Homework

At this point you should have:

1. a list of words that have to do with WAR
2. a quick response to "Tony an the Beetles" (1 page single spaced)
3. start of a response to "Starship Troopers"

Last Week Review (end Nov 26th)

Wow, it has been a long time since I've updated this- we'll put it down to H1N1 and marks being due and parent teacher interviews... I guess that's little excuse.  Anyway, we've had a couple of shorter weeks in which time we have been performing... some good some not so good- but all of you have been brave enough to go forward and let it "hang-out" without worry- that's shows good class dynamic!

Now down to business:
We have started our next over reaching unit that will probably take us to the end of the term (January...)
Here we will be learning Response, Research and Bibliography and reviewing the Literary Essay while looking at the theme of WAR.  Our guiding question is: How is War Portrayed?

At the moment we are looking at Recruitment- and How wars start.  We see this in "Tony and the Beetles" by Philip K. Dick, as the humans, who have been fighting the Beetles for years see the war shift against them and in favor of the Beetles.  How quickly the balances of power shift- and also the feelings of seperiority!  Were humans always supposed to be better?  Are we always meant to be winning?  Does Dick think that we, humans, were really right?

To compliment "Tony and the Beetles", we are watching "Starship Troopers" directed by Paul Vanhoeven.  This movie can be seen on many different levels; the straight-forward action film, as a war propaganda recruitment film, as a comment on societies that use violence and war to solve problems,  etc. 

"Starship Troopers" carries the same fell as "Tony..." where the humans are seen as being "RIGHT".  Yet it looks more directly at the "human side" and the dehumanizing of the enemy (Making them, the bugs, an "OTHER").  We are made to cheer for the humans, rather than the BUGS, because Vanhoeven has us follow three friends- characters whose lives we become attached to- but look more closely!  Look at the uniforms, listen to the "News Bullitens", and analyse the motivations of the main characters... all give a sardonic commentary of war. 

Coming Up:  We will be continueing "Starship Troopers" and the responses.  After "Recruitment" we will start to look at "War training", "The Horror of War", and then the "Casualties of War".

Last Week Review (end Oct 30th)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Nothing much to say except that we have been working on the LES... its all about WOLVES!  If you didn't get the first information or if you want to review it the following are addresses that you can go to to look at:

Peter and the Wolf (part 1)
Peter and the Wolf (part 2)
BBC Planet Earth Series (this is a great series about the world and you can get a lot of it on YouTube)
The CBC report (this is a great example of an Argumentative speech)

As far as the Radio pieces- this is harder to find addresses of and I still haven't found a way to put them up on the web... so at this point you have the chance to come at Recoup and listen to them...

Coming Up:  You have your scripts that you are going to be working on.  We will be starting those in the days after the LES.

Homework

1. Getting ready for your LES which starts on Wednesday
2. Writing your Script, rough draft is due this Monday 26th, in my mailbox.
   

Review Last Week (end Oct 22nd)

Not much has changed since the last class- we were working on the verbal part of the LES; discussing the poems and coming up with a definition of "Protest Song".   As well as doing that, we looked at creating a script for the second in your series of presentations.  We also looked at the creation of the rubric for the presentation that will be taking place at the beginning of term two (see Homework)


Coming Up:  Remember that your LES (the written part) is coming up this coming week- starting Wednesday 28th, then Friday 30th and Tuesday Nov. 3rd. 

Response work

This post is specifically for Anna D., but I did notice that there were some others of you that chose not to do the response (I won't name names)- this is your chance to get some marks if you wish- of course you have to check out the blog to really make it work for you...

 

These are the questions for the response- the idea was to use no less than 2 poems to answer them and be sure to look at their similarities...:

1. what make these songs protest songs? (use quotes)
2. What is the singer's message and how is he/she getting that message across? (quotes)
3. What is the Tone of the poem (angry, sad, joyful, etc.)? (quotes to support)
4. Is this piece telling us something or is it calling us to action? (quotes to support) 

Homework

You should be working on your creative presentation/script that will show the issue that you chose to do in dramatic form- make a play, a monologue, do an interpretive dance- it has to be something creative and it will be video taped!

This will be presented in the coming classes- and should be done before the LES starts.

Last Week Review (end Oct 16)

This week was a short one- it didn't help that I was not there on the 15th because of a doctor's appointment.

As such, we looked at songs/poems and worked out further your discussion LES for this term.  At the same time it helped get a clearer idea what the definition of "protest" is.  Some of the discussion made me realise that we have a long way to go, but also that you are all capable of getting there because we have very strong minds...

Discussion seems sometimes to be the easy part- getting it written down can be a bit harder.  However, with the responses you wrote I again was surprised by a lot of you- you understand the concept of getting an idea on paper!  Great!  Now we have to up that bar and get you to be able to play with the language!

Coming up:  Starting Oct 28th, you have an LES that will concentrate mostly on writing- both creative and functional (think song writing and essays...)- remember the 29th you will be at the career fair.  Before this and after... depending... you will have your 2nd public presentation- this has to be creative and to be preformed (it will be video taped)- we will take time next class to work out the rubric for this presentation.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

This is the John Lennon link:  It comes from a film called "I Met the Walrus"

Homework

Up coming presentation: Taking the research you did on your cause, you need to create dramatic, performed piece that represents one side of the cause you presented earlier. Be as imaginative as you possibly can; write a song and perform it, act out a play, use props and costumes; play a character, have fun with it... but still argue your point.  This will fall into the category of "Argumentative" essay and/or monologue, giving you exposure to writing a script/dramatic piece.  The final work will have a written and performed component (which will be video taped).  These will start the week after next... then comes your LES...

Last Week Review (end Oct9)

This week had me present to you the Civil Rights  Movement and some of the songs that are around it.  There was a lot of information here and I hope all of you are keeping your notes for this (Remember the LES is coming up).  We did not get as far as I had hoped, but slowing down and taking a different tact, I think, has been a good idea.  Originally I was going to do three presentations, but as we were going on I felt that we needed to work more closely with the material and look directly at some protest poetry/songs.  (leave comments and tell me what you think...)

Handing out a little package to you all, I thought our class today (Thursday) went really quite well.  I encourage you to talk amongst yourselves, do a bit of research, and search out other song examples to build a definition of what a "protest song" is.   Remember that I will be marking you on your talk next class.   There are other questions to consider when talking about these poems: structure, voice, atmosphere, etc.  I also encourage you to seek out examples of these songs so you can hear them as they were recorded.

You also got your presentations back.  I hope none of you are too disappointed, but you have to remember this is where you are launching from.  Also now some of you might wish to look at what you need to work on (or at least what I think you need to work on...)  For me as a teacher it was good to get an idea what you are capable of and what we need to work on. 

Hint to you all: there is a reason that I have not talked about the last stanza of "Go Limp" by Nina Simone . 

Coming up:  We are going to continue the group conversations and working toward a definition of what a protest song is.  The other thing that we are going to consider is why have these songs at all.  Are there songs that you would like to hear now...? 

For the time being I have shelved the other two presentations ( Neil Young: a Career in Protest, and Michael Franti: a Career in Being Human).  While the topics are dear to me, I thought that it would be just too much information at this time.  We might see them later

 
Your LES, final term exam, will start Wednesday Oct 28th (Day 9).

Thoughts about our rights and protest

It is sometimes difficult to understand why people protest or why something is worth protesting for.  Yet we have to think about what the times were like before people stood up for black people, or women's rights, gay rights, etc.  Giving these "marginal" groups (groups that are not part of mainstream society; Others) the rights they deserve as members of a society, makes all our rights stronger and our society stronger.   Looking at this history allows us to feel pride for what we experience everyday, because of the stories of bravery, triumph of justice over injustice.  These are the stories or narratives of our times. 

Yet these stories continue and change as times change.  Knowing that the rights that have been won for us in our country and around the world have made each and everyone of our lives better.  Moreover, our personal rights as well as the rights of our society are worth defending and protesting for when they are being threatened.  

Yet of course there are also forces that work to try to keep things the way they are- keeping the status quo.  These forces and those of change are forever in a struggle- it is when we do NOT speak, be it speaking up or speaking out, however, that that struggle is done.  Change is a normal state and something that always happens (just look at the seasons).  That does not mean that we should always resort to violent protest which is so often the image of what a protest is, but we should think creatively to effect change.  Dulling your imagination is the first step to taking away your voice.  Keeping you busy and unable to think of the bigger picture might be the second step... but that's just my opinion.

What about the "protest" verses the "whine"- when does something become a big enough thing that it is considered a protest rather than just some guy whining about his/her problems?

Last Week Review (end Oct 2)

This week was continued with the presentations, getting all but one of them done.  For me as a teacher it was good to get an idea what you are capable of and what we need to work on.  What I saw were pretty straight forward presentations.  I'd like to see more creativity in getting your information across (more than just a power point) because the presentations have been more fact than opinion.  To that end we will be taking your presentations to another level... See Coming Up.

We also took a very brief look at poetry/songs of protest.  Looking at the song "Go Limp" by Nina Simone we talked about structure and authors techniques.  Looking at this is very important (I will be putting Anna's typed notes on the blog for you) because often the way something is put together reflects onto the end product.  Why does an author use repetition?  In Nina Simone's case it is to show us a change in the "voice" of the piece (going from Mother to Daughter to narrator to singer).  We will continue to look at songs of the 60's in the same way- you will probably have to do some searches at home on the internet...  as we then look at the structures of these poems/songs in the classroom.

Coming up:  There are several things coming up- this next week I'll be giving three lectures:

1. Music to Represent: the Civil Rights Movement and Black Awareness
2. Neil Young: a Career in Protest
3. Michael Franti: a Career in Being Human

The week after Thanksgiving will see us return to presentations- Taking the research you did on the various causes, you will need to create a monologue or otherwise dramatic piece that represents one side of the issue that you presented.  This will fall into the category of "Argumentative" essay and/or monologue, giving you exposure to writing a script.  The final piece will have a written and performed component (which will be video taped).
 
Your LES, final term exam, will start Wednesday Oct 28th (Day 9).

Homework: none

Last Week Review (end Sept 25)

This week was a bit of a light week (especially for me as a teacher).  We finished watching Battle in Seattle, which seeing it the second time seemed very "Hollywood-ized"; the dialogue seemed "staged" and unnatural, the events and how they were shot seemed likwise staged (how many shots were there of thoughtful, remorseful actors looking off screen for some sort of answer??).  But the overall message and who is say it (which point of view is being portrayed) is always obvious and clear. 

We also started the presentations- these have been good, at least good for me to get to know what your strengths and weaknesses are.  Audiences have been respectful and listening (for the most part).  As for the presenters- we need to work on "remembering the information"- because when you are comfortable with the information you can get away from looking at the paper.

The content of the presentations has been more informative rather than opinionated.

The way I use this mark is for me to get to know you and build on it for the next presentation.  I will of course give you these back and then you'll know how I saw you in presentation.

Coming up:  Finishing the presentations will happen early in the week.  After this we will be looking at protest poetry in the form of songs. We will take the work you did on these last presentations a bit further, so look forward to presenting again in about 2 weeks.
 
Your LES, final term exam, will start Wednesday Oct 28th (Day 9).

Homework: presentation preparation

Last Week Review (end Sept 17th)

This week we looked at the OKA Crisis and one of the most (in)famous protests there was in the last ten years (it is actually celebrating its 10 year anniversary!) -the WTO protests in Seattle in Dec. 1999.  No matter what you think of the WTO, one has to look at:

1. the protest techniques (the carnival atmosphere, the lock-down of the intersections, etc.), 
2. how the "Corporate" Media vs. "Independent" Media reported the events, 
3. the policing techniques (it should be remembered that the police were working long hours- 36-48hour shifts) etc.

To get our information we looked at two different sources:

1. Deep Dish TV : a source for independent news that put together footage of the WTO protest.
2. Battle in Seattle: A "Hollywood" treatment of the events that took place in 1999... 

Further sources that you can look at are:

1. The Real BAttle in Seattle with a long list of different organizations that you should check-out
   
2. Adbusters

Presentation

Remember the presentations start Tuesday, Day 4, third period.

You need to give a printed copy of your information, and it should be more than just sheets of information- there should be a logic in how you are presenting it.  NO POSTERS!

These were the things that you came up with that I should look for in your presentations:

Homework- Response

Could you please write a response (one page, typed, double spaced, 12pt ariel or new times roman font) to the web broadcast that you saw yesterday in class (Deep dish TV- part 3 is what you saw, but all parts are good).  You should be looking at the ideas of protest, the effectiveness of protest, and when is it OK for a government to use the police/army on the people that it governs?  Is there a voice of the people and should it be heard, or is it best to have a few people (like the WTO) make desicions for the many?

I know I said no homework, but this is to see what your writing capabilities are like.

Protest and Causes

Today we looked at the Oka protest- (click on these words to go to the CBC link) to see what a protest can be from beginning to end- this is interesting especially when you look at this compared to Tank Man.  Both groups are standing their ground but with drastically different results.  To save a people and their dignity- to what lengths would you go?

Coming up

This week we will be working in part on your presentations (1 class working out the research/requirements of your particular presentation- the idea of a rubric):  Presentations will start Tuesday 22nd, period 3.

We will also continue to look at the different protests that there are- inparticular the "Oka Crisis", and "The Battle in Seattle".

This is all gearing up fpr a look at how to create a convincing argument one way or another.  We will be looking more closely at poetry and song as a form of protest (Sept 21-25).

Last Week Review (end Sept 11th)

We continued to look at those words connected with protest and types of protest. We looked at the beginning of the Documentary Tank Man (search: Youtube- Tank Man).  We also looked at the work of Greg Mortenson, and his Pennies for Peace initiative and the work that he does in Pakistan and Afghanistan building schools for kids in need (search: Greg Mortenson, Pennies for Peace, and Three Cups of Tea).

In the coming week

Coming up we are going to continue to look at protest- looking at the types of protest, causes that have been protested in the past and what you find worth protesting now in our world.

What is worth protesting? Check out the following link and see what you think... a friend of mine sent me this via facebook

Last Week Review (end Sept 4th)

Last week we started looking at the idea of protest and looking at what we knew about protest- coming up with a list of words that link to protest and forms of protest (link to Wikipedia for other types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest )

That list is:

Fighting for something you think is right, Argue, Disagreement, Rebel, Standing up for yourself Standing up for something you care about, Strike Petitions, Changing a system, Two sides to the story, War, Justice, Defend, Group, Peace, Vs., Debate , Against society, Win or lose, Conflict, Double sided, Courage, Determination, Freedom, Fair, Fair vs. Equal

We also looked at the words Objective and Subjective; the first being a Fact the second being interpretation of facts and information.

link to protest/war

WARNING THIS LINK HAS "GRAPHIC" MATERIAL but...

Check out this post. This is a war/news photographer and looks at the idea of how protest and war impact the world and the people in it. Though he is a little "dry", his pictures are stunning and speak directly to the human spirit of us all.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war.html

This link straddles (use your dictionary if you don't know what that means) both the protest and war- the two themes we are going to be looking.

Welcome!

We are faced with a changing world that constantly presents new challenges because of this, this course has been designed to be challenging, not only technically but also in terms of subject matter. We will combine English texts ("1984") and themes (the notion of romance and mystery), current affairs (looking at news and new media) and history (looking at the history of politically conscious poetry, the stereotypes of war) to prepare for the ministry exam and graduation.

Some themes that we will cover:

• Protest
• War
• Romance
• Mystery
• Current affairs
• Big Brother
• Totalitarian Government/ the Other

The following is a list of class materials that you will need:

• 100 sheets of loose leaf (minimum) in a 1 inch binder.
• Pencils, pens (black, blue), highlighter.
• Red pen
• Dictionary and Thesaurus*
• Internet access (at home and/or local library)
• USB key (1 Gig minimum)

*The Dictionary and the Thesaurus will be stored in class.