Smith EWL 07-08

Semester Reflection Period 4

2008-05-13T10:11:00.002-06:00

What changes have you seen this semester in regards to your education? What role did technology play in that change? What role did the constructivist philosophy play in that change? (constructivist-students becoming producers of information, students in charge of their own learning. What suggestions for improvement do you have for me next year? What are some of the things you would suggest I do again?

Make sure to include specific examples and expand on each other's ideas. Your feedback- honest and reflective- is important!

May 7, 2008

2008-05-08T19:12:00.002-06:00

Today we wrote our essay for the final in class. The students who were gone for AP tests turned in their essays ahead of time, and the rest of us typed ours in class and then put them in Mrs. Smith's drop box. Everyone should bring two dollars to go towards pizza next week while we are viewing our final projects.

Scribe: Cinco De Mayo (May 5th)

2008-05-06T19:27:00.003-06:00

Hello Class!
Less than two weeks! Keep it up!

HOMEWORK: PREPARE FOR ESSAY TEST TOMORROW
Trace a sacrifice through Brave New World and compose an essay about how this sacrifice came true in Brave New World and in today's society. Be specific, have well thought out explanations

In other news, we have an important update about our semester projects:
Due to conflicting schedules and Ms. Smith's dedication to us and Emma, she will regretably not be able to attend class on Monday because Emma has field day, and so she wants to be a great mom and be there.

THIS MEANS THAT ALL FINAL PROJECTS WILL BE PRESENTED WEDNESDAY MAY 14TH, AND WE WILL STAY IN CLASS THROUGH SECOND LUNCH

WE WILL ALSO BRING TWO DOLLARS TO WEEMS OR DUSTY FOR PIZZA AND SODA FOR OUR PROJECT LUNCHEON.

Please keep your projects below ten 10 minutes.
Reminder of the groups:

1. Emma, Cec, Katherine, Dan C.
2. Sam, Kyle, Michael, Brooks, Joe, Dusty
3. Jackie, Emily L., Becca, Soo
4. Sam E., Melinda, Ryan x2, Courtney
5. Iain, Weems, Tucker, Alex, Kenny
6. Alex, Emily, Allie

Have an excellent week and sorry about the late post!!!

2008-05-01T19:55:00.001-06:00

Wednesday Scribe

April 30, 2008

Due on Friday:

BNW Socratic Seminar ticket (one page reaction paper on chapters 13-16)

After going over the homework for Friday, we talked about Monday’s Socratic Seminar. A lot of us felt that the sub. talked more than the kids did, and that it was not successful.

Then we got into our semester project groups, and Ms. Smith handed out guidelines and objectives for the projects.

Some important things to remember are:

Use specific examples! (with explanations)
Generalities don’t work here
Relate examples to modern world-make several connections
Creative and captivating
Good grammar and mechanics
Leave a final, lasting message

What do you want Ms. Smith and the audience to take away?

Presentations will be on the 12^th and 14^th.

The final work day will be on May 9^th.

Ms. Smith recommended that we get it done before prom weekend for obvious reasons.

Remember, these projects are going on the blog for the world to see, so represent our class and each other to your best ability!

And finally, Wednesday, May 7^th is the in-class essay test. Bring notes/an outline.

If you will not be in class, either come in on an off hour or have your parents time you 58 minutes and sign off on it.

Good luck to everyone these last couple weeks!

Scribe for Monday, April 28

2008-04-29T09:47:00.001-06:00

Monday, April 28, 2008

We had a sub today, Mrs. Ritzdorf. We also turned in our ticket for the fishbowl of chapters 7-12 and the summary response paper to the movie clips that we originally watched on Friday.

Brooks was the lucky duck who was put in charge of the seminar!

Important points of the Fishbowl
What is the significance of Shakespeare’s quotes in the novel?
-Passion of society leads it down a path of bad thoughts
-Quotes are used as a reference
-Thought of love and death
-From the Tempest (the title) separates the people into specific groups
-Shows its timelessness
-John is the tragic hero who is Huxley’s Romeo
-Bernard is Juliet’s cousin (shows the jealous trait)
-John and Humholdz friendship to Shakespeare’s
Significance of Religion
-Idea of being alone
-p.136 “He discovered Time, Death and God.”
-People don’t have time to reflect or be alone
-Why is time capitalized?
Eternity?
-p. 137 He wanted to know what it was like to be crucified
-Is Huxley using religion as an escape? More everlasting than soma
-Time to yourself
-Bernard and John- notice the need to be alone and see by doing so
They realize what society has become
What is socially acceptable?
-conformity
What do the colors mean?
-Sense of emotion and individuality

p. 148 Hemholdz- follows thoughts to be different
-Bernard is a catalyst for John’s approval of man kind
-Threat makes him change his mind
-Instill Fear
-ASTRAY
-Greater talents
-able to lead people
-creates a new norm
-lead others in a particular way
-one person with talent should be punished so that they
don’t influence others
-Follow Leaders
-A leader becomes a target of those who are threatened
-poses a threat to society
-step up to position with a leader
-Harrison Berger (Ray Bradbury)
-Short story
-Restrain Talents
-Equality
-Prevent a talented person to excel
-A leader doesn’t get rid of all the problems
-Political- Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
-Better to have one suffer than to have all suffer
Why bring the savage back?
-Selfish
-Bernard is using John to go back into society
-Is John using Bernard to gain a follower?

1939-How many predictions have come true?
1. Cloning (genetic Engineering)
2. Sex (PDA) (sex sells)
3. Drugs
4. Technology (taking over society)

What prevents (if anything) the kind of negative consequence that Huxley foretells?
The Individual

HOMEWORK:
Semester Project!

See you all on Wednesday!

Scribe for Monday, April 28

2008-04-29T09:47:00.000-06:00

Scribe April 25, 2008

2008-04-26T17:05:00.002-06:00

Hello class,

H.W. Response paper Ch. 7-12 due monday
Response paper over film due monday

The response paper is suppose to be an entire page

Structure

Topic sentence
Include movies
Connection to Brave New World
Motifs
Explanation
Conclusion

Mrs. Smith wont be here Monday (doesn't mean we don't have to turn in our response papers, they are still due Monday)

Socratic seminar Monday

Feel free to ask questions

Today we watch V for Vendetta directed by James Mcteigue

We watched the beginning and end of the movie

Summary
In the near future, Britain is ruled by a totalitarian regime, led by the Norsefire party. Evey Hammond, a young woman, is rescued from harassment by state police by a masked vigilante who introduces himself as "V". V then takes Evey to a rooftop location to witness his spectacular destruction of the Old Bailey, . The regime explains the incident to the public as a planned demolition, but this is shown to be a lie when V takes over the state-run British Television Network (BTN) the same day. He broadcasts a message urging the people of Britain to rise up against the oppressive government on November 5 ; one year from that day, when V says he will destroy the House of Parliament.

the next scene we watched
As November the fifth nears, V's various schemes cause chaos in Britain and the population grows more and more intolerant and subversive towards government authority. On the eve of November 5, Evey again visits V, who shows her a subway train that he has filled with explosives in order to destroy Parliament through an explosion in the abandoned London Underground. He delegates the destruction of Parliament to Evey, believing that the ultimate decision was not his to make, but hers. He then leaves to meet Party leader Creedy, who, as part of an earlier agreement, has agreed to bring V the Chancellor in exchange for V's surrender. Creedy kills the Chancellor in front of V, but V does not surrender. He takes a barrage of bullets from a dozen men, and remains standing thanks to a hidden armour plate he is wearing. He then proceeds to kill Creedy's men before they can reload, then strangles Creedy himself despite being shot six more times - just as he promised. V, mortally wounded in the fight, returns to Evey. He confesses his love to her, thanks her, and then dies. Evey then places his body upon the train with the explosives.

Have a good weekend

SCRIBE April 23, 2008

2008-04-23T20:16:00.002-06:00

Hello Class,

Today we only had 23 minutes of class time because of the ACT Testing, so we worked on our Slogan activity right away. We cut off words and pictures from magazines and glued them on the poster that Ms. Smith gave us.

Then we eat some delicious donuts, but most of our class time was spent cutting words and pictures to glue on the poster to make connections and relate it to BNW.

Whats due today:
Movie Clip: Kyle- typed reaction, connections to BNW.

Homework:
Chapter 9-10 due, and there's no reaction paper due on friday for some of you who are confuse about that.

Thanks,
Milenda

Scribe Wed 4/16

2008-04-21T05:07:00.002-06:00

Hey Everybody!

Today was of course a Wednesday and therefore a doughnut day and Ms. Smith was very excited to get her sugar high which led into our Socratic Seminar quite nicely as we put great focus on the value of mind altering substances in Brave New World during the first 6 chapters.

Notes from the discussion
Drugs
Soma ensures that people don’t have thoughts that could be destructive to society
Soma makes you numb to your surroundings much like alcohol or marijuana do in today’s
society
In modern society we medicate for everything
The prevalence of drugs in BNW is similar to that the film Equilibrium
Sex
Huxley’s ideas of the promiscuity of sex were beyond his time
Current society’s focus on sexual suggestion reflects that of BNW
Did the removal of the family system bring about the sexual promiscuity of BNW?
Religion
All people follow a single religion praising Ford, but is that nothing more than praising
technology, consumerism and efficiency?
The Solidarity Service is comparable to modern church
My biggest question
How big of a role did the “9 years war” play in reshaping the world psyche as there is no longer
hostility between races, sexes or original nationalities?

Our Homework was to finish our Montages by Friday.

SCRIBE April 14, 2008

2008-04-14T20:33:00.002-06:00

Hello Class.

Today we started off discussing any confusion over our montage assignments or any other work from last Friday from Mrs. Smith's absence.

The rest of the class period was used for group time to work on our Montage assingnments.

Homework:

1. Bring a one page reaction paper over chapters 1-6 for Wednesday's Socratic Seminar as this will be your ticket for participation.
For the reaction paper: Find one focus, motif or idea from ch. 1-6 and react. NO PLOT SUMMARY

2. Our Montage assignment is due on Friday. In class we went over how to use the Audacity program to record our voices. If you have any questions, just ask the all knowing Kyle Bobkowski.

Thanks.
-Michael

Scribe Friday 4.11.08

2008-04-11T17:59:00.002-06:00

Homework: continue reading BNW, and work on montage project due April 18th.

In Class:
~We had a sub, Ms. Ridesky
~We should have been through chapter 4 in BNW
~Weems showed the class the example of a montage the English office created on BNW
~The rest of the hour we had time to work in groups and create a script for our own montage, which we will later pod cast
~It is due April 18th

Montage- the technique of combining in a single composition pictorial elements from various sources, as parts of different photographs or fragments of printing, either to give the illusion that the elements belonged together originally or to allow each element to retain its separate identity as a means of adding interest or meaning to the composition. (www.dictionary.com)

happy weekend!

Wednesday April 9, 2008 Sribe

2008-04-09T12:25:00.006-06:00

Jackie and Emily started the class off right by bring Lamars donuts! I may be speaking for the class but I think those are the class favorite.
After everyone had their donuts, Ms. Smith wanted to answer some last minute comprehenison questions to make sure that we understood the basic gist of what we were assingened to read. We found that A.F. in the novel stood for After Ford, the current time period. Also, the reasons why the babies were shocked when they approached the books and flowesrs was a part of conditioning. Each social class had a seperate way of conditioning the new "members" of the class. The higher classes used things like hypnopaedia to educate the young while they sleep, as opposed the the previously mention techniques used by the lower classes.

After the brief discussion we immeadiately began work on a project involving understanding the London hatchery and the process of standardization in the "New World."

Below is an image of the intructions sheet we used for the project. The bottom of the first page has two questions to answer, and the second page is the back side which has the rest fo the questions. All questions are due Friday, but only one sheet is needed per group. Also, the picture of the selected room or process is due with these questions

Brave New World- HELP!

2008-04-08T19:27:00.002-06:00

I dont know about you- but for the first three chapters I had a really hard time understanding it all. I did some research, and was able to de-code what some of the meaning of these confusing chapters were.

Characters:
Thomas "Tomakin", Alpha, Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C.) for London,
who is later revealed to be the father of John Savage
Henry Foster, Alpha, Administrator at the Hatchery and Lenina's current partner
Lenina Crowne, Beta Plus, Vaccination-worker at the Hatchery; loved by John the Savage (From Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader during the Russian Revolution)
Mustapha Mond, Alpha-Plus, World Controller for Western Europe, Asistant Director for Predestination (from Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic after World War One, who pulled his country in to modernisation and official secularism; and Alfred Mond, charismatic British businessman and politician, the founder of the Imperial Chemical Industries corporation)
Benard Marx, Alpha-Plus, psychologist (From George Bernard Shaw, Playwright, and Karl Marx, a German Philosopher and Author)
Fanny Crowne, Beta, embryo worker; a friend of Lenina (from Fanny Kaplan, famous for unsuccessful attempt to assasinate Lenin)
Benito Hoover, Alpha, friend of Lenina; disliked by Bernard (From Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy; and Herbert Hoover, then President of the USA)
Helmholtz Watson, Alpha-Plus, lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing), friend and confidant or Bernard Marx and John the Savage (from the German Physician and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz)
Morgana Rothschild (from the Rothschild family, famous for its European Banking Operations) Herbert Bakunin(from Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian Philosopher and anarchist), Fifi Bradlaugh (from the British political activist and the atheist Charles Bradlaugh) Jim Bokanovsky, Clara Deterding (from Henri Deterding, one of the founders of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company) Joanna Diesel (from Rudolf Diesel, the German engineer who invented the diesel engine) Sarojini Engels (from Friedrich Engles, co-author of The Communist Manifesto along with Karl Marx; and Sarojini Naidu, Indian Politician) and "The Great Lout" Tom Kawaguci (from the Japanese Buddhist monk Ekai Kawaguchi, the first recorded Japanese traveler to Tibet and Nepal)
Miss Keate, headmistress of the high-tech glass and concrete Eton College, (the Eton headmistress, from ninteenth-centuary headmaster John Keate)
Arch-Community songster, a quasi-religious figure based in Canterbury(a parody of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Church's decision in August 1930 to approve limited use of contraception)
Primo Mellon, a reporter for the upper-caste news-sheet Hourly Radio, who attempts to interview John the Savage and gets assulted for his troubles (From Miguel Primo de Rivera, a prime minister and dictator of Spain (1923-1930) and Thomas Mellon, Banker)
Darwin Bonaparte, a paparazoo who brings worldwide attention to John's hermitagee (From Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of the First French Empire, and Charles Darwin the author of the Origin of Species)
John The Savage (Mr. Savage), son of Linda and Thomas (Tomakin/the Director) an outcast in both primitive and modern society
Linda, a Beta-Minus, John the Savage's mother, and Thomas's (Tomakin/the Director) long lost lover, She is from England and was pregnant with John when she got lost from Thomas in a trip to New Mexico. She is disliked both by savaged people because of her "civilized" behavior, and by civilized people because she is fat and looks old
Pope a native of Malpais. Although he reinforces the behavior that causes hatred for Linda in Malpais by sleeping with her and bringing her alcohol, he still holds the traditional beliefs of his tribe (from the Native American Rebel who was responsible for the conflict now known as Pope's rebellion)
Henry Ford has become a messianic figure to the World State- "Our Ford" is used in place of "Our Lord" as a credit to his invention of the assembly line
Sigmund Freud "Our Freud" is sometimes said in place of "Our Ford" due to the link between Freud's psychoanalysis and the conditioning of humans, and Freud's popularisation of the idea that sexual activity is essential to human happiness and need not to be open to procreation. It is also strongly implied that citizens of the World State believe Freud and Ford to be the same person
H.G. Wells "Dr. Wells", British writer and utopian socialist, whose book Men Like Gods was an incentive for Brave New World
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov Whose conditioning techniques are used to train infants
William Shakespeare Whose banned works are quoted throughout the novel
Thomas Malthus Whose name is used to describe the contraceptive techniques (Malthusian belt) practiced by women of the World State
Reuben Rabinovitch The character in whom the effects of sleep learning hypnopaedia

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

Frameset of Brave New World
"The tradition of utopianism is one of the oldest forms of political and ideological writings. The term 'Utopia' (meaning, literally, "no-place") was invented by Thomas More in 1516, but the tradidion can be traced back to Plato's Republic, and forwards through the writings of the likes of Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rosseau, Henry Thoreau, and H.G. Wells. However, it was the Twentieth Centuary that saw the rise of the distinct genre of 'dystopian' writing. The word 'dystopia' was actually not coined until nearly twenty years after the publication of Brave New World, and there is perhaps more than just a semantic significance in this given that the novel is perhaps more anti-utopian than actually dystopian. That is to say that rather than present in a world of unrelenting fear, degradation, gloom and hopelessness as for example Orwell does in 1984, Huxley's World State is, for most of its inhabitants, a place of apparent permanent methods bywhich these ends are achivved ultimate in human, but that all utopian ideals will come at a number of costs: the restriction of human liverty, the controlling of the arts, science and religion; and ultimately access to the truth. Indeed, five years after Brave New World, Huxley wrote that "The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced."
Source: www.bibliomania.com/1/7/100/2010/frameset.html

Also- I made bookmarks with key facts about the novel and the author, and the eight sacrafices- I would be more than happy to print one for you- either respond to this post or e-mail me at kebgresh@comcast.net

Thanks Guys! Hope this Helps!

Scribe for April 07

2008-04-07T16:06:00.000-06:00

We started off class today with a visit from Mikela and Philip. Today was the day they interviewed some of our fellow class members. Mikela thanked us for being part of this experiment!

What we did in class:
Finished satire presentations
Some of the were pretty humorous. Actually they all were, we had good laughs.
Pavlovian activity
Iain was Smith's victim to show us the directions.
Then we were off to try by ourselves.
Directions: Choose who will be the guinea pig and who will be the experimenter. (In a group of two)
Then have the guniea pig sit in a desk and take their pulse. The experimenter must then catch the g.p off guard, yell their name, and bang three to four times on something. Then g.p takes their pulse. Then this happens once more. After this the g.p must get their pulse to their first pulse rate. Then experimenter does everything before except this time the g.p has to hop on one leg for thirty seconds after. Checking pulse each time, and then do it two more times. And then go back to first thing; name, band, and pulse. We had to record all the pulse rates.

Homework:
Read chapter 1-2 for Brave New World. Due Wednesday.
Read chapter 3-4 for Brave New World. Due Friday.

Scribe - Monday 3/31/08

2008-03-31T20:57:00.002-06:00

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.

Friday, March 21

2008-03-30T19:27:00.003-06:00

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

2008-03-19T13:33:00.002-06:00

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

Explain quote
Relate to topic sentence
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!

Fishbowl 17-20

2008-03-17T12:25:00.001-06:00

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

2008-03-17T08:15:00.001-06:00

2008-03-12T13:27:00.002-06:00

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

2008-03-12T12:32:00.001-06:00

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

Dorian Gray Fishbowl 13-16

2008-03-12T08:06:00.001-06:00

Wednesday March 5, 2008

2008-03-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Fishbowl 9-12.

2008-03-04T13:21:00.002-07:00

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?

Scribe 3/3/08

2008-03-03T19:09:00.002-07:00

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

2008-03-03T10:46:00.001-07:00

Chapter 5-8 Fishbowl

2008-02-25T21:21:00.002-07:00

Hey sorry guys I just got the e-mail from Ms. Smith to be invited. But! Have no fear, here is your question!

After reading up through chapter 8, what is your opinion on Lord Henry? Is he good or evil? What other characters in literature can you connect him to? Or to Oscar Wilde himself?

Scribe: Monday, 2/25

2008-02-25T12:45:00.003-07:00

Our self-portraits (the ones that describe how others see us and how we see ourselves) were due today. Also, today was another fishbowl day which, I must say, lead to some interesting discussion. We were without computers today, but we were able to manage without them.

Through discussion, we interpreted the connections between this story and that of Hamlet. We also discussed whether or not Dorian had anything to do with the death of Sibyl and how each of the characters connected to Dorian (Basil and Henry) are developing into a certain role of good or evil (respectively).

Homework: Respond to blog post, conference with Ms. Smith BEFORE WEDNESDAY'S CLASS (remember, we have a PLC day. You could come in early Wednesday *wink wink*), National Geographic Project is due Wednesday, and be ready to present your self-portrait next class

ch. 1-4

2008-02-21T08:22:00.001-07:00

Compare and contrast the characters we have met so far to Oscar Wilde and the Victorian Era.

SCRIBE WEDNESDAY 2-20

2008-02-20T18:13:00.002-07:00

Today was a fishbowl day, before the fishbowl we talked about the homework and ate donuts.

Due Today: Our rough draft journey stories. We did not actually turn these in, but we signed up for days and times to conference with Mrs. Smith about our stories and at that time we will show her our stories.

Homework: Answer blog question, take home quiz, semester project, beauty project and reading for the next blog.

When we got into the fishbowl the outer circle had a silent discussion through computers and the inner circle discussed out loud. The inner circle presenters chose to hand the leading of the conversation to the discussers. the inner circle mainly talked about beauty vs. brains, which character represents the author, and the relationships between the characters. (are they homosexual?)

Dorian Gray 1-4 Fishbowl

2008-02-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

SCRIBE 2-15

2008-02-18T14:56:00.005-07:00

Hello class! I apologize for the lengthy delay of this blog post but here is what we did on Friday:

HOMEWORK: We changed the due date of our Dante projects. A ROUGH DRAFT is due on Wednesday and we need to conference with Ms. Smith because we are having trouble getting the whole thing together. Also, read 1-4 of DORIAN GREY for the fishbowl on Wednesday. Semester Project- keep it in mind.
Also for Dorian Grey, keep track of what you do/don't understand for the fishbowl, and remember that there is a ton of analysis for this book that can help.

Today was a Reflection Day. We wrote to Ms. Smith about what was going on, what was going well, what we're struggling with, and how Ms. Smith can help. That took a while, and then Ms. Smith told us her answers to the reflection questions. Ms. Smith is excited because her volleyball team dominated earlier this week and she gets to excercise again soon. The troubles have arrived again with her freshmen, and here's what we can do:
We need to make sure we put in our best effort for this class because we agreed it is very frustrating to try to teach people and really care and the people we are teaching do not care at all. Our fishbowls need to be amazing, because Hamlet was good, but now we are aiming for "superbly incredible".

After our heart to heart chat, we got out some scratch paper and did a prewriting activity. We answered questions true or false for if we agreed or disagreed, and all of the questions were connected to Dorian Gray. Most of them were about appearance and how that affects certain aspects of our lives, and there were a few surprises in terms of response, but everyone was very respectful and attentive to each other's opinions. We just barely finished when the bell rang- you could say we had perfect timing!

HOMEWORK: We changed the due date of our Dante projects. A ROUGH DRAFT is due on Wednesday and we need to conference with Ms. Smith because we are having trouble getting the whole thing together. Also, read 1-4 of DORIAN GREY for the fishbowl on Wednesday. Semester Project- keep it in mind.
Also for Dorian Grey, keep track of what you do/don't understand for the fishbowl, and remember that there is a ton of analysis for this book that can help.

That's the basic summary of our class hour, and sorry again for the post delay!!

Introduction to Dorian Gray

2008-02-11T14:32:00.001-07:00

lIf you could do something without getting caught, would you? Why or why not?

February 8, 2008

2008-02-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Class,

Today we were in the computer lab again working on our National Geographic Project. Ms. Smith wasn't there today because she was in the Science Leadership Academy. We had a sub.--
Mrs. Bearden who explained everything that we were suppose to do...
Our Hw. for today--

HW. Computer lab; work on National Geographic Project
HW. Purchase the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Wednesday of next week), National Geographic Project Due 2/20

Next week: Monday--

Don't forget we are meeting in the computer lab again
Decide due date of Project Overview
Feel free to email Ms. Smith if your confuse

Have a safe and good weekend guys!!

Scribe for February 6, 2008

2008-02-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

First and foremost Congrats to Weems And Ian they signed today... to college that is.

Donuts Donuts Donuts
Most Importantly the Projects are due Wednesday the 20th

Ms. Smith will be gone Friday and she expects hard work and minimal conversation.
Fun Fact for the day passing back papers is Hell for Ms Smith
Today was a work day in the Computer Lab
Did i mention projects are due February 20, 2008
If you have any questions Ms. Smith will check her E-mail this weekend so feel free to E-mail her with any concerns and such.
H.W. Work on the Project
In case you were wondering the Project is due Wednesday the 20th of February...of this year(2008).
Well have a good night Try Harder Fly Higher

Scribe for February 4th

2008-02-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Class!

HW: Work on National Geographic Project

Today was a work day, so we met in the computer lab.
Mikaela and Phil were here to help us. :)
We first turned in our papers or compass to Ms. Smith.
We looked at www.journeystreams.com and went to the "Tell Your Story" section.
We explored the tools under "Story Tools" to see if any of them could help tell our story.
(Another tool to look at is www.vuvox.com.)
Also look at the "Dante A Hypothetical Situation" sheet online.
(Incorporate the elements listed in your journey.)

Sorry this post is so late... :)

Scribe Posting 02/01/08

2008-02-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Friday, February 1st.

In class:

In class today we finished reading the Contos in the packet that we all printed off. Next week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will be in the computer lab (you will need to have done the homework by these days so that you are well prepared).

Canto 4

- There is light in Limbo

- It is not a bad place, and there is no punishment

- Key people who reside here: Aristotle, Plato

- Limbo- These people have never had salvation and wonder why, which makes it a mental hell

Canto 5

Canto 34

- Get out by a stream- symbolism- a way of purification

- Betrayal for Dante is the worst layer of hell because he was betrayed

- Why is it the worst layer of hell?

-The closest people to you have betrayed you

-You trusted them and they broke a promise

Homework:

Answer the following questions in a typed double space paper. Develop a clear rationale for your thinking about the hypotheical situation.

1.) How have the texts, songs, videos, etc. affected your thinking? Support and Defend your answer.

2.) As you create your hypothetical situation, how will you use this background information?

3.) Make sure in your hypothetical situation that you explain/defend your structure, placement, decisions either in paper format or included in your presentation.

Another suggestion in preparing for creating your project is to complete the compass that can be found on Ms. Smith's website or on Emily's post.

Have a great weekend!! Don't forget about the Super Bowl!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

2008-01-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

We started off the class with donuts, Thank you Micheal, they were very good. (Weems some how ate 4 donuts)

Mrs. Smith was not in the best mood during class due to her freshman class, who drove her crazy with there lazyness. She also advised us to be nothing like them and to turn in good quality work throughout the semester.

We circled our wagons and went over any questions and reviewed over Dante's Inferno

Sam brought up a great question about how there hasnt been any encounters with the number 6, instead 3 has seemed to replace it. 3 is a holy number and 6 is known to be a common number associated with lucifer. We decided that hell is a mockery of heaven and is trying to copy God.

lucifer means "light-bearer"

We decided to start readiong from the beginning of Dante's Inferno (nobody seemed to remember what we read on monday)

Every reader read threee trisets (three is prevelant) before it was the next readers turn.

CANTO 1

Dante is lost in a dark forest in which he is trying to find his way out of

He comes against three beast ( leopard,lion and a she-wolf)

He meets Virgil who says he can get him out by taking him though Hell

Virgil lived on the first level of hell because he lived before christianity

Canto 2

Virgil diagnoses Dante's problem as cowardice, and tells him the story of the blessed and beautiful lady, Beatrice, who came to Virgil in Limbo, the outermost part of Hell where he inhabits, to urge him to save Dante

Dante feels new courage spread through his whole being and tells Virgil he is really ready to follow him now

Some of use were mssing the last three pages ( Again, three is prevelant) of Canto 2, so make sure you go back to the website and try to print those pages off.

Homework:

Read Cantos 3-5
National Geographic project

monday Januray 28

2008-01-29T14:22:00.001-07:00

In class today, people had the case of the Monday’s. Not much happened over the weekend except for Emily had another car accident, and everyone was tired from the dance. Ms. Smith tried to rid the Mondays out of us, but her jokes were not enough to battle the beginning of the week. Our homework is to think of ideas for our national geographic project. We will be in the computer lab next week so be prepared. We started off class by discussing the blog. Katherine G. said that the greatest sin is refusing the gift of life, Rebecca said addiction is man’s greatest weakness whether it be drugs, food , or personality. Jackie mentioned the seven sins and stated along the lines of if you don’t accept God’s forgiveness for your sins then that is man’s greatest fault. Brooks said to not forgive others, or holding things against people is man’s greatest weakness. We continued through class by taking the rest of Dante’s notes on hell and the following questions came up: Why are interest rates in the 7th level? Are some sins worst then others, in our minds, but in a lower level in Dante’s hell? What are OK wrongs? Ms. Smith made note of the number three and how it is repeatedly used. Ex: 3 lines per stanza, three animals, three women, three names for the devil, and the father, son and holy spirit. When we discussed the back round reading a few questions came up. Tucker brought up the point of is the punishments in hell sever enough or would you get use to it? Brooks wanted to know about the windmill reference to the devil and it about how mechanical he is. Emily wondered about the relationship between Dante and Beatrice, Dante’s first love. Another question that brought up was, would if you only did one of these ‘sins’, it was not a repeated offence, what would happen to you? Why is Dante allowed to go into hell? Dante is allowed to go into hell because god makes it possible. This makes Menos mad, but what we see is that god has power in hell. He was also supposed to tell of what he saw. We have the yellow ribbon assembly tomorrow here is the bell schedule and the notes that we took in class on Dante
Schedule for Tuesday, January 29th
Report to 1st Period Class 7:21 Dismissal from class at 7:25
Assembly 7:30- 8:15
Period 1 8:20 – 9:09
Period 2 9:14 – 10:03
Period 3 10:08 – 10:57
1st Lunch 10:57 – 11:32
Period 4 11:37 – 12:26
Period 4 11:02 – 11:51
2nd Lunch 11:51 – 12:26
Period 5 12:31 – 1:20
Period 6 1:25 – 2:16
Notes on Dante
Levels of hell (top is best, bottom worst): light= reason, no light= no reason
**Numbers= levels of hell, dashes=obstacles**
--The river Acheron. Charon= ferryman
1. Limbo (purgatory). Shades and Virgil reside here. Also unbaptized and those that come before Christ.
-- Minos decides to what level you go.
2. Lustful. Ex. Cleopatra.
3. Gluttonous. Can see past and future but not present. Continually rains.
4. Avaricious and prodigal. Shove wealth against each other.
5. Wrathful and sullen. Lie in black mud creating gurgling sounds. Attack and bite their own bodies.
--River Styx (i.e. Mr. Roboto)
--Wall of Dis. 3 furies at gate, gates open b/c of heaven’s decree, city of tombs, flames in open graves.
6. Heretics. Believers in temporal happiness.
--Phlegethon. River of blood. Minotaur: guard of this circle. Centaurs: shoot arrows at shades who try to come to surface.
The violent.
--Against others.
--Against self, i.e. suicide. Body becomes tree (“wood of suicide”). Harpies tear at trees.
--Against God: blasphemers, sodomites, usurers. Area of burning sand rains flames, stream of flowing blood. Where Dante receives warning of his future.
--Abyss
Fraud. 10 groups called Bolgia.
--Pimps and seducers. Ex. Jason. Lashed with enormous whips.
--Flatterers. Wallow in excrement.
--Simonists. Named after Simon who tried to buy the holy spirit. Upside down in a hole where feet stick out and are engulfed in flames. Known as “perverted Baptism”.
--Soothsayers: Diviners, astrologers and magicians. For ex., Tiresias. Distorted bodies.
--Grafters. Gamblers. Lake with boiling tar.
--Hypocrites. Wear cloaks lined with lead and must walk steadily.
--Thieves. Serpents chase after them.
--Deceivers or fraudulent counselors. Flames burn all around and within each flame is a soul.
--Sowers of scandal and schism. Shades are torn apart only to heal again and be ripped apart another time.
--Forgers. Falsifiers of metals (alchemists), persons (falsifiers) and words (counterfeits). Sinners plagued with different illnesses, for ex. leprosy, thirst.
Treachery. Agiant sheet of ice.
--Caina: Traitor to kin. Frozen in ice with only face above to show pain.
--Antenora: traitors to country, city, or political party.
--Ptolemea: traitors to guests. Sinners frozen with head above eyes, eyes frozen with tears.
--Judecca: Traitors to masters/ lords. Bodies alive on earth, but possessed by demons.
--Cocytus. Separates Lucifer from
--Lucifer (“light bearer”): Body half frozen, wings like a bat that continually flap. 3 faces, each stuffed with a traitor:
1. Red: mocks primal love with hatred (Judas).
2. Yellow: parodies divine power with weakness (Cassius).
3. Black: perverting highest wisdom with ignorance ( Brutus)
To exit hell: must climb down hairy Lucifer to center of earth at which point you will begin climbing back up.

Friday, January 25,2008

2008-01-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!.. Today was a short class because of the assembly, and we were pretty busy..

First of all, we started class by writing down our homework for this weekend:

Commenting on our latest blog: What are the greatest wrongs people can commit? Why? and What punishments/ consequences should fit these wrongs?
Make sure to print your own copy of Dante's text, if you haven't yet. Which you can find on Ms. Smith's page, and don't forget to read the first nine pages of it. Take notes.
Also feel free to continue commenting on the blog: Why does a just and good God allow Evil to exist? Their are some great ideas and great feedbacks commented by our fellow classmates on there, and its awesome. Good job guys.
Start writing your ideas about our NG project and visualize how you will create your own.

If you want to be ahead- develop a clear rationale for your thinking about the Hypothetical situation.

How have the texts, songs, videos, etc... affected your thinking? Support and defend your answer.
As you create Hypothetical situation, how will you use this background information?
Make sure in your Hypothetical situation, that you explain, defend your structure, placement and decisions either in paper format or included in your presentation.

If your not going to the winter dance, your bored and you have nothing else to do... you can start working on your monday hw. Which is to finish Dante background notes, ideas for NG project, canto one. And start looking at compass--> who, what, where and why<-- Plus check out the site that Ms. Smith showed us today- www.wsu.edu/~alake/ Its the site of "Where in hell do you belong". It helps us give a colorful look on what hell looks like and shows different types of hell. There are 9 layers of hell. We wrote down some notes today in class:

Limbo-Virtuous Pagans and Unbaptized Babies, Virgil exist
Lustfull- Creature name Minos- how ever many tails he curls, thats what stage you go
Gluttonous- Dante leaves sinners here and they can see the past and future but never the present
Prodigal- People who have extreme wealth and they give their wealth to each other back and forth for eternity
Wrathful- Extreme anger, Extreme Sadness, (Rivers of Styx)
Heretics- (City of Dis)
Violent- Neighbor (Plegethon), Self (Wood of Suicides)
Fraudulent- Seducers, Simonists, Diviners, Grafters, Hypocrites and so on
Treacherous- Kin (Cain) Lord (Lucifer)

On work days- Planning and talking... use Mikayla and Philip and ask them any questions that you have in mind because they are a great resource and ask Ms. Smith as well because she is semi- good. And like Ms. Smith said in class " The sky is the limit". Think BIG! Go BEYOND!

By the way.. Ms. Smith and Mr. Krause did a fantastic job dancing today!! And the rest of the teachers!

Have a Good Weekend Guys!!

Greatest Wrongs

2008-01-25T10:04:00.001-07:00

What are the greatest wrongs people can commit? Why?

What punishments/ consequences should fit these wrongs?

Scribe 1-23-08

2008-01-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

Compass information

Hello Class!! Today was a big day in the good old English class but first things first:

HOMEWORK: Print your own copy of the Dante text and bring it to class on Friday. Don't print it in the library or you will owe them your lunch money. Also, Ms. Smith really likes the conversation about why a just and good God allows evil to exist, so keep returning to the page and commenting.

Today was our National Geographic Day. We met Philip and Mikayla (sp?) Tarlow in the computer lab. Lovely people, quite nice. The rest of the time we looked at the learning platform we are going to use with Dante.

It is an interactive website (up and running February 4) that is fun and easy to use. It is all about journeys. Any kind of journey you can think of.

There are two main steps for the process:

1. Create your journey
2. Create a story about your journey

We then got an inside look at the five main pages on the site!

The Home Page- it's the home page where you can navigate where you want to. There will also be about 25 regular columnists who post 3 times/month about journeys.

Design Your Journey- this page is about how to construct a journey; it has story board and adopt a story to help you get started.

Tell Your Story- this page has tools for telling about your journey, such as a link to free images and sounds!

Idea Lab- this is the "out there" page of the site, you can post your journey, all of the worksheets for designing your journey are on here.

Gallery Page- it has pictures on it from different stories.

Story Garden-here is where you can show the progress of your journey if you so choose to post it.

You do not have to post on the gallery or story garden but it is a good idea because there are multiple contests you can enter...

We then divided into groups and came up with possibilities for our own versions of the afterlife that were similar to the Inferno.

Group 1 - physical journey - mountain (get to peak), amusement park, mall, hotel, climates, levels of atmosphere, parking garage

Group 2 - imaginary journey - "Alice in Wonderland"/Through the Looking Glass, a "second life" game, a video game where you choose your adventure or fight enemies depending on how far in hell you are, board game ("Life"), Willy Wonka and his crazy candy factory...

Group 3 - social landscape - interview people from different professions, religions, cultures/countries, ages, social classes

Group 4 - service story - rehab facilities, homeless people (how they got there), psychiatric ward, veteran's clinic

All of these ideas represent a different way to demonstrate the punishment of people in hell or the afterlife, just to keep a clear idea of what this is for....

Last thing: There is going to be a compass uploaded that is the who what when where and why of the project.

Where is your journey going to be?
Why did you choose this place? (this is where you go deeper into the meaning and motives of your setting)
Who will your audience be? (obviously the class, if you post it, many more people) (how do you want your audience to feel when they see it? Motivated? More compassionate?)
How will you tell your content?

All of these questions get combined for one paragraph about WHAT your story is. Having this complete before we read helps you pull ideas from the Inferno that you can work into your own idea of the afterlife. It can be your opinion or you can make up something that isn't your opinion.

REMEMBER- anything you post for this will be a reflection of you FOR EV ER, so be appropriate, and make sure it is your best work!

The rest of the time we got to absorb and reflect, got our papers back, and got to eat the fantastic donuts, thank you for those.

Don't forget your homework :) you know you love it: Print your own copy of the Dante text and bring it to class on Friday. Don't print it in the library or you will owe them your lunch money. Also, Ms. Smith really likes the conversation about why a just and good God allows evil to exist, so keep returning to the page and commenting.

Over and out.

JANUARY 18, 2008

2008-01-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Scribe January 18, 2008

Today:
Shared our visuals in a nice big circle.

Homework-
BLOG. This is a serious subject that can be very sensitive for some people. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow evil to exist? Please check the blog more then once.. some conversation may spark from your comment. Please answer this question in two ways… personally/religiously and intellectually based on what we have read in class.
Print Dante text from the website.

Next Week:
Monday—NO SCHOOL!!!
Wednesday- Meet in the library computer lab and don’t be late! We are meeting Mikela and Philip from National Geographic. Mr. Booth will also be there that day so make Ms. Smith look good. Don’t be shy around Mikela and Philip, introduce yourself. They will be introducing the platform for our big project. Don’t forget to be patient with technology especially if something goes wrong.
Friday- ASSEMBLY DAY with short classes. NEED DANTE PRINT OUT TODAY! This will be the first day of reading.

Projects:
Weems did a photo story about hell. He defined hell and put pictures to each part of the definition. Comments: Liked how it was outlined. Liked the picture of the angel in hell.

Joe drew a picture of a ying-yang with the balance being a dove on the hell side and a pitchfork on the heaven side. Comments: Liked the dove and pitchfork switch... Most people forget about that part of the ying-yang, it represents Lucifer in Heaven. The dove brings light into hell.

Jackie drew a picture the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The roots to the tree go down into hell. Hell is shown bruning under Adam and Eve. Comments: Liked the choices bar shown between heaven and hell. Liked how it all blended and connected together, like a ying-yang.

Sue made a photo story representing heaven and hell and things that can make people go to hell, like lust and greed. Comments: Liked the part about the things that make people bad, corruptions. Liked how all cultures and religions were represented. Heaven vs. other afterlives.

Ian made a power point he used song lyrics from songs looked at in class with stories and pictures representing the lyrics. Evolution was also shown. Comments: Liked how pictures related to the text.

Emily H. made a collage showing polar sides, heaven vs. hell, showed qualities of religion. Comments: Liked the college and the polar sides.

Rebecca made a collage with a ying-yang in the center with everything connecting to it. Temptation was represented. Comments: Liked ying-yang, you can’t have good with out bad or light without dark.

Tucker made a photo story about his feelings on human being initially good or bad. He chose bad. Our society leads us to hell. If we all died today everyone would go to hell. Comments: People are not willing to accept corruption. Human is bad because God is not present. Why else would bad things happen?

Brooks made a photo story with a picture from the movie Legend. Comments: Light then dark picture organization. Nature represented as good, things we do represented as bad, an example is 9-11.

Ryan F. made a power point, but sadly it did not work because of Mac vs. Dell computer trouble. Instead he told us about it. It was about journeys that compare and contrast two choices, choices that set you apart. Comments: You control your destiny because you make your own decisions. Its not a mistake you make but a path you take. Like you should dance when no one is watching, do it for yourself.

Dustin drew a picture of a faceless person in the middle being stretched between heaven and hell. Comments: Liked the stretching in both directions. And liked how eyes were only represented in hell.

Emma made a fold out collage. On the good side there were happy things including Adam and Eve, a baby, all innocent to start. In the middle crossroads. Things we do on the bad side, like stealing money. Comments: Liked the crossroads.

Melinda made a picture book with alternating heaven and hell pictures. Comments: Liked representation of the world having both light and dark and alternating pictures.

Katherine represented heaven and hell with a slide to hell (it is easy to get there) and a ladder to heaven (harder to get there). Comments: Simple picture, but strong meaning.

Sam created a painting of a hand (the devils hand) coming out if earth, open for choices. Comments: Liked how the hand was reaching for heaven, but it couldn’t reach far enough.

Dan C. made a collage. Are humans good or bad? Family is good, society is bad. Comments: Liked the background color of red then purple then blue. Purple is the balance.

Alex F. drew a picture with a path in the middle with God on one side and the devil on the other. Each had one angel wing and one demonic wing representing the good and evil in all of us. Comments: Liked how it was represented that the one who is evil came from God.

Alex B. made a college and on the good side everything was black and white, on the bad side society was represented. Comments: Liked the faceless people. They sway our decisions. Liked the black and white.

Emily L. Made a 3-D picture of heaven earth and hell. Stairs to heaven and hell but it is easier to go down stairs then to go up. Comments: Liked the 3-D. Liked the commentary of the people in the picture.

Cecily represented earth with a people looking deep in though with a kid looking content representing honesty. In heaven religious symbols were represented. Comments: Liked how the child represented honesty.

Well that was all of the projects we got through today.. hopefully there will be the rest to come.
HAVE A GOOD 3 DAY WEEKEND!

Scribe: January 16, 2007

2008-01-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all and sorry for the delay of this scribe, I had difficulties with my google account all yesterday and this morning....

Firstly, we should all congratulate Smith on a phenomenal half marathon run in Phoenix. She placed 221 of 9,000 women and 1100 of 26000! Her time was 1hour and 44minutes. Thanks to Led Z. she was able to push herself to the max for the last mile and a half averaging 7.5 minutes for each mile. If you want to get her Gatorade for a congragulatory gift...don't get passion berry mango, it tastes like "poo" to her...

Ok first off, our papers on Hell are lost, print off an extra copy for tomorrow just in case...

Secondly, make sure that your National Geo. signature is in because she needs them all ASAP...

Thirdly, we turned our second paper in to her. She apologizes for any confusion regarding the whole Updike story...

For homework we must finish reading Milton's excerpt (which begins on pg. 435 of the big purple Literature book) and then after that we must create some sort of visual understanding that pulls in everything togeher (Milton, creation stories, movies, songs, paintings, etc.) It is imperative that everyone relates this to the essential question: Are humans good or evil?!?

Apologies again.
Brooks

Why does a just and good God allow evil to exist?

2008-01-17T08:02:00.001-07:00

Why does a just and good God allow evil to exist? Take yourself out of your mental model for this! Remember be respectful, respond more than once, react to one another's’ comments.

Scribe: January 14, 2008

2008-01-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Apologies that this is up so late, there's really no excuse for it.

Monday, Ms. Smith was gone in Phoenix for her half-marathon, and we can't wait to hear how everything went tomorrow in class! So unfortunately Smith wasn't present in class, and Mrs. Ridiski (sp?) was there instead to help us through reading Genesis. It started with some confusion as to the proper way to use "Popcorn" when reading aloud in class, but the disorder was quickly cleared up when Cecily called out "Popcorn: Kyle". Before the reading We checked out the Big Purple Books, and opened to page 416 to read Genesis. The reading covered the biblical version of the Earth's creation by God in seven days. Here's Genesis in a nutshell....

In the Book of Genesis, the Bible tells the story of the creation of the world. the story tells that God, hovering over an empty, watery void, creates the world by speaking into the void and creates land, animals, light, plants, and the sky, over the period of six days. On the seventh day, God created a being in his "own image" called humankind. The man is created from dust, and the woman from the man's ribs. They are told to live in the Garden of Eden, to enjoy the new earth's wonder, to procreate freely, but not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve then encounters a serpent, who convinces her to eat the fruit. After disobeying God, and eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve immediately feel remorse and shame, and are banished from Eden by God. Eve is punished with painful childbirth and the submission to Adam's authority, and Adam is cursed to work the ground for food.
Eve then gives birth to Cain and Abel, and when God is more pleased with Abel, Cain kills his brother in outrage, and is banished to the lands East of Eden. Adam and Eve give birth to another son, Seth, and through Seth and Abel, the human race begins to grow.

After the reading, we had some troubles quieting down, but eventually got to working on our homework: reaction paper, due Wednesday, that covers all the stories that we've read, including Genesis, Koran, Updike, and the creation stores. This includes connections between Updike, creation stories, and Genesis. Can't wait 'til tomorrow when Smith's back and the disorder from Monday can be returned to normal.

Hope everyone has a good day sleeping in on PLC Wednesday, (I know I will). Until next time!

Scribe- January 11, 2007

2008-01-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, hope everyone has had a nice weekend and hope Smith did well on her half-marathon.

Homework: Finish stories, reaction paper due Monday about Hell. Remember 1 1/2 pages. double spaced, strong topic sentence statement connecting visuals of movies, art, and songs with personal commentary.

First, Smith collected the National Geographic signed sheets.... If you forgot the sheet turn it in on Monday. Smith has a folder on her desk so you can turn it in to her. Please do this as soon as possible.

For the majority of the class we listened to the songs referencing Hell.
Song #1-- Seven Deadly Sins, by Flogging Molly. Brief overview-- the music video has images of the devil and fire was always in the background. They were on a ship and the water surrounding them was actually fire. Connections/Questions-- what are the 7 deadly sins.
Song #2-- The Devil Went Down to Georgia, by Charlies Daniel Band. Connections/Questions-- Think about the devil trying to steal souls.
Song #3-- Crossroads, by Eric Clapton. Connections/Questions--What are the crossroads where you meet the devil? What are the crossroads in heaven and hell?
Song #4-- Highway to Hell, by AC/DC. The guitarist never stopped moving his head, I can't believe that guy still has any brain funciton.
Song #5--Hells Bells, by AC/DC. For both of the AC/DC songs look over the lyrics, they often describe the qualities of the people who are said to go to hell. Connections/Questions-- What are they saying about the qualities these people have?

For the last fifteen minutes of class we read short stories about creationism.
Story #1-- The Rig Veda and the Brhadaranijka Upanishad. Remember to relate to other creation stories and think about personal beliefs.
Story #2-- Hopi: Spider Woman. Ideas- evil comes from bad magic, symbolic of people--Why, youth and echo? We didn't finish this story so we must finish at home.

Most significant quote from the day and something to think about- "You can't have light without darkness."

Enjoy I hope these help everyone who wasn't there or needs a reminder.

Joe R

Escribano Numero Dos Para El Semestre: Wednesday, January 9, 2008

2008-01-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hdub for today: Parent permission letter for National Geographic project signed and returned by Friday and a one page reaction paper to the movies, art, and songs presented in class due Monday.

Handouts: Parent Permission form, Song lyrics packet.

Movies to react to:
Legend
Devils Advocate
Bedazzled
South Park: Satan's Sweet 16

Art:
Hell art (link to art shown in class)

Songs:

Flogging Molly - Seven Deadly Sins
The Devil Went down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
Crossroads - Eric Clapton
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
AC/DC - Hells Bells

Use the movies, art, and songs to help you with your reaction paper.

Today we got through all of the movies and here is some insight on each one that we watched.

Devil's Advocate: A movie about two lawyers, Al Pacino and Keanue Reeves, where Al Pacino ends up being Satan and Keanue Reeves ends up being his son. Satan's goal in this movie was to recieve a "spawn of evil" by making Keanue and his half sister have sex. This movie was a good example of how Satan is manipulative to get what he wants and plays a lot of mind games to get you to stumble. Also, we see in this movie that Satan is not bound by death and is depicted that there isn't a lot of limitations to what he can do.

Legend: Satan lives in the deepest parts of the earth and is out to destroy all that is good and innocent. Unicorns represented all the was good and innocent, so Satan would send out his demons to find them and kill them. In this movie, we see that Satan becomes bound in lust towards a woman and wants her as his bride. It was seen that through time and patience Satan can be beaten. In a way, it is seen that he is weak in a drive for lust just as a man can be. Also, a lot of anger surrounded Satan in this movie because he rarely got what he wanted and was always out to manipulate and control others so that he could satisfy his own carnal desires. In a way, Satan was very much like a human (male) and in the end he said the he was apart of all of us. Could there be a connection between our sinful flesh and the very nature of Satan himself?

Bedazzled: Satan is depicted as a sedcutive woman. Again, a manipulative being only wanting to satisfy her own desires. I thought that this movie was a good example of how the Devil does not always get what she wants and when she doesn't her frustration and anger towards failure knows no bounds. Also, how sometimes we forget that we have free will and can put Satan's plans and schemes into turmoil just by simply saying no. It is shown how Satan will take any chance that she could get to try and control and manipulate our lives. As Brendan Fraser said, "I would do anything to get that girl," Satan was quickly there to respond and tempt Brendan so that in the end she could take hold of his soul. I think that this is a good depiction of the battles that take place in the Christian faith. Truly, as Christians believe, life is a battle for the heart of man. God wants to show us His Love and Grace so that we can get a chance to live happily here on earth and eternally in peace and joy and in His presence forever in the afterlife. Satan, on the other hand, despises God's creation and wants only our destruction and is quick to respond in situations where he can get a chance to take hold of us so that we can't share in eternal life with our Heavenly Father and instead live in eternal damnation, gnashing of teeth, and torture (Hell), when wen die.

South Park: Satan's Sweet 16: I thought this movie was a very good depiction of how our culture views Hell. We see in this episode that it's just like a big party and Satan is the host of the party. Satan is also depicted again to succumb to the desires of human flesh by wanting a party and seeks approval of others. This movie was a good depiction on how culture can put covers over how bad Hell really is, that it's going to be party time and it's not as bad a people set it out to be. This episode also displayed how religion is a joke and that it is incapable of doing anything for you. We saw this in how the priests tried to get into Satan's party to crash it but failed to do so. It is a good example of how most people believe in a Hell and that Satan exists but don't believe that there is God. There can be no shadow without light.

Things to tie together: In each movie, the color red was symbolized as the Devil and the characteristics of manipulation, trickery, empty promises, forcefulness, frustration, and anger could be seen in each movie. These movies were very good at showing what we as culture have defined Satan as and even Hell.

For now, I must sign off and I hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week.

First Blog of the Second Semester. Monday: January 07, 2008

2008-01-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Big Question (?) of Second Semester:
What does literature say about us as human beings? Are humans good or evil? Do you agree or disagree?

Smith thought us a new word today and we tried to help her spell it. (That was the highlight)

Homework for today: Print out expectations and if you want the National Geographic Information.

We got a new seating chart today (and new students), answered class questions (answer will be at the end in black), signed up for donuts and scribes, got told an overview of this semester (will be in pink also at the end) , and we looked at hell art.

Big Question.
National Geographic Project.
Dante/Hell
Dorlan Grey (spelling?)
Brave New World

What do you want to get out of class this semester?
Open discussion with maturity, respect, and adult like matter.
Hand on learning (ex: multi media).
Everyone get into the discussions.
Enjoy literature.
Intrinsic Learning.
FUN.
Teach Smith something.
More movies (Disney was said in the background).
Group projects.
How do you want to grow as a learner? ("Important for college.", Smith said)
Going beyond what is expected.
Thinking on your own.
Lead your own learning. (Maybe with a fishbowl)
Deep learning, no boredom.
Intellectual Conversations.
Make it more learning and not grade.
Intrinsic. INTRINSIC.

HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE.

Friday, December 14, 2007 Scribe

2007-12-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today was the Hamlet Finale Fishbowl. :))

In the beginning some slacked off and forgot to get the laptops... so Mrs. Smith had to get the slackers.

Then we started the Hamlet Finale Fishbowl, but before that we did our greeting to Mrs. Smith.

Bullet Points is what the inside circle said to the questions.

First Question: What role does religion play in the theme of death in, Hamlet?

Hamlet was going to kill Claudius but he decided against it when he saw that Claudius was repenting for what he did.
Hamlet debated suicide because of Christian beliefs and the whole after life thing.

Does Hamlet truly love Ophelia?

In the beginning he was using her but then at the end he ended up loving her.
Potraying you don't know what you have till it's gone.

Did Hamlet stup down to Claudius' level with revenge?

He felt morally obligated to kill Claudius.
It ended up being a very emotional subject for Hamlet (that his father was dead) so he made it a passion.
How he murdered Claudius was noble.

Do you think the mistakes Hamlet made, stupped him down to Claudius' level? ( kind of the same question from above)

Hamlet was only trying to create chaos to get people to believe him.

What do you think Hamlet's tragic flaw is?

Inaction.
Selfishness.
Killed Polonious so then he had to pursue murder head on?
To much faith on people so he gets disappointed.

What is the signifigance of family?

Rule of family: Comfort and Trust.
To give you a sense of how much better your family is.

Is family important to the people in Hamlet?

Alot of mixed feelings on this one.

Do you think anyone in Hamlet truly love another person?

Polonius-Hamlet.
Hamlet-Old Hamlet.
Respect was missing except for in Hamlet and Old Hamlet's relationship.

What is the signifigance of incest in Hamlet?

Gertrude and Claudius.
Symbolic of corruption in relationships and royal family.
Mrs. Smith said it adds to all the sexual tension in Hamlet and the other plays.

Do you think Hamlet was upset about Gertrude being with Claudius? Or her just being with Gertrude?

Being with somebody.
Hamlet was also upset about her moving on so quickly after Old Hamlet's death.

Do you think there was a message to the play Hamlet?

People think of their family lives compared to this book.
Family first.
Revenge isn't the best thing.
Analyze your own life.
Think about your own goverment leaders and there flaws and problems.

Satire? Motifs? Symbolism? Signifigance? ... Of Hamlet.

(( I am adding this in... The sword in the play make the murders more signifgant... Noble people use swords/daggers it makes you commited to murder and murder through poison is not noble and not 100% commited {{poison shows alot about Claudius' character}}))

FOILS?

Polonious' Family and Claudius' Family.(Polonious- Control and Truth and Claudius- Can't Control and Selfish)
Ophelia and Gertrude.
Fortinbras and Laretes.

Was Hamlet really crazy?

Yes and No

When Hamlet had his brush with Laretes, did that change his crazyness?

Yes

What do you think will happen to Hamlet?

He sought forgiveness at the end so he will go to Hamlet.

How does Hamlet fit the four stages?

We didn't really finsih this question.

I hope you like this scribe... I don't know if it makes sense.

I hope it is semi-good.

HAVE A GRREAT WEEKEND. :))

Hamlet Finale Fishbowl Question!

2007-12-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...

What message(s) do you think Shakespeare was trying to reveal in Hamlet?
After reading the play, do you think the ends justifies the means?

Good luck on finals and have a super fun break

Hamlet Final Fishbowl

2007-12-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sribe for Wednesday, December 12, 2007

2007-12-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

As usual, doughnut Wednesday started off with a bang when Emily H. brought Albertson’s Doughnuts. It was a big day for the class; we have never had Albertson’s doughnuts. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the privilege of tasting one, but there was debate on whether or not we should have an in-depth, intellectual discussion on the comparison of Albertson’s doughnuts to the other; I guess will just have to wait and see, maybe there will be a blog post to follow.

After the delicious carbohydrates made their way to our fat cells, Fishbowl over Act V began. The leaders for the day were Milenda, Ashley, Courtney, Sam E.(a.k.a. Option C), and KC.

And the questions began:
1. The diggers were signified as clowns, what could that represent?
a. Possible comic relief
2. Why does Hamlet have a revalation about death, and then go back to his old ideas at the end of the act?
a. Realization, stages of a hero
b. Hamlet is Shakespeares way of enlightening the audience with possible philosophies
c. By saying everything goes full circle after death, his is still asking for respect of Ophelia even though she may have committed suicide.
3. Why?
a. Pride
b. Past the point of no return
c. Jorney of the tragic hero
d. Self fulfillment
e. Nothing left to live for
f. Selfish
g. Never considered himself to be wrong
i. BUT, he does want to make amends with Laertes for what he has done
4. Why all of the sudden does Hamlet have a change of heart?
a. Enlightenment again
b. Once he realized what he had done, he realized an apology would hurt anyone
c. Death brings out the true colors in people, he doesn’t want to end up like his father
5. With the exception of Polonius, every character died from poison, what is the symbolism?
a. They wer poisonous characters
b. Polonius was a selfish, rude character
i. He died a more brutal death because of that
c. Poison fits into the theme of conceit
6. Why didn’t Claudius stop Gertrude from drinking the cup before she did?
a. Showed his selfishness
7. Before Gertrude dies, she cries out for Hamlet; why Hamlet and not Claudius?
a. Hamlet was the only true character
b. She knew she could trust Hamlet for help
8. If Hamlet would have married Ophelia, do you think she would have been mad about Polonius’ death and still would have committed suicide?
a. No to suicide, yes to mad
b. Would Hamlet have gone that far?
c. She would have sided with Hamlet
d. There was still a Father-Daughter bond
i. Polonius was supposed to be looking out for her best interest
e. If she was with Hamlet, it may have been easier for her to see her father’s wrongs
i. Hamlet would help her recognize her father acts as wrong
f. Ophelia’s father’s death was the spark to her suicide
i. What really could have done her in was her and Hamlet’s break-up
9. Why is Laertes in denial about Ophelia? What message does this convey?
a. It was the consequence from everything wrong they had done
b. Horratio is rewarded for being a true character
c. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were also punished for what they did
d. Understand what life is about, don’t live it in revenge
10. In short…is death worth it?
a. It depends
i. Hamlet – yes
ii. Gertrude – no, she died with guilt
iii. For some it was worth it
b. Those who brought death upon themselves, along with enlightenment had some sort of cleansing of the soul
i. Most who died accomplished what they wanted
11. Did Hamlet plan do die?
a. Most likely
b. He was ready at any moment to encounter death
c. Hamlet never envisioned a bright future
i. Lived day by day, didn’t care what was to happen
d. Selfish
e. Easy way out for hamlet to avoid the consequences
f. Hamlet was so committed to killing Claudius, it was worth his death

And alas, the fishbowl was stopped early so that we could all watch one of the films versions of the death scenes.

Homework: ~Friday there is a fishbowl as well over the entire book, so come prepared.
~Devote the rest of your time and energy to working on the final project!

Act 5 FishBowl Question.

2007-12-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hello, here is the question. :))

Why do you think Laretes is in denial about Ophelia (her suicide)? How does this denial prove he is like his father? Why or why not?

Scribe for 12/10/07

2007-12-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to remind everyone that we have two fishbowls this week. On Wednesday we have a fishbowl over act five and on Friday we have our final fishbowl over the entire book. If you don't know which group you are in be sure to check with Mrs. Smith.

For the first half of class we discussed innovative ways of teaching. Sam was not happy with a certain teachers teaching style. To be perfectly honest politics does not thrill me either.
Our conversation was similar to our talk on Friday. Apparently we spent our weekends contemplating the future of education.

We also finished reading Hamlet in class. If you were absent be sure to read it before the next class period. The ending wrapped things up very well. It was a very fitting conclusion for such a complex story.

Finally: Make your final projects spectacular. We don't want to let Mrs. Smith down after all the time and effort she has invested in our futures.

Hamlet Act 5 Fishbowl

2007-12-10T09:08:00.001-07:00

Friday December 7th

2007-12-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

First everyone let KC and I apoligize for this being on here so late, there was a big confusion in who Mrs. Smith needed us to scribe on Friday.

Anyways...

-We started out class with our traditional “Hello Mrs. Smith”

-Everyone wished we had doughnuts
- We worked on “Reflections”

- The question was: “What changes have you seen this semester in regards to your education? What role did technology play in that change? What role did the constructivist philosophy play in that change? (constructivist-students becoming producers of information, students in charge of their own learning)”

-Mrs. Smith talked about what an amazing job it would be to be a “futurist”. A futurist pretty much just gets to sit around thinking of what the future will be like. Apparently if you a bad job you get fired.

- She talked about her meeting/ convention thing some more and added how insulting the title “learning agent” was.

-We met with our final project groups and planned and discussed

-Mrs. Smith told us how much trust she had in us and that many people do not believe that high school seniors can turn in a final project that was not crap.

- That was really all for today kids! Have a great night!

Reflections Period 4

2007-12-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

Scribe for December 05, 2007 :))

2007-12-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is for Ashley since she is unable to get on to this blog and post.

Amazing Mr. Rosenberg came back to visit. But not as amazing as Ms. Smith.

Courtney brought delicious donuts! Yummmm... and today was a short day.

Homework: Act three and four Take Home Quiz, Scribe (done), and Final Project (due date is coming around the corner)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wedensday and a fantastic Thursday.

See ya Friday. We are going to turn in are take home quiz, read act 5 of Hamlet, reality check..., and constructivist practices.

2007-12-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Class!

HOMEWORK

Blog question
Semester project
Quiz over ACT 3 &4 due Friday

Friday we will start reading Act 5
Next wednesday is next fishbowl
Semester project is due on final day ( no exceptions)
Smith will be gone on Wednesday so we will have Mr. Rosenburg as our subsitute

WHAT WE DID IN CLASS

Everyone got ready for the fishbowl
Inside Circle: Presenters, Discussors, and Three Open Seats
Outside Circle: Live-Blogging
Act 4 fishbowl

If you were absent for the fishbowl, blog and post in depth comments related to the fishbowl comments on the post by annes

Blog Question Over Act IV

2007-12-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

By the end of this act Laertes has found out a lot of new information, like his father being killed and his sister dieing. In a way he can be paralleled to Hamlet for the things that he is doing as well as what he is predicted to do. (act with revenge against Hamlet) What can you say about Laertes after this whole act is over? What characteristics does he emmulate from other characters?

Hamlet Fishbowl Act 4

2007-12-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Friday, November 30

2007-12-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

HOMEWORK: scribe, get working on the semester project!! DON'T FORGET ACT 4 FISHBOWL ON MONDAY

In Class:
~We started class off by talking about the plans for next week
~late start Wednesday and possible quizzes over acts 3&4
~ reality check on Friday!
~Then we watched the Hamlet movies during Act 4. We started with the Mel Gibson version, where we concentrated on the Ophelia scene. Then we viewed the Kate Winslet version and watched the scene with Ophelia and then the plotting scene between Laertes and Claudius.
~For the remaining 15 or so minutes we had time to work on our semester project.
~Also much thanks to Charlie for those crazy assorted doughnuts!

Have a Happy Weekend

Scribe: Wednesday, November 28th

2007-11-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello class!

Today was a good day. We started off the class however with no doughnuts...

Ms. Smith wants to remind everyone to look at their grade, the end of the semester is slowly creeping up on us!

We got very far in Hamlet today, almost to the end of Act 4, read the rest for homework.

Ophelia has gone mad. She cannot handle the new loss of her father and all of the problems with Hamelt and spends a lot of this part of the play in song. It has become a general opinion in both the fish bowls and from Sam today that the women, particulary Ophelia, are at a great loss. Ophelia drowns at the end of Act four as we find out from her borther Laertes.

Claudius sends Hamlet to England and tries to arrange amoung his return for Ophelia's brother Laertes to challenge him to a fencing match where he will poison the sword and kill Hamelt. Claudius is worried that Hamelet will hurt his family name.

Meanwhile Laertes is wondering why his father was buried so "hastely" and in part blames King Claudius for the murder of his father for not watching Hamelt more carefully with the knowledge of his madness.

Some questions are still unanswered that everyone would like to know.

When will Hamlet be able to avenge his father's death?

What will come of Hamelt after he returns?

I hope that someone brings doughnuts on friday it might just have to be me!
Have a great day everyone.

Hamlet Act 3 Fishbowl

2007-11-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Scribe for November 19, 2007

2007-11-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Homework over the break:
Read act 3 scenes 1-4
Prepare for the fishbowl
Continue blog conversation online
Work on the semester project

What we did in class:
We met in groups at the beginning of class for the semester projects
We watched the Hamlet movie for act 3 scenes 1-4

Things discussed and questions to ponder about act 3 scenes 1-4:
Where do Hamlet's friends loyalties lie?
There were many references in the movie to the Devil. Why do you think this is?
The beginning of act 3 has one of the most famous soliloquoys ever: "to be or not to be"
A nunnery can refer to a prostetution house
What was the two way mirror in the movie symbolic of?
The motif of spying is growing. What does this say of Hamlet's society?
What is important about Claudius wanting "light" during the play?
Hamlet doesn't kill Claudius during his confession because he wants him to go to hell
Hamlet attacks and goes after his mom even though his father's spirit told him to "leave her to heaven"

Blog Question From Fishbowl 2

2007-11-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

What do you think Guildenstern and Rosencrantz will do in the end? Will they continue to be puppets for the King and Queen, or will they choose to be true friends and help Hamlet? What affect will their decision have on Hamlet?

SCRIBE FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2007.

2007-11-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Class started with the doughnuts that were sadly forgotten to be brought on Wednesday… It was a great way to start the day of fishbowling.

Mrs. Smith… thought the whole schedule thing was weird. (new kids, kids in different classes, just the whole thing)

Everyone got ready for the fishbowl
Inside Circle: Presenters, Discussers, and Three Open Seats
Outside Circle: Live-Blogging

Act Two Fishbowl… What was discussed?

Why were actors coming to Denmark?
Polonius
What is your impression of Polonius? (manipulated, power hungry)
Why doesn’t Polonius manipulate the king?
Is Laertes not responsible or is Polonius not trusting?
Does Laertes do anything to lose Polonius’ trust?
Ophelia
What is your impression of Ophelia? (impressionable, likes attention, dependent on others, likes to please)
Is she dependent on others?
What happen to her mother?
Hamlet {[coming into def. of tragic hero]} {[with questions about Fortinbras, Gertrude, and Claudius]}
Is he like Fortinbras? (father murdered, same age, getting control of country, revenge {Polonius- For country and Hamlet- Himself})
Is Hamlet more selfish that Fortinbras?
Why doesn’t Shakespeare make the connection between Fortinbras and Hamlet?
Do you think as the story goes there will be more connections between Fortinbras and Hamlet?
What are the differences between Fortinbras and Hamlet?
What is Shakespeare’s reasoning for the whole Fortinbras-Denmark drama?
Where is the whole thing with Fortinbras and Hamlet going?
What will happen if they come together as friends?
Does Hamlet not care about his reputation?
What’s going to happen if Claudius shows no reaction during the play?
What will Claudius’ reaction be if he finds out that Hamlet know what really happens? (make hamlet seem crazy, manipulate everyone else)
Do you see Gertrude as a weak person?
Many other things were said… More about the whole play thing, Hamlet’s madness, Gertrude’s weaknesses, and More Fortinbras and Hamlet drama.

IT WAS A LOVELY DAY PACKED FULL OF QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS.
{[LOOK AT THE TWO BLOGS AROUND THIS ONE: ONE IS THE OUTSIDE CIRCLE DISCUSSION BY BLOGGING AND THE OTHER ONE IS THE QUESTION YOU HAVE TO ANSWER FOR HOMEWORK]}

HAVE A GOOD REST OF THE WEEKEND AND GET READY FOR SOME TURKEY EATING]}

Hamlet Act 2 Fishbowl

2007-11-16T10:36:00.001-07:00

scribe for november 14, 2007

2007-11-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

First, she collected our take home quizzes over act 2, as well as handed back the ones from act 1.
Second, and most important, SOMEONE FORGOT TO BRING DOUGHNUTS! Shame on you, everyone was very sad because of this.
We got new seats.
We watched video comparisons from two videos, one was the Mel Gibson version, and the other was Kenneth Brahna. ( I think that's how you spell his name)
We got about ten minutes to meet with our groups and discuss or work on our final projects.
Homework: Make sure that the presenters and discussores are ready to participate in the fishbowl which is on friday. Also to everyone, make sure that you have read act 2 in order to participate in the fishbowl. Continue convesation, and final semester projects.

Just depressing because of the whole doughnut issue.... :(

-Emilie D

Scribe for November 12, 2007

2007-11-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is what we did on Monday Nov. 12.

Homework

· Quiz on Act 2(due Wednesday)

· Fishbowl for Act 2 on Friday

· Continue questions and conversation on the blog online

· Use blog for any questions you have about the reading in class

· Semester project

In Class

· We started off by collecting the quizzes over Act 1 assigned over the weekend.

· Then we discussed our thoughts on how the fishbowl went last Friday.

o Included some very interesting, original comments

o Tips- presenters have better time management and try to have more of a broad spectrum on the questions rather than little details. Also less restating of previous comments in discussion.

· Next we started reading Act 2 of Hamlet and distributed the 10 parts of the Act.

Thoughts while reading

· In the beginning Polonius is very interested in finding out what his son Laertes is doing. He indirectly wants Reynaldo to get information on what Laertes is doing.

· Polonius is manipulative, and not very trustworthy.

· Hamlet runs into the room where Ophelia is and grabs her and then leaves the room. He is trying to make Ophelia think that he is crazy. He knows that Polonius is her father and Polonius is very close to Claudius so he planned this accordingly. He can get away with more if everyone thinks he is crazy especially the King. So he thinks that through Ophelia he can accomplish this task.

· P.115-117 includes an important monologue that should be read carefully.

Well that’s about all we did today. Donuts Wednesday!

Ponder this...

2007-11-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, sorry if this is kind of late, but here is the question that the presenters would like to ask you. I believe that Mrs. Smith would also like you to respond to this but let me confirm that...yep, that is correct.

After reading Act I and seeing all the emotions that Hamlet has experienced and all of the events that have occurred, why do you think that Hamlet didn't instantly rush off to revenge his father? What was holding him back?

Scribe for November 9th, 2007

2007-11-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hello class! This is what happened on Friday, November 09, 2007.

HOMEWORK: Respond to blog question (except for presenters), continue conversation about Act I, take-home quiz, semester project.

Ms. Smith made a comment about bringing your own laptops to school because they have wireless now! If you don’t have one, then ask your parents for one this Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.

We turned in our big purple books (for people who hadn’t yet).
We also got our take-home quizzes.

This was our first Hamlet fishbowl day.

The inside circle had presenters (Brooks, Joe, Sam, Michael, Kyle), discussers (Jackie, Leigh, Weems, Steven) with three open seats.
The outside circle got laptops and live-blogged. (You can see it below. :] )
You had to make five comments (relevant and insightful, not stupid). If you didn’t want to blog, then you had to participate in the fishbowl in the open seats.

Some topics discussed in the inside circle:

Questions anyone had about the reading
Major events that happened through out the act
How the ghost could be foreshadowing events to come
Will Hamlet tell anyone about the ghost?
Elements of a tragic hero (Hamlet is past the innocence stage and now entering initiation, chaos is bound to happen or already happened. Could the stages be in different order for Hamlet?)
Comparison between Denmark’s problems and Hamlet’s
Hamlet’s revenge for his father (What does it mean? Why does he have to do it?)
Catholic/Christian themes in Hamlet
Claudius and Gertrude’s marriage (How does Hamlet feel about it?)
Possible reasons for Claudius killing the king
Predictions on what will happen in Act 2

That's it! HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Hamlet Act 1 Fishbowl

2007-11-09T07:48:00.001-07:00

Scribe for November 2nd

2007-11-03T18:13:00.000-06:00

Hey there again,
-Today we started class off by Collecting our locker tags that we did with our groups
- Next we turned in our big purple books so make sure to get that in so you don't have to carry it around.
- We also read Act 1 scene 1 and scene 2 in Hamlet so make sure to get caught up on that.
- Were starting a new thing where we posts questions on the Scribe blog for the day.
- Make sure your signed up for a day to present AND discuss during the fishbowls.
- The Hw. is to work on your semester project with your group, plan for the days you are either a discusser or a presenter during the fishbowl.
- That about does it for todays scribe have a good weekend everyone.

Scribe October 31

2007-11-01T10:45:00.000-06:00

Not much to report
Mrs. Ritzdorf was our sub
We had to write an in-class essay that discussed four elements of the middle ages that are found in Canterbury Tales.
If you were absent make sure that you set up a time with Mrs. Smith to take the test.

Scribe for Monday, October 29, 2007

2007-10-30T13:42:00.000-06:00

Hello Class! I realize that I am posting this blog a day too late and I sincerely apologize to those of you responsible people who tried to look up the scribe for yesterday, Monday the 29th, because here it is on Tuesday, the 30th.

HOMEWORK: Locker Tag (tag with a long "A"), Hamlet books (buy your own if you want to), and of course, the Final Project.

So moving on.... At the beginning of class on monday, we all voiced our frustration of the fact that it is not a wednesday, therefor we had no doughnuts to soothe the roaring of our hungry stomachs. It was a little annoying, but we look forward to the doughnuts on Wednesday.

Ms. Smith then started off class with the explanation of our Fischbowl projects we will be presenting for our Hamlet unit, which will cover the rest of our first semester in English Lit. The requirements of the Fischbowl include but are not limited to...

Find Critical Analysis of text
List of in depth/though provoking questions over section
Everyone in the group participates
Typed Syllabus
College-Level prep class = college-level discussion
NO STUPID QUESTIONS
We should be learning Hamlet better through each discussion
Presenters need to post a blog question after class that everyone in the outer circle will answer by the next class period
5 leaders, 5 discussers, 2 open chairs, while the outer circle live blogs
The Hamlet blog will be featured on this blog page
The only way for discussers to earn points for the day is by participating in the "inner circle" discussion

After the cryteria for the Fischbowl was presented, we then signed up for a specified date to present and discuss (seperate days with different people).

The Sign-up list included:

Act 1 - Nov. 9

Presenters: Brooks, Joe, Michael M, Kyle B, Sam T
Discussers: Jackie, Soo

Act 2 - Nov. 16
Presenters: Soo, Emily L, Jackie, Ryan F, Leigh
Discussers: Brooks, Allie, Emilie, Sam T, Dan
Act 3 - Nov. 26
Presenters: Weems, Iain, Steven D, Dan, Jake
Discussers: Joe R, Emily L, Shaina, Rebecca R, Karm
Act 4 - Dec. 3
Presenters: Shaina, Allie, Emilie, Emily H, Charlie P
Discussers: Melinda, Sam E, Kacey, Ashley B
Act 5 - Dec. 12
Presenters: Melinda, Sam E, Ashley B, Kacey, Courtney
Discussers: Ryan B, Leigh, Ryan F
Act 6 - Dec. 14
Presenters: Rebecca R, Karm, Ryan B
Discussers: Kyle B, Courtney

We then checked out Hamlet books (it was pretty exciting to say the least).

After sign-up we had the option of working on our Canterbury Tales Locker Tags (which are due on friday), or our final semester (grade-less) projects for the rest of the hour.

Again, I apologize for the late scribe, but better late than never! See you all tomorrow in class!

Scribe for October 24, 2007

2007-10-24T20:19:00.000-06:00

Hello class, here is what happened this lovely day in Ms. Smith's 4th Hour English World Lit class:

I. New Seats
A. Everyone decided that Smith's computer generated seating chart was not suitable and we picked our own new seats.
1. Brooks obviously sits by Joe and Weems obviously sits by Iain.
II. Shaina entered with hands full of Krispy Kreme donuts
III. Homework
A. Locker Tag Assignment
B. Comment on blogs
1. Our own class blog about the final if you haven’t done so
2. www.learningandlaptops.blogspot.com comment about the conferences
3. Have your parents create a blogger account to comment on the conference blog on learning and laptops as well
a) example parent blogger account: BrooksKmom
IV. Circle wagons to read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
A. The Merchant
1. The merchant is a conman and an expert at exchanges
2. He looks put together and quite well off but is really in a lot of debt
B. The Oxford Cleric
1. Spends all of his money on learning
2. No preferment in the church
3. “Borrows” money from his friends for books but pays them back only with a thank you or teaching
4. Concern and want for educations shows rise in middle class
C. Sergeant at the Law
1. Older and quite educated in line of business
2. Appears busy but is really just creating busy work to look occupied
3. Always gives black and white answers to questions of law
4. Hold a lot of power, people come to him for answers
5. Line of business has arisen with the emergence of the middle class because he needs to settle the disputes among the new landowners
D. The Franklin
1. Well-to-do landowner
2. Part of the government, holds power
3. Wealthy
4. Lives to please himself and his guests
a) Always has food and wine that are the best of the best
5. A view of what the middle class wants to emerge into
E. Townspeople
1. Their wives are making them call them “Madame”

F. Cook
1. Makes amazing food
2. Gross nasty open sore on knee
G. Skipper
1. From the rough and tough town of Dartmouth
2. Like a pirate
3. Used to traveling of the sea but is now having to awkwardly ride a horse on this pilgrimage
H. Doctor
1. Very well educated about medicine
2. In it for the money
3. Has a deal to split profits with the apothecaries
4. Health freak that won’t eat anything unless it is completely beneficial to his body and health
I. Woman from Bath
1. Represents women gaining power, wealth, and land
2. Gap teeth is a symbol for being bold for love
3. 5 husbands, married them all in the church
4. Religious but a little hypocritical about it
5. Pompous
J. Parson
1. Strong church and society leader
2. Does what he says people should to in his preaching
3. Believes that everyone is good and will end up in Heaven unless they are stubborn in not believing in the Christian way
4. Nothing bad to say about him
5. Represents commandments and the values of the society
K. Plowman
1. Good citizen
2. Doing work simply so that he can help out, doesn’t want pay
3. Parson’s brother
V. With the remainder of class we met BREIFLY with our locker tag groups

Scribe - October 22, 2007

2007-10-22T16:39:00.000-06:00

Homework:

-Begin prologue, read 101-112 up to the Friar
-Locker Tag assignment is due November 2
-Canterbury essay question is to apply 4 elements of the Middle Ages to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (test October 29)

What we did in class:

-Went over Locker Tag assignment and rubric
-Got into groups for the Locker Tag assignment
-Read pages 101-112 in the English Literature book

Things we discussed on the reading:

-It was translated from middle English to modern English by Neville Coghill
-Christianity was moving away from the government because of the death of Saint Thomas a Becket
-Chivalry, battle, and religion were major parts of life in the Middle Ages
-There was a Feudal system/structure that locked people into castes (like father like son)
-The author shows how the church has become corrupt through the selfishness of the friar, monk, and nun (they spend the money collected from people)

scribe- Oct. 17 2007

2007-10-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

Today is Wednesday 10.17.07
Today we had a very shortened day because juniors all had to take the PSAT! yay

Our Homework:
~React to blog posting about final project!!!
~Turn in the reality check letter to Ms. Smith, if not already done
~Bring our big book on Monday
~Enjoy the super long weekend

Here is what we did in class:
~We discussed parent teacher conferences, how they revolve around what you learn not just grades
~Our assignments for the oh say 20 minutes were
-reflection including:
^asses what you have learned so far in class
^where do you want to be at the end of the semester?
^How will you get there?
^How can Ms. Smith help?
^message to your parents
-Reality Check/Was Up? 411 haha
^ write a little letter or note to Ms. Smith telling her
how life is going for ya
~ We spent the whole time working on those 2 assignments and eating doughnuts.
~Last we turned in our projects and Ms. Smith posted them on the wall
~Thats all for our day! woo hoo 4 day weekend

2007-10-15T20:00:00.000-06:00

Monday, October 15, 2007

HOMEWORK: Leave comments about how you feel about the final (worries, concerns, likes, dislikes....), Modern Pilgrimage Projects are due on Wednesday.

Hello English Lit Class! Today, Ms. Smith told us about how much she loved her $90 t-shirt, and that she signed up for a new marathon scheduled to take place in January. We turned in our college scholarships, and then moved on to more serious stuff... our final.
Here's what the outline looked like:

Final Project: What is a hero?

Multi-media
-- Photo story, movie maker…
Group project
-- 4-5 maximum
-- Everyone participates significantly-veto power
Individual reflection of contributions
-- Self reflection
-- Peer evaluation
Modern examples
OED Definition as a part
-- Portfolio
-- Document comprising all work
-- Include OED written definition
-- Overview summing up all ideas into one
-- Organized
-- Creative
10 minute presentation
-- Clear and smooth transitions
-- Organized
-- Answers essential question
-- Goes beyond the expectations
Synthesize all text covered in semester
Personal commentary
-- React to what you have learned about a hero
-- Give feedback through modern day heroes
-- React to the evolution of the hero

Point Value:
No grade-intrinsic motivation

Group One: Sam T.
Group Two: Courtney W
Group Three: Brooks, Joe, Bob, and Michael
Group Four: Leigh, Ryan B, Ryan F
Group Five: Jackie, Emily L. Rebecca, Soo
Group Six: Charlie, Emily H, Allie, Emilie D.
Group Seven: Matt, Ian, Steven, Dan, Jacob
Group Eight: Samantha, Melinda, Ashley, KC

After we discussed and got into groups, we had the rest of the hour to work on our modern pilgrimage projects. They are bound to be funny.

Also, a freshman opened the door, walked into our classroom, looked around, said, "This is not my class," and walked out. It was entertaining.

HOMEWORK: Leave comments about how you feel about the final (worries, concerns, likes, dislikes....), Modern Pilgrimage Projects are due on Wednesday.

School on Wednesday starts at 11:00 for everyone except for the juniors. Poor kids.

Hasta luego

Emily

Scribe- October 12, 2007

2007-10-14T15:02:00.000-06:00

I would like to thank Leigh for the donuts- they were good like usual.

Homework:
College Scholarships!!- Due Monday, October 15th
Modern Pilgrimage Projects- Due Wednesday, October 17th

In-class Work:
Today we divided into our groups for the Modern Pilgrimage projects.
-The different groups include:
-Airports
-Oversea Flights
-Baseball Games
-Vail
-The Beach
-Disney World
-School
We created lists of the different kind of people we see at each of these places and brainstormed for the project.
We have to draw ONE kind of individual for the project and list qualities and characteristics of four more.

Friday was a pretty slow day and very relaxed.

Hope this helps answers any questions,

--Joe

Scribe october 10th, 2007

2007-10-11T17:51:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! so today we had a late start day, We talked briefly about the dodgeball tournament and the classes great enthusiasm.
- We started off by talking about how to work Google docs for our final project that well make the rubric for next week, to get on Google doc you use www.docs.google.com and the best part is that it's free!!!
- For the rest of the hour we read background information on the Canterbury Tales pg. 75-88, 99-104 we took some notes on these pages but mainly just talked as a class about them
-You need to know the four centuries of change on page. 82.
-we got a purple packet on Canterbury tales that helps us see the class pyramid in Britain, the 7 cardinal virtues, 7 deadly sins and so much more make sure you get this!!!
- We also talked about our modern day pilgrimage project that were going to start on friday and we also get monday yo work on this. It's groups of 3-4 and it due on wed the the 17th. we also got a hand out on the guide lines of this project.
-Don't forget the college scholarship project is due Monday.
-Oh and Lee didn't bring donuts!!!

I hope this was helpful, Jake

Scribe for Friday, October 5th

2007-10-07T12:51:00.000-06:00

Ms. Smith started out class with the exhilarating story about her painful ovarian cist, which prevented her from running for several aggravating days and caused her to miss class on Wednesday.

Next we went over the homework, which is to prepare a note card for the Beowulf test on Monday. The test will be two in-class essays on relating Beowulf to the Anglo-Saxon culture and whether or not he fits the four stages of a hero. These stages are still available on Ms. Smith’s website. Remember that the note card should be concise, with a few points and an outline. The college scholarships are due October 15, and the Modern Pilgrimage Project will be due October 17.

We will be starting the Middle Ages unit on Wednesday.

Then we….

1. Circled the wagon

2. Went over cantos 12 and 13 (this was our homework from Wednesday)

3. Finished reading Beowulf together as a class

4. Discussed these last cantos

5. Went over the four stages of a hero

· We all gave examples for each stage and whether or not Beowulf follows them (this is what one of the test questions will be)

6. Anglo-Saxon recap

· Does Beowulf represent this culture?

· Remember for your essay… women, animism, Celtic aspects, oral tradition/poetry, Herot hall (gathering place), loyalty gained through leadership, and of course Christianity.

Obviously this was a very exciting conclusion to the Beowulf unit. Good look to all of you on your test on Monday.

Scribe-Wednesday Oct. 3rd

2007-10-03T20:46:00.000-06:00

Michael brought donuts today. They tasted great.

Homework

read Cantos 12-13 of Beowulf for Friday
Focus on essay questions while reading Beowulf
Scholarships due 10/15
If you have not already, set up a conference with Mrs. Smith about your college essay.
Scribe

Lesson Plan
We had a substitute today so the quiz turned into a group quiz. We got into groups of three people and took out one sheet of paper for the group. The quiz was over Beowulf cantos 1-11. The quizzes were then graded by other groups in the class after you switched papers. After that was time for the students to get reading done in Beowulf. We are supposed to read cantos 12-13 for Friday focusing on the essay questions that we will do at the end of the reading. They involve how this story relates to Anglo-Saxon culture as well as how Beowulf fits the 4 stages of a journey for a hero.

Scribe For Monday October 1st

2007-10-01T19:46:00.000-06:00

Homework:
College scholarships (Due 10/15)
Test-Beowulf 2 in class essay questions (10/8)
Quiz over Beowulf 1-11 (Wednesday)

Notes on Beowulf 1-7
1. Good vs. evil, Christianity replacing Celtic religion by creation of the world, Grendel comes from hell on earth, spawned in slime( evil, monster) born of jealousy
2. Gathering in hall/herot same as Anglo Saxon, Grendel=Shadow of death which is a kenning-combination of words to describe something
3. Beowulf- stronger and greater than anyone anywhere in the world
4. Leaves weapons behind- Hrothgar is cautious, Beowulf shows good leadership beginning at 134, God must decide who will be given to death's cold grip-Fate in hands of god
6. Unferth's challenge: Questioning of Beowulf, god is doing things that were unaware of
7. Gold ring queen (kenning) Beowulf puts Ecglaf in his place which makes Hrothgar realize his power

Good Evil
Creation Spawn of slime
Gathering at Herot Grendel
Hrothgar's throne Cain-jealousy
Protected by god Hell on earth
God above king
Beowulf

Anglo
Gathering at hall
influence of Christianity
God protects Hrothgar's throne
Sacrificed to old stone
Loyalty- repayment for deeds

Epic Hero
Larger than life figure from a history of legend, participates in cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey, returns home significantly transformed by his journey, recurring charaters in the legends of their native culture

Hey! Scribe of the day

2007-09-28T20:16:00.000-06:00

Friday September 28, 2007
· Today we were without Smith (because she was at a pumpkin patch or something…), but we were taken good care of, by Mrs. Ritzdorf.

· At first, there was some confusion whether or not we were starting or finishing Beowulf. I guess the teacher was looking at the plan for next Friday, but all was ok because we in fact had not read any of the story, so we began reading Beowulf.
· We “circled our wagons,” but for some reason it was not the same as it is, without Mrs. Smith but we were able to move on.
· We read from pages 21-32 up to canto 8.
· While reading we kept in mind the questions:
o How does Beowulf fit the Journey of a Hero? (Innocence, chaos etc…)
o How Beowulf connects with the Anglo-Saxon history
· We compared an Epic Hero from a Tragic hero, learning that:
o An Epic hero fights a physical monster or life-form
o A Tragic hero fights internally with him/herself
· Major characters introduced were
o Grendel
o Hrothgar
o Unferth
o Beowulf
· Basically, the story needs to defeat a monster, and Beowulf comes and explains that he can do it, very boastful, saying he can do it without a weapon, is not afraid of danger and explains that he has defeated a monster in his past.

· Our Homework:

o College Scholarships due 10/15
o Our test over Beowulf Monday 10/8
o We have a quiz over cantos 1-11 next Wednesday
Thanks!
-Michael

Scribe- September 26, 2007

2007-09-26T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today I thought would be a easy day to scribe because of the shortened class period but I was proven wrong. I would like to thank Karm and Rebecca for the donuts- they were very good.

Homework:
• Final Essay conference due tomorrow or by early next week
• College scholarships due October 15th
• Begin reading Beowulf on Friday

We addressed questions regarding Beowulf that should be kept in mind while we read the story.
a. How does Beowulf connect with Anglo-Saxon history? What are some specific examples to prove he fits with this era?
b. How does Beowulf fit the journey of a hero? Innocence, initiation, chaos, resolution

We had an in class project in which we had to create posters of Anglo- Saxon history. We divided into groups and created posters of 3-4 helpful points to keep in mind while reading Beowulf. These will provide good information for notes as well.
The group topics included:
1. The Celtic Hero’s and Heroine’s:
• Celtic religion was based around animism (spirits everywhere controlled all aspects of life).
• Celtic Legends: Full of women and stories full of magic, animals, love affairs, and adventures.
• Celtic Mythology: influenced writers for centuries
• “Celtic myths take you to enchanted lands where magic and imagination rule”
2. Anglo- Saxon Life: The Warm Hall, the Cold World
• Not barbarians, but usually depicted that way
• More interested in warfare and not in learning the arts
• Responsibility is most important in leadership
• Followers received fame, success, and riches through loyalty to their leader
• Ex: Beowulf earned his fame by defeating the monsters trying to kill his leader, King Hrothger.
• Important that they lived in a closely built community
• Created security, close relationships between leader and followers, helped with community discussions and rule by consensus
3.The Bards:
• The Anglo- Saxon communal hall was a place for shelter and art.
• They sang about the gods and heroes
• The “non- Christians” used poetry to allow heroes to love on after death
4.Women in Anglo- Saxon Culture:
• Women were granted rights curtailed in 1066
• Inherited and held property even when married
• Joined and highly involved in religious gatherings- often obtained power in Abbies
• Implemented various forms of educational aides/learning centers
5. Anglo- Saxon Religion: gods for warriors
• Odin was god of death, poetry and magic--- polytheistic
• Days of the week still bear names of Anglo- Saxon gods.
• Ex: Thors day= Thursday and Wodens day= Wednesday
• The dragon was a significant figure in mythology
• ----Treasure guardian and bringer of death and destruction

After we finished making the posters we discussed the meaning of each and then moved to modern day heroes. We compiled lists of our heroes and the qualities hero’s posses.
Our hero list included:
• American soldiers
• Oprah
• Firefighters and policemen
• Our families, including our parents, siblings and legal guardians
• Surgeon’s and physicians, including my uncle
• Teachers- Mr. Trotter, Mr. Hatak, Mr. Wallace, and Ms. Durow
• Best friends and girlfriends and boyfriends
And our list of qualities of a hero included:
• Brave
• Driven
• Loyal
• Kindness
• Respectful
• Trustworthy
• Tolerant
• Disciplined
• Do what is right
• Empathy
• Supportive
• Intellectual
• Experienced
• Love what they do
• Devoted
• Humble
• Go out of their way

Sorry Beowulf isn't underlined or italicized for some reason my computer won't let me.
Anyways enjoy,

-Joe

Scribe September 24, 2007

2007-09-24T14:44:00.000-06:00

In class today many things happened, this is just an overview:
- Look at samples of final project, how do we combine the two ideas?
- Check out the big books ( if you don’t already have one)
- Read pg. 2-19 (in the big book) and take notes
- Homework:
o Complete writing conference (THIS MUST BE DONE BY FRIDAY)
o Finish the reading from class and take notes, THERE COULD BE A QUIZ ON THE READING ON WEDNESDAY IF THERE IS NO DISCUSSION.
o Post a comment on www.learningandlaptops.blogspot.com under the category google groups. This is about posting our college essays online. If it doesn’t work here are some helpful hints: First sign in before trying to post, then write your comment and watch for it to post, if it does not appear on the screen push the F5 button to refresh it.

When discussing the final project the main question asked was how to combine the idea of a time magazine article and the OED entry and how to present that. Some decisions were made it must meet there standards…
- Discuss the historical periods attributes
- Relate literature to modern times
- Define hero through the journey
- Must be comprehensive
- Work in groups
- Multimedia with writing
- Creativity
- Modern examples
- Use all pieces of Literature
- OED definition
- Documentary: What is a hero? (this is a possible style of project)
- Possible the using the OED entry as an introduction to the rest of the project
- Multimedia: Condensed OED entry
Movie clips to expand definition
- Definition in magazine
She is offering a time to conference on your groups idea before the project is due to let you know if it is a good idea etc..

We will be waiting to make the rubric (as a class) until we have read more of the works.

Also in class today we were told what the test for Beowulf. It will be an in-class essay on the following questions:
1. Relate Beowulf to the 4 stages of a hero (from the power point on her web page)
2. How does Beowulf fit the Anglo-Saxon time period?
a. Ex. If there a dominate woman? Is faith present?
One note card total will be allowed.

Thank you!! Enjoy!

September 21, 2007

2007-09-21T19:38:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone!

Scribe today..

1.I will start off by saying that the students who have not made an appointment yet with Mrs. Smith about the writing conference need to do that ASAP because it is due by 9/27. Also the students who already made an appointment; Don't froget your meeting time and be on time.
Mrs.Smith off hours are- MWF;1,6/TH;1,4,6(at the study center) So make sure you sign up.

2.Class started off today by Mrs. Smith telling the class about copying off the Beo Wolf story on the book that all of us got today. It will be alot easier for us that way because then we don't have to keep carrying the big huge purple book around.

3.Joe, Brooks and Michael were kind enough to hand out the Element of literature book to everybody in class which was really nice. Thank you guys. :)

4.Everybody got a chance to do their presentation today. The first group to present was Becka, Shanon, Sue and Shawn. They did Scene II, Ode III. They chose the View for their skit and the table was their significant prop.
The second group to present was Sam, Steven, Matthew, Ian and Dan. Sam played Jocasta which was pretty interesting, Steven played Oedipus, Matthew played Creon, Ian played the chorus leader and Dan played the Messenger. They did a stereotype of highschool. And I belive the Altar of the Monkey was their significant prop. They did the Scene II, Ode II.
The third group to present was Joe, Brooks, Michael, Kyle and Jacob. Brooks played as the driver/sphinx, Kyle played as King Laius, Joe played Oedipus the king, Michael played as the drunk, and Jacob played Jocasta. And this all took place in London by the way. :) The crown was their significant prop. And correct me if Im wrong but I think the scene they did was Prequil Part II..?!!
The fourth group to present was Emily D., Aly, Charlie and Emily H. Emily D. played as the news man, Aly and Emily H. played as the girls walking in the street,Charlie played Oedipus the homeless. They performed in class and the sign that Charlie (Oedipus) was holding was their significant prop.
The fifth group to present in class was Jackie, Ryan, Leigh, and Jack. Jackie played as the prophet and Merope, Ryan played as Polybus, Leigh played as the Messenger and Jocasta, Jack played as King Laius. They modernized their play. The baby and the trashcan was their significant prop. And the scene they did was Prequil Part II.

Everybody's presentation was awesome! Good job working together as groups and also Good job for the effort that everybody put in the presentations.

5.Mrs.Smith was talking about her interesting idea about our final for the end of the first semester. The idea was to pick our own groups and create a definition of a hero. And she also wants us to get ideas from the books we've read and are going to read to help us with this final. Mrs.Smith also wants us to use OED (Oxford English Dictionary) because it has some great definition of a hero. Mrs.Smith also wants us to start checking out that website to just get a feel of what we might do and to just gather information to get started.! So if you have any more questions ask Mrs.Smith or feel free to blog and ask me.! :)

PS. Our Hw. for Monday is- Writing Conference, Read 2-19, 47 and take notes, scribe and check out big books.

That's all for today..
Have a great weekend everyone! :)

2007-09-19T21:40:00.000-06:00

WEDNESDAY THE 19TH OF SEPTEMBER
It's a great day to be a Warrior

Hello class! As you read in the scribe from Monday, Ms. Smith was not here (and it was sad), and we looked for scholarships for our project that is due MONDAY OCTOBER 15 (which also happens to be the other day I'm scribing)

HOMEWORK: FINISH OEDIPUS PROJECTS. MAKE THEM A+ PRESENTATIONS. EVERYONE IS PRESENTING THIS FRIDAY. Sign up for a conference to grade your college essay with Ms. Smith by Sept. 27. Work on your scholarship search and applications.

I'll try out the bulleted list for what we did today...

We ate delicious donuts that Jacob and Steven brought. Thank you, gentlemen.
We turned in our Oedipus is a Hero essay tests
We got out laptops to follow along with Mrs. Lewallen as we searched for scholarships
Mrs. Lewallen left and we had the rest of the hour to look around on our own

Here is what we learned about scholarships:

Fastweb has tons of scholarships, but everyone who has a Fastweb account is also competing for them, which means you have to fight about one thousand other people for the money, which can be difficult, so instead we went to...
Naviance (AHS page - For Students - link on the left side of page) has a list of scholarships that are local (which means that they will be a teeny bit easier to get)
If you don't have a Naviance account, you need to go set one up in the Post-Grad Center
Go to Scholarship List under About College, and you will find a list of scholarships that are marked for if they are need or merit based, if they require an essay, and if community service is needed to apply. It is a rather fantastic thing that saves a lot of time.
Most of the scholarships have online applications, but if you need one, you can get one for any of the scholarships listed from the Post-Grad Center. Additionally, when you click on a scholarship, the description page usually has a link to the actual web page and/or a contact address. USE THE CONTACT ADDRESS! They are useful.
The Peak Achievement scholarship we looked at was for Univ. of Wyoming, but Mrs. Lewallen didn't really like that one... A scholarship she did like, though, was the Student Integrity scholarship. It's local, and the website has a very extensive list of contact information.
"Be aggressive when you apply for scholarships". Just do it.

Other resources you can use to find scholarships can be found if you go to AHS page, Guidance Center, Post-Grad Center, and then World Wide Web Resources. It has a long list of sites you can use.

If you weren't here today, you are lucky, because the laptops were being... unhelpful to at least 6 people today. I went through five before I found one that had enough battery, agreed to let me log on, and didn't have a screen that had been flipped upside down. Other people had some issues with the internet connection (even though signal strength was supposedly high) and battery levels...

Don't forget, this Friday we are presenting our Oedipus projects instead of doing the test because, of course, we have all already done it. Please make them good. We have no excuse for a bad one, because we got four extra days to work on it, and plus, we owe it to Ms. Smith for even giving us those days.

Blog me if you have any questions! emilyl :>

Scribe For Monday September 17th

2007-09-17T20:43:00.000-06:00

To begin class Ms. Smith gave us two options to vote on which were about our modernized plays. The option which the majority of the class voted on was to work on our plays during class and then perform them on Friday, and get our essay question which we would take home and write and bring on Wensday.

Essay question: How does Oedipus fit the definition of a hero? Using the stages of the journey to explain. You can find the power point on Smith's web page titled hero. You should inclued a paragraph for eath stage, and your paper should be no more than three pages long. Once again the essay is due Wensday.

College Essays: Ms. Smith was having difficulties grading our essay's and as a class we decided that we would sign up for a conference by September 27th so that you could discuss your grade and learn what you did well and what you good improve on.

Wensday: Ms. Smith will not be at school. We will be looking up scholarships online, we must research and apply to 5 scholarships by October 15th. Also, you must print off application and what you sent in to turn in.

We were then given time to meet with our groups and polish our performances and at the end of class we watched one perfomance

Scribe For Friday, September 14th

2007-09-15T18:46:00.000-06:00

Scribe For Friday, September 14th
Hello everyone! Today was a shortened class because of the homecoming pep assembly. However, in class we finished reading Oedipus. He finally discovered the horrible truth and reacted by stabbing out his eyes and talking to the people of Thebes. There was a class discussion in which many comments were made about why he did this. He was a very loyal leader to Thebes and it is thought that he still needed to be honest with his people. We also had a discussion about homecoming. Hopefully everyone has a fun and SAFE time. The skits for Oedipus are due on Monday and will be preformed in class, so make sure to bring all props and be prepared; which might mean you have to get together after your long night of getting down on the dance floor. Ha Ha. Have fun everyone!

The Superb Scribe! Wednesday 9/12/2007

2007-09-12T16:50:00.000-06:00

Hello all! So this is the scribe for today, September 12, 2007! Enjoy.

The class period started out today with a brief absence of Smith, in which we pondered as to her whereabouts. Our worst fears were cleared however, when she returned to tell us just how frustrated she was at homecoming week, because events such as Prom and Homecoming, are in fact called extra-curricular activities for a reason. She pointed out that we attend school for a reason, sometimes referred to as "learning", and therefor should not focus our energy on these other activities. (We'll be hearing the so dubbed "Homecoming Speech" in it's entirety on Friday).
We then discussed the whereabouts of our 3 missing students, Ali, Leigh, and Steven, and came to the conclusion that Leigh was just MIA, Steven's at Virginia Tech, and Ali is either getting her appendix removed or she's just clumsy.
Miss Emily then asked about the online college essays because her essay has no comments on it. Smith had the brilliant idea of listing on the scribe the titles of the essays that need comments on them. So, here are the lists of essays that need some constructive comments:

Smith 21 - "My Crossroads in Life - College Essay"
Smith 13 - "Goals for Life"
Smith 11 - "Search for Identity"
Smith 2 - "Who I am"
Smith 7
Smith 23 - "Christ Follower"
"Second Chance"
Smith 26? - "Who am I?"

The class then voted on what we would be accomplishing in class for the day and then on Friday. The following options were voted on:

A: To finish reading Oedipus in class and work in our groups on Friday

B: To split the days into part reading, and part group work

C: (Brooks' choice) To finish reading Oedipus outside of class, and work in groups for the entirety of both class periods

D: (Sam's brilliant idea) To work in groups today and to read on Friday

We decided democratically by majority vote on option "D", and therefor will be reading Oedipus in class on Friday.

A little something about Smith: She's a passionate fan of the Television series "Seinfeld"

I hope you all enjoyed my scribing, and if anyone has any questions, just post and I'll try to answer any question to the best of my abilities. Thanks!

Hello from scribe!!

2007-09-12T11:53:00.001-06:00

Hello from the scribe
Hello to all who were abscent on Monday, Sep.10,2007. Or hello to those who just wanted to read my blog.So today was a pretty easy day. Today, we started the period of with Ms. Smith having to eat her pop tart. I guess it was yummy, since she HAD to eat it. Then we talked about our homework.- Homework
comment on other people's essay not in Ms. Smith's class. You need to have 5 comments by Wed.. If you make the comments too long, it will cut you off , so make it short but constructive and make suggestions.
Your final college essay is due this Friday. Make sure it is clean cut and spankalicious. If you want to get a really good grade, Mrs. Smith loves anything with chocolate and peanut butter combined, keep that in mind.Important Dates:
9/15: Final college essay is due.
9/17: The performances for modernizing scenes in Oedipus due.
9/19: Learn about college scholarships; if you want to get ahead, look at the scholarships your college offers.
9/22: The Oedipus test: in class essay, we will get the question we will be anwswering on Wed.
Now back to what we did. after we talked about the homework then the important dates, we then got a hand out about modernizing scenes in Oedipus. We then got into groups for about 5 mins., picked the scene we were doing and seeing when we could meet. Mrs. Smith wants these scenes proffesional, funny, and performed with excellence. You can either act it out in class or video tape it and show that to the class. if you are using any form of technology, it is your responsibillity to make sure it works before Monday. There are no excuses of why you can't go on Moday so BE PREPARED. If you weren't here today, you will need to pick up the packet and see what group you are in and any other things you will need to know. We will have time in class both Wed. and Fri. to work on it, so use yoru time wisely becuase you know that homecoming is this weekend.
Lastly, we began reading Oedipus. We started on page 48 and ended on page 62. We really didn't discuss that much about the book. Mrs. Smith did bring up the question, "Does Oedipus truelly see?" She said this because he really does not see what is right in front of him. That is a wrap on this blog, thank you and good night.
Mrs. Smith's joke:
Knock Knock?
Who's there?
An interupting cow.
An interupting cow who?
MOOOOOO!
At least I think that is the joke you told Mrs. Smith.
Posted by karmk at 8:47 PM

2007-09-07T14:34:00.000-06:00

Today: Friday, September 07, 2007

Homework for the weekend: scribe (which is me), work on final essay (due next Friday, must conference before next Friday), make sure you’re signed up for a conference, post essay online.

Today wasn’t too eventful; it went a little like this:

We came to conclude that next week is going to be bomb (more like jacked, according to Smith). We’re going to have our Homecoming assembly Monday, PLC late start on Wednesday, and the Pep Assembly Friday. Wahoo!

Mrs. Smith continued to pass around the conference sign up, if you haven’t signed up by now, I’m thinking that you should probably get on that.

We then took out the laptops so we could post our essays online and did musical chairs (peer editing style) and peer edited other essays on each computer.

Also, Mrs. Smith posted next week’s schedule for all of you type A students out there.

So, that’s really all we did today, I would double check and look at what Mrs. Smith posted as to what we did today on her powerpoints on her teacher webpage, just incase I missed anything. Everyone…have a good weekend.

September 5, 2007

2007-09-05T17:51:00.000-06:00

I. English World Literature
A. Introduction
1. Hope you like the concise format
2. Any questions, post them and I will answer to the best of my ability
3. Today was a great day to learn and Momma Smith was ready for it too.

B. Donuts
1. Lamar's Donuts distributed by Bobkowski, our hockey stud, and they were enormous donuts.
2. Ate in front of classroom away from laptops.
3. Wiped down with cleansing wipes to take glaze off our typing fingers, which later on would type upon the laptop keyboard.

C. College Essay
1. Go To Smith's Web Page, click on College Essay Link, sign in with Blogger account
-Blogger is owned by Google, Smith has hypothesized that Google will rule our world someday.
2. When signing in, you will be asked for a nickname. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME! Youwill put "Smith#" (Your number corresponds with assigned numbers, if you need it talk to Momma Smith).
3. Once signed in, select College Essay Tab on Right Hand side. Underneath tab, an option will appear (add new page). Select this link to insert your own college essay onto the website.
4. From here you can copy and paste your finely polished and edited college essay. ADD YOUR SMITH NICKNAME TO THE END OF YOUR TITLE, THIS IS GOING TO BE ANONYMOUS!!!
5. Once completed, publish it and you will see it appear on the entire board of essays.
6. If you have any questions, please post!!!

D. Oedipus
1. We read through page 46 (I believe), we have heard Jocasta talk of why she doesn't believe in prophecies and summarize the prophecy of her doomed child. At this point, Oedipus' knees began to tremble in fear and his heart had dropped into the pocket of his stomach where his stomach had contracted into a twist which would crush his soul. At this point, his head span and the realization that this story was true of him hit him like a golf ball crack to the back of his head (As of last week I know how he feels). He now sends for a surviving witness to return to the kingdom so he can for once and for all decipher whether he truly has cursed himself to exile and death.
2. It was way legit and was an intense scene, even if you are too lazy to read for the grade, read for the edge-o-your-seat intensity thats about to rock the blood around in your head and your heart.

E. Homework
1. Refine college essay, post online by Friday.
2. Comment on five other essays (from Davis/Gaffney's classes ONLY!!!) by next Wednesday.
3. See Ms. Smith to take the oath of constructive criticism on blogging. There are serious parameters you must take and Ms. Smith would love to hear that you solemnly swear you can withhold society's Blogger criticism values. By the way, if she is lookin' down, gloomy, or even eccentric and happy, a caramel macchiado would satisfy her crave and cheer her up.

Remember, questions or comments, please do let me know.

Brooks

2007-09-01T15:20:00.000-06:00

Friday, August 31, 2007

Hello, today in Ms. Smith’s class we….

1) Turned in college essay: Who am I?

2) Went over the homework for the weekend.

a) Select one college essay to post online for peers to comment and edit

b) DONUTS Wednesday

c) Writing conference on final essay

3) Circled up for Oedipus reading and discussion

4) Passed around Smith’s calendar to sign up for conferences

a) Must have an edited and improved copy of final college essay for the conference

b) These conferences will be the week of 9/4

5) Decided to add the insult “unholy defilement” to our vocabulary.

Oedipus Notes

v Tiresias (the blind prophet) didn’t want to tell Oedipus the truth about who the murderer is because he wouldn’t gain anything

Ø There was some serious dramatic irony action going on, which is always exciting

v Oedipus blames Tiresias for it, Tir. tells the truth, it becomes the “blame game”

v Oed. isn’t willing to listen to the gods because of pride; wants to control his own fate

v Tir. hints relationship between Oed. and Jocasta (ew)

v MOTIF OF EYES

Ø Oedipus has his sight, doesn’t see the truth

Ø Tiresias is blind, sees the truth and knows all

v Severe paranoia kicks in Oed. and he makes numerous accusations

v Townspeople are in “limbo” about what they think

v Brookes proclaimed that in real life, it is easier to accuse rather than admit

v Sam gave an example of how the truth is never easy to take

v Smart boys

The end.

I guess I'm the scribe today...

2007-08-29T23:00:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody, I'm the scribe today. I'm quite horrible at taking notes, so be nice to me if I do a better job than the previous two. I do my best. First off, I would like to take the chance to thank Jackie and Emily for bringing those wonderful circles of sugary fried dough. Thanks. They were delicious.

Scribe time

To start things off, Joe showed his new scrubs shirt to the class and made everyone, especially me, feel extremely jealous.
I have a good hockey name-whatever that means.
We handed in our essays about how our parents or others have affected us. There was some staple action going on.
Mrs. Smith told us that the third essay, "Who Am I?", is to be the hardest essay we have ever written, yet the deadline is only Friday, which, personally, seems to be a relatively short time the write the hardest essay we have ever written. But that's just my unbiased opinion.
There was the passing of the fried dough.
Just so you know, Mrs. Smith and Brooks share the job of resident expert on yogurt butter, so if you have any questions on this particular concoction, go to them and not me because it sounds rather odd.
We spent some time before reading O.K. (Oedipus the King) to discuss the different motifs and repetitive ideas of the reading assignment. Oedipus is rather cocky and self-assured and has taken the weight of the world upon his shoulders. It's a rather insightful play.
And, finally, the final production. With Brooks as Oedipus, Jackie as Creon, Leigh as Priest, Mr. Birthday Boy Sam (it was yesterday) as Chorus, and Emily as Chorus Leader, O.K. was acted out from the desks with flawless speeches and exceptional projection. Seriously, is it just me or should Brooks be on a soap or what?
Um, the bell rang, that's it.

For some reason, I couldn't remember if it was by 9 or 10 that I was supposed to post, so I decided to wait until 11:15, just to be on the safe side. Oops.

The End...WooHoo!

Today I'm The Scribe!

2007-08-27T19:58:00.000-06:00

Well, I get to be the second scribe ever in this class so I’m amazingly excited. And we got a lot done today so this should be even more entertaining. I suppose I’ll also keep up the tradition of obeying Brooks, jk, and will also do this in outline format. So, if you read this and weren’t in class, hope it’s adequate and that I cover all the bases!

1.HW: Write a college essay, the subject? “Have you been impacted by your parents? By others?” (due Wednesday), get your books (Oedipus the King) if you weren’t in class, and bring donuts on Wednesday if it’s your job.

A. We started out class by discovering that we all need to proofread our stuff before we turn it in. Apparently some of our essays we turned in lacked in that area and we need to do better next time.
B. Ms. Smith also showed us the wonders of raising our hands to voice our opinions and ask questions. She’s amazingly good at it and can even us both hands! (If only we were all so lucky)
C. We then started off the serious part of class by going over terms in the blue packets that we didn’t understand. Actually we went over pretty much all of them. We then talked about the basic necessities of a tragedy and Ms. Smith gave us a rundown of the family tree in Oedipus.
D. We then proceeded to take the quiz over the reading material…and Ms. Smith said it was so easy that we should be kicked in the butt if we didn’t get an A. Which I completely agree with. (Bye the way, Gates of Heaven is an amazing invention of hers)
E. We were then issued our books, Oedipus the King, and they’re really new so we need to make sure we take care of them.
F. We then began to read the first part of the book. We were also instructed to make sure that we noted reoccurring motifs, themes, and tragic hero qualities in Oedipus’ character.
G. Oedipus Complex: all men want to marry their mothers and kill their fathers. This really has nothing to do with anything except that it came up in class and it really messed with my head.
H. A little thing that Ms. Smith pointed out at the Greeks used the props in the scene to illustrate truths of life during that time. For example, the alter was placed at the center of the attention and the direct center of the stage. This served as a way of showing how the gods dominated Greek life and all that the gods were at the center of all they did.

Well, I hope this is an adequate Scribing and that I didn’t do too shabby of a job. See you guys Wednesday!