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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)

Willa Cather Short Stories - Day 2

Yesterday you worked with a small group to read and analyze a story by Willa Cather.

For today, your group will present your findings and teach the rest of us about your story.  This will be a little tricky, since we are not all reading the other stories.  So, to help make that happen, please follow these steps (post your work in the document you started yesterday):

1. Provide a summary of the story. This should include naming central characters / relationships, the setting, the key events, and the issues raised by the the story. This should be 6-8 sentences long
2. Read us an excerpt. This needs to be a good-sized paragraph (8+ lines) or two of about half that length. Make sure you are selecting key moments that will help us to understand the story.
3. Read the work you did yesterday, about the setting and the main characters.

Willa Cather short stories

Greetings!
I am at a conference in Chicago today. I'll miss you but look forward to hearing from you tomorrow about the stories you'll read today.

Here are the groups you will be working with - they are the same ones you used to explore "Paul's Case: A Study in Temperament" last week.  Next to each group is the name of the short story you'll read for today.  Below the group lists is a link to a website containing the texts of all of the stories, in addition to yours.

• Jacob, Ryan, Jackie, Zach - "The Sculptor's Funeral"
• Matt, Zoe, Theodora, Izzy, Brenden - "The Enchanted Bluff"
• Stella, Caroline, Maggie, Nikki - "The Profile"
• Lucas, Eve, Jordan, Josh - "The Namesake"

Willa Cather short stories

Here are your instructions for the day:

1. Read your assigned story. You can choose to read it on the screen or print it out.  If you want to print it, I recommend highlighting the text of the story and then pasting it into a Word or Google document first.  Printing that will give you something easier to read.
2. Create a new Google Doc for your work with this story. Be sure to share it with the members of your group and with me.
3. Spend time naming and discussing the setting of the story. This does not meant to simply name the location of the events. Instead, closely examine the details of the story and consider their potential meanings. How are they described? Are there multiple settings? What are the details Cather uses and what do they convey?
4. List some of the language Cather uses to describe the main character(s) of the story. What does the narrator say about this person? What do other characters say?  What is this language telling us about this person?

Please make sure all of your work is saved in the Google Doc. We'll continue with it tomorrow!

Thesis and Argument

While I am having individual conferences today and tomorrow, you will read this essay about grades:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/tcag.htm

Afterwards, write a response to it on your blog, including the following points:

1- What is the author's main point / position / thesis?
2- How does he support that point?
3- What, if anything, does he say about opposing views?

Follow this with a response of your own in which you agree / disagree with the author's point and make your own about this issue.