All Boys, All Blogged: December 3, 2012

Focus: Examining how Ishmael becomes a child soldier in A Long Way Gone

1. Warm-up: Quick whip-around the room to recap Ishmael's journey thus far

2. Examining how teenagers are conditioned to be violent by starting to read "Trained to Kill."

• Mark which parts interest you (What do you agree or disagree with?  What made you think? What surprised you?).  Explain in the margins why you marked these passages.
• Mark any parts that could possibly connect to A Long Way Gone.  Explain in the margins how these parts connect to and shed light on A Long Way Gone.

3. Fishbowl #4: Chapters 11-14

HW: 
1. Finish reading and annotating today's article; by Wednesday, please type a 5-8 sentence response to one section of it on the blog (there will be a separate blog posted for this).  
2. Start on this week's reading assignment for A Long Way Gone; be sure to bring your annotations to class each day for random checks.
3. Start looking over List 9 SAT vocabulary words.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 30, 2012

Focus: Wrapping up this week's tasks: Vocabulary, reading, and memoir writing

1. Taking the list 8 SAT vocabulary quiz

2. Start on your weekend reading assignment for A Long Way Gone (and annotation checks)

3. Book talks!

4. Finishing your dialogues using description and the five senses

HW: Read and annotate Chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14 for Monday; prepare for Monday's fishbowl discussion.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 29, 2012

Focus: Student-led discussion of A Long Way Gone, Chapters 7-10

1. Warm-up: Tightening the reigns: A necessary overview of expectations and consequences in English 10


2. Fishbowl #3: Chapters 7-10

HW: Study for tomorrow's vocabulary quiz over List 8 SAT words; bring A Long Way Gone book to class tomorrow; prepare for book talks.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 28, 2012

Focus: Learning new vocabulary; revising your dialogues from yesterday

1. Warm-up: "What are you alluding to, police officer?" : SAT List 8 vocabulary review using dialogue

• First, create a "voice" for your character.  How would this character speak?  What kinds of verbal tics would he (or she) have?  What kinds of things would this character say?
• Imagine a situation in which your two characters would meet.
• Create a dialogue between these two characters using EIGHT of your List 8 vocabulary words.

2. Overview of the purpose of dialogue; revising yesterday's memoirs

• What inferences could a reader make about your personality based on this dialogue?
• What inferences could a reader make about your friend, parent, etc. from this dialogue?
• Where and how could you strengthen the voices in this dialogue?
• Add descriptions in between the pieces of dialogue to create the entire scene, thinking about:
• Setting
• Physical description of characters (clothes, hair, skin, posture, etc.)
• Gestures and movement
• Thoughts (what's NOT said out loud)

HW: Finish reading Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10 by tomorrow, remembering your annotation focus; prepare for tomorrow's fishbowl discussion; study your vocabulary words for Friday's quiz.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 27, 2012

Focus: Telling your story

Please have out your annotations so that I may check Chapters 1-6.

1. Book talks!

2. Warm-up: 6-word memoir

3. Discussing Beah's first page and composing the first page of your memoir.  That's right!
   Click HERE for the rules of memoir club.

• What can we infer about the narrator from this little piece of dialogue?
• What can we infer about his high school friends?
• Why might the author start his memoir this way?

     Your task as a memoirist:

1. Start  a new folder in Google Drive and call it "Memoir."
2. Open a new document and call it "Opening."
3. Here is your first sentence: "My high school friends have begun to..." Finish that sentence in a way rings that reflects a conflict, or at least a sense of tension, between you and your friends.  If you can't think of a conflict with your friends, feel free to substitute "My parents" for "My high school friends."
4. Complete your opening page by offering a one-page dialogue between you and your friends.  Try to capture their voices and your voice as accurately as you can.  Of course, there are gaps in your memory; try to fill them as best you can, but don't worry if you have to use a little of your imagination (there's a big difference between "filling in the gaps" and straight-up lying).

HW: Work on Thursday's reading assignment (Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10 with annotations); start looking over SAT List 8 vocabulary words and bring them to class tomorrow.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 26, 2012

Focus: Student-led discussion of A Long Way Gone, Chapters 3-6

1. Warm-up: Creating annotation bookmarks for A Long Way Gone:

• Give yourself a title that incorporates your role (ex: If Sam had chosen the "Outdoorsman" task, he could call himself "Sam vs. Wild").
• Create a symbol for your particular focus as an annotator and draw it carefully on your bookmark.
• Write your own motto, or use the one I gave you, or look up a new one.
• Write three role-related questions that you should be asking yourself as you read (ex: How is the land described?  How does that description reflect what's going on with the narrator here?).

2. Signing up for one-on-one essay conferences

3. Fishbowl Discussion #2: Chapters 3-6 of A Long Way Gone

HW: Start on Thursday's reading assignment and annotations; bring your book and annotations to class tomorrow; book talks; start preparing for this Friday's List 7 SAT vocab. quiz.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 16, 2012

Focus: Understanding the beginning of A Long Way Gone and establishing ourselves as memoirists, too

Kite Runner books and essays are due today.  Please turn them in right away.

1. Warm-up: Book Talks

2. Q&A on the "Journal with a Purpose" handout and applying it to the first pages of Chapter 3 for practice; also, figuring out a fair number of annotations per chapter.

3. Discussing Beah's first page and composing the first page of your memoir.  That's right!
Click HERE for the rules of memoir club.

• What can we infer about the narrator from this little piece of dialogue?
• What can we infer about his high school friends?
• Why might the author start his memoir this way?

Your task as a memoirist:

1. Start  a new folder in Google Drive and call it "Memoir."
2. Open a new document and call it "Opening."
3. Here is your first sentence: "My high school friends have begun to..." Finish that sentence in a way rings that reflects a conflict, or at least a sense of tension, between you and your friends.  If you can't think of a conflict with your friends, feel free to substitute "My parents" for "My high school friends."
4. Complete your opening page by offering a one-page dialogue between you and your friends.  Try to capture their voices and your voice as accurately as you can.  Of course, there are gaps in your memory; try to fill them as best you can, but don't worry if you have to use a little of your imagination (there's a big difference between "filling in the gaps" and straight-up lying).

HW: 1. Prepare for Monday's fishbowl by reading and annotating Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6; remember to mark the book each time you see an instance of your particular focus as a DJ, astronomer, sociologist, etc.  When you mark it, annotate it by offering an interpretation or posing a question about it.
2. Please finish today's memoir assignment by next Tuesday, November 27.