The Larger Significance of Fences: February 28, 2018

Focus: What is the larger importance of this play?

1. Warming up with one thematic question (5 minutes):

• How is Troy physically described? When you watch him in performance, what's his presence like on stage / in the film?

• How does his size relate to his personality?

• How are his dreams, conflicts, and failures as big as our whole country's dreams, conflicts, and failures?

2. Viewing the last 40-ish minutes of the film (start at 1:38 pm) with a focus on symbolic choices; click HERE for the exit ticket, which you may complete at any time.

HW:
All journal entries for Reader's theater are due TODAY. If you missed a performance, read the scene on your own and look at a classmate's blog to see what the acting company's question was.

Hierarchy of Needs and the End of Fences: February 27, 2018

Focus: How can psychology and performance helps us understand characters' needs?

1. Warming up by applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to Troy and Rose (on your blog journal)

• Where does Rose lie on this hierarchy of needs? What about Troy?  Find one line for EACH character that supports your thinking?

• Which need of Rose's does Troy fail to acknowledge? Which need of Cory's does Troy fail to acknowledge? Find one line that supports your thinking.

2.  Offering your the rubric for your Reader's Theater blog journal entries

3. Enjoying Reader's Theater: Act 2, Scene 5; discussing your final Level 2 and 3 question

4. Viewing the film version of Fences and analyzing this director's symbolic choices; use this exit ticket to identify one symbolic choice and pose a question about it. What are you curious about?

Ex: I noticed that the film opens with the sounds of a garbage truck, and the first visual is Troy and Bono riding on the back of one. What does the garbage truck symbolize about Troy's esteem and self-actualizing needs?

HW:
All journal entries for Reader's theater must be completed by tomorrow. If you missed a performance, read the scene on your own and look at a classmate's blog to see what the acting company's question was.

***All blog entries for both acts must be finished by this Wednesday, Feb 28.***

Performing Fences, Day 3: February 26, 2018

Focus: How can performance help us analyze a text?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Celebrating a fantastic example of your Fences journal entries

On your personal blog each night, make sure you complete the following:

• Respond thoughtfully and specifically to the Level 2 or 3 question posed by the Acting Companies that performed that day (3-5 sentences). You may be able to do this in class.

• Complete a Connect, Extend, Challenge entry for one specific line from EACH SCENE performed that day. The line can be spoken aloud or from the scene descriptions. This will be homework.

• These should be published on your personal blog before you walk into class the next day. Be sure to label clearly in the title of your post which scenes each post is addressing.

3. Enjoying Reader's Theater: Act 2, Scenes 1-4; discussing your Level 2 and 3 questions

HW:
Complete your Reader's Theater journal entries for the scenes performed in class today. See the full description under #2 on today's class blog.

***All blog entries for both acts must be finished by this Wednesday, Feb 28.***

Creating Your Character's World: February 23, 2018

Focus: What can we learn about our characters by examining their worlds?

1. Warming up with with the very end of Act 1 Reader's Theater and a celebration of one of your blogs

2. Enjoying the Empathy Monologue Writing Exercises: Creating a World

3. Viewing a quick video on Method Test Prep and playing with your free account

• Click HERE to sign up for your free account.
• Try this quiz: Review 1-5.

HW:
1. Spend 20 more minutes on this writing exercise; next Monday, we will start pulling your exercises together into a rough draft of your actual monologue.

2. If you fell behind in your Act 1 blog entries, please catch up by Monday. Click HERE for the rubric I will be using to grade your entries next wee.

3. Continue using Method Test Prep to get yourself ready for the big tests!

Performing Fences, Day 2: February 22, 2018

Focus: How can performance help us analyze a text?

1. Warming up an open-note, open-friend assessment on verb tenses

2. Celebrating a fantastic example of your Fences journal entries

On your personal blog each night, you will need to complete the following:

• Respond thoughtfully and specifically to the Level 2 or 3 question posed by the Acting Companies that performed that day (3-5 sentences). You may be able to do this in class.

• Complete a Connect, Extend, Challenge entry for one specific line from EACH SCENE performed that day. The line can be spoken aloud or from the scene descriptions. This will be homework.

• These should be published on your personal blog before you walk into class the next day. Be sure to label clearly in the title of your post which scenes each post is addressing.

3. Enjoying Reader's Theater: End of Act 1(scenes 3, 4, and possibly 5)

HW:
1. Complete your first Reader's Theater journal entries for the scenes performed in class today. See the full description under #2 on today's class blog.

2. Make sure you spent 20 minutes (you should have done this last weekend) researching important events on your character's timeline. You will need detailed information about your character's world for tomorrow's writing exercise.

Performing Fences, Day 1: February 21, 2018

Focus: How can performance help us analyze a text?

1. Warming up a quick game in verb tense: Find your perfect match!

2. Giving you an overview of your journal entries for Fences

On your personal blog each night, you will need to complete the following:

• Respond thoughtfully and specifically to the Level 2 or 3 question posed by the Acting Companies that performed that day (3-5 sentences). You may be able to do this in class.

• Complete a Connect, Extend, Challenge entry for one specific line from EACH SCENE performed that day. The line can be spoken aloud or from the scene descriptions. This will be homework.

• These should be published on your personal blog before you walk into class the next day. Be sure to label clearly in the title of your post which scenes each post is addressing.

3. Enjoying Reader's Theater: 1.2 and hopefully 1.3

HW:
Complete your first Reader's Theater journal entries for the scenes performed in class today. See the full description under #2 on today's class blog.

Reader's Theater Prep: February 20, 2018

Focus: How do we use Reader's Theater to understand, analyze, and create meaning?

Reminder: Any make-up work from the last 6 weeks is due today.

1. Warming up with three good things and a quick overview of your Reader's Theater Rubric

2. Working with your acting companies to prepare your scene for Reader's Theater

• If needed, reread the plot summary of Fences
• Work on your symbolic choice.
• Create Google slides that pose a Level 2 or 3 question and help us think deeply about your scene.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse until you get the rhythm of the scene. You should know how to pronounce the words, when to pause, when to shout, whisper, etc.
• Stage your scene. Avoid the pitfall of everybody standing awkwardly in a row.
• Complete your Project Work Log.

3. Wrapping up with your project work logs and goal-setting for tonight: What needs to get done  so that you're ready to present on Wednesday?

HW:
1. Performances will begin Wednesday, February 21 (tomorrow). Make sure you bring in your props and costumes, and place your Google slide in your shared folder.

2. We will have an open-note assessment on verb tense on Thursday.

Creating a World: February 16, 2018

Focus: How do we set up our Acting Companies to make sure we work happily and efficiently together?

1. Warming up with Empathy Monologue writing exercises: Creating a World

2. Working with your acting companies to prepare your scene for Reader's Theater

• If needed, reread the plot summary of Fences
• Work on your symbolic choice.
• Create Google slides that pose a Level 2 or 3 question and help us think deeply about your scene.
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse until you get the rhythm of the scene. You should know how to pronounce the words, when to pause, when to shout, whisper, etc.
• Stage your scene. Avoid the pitfall of everybody standing awkwardly in a row.
• Complete your Project Work Log.

3. Wrapping up with your project work logs and goal-setting for the weekend: What needs to get done before Tuesday so that you're ready to present on Wednesday?

HW:
1. For Tuesday: Spend 20 more minutes with today's writing exercise on Creating a World (feel free to click on different slides until you find one that unlocks a story).

2. For every day: BRING STICKY NOTES!

3. Today, Friday, February 16, marks the end of the first 6 weeks. Please submit all make-up work, revised work, and missing work by Tuesday, February 20. Also, if any of your grades are incorrect, please e-mail me by Tuesday. After Tuesday, all grades in IC will stand as they are.

4. Performances will begin Wednesday, February 21.

Happy, Efficient Acting Companies: February 15, 2018

Focus: How do we set up our Acting Companies to make sure we work happily and efficiently together?

1. Warming up with Grammar You Must Know, Lesson #6: Verb Tenses with your speech partner

2. Reading between the lines with your first Connect, Extend, Challenge entry on something specific from Act 1, Scene 1

• View first 10 minutes of film version with a focus on external and internal conflicts (group brainstorming)

• Select one line from the play or one observation from the film and compose your Connect, Extend, Challenge entry for 1.1; please compose and publish these on your personal blog.

3. Setting up expectations for your acting companies and Reader's Theater

4. Working with your acting companies

• Setting up norms on how to function happily and efficiently together

• Reading the plot summary and your scene together:

• What are you seeing?
• What are you thinking?
• What are you wondering?

HW:
1. For Tuesday: Complete your Connect, Extend, Challenge blog entry for the scene you read with your acting company today. You need to select THREE lines from your scene; compose your connection, extension, and challenge for each one. These should be published on your personal blog.

2. For every day: BRING STICKY NOTES!

3. Tomorrow, Friday, February 16, marks the end of the first 6 weeks. Please submit all make-up work, revised work, and missing work by Tuesday, February 20. Also, if any of your grades are incorrect, please e-mail me by Tuesday. After Tuesday, all grades in IC will stand as they are.

Family Dynamics: February 14, 2018

Focus: What can we learn about family dynamics and motifs from the first scene in Fences?

1. Warming up with Ta-Nehisi and why white people can't say the N-word: Using Connect, Extend, Challenge to think through this (click here for the soundbytes)

2. Reading Scene 1 together with a focus on characterization:

• Keep adding characterization sticky notes with facts and inferences about what we're learning about these characters.

• What are you seeing? 
• What are you thinking? 
• What are you wondering about?
• Look for complexities and contradictions.

• Mark any passages you might want for your first Connect, Extend, Challenge blog entry.

3. Complete this exit ticket and start working on your first CEC blog entry

HW:
1. Finish your Act 1, Scene 1 Connect, Extend, Challenge blog entry if you did not finish in class. If you were absent today, please read Act 1, Scene 1 on your own and follow the directions.

2. BRING STICKY NOTES!

3. This Friday, February 16, marks the end of the first 6 weeks. Please submit all make-up work, revised work, and missing work by Tuesday, February 20. Also, if any of your grades are incorrect, please e-mail me by Tuesday. After Tuesday, all grades in IC will stand as they are.

Connect, Extend, Challenge: February 13, 2018

Focus: What can we learn about family dynamics and motifs from the first scene in Fences?

1. Warming up by investigating a photo: Connect, Extend, Challenge

2. Exploring and questioning the family tree and set-up of Fences

• Back to yesterday's fence and background info...
• Does your partner's fence keep something out, keep something out, or serve a different purpose?
• What metaphorical/symbolic connection can you make between your fence and the topics discussed today? Explain this to your partner while he/she takes notes.

• Sketch the family tree.

• What are you seeing? 
• What does it make you think about individual characters? About this family?
• What wonderings (questions) do you have?

• Read the opening summary with the same inquiry-based focus: See, think, wonder

3. Reading Scene 1 together with a focus on characterization:

• Keep adding to your family/friend tree with facts and inferences about what we're learning about these characters.

• What are you seeing? 
• What are you thinking? 
• What are you wondering about?
• Look for complexities and contradictions.

• Mark any passages you might want for your first Connect, Extend, Challenge blog entry.

4. Complete this exit ticket and start working on your first CEC blog entry

HW:
1. Finish your Act 1, Scene 1 Connect, Extend, Challenge blog entry if you did not finish in class. If you were absent today, please read Act 1, Scene 1 on your own and follow the directions.

2. BRING STICKY NOTES!

3. This Friday, February 16, marks the end of the first 6 weeks. Please submit all make-up work, revised work, and missing work by Tuesday, February 20. Also, if any of your grades are incorrect, please e-mail me by Tuesday. After Tuesday, all grades in IC will stand as they are.

Analyzing the 1950s Color Line: February 12, 2018

Focus: What do we need understand about power and empathy in 1950s America?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Presenting on the 1950s Color Line topics; gathering background using this note catcher

3. Distributing Fences and conducting title interviews

• Your partner must sketch the fence you are describing and prompt you with follow-up questions to make sure they're getting it right.

• What material is is made of?
• How tall is it?
• Is it in good shape?
• Where is it?

• Look back over your note catcher from today's presentations. What metaphorical/symbolic connection can you make between your fence and the topics discussed today? Explain this to your partner while he/she takes notes.

HW:
1. Spend 5-10 minutes reviewing your Fences vocabulary (on Quizlet).

2. Make sure you have spent an extra 15 minutes on Friday's writing activity (if you were absent, spend 30 minutes on it before tomorrow).

The Relationship Between Outer and Inner: February 9, 2018

Focus: How can we use external qualities to reveal internal qualities?

1. Warming up with "'Salvador Late or Early"; focusing on using external qualities to reveal internal qualities

• What quirks and physical traits (external qualities) stand out to you?
• What adjectives would you use to describe his inner qualities?

2. Drafting a story about your Empathy Monologue character in which you use their external qualities to reveal their inner qualities

3. Preparing and rehearsing your speech on the 1950s Color Line for Monday's presentations

HW:
1. Spend 15 more minutes on the creative writing exercise we did in class today (slide #...)

2. If you have your own copy of Fences, bring it to class on Monday. Otherwise, bring STICKY NOTES.

3. Prepare to present on Monday.

Structuring Your Speech: February 8, 2018

Focus: How do we structure an informative and meaningful speech?

1. Warming up by setting two goals with your partner and e-mailing them to me

• What do you need to accomplish today?
• What do you hope to achieve tomorrow when you deliver your speech?

2. Continuing to work on your plan sheet 

Remember that this is due by the end of class today. Follow the directions at the top of the sheet:

• Directions: Please work with focus and depth today and tomorrow in class to prepare your one-minute speech. Use this planning sheet to research and structure your speech. Create a folder called “Fences” inside your 2nd Semester folder, and save this document in there. This is due by the end of class on Thursday, February 8.

HW:
Practice your one-minute speech tonight so that you are prepared to deliver it tomorrow. I'm not going to be as strict about the timing on this one, so don't worry if you need two minutes instead of one.

Finding Your Argument: February 7, 2018

Focus: How can we lay a strong foundation for our Fences background speeches?

1. Warming up with a brief assessment on Grammar You Must Know #5: Parallel Structure

2. Organizing your research and creating a thesis; remember that your speech is not just a summary of your topic, but an analysis of your topic

Click HERE for the planning sheet (due by the end of class on Thursday).

3. Starting to work on your planning sheet

HW:
1. Your speech prep sheet is due by the end of class tomorrow (Thursday). Tomorrow's class will be a work day, but if you need more time, work on it tonight.

2. We will deliver our one-minute speeches this Friday, February 9.

Finding the Quirks: February 6, 2018

Focus: How can we lay a strong foundation for our Fences unit?

1. Warming up with Grammar You Must Know, Lesson #5: Parallel structure

2. Enjoying a quirky writing exercise on your newfound character; sharing your discoveries with the class

3. Introducing you to this week's one-minute speech (it's on background knowledge for Fences); revealing your partner match-ups and selecting your topics

HW:
1. Research your one-minute speech topic; Wednesday and Thursday will be preparation days in class. You should be done with your research before you walk into class on Wednesday.

2. If you fell behind in our writing exercise on quirks today, or you were absent, please complete this tonight; the exercise are linked above. You should have two pages, typed and double spaced by now (or your handwriting equivalent).

3. We will deliver our one-minute speeches this Friday, February 9.

Climbing the Family Tree: February 5, 2018

Focus: What complexities of character can we find in a family tree?

1. Warming up with three good things; reflecting on and finalizing your Harlem Renaissance Little Project grades

2. Finding and developing your character for the Empathy Monologues

• Click HERE for the overview.

• Click HERE for the exercises.

3. Offering you an overview of this week's one-minute speeches; selecting topics, assigning partners, and figuring out the distribution of labor

4. Meeting Grammar You Must Know, Lesson #5: Parallel Structure

HW:

1. Make sure you have at least two pages typed (double-spaced) in response to today's exercises; they should in your "Empathy Monologues" shared Google folder (I will grade them at 10 am on Tuesday).

2. Research your one-minute speech topic; Wednesday and Thursday will be preparation days in class. You should be done with your research before you walk into class on Wednesday.

3. Bring Fences to class tomorrow if you have your own copy; we will be reading Act 1, Scene 1 together.

Projects, Power, and Empathy: February 2, 2018

Focus: What can we learn about power and empathy by watching each other's Harlem Renaissance projects?

1. Warming up by finalizing and reflecting upon your virtue charts:

Level 1: How'd you do? What were your successes and failures? What was the process like for you?

Level 2: Franklin believed the charting his virtues in a rational, scientific manner improved his moral character. Are you a better person now than you were before you started this chart? Explain your thinking.

Level 3: Our semester focus is about power: Who has power, and how is power obtained? Can you make any larger connections between this virtue chart and individual/social power?

If you handwrote your chart, please either turn it in now or take a picture and share it with me.

2. Watching and commenting on each other's videos; start with your blogging buddies, then watch whichever ones you'd like to (also, if anyone wants to show theirs on the big screen, now's the time)

• What did you learn about this person from watching his or her video?
• What worked for you?
• Questions you'd like to ask?
• Make a connection to our semester focus: What is the relationship between power and empathy in America?

3. Introducing you to the Empathy Monologues

• Create a new Google folder: "Empathy Monologues" (inside 2nd semester folder).

• Click HERE for the overview.

• Click HERE for the exercises.

HW:
1. Please spend about 20 minutes with the exercises we started in class. We will continue with them on Monday, and I will grade them Monday right after class.

2. If you have your own copy of Fences, please start bringing it to class on Monday.

Finalizing Your Projects: February 1, 2018

Focus: How do we finalize and publish our projects?

1. Warming up by revisiting yesterday's quizzes with an opportunity for getting smarter

2. Discussing how to finalize and publish your projects

Step 1: Turn it into a Youtube video.

Step 2: Compose a brief introduction for your video.

• What is this video?
• Whom did you work with if you had a partner?
• What do you want people to know before they watch it?
• What do you want people to focus on as they watch it? Which part did you make?
• What do you hope people will gain from your video?

Step 3: Upload your video to both of your personal blogs.

Step 4: Consider presenting it to the class.

3. Working your Harlem Renaissance Little Projects (last day)

HW:
Finalize your Harlem Renaissance Little Project and publish it to your blog(s) BEFORE class tomorrow.