Final Exam

Focus: How can we demonstrate our growth this semester as readers and writers?

1. Please make sure I have your A Long Way Gone annotations/journals; turn in your A Long Way Gone books to be checked in. If you don't have your book today, please give it to Ms. Cheney in Bookkeeping.

2. Start a new document called "________ (your last name) Winter Final"; place it inside your "Common Assessments" folder.

3. You may use your reading strategies bookmark and your hero's journey essay on this final exam, but other resources are not allowed.

a. Read through the poem a few times, marking it up for little clues--things that strike you.

b. Fill out your reading journal; use the middle column to piece together patterns and themes.

c. Develop a thesis that states a larger theme about the conflict these two texts share.

d. Circle two quotations from the poem that support your thesis.

e. Brainstorm two specific examples from KR or LWG that support your thesis.

f. Write the paragraph! Look to your hero's journey essay for refreshers.

g. Proofread it once or twice.


5. 1st Hour: Please click HERE for the course evaluation.

    3rd Hour: Please click HERE for the course evaluation.

HW:
Have an awesome winter break!

Prepping for Poetry, Part 2: December 14, 2015

Focus: How do we apply our reading and writing skills to poetry?

If you have not conferenced with me on your A Long Way Gone annotations/journals, please turn yours in today.

1. Warming up with your found poetry--getting inside the poet's mind

2. Finishing your reading journals and doing a quick share

3. Outlining the synthesis paragraph and revisiting your hero's journey essays
(Here is the online version of the practice exam)

• Create a Venn diagram to synthesis "Flight 93" with either The Kite Runner or A Long Way Gone.

• Look at the overlapping section and use that to create your thesis.

• Find 1-2 quotations from the poem that defend your thesis (look to your journal).

• Think of 1-2 examples/quotations from KR or LWG that would defend your thesis.

• Running through your hero's journey essays to remind ourselves how to compose synthesis paragraphs.

HW:
Show up to your final with your laptop and brain fully charged. You may also want paper for brainstorming.

1st hour: Tuesday, 7:21-8:46

3rd hour: Wednesday, 8:56-10:21

Prepping for Poetry: December 11, 2015

Focus: How do we apply our reading skills to poetry?

1. Warming up with your final www.noredink.com quiz of the semester: Connecting Clauses, Take 2

2. Offering you sample found poems from your peers and giving you 10 minutes to finish creating yours

3. Exploring the practice exam: walking through the directions and performing a group close reading of "Flight 93"

• Moments: Images, word choices, the title, punctuation, structure, and other things that cause you take a moment and pause

• Movements: Patterns and shifts

• Multiple Meanings: Themes/big takeaways 

HW:
If you haven't done so recently, LOOK AT YOUR GRADES. Monday, December 14 will be the last day to turn in any revisions or make-up work for this class. NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE. 

Sample e-mail from Tuesday, December 15:

"Dear Ms. Leclaire,
I know that yesterday was the last day for late work, but I just got around to writing a blog from a missed fishbowl, revising my hero's journey essay, and finishing my Kite Runner annotations. Can you please grade those? I really need an A in this class.

Thanks a lot! You're a great teacher.
Student

"Dear Student,
No. I cannot grade those. You have had plenty of time to complete those assignments, and you missed the deadline. Better luck next time. Happy holidays!"
Sincerely,
Ms. Leclaire"

Final Fishbowl: December 10, 2015

Focus: What does Beah want us to understand?

1. Warming up: Viewing two interviews with Ishmael Beah

• Please open your A Long Way Gone brainstorming document.

• As you watch these two interviews, please take notes in response to today's focus question: what does Beah want us to understand?

CBS News
Jon Stewart

2. Enjoying our final fishbowl discussion of A Long Way Gone

3. Wrapping up with one big takeaway

HW:
1. "Quiz" tomorrow on Connecting Clauses, Take 2.

2. If you have not yet finished gathering quotations for your found poem, do that tonight. You will have another 10-15 minutes to create the poem tomorrow.

3. Monday, December 14 will be the last day to turn in any revisions or make-up work for this class. NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE. 

Turning Patterns to Themes: December 9, 2015

Focus: How can we use found poetry to turn patterns/topics into themes?

1. Warming up with reading conferences and time to finish reading and annotating A Long Way Gone

As you annotate these final chapters, consider the following the following question:

What does Beah want us to understand/learn/take away from his memoir?

2. Offering you an overview of the Found Poem Rubric to help you refine your poem

3. Finishing your Found Poem for A Long Way Gone with a focus on theme and tone

Pattern/topic: Storytelling as a way for Ishmael to connect to his past

Theme: Storytelling helps Ishmael connect to his past because it keeps him rooted in the morals his family and village have taught him since childhood.

Tone (emotion): The parts of the novel with storytelling are uplifting, hopeful, and contemplative; if Ishmael can connect to his past self through stories, then telling his own story in this memoir will help him root his future self in the same set of morals.

HW:
1. Finish your found poem if you did not finish in class.

2. Finish reading and annotating A Long Way Gone for our final fishbowl discussion tomorrow.

3. If you have not yet done so, please complete the www.noredink.com assignment, "Connecting Clauses, Take 2."

Finding Themo: December 8, 2015

Focus: What greater, thematic understanding of A Long Way Gone does Beah want us to have?

1. Warming up poetically: creating a found poem to understand themes in A Long Way Gone

2. Enjoying Fishbowl #5: Chapters 17 and 18 of A Long Way Gone

3. Wrapping up with big takeaways (thematic statements)

HW:
1. Finish reading and annotating A Long Way Gone for Thursday, which is our final fishbowl. I would recommend reading at least Chapter 19 tonight.

2. Please finish "Connecting Clauses, Take 2" on www.noredink.com by Thursday. It takes around five minutes.

3. Monday, December 14 will be the last day to turn in any revisions or make-up work for this class. NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE.

Classical Conditioning: December 7, 2015

Focus: How has Ishmael's brain been conditioned to be a soldier? What obstacles must he face in becoming a civilian again?

1. Warming up with a little psych background: classical conditioning

2. Thinking through the concept of classical conditioning with your grid groups

• Topic #1: As you watch the clip, respond to the following question: What is classical conditioning? In what ways have you personally been classically conditioned?

• Topic #2: Reflecting on Chapters 12-14, consider the following question: How did the adult soldiers use classical conditioning on the child soldiers? Find 1-2 passages to support your thoughts.

• Topic #3: Reflecting on Chapters 15 and 16 and making predictions for upcoming chapters, think about the following question: How will Ishmael's brain need to be reconditioned to become "human" again? What obstacles will he face? Find 1-2 passages to support your thoughts.

3. Conferencing with you on your annotations/journals so far while you start this week's reading

HW:

1. Finish reading and annotating Chapters 17 and 18 to prepare for tomorrow's fishbowl discussion. 

2. The www.noredink.com assignment, "Connecting Clauses, Take 2" is due Thursday; quiz Friday.

Human Conditioning: December 4, 2015

Focus: How has Ishmael's brain been conditioned to be a soldier? What obstacles will he face in becoming a civilian again?

1. Warming up with "Connecting Clauses: Cheat Sheet"

2. Taking the www.noredink.com quiz on connecting clauses

3. Reflecting on your hero's journey essays and your overall growth as a writer

4. Reading Chapters 15 of A Long Way Gone, keeping in mind the focus questions above and video clip we're going to watch on classical conditioning

• As you watch the clip, respond to the following question: What is classical conditioning?

• Reflecting on Chapters 12-14, consider the following question: How did the adult soldiers use classical conditioning on the child soldiers?

• Making predictions for upcoming chapters, think about the following question: How will Ishmael's brain need to be reconditioned to become "human" again? What obstacles will he face?

HW:
Please read and annotate Chapter 16 (and finish 15) in A Long Way Gone by Monday.

From Child to Child Soldier: December 3, 2015

Focus: What happens when a child becomes a child solider?

1. Warming up with an quick overview of your final exam

2. Reading and reacting to an article on child soldiers

As you read this article, find three separate sentences, copy each into your A Long Way Gone brainstorming document, and simply let yourself react to each one.

3. Entering A Long Way Gone Fishbowl #3: Chapters 12-14

4. Wrapping up with the following question:

• What happens to a child (mentally, physically, emotionally) when he becomes a child soldier?

• Another way of looking at it: What parts of himself must he leave behind? How does this happen?

HW: 
1. Finish "Connecting Clauses, Take 1" on www.noredink.com if you have not yet done so.

2. We will read Chapter 15 in class tomorrow; whatever we don't finish will be homework for Monday.

Back to the Future: December 2, 2015

PLC: Shortened Class

Focus: As Ishmael transforms into a child soldier, what traces of the past and future can we find?

1. Warming up with a quick partner discussion of Chapter 11: Ishmael makes it to the village where his parents were staying just moments after it has been attacked and burned. Yet, he finds no evidence of his parents' bodies.

• Do you think finding his parents' bodies would have helped Ishmael, or hurt him, or both? In other words, how would it have changed his journey?

• We meet an adult (Gasemu) at the beginning of the chapter who dies at the chapter's end. Why do you think Ishmael included him, and why did he include him at this particular point in the book?

2. Reading Chapter 12 together with a focus on connecting the past to the future:

• Find one line in which Ishmael is connected to past, and explore/question that connection.

• Find one line that offers us a glimpse of Ishmael's future as a child soldier, and explore/question that connection.

3. Starting Chapters 13 and 14 for tomorrow's fishbowl with a focus on finding patterns and connections, just as we've been practicing

HW:
1. Finish reading and annotating Chapters 12, 13, and 14 for tomorrow's fishbowl discussion (we'll read Chapter 15 on Friday).

2. Finish your www.noredink.com assignment, "Connecting Clauses, Take 1."

A Long Way Gone (From...): December 1, 2015

Focus: What patterns are you noticing in Ishmael's journey so far? How do these patterns connect to the title?

1. Warming up by revisiting your initial brainstorming on the title. Here are the original questions I posed:

• Have you ever felt a long way gone?

• What do you think it means to be a long way gone?

• Thinking about the front and back of this book, what are the possible multiple meanings of being a long way gone for Ishmael Beah? 

Beah references his own title on page 65. What new meanings of the title can you brainstorm now that you're about halfway through?

2. Taking the next steps:

Look at your specialized focus and start trying to establish some larger patterns. Write a thesis-like statement establishing the patterns you're noticing.

For example, yesterday you noticed that music tended to offer Ishmael a literal escape, a metaphorical escape, and a connection to his home and his former self.

Lastly, try to connect those patterns to the title, A Long Way Gone. 

For example, I might say that Ishmael's music was nearly taken from him in Chapter 10. With each person that treats him with distrust, Ishmael grows a long way gone from his former life and his very humanity.

3. Entering Fishbowl #3: Chapters 9 and 10

4. Trying out "Connecting Clauses" on www.noredink.com

HW:
1. Read Chapter 11 tonight with 2-3 annotations by tomorrow (Wednesday).

2. Finish "Connecting Clauses, Take 1" in www.noredink.com by Thursday; open-note quiz Friday.