All Boys, All Blogged: March 16, 2015

Focus: What are the components of the society in Fahrenheit 451?

1. Warming up: Creating a recipe for the society of Fahrenheit 451; click HERE for directions.

2. Cleverly unraveling the poem you're about to meet in F451: "Dover Beach"

a. Tell me the story of each stanza. In other words, put each stanza into your own words.

b. Tell me everything you know about the poem's speaker.

c. Find an important metaphor and explain it to me carefully (what is being compared to what and why?).

d. Find three images, each appealing to a different sense, and explain what they contribute to the poem.

e. Describe what you think is the poem's tone. Defend your response with two details from the poem.

f. Identify what you see as an important shift in the poem, and explain the nature of the shift.

g. Find one important allusion in the poem. Look up that allusion, and explain why the poem might make this particular allusion. In other words, what does it contribute to the poem.

h. Explain one of the poem's motifs, supporting your response with two details from the poem.

i. Explore two sound devices in this poem and explain what larger idea they help reveal (ex: alliteration, assonance, rhyme, euphony, cacophony, etc.).

j. What do you think its the poem's theme? In other words, what lesson is it trying to teach us?

k. Of all the poems in the entire world, why might Bradbury include this one in F451? (You will be coming across it in tonight's reading). In other words, how does this theme of this poem overlap with the ideas in F451?

l. Ask one good level 3 question that pertains to this poem.

(P.S. This is a contest.  The best poetry explication gets a prize.)

3. If time allows, reading Fahrenheit 451

HW:
1. Prepare for tomorrow's fishbowl discussion by reading pages 80-102; fill out one side of your new observation chart.

2. Work on your banned book persuasive speech.

All Boys, All Blogged: March 13, 2015

Focus: What shifts are happening in F451?

1. Warming up with a rousing round of pictionary to get your ready for your vocabulary quiz!

2. Enjoying a vocabulary quiz on F451 words 1-15

3. Catching up/getting ahead in F451 and your observation charts until everyone finishes the quiz

4. Participating in Fishbowl #4: F451, pages 63-80

HW:
1. Work on your banned book speech; they begin next Friday. 

2. To prepare for next Tuesday's fishbowl discussion, please read pages 80-102 in F451 and complete one side of your observation chart (due Tuesday, not Monday). 

All Boys, All Blogged: March 11, 2015

Focus: Are we on the path that Bradbury is projecting in Fahrenheit 451?

PARCC: Shortened class today

1. As you watch each commercial, consider what it reflects about our society and/or how it connects our society to that of F451.  Type your reflections for any THREE of these commercials.

Netflix
More Netflix
Tide Pods
Jimmy John's 
Radio Shack
iPad
Best Buy 
Wii
Gogurt
Campbell's
Abilify

2. Reading back through pages 54-57: Do you see elements of those commercials/our society in these pages? What happened to the society in F451?

3. Reviewing the first 15 words in your F451  packet

HW:

1. Please read pages 63-80 in F451 and complete one side of your green observation chart/reading journal by this Friday. I will likely collect your observation charts on Friday.

2. Work on your book talk and be ready to go on your presentation date.

3. This Friday we will have a vocabulary quiz over F451 words 1 through 15 ("abstracted" through "fold").

All Boys, All Blogged: March 10, 2015

Focus: In dystopian societies, what do people care about? What don't they care about?

1. Warming up with a breakdown of the word "dystopia" and two dystopian film clips

a. The Hunger Games
b. Divergent

• What are the teenagers like in these societies?
• What are the adults like?
• What do people care about?
• What don't people care about?

Looking at your responses above, make one connection between each film clip and the teenagers/adults/society/morals of the characters in F451. Consider both similarities and differences.

2. Enjoying Fishbowl #3: F451, pages 40-63

3. Wrapping up

HW:

1. Please read pages 63-80 in F451 and complete one side of your green observation chart/reading journal by this Friday. I will likely collect your observation charts on Friday.

2. Work on your book talk and be ready to go on your presentation date.

3. This Friday we will have a vocabulary quiz over F451 words 1 through 15 ("abstracted" through "fold").

All Boys, All Blogged: March 9, 2015

Focus: What are the qualities of an effective speech?

Please make sure you are signed up for a book talk.

1. Warming up: Exploring a few definitions of logos, ethos, and pathos

2. Exploring the detailed overview of your book talks (if you don't have your green packet, please click HERE), particularly the part in which you address logos, ethos, and pathos

3. Watching a professional speech and discussing how the speaker uses the three appeals

• What is his attention grabber (how does he open his speech)?

• What is his claim?  In other words, what point is he trying to make?

• How was his speech organized?  In other words, what were his topics?

• How did he use the slides projected to the audience?

• Which details in his speech (images, phrases, word choices, etc.) appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos?

4. If time allows, starting to work on your own book talk

HW:

1. Please read pages 41-63 in F451 and complete one side of your green observation chart/reading journal by tomorrow (Tuesday).

2. Work on your book talk and be ready to go on your presentation date.

3. This Friday we will have a vocabulary quiz over F451 words 1 through 15 ("abstracted" through "fold").

All Boys, All Blogged: March 5, 2015

Focus: What is Bradbury's vision of the future?

1. Warming up with an overview of your PARCC schedule (click HERE for the tutorial):

• Testing will take place the mornings of  Wednesday and Thursday next week.  ALL 9th, 10th and 11th graders will take Language Arts testing on Wednesday.  The Math test will be given on Thursday morning.

• For the Math test:  Students will take either the Algebra I, Geometry or Algebra II test depending on their current math course.  9th and 10th graders who have already completed Algebra II will take the Algebra II test.  Juniors who have already completed Algebra II will NOT take a math test.  Students in Pre-Algebra will take the Algebra I test.

• Room assignments are posted on the wall in the Cafeteria outside the Security office.  Please check the list for your room assignment prior to Wednesday.

• If you have checked out a C​hrome​b​ook from Arapahoe, you will use that for your testing.  Please bring that ​C​hrome​b​ook to school fully charged on Wednesday and Thursday.

• You will need headphones on Wednesday for the Language Arts test.

• Click HERE for more PARCC details and the specific schedule for next Wed and Th.

2. Celebrating the best of the blog

Evan BunchMarch 3, 2015 at 6:47 AM

Fire in F451 symbolizes destruction of physical things and of knowledge, but also symbolizes a sense of security

Diego SchutzMarch 3, 2015 at 6:47 AM

Fire in F451 symbolizes the need to be destructive in order to rebuild.

Blakw062March 3, 2015 at 6:47 AM

Fire in F451 symbolizes a monster that also can't be contained

JustinKMarch 3, 2015 at 7:03 AM

Could Montag walking out into the rain on pg. 21 symbolize anything in Montag's life?

ReplyDelete

Replies

1. 
   Blake WMarch 3, 2015 at 7:03 AM

   Maybe how dark it has been

   Delete
2. 
   Reid CMarch 3, 2015 at 7:04 AM

   I think this shows how Montag is in a storm right now in his life and he isn't sure what to do next.

   Delete
3. 
   CristianMMarch 3, 2015 at 7:09 AM

   It could symbolize washing away his old and dark life, creating a new better one.

   Delete

3. Enjoying our second fishbowl discussion: F451, pages 28-40

4. Wrapping up

HW:
1. For next Tuesday, please read through page 63 and complete the backside of an observation chart.

2. Work on your banned book persuasive speech.

3. If you haven't finished entering words 1-15 of your F451 vocabulary into www.quizlet.com, please do so before Monday.

4. Make sure your parents know that I will be leaving conferences at 6:00 tonight (letter was sent home last week via hard copy and e-mail).

All Boys, All Blogged: March 4, 2015

Focus: What can we learn from breaking down Bradbury's metaphors and similes?

1. Warming up with a little creative writing: Making your own metaphors

Pick one of the following objects: Books, the breakfast you ate this morning, your brain, your friend's brain, your hands, your pet, your room

Close your eyes and visualize this object. Then generate a list of unlikely, unusual things your object resembles.

Create two metaphors/similes for this object: one that offers positive connotations, and one that offers negative connotations.

2. Offering you Ms. Leclaire's five-step approach to breaking down a challenging metaphor:

Step 1: Find a good metaphor/simile.

"How like a mirror, too, her face. Impossible; for how many people did you know who refracted your own light to you?" (11)


Step 2: Ask a question or two about it.

How is Clarisse's face like a mirror to Montag? How is she refracting his own light?


Step 3: Brainstorm connotations of the elements of the metaphor/simile.

What do I associate with the word "mirror"? What about "light" What about "refracting?"


Step 4: Connect those connotations to larger patterns you're seeing in the text.


Step 5: Answer the questions you asked in Step 2.


3. Trying out your newly found metaphor powers with pages 1-28 of F451; individual power first, then small group power

4. Understanding Bradbury's tricky vocabulary with a little help from www.quizlet.com; focus just on words 1-15 (quiz will be on Friday, March 13).

HW:

1. For Thursday, please read through page 40 in F451 and complete one side of your observation chart. Make sure you're bringing these each day of the week for random check-ins.

2. Start prepping for your banned book persuasive speech (esp. if that means finishing your book).

3. Finish entering vocabulary words 1-15 in www.quizlet.com if you did not finish during class.