Behavior Rubric

Above, I have posted the template which I will use to calculate your Behavior & Participation grade for 1st term.

Class Notes: Oct. 30, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: What happened on Oct. 31st? List 3 memorable Halloween costumes or Halloween memories and then write about one or all of them.
2. Figurative language presentations (These will continue on Tuesday.)

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 20 & 21.

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Vocabulary Quiz

HOMEWORK: Writing assignment to turn in. (Please type, using double-spacing and 12 point font.)

Imagine you are Richard. Writing in the 1st person, describe what happens now (i.e. when he gets to Chicago.) You must answer the following questions -- either in your description or separately... whichever is easiest for you. These questions should also be answered in the 1st person as if you are Richard.

Questions:

1. What changes?
2. What does NOT change?
3. What is/has been one of my (Richard's) biggest challenges and how do I deal with this in my new environment (Chicago and the North)?
   

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: What happened on Oct. 31st? List 3 memorable Halloween costumes or Halloween memories and then write about one or all of them.
2. Return embedded questions and discuss dense question. A dense question is really just a theme statement in question form.
3. Practice creating theme statements.
Here are some helpful links about writing theme statements:

• Characteristics of a theme statement
• Defining themes
• What is theme?
  

3. Groupwork for figurative language project

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 19
2. Complete Eyewitness handout

Class Notes: Oct. 28, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Discussion of FQs for chapters 10 & 11.
2. Presentation of chapter 12 summary.
3. Race then and now: Distribution of articles about race. Group presentations will occur on Friday.

HOMEWORK: 1. Study vocab. Vocab Quiz will be Friday, Oct. 30.
2. Read chapters 13 & 14.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Vocabulary quiz.
2. Day 7 journal sharing.
3. Figurative language: groups meet and prepare for presenation on Friday.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 16, 17 & 18.

Class Notes: Oct. 26, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Vocabulary quiz
2. Chapter summaries
3. Discussion of 'double life' and the conflict of individual vs. community expectations. How does one make moral decisions in this book - by the expectations of the community or by his own conscience?
4. Assignment of chapters for Figurative Language in-class project (tomorrow).

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 15 & 16.
2. Complete Focus Questions

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: How do you define fear? What are you most afraid of and why?
2. Discussion of "The Autobiographical Tradition." To what literary lineage does Wright owe his writing? How does the struggle with the legacy of slavery and race relations affect writers, including Wright? To which African-American writers does Wright owe a great debt? Who is reflected in his work (whether he is in agreement with or arguing against their position)?
3. Chapter summaries: 8 and 9
4. Begin reading chapter 10, pointing out important passages.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 10 & 11.
2. Complete Focus Questions for chapters 10 & 11.

Class Notes: Oct. 22, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: What are my misconceptions of my past? (In other words, do I see everything in my past totally objectively?) What is my true relation to what has happened in my past?
2. Review of vocabulary list 2 for Black Boy. Vocab Quiz will be Friday, Oct. 30.
3. Watch clip of Yale Professor Amy Hungerford discuss Black Boy, stopping for clarification and discussion. Here is a link to that clip if you want to watch again what we saw in class or watch more. Here is some more information about Prof. Hungerford.

HOMEWORK: 1. Finish reading packet called "The Autobiographical Tradition" and answer questions on final page.
2. Read chapter 9.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: You wake up one morning and go into the bathroom. When you look in the mirror, a different face stares back at you. Begin your story here.
2. Review chapter 1 vocabulary. Vocab quiz will be Wednesday, Oct. 28.
3. Handouts and explanation of Final Project for TKMB Unit.
4. Looking at artwork to consider contrasts and their dependency and influence on each other.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 14 and 15.
2. Answer Focus Questions.

Class Notes: Oct. 21, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Who is your hero or heroine and why?
2. Handout Final Project reassignments and explain what poster project will be.
3. Finish consideration of binary opposites
4. Relate "Fire and Ice" to chapter 8: the snowman and the fire at Miss Maudie's
5. Chapter summaries

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 14.
2. Write down something you want to discuss

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Free write.
2. Return journal entries
3. Role playing: experiencing status
4. Discussion of status
5. Chapter summaries

HOMEWORK: 1. Answer questions relating to oppression, race, and status.
2. Read 1st part of handout.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Who is your hero/heroine and why?
2. Review chapters 4, 5, and 6 vocabulary.
3. Introduce conflicts and contrasts. Read "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost.

HOMEWORK: 1. Choose 2 character pairs and make a list of their contrasts.
2. For each pair, write 2-3 sentences summarizing a conclusion you can make based on your list of contrasts. In other words, why are these contrasts significant?

Character Pairs:

• Scout vs. Aunt Alexandra
• Walter Cunningham vs. Burris Ewell
• Dill vs. Jem
• Aunt Alexandra vs. Miss Maudie
• Calpurnia vs. Mrs. Dubose
• Boo Radley vs. Bob Ewell
• Burris Ewell vs. Chuck Little
• Atticus vs. Miss Stephanie Crawford

Class Notes: Oct. 20, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Hand back vocab quizzes. Scaling is as follows: A: 30-40; B: 20-30; C: 10-20; D: 0-10
2. Go over definitions and context for Chapters 4, 5, and 6 vocabulary. Reminder: vocabulary quiz will be on Monday, Oct. 26.
3. Journal: Write about what contrasts/opposites you notice in the following painting.
4. Discussion of painting.
5. Continuation of powerpoint dealing with the idea of binary opposites

HOMEWORK: 1. Complete vocabulary list for chapter 7, 8, 9.
2. Of the following character pairs, choose one and make a list of these contrasts. Then, write 1-2 sentences about a conclusion you can make by comparing these two characters.

Character Pairs:

• Scout vs. Aunt Alexandra
• Walter Cunningham vs. Burris Ewell
• Dill vs. Jem
• Aunt Alexandra vs. Miss Maudie
• Calpurnia vs. Mrs. Dubose
• Boo Radley vs. Bob Ewell
• Burris Ewell vs. Chuck Little
• Atticus vs. Miss Stephanie Crawford
  

Class Notes: Oct. 19, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Richard Wright believed that human behavior is determined by one's environment. Do you agree with this theory? Explain.
2. Chapter summaries of chapter 4 and 5. Discussion.
3. Hand out vocabulary list 2. Reminder: There will be a vocabulary quiz next week.
4. Return embedded questions and students work in partners to assist each other with difficulties. Remaining difficult questions are written on notecards and passed in. There will be a whole class discussion/workshop on how to ameliorate these questions.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 8.
2. Complete vocabulary list 2.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Atticus says that courage is "when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." What is your definition of courage? Is it similar to or different from Atticus'?
2. Chapter summaries of chapters 10 and 11.
3. Discussion of the end of Part I: Why are there two parts to this book? What does that suggest? How does Part I end and what can we speculate about why it ends as it does?
4. Alphabet race: identifying and defending main ideas in the book so far

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 12 and 13.
2. Complete vocabulary list for chapters 7, 8, and 9.

Class Notes: Oct.15, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
Lesson Focus: How do binary opposites define conflicts in literary works?
1. Lesson Activator: Alphabet Race - what are the "big ideas" of To Kill a Mockingbird?
2. Read and analyze "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost
3. Discuss various associations we have with the words 'fire' and 'ice'
4. Discuss the meaning of the poem in terms of its structure and content through oppositional forces
5. Look at artworks that express their meaning through interrelated contrasts (dark and light, youth and age, life and death, etc.)

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 11
2. Complete FQs for chapters 10 and 11.
Extra Credit: Explain how the meaning (and power) of "Fire and Ice" changes when in prose versus poetic form.

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Write a story about a bubble at the bottom of the sea.
2. Return POV assignments.
3. Discuss themes versus theme statements versus theses.
4. Hand out examples of thesis statements and discuss various examples.
5. Continue discussion of the theme of hunger in Black Boy.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 6.
2. Find at least one example of your group's theme (hunger, fear, oppression or alienation) in chapter 6.

Class Notes: Oct. 14, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Character Diary Entry: Assume the persona of one of the characters in the book and answer the following questions in your journal as if you were that person: What are you most afraid of or worried about? What is making you anxious? Describe the person, object, or event that bothers you. Write specifically about what concerns you.
2. Review Dense Embedded questions written for homework.
3. Watch the start of the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird: Write down two insights about the setting. Write down two insights about camera work (angles, movement, close-ups, etc.)

HOMEWORK : 1. Read chapter 10
2. Answer: What do you know/learn about Atticus? How do we know this? (cite page numbers)

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Character Diary Entry: Assume the persona of one of the characters in the book and answer the following questions in your journal as if you were that person: What are you most afraid of or worried about? What is making you anxious? Describe the person, object, or event that bothers you. Write specifically about what concerns you.
2. Review Dense Embedded questions written for homework.
3. Watch the start of the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird: Write down two insights about the setting. Write down two insights about camera work (angles, movement, close-ups, etc.)

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapter 9
2. Answer: What do you know/learn about Atticus? How do we know this? (cite page numbers)

Class Notes: Oct. 13, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Sometimes even though we know that we should speak to someone about something important, we find reasons not to do what needs to be done. Has there ever been a time a "quiet carpenter" approached you concerning a difficult situation? Were you ever in the role of the carpenter? Did you ever find an excuse not to speak to someone? Did you ever wish that someone would have said something in confidence to you?
2. Discuss above question in relation to the passage in the book to which it relates.
3. Understanding the structure of Black Boy. Questions: Are any of you finding the book hard to follow? Why would that be?
4. Discussion of how Black Boy is theme-oriented rather than plot-oriented.
5. First of 4 theme-related explorations: HUNGER. Handout on "Hunger" as a theme with specific passages from the book chosen and questions for responding individually and discussing as a class.
6. Think-Pair-Share with discussion questions.

HOMEWORK: 1. Finish reading and responding in writing to passages on "Hunger" handout.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Why do you think people gossip? What are the effects of gossip?
2. Discussion of personal experiences with and thoughts on gossip. Relation of students' experiences to those in the novel.
3. Explanation of difference between effect (noun) and affect (verb). Remember: Just think of A for action (in other words a verb.)
4. Reading strategy #3: Dense embedded questioning. Learning how to formulate specific kinds of text-reader-world questions about a text. Modeling of strategy and discussion of model in order to clarify.

HOMEWORK: 1. Create 9 questions modeled after the ones on the handout.

Class Notes: Oct. 7, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal (creative): back story and caption for New Yorker cartoons
2. Further discussion on chapter 2.
3. Chapter 3 summary: Lily
4. Reading strategy #3: Embedded and dense questioning strategy

HOMEWORK: 1. Write 9 of your own questions following the models I provided on the handout. Your questions should start at chapter 4. Please write them directly on the handout and draw an arrow to the point in the text to which you are referring.
2. Finish chapter 4.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal (creative): back story and caption for New Yorker cartoons
2. Return character paragraphs from yesterday.
3. Characterization: Characterization is how an author develops a character in a novel. The question is how do we learn about a character? Develop list in class of how we learn about a character:

• appearance (how is a character described? what does the character wear?)
  
• character's name (or nickname)
• actions/behavior (how does a character act or react? what behaviors do they commonly exhibit?)
  
• speech: how a character says things (ironic? wise? funny? sarcastic? mean? does the character speak in a different dialect or speech pattern?)
• dialogue: what a character says to other characters
• feelings (guilty? low self-esteem? religious?)
• thoughts
• choices (how does a character make choices? based on what? what kinds of choices does a character make? what consequences do they have?)
  
• past/biography (early environment: family history, nationality, life experiences, education)
• what other characters or the narrator says about him/her (=direct characterization)
  

**Remember when you analyze a character, you are both a detective looking for clues and a psychiatrist analyzing behavior and thoughts.
4. Hand out Character Project assigned groups.
5. Practice looking at a character's actions, speech, appearance, etc. and then trying to decipher what this reveals about the character.
6. Chapter 4 summary: Marc
7. Begin reading chapter 5.

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 5 & 6.
2. Complete FQs and vocabulary worksheet.

Class Notes: Oct. 6, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Formulating a thesis question: Write a question using the words "how" or "why" related to the theme that you worked on in groups yesterday.
2. Try to answer your question in a few sentences using evidence from the novel so far.
3. Check-in with Ms. Rich about questions and replies.
4. Characterization: Characterization is how an author develops a character in a novel. The question is how do we learn about a character? Develop list in class of how we learn about a character:

• appearance (how is a character described? what does the character wear?)
  
• character's name (or nickname)
• actions/behavior (how does a character act or react? what behaviors do they commonly exhibit?)
  
• speech: how a character says things (ironic? wise? funny? sarcastic? mean? does the character speak in a different dialect or speech pattern?)
• dialogue: what a character says to other characters
• feelings (guilty? low self-esteem? religious?)
• thoughts
• choices (how does a character make choices? based on what? what kinds of choices does a character make? what consequences do they have?)
  
• past/biography (early environment: family history, nationality, life experiences, education)
• what other characters or the narrator says about him/her (=direct characterization)
  

**Remember when you analyze a character, you are both a detective looking for clues and a psychiatrist analyzing behavior and thoughts.
5. Begin discussion of chapter 4.

HOMEWORK: Study vocabulary
Vocabulary quiz will be on Thursday, October 8.

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Vocabulary quiz
2. Redistribute notecards with question and citation from yesterday so everyone has an unfamiliar card.
3. Free write/brainstorm in reply to the question and citation on your card. Add an additional citation from the book in your response.
4. Exchange what you've written with your partner.
5. Partner reads and comments on what the other person is saying.

HOMEWORK: 1. Develop a thesis based on what you wrote in class and your partner's peer editing suggestions.
2. Read chapter 3.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Vocabulary quiz
2. Understanding characters: Look for examples of a character you like so far in the novel.
3. Write a paragraph using that evidence about why this is an interesting character.

HOMEWORK: 1. Complete A Provincial Perspective worksheet
2. Pick one of the themes from the worksheet and write a paragraph about how that theme relates to your own life.

Class Notes: Oct. 5, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Review chapters 2 & 3 vocabulary
2. Practice vocabulary quiz format.
3. Check and discuss Provincialism homework. What does provincial mean and how does it relate to the novel?
4. Class is divided into 4 groups, each assigned one of the 4 themes from the homework.
5. Groups discuss their examples and then share one with the class. (Practice finding evidence from the text to illustrate a theme.)

HOMEWORK: 1. Read chapters 5 & 6.
2. Complete FQs.
3. Study vocab.
Vocabulary quiz will be on Thursday, October 8.

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Discussion of "What did I do (to be so black and blue)" What are the double images/allusions of this song? How could this apply to the experience of Ellison or Wright?
2. Explanation of "double consciousness." Please read this short piece for an excellent and concise explanation of this phrase. Here is a nice article about the modern double consciousness.
3. Review of vocabulary quiz format.
4. Chapter 2 summary: Lexi and Caitline
3. Share ch. 2 discussion question with a partner. Each student writes his partner's question on a notecard along with a relevant citation from the text. (Thesis-writing exercise: This exercise will be continued tomorrow.)

HOMEWORK: 1. Study vocabulary. Vocabulary quiz will be tomorrow.

Class Notes: Oct. 2, 2009

B-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Write about the worst music video you have seen recently. OR Write a conversation between a calculator and a computer.
2. Paired Verbal Fluency (activator): What I learned from last night's homework...
3. Share 1 insight and 1 question or confusion with the class.
4. Character analysis from 1st three chapters - individual work time

HOMEWORK : 1. Chapters 2 & 3 vocabulary
2. Theme worksheet
3. Read chapter 4

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal: Respond to the following quote from TKMB: "You never really know a person until you consider things from his point of view."
2. Discuss above quotation with class.
3. Grammar: there, their, and they're (Reminder: Your written work will now be graded down for mistakes involving misuse of their, there, or they're.)
4. Discussion of Depression research.
5. Vocabulary quiz format review.

HOMEWORK: 1. Study vocabulary for QUIZ on TUESDAY (on "Through the Tunnel" vocab and chapters 2&3 vocab.)
2. Read chapter 4

Class Notes: Oct. 1, 2009

C-block (Honors)

AGENDA :
1. Journal (creative): EITHER Write about the worst music video you have seen recently OR Write a conversation between a computer and a calculator.
2. Chapter summary sign-up. REMEMBER: When you present the chapter you signed up for, you must give a brief summary AND present us with an interesting discussion question.
3. Summarize chapter 1: Class makes list of significant events on board.
4. Discuss Focus Questions for chapter 1.
5. Explain analysis of book by themes: HUNGER, FEAR, ALIENATION, OPPRESSION and break into theme groups.

HOMEWORK: 1. Study vocabulary
2. Write discussion question for chapter 2.
3. Read lyrics to and listen to "What did I do" (link here. Scroll down - 2nd link is a better version.)
4. Write one reflection about why Ellison includes this song in his Prologue.

D-block

AGENDA :
1. Journal (creative): EITHER Write about the worst music video you have seen recently OR Write a conversation between a computer and a calculator.
2. Return POV essays.
3. Chapter summary sign-up.
4. Review chapters 2 & 3 vocabulary.
5. Discuss FQs for chapter 2.

HOMEWORK: 1. Write a summary of chapter 3.
2. Write one discussion question for chapter 3.
3. Begin studying vocabulary for quiz next week.