The rest of the time we used to finish the college essays and to post on the wall outside the hallway for folks who wanted some extra points.
Homework for Tuesday, November 11th
None. But get ready to roll next week.
These were CMAS testing days and so we only had a half hour in class. We used this time on Wednesday to review the steps in the lawmaking process.
The rest of the time we used to finish the college essays and to post on the wall outside the hallway for folks who wanted some extra points. Homework for Tuesday, November 11th None. But get ready to roll next week.
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Goal for the day: To demonstrate knowledge of the lawmaking process
It’s Election Day and all over the country, people are voting for senators, representatives, governors, state legislators, and county commissioners. There are also a number of initiatives on the ballot across the country. We’ll start class today reading and discussing this article about what happens if Republicans take over the Senate. This is especially relevant to our Model Senate project. We’ll then move to organize a Scavenger Hunt for the school that will take participants to all the different offices necessary to turn a bill into a law. Numerous teachers have agreed to help out. One of the AHS Buildings will represent the House of Representatives. The other will be the Senate. You’ll make signs with instructions and information on each step of the bill making process. The sign will go outside each of the participating teacher’s classrooms. Participants will then have to get the signature of the teacher to move on to the next stop on the scavenger hunt. The first five students who collect all the signatures in the right order will get some scrumptious dark chocolate. Most of the day will be spent setting up this scavenger hunt and we’ll divide into teams to get all the work done. If there’s time, we’ll discuss your questions about the documentary “Taking the Hill” that we watched. Homework due on Wednesday, November 5th Finish revising your college essay Make the presentation sheet for your display board Goal for the day: To understand the nature of legislative process
Welcome to Model Senate! For the next six weeks you’ll be preparing for a single day when you will become a United States Senator and debate legislation on the Senate floor. Today, we’ll introduce the project and get you oriented to the legislative process. We’ll do this in several ways. First, off you’ll get the project introduction, which will become more detailed over the next week. We’ll also go over the calendar for the rest of the semester so in this busy month you can better manage your time. Next, I’ll show a video of what is still one of the best explanations of the legislative process courtesy of Schoolhouse Rock. Then, you’ll divide into groups and I’ll give you the different steps in the legislative process. Your group will take a stab at arranging the pieces in the right order given what you know already about how Congress works. You’ll compare your arrangement to Sistine Chapel of White Board diagrams in this video by the honorable Matt Hughes. After break, we’ll see how this all plays out during a single day by watching “Taking the Hill,” a documentary by NBC News about what a day in the Capitol looks like close up. Note observations and questions during the commercial breaks of this video. We’ll compile these in a Google Doc. Homework due on November 4, 2014 If you are 18 years of age, go vote! Goal for the day: To get you as much feedback as possible on your draft essay.
I passed out a protocol for peer review in groups of four. This is a timed protocol to help us reach depth in our comments. Upon finishing the peer review, I collected the draft essays and read and provided feedback over the weekend. Homework for Monday, November 3rd None Goal for the days: To make progress on your college essay
Students are organizing their own time for the next two days working on a draft of their college essay. Remember to bring FOUR hard copies in of your draft on Friday. If you wish to opt out of the peer review process because of personal details in your essay that you don't feel comfortable sharing, come talk to me. Homework for the rest of the week Continue working on the draft of your college essay for peer review on Friday Goal for the day: To explore the qualities of a strong college essay
We ran out of time yesterday with the fire alarm and DP posting technical difficulties. So we're starting boot camp today. We started with a four corners to see where everyone is in the college process and then divided up into support groups of three people. Everyone discussed their goals for their essays and then I passed out sample essays to review and rate with the NY Times rubric. We discussed which essay was the strongest and what qualities made it so. These included having something unexpected, being honest and humble, being positive, using unforced humor, having something to unify the essay, such as a theme or story, and being original and unique. I passed out my Super Summary of various tips gleaned from various websites. I encourage you to visit the Essay Hell website and CollegeEssayGuy.com for more detailed information. I offered to make copies of a 35-page guide to the Common Application and University of California essay prompts. I then passed out the College Essay Boot Camp Project Summary. This describes what you need to do by when and how I will evaluate your final project. The most important thing for this project is to bring a FOUR copies of a draft on Friday for peer review. You will get 20 points in Community Learning portion of the course for coming ready to participate. Read the Project Summary for all the details. On the back of this sheet is the Personal Essay Rubric that I will be using to grade your essay. I then passed out materials to help you get started, including a schedule sheet for your support group, a brainstorming worksheet, and two brainstorming exercises to get you started if you're stuck: one based on your objects and one based on your values. Everyone worked independently for the second half of class. Homework for Wednesday through Friday Finish your First Amendment Essay and turn in materials if you haven't as yet Finish posting your First Amendment materials on your DP and send me and Matt the link Write a draft of your college essay and bring FOUR hard copies on Friday. Goal for the day: To explore the qualities of a strong college essay
We’re doing the final step of the First Amendment Media Project today…posting on your digital portfolio. If you haven’t already, you’ll create an exhibition page for your DP, post your essay, embed your video and provide a link to your First Amendment Posts so people can trace your thinking through the unit. You must email me and Matt the URL to this page. Follow this handout that Matt created to walk you through the process. This should take us to break. After break we’ll launch into our College Essay Boot Camp. You’ll divide into support groups, talk about where you are in the process, and read some sample student essays. You’ll use this rubric from the NY Times to do a quick evaluation. Note that we’ll be using a different rubric to evaluate the essays you write in class. We’ll close by discussing the qualities of a strong essay. Homework for Tuesday, October 28th You must find and bring to class a college essay prompt for college essay boot camp. If you have already written your essay(s), have more than one prompt, or whatever else, bring whatever you have and be ready to get moving on your college apps! Goal for these days: For students to produce their best written work
We will spend the end of this week working in-class on the First Amendment essay assignment. I will be evaluating the quality of your argument, your evidence, and your writing. You should use the outline worksheet to plan out your paper. You should use the essay checklist to make sure your final paper has all the needed components. You should make sure you understand the rubric that I'll be using to evaluate your work. This rubric corresponds to a college-level composition course. You will be paired with a fellow student to do a peer review of a draft of your work in class. You will turn in an outline, a rough draft annotated by your peer reviewer, their peer review sheet, and your reaction to their comments by the end of class on Friday, October 25th. I'm moving submission of the final paper to Saturday by 5 p.m. over email in case you would like extra time to refine your work. I am available to review and provide feedback on drafts sent to me before Friday at 4 p.m. Homework due over this period Continue working on your essays. Next week is College Essay Boot Camp. Goal: For students to understand the basic features of a formal essay
After watching the videos ready for the competition and munching on some popcorn, we’ll review the essay assignment and the basic features that I’ll be looking for. I want everyone to be clear on the thesis and forecasting statements that should be within your introduction. I’ll give a sample from a college essay that we’ll look at and breakdown. On the reverse side of this sample, is a checklist for your essay to make sure you have everything you need. After break, I will show a short video on Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking who will be here at Animas on Wednesday from 11:15 to 12:15 p.m. to share her story and answer questions about her campaign against the death penalty. Tomorrow, we’ll be watching the remaining videos and you’ll be working on your essays. You can choose to use some of your essay writing time tomorrow to go hear Sister Jean. We will do a peer review on Thursday for part of the class period, after which you will have time to get right back at it and start your revision. I will pass out additional worksheets on grammar and we will do a starter on counterargument as well. Homework due on Wednesday, October 22nd None. But keep working on your essay, fill in the outline sheet, and if you’d like, share your work with me so I can comment. We're in project mode for the next five days...As soon as your group clears your outline with me, you can go out and work together on your video. Make sure that you discuss and agree on a thesis for your video. Come and talk with me if you have questions or troubles.
I'll check in with your group leader to make sure you're still on track |
AuthorMarcus Renner is just a working teacher at Animas High School in beautiful Durango, CO Archives
November 2015
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