Thursday, November 14th, 2013

AP!

Animal Farm Final

Directions: 

1.             Select one of the following, and write an essay in class today that thoughtfully and completely addresses the question.

2.            Select a second question, and write an essay out of class that thoughtfully and completely addresses the question.  (due classtime Monday)

a.            Think about your take-aways from the novel.

b.           Reflect on how to organize your thoughts into an essay.

c.            Use THEY SAY from the novel (quotations from the text) to support your points.

d.           Use any material needed from our shared doc entitled “AP Mid-Term Review”.

e.            What I’m asking you to do is more difficult than taking an objective final with “right answers”.  But I am most interested to hear WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED, in your own voice—hence the essay assignments.

f.             Do not use the phrase “I think” anywhere in your essays.  Since you are writing the essays, it’s obvious they are what you think!  J  Make an argument.  Sound definite.  You’ve worked with this book enough to become something of an expert, so you should sound like it.

g.           Use academic language—your writing voice should sound like an almost-college freshman.

FABLE:  Animal Farm has attributes of the fable, but there is no stated moral at the end.  The animals learn nothing from their experience and are still unaware of their real situation. 

Ø  Do you think “fable” is the best term to describe Animal Farm? 

Ø  Why or why not? 

Ø  Why do you think Orwell chose to use animals as the characters for his story?

Ø  Explain how Animal Farm can be seen as a fable, even though it does not have a moral stated at the end. 

Ø  Provide a moral of your own, and explain it in terms of the novel.

EDUCATION:  Discuss the importance of education as it evolves during the course of the novel.  At the same time, address the distinctions that may be made between education and indoctrination.

IDEALISM:  Following the massacre of "guilty" animals at the hands of Napoleon and the other pigs, Clover reflects sadly on what she thought life should have been like on Manor Farm: "If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major's speech."

Ø  Is Clover overly idealistic in feeling this way?

Ø  Do you feel that such a community can exist?

Ø  Was it ever possible for Animal Farm to reach a Utopian state? 

Ø  If so, describe the circumstances in which this could have happened. 

Ø  If not, give reasons for your answer.

LESSONS LEARNED:  Animal Farm is replete with subtle and not so-subtle lessons on blind conformity and the misuse of power.

Ø  What are some of the lessons you've personally taken away from the novel regarding education of the masses, knowledge of history, idealist thought and class structure?

Ø  Has the novel changed your worldview in any way?

HOW TO BE A GOOD DICTATOR: 

Ø  Can you account for how the pigs ascended so quickly to power and dominion over all other animals?

Ø  What key steps did they take, or more specifically, which elements did they make certain to control?

PROPAGANDA:  Although Napoleon is considered the absolute Leader of Animal Farm, it is Squealer who is most adept at conveying the "party line" to the animals, often convincing them to disbelieve their own eyes.

Ø  What methods does Squealer employ to deceive and/or placate the other animals?

Ø  How does the concept of memory (or lack thereof) figure in Squealer's pronouncements and dealings with them?

CPR

Welcome to CPR!

Thursday, November 14^th, 2013

When You Come In

1.      Please initial next to your name on the clipboard.

2.     Move the chairs to make four rows of three, right in front of the screen. (Jordan’s presentation; History Channel DVD, “Gods and Goddesses”)

Myth Beast Slideshows--Finish

Ø  Minotaur!

Turn-In

Ø  Please staple your yellow notes together, put your name in big letters on the front page, and turn them in at my candle.

College-Prep Skill: Note-Taking by Hand

History Channel’s “Gods and Goddesses”

1.      Some of what you’re about to hear will be familiar, reinforcing material you’re learning.

2.     Some will be brand new.

3.     What strategies do you have for note-taking?  Take five minutes to quietly review the three websites YOU said would be most helpful to you in college note-taking.  Start 11:37; end 11:42-ish

4.    At the top of your notebook paper, write down THREE pieces of advice you’re going to follow today to take useful notes.

a.     Be brief.

b.    Use abbreviations and symbols.

c.     Translate it into your own words.

d.    Be selectively.

e.    Leave spaces between ideas.

f.     Don’t worry about neatness.

5.     Tomorrow:  Look at a few people’s notes on the big screen.

6.    How are you connecting the dots from our Greek myth study?

7.     Listen for MOTIFS—recurring ideas and themes, and write them down!

After Lunch

Ø  Put your name on your notes, then hand them in. 

Ø  Minotaur Illustration—art show with nomination for top artistic honors

In-Class Reading and Annotation:  Professor Foster’s “It’s Greek to Me”

1.      Get back your chapter.

2.     Review the targets for this assignment.

a.     Review how close you came to hitting those targets.

b.    What do you need to do differently, or do more of, to make stronger annotations today?

c.     Highlight TWO areas on the white annotation grade sheet you’re going to focus on during reading and annotating today.

3.     Read and annotate until 1:12, then turn in your packet.

@1:12

Ø  PASS BACK Greek/Roman names pre-quiz.

Vocabulary Homework

1.      Do quizlet studying Friday.

2.     Play free rice:  10,000 grains are due by Friday.

CW

Welcome to Creative Writing!  J

Thursday, November 14^th, 2013

When You Come In (Before Tardy Bell Rings)

1.      Please initial next to your name on the clipboard.

2.     Pick up a WE#5 grading handout off the clipboard.

3.     Lay your WE#5 Minions assignment on your desk, and get ready to self-grade it.

4.     If you don’t have it printed and on your desk by the tardy bell, I will not accept it.

Organization

1.      Read through your minions story.

2.     Circle “yes” or “no”, based on the evidence on your paper.

3.     If you partially met the target, circle both “yes” and “no”, and draw a line between them.

4.     Staple the grade sheet on top of your Minions story, then hand it in by my candle.

It’s all poetry and diction today!

Thing #1                                              (Ten Minutes)

9:57-10:07

Revising Ghosts, Monsters and Bullies Poem to a Final Draft (Continue and Finish)

1.      Read your partner’s comments; think about them; revise and edit as needed.

2.     Read my comments; think about them; revise and edit as needed.

3.     Make at least ten revisions to your poem to make it stronger.  Here’s what you can do to revise:

a.         Create a strong title.

b.        Use strong diction—get out your Vocabulary Variety sheet!

c.          Add details to create more imagery in your poem.

d.        Delete unneeded words.

e.         Switch words and lines around to help the poem flow.

f.           Make all your line breaks strong.

4.     Note:  editing corrections need to be made, but they do not “count” as revisions.  But your final draft should be grammatically perfect, error-free.

5.     Click on “FILE”, then “SEE REVISION HISTORY”.  Count how many revisions you made—do you have at least ten?

6.     Delete any typing on your poem that isn’t part of the MLA format or part of your poem.

7.     Print a final copy.

8.     Turn it by the candle.

Homework for Friday = Diction Practice:  Free Rice

1.      Make sure you START at the last level you played on, not at “1”.

2.     Due Friday = 10,000 grains

Thing #2 (…final thing, actually.)          

Writing Experiment #6--Earliest Memory Paragraph(s)

1.      Get out a sheet of notebook paper and something to write with.

2.     Write “WE#6—Earliest Memory” at the top.

3.     Model:  I’m going to tell you my Earliest Memory.  As I share it with you, pay attention to the details I am using. 

4.     Write down details (a word or a phrase) that have to do with the five senses.

a.    Sight  (colors, visual details)

b.    Smell  (scents, odors, fragrances, stenches)

c.    Taste 

d.    Touch  (textures)

e.    Sound  (not “the sound of”,  but actual sounds)

Bathtime

            My brother and I are in the black tub.  He sits at the back of the tub, splashing, and I sit at the front of the tub, running my hands under the water flowing from the silver faucet.   I reach up, and I turn one of the silver knobs all the way to the right.  I clamber out of the tub, and stand dripping on the black furry bathmat.  Steam begins to rise off the water, floating up towards the white ceiling.  The black and white wall tiles start to sweat.

            I turn to look at my brother.  The water is up to his belly, and he holds his arms up and out in front of him, out of the water.  His arms are like skinny white pencils, thin as they are.  Then I see pink; his skin is pink on his chest, and his skin is pink on his neck, and his whole face is turning pink.  He opens his mouth, and he hollers.

            Mom rushes into the bathroom, scoops him out of the tub and wraps him in a black towel. Bathtime is over.

Prepping to Write the Earliest Memory Paragraph

1.      Now you brainstorm some of your earliest memories.  Just make a list.  10:24-10:26

a.     Playing wedding dress-up with Dylan

b.    Stapling in kindergarten

c.     Running into a gutter

d.    Brother cut lip on broken plastic

e.     Fell off a swing

f.      Dad’s blue car

g.    Tried to touch candle on my birthday cake

h.    Cooking at the fake stove

i.      Lighting tissue on fire with matches

j.      Playing on the pavement

k.     First day of preschool

l.      Parents telling us we’re moving

m.   Brother broke his arm

n.    Mushrooming with my grandpa

o.    First fight

p.    First day of pre-school

q.    My cat had kittens

r.     I got hit in the head by a rock, thrown by my best friend

s.     First swim

t.      Rainy day at grandparents

u.     Riding around town with grandma

v.     First boat outing

2.     OR, if you’ve already committed to the early memory you want to write about, list as many details as you can about it.  (Start 10:34; end 10:37)

a.     Sights

b.    Sounds

c.     Textures

d.    Smells

e.     tastes

3.  You pair-share with a partner—chat about your ideas, ask each other questions, talk it out…. (2 minutes; started 10:41; ending 10:43-ish?)

Typing Your First Draft, and Revising to Second

1.      Now, create a new google doc, and type a paragraph or two about your earliest memory (ten-ish minutes) Started:

2.     Please doublespace, since this is prose (not a poem).

3.     Follow the directions below exactly. 

4.     Type these questions at the bottom of your piece.

a.     What colors can I add?  EXAMPLE OF HOW YOUR ANSWER SHOULD LOOK:  I could add the color lavender when I talk about my mom’s shirt.

b.    What textures did I feel?

c.     What sounds did I hear?

d.    What’s my overall feeling about this memory?

e.     Did I learn something from it?

f.      Do I like remembering it?

5.     Ask yourself these questions, type your answers under each question.

6.     After you type your six answers, go back to your paragraph(s), and add any details you need to, based on your answers (2nd draft).    (ten-ish minutes)