Honors: Presentations are now completed and it seems that the majority opinion is that while progress was made during the Civil Rights Movement, the housing, prison, job, economic, etc. facts show that the fight is not yet over.  I guess it was a good idea to question this accepted but unsubstantiated truth.

We used images of O.J. Simpson, George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin to take a quick look at the power the media has in fomenting and/or downplaying racial tension in America. Yet another reason to question what is often presented to us as truth in the newspapers and on television.

I passed back the in-class timed essays and you reflected on those in a letter to yourself.  Key areas to take note of include:

Offering a complete, effective introduction

Making sure the claim has an opinion/argument in it

Tying the body paragraph arguments back to the claim

Using quotes to support key points/ideas

Closing with a bang instead of a whimper

We also started talking about nonfiction reads in a period one.  Periods two and six will be coming along for the ride soon too.  You'll find out more tomorrow.

No homework tonight.  I want to introduce the In Their Words segment before you do it.

Standard:  Pretty good discussion in both classes on overall reactions to Warriors Don't Cry.  We aren't finished with it yet but we'll be taking a bit of a break from it for a few days as the ISTEP practice test moves in.

We worked on the symbolism pieces today.  Some tremendous ideas were brought up.  I can't wait to see them all tomorrow.  Be sure to complete the drawing, with some color, and an explanation of the symbol typed below it.  we'll do a gallery walk tomorrow.

See you then.