American Literature:
This week, we did a collective close-read on the first page of the book.  That is in the playlist for this unit.  We also set up blogs and completed Blog Post #1.  This week, we got through chapter 3 in The Great Gatsby.

Humanities:
This week, we made our first Video Reaction for Looking for Alaska.  We read all of packet 1 and completed reading journals (you have one reading journal per packet).

SF Stories:
This week, we worked on character profiles and watched Apocalypse. 

SF Stories
On Monday, SF Stories read chapter three in Crown of Dust, and on Tuesday (3/12) we read chapter four - both of those chapters are covered in Reading Journal #1.  Wednesday (3/13), we read chapter 5 and on block day, we read chapters 6-7; those chapters (5-7) are covered in Reading Journal #2.

Humanities
In Humanities, we wrote this essay in class on Monday (3/11), and on Tuesday (3/12) we read pages 1-19 in Looking for Alaska.  On Wednesday (3/13), we read to page 36.  All of those pages are covered in Reading Journal #1.  On Thursday (3/14), we read to page 64 and did Reading Journal #2.  The Night Essay was due on Thursday.

American Literature
In American Literature, we started the week with a discussion of how we write essays, and what we want to do differently in the next unit to make sure we’ve all read and understood the book.  Then watched the entire movie version of Gatsby in 1st period (the 1974 version), and we read chapters 1-3 in 4th period.  All of those chapters are covered in Reading Journal #1.  The final DOAS Essay was due block day.

Monday & Tuesday’s lesson plans can be found here.  

SF Stories:
On block day, we had a discussion and worked on our BWP blogs. The first project is due the week before Spring Break (April 1-5).  On Friday, we read the end of chapter 2 and chose project groups.

Humanities:
On block day, we worked on the Night Essay.  On Friday, we selected the book for the new unit and decided how we were going to read it.  

American Lit:
On block day and on Friday, we worked on the essay for Death of a Salesman.

American Literature
This week was mostly spent finishing the play and preparing for the essay.  All the essay instructions can be found here.  We did a sample set of claims with Linda.  That document is here.

Humanities
This week was mostly spent finishing Night and starting the collaborative essay.  We did a close read with evidence that could be used in the essay, and we spent a lot of time writing in the computer lab.  Here is the essay instruction/topic document.

SF Stories
This week, we read chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2 in Crown of Dust and annotated pages from it.  We are keeping track of the things we don’t understand.

This week, American Literature and SF Stories spent the week finishing their projects (character videos and podcasts respectively) and creating rubrics to grade them.  Then we watched/listened to all the finished projects and graded them on the rubrics we designed.

Here are the podcast instructions. Here are the 3rd period podcasts.Here is the 6th period rubric, and here’s the document we used to score the first one.  Here is the 3rd period reflection.

Here are the character video instructions (1  2). Here are the 1st and 4th period videos.  Here is the rubric for 4th period.

Humanities spent the week reading and finishing reading journals (see below).  On Friday, we talked about essay topics and selected groups for collaborative essay writing.

Humanities Night Reading Journals

• #1: Chapter 1, Pages 1-20, 1/25 My Example
• #2: Chapter 2-3, Pages 21-32, 1/28 My Examples: 1 2
• #3: Chapter 3, Pages 33-54, 1/31 My Examples: 1 2
• #3.5, Chapter 4, Pages 54-62, 2/1 My Example
• #4, Chapter 5, Close Read pg 63-65, 2/4 Instructions     Examples: 1 2
• #5, Chapter 5, Pages 65-80, 2/5 Instructions Example
• #5.5, Chapter 5, Pages 65-80, 2/11  (This is for anyone who did not finish to pg 80 in RJ 5)
• #6, Chapter 6-8, Pages 80-106, 2/11 (This is due by Thursday at the start of class)

Note: All the notes I take in class (including example reading journals for the novels we read) will be in this folder in Google Drive and loaded on the playlist.  I am currently going back and adding correct titles on them with name/class/date/activity so you can find the picture easily.

American Literature:
On Monday (2/4), 1st period looked at DOAS pages 38-50.  Everyone read the lines of just their character - Biff or Happy - and wrote down observations. This was Reading Journal #3.  On Tuesday (2/5), we looked at the difference between true identity and perceived identity and read pages 17-21 to determine whether Willy is accurately remembering the boys or if it's partially his insane mind making them to be who he wants to be.  For 4th period, we worked in the computer lab on scripts on both Monday and Tuesday.  On block day (2/6-2/7), both classes worked on filming our character videos.

Humanities:
On Monday (2/4), we read an independent close read of pages 63-65 and did Reading Journal #4. On Tuesday (2/5), we talked about the purpose of the minor characters listed here, and wrote the Reading Journal (instructions in the picture).  On Wednesday (2/6), we watched this video and worked on finding examples of when the narrator Elie is different from the author Elie.  Narrator Elie is 15, Author Elie is 30.  We used this document to compile examples of when Author Elie is speaking instead of Narrator Elie.  Every group needs to have one example added for any chapter before class on Friday.  We will be reading chapter 6 in class (to page 82) on Friday so read ahead if you enjoy reading at home.

SF Stories:
We have been and will be working on our podcasts all week.  They are due Monday (2/11) at the end of the period (we will be in 182 that day so you'll have time to work).


Documents created and completed 
(these are all the documents from this semester so far): 


American Literature:
1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. My History as a Reader (includes 5 Books That Changed My Life)
3. Clearing the Attic (Writing Warmups)
4. How We Read Novels

5. DOAS Character Video

Humanities:
1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. This I Believe
3. Writing Warm-ups (changed to Clearing the Attic on Thursday)
4. Derren Brown "Apocalypse"

5. Writing Advice 
6. Writing Warmup
7. Night Close Read 

San Francisco Stories
1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. San Francisco Stereotypes
3. Writing Warm-ups (changed to Clearing the Attic on Thursday/Friday)
4. Travel Brochure for your SF Neighbourhood (uploaded as a .docx file to Google Drive & shared)
5. Sources for Travel Brochure 
6. Principles of Podcasting
7. Grades and Stuff (6th period only)

Note: Unless otherwise noted, we did a writing warm-up every day.  That is to write for 6-8 minutes without stopping or getting distracted and saving it somewhere.  I expect you to do this whether or not you are in class.


Humanities
On Monday (1/28), we read pages 27-32 (the video on this page is the section we read) and did Reading Journal #2.  On Tuesday (1/29), we discussed chapters 1-3 and the things we noticed.  We added to our reading journals.  On Thursday (1/31), we read pages 32-45 in class, watched these two videos, discussed them, and worked on a reading journal for the section we read.  On Friday (2/1), we finished chapter 4 and continued the reading journal from yesterday.  All the videos for Night can be found here.

American Literature
Note: Both classes did slightly different activities due to the different methods they chose for reading literature together as a class.  So read carefully to find your class.
On Monday (1/28), 1st period finished the movie version and did Reading Journal #1 (Which of the characters did you like best? Which did you relate to most? Which character did you like the least? Which characters did you pity?).  In 4th period, we read all of Willy's lines in isolation from pages 2-12, then 15-20 and wrote down what we thought of him based on what he said.  The last writing question was to picture the man you just described as your father and write about how it would feel to have him for a father.  1st period did that on Tuesday (1/29).  On Tuesday (1/29) in 4th period and Wednesday (1/30) in 1st period, we did the same for Linda, looking at the italicised stage directions particularly.  Also on Wednesday, 1st period started the DOAS Character Video.  On Thursday (1/31), 4th period looked at the stockings and Ben as two symbols and started the DOAS Character Video.

SF Stories
On Monday (1/28), 3rd period finished 30 Days and did the writing response.  6th period read a short text from an anthology of SF writers and answered some questions (summary, purpose, audience and repeated words/ideas/phrases).  On Tuesday (1/30), we listened to a podcast from This American Life and started talking about techniques for podcasting.  In 6th period (and this will happen on Wednesday for 3rd period), each group made a document called "Principles of Podcasting."  On block day (Wednesday 1/30 or Thursday 1/31), we finished the This American Life episode and started planning our own podcasts.  You should have a concept by the end of block period, and start figuring out what needs to get recorded.

American Literature:
On Tuesday (1/22), we did the writing warm-up (7 mins), discussed a plan for reading Death of a Salesman and talked about the American Dream.  4th period has the choice of reading pages 1-17 or watching the 19ish minute clip covering the same section of the play by Thursday (1/24).

On Wednesday (1/23) and Friday (1/25), 1st period did writing warmups, watched Death of a Salesman (through to page 96) and discussed the characters.  On Thursday (1/24) and Friday (1/25), 4th period discussed the first section of the play, read this article and discussed and wrote a short paragraph starting with the sentence "My dream for education is...". Then we watched the Death of a Salesman covering the section from page 17-36.

Humanities:
On Tuesday (1/22) we did a writing warm-up (7 mins), discussed the first chapter of Night, and looked at different characters from the first chapter.  You need to do the second reading of that chapter before class on Thursday (1/24), and consider why the author presents some characters with lots of character traits/descriptions, and some with few. What is the purpose of the characterisation in the first chapter?  On Thursday (1/24), we discussed how and why we read, made a plan for how to read Night, and watched this video.  On Friday (1/25) we read Chapter 2 of Night (either students read at home at home, or in class.  The video for chapter 2 is on the Humanities page of this website.  We did a reading journal - any questions, observations, interesting sections - on chapters 1-2.  The reading journal was not collected, but you should keep it because it will be at some point.

San Francisco Stories:
On Tuesday (1/22) through Thursday (1/24), we set up a playlist on MentorMob (using the account created on the second day of class), set up our Blank White Page blog, completed the first BWP entry, and looked at several articles and poems about San Francisco.  3rd period students need to come to class on Wednesday (1/23) with a printed out copy of that poem.  We also watched 30 Days: In The Castro in class on Thursday (1/24) and Friday (1/25).

All Classes:  We wrote for 5 minutes on Monday, 6 minutes of Tuesday, and 7 minutes on block day.  Any topic, with two rules: no talking, and no stopping until time is over.  If you missed class, you can make that up easily.


American Lit
On Monday (1/14) we did the writing warmup, then played Things That Suck.  It did not suck.  Essentially, it was a debate where we discussed the following: homework, reading novels as homework, self-selected novels, using cell phones for learning, thesis statements, Socratic Seminar, and timed writing.  There is no way to make it up, and it was not graded.  If you missed class, the best thing to do is to ask someone who was there what it was like.  We will play again another time.  On Tuesday (1/15) we did the writing warmup, then watched two videos: How and Why We Read and Catcher In the Rye.  Then we discussed what he does in those videos that helped us enjoy Catcher more.  Come to class on Wednesday with some ideas of how we translate those videos into what we do in class this semester.  In class on Wednesday (1/16) we did the writing warm-up (called Clearing The Attic), then looked over the My History as a Reader document to find out why we loved the books we loved. We decided on five main categories: Entertainment, Escape, Empathy, Education and Equality (having the same opportunity as other people in other places to talk about the Big Important Ideas).  Then we wrote which categories fit each of our five "life-changing" books.  Finally, we started a new document called "How We Read Novels" and we answered these questions (that document linked there contains all of the work from 1st period on 1/16. 

Humanities
Note: We did not do the writing warm-up on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday.
On Monday (1/14) we had the lockdown drill and homeroom announcements.  Then we started a document called "Derren Brown Apocalypse" and did a short writing assignment.  First, make a list of the things/people you love most.  Then, imagine all of it was taken away.  What would you do?  How would you react?  What would you be feeling/thinking?  After 5 minutes of writing, we started watching Apocalypse and took some notes about what Derren Brown was trying to get Steven to do/be as a result of that experience.  We continued Apocalypse in class on Tuesday (1/15).  On Thursday (1/17) we worked on the tasks in this document after finishing Apocalypse.  Then we read "Finding Your Voice" (see me for handout if you were absent) and created a document called "Writing Advice." In the document, we wrote down the advice the author gives to writers (the instructions are also in the document with Apocalypse instructions linked above).  If you didn't finish reading it, finish before class on Friday.  

San Francisco Stories
On Monday (1/14) we wrote the introduction letter in class.  On Tuesday (1/15), we read two articles (steps 8 and 9) and found the purpose and what they communicated about San Francisco.  We talked about which one's tone better suited San Francisco - click the link to see the full instructions.  On Wednesday (1/16) we started this assignment, which is due on Friday at the end of class.  Your letter is also due by the end of class on Friday.  In class, we finished discussing the two articles and answered questions 4-7 (on paper and in class discussion).  There was a choice of using paper or sending the parts as an email.  If you sent this as an email, I would recommend creating a document in Google Drive called "Views of SF" and putting both parts there so you don't lose them somehow.

Documents Created This Week (numbering is continuous for the semester)


American Literature:
3. Clearing the Attic
4. How We Read Novels

Humanities
3. Writing Warm-ups (changed to Clearing the Attic on Thursday)
4. Derren Brown "Apocalypse"

San Francisco Stories
3. Writing Warm-ups (changed to Clearing the Attic on Thursday/Friday)
4. Travel Brochure for your SF Neighbourhood (uploaded as a .docx file to Google Drive & shared)
5. Sources for Travel Brochure 

Welcome to the class happenings blog! This is where I will keep track of what we use our class time for, and what assignments you have to complete.  

ALL CLASSES (1/9/13):
Please complete the homework assignment posted on the front page of this website.  It involves looking through your course page, reading any information that's given, and completing the form.  For those of you in TWO of my classes (poor souls), make sure to complete both class forms.

In class (1/9/13)
American Literature (1st/4th) - we discussed the questions, "Why read literature?  What books have been memorable for you?  What books have you loved/hated?  Why should you read literature in English?  What's the purpose of reading for class?"

Humanities (2nd) - we discussed the questions, "What makes us human?  What activities or traits are distinctly 'human'?  What makes you unique?  Who are you?  Why do those things make you human?"  We found patterns in the categories and then talked about what was missing.  We briefly discussed the books we would be reading (Man's Search for Meaning, Night, Slaughterhouse 5, Frankenstein, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Things They Carried) and the subjects they cover (genocide, war, monsters, mental health, PTSD).

San Francisco Stories (3rd/6th) - we discussed the question, "What defines SF for you?" and then made a list from the responses.  We found categories and then wrote definitions for what SF really is at its core.  We discussed how the idea of Stories will influence the course, and what kinds of stories we'll be reading and writing.

In class (1/10/13-1/11/13)
All Classes:
We set up a gmail, a google drive account, and a MentorMob account.  Watch this video if you are a new student to me.  Watch this one if you had me last semester.

American Literature (1st/4th) - we worked on two major things: the reading timeline and 5 Books That Changed My Life.  First, read this article.  Then write your own list in the same style.   Both should be done by Monday, 1/14.  You should start working on your introduction letter, which is due Friday.

Humanities (2nd) - we worked on two things: the introduction letter (don't forget to look through this and add some notes), and the This I Believe essay.  First, listen to this essay, then use it as a model for your own essay called "This I Believe" - a short essay (350-500 words) that focuses on a single experience and a value  drawn from that experience.  It must tell a story, and it must be about something you DO believe, not something you do NOT believe.  You will need to create a new document on the tmiclass website with the assignment title: This I Believe.  Both the letter and essay are due by the end of the day Friday.

San Francisco Stories (3rd/6th) - we watched and discussed the San Francisco stereotypical couple.  We created a document called "San Francisco Stereotypes" where we described our own version of what a couple in SF would be like.  Then we watched an episode of a reality television show that showed stereotypical SF citizens and took notes. 

Documents created for Week 1
Reminder: ONLY use YOUR course page to create the document.  If you use the wrong page, the document will need to be moved by me for it to show up in my grading folder.

American Literature:

1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. My History as a Reader

Humanities

1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. This I Believe

San Francisco Stories

1. Personal Introduction Letter
2. San Francisco Stereotypes