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!

On Monday and Tuesday, students finished reading MAUS and completing reading guides. If you have not yet had a chance to read the entire book, either come in on Friday during lunch or send me an email and I’ll send you a PDF to be working at home.

In the meantime, homework is to be working on your final version of your hero comic book (due on Monday). Please make sure that you are making a bit of progress on this every day, as it is a large project and will be difficult to complete at the very last minute. I’ve placed stapled booklets on the wooden table at the front of the classroom if you need a new one.

I will be out unexpectedly tomorrow (Friday). Students – please sign in and pick up your papers as usual. You will have the whole day to work on your MAUS reading guides – please put them in the stacks on my desk when you’re done. You will also pick up a packet of three sheets of blank paper, stapled in the middle. Fold them in half and you’ll have a blank booklet for your comic book. Your homework over the weekend (due on Tuesday, not Monday) will be do a ROUGH DRAFT of your comic book in the booklet. It doesn’t have to be fancy or in color, I just want you to get a sense of how things will look, what space you need, how you can experiment with different kinds of panels, etc. I will give you a second blank booklet for your final copy.

I hope that it is a good, productive day tomorrow!

We have continued to work on reading MAUS during class time (reading guides are available in class). Students should be working on their comic books at home for homework. By the start of class on Friday, you should know:

• whom your character will be – what he or she looks like, his or her personality, motivations, and history, etc.
• the world your character will inhabit – both the ordinary and the extraordinary
• the plot as it moves through the first five steps of the Hero’s Cycle

Also, as a supplement to MAUS, here are a few Crash Course videos: