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