Lit & Comp 9 Period 1

February 1st, 2016

First day of the new term and we're off and running! Working towards a formal, academic debate at the end of the term we performed our first practice debate of the term, investigating the proposition, "Is it possible for everyone in society to be free?"

I appreciate everyone who contributed to the debate by speaking up in class; I encourage everyone to speak up and share their perspectives on the investigation though I understand this can seem quite daunting from some, so I thank you for your respectful contemplation. 

Both sides presented excellent arguments in support of their perspectives. The difficult part for many people about philosophical (as well as literary, historical, generally all social scientific investigation) investigations is coming to accept and appreciate the inherent indeterminacy of many claims. What is freedom? Can a society's people be free? You all discovered during the debate just how difficult it is to make these claims meaningful after the words themselves have been thoroughly deconstructed during discussion. Yet, knowledge of society has an intimate relationship to power, and in this class power comes (in part) from the cognitive and physical work we do in building final propositions to the two perspectives. As we saw at the end of the debate, this does not necessarily mean a consensus is reached. 

Homework (due Wednesday, February 3rd) is to read ch. 2 of Animal Farm. Come to class ready to discuss the events of the chapter in class.

February 3rd, 2016

Today in class we covered chapters 1 & 2 in Animal Farm and began to work at analyzing the literary device of 'allegory.' 

Good work compiling a list of your top five moments from chapters 1 & 2 in class. Our discussion brought up an interesting question: "Was animalism (as created by the pigs) authentic to the wishes of Old Major?" Keep this question in mind as you move forward in the book. Our top five consisted more of less of:
- The death of Old Major
- The creation of the 7 commandments/ Animalism
- The revolution/ being starved, beaten by Mr. Jones and his men
- The drinking of the milk by the pigs
- Old Major's speech/ singing "Beasts of England"

Remember that we are changing focus and learning to analyze 'allegories' which, unlike the stories you've read thus far, have a single, clear, moral message that the whole text points you in the direction the author intends you to go. Books you've read previously in class have had multiple themes, but they weren't allegories because there wasn't a single, moral message that the whole text pointed towards. Next class we will go over how to analyze allegory in more detail. 

Homework for Friday, February 5th is to read ch. 3. 

February 5th, 2016

Recap of Events: Today in class we learned two new vocabulary words from the article "The Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 28 June 1914" that you've read in Mr. Fritz's class: 'Retinue' (or 'Squad') and 'Obscure.' 

We learned about three types of inquiry: factual, interpretive, and reflective (or, open-ended) questions. You can review the slides from class here.

We then practiced our inquiry skills by writing examples of leveled questions on chapter four of Animal Farm, which we read with a partner in class.

The class ended with us still in the middle of learning to create graphic organizer that can be used to analyze allegories, like "The Giving Tree."

Recap of Lesson's Objective: We will keep working on the graphic organizer and analyzing allegory on Monday. 

Talking with students during the question generating assignment I noticed a lot of people had a hard time differentiating between level two 'interpretive' questions and level three 'open-ended' questions. If we need to, we can discuss this further in class. But suffice to say, the difference between all three is not so much in their construction (that is, how they are written) but in the answer you are looking to receive when you ask them. 

Asking a level one question will result in a straight forward response (Q: What is Drake's favorite animal? A: Chinchillas). No interpretation required. It is clear that if you ask this type of question you are looking for one, particular response. 

If you want to ask an open-ended, or level three, question you are not concerned about receiving a particular response. You're okay leaving the answer up to the interpretation of the respondent. (For example, Q: Who is the best rapper of all-time? A: Not Drake)

Level two questions fall in-between level one and level three in that you would ask this question because you want a particular response, but a response that warrants an interpretation of the question itself. The cell phone example from class today (shout out Hanoi) illustrates this balance. Asking "What is the best cell phone" is a level three question - because you are not concerned about how the respondent will answer. To make this a level two question, you would ask "Which cell phone has the best camera," which focuses the answer that the respondent will give you to the topic 'cell phone cameras' and the criteria for 'best' to also be about 'cameras,' and not about any criteria the respondent can articulate. 

Homework: Come to class having read chapter 5 of Animal Farm and have a relaxing weekend. 

February 9th, 2016

Recap of Events:
We where introduced to three words today, two vocabulary words and one special cowboy word (YEE-HAW). Great sentences today, all of which included all three words: 'conspirator', 'compositor', and 'absquatulate.' 

Following words of the day, we finished our discussion of "The Giving Tree," concluding with sometime to reflect on the moral message of the story. As we learned during our discussion of whether the Tree was 'selfless' or 'helpless' there where a number of interpretations that can come from this story. 

Not all allegories are as straight forward as "The Grasshopper and the Ants." Shel Silverstein himself (the author) wrote the story without a clear message in mind. Its good to reflect on stories like this so your opinions and thoughts can be given more of a voice as it is through the relationship of the book and your voice in which a maturity of knowledge comes to develop. 

The remainder of class was dedicated to leveled questions, and in a cut-throat battle the four moon faces came out victorious and earning a space for themselves in the Valhalla for leveled questions. Fun and games aside, remember that these questions will come in handy during debates that you have for the rest of your time in high school, as well as in discussions you have in your future professional and personal lives. 

Recap of Lesson's Objectives:
Great discussion of "The Giving Tree" in class today, it was very exciting to hear all of your unique perspectives on the story and its moral message. Here is what I took away from the story and our subsequent conversations: I don't see the Tree and Boy's relationship as totally one sided (as many of you alluded to), as the relationship between the Tree and the Boy was defined in my eyes by the way each gave back to one another. The Boy did continually take from the Tree, but not every gift was as meaningful or fulfilling for the Boy as others. In fact, the Boy only seemed happy when he desired very little from the Tree - as a smaller Boy playing with the Tree and as an Old Man just looking for a place to sit. Likewise, the Tree was always happy whenever the Boy was 'happy' (or got what he wanted), but some of the Boy's requests took away the Tree's ability to help others as they physically demolished the Tree's physical presence - that is, literally changing who she was in order to 'help' the Boy. The apples, house, and boat only led to Boy to greater misery ("Life is not fun" said the Boy) and the Tree to greater levels of physical decimation and loss (loss of fruit or reproductive power, loss of limbs, and loss of her trunk) as each exchange was focused on either attaining or giving something outside of themselves in order to achieve happiness ("I do not have a house [...]" said the Tree "Here, take my branches.") Two exchanges, though, that of childish play at the beginning of the story and of providing a comfortable seat at the end, kept the two in tact (or where authentic to what, given their respective states of development, they could reasonably request or provide) and where therefore mutual or symmetrical exchanges, as opposed to the more one sided affairs presented throughout most of the story - exchanges which brought the two contentment each was chasing throughout the remainder of the story. The moral can be said, then, to be that one should not look outside of oneself to find happiness; that authenticity is a better guide for finding happiness than desire. 

Homework: Be ready to discuss chapter 6 when I see you in class this Thursday. 

February 11th, 2016

Recap of Events:
We warmed our brains up today by writing what we think the back story is to the following picture:

The results where...creepy. Lots of bodily harm was done either to the writer (who was murdered or blown up in a boat accident) or the woman in the cubical next to this pervert who (somehow) is unaware her hair is being smelled. That this was part of a bet between friends was the most tame option presented. I don't want to say 'good' use of the imagination, but its clear that the imagination was used, so well done despite the lysol baths we all have to take to shake off these disgusting stories. 

We then took the remainder of class to read chapter seven and turn in the our first graded assignment on leveled questions. 

Recap of objectives:
We did not get to the debate as planned so we will push that out to next week. 

By Tuesday next week I will return your papers to you so you can know your grade. By that time I will also work out a policy for improving one's grade should the issue come up. You all worked very hard today- Good Job!

Homework:
Come to class with chapter 8 read.  

February 16th, 2016

Recap of Events:
Busy day today. We started off class with a warm up asking ourselves why would an orangoutang would be walking a dog. Most of the suggestions thought the orangoutang was symbolic of the fall of human-kind and the rise of the Ape to the apex of the animal hierarchy, but it was comforting to hear some more optimistic scenarios offered as buffers to the otherwise bleak future of the rule of the Ape.

You received your first homework assignments and should start thinking over which historical events/themes you want your allegories to focus on. 

We reviewed chapters 5-8 and made a strong list of events that where important to understanding where we are in the novel:

Commandments are being changed, by the Pigs.  

The exile of Snowball.

The mass executions.

Doubling the workload for less rations.

Windmill being destroyed, not once, but twice.

Banned “Beast of England”

We then practiced our debate skills and looked with fresh eyes on the issue of the Windmill, and whether it should have been in the first place. 

Homework:
I look forward to receiving all your historical events/themes in my inbox (Derek_Schmidt@beaverton.k12.or.us) by the start of class Thursday (2/18). 

February 18th, 2016

For anyone who needs a copy of the Allegory Assignment because they've lost the paper given out in class, follow the LINK here and print out (or download) the Google doc it is contained within. Remember to email me your topic (you will be marked down if you do not) and that the final paper is due 2/24. 

Recap of Events:
Fast paced day today in period one, way to keep up! Our warm up showed us the darker side of some students, weaving stories of infatuation and capture of child hood idols. Spooky stuff. Those weren't the only stories as others saw in the picture of Barney at prom as the work of a master photo-bombers and, or, of a run-of-the-mill weirdo. 

Picking up the pace we finished chapter nine of Animal Farm in class. We are one chapter away from finishing the book (Yayaya!) and as we start to rap up the novel its hard not to see the hypocrisy of the Pigs on the farm. We also mourned the death of our favorite big, dumb, horse - Boxer. 

Then it was time to practice allegory, and it was wonderful to see all the creative scenarios your groups have come up with to finish a story with the moral: don't friend your parents on Instagram. We will finish these up and turn the stories in on Monday.

Recap of Objectives:
Thinking about the notes you took during chapter nine, it should hopefully be clear to you just how far the hypocrisy of the Pigs have gone, to the point of sending their most loyal revolutionary (Boxer) to the slaughterhouse, bringing the rebellion full circle into a new era not at all different from the reign of Mr. Jones. Remember that hypocrisy is not a contradiction but "not practicing what you preach." In some ways Napoleon and the Pigs are not hypocrites insofar as they change the rules as they break them in order to still conform to the rules and standards that the Animals on the farm have accepted and internalized. But because they still dress themselves in the imagery and symbols of the revolution, a time period of great hopes for equality, liberty, and peace, the manipulation of the Pigs leaves them vulnerable to such claims as they still rely on the trappings of the rebellions spirit to manipulate and control the other Animals. 

We will continue our discussion of how to write an allegory on Monday, but remember as you work on your Allegory Assignment this weekend that an allegory is not a fictional narrative. You cannot simply change the point of view of a piece, or write a fictional account of an historical period. You must develop a fantastical, imaginative new world - one different in appearance from the historical event/theme you've chosen but that is, underneath the surface appearance, the same. 

Homework: Your allegory assignment is due next Wednesday (2/24) so work on your stories this weekend. 

Additionally, to improve your grades (or to receive a grade if you haven't turned one in yet) on the Leveled Questions assignment from last week turn in 6 new leveled (2 at each level) questions from chapter 10 of Animal Farm by: 3/8

February 22nd, 2016

Recap of Events:
Congratulations on finishing chapter ten (the final chapter) of Animal Farm: but be forewarned, we may be finished reading the book but are far from done analyzing and working with it. We still have a debate coming up with which our books will play an important role as the source of your personal research.

Way to be stay flexible as new activities that would have thrown off a lesser classroom of students didn't phase any of you one bit. It looked as though you all enjoyed "When someone claps twice..." also know as the game we played during our warm up. Get ready to go at nearly breakneck speeds during our next round as you only have one more practice round before the finals.

We then kept the surprises coming and finished chapter ten in style: that is, with a little popcorn! The whole class got involved in reading the chapter out load to one another, and all of you did a wonderful job working through any discomfort you may have felt and performing your readings for the great benefit of the whole class. Our debate will require you to become very comfortable both listening and speaking in front of the class as you think and develop ideas out in the open.

Once we finished the book, we went to the computer lab and started working on the historical allegory assignment. To anyone who has yet to send me their historical event/theme via email send me that ASAP. My email address in case you still need it: Derek_Schmidt@beaverton.k12.or.us. If you allow me to impart any advice to you as you continue working on your allegory assignments let it be this: before you do any writing be sure you have a tight, concise, moral resolution that will guide the direction of your story. If you follow these steps (like you would a recipe) and include all the formal requirements listed on the assignments rubric (click link to open the assignment up in a new tab) in your story you are on your way to getting a solid grade on this assignment:

1. Pick a historical event/theme
2. Create a concise, tight, moral resolution from the details of your historical event/theme, similar to clique moralisms like, "Look before you leap," or "prepare for harsh times during times of plenty."
3. Match the real events of your history with 'fantastic' and 'imaginary' ones to create a new world in which everything represents your historical event/theme.
4. Just as you would a narrative, write a story that leads the reader to your moral resolution.

Homework: 
Allegory assignment due 2/24 (This Wednesday) at the beginning of class. Either print the allegory or share it with me via Google Docs.

February 26th, 2016

I apologize for missing a post on February 24th, I'll make sure that I'm keeping up on my posts from now on.

Recap of Events:
It is on- the finals have begun and period one has the time to beat! You all worked together so well this morning, fantastic job! It will be difficult for periods two and four to catch up to you, but the competition is not over yet and only time will tell which class is fated for victory...

The introduction of the homework followed the warm up, and I'll discuss that in more detail below (see "Homework" section.)

You then helped me, help you during the 'Conventions Pre-Test,' your opportunity to let me know what grammatical concepts I do not need to teach you in class. I do not want to waste your time in Lit & Comp 9 - you should know that every assignment is designed to teach you concepts, skills, or behaviors that, upon adopting them, will make you successful now, next year, and beyond, doing whatever you choose to do post-high school. Though this test takes sometime away from instruction or from projects, it saves us time down the road,

We finished class working on the Debate Readiness Checklist (which we will make time to finish in-class on Tuesday.) You will turn this assignment in, so keep working as hard as you did today on Tuesday. Knowing the answers to these questions will ensure a more thorough and deep conversation on the topics we discuss in class during the debate. 

Homework:
Complete the Debate checklist (Click Here for Google Doc.) for your side of the argument (either pro (affirmative) or against (negative)) before you come to class on Tuesday. Don't forget what components go into a complete Debate checklist:

Opening Statement - must include: (i) a 'grabber,' which is something to persuade a third party listening to the debate to believe your position over your opponents; and (ii) a summery of your 6 'claims' or reasons why your side is correct.

Claims - be sure you include evidence that backs up every claim (also known as a reason) you make!

Other than that have a great weekend!



NOTE: If you have shared with me your Allegory Assignment on Google Docs please take note of the following announcement: If you are asked to give permission to share your assignment with the email address "derekschmidt024@gmail.com" that is my personal email address so PLEASE share the document with me as soon as possible. I am working on grading the Allegories this weekend so help me get your assignments back to you in a timely manner by sharing your documents sooner rather than later.

March 1st, 2016

Recap of Events:
Excellent work in class today everyone. Things got a little rowdy right before the debate, but it's obvious from the work you did during the warm up and throughout the debate that you're taking seriously the lessons we are trying to get across to one another about argumentation so what's a little pick-up game of basketball in the middle of class (a.k.a., let's not do that again.)

The discussion surrounding the warm-up this morning was on point, really showing the power of arguments to dissolve a controversial topic down to it's most salient features. The back and forth brought out some voices that do not often speak up in class and I appreciate your participation. What the arguments showed me was how creative you all are when you focus on a topic that is important to you, so I will try to continue and introduce topics you find meaningful. It should be obvious to all that when we work at bringing our unique perspectives into discussion everyone benefits as the conversation increases the amount of information, and therefore the complexity, we have to accept when constructing positions so wonderful job.

Remember to get the debate recap assignment turned in if you (and your group) hasn't finished it yet. 

The debate started out well, with excellent opening arguments from both the affirmative and negative sides of the debate. We will finish the debate next class, so be ready to continue our conversation on the effectiveness of school assemblies. If you haven't finished your debate forms fill those out ASAP! The debate form, along with notes you took during the debate (if you are not a speaker), will be what you turn in for credit in this assignment. 

Homework: For those you haven't finished their AF debate recap assignments in class complete all the questions and turn those into me (paper or computer copy, your choice) by the beginning of class this Thursday.

March 3rd, 2016

Recap of Events:
Your endurance with the debate is admiral, and take note that the pace of class will quicken in the next couple weeks. 

The points made during today's warm-up demonstrated your increasing understanding of forming a competent and well thought-out opinion. Your opinion of Dr. Seuss's racist cartoons showed a more nuanced consideration of a topic than I've previously heard or read from you, focusing in on key words and details in order to qualify the point you wanted to make. Well done!

This focus continued throughout the debate, where we almost made it to the events conclusion. The pace might have been a bit slow, but again this will pick up along with the remaining lessons we will discuss in class. I'm looking forward to see your development as debaters in future debates; you all produced a verity of arguments that ranged from the empirical to the anecdotal during both the formal argumentation period and later during rebuttal telling me that your ready to start making bold claims about more serious and interesting topics.

And don't forget about those poor Haitians!

Oh, those poor Haitians...

Homework:
You will bring to class a piece of paper that has on it the following:
(i) 2 examples of quality debates that you've found online (these can be videos of actual debates or debates from fictional movies, or transcripts from websites, .pdfs, etc.) Make sure you include a way for me to look up the debates (like the url or the title of the transcript, the debate, or a list of words I could use to google the items.)

(ii) 2 paragraphs (3-5 sentences), one for each debate you find, where you describe WHY you think the performance is a quality example. This is in your own words, so don't feel like you have to get technical. 

**FYI**  If you haven't turned in your the Leveled Questions make-up assignment and would still like too (either to get a better grade or to because you haven't turned in the first one) the due date for the make up is 3/8. The assignment is to write 6 leveled questions (2 at each level) from chapter 10 of Animal Farm.


March 7th, 2016

Recap of Events:
Fun day today, I appreciated everyones debate examples that you sent in. The discussion on debate styles brought up a number of examples that should challenge you and inspire you as we enter into the next debate, as well as give you pause in thinking about your own style and if you need to improve your performance as we move along. Two examples that you came up with I want to reiterate: 

1) Make sure your evidence is strong, which means, it is detailed yet relevant to your central argument and helps to construct focused and bold argumentative claims. The "world's greatest" debater lived up to the bold claim made in the video's title. Notice specifically that the evidence he brings up is very thorough, analyzing the historical record meticulously and showing rather convincingly that arguments condemning Islam for being uniquely violent or reactionary are salient only if one ignores the record of violence and ignorance of other prominent world religions. The take away from you is that you should aim at collecting evidence in just as thorough and thoughtful a way as the speaker below:

2) Related to gathering a group of detailed and focused bits of evidence, take the time to consider your evidence in total and whether or not it all can be summarized into a clear, focused phrase or sentence. If you are able to, it means each of your arguments are drawing from relevant evidence and the claims you make all are clear, bold, and focused themselves. If we remember the lunch scene from Jurassic Park, mathematician Ian Malcolm (played by the devilishly handsome Jeff Goldblum) can summarize his point about the dangers of human manipulation and experimentation with prehistoric genetics with gusto as he describes the power being wielded like "a kid that found his father's gun." You should be able to summarize your arguments about the two Taylors thustly. 

Mmmm...love me some Goldblum.

But we didn't talk solely about debates, here is the LINK to the slides from class last Friday. Take note of the due dates for your Error Wall assignments: Quotation Marks (#1) and Commas (#4) need to bring into class their picture of a grammatical error and one to two paragraphs answering the following questions: a) what is the specific grammatical error displayed in your picture? and b) how would you suggest the author of the error fix it? by 3/16. Apostrophes (#2) and Run-on sentences/sentence fragments (#3) need to have their pictures and one to two paragraphs completed and brought to class by 3/18. I'm looking for to what you all have to bring in!

Finally, we gathered some evidence and possibly even created an argument or two to support either the affirmative or negative claims of the proposition "Which Taylor will be more successful in life?" The affirmative argument will be that the "Bleachers" (Blond hair) Taylor will be more successful, meaning that the negative argument will be that the "Cheer-captain" (Burnett) Taylor. Make sure you bring in the your debate worksheets completely filled out, as you will not know on Wednesday which side you are defending.

Homework:
Have the debate worksheets filled out completely when you come into class Wednesday, creating opening-statements, arguments and gathering evidence for both the affirmative and negative arguments.



Don't forget about your Error Wall assignments, due dates can be seen above.


March 9th, 2016

Recap of Events:
Debates are going great! You're all listening to each other's arguments, developing solid reasoning, and helping one another work through the sequence of events. It's very impressive to watch. I will take some time in the next few classes to return your "Taylor" debate packets, notes, and reflections, with feedback so you can be most prepared for the final debate. We aren't doing anything new in the Animal Farm debate, so other than content from the novel the work should feel very familiar. 

Speaking of content, Kahoot and similar quiz games will become more common place in the following classes so we can keep the content of the novel in our minds. Kahoot is way too much fun, so as long as you all stay interested I'm down with finding any excuse to add it into our lesson plans. 

Homework:
You have two assignments due soon, so play close attention to due dates:

Error Wall assignments will be due for Quotation mark and Commas groups on 3/16
**REMEMBER to PRINT your assignments and bring them to class**
For further instruction check out the LINK.

Animal Farm Final Debates due 3/14.
Here is the LINK for the assignment.


As always, let me know in person (7th period Tutoring Center or at the Lower North teacher cluster) or via email (Derek_Schmidt@beaverton.k12.or.us) if you have any questions or concerns.