Important information for 7/25 and 7/26

7/25:

ALL Students will be presenting monologues to myself and Mrs. Green this morning between 8:40-11:40am. While they do this, we are grading their content and figuring out which questions we will be putting on the parent scavenger hunt. They will have to find a time to come to us within the time frame.

STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO MEMORIZE THEIR MONOLOGUE.

7/26:

In the morning students will be given their place to stand for the exhibit in the library. We will also give them a run down of how Friday will work in terms of getting dressed and what happens before and after the event.

Overview from 7/24 and Assignment due 7/25

Today we worked on our monologues in our Critical Literacy and History classes. The goal is for students to have their monologues finish by the end of study hours tonight (where myself and Mrs. Green will be to help them) so that they can present their monologues tomorrow. Students will be given a note card to write their monologue on when their monologue has been approved. The monologue should be written on the note card to help with tomorrow's presentation and help with memorization.

Below are questions we came up with that students are encouraged to answer in their monologue to help with their content:

If you are doing a book character:

1.       Title of book

2.       The Author

3.       Time period with brief description

4.       How old is your character?

5.       What does your character teach “us” about History?

6.       What are two conflicts your character faces?

7.       What would your character think about today’s society?

8.       What does your character represent in Critical Theories (in list below)?

9.       What does your character represent in Literary Devices (in list below)?

10.   What is one word you would use to describe your character?

Marxist

Critical Race

Feminist
Historicism

Psychoanalytical

Point of View

Characterization (Direct and Indirect/STEAL)

Irony

Mood/Tone

Types of Conflict

Plot triangle/exposition, climax, and resolution

Symbolism

Stages of Grief

Theme

                                                                       Foreshadowing

If you are doing a historical figure:

1.     Name

2.     Birthday and Death Day

3.     Birth Place

4.     Parents

5.     3 Contributions to society

6.     Time period with description

7.     What does your person teach us about history?

8.     What does your person represent historically?

9.     What are 3 things you learned from your historical figure through about their time period?

10.  In a minimum of 3 lines, tie your character into a book we read this summer.

Overview from 7/23 and Assignment due 7/24

For tonight, students should continue working on their monologues to make sure information on the history of the time period is present along with mentioning critical theories and literary devices along with the claims being made.

Today we talked about the rest of the book along with symbolism (when one thing represents another; ex. a heart represents love, a lion represents courage, a cross represents religion, etc.)

Today's discussion also focused on the Formalism Critical Theory we learned about last week.

Overview from 7/20 and Assignment due 7/23

Today we learned our final critical theory, Formalism:

Students are to read and annotate the rest of their final novel. This needs to come with them to boarding week so that I can check their annotations (unless they finished it early and showed me the annotations today). We will also quiz on that book next week.

Please don't forget your costume at boarding week. Also, feel free to send me your monologue this weekend for me to take a look at early.

Overview from 7/19 and Assignment due 7/20

For tomorrow students should read and annotate pages 218-237 keeping in mind that they should finish the entire book before our class at WRA on Monday morning.

Today we talked about how authors use foreshadowing and applied that to our current book.

Overview from 7/18 and Assignment due 7/19

Today students were given the opportunity to begin working on their monologues in class with me in case they had questions or trouble starting.

I recommended that students start a list of things they feel should be included in their monologue before they started writing it.

Things that should really be considered in addition to summarizing the characters journey:

Marxist

Critical Race

Feminist
Historicism

Psychoanalytical

Point of View

Characterization (Direct and Indirect/STEAL)

Irony

Types of Conflict

Plot triangle/exposition, climax, resolution

For tomorrow: Read and annotate pages 189-217.

Overview from 7/17 and Assignment due 7/18

For tomorrow students are to read pages 160-188. Students should also continue to gather their costume and begin work on their monologue.

Today we caught up discussing anything students felt was noteworthy in the entire book so far (up to and including the reading assignment that was due today).

I also presented the monologue requirements to them along with an example:

Overview from 7/16 and Assignment due 7/17

Today we reviewed the Critical Race Theory:

Students also chose the character/figure they wish to be for the Wax Museum at boarding week:
Tasia-JoJo
Morgan-Ms. Grayson
TyLynn-Historical figure (see Mrs. Green)
Amira-Stella
Dre'Onna-Laura
Myka-Berniece
AJ-Malcolm
Trinity-Sophia
Savion-Shorty
Kamili-Ella

Students need to start looking for a costume NOW so that they can bring it with them on the bus to boarding week. 

For tomorrow: Students should continue to read an annotate based off of the posted schedule for the current book.

Books need to be present for points on annotations.

Overview from 7/12 and Assignment due 7/16

Today we took notes on Point of View and applied the point of view questions to our current book. We should also be considering point of view throughout the entirety of this book.

FOR MONDAY students will read and annotate up to page 131 in Stella by Starlight. Students also need to come to class on Monday with their top 3 choices of which characters/historical figures they would like to be for our boarding week wax museum.

Overview from 7/11 and Assignment due 7/12

Students clicked on the following link in class to take their quiz:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1s8zoEJL0oW6xS5kD-Lcy_5vHDYstR884Yzi93iTqBUgZzA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Quizzes submitted after 7/11 will be scored as a zero.

For tomorrow:
Students will read and annotate pages 1-27 of Stella by Starlight.

Overview from 7/10 and Assignment due 7/11

Today we reviewed THEME and how it is a message of the text rather than just one word (like love or revenge). Has to be a message like "love conquers all" or "revenge is a dish best served cold," etc.

We let theme drive the discussions for our books after we took one final look at what will be on tomorrow's quiz.

Students should be studying for their quiz using the information posted on yesterday's post, but they should also be getting reading to dive into their next book. Their next book's reading schedule was also posted yesterday.

I encourage students to bring their next book to FAME tomorrow in case they have some time to read after their quiz or in study hall.

Overview from 7/9 and Assignment due 7/10

For tomorrow students should have finished reading and annotating pages 72-80 of "The Piano Lesson," but I encourage students to finish the book entirely since there isn't much left. Tomorrow we will be debating who should get the piano and why.

Today I presented the monologue requirements for the wax museum. Students should consider these things (and what they will do for a costume) when choosing the character/figure they wish to portray. We will have students pick their characters by the end of class on Monday, July 16.

We also learned/reviewed the Marxist Critical Theory that will be one Wednesday's quiz:

For the quiz, students need to be prepared for open ended questions on the following:

• Psychoanalytic Criticism 
• Fretyag's Plot Triangle 
• Types of Conflict
• Marxist Criticism

Here is the reading schedule for the next book for students that choose to be proactive:

Overview from 7/6 and Assignment due 7/9

Today we reviewed Freytag's Plot Triangle:

Conflict is not generally in the center of the triangle, but established that a plot wouldn't move on without some type of conflict. We also went over the types of conflict this week that tie in to the Psychoanalytic Criticism.

We also looked back at the quote from the beginning of the book to decide if our outlook on the quote has changed with the changing events. 

We also analyzed a few paintings that had to do with Slavery and music.

Students are to continue reading and annotating based off of the reading schedule for Monday.

Overview from 7/5 and Assignment due 7/6

Today we reviewed the Psychoanalytic criticism and started to apply it to the book. Students can look for how dreams, desires, and defenses motive the characters in their current book.

Students can follow the reading schedule for what is due tomorrow for reading and annotations from their current book.

Students also started to look at more elements of plot today (Freytag's Plot Triangle), and we will be looking more at that tomorrow along with the types of conflict. These things tie into the Psychoanalytic Criticism.

Overview from 7/3 and Assignment due 7/5

Today we looked at a conflict review and discussed the conflict in the story:

FOR THURSDAY: Students are to continue reading and annotating based off of the reading schedule for our current book.

Overview from 7/2 and Assignment due 7/3

Today we spent the period talking about the exposition of our current text, making connections, and discussing any questions students may have. This is our most complex text this summer.

Students are to continue reading and annotating the next reading assignment that was posted on last week's blog.

We will be reviewing an new literary device tomorrow and applying it to the overall text we have already read.