February 28 & March 1: Block Days, Cinematic Techniques, Works Cited, and Animal Farm.

February 28 & March 1: Block Days, Cinematic Techniques, Works Cited, and Animal Farm.

Make sure you have your laptop today, or you can share with someone.

Essential Question: What connections are there between an author’s choice of literary techniques and a director’s choice of cinematic (movie) techniques? 

*The two groups that have not presented their dramatizations must videotape their work and submit it to me via email by Monday, March 4.

I.Do Now:  

How do we do a bibliography “works cited” entry for information sources we get from the Internet? Examine the following MLA Style “Works cited” and the explanation below. Construct proper MLA works cited entries, like those below, for your the Internet sources you located for last night’s homework assignment.

Examples:

1.       All Allergy. 2002. Web. 17 May 2006. <http://www.allallergy.net/ >."Californium [7440-71-3]." ChemFinder.com: Database and Internet Searching. 2004.

2.     CambridgeSoft. Web. 12 June 2006. <http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com/result.asp>.

 3.     COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts. Winter 2006. COPIA. Web. 17 May 2006 <

http://www.copia.org/ >.

4. Lanham, Howard G. American Military Patches, Other Insignia and Decorations of World War Two. Web. 17 May 2006 <http://www.angelfire.com/md2/patches/>.

*Each of the above “works cited” include:

a. the publisher, source or author of the information

b. the access source: the “Web”.

c. the date you found the information.

d. the url address.

Research Topics from last night’s homework

1.___________Review page 145, Activity 2.17

2.___________Answer the questions on page 146, Activity 2.18.

3.___________Groups form who share a common research topic. In your group combine your information and create a short presentation using the template on page 151 to limit your presentation to.

4.___________while you listen to each presentation, other than your own, take notes using the template provided on page 152 (Activity 2.18).

5.___________Read page 154-155. Mark the text. Fill-in the template on page 153 and 155 in which you will describe both mood and tone. 

III. We will look at two videos as further introduction to Animal Farm. Watch the following video and answer the following questions. Write your answers on the the sheet of paper you used for your do now. 

A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kun3Or9SVwA 

B. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LckkxFwd5kE 

a. Create a works cited entry for each of the videos we have viewed.

b. Summarize the events that led up to the Russian Revolution.

3. What dis Czar Nicholas II and his government do to incite the Russian Revolution?

1.Who was Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, and Josef Stalin?

2.Who was Karl Marx?

3.What is Russification? What is to Anglicize?

4.What do farms have to do with the communism?

5.What were some of the things identified in the videos that went wrong with the communist vision for Russia?

6.What role did the First World War play in the Russian Revolution?

7.If Animal Farm is a political satire ( a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn ) and that their is a connection to the Russian Revolution, what do you infer the farm and the animals represent in the novel?

8. Why do you think there is a long standing conflict or tension between Russia and the USA that begins with the Russian Revolution? What is Russia’s point of view and what is America’s point of view in regard to this? 

*Finish these questions for homework.

Homework: Read Chapters 1 & 2 of Animal Farm. Visit the blog: http://teamthunderenglishblog.blogspot.com and use the hot link provided to navigate to a discussion board. Once there, respond to my question and then a fellow classmates response. Extra credit will be granted to additional responses to the two that are required. These responses should be treated like a quiz question, so you need complete sentences and include specific details ( in this case, about Animal Farm).    

Extra Credit: Using the “word wall” choose 10 words and use them correctly in a sentence for each. Pay attention to grammar and punctuation. Use of compound and complex sentences will have greater value than simple sentences ( Limited to 30 words or three missing assignments ).

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 English Lesson: Cinematic Techniques

I. Essential Question: What connections are there between an author’s choice of literary techniques and a director’s choices of cinematic techniques?   

II. Do Now(5 minutes): Answer in writing: What are your favorite types of movies. Explain why. List some titles.

*Remaining groups do their dramatizations?

III. Test Corrections?

IV. Review of Terms:

Internal conflict occurs when a character struggles between opposing needs or desires or emotions within his or her own mind.

External conflict occurs when a character struggles against an outside force. This force may be another character, a societal expectation, or something in the physical world.

V. Continuation of Activity 2.15 & 2.16 (pages 134-139)(15 minutes). Activity 2.15, Part 1 (pgs. 134-136)

Check out this YouTube video for further enlightenment about cinematic techniques; this will help with the following exercise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATDnFr25JG8

What to do? :

1.____Read through the cinematic techniques. Underline key points for each term.

In groups of three, experience the following:

2.____Roll up a piece of paper. Simulate a long shot. What is its use?

3.____Reduce your paper lens to simulate a medium shot.

4.____Reduce your “lens’ again for the purpose of a close-up.

5.____Experiment further with camera angles and camera movements with your “paper lens”.

6.____Create a triple entry vocabulary template on dot-matrix or loose-leaf paper. The most important frame (the 3rd box on the right) will be a picture of how the “shot” would look. 

7. Only do this for “Shots and Framing”, “Camera Angles”, and “Camera Movements”.

8.Maybe, pick a scene from “The Stolen Party” and illustrate it using the various camera shots, framing, angles and movements ( how will you illustrate movement?---try dotted lines ------) (15 terms). Or go online and find examples of these techniques to draw from to illustrate the terms.

*Each student is responsible for doing a triple entry vocabulary for the 15 terms: “Shot” thru “Boom/Crane” We will have a quiz on these terms Wednesday, and you can use this reference (the triple vocabulary of your own making) to complete this quiz.

a.______Read the “Learning Focus” on page 142.

b. ______Complete Activity 2.17

VI. Homework: Read Animal Farm, pgs. V-XXVII.

a. Textbook Check will be ongoing. ( I am checking: pgs. 89, 90, 91, 92, Mark the text, 94, Mark the text/Notes, 104, 105, 106, 107, Mark the text 110-115), 118-119, 121.

*For extra credit ( Honors must do) (worth 2 assignments), make a collage that is made up of pictures from magazines ( these would be from advertisements). Glue the cut-out pictures onto a piece of construction paper. Find pictures that illustrate “shots and framing”, “camera angles”, and “camera movement”.  Label and caption them ( explain what the picture cut-out exemplifies). Make this presentable. 

Springboard Text Check Unit 2

I will be checking everyone's text this week. Leave it in  the appropriate stack for your class in front of the windows.


I will check the following:

1. Activity 2.1 (Page 89)

2. Activity 2.2  (Page 90)

3. Activity 2.2, Writing Prompt (Page 91)

4. Activity 2.3 (Page 92)

5. MARK THE TEXT/NOTES

6. Activity 2.4 (Page 94)

7. MARK THE TEXT

8. Activity 2.5 (Page 104)

9. Activity 2.6 (Page 105 & 106)

10. Activity 2.7 (Page 107)

11. MARK THE TEXT ("The Stolen Party), Pgs. 110-115

12. Activity 2.12 (Pages 118-119)

13. Activity 2.13 (Page 121)

February 26, 2013 Lesson

Essential Question: How do directors use cinematic techniques to achieve special effects?

I. Do Now (5 minutes): Read the definitions for the terms: internal and external conflict below. Identify an example of each from our recent readings. Identify the story your example comes from in your written answer ( the do-now will be collected ).

II. _____Test corrections are due by Friday. They will not be accepted after Friday

(5 Minutes) Model Student Answers to Test Questions: [The Catcher in the Rye Test] Quotes:

“At one point, Holden wakes up Phoebe and tells her that he wants to be a “catcher in the rye.” He wants to “protect them from from falling off a cliff, as he said. This really symbolizes that he wants to protect children from the pains of growing up, and protect their innocence.”

“Holden Caulfield says this too, in regards to him being drunk and feeling like he was shot. This could be his Peter Pan complex, how when you’re a kid you think everybody will drop everything to help you. In this case, Jane would drop everything to help Holden, or it could also be childhood vs. adulthood for the same reason.”

“Holden is the one talking about the fish. In relationship to the novel it means that Holden wants (in my opinion) the children to be protected and not left stranded, like he thinks the fish are in the winter. Some figurative language is this quote is where he says “mother Nature’d take care of you.” The figurative language that is there is where he “Nature’d” and when he says “you” instead of the fish. I think this is more symbolism.

“This quote is said by Holden when he was at the museum where he used to go when he was younger. This quote could easily symbolize Holden’s want for everything to remain as it is, like keeping his childhood innocence.”

Model Short Answer: [Stargirl]

“A lot has happened in here. In the beginning Stargirl walked around the cafeteria, strumming along to her ukulele and singing. Leo and Kevin gave each other a high five when Kevin suggested putting her on the “Hot Seat.” Hillari Kimball also yelled at Stargirl the day before her birthday to not sing happy birthday to her.”

III.____Terms: 

Internal conflict occurs when a character struggles between opposing needs or desires or emotions within his or her own mind.

External conflict occurs when a character struggles against an outside force. This force may be another character, a societal expectation, or something in the physical world.

Activity 2.15 & 2.16 (pages 134-139)(15 minutes). 

2.15, Part 1 (pgs. 134-136)

1.____Read through the cinematic techniques. Underline key points for each term.

In pairs, experience the following:

2.____Roll up a piece of paper. Simulate a long shot. What is its use?

3.____Reduce your paper lens to simulate a medium shot.

4.____Reduce your “lens’ again for the purpose of a close-up.

____Experiment further with camera angles and camera movements with your “paper lens”.

____***Create a triple entry vocabulary template on the dot-matrix or loose-leaf paper. The most important frame (the 3rd box on the right) will be a picture of how the “shot” would look. Only do this for “Shots and Framing”, “Camera Angles”, and “Camera Movements”.

Check out this YouTube video for further enlightenment about 
cinematic techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATDnFr25JG8

An approach to this might be to pick a scene from “The Stolen Party” and manipulate it with shots, framing, angles and movements ( how will you illustrate movement?---try dotted lines ------) (15 terms). Or go online and find examples of these techniques to draw from to illustrate the terms.

We will do this in groups of three. Each person in the group is responsible for researching 5 terms. WE WILL JIGSAW. When you finish your research, you will go to another group and share your terms. People will continue to circulate until everyone has completed all fifteen terms. you will turn this in for credit at the end of class (even if you haven’t finished).

Exit Ticket: Rating our group performance. 

****For extra credit ( Honors must do) (worth 2 assignments), make a collage that is made up of pictures from magazines ( these would be from advertisements). Glue the cut-out pictures onto a piece of construction paper. Find pictures that illustrate “shots and framing”, “camera angles”, and “camera movement”.  Label and caption them ( explain what the picture cut-out exemplifies). Make this presentable. Moving Ahead: On Tuesday, we will read pages 142-145.

Feb. 14/15, Block Day, Point of View

Essential Question: How does the author’s choice of point of view influence our understanding of events, characters, and themes?

Do Now: Write a description of yourself from the point of view of someone other than yourself. 

For example: 

I see a tasty morsel that might go well with some fava beans and a nice chianti ( a cannibal).

Sitting in the room this girl is entirely consumed by her own thoughts about what she is going to do this coming Saturday “... have to meet her in front of the Majestic at 10, but if I’m late her mom said she would wait for me...but my mom said we’ll see, as she has lots of errands to do with my sister Jane and I in the car... [she thinks]. And Dr. Schmick walks over towards her, as he knows that she is not paying attention. “Dr. Schmick is going to see that I am playing Mine Craft", [thinks Michael, who is also in the class]. “He is always bothering me” [thinks Michael]. “Michael put that away”, says Dr. Schmick to Michael. “Tap Tap Tap", a bird on the window sill interjects (anthropomorphism?).

Check as we complete:

1._______Do-Now

2. _______Write name and book number on paper that is circulating. Put the novel we just finished in the box. 

3._______Review page 121 Springboard, Activity 2.13

Points of View:

1. First Person---The narrator is a character in the story and refers to himself or herself

    as “I”.

1. Third-Person Omniscient (“God’s Eye View”)---This type of narrator is not a character , but is all-knowing and is able to recount the background and inside thoughts and feelings  of any character.

1. Third-Person Limited---like the omniscient narrator, this narrator is not a character    

     in the story, but rather provides the reader the inside thoughts of only one character,

     and none of the thoughts of any of the other characters.

4._______Do Activity 2.12, pages 118-119 in Springboard. 

1. _______In pairs, examine the story “The Stolen Party.” Identify two examples of point 

                  of view to share with the whole group. 

What benefits and limitations are there with each of the types of narration?

1. _________In pairs, examine your assigned “chunk” of “The Stolen Party” and transform the point of view. So if the passages you have are in first person you might transform it into Third-Person Omniscient. What will be added to the narrative as a result?

“That witch Senora Ines, and to think that Momma was right about rich people like Senora.” I will only stand here and look at this women who has stolen this party from me; the best day I can remember ever. “Ah-ha, this will be a hard lesson for Rosaura to swallow, but I told the blockhead how these rich people operate, and I’ll take that 20 dollars, if i don’t say so myself....monkeys, yo-yos, and bracelets it’s all a load of malarkey ( American saying, origin unknown, means "insincere or foolish talk")...did I say malarkey... ei...yi...yi...I am becoming less and less like a Latina every day with expressions like this. I must of heard it on my soap [soap opera on television]. 

Hand out Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Have a good vacation! 

Feb. 5, 6, & 7: Dramatization Project, "The Stolen Party."

Essential Question: How do we visualize in order to deepen our understanding of a text?

Do Now: Get into groups of three. We have recently answered the essential question in regard to two Poe stories we read. Think and identify to share with the whole group an example of a story element, specifically setting, characterization, climax, conflict or theme used in “The Stolen Party”. State the story element and identify an example of it. ROUND ROBIN (5 minutes).

Procedure ( Check each as you complete them):

1._____Get into your group of three. Remember who is the artist, writer and reporter. 

2._____ DISCUSS and VISUALIZE the final scene from the short story “The Stolen Party” , by Liliana Heker with your group. Share your homework: A written paragraph and sketch  describing your visualization of Rosaura, Senora Ines, and Rosaura’s mother, Herminia.  Choose the best information from your homework and use that to answer Question 4A (Three CHARACTERIZATIONS) (10 minutes).

The reporter will report back to the whole group (15 minutes)

3._____Visualize the final scene of “The Stolen Party” on paper.

Also, create a follow-up scene of your own design that takes the story further ( WRITTEN SUMMARY, “WRITER” TEMPLATE, and completed STORYBOARDs for both).

4._____CREATE a dramatization of these TWO scenes using the STORYBOARD template and the WRITER template (complete sentences)(15 minutes).

INCLUDE:

1. _______Three CHARACTERIZATIONS( Senora Ines, Rosaura, and Herminia) in the final scene of “The Stolen Party” (you did this; hand this in). 

b. _______Written DIALOGUE (your script): Who says what and when? Keep this, as you need it for your group to do your drama. Each person should have their own copy ( Large index card provided).

c._______LIGHTING considerations in a presentation (mood).For “lighting” consider the use of window shades and the room lights.

d. _______PROPS made of paper alone. (DESCRIBE in writing). 

e. _______CHOREOGRAPHY. Visualizing where the characters will deliver the dialogue and how they will be situated in the scene(s) (SKETCH).

There “are specific techniques to achieve a desired effect (Springboard 85)”.

Students will practice and perform the two scenes on Thursday/Friday. 

All group members will participate in the dramatization.

On Thursday/Friday, 

• one group member will narrate, 
• all group members will perform 
• At the end of the performance, one group member will share details about three story elements (rising action, climax, falling action and resolution?)and three cinematic techniques (choreography, lighting, and props) that went into their dramatization of the two scenes.   

5._____Exit Ticket: Write your first name on the Post-It. Rate your contribution to the group work today on a scale from 0-100. Place your marker on the scale drawn on the whiteboard when called upon. Tell the class one reason why you deserve this score. 

Homework: Refine your specific work further on this project for a Thursday/Friday practice and  Monday presentation. Finish reading The Catcher in the Rye this week. Finish reading Stargirl this week.  

   

A Reference for Dramatization

A Play Script Model

Act One----A Maine House in December

( Begin with everyone off stage. The main theme music plays and the action begins when the players walk on stage).

(The Smith family enters first and take their place at the right of the stage which is set up as the inside of their house)

(****The family stand side-by-side to the right of the stage facing the audience. When everyone is in position, the main theme music segues into “Silent Night”)

(At the end of the song, the players leave the stage)

(In the Smith house, Mrs. Smith is trying to calm his wife who is upset because she burned the holiday dinner, including the Christmas pudding)

Mrs. Smith: (exasperated)

     Oh dear. It is absolutely burned to a crisp.

Mr. Smith: (consoling)

     It’s okay dear. We can go to McDonald’s.

(The Smith children come rushing in) 

and so on....

Note: ****in addition to charting the movements of your players in a storyboard; you can indicate position and movement in your script; this is to block your position and movement in a play rather than choreograph, a word which is exclusively used for dance and ballet---My bad! 

______________________________________________________________________

Lighting Model: Include these details in your script in parentheses.

(The stage is lit with both natural and artificial light. The natural light filtrates through some white gauze curtains. It is midday. The artificial light comes by way of some free standing lamps that are standing at stage right and stage left. A stage hand holds a large flashlight with a red vinyl gel over it that can cast an eerie red light. The stage hand is directed to move the light from each of the players faces throughout the performance)

______________________________________________________________________

Prop Description Model

We created a faux (fake) meat cleaver for our additional scene dramatization. The cleaver is to scale and constructed of molded duct tape and paper...and so on...
______________________________________________________________________

Coming of Age; 1967 Dodge Dart

       Jill Golding, my mother, told me that her first car was a Dodge Dart back in 1985. She said "I was excited when I got it". She drove it around everywhere, even though it was twenty or so years old when she got it. She didn't care that people had better, or newer cars than her. 

       another thing she mentioned was that her parents were worried that she would now be doing things on her own with her new responsibility. She felt like she was older then when she was pulling into the school parking lot, while the other kids who didn't have a car had to take the bus or walk. So my mom's coming of age story was about getting her first car.

Kyle Golding

Monday, February 4 Lesson

Essential Question: How do authors use specific techniques to achieve a desired effect?

Do Now:

• Have your Springboard text on your desk. 
• Get into your group of three (it’s posted on the whiteboard).
• We have been working on activities that will help us to answer the essential question. Identify two examples of the use of story elements in one or both of the Poe short stories we have read. You don’t need to write it, if you prefer. You will share it with the whole group (3 minutes). Think-Stand-Share as a whole group (3 minutes).

Group Work (Keep this handout for Wednesday’s class!): 

______Assign the following roles to group members: artist, writer, and reporter. You will all collaborate on the group work. 

______Listen to  the reading of “The Stolen Party”. Mark the text as the teacher reads. Underline examples of story elements ( a list exists on page 105 of your Springboard test).

______Re-read the story in your group. Share how you visualize the characters, setting and story with your group. Make notes on this in your textbook margins.

______Answer the following as a group. Write the answers in the “My Notes” section of your textbook or a separate piece of paper that you staple to pages 110-115.You will use your answers to guide your group work on Wednesday. It will be checked. (20 minutes).

1.______Answer: What is the conflict between mother and daughter?

2.______Answer: What is Rosaura’s attitude?

3.______Answer: What are some other conflicts in the story?

4.______Answer: What are Rosaura’s reactions to the things?

5.______Answer: what are some specific passages that convey Rosaura’s feelings. Mark these in the text with underlining and a label.

6.______Answer: There is a theme of good versus evil in “The Cask of Amontillado”. How is that theme developed in this story?

Homework: Read page 117, Springboard. Explain in a paragraph how you visualize (sketch and write a paragraph about) Rosaura, Senora Ines, and Rosaura’s mother, Herminia.

Exit Ticket: Write your first name on the Post It. When called upon, rate your contribution to your group work on the scale from 0-100.  

Coming of Age: Heidi

I interviewed my mother Heidi again and she stated another great achievement that has to do with “Coming Of Age” is her class ring. Heidi graduated in 1986 from Sumner Memorial High School with her grades being about Bs and Cs. Although these are not the grades that she could have had if she really applied herself, she explained to me how it still meant a lot to graduate. She said “I felt a lot more mature when I graduated because I knew this was a big step in my life as I began to mature into the adult I am today. 

She told me how her whole family was there at her graduation ceremony, and it meant a lot to her having such a great family to support her in this great achievement. One more thing Heidi said was “Although I didn’t get the best grades that I could have got, I still hung in there and did my work as I should. I did not give up, but I stayed with the program and got to graduate with my class, which did mean a lot. I would say Heidi’s biggest “Coming Of Age” experience with this class ring is that it shows that she has graduated and is going into her adulthood to really mature as a person.

Brian Awalt

Coming of Age: Heidi

I interviewed my mother Heidi one last time for her best “Coming Of Age” experience. She says, “My best and most meaningful “Coming Of Age” experience is definitely my children.” Heidi’s first born was Alissa, second Dillon, and third was me (Brian). When she had her first child she told me she gained a lot of maturity, and she knew she was going to have a lot responsibility on her shoulders. She gained more maturity and responsibility when she had Dillon and then me. 

Heidi really was working hard when she married Bill Connell, and he had three kids so she was taking care of a family of eight for quite a while. She worked so hard for all of us and provided like a good mother does. She did this for 7 years until Heidi and Bill divorced, because you know things happen. The thing that was good about that whole marriage was that is where Heidi really had to step up and be the adult and take care of us, and she did very well at that task. 

Heidi is a great mother, and I really can truly say she is the only mother I could ask for. I think the best “Coming Of Age” experience Heidi has gotten from her children is that she really became responsible and a great protector like a momma bear should be.

Brian Awalt 

Gotta Catch Em All!

When someone asks me if there were any mementos that I have kept throughout the entirety of my life, my answer would me a little unorthodox compared to many people. Your average Joe would probably say that they still have their first pair of shoes, or your really average Joe might not possess any item at all. I, on the other hand, can proudly state that I have safely kept my poster of the first one-hundred-fifty-one Pokemon on every wall of every bedroom I permanently dwelled in since I could remember. 

If you are unfamiliar with what the Pokemon franchise is, imagine a world filled with multi-color monsters, with you running around in the grass and forrest attempting to catch them, and then partaking in battle against other Pokemon owners.At the time that I came to be a fan, Nintendo, the company that introduced Pokemon, was promoting their new game, Pokemon Battle Colosseum. As a gimmick to make a few dollars, posters were being sold to display each of the characters within the game. As a decoration for my bedroom my dad got me one. 

At this point, I was pre-literate, in the toddler age division. But for whatever reason, I especially likedthe banner. I preoccupied myself, studying each individual character.I eventually began Pre-K, where I started to learn the basic alphabet. I'd later go home, and end up looking at my banner. The profiles of the creatures in the Pokemon game had letter names like the letters I learned at school. So, connecting one and one, I started making pronunciations of the words, saying them to my parent at seven. 

I give a great amount of credit to this poster for teaching me how to read and read words out loud. That poster had some pretty obscurely spelled names, like “Venasaur”,“Blastoise”, “Pidgeotto”, “Porygon”, “Articuno”, and many, many more. For all I know, I could be in a remedial E.L.A. Class, had it not been for my combined knowledge from Pre-K and experience reading off that flyer. 

I still keep this poster on my wall, and I have it placed in an area where I look at it almost every time I walk through the door to my sleeping quarters. I think about the literacy lessons it taught me, and I think about how long I've had it. For all I know, there's a pretty good chance that I'll pass it on to my children to help them learn to read. What's the worst it could do?

Noah Robidoux