May 13 and 14- Snapshot journals #1, #2, #3

We read some more of Monster and completed the following snapshot journals:

Scene from the book: There is a mirror over the steel sink in my cell.  It’s six inches high, and scratched with the names of some guys who were here before me.  When I look into the small rectangle, I see a face looking back at me but I don’t recognize it.  I couldn’t have changed that much in a few months.  I wonder if I will look like myself when the trial is over (1)

Snapshot (Draw the scene)

Question (Think of a question that this scene raises for you):

Interpret (Why is this scene put in the book?  Does it tell us something about the character?  About the story?):

Reflect (How would you feel?  How would you react?):

Connect (Have you ever been in a situation similar? Have you ever felt similar?):

Scene from the book: I can hardly think about the movie, I hate this place so much.  But if I didn’t think of the movie I would go crazy.  All they talk about here is hurting people.  If you look at somebody, they say, “What are you looking at me for?  I’ll mess you up.”  If you make a noise they don’t like, they say they’ll mess you up.  One guy has a knife.  It’s not really a knife, but a blade glued onto a toothbrush handle (45).

Snapshot (Draw the scene)

Question (Think of a question that this scene raises for you):

Interpret (Why is this scene put in the book?  Does it tell us something about the character?  About the story?):

Reflect (How would you feel?  How would you react?):

Connect (Have you ever been in a situation similar? Have you ever felt similar?):

Scene from the book: O’Brien: Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you.  You’re young, you’re Black, and you’re on trial.  What else do they need to know? Steve: I thought you’re supposed to be innocent until you’re proven guilty? (78-79)

Snapshot (Draw the scene)

Question (Think of a question that this scene raises for you):

Interpret (Why is this scene put in the book?  Does it tell us something about the character?  About the story?):

Reflect (How would you feel?  How would you react?):

Connect (Have you ever been in a situation similar? Have you ever felt similar?):

May 11, 12- Steve sentences

We began reading Monster today. Students answered the following:

Read each section

Write a sentence describing Steve’s personality for each section

1. 18 bottom-19
2. 41 bottom- 43
3. 58
4. 61 middle- 63 middle
5. 80-82-middle

Then we read to page 40

May 7th and 8th- why criminals and block party

Today we discussed why people become criminals. Students wrote for 1/2 page on this topic.

We also did a "block party" to meet some of the characters in the book we are reading, Monster. If you missed this day, come in to class during lunch sometime and I'll get the work for you.

May 1st and 4th-sniglets

We completed the following worksheet

Sniglet- A word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should.

Here are a bunch of examples:

Aeropalmics - The study of wind resistance conducted by holding a cupped hand out the car window.

Animalanche - When you kick your stuffed animals in your sleep and they fall all over you or the floor. 

Aquadextrous - Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.

Aqualibrium - The point where the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect height, thus relieving the drinker from (a) having to suck the nozzle, or (b) squirting himself in the eye.

Bazookacidal Tendencies - The overwhelming desire of most individuals to reach out and pop the gigantic gum bubble billowing from someone's mouth.

Blivet - to flip your pillow looking for a cool spot.

Blossor - The hair style one has after removing a baseball cap.

Bowlikinetics - The act of trying to control a released bowling ball by twisting one's body in the direction one wants it to go.

Chwads  -The small, disgusting wads of chewed gum commonly found beneath table and counter tops.

Cheedle - The orange residue left on fingers after eating Cheetos or some other cheesy snack.

Elbonics - The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.

Ellacelleration - The mistaken belief that repeatedly pressing the elevator button will make it go faster

Fetchplex - State of momentary confusion in a dog whose owner has faked throwing the ball and palmed it behind his back.

Fictate - To inform a television or screen character of impending danger under the assumption they can hear you.

Grackles – The wrinkles that appear on the body after staying in water too long.

Knuck  -Ice cream collected on the back of the hand when scraping the last portions from the box.

Mittsquinter - A ballplayer who looks into his glove after missing the ball, as if, somehow, the cause of the error lies there.

Oopzama  - Sudden scratching of scalp or face upon realization that the person you were waving at isn't who you thought it was.

Optortionist  - The kid in school who can turn his eyelids inside out.

Oreosis - The practice of eating the cream center of an Oreo before eating the cookie outsides.

P-spot  - The area directly above the urinal in public restrooms that men stare at, knowing a glance in any other direction would arouse suspicion.

Phonesia - The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

Pigslice - The last unclaimed piece of pizza that everyone is secretly dying for.

Prestofrigeration  - The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have materialized. 

Slurm - The slime that accumulates on the underside of a soap bar when it sits in the dish too long.

Snackmosphere - The empty but explosive layer of air at the top of a potato chip bag.

Snargle - To lessen the visual impact of a horror movie by filtering it through one's fingers.

Sniffleridge - The groove running between the nose and the mouth

Spirobits -  The frayed bits of left-behind paper in a spiral notebook.

Spudrubble  - Unclaimed french fries at the bottom of a fastfood bag.

Umbrace  - The small strap that holds an umbrella in place.

Toastaphobia - The fear of sticking a fork in a toaster even when it's unplugged

On the back of this sheet, do any combination of these three options as long as you do 10 total.

1.  Choose a sniglet and explain why the word is a perfect match for the definition.

2.  Choose a new word that you think is better and explain why it’s better.

3.  Make up your own sniglet and defintion.

April 28-29- finish the Of Mice and Men paper

Today we finished typing up our Of Mice and Men paper.

April 23 and 24- Of Mice and Men theme paper

Complete this outline to help write your paper.

Your argument for Of Mice and Men: “Which theme is most important in Of Mice and Men?”

Write down the theme you picked here: ____________________________________________

Write down three examples from the book that help explain this theme. For each example, write what it is saying about the theme.

1. Example #1: _________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What the example is saying about the theme: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Example #2: _________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What the example is saying about the theme: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Example #3: _________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What the example is saying about the theme: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Now write down one other theme that has importance in the book (your COUNTER-ARGUMENT) ____________________________________________________________________________________

Give an example that helps explain the theme: ______________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

What the example is saying about the theme: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Why your theme is still a better choice for your paper (REBUTTAL): ______________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

You’ve just completed the Body of your paper. Stand up and say “I’m the first one done.” If someone else has already said this, say “I’m the second one done.” And so on…

Now for the Introductory paragraph:

Write down a statement about your theme that might be interesting (for example: “There are times when death seems like the only answer…”) This is your GRABBER.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Now  write a statement answering this question: Which theme is most important in Of Mice and Men?”

This is your THESIS STATEMENT

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Now for the Conclusion paragraph:

First RESTATE YOUR THESIS statement- Say your Thesis statement in another way.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Then write down a statement that you can finish up your paper with. An interesting way to end your paper- perhaps one final comment on how the theme connects to your own life. This is your KICKER.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

And now put it all together. Write out your paper in this format:

·         Introduction paragraph with your GRABBER first and then your THESIS.

·         Your first body paragraph with three examples of your theme

·         Your second body paragraph with the COUNTER-ARGUMENT and REBUTTAL

·         Conclusion paragraph with your RESTATED THESIS and KICKER

March 9- Tony Robinson

Today we began by discussing the death of Tony Robinson. We talked for awhile and then kids filled out/read the following:

Using these three prompts, write on anything you have heard about the Tony Robinson story.

Things I know

Things I think

Things I fear

Tony Robinson Shooting: Protests Continue in Madison, Vigil Planned

Passionate but peaceful protesters descended for a third day Sunday on the Madison, Wisconsin, street where an unarmed black teenager was killed by a police officer Friday night.

Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. was shot by veteran Madison police officer Matt Kenny after reports of the 19-year-old jumping in front of traffic and assaulting someone in a home. Police said Kenny forced his way inside of the home after hearing a disturbance and fired on Robinson when the teen attacked him.

Neighbor, Marshal Erb, said scene of the crime filled "almost immediately" with protesters, including Robinson's aunt and grandmother, who told the group gathered there that Robinson, a recent high school graduate, was "a beautiful, beautiful soul."

RESPOND TO THIS QUOTE (How the quote makes you feel, what you might ask the speaker, what you might have said)…

"This has to stop, and we can stop it," Craig Spaulding, a friend of the Robinson family, told NBC News outside the home where the teen was shot, hours before a vigil was set to take place there. While the Madison police chief "has taken tremendous strides," Spaulding said, there have been "mounting tensions" between the community and police for years.

Robinson's death has "ripped this community apart," Spaulding added.

RESPOND TO THIS QUOTE (How the quote makes you feel, what you might ask the speaker, what you might have said)…

During a news conference Saturday, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said the case would be independently probed by the state Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation.

Koval said he understood the frustration in the community and that the shooting death of a young black man by a police officer would likely spark distrust. "When you have a person of color who is unarmed and that life is then taken, it's only natural that questions and objections should arise," Koval told NBC News Sunday. "I get that and I'm empathetic to that," he said.

RESPOND TO THIS QUOTE (How the quote makes you feel, what you might ask the speaker, what you might have said)…

Robinson’s aunt speaks out

On Friday evening, Lorien Carter spoke to a crowd in front of the building in Madison, Wisconsin where her nephew, Anthony Terrell Robinson, was earlier shot and killed by a police officer, Matt Kenny.

She said: “Here in our little bubble of Madison, WI … I want y’all to know, that for minorities, we are [in one of] the top five worst places to live. But we are [also in one of the] three happiest cities to be in. So who is it happy for?”

RESPOND TO THIS QUOTE (How the quote makes you feel, what you might ask the speaker, what you might have said)…

Carter’s words evoked not only the bitterness of losing a young man too soon, but also well-documented disparities affecting Madison’s African American community. For many, Robinson’s death was a harsh reminder that their city is not the progressive utopia it sometimes styles itself to be.

Other recent high-profile shootings

The shooting came days after the U.S. Justice Department cleared Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson, Missouri, officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, of federal civil rights charges. A second report found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices in the St. Louis suburb.

There have been several high-profile deaths of black suspects killed by police officers in recent months. In New York City, Eric Garner died after officers put him in a chokehold and a video showed him repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe." A police officer in Cleveland fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had been pointing a pellet gun at a playground. And although Milwaukee police determined the officer who fatally shot Dontre Hamilton acted in self-defense, he was fired for ignoring department policy and treating Hamilton as a criminal by frisking him.

We then finished reading chapter one. Once finished we worked on foreshadowing:

Read  these two sections of chapter one:

• top p. 11 “Well we…” to bottom “ashamedly at the flames.”
• middle p. 15 “George motioned…” through top p. 16 “I won’t get…”

 

Based on these two readings, write what you think will happen in this book.  Why do you think this? ½ page.