Intensely Amazing Lesson Plans
Book of Memories
Project Overview: Throughout the semester each of you will write a book of memories. This book of memories will consist of memories that you have had over the duration of your life and high school. This senior project will provide you with a "time machine" look back at everything you have accomplished in the last seventeen/eighteen years of your life. The finished project will be due at the end of the semester, however, I will provide in class time (in the computer lab as well as the classroom) for you to work on your senior project.
The final project will be presented to me in a specific format that I have outlined for you in the handout. Each student will be required to hand in their memory book in a three ring binder with plastic, clear cover pages. The cover of the book will have to have some type of picture and title with the authors name on it.
**The finish product of your Book of Memories should include family pictures, pictures of friends, and other decorational items. Make it look like a book. This include antiquing it, creating the gold edged pages or designing the spine of your three-ringed binder.**
The book of memories will need to include the next ten chapters, table of contents, dedication page and an epilouge.
Chapter 1: "Who am I? About me" (Who are you? Where you are from. Where you live, who do you live with. Life goals/ambitions (traveling, careers, secret ambitions {auditioning for American Idol}), How are these goals going to be reached?" This part of the story should be written in five paragraph form with proper grammar and syntax.
Chapter 2: My freshmen year of high school. I would like to see you explain the trials and tribulations that you had to overcome in order to pass the 9th grade and continue on into your sophomore year. What were you scared of when you began high school? Were the students scary? Where the teachers intimidating? Was high school a big change from middle school? Did your parents give you more privileges? (for example: Did your parents allow you to stay out later? Give you less responsibilities at home? Spend more time with friends during the weekend? Give you more money for you allowance?)
Chapter 3: Write about your earliest memory that you can remember. Instead of only writing your story explain your stories in pictures, or pictures that are composed of words. (For example: My earliest memory is of myself practicing how to write my name with my dad when I was 4. I wrote all the letters correctly except for the ‘y’. All of my “y’s‘ would be backwards and because of this my dad would always try to correct me; and my response was always “No Dad you’re wrong!”
**Use tagexdo or wordle in order to help you make pictures composed of words**
http://www.wordle.net/create
Chapter 4: Write about your favorite memory that you have had during high school. Instead of using just words to write about your favorite memory draw a comic strip to describe it. If not wanting to draw a comic strip write a poem in the shape of your favorite article of clothing that you were wearing at the time of your memory.
Chapter 5: You are leaving in the next five minutes to get onto a plan to arrive in Cairo, Egypt in a piece of small carry on travel luggage.
Chapter 6: Write a two page short story describing your first crush. Describe what they looked like, why you liked them, their name.
OR
Describe what it was like the first time you went to the movies with only your friends.
Chapter 7: Write about your dream vacation. Where would this be? What would you need to enjoy your vacation? Who would be with you? What type of activities would you partake in? How much money would you need for your vacation? How long would you be on vacation? This should be three pages typed with included pictures of your destination.
Chapter 8: “I Grew Up Here” Write a poem about where you grew up. Include descriptions of your town, neighborhood, your house, your family, school.
Chapter 9: What is your goal for the first two years after high school? Where will you be? What will you be doing? What are some of the activities or things that you have done within these two years? What will you have accomplished? Write a short narrative of three pages explaining what you have done.
Chapter 10: Make a playlist of songs that describes you in last four years of high school. Describe why each song is important to you and what it means to you. What is the memory behind the song? What is the feeling that you are getting from the song?
Epilogue: Write about a quality character that you would like to change. Design your own way to write this. Make it creative in some way. **Extra points for how creative you can be!!**
Teaching about Arizona and Columbine Shootings
Fighting against Violence
7:49 a.m., Jan. 13
Representative Gabrielle Giffords was seriously injured after being shot in the head while meeting with constituents in Tucson on Saturday. The police say that 20 people were shot, six of whom were killed. Among the dead are John M. Roll, the chief federal judge in Arizona, and a 9-year-old girl.
Below are several ways to begin discussions with your students about the shooting. We will continue to update this post in the days to come.
Please tell us how you’re addressing this event in your classroom or home.
Update, Jan 13: Discuss The Role of the President: “Moments of national despair-assassinations, space shuttle accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters-have been the defining moments for many presidents, as they try to strike a precise balance of resolve and sympathy,” Sarah Wheaton writes in her introduction to the Times interactive “Executive Consolation,” which features video of Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Johnson as they sought to unite the country after past tragedies.
Did you watch President Obama’s speech in Tucson on Jan. 12? What moments stood out for you? How successful do you think he was in uniting the nation and elevating the discussion? Compare this speech to past presidential speeches in similar circumstances. Do you think it will be a “defining moment” for President Obama? Why or why not?
--courtesy of Sarah Kavanagh and Holly Epstein Ojalvo
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/ways-to-teach-about-the-arizona-shootings/#more-48801
Allow for Personal Response: Introduce students to the events of the Arizona Shooting and the Columbine shootings. Noting that President Obama has called for a national moment of silence to remember the victims and the same was done for the Columbine shootings, observe this moment in time as a class and have students write about their reactions to the news. Show videos of reactions towards the Columbine shootings that happened on April 20, 1999. Pass around a copy of “The Girl Who Said Yes.” Pass around news clippings from the Arizona shootings and the Columbine shootings.
Profile the Victims: Students create a collage or bulletin board profile of the victims of the Arizona shootings and the Columbine shootings, this should include Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Judge John Roll, the 9-year-old, and other victims concerning both shootings. Create obituaries for the victims of the Columbine massacre for the 12 students, 1 teacher and the 21 injured? How can the lives of the victims be remembered and recognized?
Take Multiple Perspectives: Have students create a Compassionate Community within the classroom. This would include them finding a way to offer condolences to the victims families in Arizona. What are their reactions towards the shootings? Why might someone choose a public figure as a target? Do you think a tragedy such as the Columbine shootings and the Arizona shootings could be recreated in another community? How can we prevent our community from becoming a victim of a school shooting? Will the Arizona shootings change our politics in America? Is too much violence on video games and T.V effecting behavior.
Discuss Gun Rights and Restrictions: Has the recent shooting created new debates on gun rights and how restricted they should be? Have students create a series of newspaper articles entailing their views on gun laws and if they should be changed or not. Each brochure should include different articles on their opinions and the effects of their opinions with data included. (proper statistics of gun laws, the lasting effects of gun laws, information on previous school shootings.)
Learn about the Shooter: Jared L. Loughner, who had been charged with the shooting of Rep. Giffords and 19 other people. How was the behavior of the two senior students at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. How has their behavior been described? Did their behavior strike anyone else as strange. For this assignment students should create an online blog describing the research that they have found and how it makes them feel. Is it worrisome that they had these behavioral issues? Were there many was of detecting their troublesome behavior?
Connection to Literature: Compare both shootings to a piece of literature. Replay pieces of literature such as Macbeth, Hamlet. Use the piece of Macbeth when he starts to kill his friends and surrounding people in order to receive a crown and become king. Explanation of themes that are universal between literature and the real world. Have students journal for 5 minutes as if they were a member of the victims families.
Learn about the Justice System: What are the members of the judicial party? How would the case against the shooters be handled? What would happen within the court concerning the prosecutor?
Exploring Racism and Identifying Stereotypes
Overview: What is race? Your task is to create a collage that reflects what race and stereotypes are. Are there specific stereotypes that people associate with other persons? This will be accomplished by assembling pictures and making a collage of different pictures that resemble race and different stereotypes. Are there certain stereotypes that are in our high school? Within our community? However, the collage will need to be in the shape of a face and the face will be required to have facial characteristics. (a mouth, eyebrows, two eyes, lips)
In agreement with using the proper race and stereotypes there should also be quotations that address how to defy racism and stereotypes. These quotes should be outlining the face that you have designed. Try to find quotes that are from famous celebrities, authors, musicians, politicians, family members and other community members.
-No two quotations can come from the same source.
-Every quotation must be sited.
-Every student is required to use a different video clip.
These projects will be due in one week. In order to complete the project it is necessary for each student to present their collage with a complete completion. In regards towards the presentation each student will be required to use one youtube video and online article. The youtube video will be presented before each student presents their poser. There will also be two scheduled in class work days to complete the project and the rest is expected to be completed at home.
