February 7: B Day

Posted on by garvoille

1B

1. Focused freewrite. Students wrote for four minutes about a time they were forced to grow up, to mature. This helped students preview their next reading log, which is focused on how the character becomes more mature.

2. Wikipedia webquest. 

As we watched these videos, we took notes on our webquest guide: Wikipedia Markup and Policies

And then we left the pathos of Wikipedia to look at the rules:

Then, students looked at some of the edits from GHS (which explains why we’re blocked) and the Five Pillars of Wikipedia.

HW: Finish webquest. Reading and Log 3 due Monday.

And here’s something we didn’t look at during class but explains our project well:

You can also check out this video of Jimmy Wales giving a lecture about Wikipedia at Yale:

2AB

1. Focused freewrite. How does Mindy Kaling challenge stereotypes about women?

2. Song analysis. Students analyzed “Hey-Ho” together in class to determine what messages about relationships are encoded in the song and video.

3. Students visited the computer lab to choose a song to analyze. They should complete this chart/questions to help the analysis process: Song analysis graphic organizer

HW: Finish chart for tomorrow.

4B

1. Info on Shakespeare resources. Students can opt to acquire their own copies of Romeo and Juliet (and Taming of the Shrew if they would like to do the outside project during this unit). Here are some good sites:

It’s okay if you don’t get your own copy — I’ll just issue you a textbook.

Word of warning: Do not purchase/check out a copy that has a “side-by-side” “modern text” or “plain English” translation. This is not as helpful or accurate as footnotes.

2. Focused freewrite and discussion: What messages about successful relationships do we get from the media? These may or may not be true in real life. Here’s some we came up with:

  • Girls are materialistic.
  • Women are goddesses or sexual objects.
  • Relationships last forever.
  • A nuclear family is the norm.
  • Everything is about sex.
  • Men are evil and relationship failures are always their fault.
  • Women need to look good to please men.
  • Men should be chivalrous.

3. Reading. Students read and annotated two articles: Mindy Kaling’s “Flick Chicks” (somewhat edited) and Sasha Frere-Jones’s piece on Rihanna’s new album.

4. Song analysis. Students analyzed “Hey-Ho” together in class to determine what messages about relationships are encoded in the song and video.

5. Video and song choices. Students chose a video and/or song to analyze media messages. I approved these choices based on language and images in the video. This will help you: Song analysis graphic organizer. Here is the assignment: song deconstruction

HW: Complete chart and questions for the song/video of your choice.

Published by garvoille