Forgot to post homework! My apologies. It's the worksheet on causes of the French Revolution.

Nacirema

Hey guys -- this is something I just remembered reading that I think could somehow be useful to us. It's an article about the "Nacirema" people, and I think it lends itself well to discussing the themes of truth, perspective, and bias. It also stresses the importance of language and tone when describing something. Take a look and see what you think. The main reading is on the second page.
http://mrwinandsclass.wikispaces.com/file/view/Nacirema+Lesson.pdf

So, as I try to figure out the first term (I have to get this done now, because it looks like I'll be busy moving as school opens) this is the latest math.

It looks like we have about 32 classes in the term.  If we use the first week for some follow-up to Black Ice and course introduction, then we have 28.

Columbine is 370 pages, 54 chapters counting the Afterword.  So, each chapter averages 6 pages.  If we ask the kids to read 3 chapters per night (18 pages) we can go through the book in about 20 classes.

That might be too little reading for a double course, so we could assign 4 chapters (24 pages) and be done around mid-term.  That's probably more reasonable.

I plan to make Columbine the on-going homework starting in Week 2.  My classes will use the nightly reading as the starting point for class writing. 

This shooting in Aurora, CO is feeding off Columbine.  Dave Cullen is being interviewed a lot as an authority.  I wonder how much useful comparison there really is between the events, especially the perpetrators.  From what I'm hearing... not so much except the military pre-meditated nature of the two.

So, I'm getting nervous about the first mid-term.  I'm feeling the pressure of not being able to move until just before classes begin, so I need to get a good idea of my classes before the work of moving begins.

So, first planning question: Do we want to have the kids complete the reading of Columbine by the first mid-term?  I think we should.  If so, we need the kids to read more than 20 pages per class.  The challenge is that we can't assign any other outside reading.  All Columbine and non-Columbine work has to be done within the class blocks.  And part of that is to make use of the summer reading book Black Ice.

We've got our challenges.  Let's start thinking early.

Hi all,  thanks for the warm welcome.  I am excited about joining the team and look forward to being in touch with you guys over the summer! 

Welcome, Elena!

And hi, All -  I watched Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine".  It's not right for our classes.  There is not so much on the shooting or the boys.  It's more about the notion that our culture is essentially fearful, that we are used to violence as a way of solving problems, and that guns are ridiculously easy to obtain.

Test. Hello hello!

Hi-posted this via phone--let me know if you would like to post via phone and i can get you connected.