TKAM Unit test on Friday

This week:  3/9 to 3/13 

Timeline Review is practice for the TKAM unit test.  Finish Wed. night.
Review on Thursday.
Test on Friday 3/13.
Decide on topic for literary analysis by Monday.  Which character or theme will you be analyzing.

Next week -- 3/16 to 3/20

Monday -- write thesis; find supporting evidence and fill out organizer/outline
Tuesday --Writing workshop day. Work on rough draft of paper
Wed. -- No school today.  Come to class Thursday with a solid rough draft of paper (either typed or handwritten).
Thursday -- Writing workshop day. I will meet with individual students to answer questions and provide feedback.
Friday -- Typed rough draft due today before the dance at 1:30.

Assignment requirements:  TKAM Literary Analysis Paper

Novel Project extension ...

Novel Projects can be turned in on Monday for full credit.
Those students who finished on time or early will receive extra-credit.

Unit Test on TKAM will be at the end of the week, not on Tuesday.

Independent Novel Projects, TKAM Unit test, and Grant Forecasting

Important dates for the week of 3/2 to 3/6:

• Independent Novel Projects are due on Thursday, March 5th.
• Grant will come during 6th period for forecasting.
• Field trip to Art Museum on Friday, March 6th.
• TKAM unit test will be Tuesday, March 10th unless we have further disruptions to the schedule in the afternoons.

Homework for the weekend of Feb. 20-22:

Read To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 18, 19, & 20 for class on Monday, February 23rd:

No study questions required, but do a close reading of the chapters and come prepared to discuss these important trial scenes.

Independent novel projects may be turned in from February 23rd to March 5th.  Students are encouraged to look at their personal activity and homework schedules and plan accordingly.

How is it already mid-February?!

Sorry for the delay in blog updates.  I am late, but there was an update that I accidentally left in "edit" mode thinking I had hit "publish,"  so I am even more behind than I realized.

We have finished Part I of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Students have been doing a better and better job with class discussions and looking  back at the text a second  (or even third) time to find support for their answers.  Most of the study questions are used to guide class discussions, but from time to time I do have them write their answers down on paper. Please keep these question sheets to help review for the unit test.

Students had a lot to say about the documentary, The Murder of Emmett Till.  I was so impressed to hear students connect how their viewing of the film was similar to how the public and news media reacted to Mamie's decision to show the world what happened to her son.  Seeing the documentary, just as seeing Emmett's body,  really illustrated the dangers African Americans faced in all areas of their daily life during the Jim Crow South.

I have not been able to link the study question documents for you to download, but there are extra copies in the binder at the front of the classroom.  In the upcoming weeks, I will be incorporating some grammar and conventions lessons as well as our continued work on vocabulary.  We will also be reading and responding to some non-fiction pieces related to the time period or the novel.  All of these skills will help students be more successful on the upcoming Smarter Balanced test in April.  In March we will take a look at the Smarter Balanced practice tests and make sure that all students know the basics of how the test is formatted and what tools (dictionaries, highlighting, note taking, etc...) they will have available to them.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Six-Word Memoirs and To Kill a Mockingbird

Last week, students completed artistic representations of their individual Six Word Memoirs. They are hanging in the classroom and are truly fabulous! It is amazing how much emotion and information six words can convey.

We also started our unit on To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM).  Here is the introductory Prezi (like a Power Point only more fun) for students who were absent: http://goo.gl/Yvb4ke

Because the novel is set in the South in the 1930s, we will be examining the historical time period, including the use of racist language and the laws surrounding the Jim Crow era South during the Great Depression. The novel brings up many difficult topics, including racism, rape, lynching, and innocent people being convicted of crimes they did not commit. These are obviously intense subjects, and while I believe it is important for students to understand these aspects of history and how they relate to the novel, I will be sensitive and purposeful about how they are dealt with in class. I will also expect the students to be appropriate and mature, especially in regards to the use of racist language.

In order for students to better understand the history behind these elements of the novel, we will be discussing both the infamous Scottsboro Boys trial and the Emmett Till murder and subsequent trial -- both of which Harper Lee used as a basis for the events in the novel and the trial of Tom Robinson.  If you or your student is uncomfortable with viewing the 2003 PBS documentary The Murder of Emmett Till, please let me know and I will find an alternative placement for him/her during the video. For more information, please follow this link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/

EXTRA-CREDIT OPTION for either 2nd or 3rd quarter:
Right now the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (http://www.ojm.org/) is hosting a museum quality exhibit from the Anne Frank Center in New York. The exhibit runs from January 15th to April 14, 2015.  Most Sundays at 1pm, the museum hosts a public tour followed by a talk at 2:30 from a member of the museum's Holocaust Speakers Forum. Be sure to check the website, as I noticed that this Sunday, January 25th, there is not a guided tour available. As part of the exhibit, there is an excellent short film entitled, The Short Life of Anne Frank. In order to receive extra-credit, students need to type a half-page to a page describing what they learned, include the date and time they attended, and have a parent or guardian sign the paper.  

I considered a possible field trip. but after attending the Open House for Educators, I decided that due to the small space and the large amount of text, it would be better experienced in small family or friend groups.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at: lhermes@pps.net.

Happy 2015!

Welcome back!  I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing winter break! 

This week we are working on "Six-Word Memoirs" (http://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/schools/). Legend has it that when Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a six-word story, he came up with, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."  It is amazing how much six words can convey.  Students came up with a wide variety of potential backstories for these six words.  

Today we looked at Six-Word Memoirs written by students, mostly teens, from all over the US. Crafting Six-Word Memoirs forces us to focus on purposeful and precise writing. They also allow us to examine the power of particular words and the importance of punctuation. One comma, moved to a different part of the sentence, can change the entire meaning. And, most importantly,  it lets students share a story from their own life in a creative and meaningful way. 

We will be working on these memoirs in class and there is no homework this week in LA/Lit so that students can focus on completing their C-SPAN projects.  Independent Novel Project #3 is due on Friday, January 16th. Here is the assignment sheet:
Independent Novel Project #3

Next week, we will start To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  It is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I am excited to share it with my classes.  We will examine life in the Jim Crow-era South, prejudice and racism, judgement and justice, and many other important themes.  Students will have short, nightly reading assignments two to three nights a week during this unit.