Week 12, Semester 2

 Hello,

I'm posting the Week 12 slides here today for those who want to get started ASAP.  They contain not only a review of  class but instructions for this week's work over break.

Remember there will be a quiz on the first two parts of Fahrenheit 451 and the slides.

25x perfectly over four days.

Have a fabulous break and see you on April 7th!

Mrs. Price

Week 11, Semester 2

 Here are the slides for this week; they're a combination of review from class and new material.  Be sure to click through the Prezi presentation and complete the worksheet.  Also, there is a family genealogy assignment in there too. There are also some group discussion questions and information that we'll use next week.

Here is the last study guide to complete. Have all of this week's work ready to check next week in your groups.

Submit all Their Eyes Study Guide Work, genealogy effort, and email etiquette worksheet here by next class. Let me know if I am forgetting any work.

Progress reports will be calculated and sent at the end of spring break (early April), so the work for this unit will be the final piece that goes into that computation.  Do excellent work!

I saw this article in the Asheville Citizen-Times today and thought to keep you in the loop:

Vance Monument: Asheville to take final vote on obelisk honoring racist Confederate governor

Week 10, Semester 2

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This week we'll read chapters 7-15 of TEWWG.  Please make use of the glossary and audio (tab above); I promise it will help you get more out of your experience and the story.

HERE'S the study guide for this week, follow the directions.  I realize that the study guide slows down your reading process. In fact, that is the point; I want you to digest the text thoughtfully and not just plow through it. Slowing down gives you more time to ponder, revisit, and apply.  I know some of you still don't believe me about this, but please try it my way. ; )

The questions for these chapters will push you past toward WHAT is happening to HOW and WHY Hurston uses language, tone, and diction to convey the WHAT.

HERE are the slides that will help you 1) review the material from class 2) help you fill out your study guide and prepare for reading  3) help you prepare for next week's quiz.  Along the way there are videos and links to read, so look for them.

That's it for this week....we'll get to the local history revision stuff soon but not this week.

Questions?  Email me--happy to help!

Mrs. Price

Week 9, Semester 2

Here's the complete work for this week. Enjoy listening to Ruby Dee's narration while following along in the book.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This week we'll read the first six chapters. Please notice and use the "Their Eyes Resources" tab at the top of this blog.  Here you'll find a helpful glossary and an excellent audio reading of each chapter.  

Before each chapter, read through the glossary words for that chapter so that you'll understand them.

Here are the study guide questions for chapters 1-6. Make your own copy of the document and answer the questions as you read. Keep all of your work for this unit in one place so that it's all together when it's time to turn it in.

Please listen to Chapter 1 as you follow along in the text.  It's good to have both your eyes and ears taking in the words and sound of the vernacular.  It will help you become accustomed to the feel and sound of the language.  Each chapter has an audio link, so you may wish to listen throughout your reading. It's a great audio version.

We will have some vocabulary to define related to this book and Zora Neale Hurston.  Please look up and define each of the following:

vernacular

colloquial

aphorisms

folklore

anthropology

idiom

Harlem Renaissance Video Component

Watch the following videos on the Harlem Renaissance Movement.  Take notes of specifics while you watch.  Afterwards, use your notes to create a Writer's Notebook entry with at least four well-developed paragraphs. Here are the topics you should address in each paragraph:

Paragraph 1: A description of the movement  (think: who, what, when, where)

Paragraph 2: The causes of the movement  (think: why? what conditions precipitated it?)

Paragraph 3: Characteristics of mov't, some important figures and art forms

Paragraph 4:  Impact and legacy

Videos to Watch

The Great Migration & The Harlem Renaissance (12 minutes)

The Harlem Renaissance's cultural explosion, in photographs (5 minutes)

Great Gatsby Work Submission

Here's the document where you should submit links to all of your Gatsby unit work.  You can take pictures of elements or scan them and compile their images into a Google Slides document.  Or you can share Google documents as links as well.  Be sure to change the permissions so I have access and ability to comment. All of these are due to be submitted by next Tuesday.

Week 8, Semester 2

Oh, wow, we are entering Week 8 not Week 7!  A few remarks before the specifics:

After further research, I learned that each of us will need to rent the movie to view it, whether we participate in a Watch Party or not.  Sorry about that--thought I might be able to reduce expenses, but regardless, you can find the movie online inexpensively ($3.99) on Amazon Prime, but also at:

There may be other places too--Netflix? Anyway, I still like the idea of watch parties so that our experience can be more communal.  So, if you host or participate in a watch party, you can count that as party of your Gatsby unit work.

Either way, it's your choice--watch on your own or with others, but WATCH. : )  

I hosted a Gatsby watch party Thursday night. If anyone else would like to host an "open-invitation" the-more-the-merrier kind of watch party, let me know, and I'll share that here.

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Regardless of how you watch,  BEFORE YOU WATCH, do the following.  Note: sorry in advance about some of the mic/muffled sound in the Preview Prep 2, my headset was pulling in and out, so just bear with.  

Watch Preview Prep 1--Art & Film Terms (15 min)

Watch Preview Prep 2--Intro to Baz Luhrmann (15 min)

PRINT this Gatsby Search and Find and use it focus your viewing.  Read the categories beforehand and take notes about aspects as you watch.

Here are the slides from the Preview Prep above for reference.

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Gatsby Character Poem

Yes, you will be writing a poem this week.  Don't stress---it will be fun!  I'm going to give you a specific structure to follow and you should make use of words/descriptions/images from the actual text (in addition to your own word choices).

Here is the format/brainstorming prompt, except you will be writing about your choice of CHARACTER from The Great Gatsby. There are many interesting characters in this book, so be open to less obvious choices too.  It'd be nice to have a mix of characters to share next week (yes, we will share these).

Use the text to inform your descriptions and word choices.

Do not make it rhyme--I forbid you. : )  Follow the format closely--I insist. : )

Once you brainstorm on the sheet, read it aloud to yourself and notice how the words sound together.

Tweak and revise. Use a few words Fitzgerald used.  Copy or type it out in a separate document.

These always turn out great---so enjoy!  Write one about yourself too if you like---you may find out something new about yourself. ; )

Here is one as an example---do you recognize the character and book?

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That's it for this week---keep all of your Gatsby work in one place (except your Writer's Notebook entry). We'll talk about ways to submit it all next week!

Hey--a few of you have forgotten to take the Gatsby Quiz---get it done before you incur penalty.

Today's Google Doodle

 Look whose birthday is celebrated today with a Google doodle:

Can you connect the images they included back to what you know about her? Try to remember how the images in the drawing are fitting. 🎂

Here's a link to the Google Doodle entry--look at the Q & A with the artist too, thoughtfully done!

Week 7, Semester 2

Below you'll find the work for this week. Feel free to touch base with any questions-- always happy to help! 🙂

Gatsby

We'll finish reading Gatsby this week, chapters 7-9.  Don't forget to learn, identify, and review the vocabulary. You'll only continue to grow in your reading skills if you read more challenging texts and make an effort to "meet" and "know" new words. ; ) 

Continue with your "Coloring Gatsby" activities---tracing motifs, annotating, drawing.  I'll be asking you to summarize and submit activities you have completed on March 2nd (after we finish the book and film).

This week, I would like you to complete this specific symbols and motifs activity as well:

Symbols and Motifs

STEP 1--Choose two items from the Symbolism & Motifs section of your Coloring Gatsby that you'd like to explore more in depth.

STEP 2--For each motif, find and type out three passages from the text that make a point or illustrate the motifs. Include a chapter and page reference for each.

STEP 3--For each motif, write a summarizing paragraph that shares how you think Fitzgerald is using those motifs in those passages to make a larger point.

In terms of format, this is how I would structure the work:

Motif/Symbol A:  

Quote #1  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #2  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #3 (Chapter #, page #)

Paragraph explaining how these quotes demonstrate the motif/symbol and how they connect to Fitzgerald's larger purposes and message

Motif/Symbol B:  

Quote #1  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #2  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #3 (Chapter #, page #)

Paragraph explaining how these quotes demonstrate the motif/symbol and how they connect to Fitzgerald's larger purposes and message

Keep this with your other Coloring Gatsby work and be ready to share it with your breakout groups next class.

Symbolism & Motifs from your "Coloring Gatsby" document

Vocabulary Work

You'll meet the last of your new vocabulary this week before you read chapters 7-9. This week you will also have a specific review exercise to help clarify and cement these new words.

Please complete pages 18-25 in your vocabulary sheets.  These exercises will help you review and apply the vocabulary we are learning. You may do this in one of three ways: 1) in a separate Google document 2) print it out and complete it or 3) write out the answers on a piece of notebook paper. 

Next Class 

Next class we'll spend the bulk of our time discussing the book together as a class with breakout groups for some specific focus points of discussion. We'll also have a quiz that will cover vocabulary, slides, and the book as a whole.  

Here are the slides from last class for your review.  Note that the last three slides are NEW and will help you contextualize some aspects of the last three chapters, so preview them before you read the last sections.

Note--I'm foregoing more timeline work this week. We'll add more in the coming weeks but not this week.

Feedback/Assessment

I had a good question in my 11:15 about assessment/feedback this semester.  As we have stepped away from Google Classroom as our primary source of communication, I have moved more toward accountability taking place in group settings and in-class assessments where students report their progress privately in "chat."

I am also using the "writing feedback" document for major projects/units to communicate letter grades along with comments about specific strengths and areas to improve upon.  This second semester I will likely use this document even more, collecting your work in "units," then grading and commenting upon them within this document.  Students, you should have a copy of this document in your Google Documents under "Writing Feedback + Your Name."  If you can't locate it, search the drive, and I am happy to send another link if you still have trouble after this.

Right now, I'm working on your local history projects and hope to finish them up this week.  Keep an eye out for comments I make directly within those documents and also for my comments and grade within your writing feedback document.  Evaluating writing and research takes a lot of time, energy, and a certain "head space." So, I work on these bit-by-bit as I am able. To give you an idea of the time commitment, each student's work requires at least 30 minutes for me to appreciate, evaluate, and comment upon. It's "slow food" for sure. ; )

You'll also be receiving a mid-semester progress report mid-March via email.  

Also, please know that I am always happy to talk with you after class or during the week about your performance in class and ways that you can improve your efforts.  I'm available via email throughout the week as well.  Hope that helps clarify the feedback/assessment question. 

I look forward to finishing up our discussion of Gatsby next week and preparing you for the movie!

Mrs. Price  

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One final addition---I've been working on a global schedule for the rest of second semester for my long-range thinkers and planners.  It's subject to tweaks, but here it is as of today.  Print and put in your class notebook for reference.

A common area within the Plaza Hotel, New York City

The Plaza Hotel is the setting for Chapter 7 in The Great Gatsby (a pivotal chapter). 
It first opened in 1907.