Friday Freewrite #3: March 24, 2017

Focus: What thematic ideas are emerging in the middle of The Great Gatsby?

1. Warming up with Grammar Quiz #10: Transitions

2. Friday Freewriting! Click here for today's prompts.

3. Viewing the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, Chapters 3-6

HW:
1. Remember that all make-up work regarding Chapters 5 and 6 is due by the end of the day today.

2. Also, the end of 12 weeks is April 7--the Friday after you get back from spring break. All non-Gatsby make-up work (grammar quizzes, revised work, etc) is due by that Friday.

3. If you are all caught up in American Literature, you have my full permission to take the next week off from this class.

Creating Reality: March 23, 2017

Focus: What realities are Fitzgerald's characters creating for themselves and why?

1. Warming up by reflecting on your tribute memoirs

2. Getting into character and examining the reality you have created for yourself

• Watch the Ted Talk: "What Reality Are You Creating for Yourself?"

• Discuss the following questions in character and type your thoughts in your in-class brainstorming Google doc:

• What do you fear?
• What lies do you tell yourself?
• How do you embellish your truth and write your own fictions?
• What reality are you creating for yourself?
• How is this self-constructed reality harming you (and others)?

• To transition into fishbowl: Post a Level 1, 2, or 3 question about the reality your character has created for himself or herself.

3. Enjoying a fishbowl discussion of The Great Gatsby, Chapter 6

4. Wrapping up: Which pattern is central to your understanding of/your connection to The Great Gatsby?

HW:
1. Remember that all make-up work regarding Chapters 5 and 6 is due by the end of the day on Friday.

2. Also, the end of 12 weeks is April 7--the Friday after you get back from spring break. All non-Gatsby make-up work (grammar quizzes, revised work, etc) is due by that Friday.

3. If you are all caught up in American Literature, you have my full permission to take the next week off from this class.

Engendered Power: March 22, 2017

Focus: What role does gender play in The Great Gatsby?

1. Warming up with mental jousting on gender and power in The Great Gatsby

2. Reading and journalling about The Great Gatsby, Chapter 6; tomorrow's fishbowl leaders may use this time to prepare.

3. Wrapping up with a quick blog statement about gender in The Great Gatsby:

The men in The Great Gatsby want to be _________, but in reality they are _____________.

The women in The Great Gatsby want to be _________, but in reality they are _____________.

Extra challenge: To what extent do these characters reflect gender stereotypes today?

HW:
1. Read Chapter 6 and complete your journal by tomorrow.

2. Remember that all make-up work regarding Chapters 5 and 6 is due by the end of the day on Friday.

3. Also, the end of 12 weeks is April 7--the Friday after you get back from spring break. All non-Gatsby make-up work (grammar quizzes, revised work, etc) is due by that Friday.

Pattern-Seeking: March 21, 2017

Focus: What patterns of symbolism are emerging in The Great Gatsby, and how do they help you understand Fitzgerald's intent?

Tribe: Slightly shortened class

1. Sooooo...what should I take next year for English? Click here for the slideshow of offerings.

2. Warming up with pattern-seeking in each others' blogs OR acting it out with the same focus?

• Read the blogs of your blogging buddies AND the long-distance buddies of the opposite class (check out the blogs of the people in the same colored-group as yours). 

• Leave a brief comment or question on all of them.

• You have an extra challenge this time: Seek patterns. What kinds of things are repeating across blogs and across chapters in The Great Gatsby?

• Try to form a Level 2 statement at the top or bottom of your Chapter 5 blog for Gatsby.

• Ex: The repetition of clocks and time-telling in The Great Gatsby emphasizes that Gatsby disregards time entirely in his belief that the past can be repeated; however, this motif also reminds the reader that time does move forward whether we want it to or not, altering the world and the people in it.

3. Enjoying a fishbowl discussion of Chapter 5 in The Great Gatsby

4. Wrapping up with take-aways and questions regarding patterns

HW:
1. Read Chapter 6 and complete your journal by Thursday.

2. Remember that all make-up work regarding Chapters 5 and 6 is due by the end of the day on Friday.

3. Also, the end of 12 weeks of April 7--the Friday after you get back from spring break. All non-Gatsby make-up work (grammar quizzes, revised work, etc) is due by that Friday.

Love or Lust: March 20, 2017

Focus: Are modern romances love or lust (or something else)?

1. Warming up with the Grammar You Must Know, Lesson #10: Transitions

2. Figuring out characters' romances by taking "The Love Quiz" in character

1st row: Nick
2nd row: Jordan
3rd row: Gatsby
4th row: Daisy
5th row: Tom
6th row: Myrtle

• Answer the questions in character. At the end of the quiz, find one passage from The Great Gatsby that supports the way you responded.

• With your "love interest," compare answers. Are you a good match? Why or why not? What is the nature of your romance: love, lust, or something else?

3. Reading and journaling about The Great Gatsby, Chapter 5; tomorrow's fishbowl leaders can use this time to prepare! Yes!

Note: If you haven't read my initial feedback yet on your early Gatsby blogs, please take a moment to have a look!

HW:
Please finish reading and journaling about Chapter 5. Enjoy all the awkwardness!

Friday Freewrite #2: March 17, 2017

Focus: How does the film challenge or reinforce your early impressions of The Great Gatsby?

1. Warming up with the much-anticipated Grammar Quiz #9: Apostrophes

2. Indulging in Friday Freewrite #2 (please click HERE , review the two big rules, and scroll to the two options for March 17)

It should kind of look like this picture of Sam writing his first novel:

3. Watching the film version of Chapters 1-4 in The Great Gatsby; click HERE if you'd prefer to type your film reflections (please make sure you put them in your shared Gatsby folder)

4. Turning in your film reflections to Mrs. Friis

HW:
Please read Chapter 5 for Tuesday and complete your next blog entry. Any late blogs for Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are due by the end of today.

Coloring in The Great Gatsby: March 16, 2017

Focus: What is the significance of color in The Great Gatsby

1. Warming up by taking a spin on the color wheel

• With your partner, choose any TWO of the following colors to analyze in The Great Gatsby: Green, yellow/gold, white, grey, or blue

• Using a web, free associate on each color (one at a time). What emotions/ ideas/ objects/ temperature, etc. do you associate with this color?

• Bolster your web by looking up the symbolic and/or cultural significance of your colors. Add a few more meanings to your webs. This website's pretty good.

• Find as many passages as you can from Chapters 1-4 in The Great Gatsby that mention your color. Add them to your webs by connecting them to the meanings they relate to. 

• Lastly, look at the cover of your book. Pick ONE of your colors and examine where and how it appears on the cover. Revisit your blog post on the cover of the book and add to it by offering   new a statement about the significance of the color on the cover and in the book.

2. Celebrating a few highlights from Tuesday's discussion

3. Enjoying a fishbowl discussion of The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4

HW:
1. If you fell behind in the reading or blogging (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), remember that you have until the end of the day tomorrow to catch up.

2. Please read Chapter 5 and complete your blog by Tuesday, March 21.

Punctilious but Never Florid: March 15, 2017

Focus: What vocabulary do we need to strengthen our understanding of Gatsby?

PLC: Shortened Class

1. Warming up with a little Gatsby vocabulary with www.quizlet.com

2. Reading/listening to/journalling about The Great Gatsby, Chapter 4

• See website for the journal overview and the fishbowl sign-up.

HW:
Finish your reading of and journal for Chapter 4. I will be checking your reading blogs weekly. 

Remember that there is an free audiobook on the class website. 

Fishbowl leaders need to prepare their syllabus and post it to the document on the website; discussers should be ready to discuss.

Fitzgerald and Modernism: March 14, 2017

Focus: What is Modernism, and how does this help you put The Great Gatsby in perspective?

1. Warming up with Modernist art from 1925

2. Investigating Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby, Fishbowl-style

3. Wrapping up with big takeaways

HW: 
1. Finish Chapter 4 and complete your journal entry by Thursday. Stay up with your reading and journals.

2. Interested in a free audiobook with follow-along pages and your choice of reading speed? Click HERE (also on website).

Valley of Ashes: March 13, 2017

Focus: What are the functions of the difference spaces in The Great Gatsby?

1. Warming up with three good things and Grammar You Must Know #9: Apostrophes

Click HERE if apostrophes mystify you.

2. Performing close readings of spaces in Chapter 2

1. Sketch your assigned space.
2. Observe: Include 4-5 lines/phrases from Chapter 1 or 2 that describe it. Also, describe what kinds of things happen in your space.
3. Question: Ask a few Level 1, 2, and/or 3 questions about your space.
4. Analyze: What patterns are starting to emerge as you examine this space? What specific aspects are symbolic, and what might they symbolize?
5. Synthesize: We'll pull our maps together with people from other rows and consider shifts; how does each space change the way characters behave?

• First two rows: East Egg and West Egg (the countryside)
• Middle two rows: The Valley of Ashes
• Last two rows: New York City

3. Reading and journalling on Chapter 3; tomorrow's fishbowl leaders can take this time to prep

• Journal overview linked here (and on website).
• Fishbowl overview linked here (and on website).
• Fishbowl sign-up linked here (and on website).

HW:
1. Finish reading Chapter 3 and complete your blog. Leaders and discussers: Prepare for greatness! LEADERS are exempt from the journal tonight; DISCUSSERS better journal their little hearts out.

2. I am checking in Color of Water books after school today.

3. If you asked for an extension on your tribute memoir until today, please remember to submit it to www.turnitin.com

"Friday" Freewrite #1: March 9, 2017

Focus: How do we approach a book as great as The Great Gatsby?

1. Warming up with a little visualization and finishing the end of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2 as a group

4th Hour: Click here for your group journal.

6th Hour: Click here for your group journal.

2. Introducing you to your first "Friday" freewrite ("Thursday" doesn't alliterate)

3. Offering you a glimpse of what our Gatsby weeks will look like and reflecting on yesterday's group journals:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Grammar and group warm-up; reading and journalling; fishbowl prep.	Individual warm-up; fishbowl discussion	Vocab and group warm-up; reading and journalling; fishbowl prep.	Individual warm-up; fishbowl discussion	Grammar "quiz"; Friday freewrite; film viewing and follow-up discussion

4. Reading and journalling on Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby

• Click HERE for the journal overview (also on website).

HW:
1. Tribute memoirs due in www.turnitin.com by 3:00 pm today.

2. Finish reading and journalling on Chapter 2 in The Great Gatsby before class on Monday.

3. Turn in your Color of Water books. I will be scanning them in on Monday.

Stepping into Someone Else's Shoes: March 8, 2017

Focus: What purposes does the book's opening chapter serve?

1. Warming up with a quick concrete poem on the book cover:

• Stare hard at the cover of your book. Really hard.

• Find three specific aspects of the cover your eyes find interesting. Describe them in detail, giving each its own line.

• Find one paradox (seeming contradiction) on the cover. Use your 4th (and maybe your 5th) line to describe it.

• Ask a question about the American Dream, the title, or any aspect of Fitzgerald's life.

• Answer it, using one image from your first three lines.

2. Performing a group reading of Chapter 1 together

4th Hour: Click here for your group journal.

6th Hour: Click here for your group journal.

• Artists (4): Sketch images/characters that stand out to you.

• Fact-gatherers (5): Gather the facts about characters.

• Mappers (3): Map out East Egg vs. West Egg, who lives where, characteristics of each. Pay attention to setting and how it relates to the characters.

• Actors (4): Read aloud the parts of Daisy, Nick (the narrator), Tom, Jordan.

• American Dream seekers (5): You're seeking of evidence of the American Dream.

• Poets (5): You're finding beautiful, beautiful lines.

• Biographers (5): Find evidence of F. Scott's (and Zelda's) own experiences in the book.

3. Signing up for our Gatsby fishbowl discussions; remember that must sign up once to be a leader and once to be a discusser (and those cannot be on the same date)

Click HERE for the fishbowl overview (also on the website).

HW:
1. Tribute memoirs due tomorrow by 3 pm in www.turnitin.com

• 50 points in Attempt and Completion for turning it in on time (45/50 if you ask for an extension 24 hours in advance and meet your new deadline, 40/50 if one school day late without asking for an extension, 10 point deduction each day after that).

• 100 points in Mastery for the content of your memoir.

2. You will need your completed parent-interview sheets for tomorrow's first Friday freewrite.

3. Turn in your Color of Water books. I will be scanning them with my magic laser beam on Monday.

The Roaring 20s: March 7, 2017

Focus: What do we need to know about F. Scott Fitzgerald's personal and historical background?

Please have out/up your interviews with your parents.

1. Warming up with by taking a literal stand on the American Dream

2. Indulging in little preview of The Great Gatsby, Baz Lurhmann style

To discuss after you watch:

• What are your impressions of the characters?
• What are your impressions of the background scene (the 1920s)? What made it "roaring"?
• What else stood out to you?

3. Watching part of the A & E Biography on the Fitzgeralds (buckle your seatbelts)

• Click HERE for the reflection questions if you'd prefer to type.

4. Wrapping up with takeaways and predictions for thematic topics in The Great Gatsby

HW:
1. If you missed yesterday's deadline for interviewing your parents, you have one more chance to take of care it: TONIGHT!

2. Final drafts tribute memoirs due Thursday by 3:00 pm in www.turnitin.com

3. Bring your Gatsby books tomorrow and Thursday; we will be reading Chapters 1 and 2 together. We will also be signing up for fishbowl discussions.

Wealth, Power, and the American Dream: March 6, 2017

Focus: Today, is wealth making or breaking the American dream?

1. Warming with three good things and an opening survey about wealth and power (15 min)

• New folder: The Great Gatsby or "Wealth and Power" or "The American Dream"
• New document: In-class thoughts

2. Watching videos to brainstorm ideas on the current status American Dream (10 min)

In your "In-class Thoughts" document, please try the following with a buddy as you watch the videos:

• Write a one-sentence summary of what the video is about.

• Write a one-sentence summary of what larger point the video is making and/or how the video responds to today's focus question (is wealth making or breaking the American dream?).

• Write a brief personal response to the video. This can include reflection, opinions, connections, analysis, reaction, questions, or all of the above.

Here are the videos (pick two or three)

Both Sides:

(good spoken word poem) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZDNUGMMxLk   (3:41)

Dream Is Dying:

• http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-dream-illustrated-with-legos-brookings-200611923.html  (3:40)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1I_AfdNHM8&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active  (3:26)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tUIx5DlxaI&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active   (3:25)

Dream is Thriving:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QL64pNdzLk&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active  (5:25)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8dXKMTUAtk&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active (3:44)

• President Trump on Rebuilding the American Dream

• Former First Lady Michelle Obama on the American Dream

3. Reading and jigsaw-discussing articles with differing views on the American dream (30 min)

On your favorite puzzle piece, try the following:

• Write a one-sentence summary of what the article is about.

• Write a one-sentence summary of what larger point the article is making and/or how the article responds to today's focus question (is wealth making or breaking the American dream?).

• Write a brief personal response to the article. This can include reflection, opinions, connections, analysis, reaction, questions, or all of the above.

Articles:
Group 1:“Millennials Put Their Surprising Stamp on the American Dream”

Group 2: “Keeping the Dream Alive”

Group 3: “The American Dream is Leaving America”

Group 4: “American Dream Faces Harsh New Realities”

Group 5: “American Dream? Or Mirage?”

Group 6: “Is The American Withering Or Just Changing?”

HW:
1. Finish interviewing your parents and bring their responses to class tomorrow. Click HERE if you need a copy of the interview questions.

2. Final draft of memoir due this Thursday by 3:00 pm in www.turnitin.com. Come see me for a conference!

3. Please finish up your Color of Water make-up work and turn in your books.

The Big Edit: March 3, 2017

Focus: How do we turn our first drafts into second drafts?

1. Warming up with Grammar You Must Know, Quiz #8: Redundancy

2. Giving you your peer editing partners and the editing sheet

• Click HERE for you editing partners.

Please note: This editing sheet is a requirement. It will be worth 30 points in the Growth category. Turn it in as soon as you're done using it to edit your essay.

3. Conferencing with your peer editor

HW:
1. Final tribute memoir drafts are due Thursday, March 9 by 3:00 pm in www.turnitin.com.

2. Please see me for a conference if you'd like one.

3. Coffeehouse reading is postponed until Friday, March 24 (the day before spring break). Note: Final drafts are still due March 9.

4. If have own or plan to purchase your own copy of Gatsby, please bring it on Monday. Also, please turn in your Color of Water books by Tuesday, March 14.

5. Parent-interview sheets due Tuesday. Click HERE if you need a copy.

Writing for Yourself and Strangers: March 2, 2017

Focus: How do we write for ourselves and for strangers?

Tribe: Shortened Class

1. Warming up with a sample exposition

• What important information did it share in the span of five minutes?
• How did it go about sharing this information?

2. Developing your expositions and rising action: Click here for the tribute memoir slides.

3. Sharing turning points, small successes, and big successes in writing for yourself and writing for strangers

Tomorrow is the BIG EDIT! 

Get your draft as complete as you can. Click here if you'd like to see whom your peer editing partners will be. No matter where you are in your draft, you will spend the majority of class tomorrow giving feedback to your partner. 

The edit will be worth 30 points. If you're absent tomorrow, you need to complete the editing sheet for your own draft (or find a kind soul to do it for you).

HW:
1. The rough draft of your memoir is due this Friday, March 3. It should be 2-3 pages at that point and will receive and attempt and completion grade + feedback.

2. If you fell behind on your Color of Water journals, or you need to make up a blog from a missed discussion, please take care of that this week (before we start Gatsby). Please turn in your books when you're done.

3. Open-note, open-neighbor "quiz" on redundancy tomorrow.

4. The final draft of your memoir and our coffeehouse reading will take place Thursday, March 9.

Big Takeaways from The Color of Water: March 1, 2017

Focus: What does McBride want us to understand better or differently?

1. Warming up with commenting on each other's blogs (click HERE for your blogging buddies):

For the first 10 minutes of class, please spend time reading the blogs of the other people in your group (see list above); try to leave detailed comments on at least one Color of Water blog of every member of your group.  Focus on their most recent entries.

If you're not sure what to write, here are some ideas:

• Give a specific compliment on something they wrote or how they phrased it.

• Answer a question they posed.

• Offer a follow-up question to something they pondered.

• Offer a different way of thinking about something.

2. Enjoying our final discussion of The Color of Water: Rotating fishbowls (click HERE for yesterday's fishbowl group prep sheet)

3. Wrapping up with big take-aways: What do you understand better or differently after reading this book?

4. Reviewing List 3 tone vocabulary words

HW:
1. The rough draft of your memoir is due this Friday, March 3. It should be 2-3 pages at that point and will receive and attempt and completion grade + feedback.

2. If you fell behind on your Color of Water journals, or you need to make up a blog from a missed discussion, please take care of that this week (before we start Gatsby).

3. The final draft of your memoir and our coffeehouse reading will take place Thursday, March 9.