Stand Up and Speak (Finals, Day 2): May 25, 2018

Focus: What do we want each other to understand better or differently?

1. Warming up with a few reminders

2. Speaking and Listening: Enjoying our first presenters and panel discussions

• Remember that your goal is to participate at least twice as an audience member.

3. Wrapping up our course evaluation

HW:
1. Have a summer full of good things!

2. Come visit me next year!

Stand Up and Speak (Finals, Day 1): May 18, 2018

Focus: What do we want each other to understand better or differently?

1. Warming up with your American Lit stats

2. Speaking and Listening: Enjoying our first presenters and panel discussions

• Remember that your goal is to participate at least twice as an audience member.

• Click here for ideas about good panel discussion questions.

3. Wrapping up with memorable moments and advice

HW:
1. Continue practicing your speeches (click HERE for the presentation order). Your finals period is next Friday at 8:55.

2. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS TODAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in today. 

Powerful Openings and Closings: May 17, 2018

Focus: How do we develop an engaging framework for our speeches?

1. Warming up with a focus on the first thing you say

• Click here for an overview of speech openings and closings.

• [Pull up a "prop" from the bag, imagine it relates to your speech, and develop a 20-second opening about it that grabs our attention].

2. Developing the openings and closings of your speeches

3. Practicing, practicing, practicing (remember to work on transitions)

HW:
1. Work hard on building the structure of your speech. Speeches will begin Friday and continue through our finals period (click HERE for the presentation order).

2. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS FRIDAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in ASAP. If you can't find your book, you will need to pay the fine. You will not be able to register for next year's classes until all books/fines are taken care of.

Answering the Call: May 16, 2018

Focus: How do we answer the call?

1. Warming up with teenagers who are answering the call and offering their gifts to the world:

Malala Yousafzai

Easton LaChappelle

Mary Grace Henry

Yash Gupta

Anoyara Khatun

Katie Stagliano

Perform a quick search of your person to figure out who they are, what they're up to, and where their inspiration comes from. In other words, how did they answer the call to action?

Get together with two neighbors who researched different teenagers.

• Share what you've found about each person. How did they each answer the call to action?

• What do they all have in common?

• What connections can you find between this activity and Finding Joe? Between this activity and your final speech?

For more heroic, everyday teenagers, click here: YSA (Youth Service America)

For ideas on how to answer the call, click here: www.dosomething.org/us


2. Recapping the overview of your American Lit final speech and figuring out the underlying structure to your speech.

Feel free to use the American Literature speech planner.

3. Wrapping up by posting your investigative question and your call to social action

HW:
1. Work hard on building the structure of your speech. Speeches will begin next Friday and continue through our finals period (click HERE for the presentation order).

2. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS FRIDAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in by Tuesday. If you can't find your book, you will need to pay the fine. You will not be able to register for next year's classes until all books/fines are taken care of.

Becoming Experts: May 15, 2018

Focus: How do we become experts in our speech topics?

Breaking News: You may now take up to six minutes for your speech.

1. Warming up with individual ideas about how you can use ethos, pathos, and logos in your speeches

2. Brainstorming a list of what you need to research, then dividing and conquering

A. Brainstorming example from Blackfish:

• Interviews with Sea World trainers--did they know about the dangers?
• Interviews with Sea World former executives
• Tilicum's history--has he been aggressive before?
• History of attacks at Sea World and other marine parks
• Court documents surrounding this case
• Footage of Sea World shows
• Background info on whales in their natural environment
• Accounts of whale behavior in captivity vs. natural environment
• How are whales captured? How are they trained?
• Accounts of attack on Dawn
• Protests on Sea World

B. Dividing and conquering: Form a group note catcher

C. YOU NEED TO SHOW ME YOUR WORKS CITED BY THE END OF CLASS.

3. Using your research to create your speech:

• Revisit your investigate question, turning point, and call to action: Do they still work, or do they need to be revised now that you've done your research?

• Outline the body of your speech: What are three main points of your speech, and how does your research fit in? How will you transition from topic to topic/person to person?

• Frame your speech: What will be your opening and closing? How will you use media to emphasize/accent your speech without overwhelming it?

HW:
1. Work hard on building the structure of your speech. Speeches will begin next Friday and continue through our finals period (click HERE for the presentation order).

2. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS FRIDAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in by Tuesday. If you can't find your book, you will need to pay the fine. You will not be able to register for next year's classes until all books/fines are taken care of.

Book Clubbing, Day 5: May 14, 2018

Focus: What does your author want you to understand better or differently, and how does the book's resolution contribute to this?

1. Warming up with three good things and individual book reviews (click HERE for ideas about star-ratings)

Click on your book club's document below, find your first name and last initial, and follow the directions. Please note that you are doing this individually (not as a group) because you may have differing opinions on your book. I am grading these since they take effort for you to do (20 points per review).

• Brain on Fire
• Dreamland
• Glock
• Hidden Figures
• It's Complicated
• Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Next year, I will link your reviews directly to the book list; this way, students can make informed decisions about which book they're choosing.

2. Enjoying your final day of book clubs; I will be checking on your syllabi as you discuss from home.

3. Wrapping up with your final exit tickets

HW:
1. Work hard on building the structure of your speech. Speeches will begin next Friday and continue through our finals period (click HERE for the presentation order).

2. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS FRIDAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in by Tuesday. If you can't find your book, you will need to pay the fine. You will not be able to register for next year's classes until all books/fines are taken care of.

Building the Foundation of a Speech: May 11, 2018

Focus: How do we build the foundation for a compelling speech?

1. Warming up with a grade check, your Gatsby essays and the possibility of revision

2. Picturing the narrative arc as you build your speeches:

• What did Waiting for Superman, Blackfish, and Life, Animated build up to? 
• What question was each investigating? 
• What was the call to social action? 
• What were the main building blocks in between?

• What will your speech build up to? (Do this independently, then compare notes.)
• What question will you investigate?
• What is your call to social action?
• What are your main building blocks in between?

NOTE TO SELF: Figure out presentation order today.

3.  Researching your investigative question and becoming an expert on your topic

• Finding reliable and diverse sources (ever heard of the C.R.A.P. test?)

• Using www.easybib.com as you go (Works Cited due by end of class on Wednesday)

Click here for the American Lit Speech Planner.

HW:
1. Finish your book and final syllabus for MONDAY.

2. Speeches will begin next Friday and continue through our finals period

3. ALL MAKE-UP WORK, REVISIONS, ETC. DUE THIS FRIDAY BY 3:00 PM.

Note: If you still have a Fences or Great Gatsby book, you need to turn it in by Tuesday. If you can't find your book, you will need to pay the fine. You will not be able to register for next year's classes until all books/fines are taken care of.

Book Clubbing, Day 4: May 10, 2018

Focus: How do authors (and film directors) create empathy?

1. Warming up with a return to your previewing and post-viewing questions and a large circle discussion of Life, Animated

2. Enjoying Investigative Journalism Book Clubs, Day 4: Is your book inviting you to feel empathy? For what/whom?

3. Wrapping up with Exit Ticket #4

HW:
Finish your book club book and final syllabus for MONDAY. Who you are in book clubs is who you really are.

Life, Animated: Day 2: May 9, 2018

Focus: What does Life, Animated want us to understand better or differently about ourselves?

1. Warming up with a few observations of ethos, logos, and pathos in Life, Animated

2. Watching the second half of Life, Animated with a focus on the one rhetorical appeal you haven't studied yet

3. Wrapping up with a three-minute return to your questions if time allows

HW:
Assigned book club reading and syllabus for TOMORROW. 

Book Clubbing, Day 3: May 8, 2018

Focus: What do your book club authors want you to understand better or differently?

1. Warming up with our book club wins and more details about your final presentation

2. Book Clubbing, Day 3: What larger patterns are starting to emerge? What tensions are on the rise? Any shifts yet?

3. Wrapping up with your exit tickets

HW:
Assigned book club reading and syllabus for THURSDAY. As you read, consider the deeper issues being addressed in your book that you may address in your final speech.

Life, Animated, Day 1: May 7, 2018

Focus: What does Life, Animated want us to understand better or differently about ourselves?

PLEASE PICK UP YOUR GREEN TRACKING SHEETS AS YOU WALK IN.

1. Warming up with your previewing questions for Life, Animated  (10 minutes)

2. Watching the first half of Life, Animated with a focus on the one rhetorical appeal you haven't studied yet

3. Wrapping up with a three-minute return to your questions

HW:
Assigned book club reading and syllabus for TOMORROW. 

Stand, Speak, and Deliver: May 4, 2018

Focus: How do I persuade an audience to think better or differently about something?

Spring Assembly: Shortened Class

1. Warming up with small group discussions: Analyzing and evaluating Blackfish

2. Delivering your one-minute speeches in small groups...with one, small twist

• Have someone video you on your phone.
• Assign a time keeper.
• Engage in a panel discussion once the speech has concluded.
• Try to guess which rhetorical appeal the speaker was emphasizing.
• USE A TRANSITION TO SEGUE FROM THE PREVIOUS SPEECH TO YOURS.

3. Reflecting on your speeches using a modified form of the final speech rubric

HW:
Book club reading and syllabus for TUESDAY. If you were behind yesterday, you must work hard now to catch up. Each syllabus is worth 30 points, and you can only earn full credit by completing it on time and having everyone in your group ready to discuss.

Book Clubbing, Day 2: May 3, 2018

Focus: What conflicts do your book club authors want you to see?

1. Warming up with post-viewing responses to your Blackfish questions (bring your tracking sheets back tomorrow for small group discussions, after which you will turn in your sheets)

2. Book Clubbing, Day 2: What tensions/issues/conflicts are on the rise (in your books--hopefully not in your groups)?

• Explaining to you my three-strike policy on book clubs.

• MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK OUT.

3. Exiting with Exit Ticket #2, to be completed individually

HW:
1. Book club reading and syllabus for TUESDAY. If you were behind yesterday, you must work hard now to catch up. Each syllabus is worth 30 points, and you can only earn full credit by completing it on time and having everyone in your group ready to discuss.

2. Prepare your one-minute speech for this Friday; you will be emphasizing ONE rhetorical appeal. Click here for the list of topics.

Blackfish, Day 2: May 2, 2018

Focus: What does Blackfish want us to understand better or differently, and how does it use rhetoric to persuade us?

PLC and Tribe: Shortened Class

Two Academic Character Refreshers:

• You have a new grade in IC that reflects your mastery of Academic Character Habits in the month of May. How you finish is who you are.

• In terms of book clubs, you get two strikes before you're out. If you weren't ready on Monday, you need to be caught up tomorrow; otherwise, you risk being disbanded.

1. Warming up with the big questions:

• Whom does Blackfish want us to blame for Dawn's death? Whom should we not blame?

• How does the film use logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade us?

2. Viewing the end of Blackfish

Note to self: Start around minute 45:40, then skip from 57:30 to 1:06 (the Loro Parque scene)

HW:
1. Book club reading and syllabus for THURSDAY. If you were behind yesterday, you must work hard now to catch up. Each syllabus is worth 30 points, and you can only earn full credit by completing it on time and having everyone in your group ready to discuss.

2. Start preparing your new one-minute speech for this Friday; you will be emphasizing your NEW rhetorical appeal. You may use the same speech topic or switch it. Click here for the list.

Blackfish, Day 1: May 1, 2018

Focus: What do we need to understand about how we treat living things?

Please take out your documentary tracking sheet.

1. Checking your current understanding with high velocity previewing questions for Blackfish and a warning of sensitivity triggers

• If you observed pathos last time, you will now look at ethos.

• If you observed ethos last time, you will now look at logos.

• If you observed logos last time, you will now look at pathos.

If you'd like to opt out of Blackfish, you can develop the same skills and gain knowledge on the same topic by reading the following articles for ethos, pathos, and logos:

National Geographic: Are Wildlife Sanctuaries Good for Animals?
The Conversation: In Defense of Zoos
NPR: Sea World Ending Captive Breeding of Killer Whales
Washington Post: SeaWorld's Whales Deserve Better
CNN: Sea World Responds to Blackfish


3. Switch-a-rooing your rhetorical appeals and watching Blackfish

HW:
1. Book club reading and syllabus for THURSDAY. If you were behind yesterday, you must work hard now to catch up. Each syllabus is worth 30 points, and you can only earn full credit by completing it on time and having everyone in your group ready to discuss.

2. Start preparing your new one-minute speech for this Friday; you will be emphasizing your NEW rhetorical appeal. You may use the same speech topic or switch it. Click here for the list.