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