1st Trimester Grades

The first trimester ends this week and grades are due in on Thursday. Here is a brief explanation of how the grades are broken down...
Teacherease is just a record of the work that you have done. It lets you know what you have turned in and how you have done on it.

I look at the grade of 1-4 that you have received.
4=A (exceeds the standards of the trimester)
3=B (meets the standards of the trimester)
2=C (approaches the standards of the trimester)
1=NC (still needs to be improved because you are still not getting something)

0=F (not enough work to make a judgement of where you are at)

Some standards addressed this trimester can be viewed at this website:
http://www.nylearns.org/standards/standard_tree.asp?StandardID=18656&lev=gradelevel

as you are considering your portfolio work for the first trimester, try to pay close attention to specific standards we've addressed

Next Independent Reading Assignment #3

the next assignment will be due on December 23rd before the Holiday Break.

Crucible in-class essay on Friday, 12/5

We will be having an in class timed writing assignment on Friday on the Crucible. Please come prepared with a pen and looseleaf paper.

Act 3 Presentations

Group 1 was a success. Group 2 will be moved to Monday, December 1st because of the International Feast today.

Group 2 will be performing on Monday no matter what... please come prepared. Everyone in the group should have a copy of the play and should be ready to perform.

group 1 should be ready to watch attentively.

Crucible Assignment

Please read Act 4 on your own.

Make an assertion and then find 3 pieces of text to support your assertion. This is going to be practice for the paper you will be writing at the conclusion of our study of the play.

Make up work deadlines

All Make up work must be in no later than December 1st as the trimester ends Friday, December 5th and that is when my grades are due.

Notes about Act 3

Good morning all,

Just a note that yesterday you all really impressed me with your focus. You were able to do a read through of most your work in Act 3

Just a reminder that tomorrow your Multigenre Crucible Projects are due.

The independent reading assignment #2 is due on Monday, 11/24

Group 1 will be presenting Act 3 on Monday -
Group 1 make sure all members of the team have their books and/or copied pages
Make sure you have props and you've practiced where you are going to be blocked.

Group 2 will be performing on Wednesday.
Come prepared

I will have a worksheet for the watching team to keep everyone focused.

Presentations for Multi-genre projects will begin when we return from Thanksgiving.

Make-up Work

All Make-up work will be due on Monday, December 1st. I will NOT accept any work beyond that point.

Please make sure that as we are working on portfolio work, and we are wrapping up our first trimester, that you show that you are at least approaching the standards...

Make sure you have turned in at least one of the following?
Task 1 - Marie Curie or Evolution of Witchcraft
Task 2 - Tanning or Witchcraft
Task 3 - Nature or Courage
Task 4 - critical lens

Due this week and looking ahead

In class today we will be working portfolio...

We will also be trying to get through Act 3 in class by the end of the week... I may adjust what I had originally planned to get through it more effectively.

Your independent reading assignments are going to be pushed back to Monday, 11/24

Your multigenre projects are due on Friday, 11/21 (This week) and I will send around a sign up sheet today for presentations starting on Friday. They will run through to the Wed. before Thanksgiving.

Portfolio

Portfolios are the place where you show what you know. Being a portfoli school, we try to assess students based on the work that they do against the standards of the school. Test grades and numbers are not nearly enough. A learner must truly understand their strengths and weaknesses and work to learn techniques to improve on both to meet standards.

Portfolio is a 4 part process:

1. Collection: when you put all of your work (even work in progress) in your work in progress (WIP) folders to keep track of everything that you are doing. Examples of this can be homework, class work, labs, drafts, writing assignments and tests and quizzes
2. Selection: when we complete a trimester and you want to show your exemplary work (your best work) so show evidence of your learning. It actually demonstrates the standards you've mastered in the class.
3. Reflection: after you've completed a piece in any class, you must reflect on that assignment. What standards are you meeting or exceeding or still approaching? How can you improve or continue to excell at these standards? How can you adjust your learning to better meet the standards? How were you able to show what you know?
4. Connection: Our classes don't happen in isolation and therefore our learning can't be. We must start to make better connections between what goes on in each of our classes. How does what you learn in once class help you with what you are doing in another class? How do the skills you are learning help contribute to making you more ready for life after school? How does your learning prepare you for more than just good grades?

Reminders

Your multi-genre Crucible projects are due on Friday, 11/21. Please make sure you complete your work on time.

Your independent reading assignments are due on 11/26.

You will be working on your in class presentations of your work starting on the 21st and go through to 26th.

You can start signing up in class on Monday, 11/17

Wednesday in class

Since I will not be in class on Wednesday, you will be allowed to make up work.

Due for Wed. was the textual analysis assignment given in class on Monday. Please turn it in to the inbox on Wed.

During class time, you may go on teacherease and find out what you are missing and continue to work on any missing work.

You may also start considering your pieces for portfolio.

Make up blog posts and/or regents tasks or do work on your multigenre project due 11/21. - don't forget to give all citations for your research.

Textual analysis of the Crucible

After today's class, we will have finished half of the play - Acts 1 and 2. Let's take a minute to go back through the text to really look at what Arthur Miller is doing...

Each character represents different ideals and propels the plot in a different way...

He often interjects his own voice throughout the play to give the watcher information... what is the affect of this?

Go back through Acts 1 and 2 and post an excerpt of text with analysis where Miller is giving us what he thinks and how it adds to the dramatic effect (remember the disclaimer at the beginning of the play.)

For example:
in my version of the text: "The concept of unity, in which positive and negative are attributes of the same force, in which good an devil are relative, ever-changing, and always joined to the same phenomenon - such a concept is still reserved to the physical sciences and to the few who have grasped the history of ideas. When it is recalled that until the Christian era the underworld was never regarded as a hostile area, that all gods were useful and essentially friendly to man despite occasional lapses; when we see teh steady and methodical inculcation into humanity of the idea of man's worthlessness - until redeemed - the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state" (Miller 33-34).

Arthur Miller gives us a very clear understanding here that this play is supposed to mimic and judge those who judge others. This idea of "unity" that he speaks of where "positive and negative" are of the same force. He uses these strong words which carry great connotation and emotion to rile the reader into into understanding the frenzy that was both present during the witchhunts in Salem and later during the McCarthy era hearings. Whenever we don't like what is going on, it is easier to persecute people for "wrong doing" then it is to accept difference or allow people to associate with it. Invoking the "Devil" with a capital d, shows that Miller intentionally calls upon the Puritan rigidity to help us understand the hysteria that Hale and Parris as well as others in the play are working with. Having young women (or anyone who appeared to sympathized with communism) who were not practicing strict puritan beliefs was a threat to their society as they understood it. They had to work had to make sure that their society stayed as it was for the preservation of life as they understood it.

He also mentions that these people can be "redeemed" and in such, like when the people confess in Act 2 and therefore will not be hanged, it is a way for society to take back their strong hold and dispell the different beliefs thus keeping the status quo and preserving life as they understand it.

Task 4 essay - Crucible

You will be given a task 4 essay today in class - the first draft will be due on Wed. 11/12.

We are closing in on the end of the first trimester. Please make sure to show me and yourselves that you can meet the standards.

Reminders

Your task 2 rewrites are due tomorrow (on Witchcraft).

Your self-inventories are due today.

Week of 11/3

11/3 - give out group assignments for Act 2 - students will be performing their sections of Act 2 starting on Wed. You will need to act/narrate whatever pages you are responsible for and then post to the blog about the significance of something in your pages. Make sure to cite specifically from the text and give the page numbers.

*Task 3 is due in class today

11/4- election day - no school

11/5- student led scenes begin

11/6 - period 3 - channel 1 and self-inventories, conferences

11/7 - student led scenes continue
Task 2 rewrite is due.
Task 4 will be assigned today and due on Monday 11/10

Date reminders:
11/21 - Crucible Multigenre project due
- Presentations for multigenre project begin
- Independent Reading Assignment #2 is due