Observing, Questioning, and Discovery: Sep 1, 2017

Focus: How can simple observations and questions lead to discoveries?

1. Warming up with a Friday freewrite and a few thoughts about what we're really doing here

We can't find the solution until we first examine the problem.

Questioning --> Researching --> Observing --> Better Questioning --> Thesis

2. Working on an annotated bibliography to gather and assess research

• Click here for an overview of the what/why/how of the annotated bibliography
• Click here for a sample annotated bibliography from last year.

3. Looking over your research so far; at the top of your annotated bibliography, try the following:

a. Make a few simple observations regarding your topic/research that you think are important.

• As Y2K approached, people were quick to panic.

• Many assumed that a technical glitch would essentially lead to the end of civilized life.

• People hoarded goods, build underground shelters, and prepared for the new millennium as though preparing for a natural disaster or a war.

b. Based on your observations, ask a Level 3 question that you hope to answer as you dive into your research. Put it in bold font at the top.

Remember: A Level 3 question has many possible answers and can be applied to many situations.

• Ex: Why is paranoia contagious?
• Ex: What is the link between reliance on technology and mass panic?

NOTE: If you're working on asking questions or organizing your questions into categories, see yesterday's blog for examples.

4. Offering you little scientific inspiration on the importance of what you're doing

HW:
1. Do your best to finish your annotated bibliography (about 5 entries) by Tuesday; make sure it's in your "Cultural Hysteria" folder. If you need in-class time on Tuesday to finish, no worries.

Topic Sign-Up

2. If it's in your budget or on your bookshelf, please acquire your own copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Tinkering with Ideas, Questions, and Research: August 30, 2017

Focus: How do we develop writing routines to keep messy learning productive?

1. Warming up with inspiration from the Tinkering School; post on today's class blog one takeaway

"Success is in the doing, and failures are celebrated and analyzed. Problems become puzzles, and obstacles disappear." -- Gever Tulley

2. Generating questions about your research topic:

• What are curious about? What do you want to know?
• What are you wondering?
• What's confusing?
• What do you need to find out more about?
• What are some connections you're hoping to make?
• What do you hope to learn by the end of this project?

• Level 1: (Who/what/when/where/how many?)
• Level 2: (How...?)
• Level 3: (Why...? What if...?

3. Clustering and coding your questions to focus your research; try organizing your questions under larger, umbrella categories

An example for Y2K:

I. Questions about the origins of fear

• Why were people afraid of the year 2000?
• Did this come from earlier fears of specific years?
• Was this foretold somewhere (Farmer's Almanac, etc)?
• Which fears were legitimate (vs. paranoid)?

II. Questions about what the fear looked like

• What were people buying to prepare themselves for Y2K?
• What were news sources reporting that contributed to the paranoia? What were the headlines?
• What did the big cities look like on New Years Eve?
• Were people picketing? What did their signs say?

III. Questions about the consequences of fear

• Did people alter their jobs or their homes in preparation for Y2K?
• How many people were diagnosed with anxiety as the result of Y2K?
• How were the banks / the stock market affected?

IV. Questions about its effects today

• Are people still scared of specific years?
• Is there still anxiety over the world coming to a specific end?
• Do we have more confidence in our social structures now since nothing actually went wrong?

4. Researching your topic professionally to find answers for your questions

• Where should we look for quality research?
• How do we know if a website is reliable? Are you familiar the C.R.A.P. test?
• Skim websites quickly to see if they will answer your questions (or spark new questions).

5. Starting to develop an annotated bibliography to gather and assess research

• Click here for an overview of the what/why/how of the annotated bibliography
• Click here for a sample annotated bibliography from last year.

HW:
1. Continue working on answering your questions by researching and keeping an annotated bibliography; please finish your annotated bibliography by the end of class on Sep 1.

Topic Sign-Up

2. If it's in your budget or on your bookshelf, please acquire your own copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The Choice Is Yours: August 29, 2017

Focus: What does a modern cultural hysteria look like, and how do I pick the right one for my project?

1. Warming up with a survey on the present state of your researching/writing habits; creating a "writing space" for yourself in this classroom

2. Connecting the past to the present: Recapping the cultural hysteria project overview; reading one of four articles on modern cultural hysteria (20 minutes)

• What does your article have in common with the Salem witch trials?

• How would you, personally, define the term "cultural hysteria"? Please post your definition on today's class blog.

Y2K
UFOs and War of the Worlds
Ebola and "Fear-bola"
Life after 9/11
Racial Terror Lynchings (this one contains violence)

3. Starting to brainstorm your own ideas for the cultural hysteria project (sign up below under hw)

4. Advancing: If you know your topic, come see me, and I'll help you move on to the next step.

HW:
1. Decide on your topic for this project. It is first come, first served; I prefer that each member of the class explores a different topic. Please sign up before class tomorrow.

SIGN UP HERE! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!

2. Spend 5 minutes on a day on your Puritan Words, List 1; assessment this Friday. Familiarity with the words is required, but strict memorization is not.

3. BRING IN STICKY NOTES AND HEADPHONES (if you have them).

Connecting the Past to the Present: August 28, 2017

Focus: What does a modern cultural hysteria look like?

1. Warming up with 3 good things!

2. Augmenting our vocabularies with Quizlet Live: Puritan Words, List 1 (if you haven't yet joined, click HERE)

3. Recapping the Salem witchcraft courtroom scene with a focus on possible explanations

Scene 4 (1:16:30--1:26:26): Witchcraft Is an Invisible Crime

4. Connecting the past to the present: Recapping the cultural hysteria project overview

HW:
1. Start brainstorming a list of possible topics for your project; tomorrow, we will be signing up for them in class. If you're ready, you can sign up tonight by clicking on your class sign-up doc (linked below). It is first come, first served; I prefer that each member of the class explores a different topic.

SIGN UP HERE! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!

2. Spend 5 minutes on a day on your Puritan Words, List 1; assessment this Friday.

Understanding the Puritans Through Performance: August 25, 2017

Focus: What can we understand about cultural hysteria through dramatic reenactments of Puritan courtroom scenes?

If you handwrote your research, please turn it in by the end of class.

1. Warming up with an impromptu performance of the Bridget Bishop trial

• If you're Judge Hawthorne, what do you notice about the kinds of questions you're asking?

• If you're Bridget Bishop, what do you notice about your responses?

• How does yesterday's research help you understand what's happening in this scene?

2. Watching a four scenes from The Crucible and adding to your research and analysis; follow-up discussion as class:

Scene 1 (5:45--10:55): Betty's Sleeping
Scene 2 (13:30--20:30): Witchery's a Hangin' Error
Scene 3: (31:15--35:00): The Contagion of Accusation
Scene 4 (1:16:30--1:26:26): Witchcraft Is an Invisible Crime

• What non-supernatural issues are plaguing Salem? How might these relate to the witchcraft accusations?

• What instigates the hysteria in these scenes?

• What perpetuates the hysteria in these scenes?

• What does your research help you understand about these scenes?

3. Your first real Friday freewrite (10 min)

HW:
1. Click here to join our Quizlet class. Spend 15 minutes with your 15 Puritan Words (List 1). You'll have an assessment on these words next Friday. You can use Quizlet to play games, flip through flashcards, test yourself, or whatever helps you best absorb the words.

2. Read the overview of the Modern Cultural Hysteria project and start thinking about what you topics might want to explore for your project.

3. BRING HEADPHONES TO CLASS NEXT WEEK.

4. If you haven't yet signed up for our class remind account, click here.

Investigating the Salem Witch Trials: August 24, 2017

Focus: What really happened during our country's first cultural hysteria, and how does it still affect us?

1. Warming up with "Still Puritan After All These Years": 3 Levels of Questions and grid groups

• On the back of your article, please compose a Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 question about the article. 

• Write questions that you're genuinely curious about and/or think could spark a good discussion.

• Hash out your ideas in grid groups:
• Topic #1: Discuss your Level 1 questions
• Topic #2: Discuss your Level 2 questions
• Topic #3: Discuss your Level 3 questions

2. Investigating the Salem witch trials; click HERE for the overview; make a copy of it and save it in your "Cultural Hysteria" folder

Step 1 (30 min): Use the target (or any other form of note-taking that works for you on your "Puritan" Google doc) to amass knowledge from various websites. There are a few links on the overview, but feel free to conduct your own Google searches. You will do this part individually.

Step 2: With a partner, you will return to the three big questions on the overview. Discuss them thoughtfully and write your detailed response on the back of your target, or if you're not using a target, type them in your "Puritan" document.

You will turn in your target when you're finished (today or the beginning of class tomorrow).

3. Wrapping up with a quick exit ticket



HW:
1. For tomorrow (Thursday): Complete your reading target and finish responding to the three questions on the overview if you did not finish in class.

2.  For Friday: If you have not yet done so, please complete the survey (and encourage your parents to do the same).

In the Hands of an Angry God: August 23, 2017

Focus: Why did Puritans fear their God and the afterlife?

1. Warming up with a glimpse of next week so that this week makes sense: Click HERE.

2. Listening to Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and sketching/describing the images that affect you the most (start clip around 5:30)

Follow-up question for the whole class: How would you characterize the Puritans' relationship with their God?

3. Enjoying a little freewriting in the middle circle of your reading targets

• What did the Puritans fear, and what did they do to feel safe?

• What do Americans fear the most today? What do we do to feel safe?

• What do you, personally, fear? What do you do to feel safe?

Following up by writing one word or phrase (or drawing one image) at the CORE of your target that you feel best captures the Puritans.

HW:
1. For tomorrow: Read "Still Puritan After All These Years" (handed out in class). As you read, annotate by jotting down in the margins (or journalling about)...

• what you're wondering
• what you're confused about
• how you're reacting
• what you're inferring
• what connections you're making
• what you're realizing/starting to realize

You will need your annotations for tomorrow's activities; I will walk around and check them during class.

2.  For Friday: If you have not yet done so, please complete the survey (and encourage your parents to do the same).

Witch Hunting: August 22, 2017

Focus: What do we need to know about the Puritans in order to understand the Salem witch trials?

Please turn in your signed class policies if you have not yet done so.

1. Offering you an explanation of the "Work Habits" grade in IC and our class cell phone policy

In a nutshell:

1. Work ruthlessly on American Lit from bell to bell.
2. Keep your cell phone in your bag unless invited to to take it out.
3. Use your laptop for what we're doing in class (turn off IM and other distracting pop-ups).
4. Your "Work Habits and Responsibility" grade will reflect your focus and help you figure out what you need to work on.

2. Warming up with a different way to gather and analyze: The reading target

Reading "The City Upon a Hill" with a reading target

Enjoying grid group discussions:

• Topic 1: What did it mean to the Puritans to be the "city upon a hill"? 

• Topic 2: Look back to your notes from yesterday. What specific connections can you make between to what you learned from yesterday's gravestone and primer activities? In other words, how does this article inform some of the inferences you made yesterday?

• Topic 3: Do you think Arapahoe High School sees itself as a "City Upon a Hill"? What kind of pressure does this put on a group? On an individual?

• Final group task: Go back to yesterday's questions on the class blog and respond thoughtfully to at least one.

3. Investigating the Salem witch trials; click HERE for the overview; make a copy of it and save it in your "Cultural Hysteria" folder

Step 1: Use the target to amass knowledge from various websites. There are a few links on the overview, but feel free to conduct your own Google searches. You will do this part individually.

Step 2: As a class, we'll compare what you put at the core of your targets.

Step 3: With a partner, you will return to the three big questions on the overview. Discuss them thoughtfully and type your detailed response on your copy of the overview.

4. Wrapping up with a quick exit ticket

HW:
1. For tomorrow (Wednesday): Complete your reading target and finish responding to the three questions on the overview if you did not finish in class.

2.  For Friday: If you have not yet done so, please complete the survey (and encourage your parents to do the same).

3. Remember that tomorrow, like all Wednesdays this year, is a PLC day. 1st hour starts at 8:20.

Puritan Grammar and Puritan Graves: August 21, 2017

Focus: What can we infer about Puritans from the artifacts they left behind?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Setting up and sharing Google folders; establishing what you know and want to know about Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials

Step 1: Create a Google folder called ______(your last name only) American Lit

Step 2: Share it with me at kleclaire@lps.k12.co.us

Step 3: Within your American Lit folder, create a "1st Semester" folder.

Step 4: Within your 1st Semester folder, create a "Cultural Hysteria" folder.

Step 5: Within that "Cultural Hysteria folder, create a doc called "Puritans" (or something similar).

Random Step: Sign up for our class Remind account by clicking here.

In your "Puritans" doc, you need three sections, but the organization is up to you. Are you a chart kind of kid? More of a free thinker? Experiment until you figure out what works for you. Basically, here's what you need:

• What I already know about Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials:

• What I want to know / questions I have about Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials:

• What I'm learning about Puritans and the Salem Witch Trials:

3. Exploring the gravestones of a few famous Americans together

What does a gravestone reveal about a person?

• John Wayne

• Edgar Allan Poe, Jim Morrison, Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain

4. Walking through a Puritan graveyard individually

What do Puritan gravestones reveal about their society?

• Click here to explore descriptions of deceased Puritans (focus on 1600s and 1700s).

• Click here to view photos their actual gravestones. Here are two that are pretty clear:

• As you view these and make inferences, add to your notes: 

• What kinds of words/phrases are repeating? What do you make of that pattern?

• What images on gravestones are repeating? If you're one of my artists, try sketching them. What do you make of that pattern?

• Click here for a little help on what the images mean and how they've changed over the years.

• What are you learning about the Puritans from their gravestones? What further questions are these gravestones generating?

5. Close reading a Puritan Primer in small groups

• What is the purpose of the primer? What is this thing?

• Besides grammar, what patterns are you noticing? What kinds of words does the primer use? What you make of these words?

• What does the Puritan Primer reveal about the Puritans?

6. Returning to our semester focus:

So far, what do you think the Puritans feared? What might they have done to feel safe?

HW:
1. Post one big, important, unanswered question about Puritans or the Salem Witch Trials on today's class blog (underneath this post, there's a link that says "Comment(s)"--make sure you're logged into Google, then click on that link, write your question, and post it).

2. If you haven't done so yet, please get your course expectations and policies signed by tomorrow.

3. Consider purchasing your own copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Welcome Back! August 18, 2017

Focus: Who are the members of this class?

1. Warming up with the blank seating chart challenge: How well do you know the members of this class?

2. Taking a speedy personality "test" and sharing one of your responses in a whip around

3. Meeting the course expectations and syllabus

4. Experimenting with our first Friday freewrite

HW:
1. Please ask your parents/guardians to read and sign the course syllabus by Tuesday, August 22.

2. Sign up for success! Click HERE to sign up for our class Remind account.

3. If you have not yet done so, please complete the survey I e-mailed to you, linked HERE. Urge your parents to complete theirs, too. They're not due until Friday, August 25, but the sooner you fill yours out, the sooner I can be a better teacher to you.

4. Make sure you bring your charged LAPTOP to class each day, starting Monday.