Category: 2016-2017

Parent category for posts from the 2016-2017 school year.

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Pareto Project: Days 1-2, Revisited

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

Kandinsky’s Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle). Click for more.

Assignment Specifics: Step #1 + Step #2

You have two current assignments on Google Classroom. Here are the particulars for Step #1, which is due by Monday at 5PM. Use class time to submit this work, since it requires only a small amount of writing:

Write a paragraph or two offering your insight into your upcoming schedule as it pertains to your Pareto Project ideas. Don’t overthink or overanalyze; focus on what you and I both need to know as you begin this Pareto Project.

Step #2 has a deadline of Wednesday afternoon, again at 5PM. Use the following directions for the already-posted assignment:

Write a reflective and insightful record of the “idea smithing” part of the project, including your thoughts on how the Google+ Community collaborated. Keep this to less than a page, unless you have pertinent analysis of that community to offer that requires more.

First, though, you must settle on an idea, share it with your classmates on Google+, and seek feedback there. Turn that digital space into an extension of and entrance into our physical classroom this week. The necessary links, which are posted alongside further instructions in our last post and the current iteration of the guide, are reprinted below:

Second, you must compress your idea into 120 characters or so and add it to the following Google Form, which must be completed by Wednesday afternoon at 5PM, when the rest of Step #2 will be checked in:

Those are the four assignments that you must complete this week. In list form:

  1. Write a short, explanatory response about your schedule and time as instructed in Step #1 of the Pareto Project guide.
  2. Share your ideas, critique the ideas of others, and otherwise collaborate online and in class.
  3. Write a reflective response about Step #2 of the Pareto Project guide.
  4. Submit your final project idea through the provided Google Form.

Step #3 is explained next.

Step #3: Due Monday, December 19

The calendar for this Pareto Project, which is always up-to-date on Google Drive, shows that the official proposal for your Round 1 Pareto Project is now due on Monday, December 19. This date is unlikely to change, because we need to lock in your projects before the winter holidays. The first required checkpoint is the day you return.

You will be given the updated guide with Steps 3-5 on Tuesday, December 13. That will allow some of you to move directly into Step #3, the proposal, while others will need the next two days to finish Step #2. Everyone will use the end of the week to set up digital portfolios and accounts, and to meet with me and peers about the proposals themselves.

If you have any questions about this, ask them in class or below.

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Pareto Project: Day 2

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

Kandinsky’s Black and Violet. Click for more.

Idea Smithing

Each time I update the site with more Pareto Project information, I’ll repost the entire guide to that point. You should skim over the previous pages, because there will be edits that clarify or expand on ideas. Today’s guide ends with Step #2, for instance, but it also adds a single sentence in Step #1:

You must also choose a project that fits your schedule; if you must limit your focus during Round 1, you’ll have a chance to be more ambitious when we start Round 2 in mid-March.

That clarifies Step #1 a little, and it lets me add further clarification here: You need a project that can be accomplished in the time you have, and the time you have differs from person to person and month to month. Are you going to be in the musical? You should account for that upcoming responsibility. Are you busy with winter sports? That gives you less time for a larger project. Do you have a lot of idle time each day? You can plan something more ambitious.

Let’s start talking about ideas by reading Step #2:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F12%2FPareto-Project-Day-2.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

Step #2 is called Idea Smithing, and that metaphor will help us: You need to craft an idea, and you probably need some heat and pressure to do it.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

We’ll open the discussion in class, using groups of whatever size you choose. That will be our chance to talk about the timing element of Step #1, too, including what you should hand in on Google Classroom for that assignment.

The written work of Step #2 begins when you visit Google+, using the links at the end of the current guide. You can also use these direct links:

This is where you should make your elevator pitch. Putting your idea in writing will do what writing always does, which is to render your thoughts so we can revisit them. Your peers will then offer critical feedback to help you refine, repurpose, or reject the idea. Then, on Monday, I’ll post a Google Form to collect everyone’s pitches, which will also give you a chance to see what students in the other courses are doing for these Pareto Projects.

Ask questions about Step #2 below, and remember: Don’t just think outside the box; break it down and build something new. Or, you know, this:

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Pareto Project: Day 1

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

Wassily Kandinsky’s Yellow, Red, Blue. Click for more of his art.

Paradigm Breaking

On Thursday, December 8, you start your Pareto Project. This is your chance to learn what you want to learn and create what you want to create. Under the aegis of grade abatement, and with my help and the help of your peers, you will design a twelve-week project that culminates in — well, in whatever you want it to culminate in. You aren’t just encouraged to think outside of the box; you should break down the box and turn it into something new.

You will receive the guide to this project in sections:

  • Thursday, December 8: Introduction, Overview, and Step #1
  • Friday, December 9: Step #2
  • Monday, December 12: Steps #3-#5

The staggered release of the guide means that you cannot jump ahead easily. You have time to explore each step of the process. You have time to read. You have time to ask questions.

You’ll see why this is so important when you load the three pages for Day 1:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F12%2FPareto-Project-Day-1.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

Those three pages are stacked with links and further explanations of all kinds, and that’s before you get to the first step. You need to slow down and spend your time more judiciously than you normally do.

Remember that I write to you in a way that also teaches you how to read. Unpacking the guide is its own lesson, so you must read carefully. You must take notes. Only then should you start to talk to your peers and teacher.

A copy of the calendar for this project has been photocopied for you. Let me know if a copy of the guide itself should be printed —and before you rush to say, “Yes, it should,” note that most of what you need is linked to within the guide. Printing might not have the efficacy you think it does, but we’ll talk about it.

This first excerpt has also been shared through Google Classroom, where you will eventually submit your work for Step #1.

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Academic Update: RE11

  By English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

The following updates cover current and upcoming course work and are written to help you organize your time as you begin your Pareto Project on Thursday, December 8. Read this information carefully. Then ask any clarifying questions in the comment section below.

Ongoing: Personal Journey Essay

It’s been a while, so you may need to jog your memory:

Journey Writing

The majority of you will not return to this, especially with more essays and a Pareto Project upcoming. Some of you, however, have continued to meet with me and/or work on your own toward a final draft. This minority will now be tasked with publishing their work on Medium. Then they will use our nascent atelier format — essentially a souped-up form of proxy feedback — to teach their peers how to use Medium when we get to that step of the Pareto Project.

If you are in the group that will continue to work on these essays, you will need to make that part of your Q2 plans. Schedule time to conference with me, share works-in-progress, collaborate outside of class, etc. There is no formal deadline, but you will need to have learned how to use Medium before you return from the winter recess, if you plan on helping folks with their first Pareto Project posts.

Regardless, everyone in the course will need to account for their choice to continue working on the essay or not. That reflective writing will not have a formal assignment issued; instead, you will need to have read this post closely enough to know that you must sit down for 15-20 minutes to answer the question, “What happened with that journey essay?”

Ongoing: Q2 Novels

For future reference, here is the list of Q2 novels embedded in an earlier post:

Remember that each of those is available, for free, online. We have some copies of Stevenson’s novel and one or two copies of The Invisible Man, but only 1984 is stocked.

You should continue to read these novels. Keep the original post in mind:

Quarter 2, Day 5 [Juniors]

Just as important is John Holt’s essay and his criteria for reading a novel: Give each one 20-30 pages, and if you don’t want to finish, just make sure that your decision is deliberate and based on the text, not a lack of time or a general dislike of reading. Account for that choice metacognitively.

One note: Please push 1984 up in your schedule, as another teacher needs 50 copies of it to teach it to her class, and we should accommodate her. This might give us an opportunity to partner juniors with sophomores who are reading the same book, too, which could be interesting.

Ongoing: Regular Metacognition

This is simply a reminder that you need to reflect and be metacognitive regularly. Spend 15-20 minutes at least once a week analyzing your choices, your progress, and your subsequent goals. This is the best way to develop the skills and traits you need for the future and to generate evidence for your grade abatement profile.

If you struggle to think of how to frame this regular reflection/metacognition, respond to these three basic questions:

  1. What have I accomplished?
  2. What have I learned?
  3. What’s next?

Answer #2 by referring specifically to the skills and traits of grade abatement (e.g., organization, amenability, assiduousness).

Upcoming: In-Class Activities

Meanwhile, there will be in-class activities that bring us together in a more traditional way. (Well, our version of traditional.) You will retain choice from period to period — you can spend the time in whatever way is most productive or effective — but certain days will be dedicated to an activity or focused lesson. The vast majority will be provided interstitially a few days in advance, so you’ll be able to plan accordingly. Some examples:

  • A divergent-thinking activity about capturing the Invisible Man from The Invisible Man
  • Poetry reading with Maya-Angelou-inspired hip-hop
  • Poetry reading with Bob-Dylan-inspired hip-hop
  • Dialectical discussion of topics from, e.g., The Pig that Wants to Be Eaten

For lack of a better way to phrase it, think of these as one-off lessons.

Upcoming: Formal Units

Once the Pareto Projects are in motion, we will return to more formal units. This needs to be mentioned, because it would be easy to forget that Pareto refers to only 20% of our work. You will need to plan your time around the reading, thinking, and writing that has characterized all of our learning this year, as we study specific ideas and answer specific essential questions.

The next unit, for instance, will build on the questions you’ve recently answered and the novels you are currently reading. We will learn about lying — how it works, how we learn to lie, the types of lies, and the nature of systemic/societal lies like the myth of Santa Claus. After that, we are likely to do a smaller unit on memory itself — how it works, how we construct collective memories, and how your individual memories function.

As always, you will need to watch this space and Google Classroom for instructional materials, assignments, and feedback.

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Academic Update: AP11

  By AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017)

The following updates cover current and upcoming course work and are written to help you organize your time as you begin your Pareto Project on Thursday, December 8. Read this information carefully. Then ask any clarifying questions in the comment section below.

Ongoing: Personal Journey Essay

It’s been a while, so you may need to jog your memory:

Journey Writing

The majority of you will not return to this, especially with more essays and a Pareto Project upcoming. Some of you, however, have continued to meet with me and/or work on your own toward a final draft. This minority will now be tasked with publishing their work on Medium. Then they will use our nascent atelier format — essentially a souped-up form of proxy feedback — to teach their peers how to use Medium when we get to that step of the Pareto Project.

If you are in the group that will continue to work on these essays, you will need to make that part of your Q2 plans. Schedule time to conference with me, share works-in-progress, collaborate outside of class, etc. There is no formal deadline, but you will need to have learned how to use Medium before you return from the winter recess, if you plan on helping folks with their first Pareto Project posts.

Regardless, everyone in the course will need to account for their choice to continue working on the essay or not. That reflective writing will not have a formal assignment issued; instead, you will need to have read this post closely enough to know that you must sit down for 15-20 minutes to answer the question, “What happened with that journey essay?”

Ongoing: Q2 Novels

For future reference, here is the list of Q2 novels embedded in an earlier post:

Remember that each of those is available, for free, online. We have some copies of Stevenson’s novel and one or two copies of The Invisible Man, but only 1984 is stocked.

You should continue to read these novels. Keep the original post in mind:

Quarter 2, Day 5 [Juniors]

Just as important is John Holt’s essay and his criteria for reading a novel: Give each one 20-30 pages, and if you don’t want to finish, just make sure that your decision is deliberate and based on the text, not a lack of time or a general dislike of reading. Account for that choice metacognitively.

One note: Please push 1984 up in your schedule, as another teacher needs 50 copies of it to teach it to her class, and we should accommodate her. This might give us an opportunity to partner juniors with sophomores who are reading the same book, too, which could be interesting.

Ongoing: Regular Metacognition

This is simply a reminder that you need to reflect and be metacognitive regularly. Spend 15-20 minutes at least once a week analyzing your choices, your progress, and your subsequent goals. This is the best way to develop the skills and traits you need for the future and to generate evidence for your grade abatement profile.

If you struggle to think of how to frame this regular reflection/metacognition, respond to these three basic questions:

  1. What have I accomplished?
  2. What have I learned?
  3. What’s next?

Answer #2 by referring specifically to the skills and traits of grade abatement (e.g., organization, amenability, assiduousness).

Upcoming: In-Class Activities

Meanwhile, there will be in-class activities that bring us together in a more traditional way. (Well, our version of traditional.) You will retain choice from period to period — you can spend the time in whatever way is most productive or effective — but certain days will be dedicated to an activity or focused lesson. The vast majority will be provided interstitially a few days in advance, so you’ll be able to plan accordingly. Some examples:

  • A divergent-thinking activity about capturing the Invisible Man from The Invisible Man
  • Poetry reading with Maya-Angelou-inspired hip-hop
  • Poetry reading with Bob-Dylan-inspired hip-hop
  • Dialectical discussion of topics from, e.g., The Pig that Wants to Be Eaten

For lack of a better way to phrase it, think of these as one-off lessons.

Upcoming: Formal Units

Once the Pareto Projects are in motion, we will return to more formal units. This needs to be mentioned, because it would be easy to forget that Pareto refers to only 20% of our work. You will need to plan your time around the reading, thinking, and writing that has characterized all of our learning this year, as we study specific ideas and answer specific essential questions.

The next unit, for instance, will build on the questions you’ve recently answered and the novels you are currently reading. We will learn about lying — how it works, how we learn to lie, the types of lies, and the nature of systemic/societal lies like the myth of Santa Claus. After that, we are likely to do a smaller unit on memory itself — how it works, how we construct collective memories, and how your individual memories function.

As always, you will need to watch this space and Google Classroom for instructional materials, assignments, and feedback.

Upcoming: Test Prep

Before the end of Q2, we start exam prep. Everything else on this list is makerspace learning — student-driven, creative, exploratory, iterative, even fun. Exam prep… not so much. Still, it will take up time, and you need a sense of how much effort and attention might be required of you when it comes to timed writing, timed reading, and multiple-choice analysis. Read this essay when you can:

View at Medium.com

That will give you an idea of how we’ll approach test prep: as an act of gamesmanship steeped in critical thinking, collaborative planning, and logic.

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Academic Update: RE10

  By English 10 Regents (2016-2017)

The following updates cover current and upcoming course work and are written to help you organize your time as you begin your Pareto Project on Thursday, December 8. Read this information carefully. Then ask any clarifying questions in the comment section below.

Ongoing: Emulation-Through-Analysis (ETA) Essay

These essays will continue to be our focus during the class period, even as you begin your Pareto Project. The next step will see you learn the SOAPSTONE tool, apply it to your chosen essay, and then begin to outline your essay. Refer back to the previous post for information on this second ETA step:

ETA Essay: Next Steps

Ongoing: Regular Metacognition

This is simply a reminder that you need to reflect and be metacognitive regularly. Spend 15-20 minutes at least once a week analyzing your choices, your progress, and your subsequent goals. This is the best way to develop the skills and traits you need for the future and to generate evidence for your grade abatement profile.

If you struggle to think of how to frame this regular reflection/metacognition, respond to these three basic questions:

  1. What have I accomplished?
  2. What have I learned?
  3. What’s next?

Answer #2 by referring specifically to the skills and traits of grade abatement (e.g., organization, amenability, assiduousness).

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Provisional Answers: Analysis

  By All Junior Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)
pattern_recognition_book_cover

Gibson is always good.

Pattern Analysis

Load the following:

That should show you the complete set of responses to the essential questions given to you in our last post. If it doesn’t work, let me know in the comments or in person, and I’ll see what I can do to flip a PDF of the responses.

Your assignment: Read your peers’ responses, identify patterns, and offer insight into the collective thinking for each question.

If we break that sentence down, you have three things to do:

  1. Read your peers’ responses.
  2. Identify patterns in those responses.
  3. Write down something insightful about those responses.

This kind of pattern analysis needs a lot of data to work well, and you’ll have it: more than 100 students will have given provisional answers to seven essential questions. The obvious problem? You have to read 700 responses.

Speed Reading

Actually, you don’t need to read 700 responses. First, there won’t be 700 responses; we’ll be using what we have at different points over the next few days. Second, you only need to read enough responses to identify a meaningful pattern. You are meant to skim your peers’ writing. This is also a time to practice your reading speed — how quickly you can push through a wall of text while still understanding what it says.

You should apply your regular metacognition to this speed-reading to see how your brain handles it. Note which questions generated responses that you find interesting, too. You should even start to see patterns in the writing itself — in the use of specifics, the development of ideas, the repetition of phrases, and so on.

If you have questions about how to approach the assignment, ask them below. Otherwise, bring your observations and insights to Google+ and group discussions in class.

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ETA Essay: Next Steps

  By English 10 Regents (2016-2017)
writing-828911_960_720

The coffee is a crucial step.

At this point, you should have chosen an essay from the collection, One Hundred Great Essays, and gotten approval from your teachers to study that particular text. You should also have shared your choice through this Google Form and as part of a conversation on our Google+ Community. Before you move on, read through the comments on Google+. If you see a text that looks more interesting or engaging, you can still switch. After Friday, however, you really shouldn’t switch, because it will mean redoing a lot of work.

Bishop Composition: Step #1

Now you begin the emulation-through-analysis process. Over the next few days, you need to analyze your chosen text and begin drafting your own essay. That starts with what the collection itself provides, which comes in two parts:

  1. Before each essay is an overview of what the essay says and how it is written.
  2. After each essay is a set of questions about what the essay says and how it is written.

Here is an example of #1, from an essay called “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell:

 

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

In this introduction, you are given much of what you would need to emulate Orwell’s writing:

  • “Orwell conveys his ambivalence…” | Your essay, too, could convey ambivalence. Click here for the definition.
  • “His language holds nothing back…” | You, too, could write that strongly about your subject.
  • “At the climactic moment of the essay, Orwell describes in harrowing detail…” | If you were writing a narrative like this, you could focus on “harrowing detail” at the climax. (Here is the definition of harrowing.)
  • “Orwell has so slowed the pace of the essay as to create a cinematic effect of slow motion…” | You, too, could slow down a single moment in your essay, attempting to emulate the way Orwell does it.

And so on. The introduction is essentially a rhetorical analysis of the essay, which means it is also a blueprint for emulation. Then you have the questions that come at the end:

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Depending on your chosen essay, these questions may or may not help. The last question is usually a prompt that you could use to emulate the author directly, so if you are feeling lost, use that question to get started. The other questions tend to ask you to look at particular choices the author makes, some of which you could emulate.

Your first assignment is to work your way through the introduction and concluding questions for your essay. We will review how to do this in class on Thursday, December 1; if you are absent, you will be able to sit with your teachers when you return to go over your essay and how these framing assignments help you analyze the text.

Bishop Composition: Step #2

The next part of the writing process requires you to work together and with your teachers to learn the analysis tool known as SOAPSTONE:

The Ultimate SOAPSTONE Analysis Guide for AP Exams

Ignore all the mentions of the AP exam. This is the best guide to SOAPSTONE analysis and planning that you will find. The original College Board explanation is here, and you should read it, as well. Then you can:

  1. Apply SOAPSTONE to the essay you have read. Write a paragraph or so for each element.
  2. Begin to brainstorm about your essay, using SOAPSTONE to outline. Again, you’ll write a paragraph or so for each element.

We will review how to do this in class on Friday, December 2, and again on Monday, December 5; if you are absent, you will be able to sit with your teachers when you return to go over SOAPSTONE and apply it to your own work.

Using Google+

We will take as much time as necessary for these two Bishop Composition steps. The initial plan is to use December 1, 2, and 5 to work in class. If your teacher is with another student, you should post questions either here, in the comment section of this post, or on Google+:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117716758051277289443

Posting good questions creates evidence for grade abatement, as does answering questions effectively.

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Questions and Answers

  By All Junior Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)
From the 1933 film version of The Invisible Man.

From the 1933 film version of The Invisible Man, which is quite different from the novel.

Essential Questions

In education, the sort of question you’ll find below is often called essential. The Greeks called these discussions dialectics. In brief, they are the reason we read and think and write: to answer questions that matter. Or, at least, to start to answer them. I don’t think any of us ever find the truth Socrates sought.

But you have something like a foundation now. You know what is expected in a learning environment like this one1. So you can take a few days to work on a set of questions that relate to the reading for this quarter:

  1. To what extent can any of us trust our senses?
  2. To what extent can any of us trust our memories?
  3. How do ignorance, knowledge, and happiness interact for us2?
  4. To what extent and in what ways does power corrupt?
  5. In what ways are any of us ever alone?
  6. To what extent are people self-destructive?
  7. At what point and for what reasons should a group stop an individual from doing whatever he or she wants?

Define terms, seek examples, and, above all, talk to each other. Ask clarifying questions below in the comments. Use Google+ to anchor your in-class conversations and to continue conversations that require more thoughtfulness and precision. Share your observations and insights as often and widely as you can.

We will also add to these questions as we continue, shifting the language and focus as necessary. As you read and write, new questions will occur to you. This is Piet Hein’s idea: “Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.”

One more thing: While I will guide you through activities and lessons built around those four novels, they are not required. Strongly encouraged, yes, but not required. Nor will we drive our learning through prescribed readings. There are hundreds of other texts that tackle the same subjects, that lend themselves to the same discussions, and while these have many advantages, we must remember the lessons of Paul Graham and John Holt.

The point is that we’ll take all quarter for this, and that means you should read because the readings are interesting and edifying, not because some teacher told you to do it. Keep your eyes out for other texts, too; taking that sort of initiative can only help you in here. I’m thinking of introducing “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” for instance, because of its powerful connection to these ideas, and there are several short stories and poems that we could read together3.

Throughout all of this, work in writing as often as possible. Sketch out ideas, take notes, write metacognitive responses — whatever it takes to generate understanding and GAP evidence, since those are one and the same in this course. Look to Google Classroom for formal assignments, as always, and advocate for yourself when you feel lost.

Here are the readings again, as reminder and encouragement:

  1. Which is an atelier model, by the way — a specific kind of makerspace that centralizes creativity and expertise through the ripple effect of teaching others. We’ll talk more about it later this week. ↩

  2. I don’t like the phrasing of this, but I want to avoid the cliché: Would you want to be ignorant and happy, or have knowledge and be miserable? It’s not a binary consideration like that. The idea is to consider what you know, how you know it, and whether you’d prefer not to know it. We’ll talk more in class. ↩

  3. I love “Funes, the Memorious,” if you want a beautifully strange story about memory. ↩

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One Hundred Great Essays

  By English 10 Regents (2016-2017)

An example of book art. (Artist unknown, or at least unfound through a Google search.)

Choosing an Essay

Carefully note the deadline for this assignment in Google Classroom: You have until the end of the day on Monday, November 28, to choose an essay and submit your reasoning. Making the choice early is strongly encouraged, but not required. You will have time in class on Monday.

In our last post, you were asked to explore One Hundred Great Essays, a collection of writing on a wide range of subjects by a wide range of authors. You must now choose one or more of those essays to read carefully, analyze, and then emulate. You will eventually produce your own essay that emulates your choice in one or both ways:

  1. Composition (details, arrangement, meaning, presentation, approach, grammar, ending, style)
  2. Content (subject, occasion, audience, purpose)

We will use this writing process to learn a universal rubric, bishop composition, and to practice some of the GAP skills you learned about during Q1. For now, you should simply read the essay you’ve chosen, taking notes in whatever way you like. We will refine and focus those notes and your understanding of the text over the next week or so.

Selection Form

Use the following Google Form to make your selection. If your edition of One Hundred Great Essays has an essay not on this list, add it where indicated. Be sure to complete the section asking why you’ve chosen this essay.

If you have any questions about this assignment, ask them in the comment section below.