March 29-30: Begin Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. i-iii

Today, we did the following:

1. FEAR Time.

2.We watched the opening brawl scene then followed up in the script with Prince Escalus’s speech that warns of breaking the peace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xawp9co17Z4

3. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, scenes i – ii – We read Act I up until the end of scene ii.  Along the way, we asked the following questions:

<Click this link for the entire play>

• Why is Romeo so sad?
• What is Benvolio’s advice to Romeo?
• What is Romeo’s state of mind and what literary element does Shakespeare use to convey this?
• What does Paris want of Capulet?  What is Capulet’s response?  What is so special about Juliet regarding the amount of children that the Capulets wanted?

4. We answered questions in the script booklet as well on our Act I study guide.

March 27-28: Verily, A New Hope, More Shakespeare Prep

Today, we did the following:

1. FEAR Time.

2. Renaissance Dissiin’ (Shakespearean Insults) – Distributed a handout for students to create three Shakespearean insults or compliments.  Be sure to follow the directions and be ready to pick a partner to insult!  We lined up across from one another to hurl our insults one by one, one insult at a time.  We handed this in for PARTICIPATION CREDIT.

3. Verily, A New Hope – Students watched the famed Cantina clip from Star Wars IV, viewing Han Solo’s entrance.  We then read the same scene re-written in Shakespearean style with students volunteering to read the parts of Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker.  We followed up with a discussion on the ability to understand what was going on.

4. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, scene 1 – We read up to Prince Escalus’s speech declaring everyone to depart.

March 23-24: Intro to The Most Excellente and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet

Today, we did the following:

1. Students received a half-sheet handout with four questions.  Students answered the first question only regarding their comfort level of reading Shakespeare.

2. Romeo and Juliet Prologue – Students received copies of the Prologue.  Students followed the directions on the back of the paper.  Students chose who was ‘A’, who was ‘B’.  The A’s read the Prologue to the B’s starting with the first line, however, the B’s took over reading aloud the prologue at the second line, alternating back to A’s for the third line, back to B’s, and so on until the Prologue was finished.  Students switched roles, re-read the Prologue aloud to each other.  Then students were asked to re-read it aloud but superfast.  We reflected on the experience with a short follow up discussion about trying to understand it.

3. Shakespeare in His Time – We read a handout with interesting bits of factual information about what the everyday English citizen experienced during Elizabethan England. Again, A’s read each paragraph aloud from the front side of “Life in the 1500s”, while alternating with B’s who read aloud each paragraph on the backside of the same page.  Students were asked to mark which paragraph they found the most interesting/disgusting/mind-blowing and shared it with the class.

3. Shakespeare in Our Time – Watched a video that illustrates how Shakespeare has been adapted to fit the needs and interests of students of today (the clip is truncated at a little over 16 minutes):

4. We handed in the half sheet for PARTICIPATION CREDIT!

March 21-22: “Into the Wild” Extended Paragraph Assessment

Today, we did the following:

1. Engaged in FEAR Time

2. Into the Wild Extended Paragraph – I distributed this assessment handout for the Into the Wild portion of this nonfiction unit.  We worked on forming a claim as well as the first half of the graphic organizer on the back.  The final paragraph should be done on a separate sheet of paper with the graphic organizer attached.   Below are the chief text(s) to be used for this assignment.  Access them below:

“Death of an Innocent”

RETURN TO THE WILD (documentary):

“In Alaska’s Wilds, the Mystic Hiker’s Bus Draws Pilgrims to Danger and Death” from The Guardian.

The Gadling and The Oregonian, two articles about the death as well as rescue of “pilgrims”

The Alaska Dispatch with “Should the Infamous McCandless Bus Near Healy, Alaska Be Removed?”

 

 

 

DUE: NEXT CLASS

NOTE: WE ALSO UNDERTOOK SCHEDULING CLASSES FOR NEXT YEAR IN THE LIBRARY FOR HALF OF THIS BLOCK.

March 17-20: Critical Counterpoint to Chris McCandless

Today, we did the following:

1. Engaged in FEAR Time.

2. Visiting Magic Bus 142 – We watched a four-minute non-narrated video of a hiker who made the trek out to Bus 142 on the Stampede Trail.  The video looks at the interior of the bus as well as the surrounding immediate area:

3. Quick Question Survey – Students received a half-sheet, five (5) question survey.  Students were asked to answer only question 1.

4. Counterpoint Article #1 & #2 – Students read “In Alaska’s Wilds, the Mystic Hiker’s Bus Draws Pilgrims to Danger and Death” from The Guardian. We also read two articles about the death as well as rescue of “pilgrims” who wish to visit the bus because they are drawn to the whole story.  We also read an article debating whether or not the bus should be hauled off the Stampede Trail to keep McCandless pilgrims from getting into danger. I posed questions as we read each article.

5. Return to Quick Question Survey & Discussion – Students answered the remaining questions on the half-sheet which acted as discussion points.

STUDENTS HANDED IN HALF-SHEET FOR PARTICIPATION CREDIT.

March 9-14: Filling in the Gaps with the Wild Truth; “Return to the Wild”

On these days, we did the following:

1. Engaged in FEAR Time.

HANDED IN “UNCOVERING ALEXANDER SUPERTRAMP” handout, front page with the grid only with everything completed (3/9-10/17).

2. Remaining Questions – I solicited any and all remaining questions regarding the entire Chris McCandless saga.  I typed these questions into a Word file and saved it.

3. Filling in the Gaps – I distributed a handout entitled, “The ‘Keys’ to Unlocking Chris McCandless” that addresses a film clip from the 2007 film, Into the Wild and a 2015 documentary called Return to the Wild, based on Carine McCandless’s (sister) book The Wild Truth.  We’re watching these pieces of visual documentation in order to provide the possible missing answers to any questions posed above or throughout this segment of the Outdoor unit.  Students hold on to this handout as we will be finishing the documentary next time.

Film clip – “A New Car”:

The documentary, Return to the Wild:

March 7-8: The Death of Chris McCandless

Today, we did the following:

1. Engaged in FEAR Time.

2. We shared two more traits of Chris McCandless from “Uncovering Alexander Supertramp,” based on the reading from page 4 to 8 of “Death of an Innocent.”

3. Finished “Death of an Innocent” using visuals from the PowerPoint as well as a copy of Chris McCandless’s journal :

4. Students are to complete the trait grid on “Uncovering Alexander Supertramp” based on the reading from page 8 to the end and turn it in at the beginning of next class.

March 3-6: The Many Sides to Chris McCandless

Today, we did the following:

1. Engaged in FEAR Time.

2. Trait Share – We shared our first trait from Uncovering Alexander Supertramp. Some students wrote stubborn, driven, determined, with the appropriate supporting detail taken directly from the first 3 pages of our story.

3. Continuing “Death of an Innocent” – We continued reading to the top of page 8 with the accompanying powerpoint presentation to give visual support.

4. Two More Traits – Students added two more traits to the grid of Uncovering Alexander Supertramp with details from today’s reading.

March 1-2: Uncovering More of Alexander Supertramp

Today, we did the following:

1. FEAR Time.

2. Took a 4-question pop quiz on the opening page and a half of the story.  Traded papers, graded them, handed them in.

3. “Death of an Innocent” – Continued reading the story up to the bottom of page 3 pausing quite often to bring up clarifications and discussion points using this PowerPoint presentation of the photos from the forensic activity that include pictures of the McCandless family and Wayne Westerberg.

4. Uncovering Alexander Supertramp – Students were to come up with their first character trait of Chris McCandless using what we have read so far.  I reminded students that they must be detailed in the “How I know…” part by using actual textual evidence.  For example, past students have stated ‘Brave’ in the trait column, followed by ‘He went into the wild on his own’ in the “How I know…” column.  WRONG–THIS IS NOT ACCURATE–IT’S TOO GENERAL!!!  Instead, for a trait he was ‘determined’ because ‘Jim Gallien tried to dissuade him from going because he was so underprepared but McCandless insisted he could handle anything. p.1.’

February 27-28: “Death of an Innocent”; Into the Wild – Part 1

Today, we did the following:

1. FEAR Time.

2. Society and the Individual in it – each student received a Post-It Note and were told to NOT PUT THEIR NAME ON IT.  Students were write one response, however long it be, to the following question: What is it about society–whether it’s our local West Seneca community and WNY regional community to our national society as Americans–what is it about our society that bothers, upsets, angers, or troubles you?”  After students right their response, they get up and post the post-it on the Promethean board.  After all students have posted, I go from response to response as a topic-to-topic to spur discussion.

3. “Death of an Innocent” – We read up to the first set of asterisks on page 2 of our next nonfiction story about Chris McCandless, initially entitled in news article form, “Death of an Innocent,” which appeared in Outside magazine in January of 1993 and was expanded into the bestselling book, Into the Wild, and eventually turned into a movie of the same title in 2007.  Students also received a two-paged stapled copy that has a blank grid that asks for the character traits of Chris McCandless called “Uncovering Alexander Supertramp.” On the flipside of this page is the “character list” of the people in the McCandless story, followed by a dual-sided map page detailing McCandless’ continental odyssey as well as his final location in Alaska.  We read as far as the first set of asterisks on page 2.