Today in class, we discussed the first Romeo and Juliet vocabulary list (under the vocab section). Then we went over direct and indirect objects using this PowerPoint: Direct Objects, Indirect Objects, and Damaged Disney Princesses

Homework was to finish the direct and indirect objects notes and practice – if you were absent, please come get a hard copy from the wall of papers in class.

Today in class, students read an excerpt from a book about the world of Shakespeare: A Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England

You had two options for digesting this information.

The dull, boring option:

• Read the excerpt from A Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England on literature and theatre.
• Create a multi-level outline in Microsoft word that describes what literature and theatre were like.
• I will grade you on how well you capture big ideas and significant details.

The fun, creative option(!):

• Read the excerpt from A Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England on literature and theatre.
• Create a full page comic strip that illustrates something about the theatre in Shakespeare’s time. Include lots of relevant details in the background.
• I will grade you on how well you capture big ideas through the medium of visual art.

Whichever medium you choose, it’s due tomorrow at the start of class.

Today in class we finished the last part of Miss Representation and discussed how the media and society can impact our ideas about gender. We took our logical fallacies quiz – if you missed it, you must come make it up on Friday during lunch to prevent the grade from turning into a zero.

Your Miss Representation viewing guides are due tomorrow, so if there’s anything you didn’t catch, please visit the link I posted a few days ago and finish your assignment.

Hi students:

I’m not feeling well and I’m going to be unexpectedly out today. Please be on your best behavior for the substitute. In terms of what I would like for you to spend your time today in class doing, I want you to work on your PSAs. That could include:

• Writing a script
• Drawing a storyboard (if you plan to take live shots)
• Looking up facts, anecdotes, and statistics about your issue
• Finding images and sound
• Experimenting with PowerPoint or MovieMaker on your laptops

We’ll move your quiz to Tuesday.

Students continued watching Miss Representation and completing the viewing guide.

There will be a quiz over tools of logic on Monday. In addition to the logical fallacies list, the fallacies we covered during the smoking documentary will be on it.  Logical Fallacy Graphic Organizer – Documentary

Good news! The due date for your PSA project is extended to Monday, May 4.

I handed out a list of logical fallacies – Logical Fallacies List.

We spent today watching some sample PSAs and analyzing how the directors made choices about the images, sound, narration, editing, humor, and rhetorical devices to best convey their messages:

We began today by discussing subjects and predicates. Here are those materials: Subject and Predicate Notes2 Subjects and Predicates and Evil Kittens

I also asked you to get started thinking of topics that you might enjoy doing for your PSA, due on Monday (we’ll talk more about the project tomorrow): How to Make a PSA

Finally, we continued viewing Miss Representation (see the link in yesterday’s post). Most classes got through minute 36 of the film.

We began today’s class with a discussion of the subjunctive mood: Subjunctive Mood

Here are a couple of videos that demonstrate the subjunctive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_T9_iwAlD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc

Next, we had a whole-class discussion of gender in the media, and began watching the documentary Miss Representation. You can watch the documentary here: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/miss_representation/

Please come get a copy of the viewing guide from the handout wall.

No homework for tonight – tomorrow we’re starting a project, so rest up!

Students took their grammar quiz today in class. If you were absent, you must come make this up on Friday during lunch tutorials, otherwise your grade will be a zero.

Next, students turned in their comic book projects. (What I have seen so far looks fantastic – I think many of you did a very good job on this project.) If you were absent, you need to come get a rubric sheet from the wall of handouts to fill out before you turn it in to me.

Finally, homework for tonight was to find and analyze a webcomic. Please pay very careful attention to the assignment directions – you have to print and cut it out, and write your analysis on the back. Webcomic Homework Assignment

We discussed the different rhetorical strategies according to Aristotle, then applied them watching a documentary about the tobacco industry’s advertising in Indonesia:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sex-lies-cigarettes/

Logical Fallacy Graphic Organizer – Documentary

We will have a quiz over the following grammar terms on Monday:

Grammar Vocabulary List 1

Comic book projects are also due on Monday.

Have a good weekend!