Christmas Review - Overview Review - 3 Filibusters

Today we eased back into the school year by:

• Sharing a few Christmas experiences 
• Rereading the first four columns of the Chart: Time Periods of Texas History
• Working collaboratively on a chart over 3 Filibusters During the Late Spanish Period

Assignments for Tuesday

1. Finish the 3 Filibusters chart
2. Finish reading The Crimson Cap and write and post discussion questions in a blog post.

Thinglink Followup - Interesting/Important Time Periods - "The Lottery"

Today students:

• Discussed any problems associated with widgeting their Thinglinks from yesterday
• Wrote a blog post listing and explaining the 3 time periods of Texas history in which they are most interested and what they consider to be the 3 most important time periods of Texas history, with reasons why.
• Did Pre-Viewing activities over Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery"
• Brainstormed what is meant by a lottery, pre-viewing activities we could do, etc.
• Held a lottery involving the disbursement of cash rewards to the winners and condolences to the person who drew the big black dot
• Viewed the 1969 video version of "The Lottery," periodically stopping it to see what students were absorbing as they watched and making hypotheses as to what might lie ahead as it progressed. Part 1 - Part 2 - Here are the Student Comments While Watching "The Lottery."

Assignment for Wednesday

• Watch the video version again and do a VideNot.es as you watch.
• Now that you know what happens, pay particular attention to details that set up and drive the story.

Overview, cont'd: Quiz & Thinglink Thingy

Quiz - Yeller Portion of CHART: Time Periods of Texas History

Thinglink Thingy

1. Working collaboratively with your classmates, you will use Thinglink to identify and annotate the people and things in the collage at the top of this class blog
2. First grab the collage here.
3. Then go to Thinglink and sign up.
4. Read and view the basic instructions on using Thinglink.
5. Annotate as many of the people and things as you can in the collage.
6. As you notice, you can do this in quite a few different ways using Thinglink: your own words, links to websites, links to pictures, YouTube videos, Amazon book titles, etc., etc., etc.
7. Once you're done, embed your Thinglink on your blog. Write a brief introduction to your Thinglink.

Assignment: Your Thinglink with introduction should be embedded in your blog by midnight tonight.

Overview of Texas History, cont'd

Click to enlarge. (This should work with all pics inserted into blog.)

Today, students:

• Raised questions about anything they didn't understand on the "CHART: Time Periods of Texas History."
• Learned of some of the abbreviations I often use:
• c. or ca. = around, approximately
• e.g. = for example
• etc. = and so forth
• i.e., = in order words
• Noted how color coding can ease & expedite the learning process
• Identified their 3 favorite time periods on the Chart and circled specific topics they would like to learn more about
• Studied the yellow section of the chart for a quiz on Monday
• Did some teacher-based review to check their learning.
• Devised and asked one another questions about the chart
• Devised mnemonic devices to help them remember the time periods and details

Assignment: Quiz Monday - CHART: Time Periods of Texas History

• Learn all of the information in the yellow section of the chart
• You don't have to recite the dates for this quiz but do be able to recognize which time period each set of dates identifies (e.g., 1519-1821 = Spanish Period; 1861-1865 = Civil War, 1865-1900 = Gilded Age. . .etc.)

Timelines - Bull Boards - Chart on Time Periods

Overview of Texas History, cont'd

• Students took their slips of events from Texas history and placed them on a timeline in the classroom. They then discussed orally several analytical questions, including why the timeline maker stopped Texas history around the year 1900.

• We went downstairs to the bulletin board, "Let's Don't Mess with Texas" and worked the simple chronological order problem based on the same timeline they'd just used in the room.

• They also looked over the bulletin board, asked a few analytical questions (including why the map of Texas and state seal were turned upside down), and wrote and taped additional captions onto pictures of their choice. A sampling:

CHART: Time Periods of Texas History

Students:

• Read together and briefly discussed the yellow portion of the chart; this section gives a brief summary of each major time period of Texas history.
• Read silently the rest of the chart, including text and pictures.
• Made one check mark beside each item they had put in their personal list two days ago and two checks beside any other items that had appeared in classmates' lists

Assignment: Students should read back over the entire chart by tomorrow, in preparation for various learning activities.

"Harrison Bergeron" Finale - Review of Logic - "Chronological Order" - Student Lists of Texas History Events

Analysis of Pictures from Video Versions of "Harrison Bergeron"

• Students wrote and analyzed their responses to 3 different pictorial representations of Harrison.
• See ppt. here. & student analysis here.
• Students began writing a paragraph analyzing what they learned from "Harrison Bergeron." They are to post it on their blog, along with a picture representing what they learned.

Review of Grade 6 Logic

• Students discussed their concept of "logic," based on what they learned last year.
• As I was trying to get an understanding of this, I took notes, which can be accessed here.
• "chronological order" - Students discussed this important historical concept. Their insights are in the notes.

Overview of Texas History

Students wrote down every event, development, person, etc., they could remember from Texas history.

Assignment - Due Wednesday, 9/3

Complete the blog post analyzing what you learned from "Harrison Bergeron."

Include an appropriate picture illustrating what you learned.