MONDAY August 31, 2015

MORNING MRS. SMITH,

We started off this morning by going over our college essays with a new face in class. We looked over their ATTENTION GETTER, presence of FAITH/BELIEF in their essay. We Proofread checked for errors on their papers.

We listened to some awesome music during that time period......

REDOs
We can Redo assignments in the growth category

WORK TIME
work on College Essay
make up work/ redos
Read chapters 19-28 in class
Discussion Points Make Up





HOMEWORK
READ 19-28 in LIFE OF PI
ANNOTATE
BRING IN SOME DONUTS on wednesday if its your turn

August 28th, 2015 FRIDAY

THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY!

Well we started the morning with our usual 

"Good morning Smith." (I think we are getting better at it)

Our readings and our annotations for chapters 9-18 were due today as well as our song annotations.

We got to discuss our songs in groups
On the board we wrote big ideas and questions we had from the reading. Everyone had great points and questions. I will not put them all but here where the ones that stuck out to me

Three Big ?'s
-Understanding other religions helps us understand our own better
-Those who struggle with religion are those who work to confirm it the most
-Pg. 52 "madness that we all (including animal) have to escape to eventually be free

One ?
-Why do humans start wars over religion when its obvious that all religions have the ability to coexist?
-"Simply wild creatures seeking to fit in" (pg. 52) Are we animals seeking to fit in as pi says?
-How does the zoo/animals influence Pi's ideas on religion?

HW OVER THE WEEKEND

• Essay: How do our beliefs and faith(either absence or presence) define us? p.57 quotation- due Monday, finish reading and annotating

Essay: typed, proofread, double spaced 1 ½ pages: How do our beliefs and faith(either absence or presence) define us?

College Essay tips:

1. Tell a story: be about you
2. ⅓, ⅔ rule
3. Be positive
4. Don’t offend
5. Avoid cliches
6. Be you

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND :)

August 24, 2015 - Monday

Our Name essay was given back at the start of class.

1. Discuss reading chapter 1-3 and write the important details up on board
1. Watched name scene
2. Check annotation
3. Connection to essential question. Who are we?
2. Read chapter 4-8
1. Share thinking out loud - participation grade

Homework:

1. Read chapter 4-8 annotate - Wednesday
2. Song assignment
1. Find a song that exemplifies you (who you are, who you want to be). Printed and annotated - Friday
3. Essay. How do our beliefs and faith (either absence or presence) define us?

1. 1.5 pages, double spaced and proofread
2. Tell a story, be about you
3. 1/3, 2/3 rule. 
1. 1/3 story. 2/3 you, you, you. 
4. Be positive
5. Don't offend
6. Avoid cliches (live life to the fullest, etc. be about you!!)
7. Be you

We had time to work on our song and reading at the end of class. 

Wednesday, August 26

If you are reading this, you didn't get donuts.

Hw:  

• Song annotations. She wants to be able to say she knows you after reading your annotations. Friday.
• Read/ annotate chapters 9-18. Friday.
• Essay.  How do our beliefs and faith define us?  RULE for college essays. 1/3 story 2/3. You. Due monday
• Pg. 57 quotation due Monday.

HW: Essay: typed, proofread, double spaced 1 ½ pages: How do our beliefs and faith(either absence or presence) define us?

College Essay tips:

1. Tell a story: be about you
2. ⅓, ⅔ rule
3. Be positive
4. Don’t offend
5. Avoid cliches
6. Be you

• scribe
• song assignment: questions?
• discuss 4-8
• share thinking out loud- participation graded :) how are you going to show me your thinking?
• 3 observations, questions, or thoughts: post on board
• Discuss reading
• Watch Name scene, tiger scene
• Read ch. 9-18
• Be able to share your thinking on Friday
• HW: Song assignment, Essay: How do our beliefs and faith(either absence or presence) define us? p.57 quotation- due Monday, finish reading,

We watched the scene of Pi getting his name.

• when role was called in each class he made sure everyone knew to call him pi.

We also watched the scene of the tiger and the goat.

• What lesson was his father trying to teach him?

Class discussion about chapter authors note -8

• You dont need to raise your hand
• “those we meet can change us.” Eli thinks this is foreshadowing because he thinks someone pi meets will change him
• who you are is based by who you associate yourself with.
• The animals like being in captivity because everything given to them
• Pi also argues that man is the worst behaving animal in the zoo
• Why does martel spend so many pages talking about animals?
• maybe he is trying to make a comparison to humans
• Why does pi go from being so positive about animals to so negative so quickly?
• he does know that they can still take his life
• Zoos compared to religion
• certain aspects of freedom cloud them both
• he argues this because he thinks that religion is not tangible
• “I was more afraid that in a few words thrown out he could ruin something I love.”
• Atheist vs. Agnostic
• atheist
• no belief
• Pi can not stand agnostic because they are uncertain
• Is Pi closer to his mom or dad?
• while young liked mom more but older will like his dad because of the lessons provided by his dad
• He compares himself at school to an animal in the zoo treated by man.

Start of Class: “Name” essays were given back.

HW over the week:

1. Song Assignment (Due Friday): find a song that exemplifies who you are and who you want to be? (due Friday) Annotate, dissect, examine music lyrics- write all over them!  Show me connections to you? Printed off and ready to turn in on Friday
2. Annotations, Book of Life of Pi (Due Friday): Chapters 4-8 with annotations. If you don’t have annotations you can’t talk. If you don’t talk you don’t get points.
3. College Essay (Due Friday): typed, proofread, double spaced 1 ½ pages: How do our beliefs and faith(either absence or presence) define us?
1. Tell a story: be about you
2. ⅓, ⅔ rule
3. Be positive
4. Don’t offend
5. Avoid cliches
6. Be you

We were asked to write some annotations from the Authors Note, and chapters 1-3:

Some of the discussions:

• What does the sloth have to do with this story?

“Pi described the sloths as happy, slow, and complicated creature.”

• We can make a prediction there was a trauma with water through the quote:

“The first time I turned a tap on, its noisy, wasteful superabundant gsh was such a shock that I became incoherent and my legs collapsed..”

“This is what I will be looking for on. We will be discussing in groups on Wednesday”

-Mrs. Smith

End of class: had time to work on book annotations and song lyrics

Scribe 8/26

Today class started off pretty quietly; everyone still waking back up after the weekend. We collected back our “Name” essays. Then, we wrote details we noticed in the first three chapters and Author’s Note on the board. The enthusiasm was a little lacking; people seemed scared of going up to write on the board, like it might jump out and say “boo,” so it took a little while for the thoughts to be gathered. But eventually, the board was filled with ideas.

Several ideas we discussed in chapter 1: Why is death “fallen in love with life?”. Pi’s double major in zoology and religious studies that maybe hinted at internal conflict, or maybe that we as people are in need of conflict or challenge. “Who is Richard Butler?” because Pi inferres that he definitely was a big part of his life at one point. “Fresh off the boat,” suggested that Pi had been on a long journey

Our discussion of chapter 2: The change of style- Change in point of view form Pi’s narration to an outside onlooker. The “poofy Jacket” hinted at someone hiding, more secluded. We also discussed how Pi seemed like he was very eager to share his story, like it had been building up inside and he finally had to get it out.

For chapter 3 we talked about things we learned about Pi: He was named after a swimming pool; most likely as a part of Mamaji’s legacy because the pool held so much value to him. We discussed that pools were symbolic of water and cleansing: Water in purity for religious things like baptism, or everyday like showering (Physical and spiritual cleansing), as maybe a motif to follow how it interacts with Pi (Is water prominent in times he is cleansed? -Spiritually and physically).

Things we discussed from the authors note: “Willing Disciple” and”I have a story that will make you believe in God,” made us wonder, which god? “Worthless Dreams” portraying the Author’s idea that characters must be based in reality for a story to have its worth, so that they connect to the readers.

After this discussion, we watched a clip from the movie “Life of Pi” on how Pi received his name. His name “Piscine,” sounded a lot like a bodily/ bathroom function.. uh oh. Young Piscine was harassed a lot for his name, and made fun of, so one year when he went back to school, he decided to make himself known as something else. He decided to go by “Pi,” and won the crowd over as he made himself a legend; showing off the hundreds of digits of pi he could count to from memory.

For the last half hour of class, Smith gave us time to work on this week’s reading or on annotating our songs for Friday.

Homework: The song that you picked out for today needs to be annotated for its connections to you due Friday.  For Wednesday (8/26): Read chapters 4-8 and annotate, be prepared to share findings and discuss in class on Wednesday (You will get a grade for talking so come prepared to share!). Also don’t forget if you are bringing donuts this Wednesday :)

Class Expectations

What qualities do good teachers, students and classes embody?  What expectations do you have of yourself, of Smith, and of this class?  

Make sure to proofread your response, as well as comment and connect to one another's.