Book Clubbing, Day 1: April 30, 2018

Focus: What current American issues are you starting to understand better or differently?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Discussing your opinions and analysis of Waiting for Superman, interview-style

• What did this film help you understand better or differently?

• Which rhetorical appeal(s) were the most effective for you?

• To what extent do agree with the documentary's points?

• What are you left wondering?

3. Reacquainting yourself with the one-minute speech:

• Click here for the list of topics.

• In your speech, utilize the ONE rhetorical appeal you tracked in Waiting for Superman.

4. Investigative Journalism Book Clubbing, Day 1

Reminders:

• Make sure you have made a book club folder. It should have the title of your book in its title, and it should be shared with all book club members and with me.

• Your first syllabus (and all subsequent syllabi) should be in that folder.

• Type discussion notes into your syllabus as you go.

5. Wrapping up with your exit ticket (to be filled out individually and honestly)

HW:
1. Assigned book club reading and syllabus for Wednesday, May 2.

2. Prepare your one-minute speech for this Friday, May 4, heavily emphasizing the ONE rhetorical appeal (ethos, pathos, or logos) you tracked in Waiting for Superman.

Waiting for Superman, Day 2: April 26, 2018

Focus: What do we need to understand about public education in the United States?

1. Warming up with a large-class collection of your ethos, logos, and pathos observations

2. Watching the second half of Waiting for Superman with your documentary tracking notes

3. Concluding by investigating what this documentary helped us understand better or differently about American public education: Returning to your Waiting for Superman pre-writing questions and turning them into post-writing questions

Turn in your pathos, ethos, and logos tracking sheets.

HW:
1. Assigned book club reading and syllabus for MONDAY. Remember that you may earn up to 30 points per syllabus:

• 20 points for a thoughtful, meaningful syllabus that is ready to go before class begins.
• 10 points for clear and thorough discussion notes on the syllabus.
• Click HERE to see a 1st semester sample with student discussion notes and my feedback.

2. If you have any missing assignments from Gatsby or you have not yet turned in your signed contracts, use the long weekend to take care of this.

Setting the Bar High: April 25, 2018

Focus: What standards do we need to establish and hold ourselves to for the next 4 weeks?

Turn in your book club contracts.

1. Warming up with an overview of your final speech and the importance of your book club

2. Recommitting to high standards: 

• Book clubs: Your freedoms and responsibilities

3. Setting your book clubs expectations (please have your signed sheets and books out on your desks):

• Click HERE to revisit what an excellent syllabus looks like.

• Fill out the bookmark: Which reading will be due which days? Who will be in charge of the syllabus each day? Please write this on your bookmark AND in your calendars.

• Create a shared folder called "[Title of your book] Book Club Folder." It should be shared with each member of your group and placed inside your Transcendentalism folder. ALL SYLLABI AND CLASSWORK must be placed inside this folder.

• Complete your book club manifesto and place it inside your shared book club folder.

4. Voting on your third documentary: Please click HERE to vote.

I Am

Life, Animated

HW:

1. Bring your documentary tracking sheet back to class tomorrow; you will turn it in before you leave tomorrow.

2. Complete your assigned book club reading and syllabus before class on Tuesday.

3. Make sure all Gatsby work (journals, fishbowls and timed writing) is 100% complete. Turn in your Gatsby book if you have not done so yet.

Waiting for Superman, Day 1: April 24, 2018

Focus: What do we need to understand about public education in the United States?

Please turn in your signed documentary contract.

1. Warming up with the fine print of your documentary contract

2. Questioning American education with high-velocity writing on your Waiting for Superman pre-writing stats

• You can save this in your brand-new, shared Investigative Journalism Folder.

3. Viewing Waiting for Superman with a focus on ethos, pathos, or logos (tracking sheet given as a handout in class)

HW:
1. Make sure your timed writing is complete, revised based on today's lessons, and in Turnitin.

2. Complete your book club letter and have your book IN YOUR HANDS when you walk in on Wednesday, April 25. 

Our Last Day of The Great Gatsby: April 23, 2018

Focus: What resolution do we need to bring to our Great Gatsby unit?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Using these editing slides and Turnitin to revise Friday's timed writings

3. Viewing the end of the film version of The Great Gatsby

HW:
1. Make sure your timed writing is complete, revised based on today's lessons, and in Turnitin.

2. Bring in your signed documentary contract by Tuesday, April 24 at the latest.

3. Complete your book club letter and have your book IN YOUR HANDS when you walk in on Wednesday, April 25. 

Writing Our Way to Complexity: April 20, 2018

Focus: How can we write our way to a better understanding of Fitzgerald's themes?

1. Warming up with a few reminders:

Start your document:

• Call it "Great Gatsby Official Timed Writing."

• Place it in your "Wealth and Power" or "Gatsby" folder (whatever you called it).

Three tiny reminders:

• Avoid "you" and "your." Try "we" and "our."

• Avoid stating "This quote..." Lead out with some literary lingo or a statement about the author's intent.
• Here's an example: Instead of saying, "This quote reveals that the speaker feels ambivalent," try saying, "The two roads symbolize the speaker's ambivalence," or the "Frost emphasizes the speaker's ambivalence."

• Show off your newly discovered close reading skills.

2. Composing your timed writing (55 minutes)

• Click here if you need an online version of the prompts and rubric.

3. Using the rubric to edit your essay if time allows

4. Submitting your essay to www.turnitin.com

HW:

1. If you had issues submitting your essay to www.turnitin.com, please take care of that tonight by midnight. If you need extra time to finish your essay, please take care of that BEFORE CLASS ON MONDAY; cap yourself at 30 minutes.

2. Make sure your Gatsby blogs are complete. We are starting a new unit next week.

3. Bring in your signed documentary contract by Tuesday, April 24 at the latest.

4. Complete your book club letter and have your book IN YOUR HANDS when you walk in on Wednesday, April 25. 

Our Capacity for Wonder: April 19, 2018

Focus: What does Fitzgerald teach us about our capacity for wonder?

1. Warming up with the documentary contract and musical chairs close readings of passages from Chapter 9

2. Enjoying our final fishbowl discussion of The Great Gatsby, Chapter 9

3. Offering you my current final takeaway from this novel

HW:
1. Prepare for tomorrow's timed writing. Feel free to e-mail me your thesis if you'd like feedback ahead of time. Click HERE if you'd like to preview the rubric. IF YOU ARE ABSENT FRIDAY, YOU MUST COMPOSE THE TIMED WRITING ON YOUR OWN, BEFORE MONDAY.

2. Make sure your Chapter 9 Gatsby blog is finalized by tomorrow; I will be grading your journals as you compose your timed writings.

3. Bring in your signed documentary contract by Tuesday, April 24 at the latest.

4. Complete your book club letter and have your book IN YOUR HANDS when you walk in on Wednesday, April 25.