October 3, 2012, Period 5 Scribe

                                                                October 3, 2012

Hello! 

Tonight we will be reading two short stories (found under the 451 category on Mrs. Smith's teacher page) and will be discussing them tomorrow in class. However, the assistant principal will be joining and watching us tomorrow, so be prepared to show your participation and knowledge of the short stories.To add a twist to the game, we will not be doing the discussion aquarium style but a new way of discussion!

The short stories must be annotated and you must have 3 questions total--not per story. It is highly suggested that you do background research on the authors of the stories as this tells you the personal and historical history of their time when writing the stories.

PLN 3: Due Friday. Remember to connect to yourself, the world and education in response. No personal words in the summary!

Banned Books: On The American Library Association webpage, click on frequently challenged books on the left hand side and you can view the most challenged books for further assistance in book-picking.  

Are you getting a copy of 451? It is highly recommended that you do, but if not Mrs. Smith has copies in the classroom.

For the banned book project, these are the books already taken:

·         Catcher in the Rye

·         Water for Elephants

·         Brave New World

·         Gone with the Wind

·         Catch 22

·         Go Ask Alice

·         The Chocolate War

·         Crank

·         The Satanic Verses

·         Not Without My Daughter

·         Give a Boy a Gun

·         Animal Farm

·         Blood and Chocolate

·         Slaughterhouse Five

·         One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

·         Perks of Being a Wallflower

·         The Pact

Then, the class reviewed our SAT Lesson 5 Exercises for this week. Remember: Test over the words, part of speech, definition and SYNONYMS on Friday. The exercises are due then as well.

v  Exercise 3: Number 2: Petrified

v  Exercise 3: Number 3: When you are standing under something, like cheerleaders do, they are supporting what is above and maintaining the stability of above object.

v  Exercise 3: Number 4: Petroleum

v  Exercise 3: Number 5: Acid, lipid, horrid, lid, rid, kid, slid, rid, etc.

v  Exercise 5: Number 1: D is incorrect. The correct word for here is “was”. Yes, you must do exercise 5 this week, but not the writing portion of this exercise.

     After discussing the difference between rock and stone (because, as we now know, Geology rocks!), we took out our cell phones to do polls of the class. Texting 37607 a code for yes (for example: 644351) and no (for example: 644352), we had variations in ways that we answered the questions. For the first one that stated,“History books are accurate,” 24 percent of the class agreed and 76 percent disagreed to this statement. Those who agreed said that without the history books how would we know history? Why would someone lie about the facts of the past? Those who said no, argued that more information has been found out since then  and history books only give one side of a story—sort of like opinions  For example, in America we are taught that the Americans were innocent and England was a sick tyrant. Yet, in England it is probably viewed as the other way around. Who do you agree with?

     For the next topic of “TV news is accurate” the whole class agreed that TV news is not accurate. Some news stations, like FOX News, are biased when it comes to candidates in the upcoming election, etc. Also breaking news is not always 100 percent true. Later on news stations usually find out that the information they received has changed and is no longer the same. How do you feel? Is the news accurate?

     The last topic was if mass media (newspapers, magazines, public opinion, social networking sites) are accurate. 38 percent said no and 63 percent said yes. Those who agreed said that a mass media site is only bad if it is not a good source. One should read all topics from all view points that mass media has to offer so they know all sides of a situation. Those who disagreed said----

And then the bell rang, as it is a lovely late start day.  Have a wonderful night and see you tomorrow! Don’t forget to do your homework! J

HOMEWORK:

Banned book and letter due Monday. First come, first serve basis!

SAT words and test are Friday.

PLN 3 due Friday

Copy of 451

2 short stories (Harrison Bergeron and Pedestrian), questions, background information and annotations due tomorrow for discussion.