Standard: We also revisited our winter break fun, but then we spent the rest of the class trying to polish up the author craft essays. I reminded you of:

-the need for a catchy title

-the requirements of the introduction: hook, synopsis, claim

-stating your arguments at the beginning of each paragraph

-using quotes from the text for support

-citing those quotes correctly

-closing each paragraph by returning to the claim

-the requirements of the closing paragraph: restated claim, a brief summary of arguments, a pow or  jolt or cohesive closing.

I'll be collecting those papers tomorrow. After that, we will listen to the presentations and debates that have not yet been shared.

See you later.