As we get ready for Lord of the Flies, the students went through a simulation where they found themselves stranded on a deserted island with only the clothes on their backs and their classmates—no adults. They were tasked with electing a leader, coming up with a list of priorities, and writing a set of rules for their society. I would say no one could have predicted what happened next, but Thomas Hobbes did just that. Almost immediately, chaos ensued, and the novel played out right here in K103. Two factions formed, with one focused more on survival, and the other focused on winning. The rapidity with which it escalated to insults and threats being hurled across the room led to an abrupt end of the activity so we could all be friends again. This activity provided a solid foundation for our lesson the following day on Hobbes' and Locke's philosophies regarding state of nature, and what the most common outcome of the Prisoner's Dilemma is. We also examined various covers of the novel and made some predictions about plot and themes we're going to encounter as we read. Looking forward to getting started next week! "I told you I’d be your knight in shining armor." - Morgan F. "Just a knight out on the town." - Ava H. "She said she liked abs of steel." - Alyssa M. "When workers at White Castle notice you have a party of one." - Trevor S. “I don’t have high expectations for the employees here but this guy is pretty grim.” Shelby K.
“On your lunch break too?” - Jessica N. “Dude, the Halloween party is on Tuesday.” - Josh Z.
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The twist ending of "The Most Dangerous Game" didn't surprise too many of these intuitive students--they picked up on the fact that something wasn't quite right early on in the text and were able to identify the verbal and situational irony in the short story. Taking a quick break from reading, we reviewed our first writing assignment and introduced everyone's favorite list: Taboo Words! In an effort to learn which words not to use, the students are writing raps/songs/skits to teach each other which words and forms to avoid in their formal writing. Can't wait to see what they come up with! And without further ado, here are this week's caption contest winners! “Pythagorus’s Hotdogs”
“They are sure to keep you in shape.” - Kai A. & Vincent E. “Oh did you want one?” - Shelby K. This past week, we moved into our second unit for the year, in which all the readings deal with the topic of survival. Although we learned a bunch of the different elements of literature already, there are still plenty more to go, and this week we learned about THEME and IRONY. For theme, we threw it back to elementary school and read The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss--storytime style. The students did a great job identifying multiple themes in the story, ranging from "You're beautiful just the way you are" to "Don't trust strangers" to "Capitalism works." All equally valuable takeaways. After The Sneetches, we moved on from rhyme and picture books and listened to a story called "Keep Going" by Peter Sagal, originally told on The Moth. Listen here! Once again, the students nailed their identification of various themes from the story, most of which revolved around perseverance and pushing through even if you think you can't go any further. Our first short story of this unit is "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, and we would be remiss not to cover irony before diving in because the situational and verbal types abound! We reviewed foreshadowing (evidence-based predictions) and irony (when our predictions are wrong), and then we got to it. We left off on a cliffhanger on Friday and will be finishing the story this upcoming week. Here are this week's caption contest winners! “No, you can’t ride it! I only have 10 minutes left in my lunch break!” - Makena G.
"Sliding into a mid-life crisis." - Jessica N. "You don’t stop playing when you get old, you get old when you stop playing." - Ryan R. “Did your mom forget to pick you up, too?” - Trevor S. |
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September 2019
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