Monday, March 31, 2008

Scribe - Monday 3/31/08

Today we started class with a new seating chart. After receiving our new seats, Mrs. Smith briefly discussed our revised Brave New World calendar with us. We then broke into our Semester Project groups and worked for the remainder of the class. At the end of class, an outline of our plans for the project was handed in. On Wednesday we will begin a study of satire.

Note: If anyone is interested, Kyle would like some suggestions for movies that relate to Brave New World.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Friday, March 21

First of all, I would like to apologize for getting this up so late, I just got back, but here it is!

1. Turned in Dorian Gray Assesment
2. We discussed how to present Brave New World (written by Aldous Huxley)
-This was wrote as a Satire
-Written in 1931
-It predicted the 7 downfalls of society, and they have all come true

Ideas of how to present Brave New World
-Debate- Taking sides of the predictions that are coming true and us outside sources, 2 debate teams will discuss their sides and how it relates to the world today (1 specific sacrafice)
-Discussion- Of the weekly reading- any questions or comments on the novel (use the blog as a study group)
-In Class Art- activities
-Pavlov- Over a large period of time track peoples habits and reactions (class conditioning)
-Essays- Get in the routine of practice writings (weekly reactions)- a journal and uen them all in at the end, as an encompassing reaction- Google Groups?
-Chapter by Chapter reading- discuss just what happened in the specific chapters so that we can have a better discussion
-Fishbowl- as an entire class and not just the inner circle- Socratic
-Downfalls of our society- What they are to us now
-Sacrafices of the Brave New World Society
-Image of the book- writing of image- pre-essay preperation

What has been decided on so far:
In Class Essay- (May 7) pick 1 sacrafice to trace throughout the novel, show how it was potrayed in the book and how it relates to society today (can argue against this)
Socratic- Have a written reaction to the first six chapters- Typed, 1 page, NOT A SUMMARY, and any questions- This is your ticket to participate in the discussion- you must have this in order to contribute to the discussion and it is worth points.
Chapters 1-6- April 16
Chapters 7-12- April 28
Chapters 13-16- May 2
Movie Clips- these will be shown on April 21 & 25

8 Sacrafices of Brave New World
1. Pure Science- that technology has become a god
2. High Art- All forms of Art
3. Religion
4. Family
5. Individuality/Identity/Humanity
6. Education
7. History
8. Democracy


Homework: Buy Brave New World, if you would like to read it over spring break you are more than welcome to.

Hope you had a great spring break! See you all tomorrow!!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wednesday March 19

Today was Donut day!
If you would like feedback on your National Geographic project from Phillip and Micayla tell Ms. Smith

Homework:
Finish Dorian Gray Beauty assessment. It's due Friday, no exceptions!

Today we did peer editing of our papers, here are some notes to help you to succeed!
How does beauty influence society?
Thesis: One sentence including the titile, author and argument you are making in your paper.
Quotations: rule of 3
  1. Explain quote
  2. Relate to topic sentence
  3. Relate to Thesis
Make sure you lead into quotes
" blah blah blah" (cited work).
No personal words/ contractions
Don't forget a works cited!

2 more days till spring break! We're almost there!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Fishbowl 17-20

In preface of Dorian Gray, Wilde states that, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." Does the novel confirm or deny this comment?

Dorian Gray 17-20 Fishbowl

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Happy CSAP Wednesday everyone!

Today Ms. Smith passed back our National Geographic projects and we had a fishbowl on chapters 13-16. Today was also donut day!
Homework:
1. Beauty Assessment is due Friday March 21
2. Blog post for fishbowl if you weren’t a leader today.
3. Semester projects

Notes from fishbowl 13-16
Why does Dorian want to show Basil his dark soul?
1. he’s looking for acceptance
2. does it on impulse
3. human nature to tell others your problems
4. Basil was the creator

· The portrait is a reflection of what he has done, Dorian has sold his soul to the devil.
· Does Dorian have a conscience anymore?
1. He felt guilty in killing Basil which showed compassion
· It is human nature to pursue pleasure
· He is a narcissist (we looked at characteristics of narcissists online and what characteristics Dorian has)
· If people can get away with something they will do it.
· What is society’s effect on Dorian?
1. Others idealize Dorian because of his beauty.
2. What message does this send to him? ( what message has it sent to Britney Spears and other celebrities in our society)
3. No matter how much society influences Dorian, the decisions he make are still his own, and he must be held accountable for them.
· Basil tries to get Dorian to repent his sins
1. similar to Claudius from Hamlet
2. The power they have is too much, that they don’t regret their sins until it is too late.

Enjoy one more day of sleeping in! See everyone on Friday
!

Chapters 13-16 Question

What was the main catalyst of Dorian's downfall? What role did his family life play?

Dorian Gray Fishbowl 13-16

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Wednesday March 5, 2008

Today was an easy day if you missed. We were granted a work day to work on our semester projects. The end of the semester is coming fast with only 78 days until graduation, so don’t take this project lightly. The goal for today was to set group meeting days to plan, and complete the project.

Before we got to work we handed in outside sources for out beauty papers. This was something we found on our own, or the sources Smith gave us at the beginning of the unit. We also got these back today. The turnaround was so fast so we can get reading and get ideas for that paper.

Homework is as follows: Read chapters 13-16, semester project, and get going on the beauty assessment.

Don’t forget the next week we have CSAP and don’t meet until Wednesday. Also don’t forget fishbowl on chapters 13-16 is on Wednesday, so come prepared.

Have fun sleeping in!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Fishbowl 9-12.

What do you think is going to happen in Dorian's life in the next couple of chapters? Do you think anything will happen as a result of anything in ch. 9-12?

Monday, March 3, 2008

Scribe 3/3/08

Hello Class!
Well today, everyone was present in class so we should all know what is going on, unless you were sleeping or not paying attention. (Kyle)
In other news, Today's top story: MRS. SMITH IS GETTING MARRIED!! After some confusion with the restaurant reservations, Mrs. Smith was engaged over the weekend, delaying the grading of our projects. But congratulations and best of luck!

Today was another fishbowl over chapters 9-12, but first we were to write a learning reflection for conferences with our parents. If, for some reason you didn't write it, Mrs. Smith would like these by Wednesday and should include the following:
1. Assess your learning in class so far this semester. Look at your participation, growth in writing, comprehension, etc...
2. Where, in terms of your learning, do you want to be at the end of the semester?
3.How are you going to get there?
4. What can Mrs. Smith do to help?
5. Then, write a message to you parents. (Tell them that you love them... you know, all the mushy stuff. I guess they like that...)

For Homework:
Read ch. 13-16
Semester Projects
Bring the two sources you are going to use in your paper by Wednesday
and respond to the blog question unless you were a fishbowl leader.

Dorian Gray 9-12 Fishbowl