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Race in America - The Donald Sterling Case

Today we will take a close look at a recent event - the comments made by Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, a professional basketball team. His comments were quickly labeled as racist, protests were seen across the country, and the NBA fined and banned him from the sport.

What is this story about?  To just say "racism" is only part of the picture.  Today we will read several different stories and attempt to synthesize the information.

Here are a few different news sources for you to explore. Browse through the articles and find two - one information, and one opinion piece.

• http://www.nytimes.com/
• http://www.cnn.com/
• http://espn.go.com/
• http://www.latimes.com/
• http://www.foxnews.com/
• http://www.msnbc.com/
• http://www.usatoday.com/
• http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

Visions of the Future - Synthesis

We read excerpts from 1984 and Brave New World and explored their different visions of the future.

We paid close attention to the tone, setting, and characterization. Then we discussed the role of technology and what the different excerpts have to say about human nature.

This was part of our work on synthesizing ideas, which also included:

• Reading a packet of poems and identifying common language and ideas
• Viewing and working with a series of images and creating a narrative to unify them

Poetry Time - Day 3

Today we will read and write a bit of a different kind of poem.  Take a few minutes to read these poems from the Swampy Cree Indians.

Poetry Time - Day 2 - Magnetic Poetry

Today each of you will create your own poem using the same word list: Bunch o words

There are a few ways you can do this:

1. Use this fun tool: Magnetic Poetry maker
1. click on "start a new poem"
2. add the words you want
3. move 'em around and then save your final version
2. Print out the words, cut them out, arrange the words into a poem, and them type up the final poem.
3. Use the word list on your screen and type your poem into a new Google document

We will all make poems using the same set of words, so it will be fun to see how we each use them.  Your poem can take any form - it can rhyme, it can be in short phrases, it can feel like a run-on sentence, it can be in multiple voices, whatever! 

When you are done, post the final version onto your blog.

Here's mine: Mr Rigler's magnetic poetry poem

Happy writing!

Poetry time!

We'll start off by making some Diamante poems.  What are they?  Go to this site: Diamante Poems for an explanation and a tool to use.  You should make three different poems, save them as .pdf files, and post them onto your blog.  Explore your range as a poet - try new things - don't just write all about the same topic or all funny poems - push yourself to see what else you can do!

• when you finish each poem, either save it or email it to yourself
• upload your poems into your Google drive
• link them into a new blog post

Here is one I created today: Hoops-A-Palooza

Challenge:

• go from Restaurant to Surprised
• go from Museum to Brave
• go from Vacation to Calm
• go from Geese to Faith

Here are mine:

•  restaurant - surprise
•  museum - brave
•  vacation - calm
• geese - faith

Willa Cather - The Burglar's Christmas

Yesterday in class we read our final Willa Cather story: "The Burglar's Christmas"

Out discussion focused on the setting and characterization.

We will read one additional text - the parable of the Prodigal Son - and have a brief discussion of the ways in which it is related to the Cather story.

Then you will write an outline for an essay analyzing "The Burglar's Christmas"

You will include these elements.  Fell free to cut / paste these into a Google Document and add in the required sections.

*Be sure to share your work with me!

• Position / thesis - what are you asserting about the text? How do the setting and characterization work together to create the meaning / message in the story?  What is the meaning of the story overall? (1-2 sentences)

• Point 1: How does the setting contribute to the meaning? (one sentence)

• Evidence 1: (quotation / comment)

• Point 2: How does the characterization contribute to the meaning? (one sentence)

• Evidence 2 (quotation / comment)

• Point 3: What does a particular character do / learn?

• Evidence 3 (quotation / comment)