Welcome English 12 Students of 2013/14

Welcome to the classroom outside of the classroom.  This year I will be experimenting with the "Flipped Classroom" idea.  (http://prezi.com/-vbtn0xnnyzx/my-flipped-classroom/) Lectures, links and various posts to this blog will be required viewing during various units throughout the year.  You will find cues and reminders to visit this blog and/or the classroom Facebook group on the front whiteboard in our classroom.  It is your responsibility to stay abreast of this information.

Our first unit will explore Short Stories.   Before viewing the links below consider the purpose of storytelling.  Why do we tell stories? Are there stories that are retold in your family?  How are stories portrayed in our media?  What is the relationship between truth and fiction?  Why do we have metaphor? (Please view the TEDEd link by Jane Hershfield)

To prepare for upcoming activities and assignments consider keeping a notebook nearby to jot down thoughts and responses as you view the following links. 
  
 You are likely to find some more interesting than others.  Allow yourself to notice this while you engage your mind with the ideas presented.  :)  Collectively this should take approximately 2 hours of your time.  Enjoy!                            

Margaret Atwood - Canadian author (approx 5 mins.)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2FsnPzgZJw

TED Talk with Phil Kaye - Spoken Word/Storyteller
(approx 16 mins)
v=s7fWagDQyvg.

Please view at least three of the Showtime Short Stories videos you will find in the following link (approx 16 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiN5NpplPo4&list=TLVIts--SoOEF5bh1_yqn3joWROuQowuvQ 

A Whiteboard History of Storytelling (approx 4 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6E8jpFasR0

Kurt Vonnegut - American author (approx 2 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmVcIhnvSx8

Shane Koyczan - Spoken Word Artist (approx 7 mins) "The Crickets Have Arthritis"

We will be reading the following story together in class.  It is optional to prepare ahead. :)

Please read "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" written by Ambrose Bierce.  You might also like to watch an Oscar winning film version of this short story. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dead Crows and Other Mysteries

Image
(Image: Oil Painting by Kirsti Ann Wakelin) The other evening I dreamt I found a dead crow caught behind the cushions of my sofa. Disturbing. How did it get there, in my dream, so concrete and visible? And what does it mean? Carl Jung would have me analyze the significance of this dream as it connects to our collective consciousness. What do crows symbolize in our culture today? Was this a visit from Poe? Has a Haida raven dropped by to keep me on my toes? Or is the recent death of my grandfather somehow "couched" in my internal dialogue? He was a storyteller. Even more intriguing is what happened when I relayed this dream story to my grade 8's. Picking up a new book of poetry and opening it randomly the first poem I fell upon was Jon Silkin's "Carved", the first two lines: Two small dogs stood by a dead black bird And the black bird was very dead. There is no denying death. The dead are dead. As with Silkin's black bird. As with
Read more

Are You Normal?

Pre writing assignment for Ken Kesey 's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Normal : - adj . 1. conforming to a standard; regular, usual, typical. 2. to flee from mental or emotional disorder. 3. Geom . (of a line) at right angles, temperature etc. [Latin normalis: related to norm] - Oxford Dictionary What is normal? Should everyone be normal? Who gets to decide what is normal and what is not? Why? Is there a purpose to opposing the construct of normal? You are invited to post comments that reflect on the idea of normal.
Read more

Rules & Laws: What is their role?

Martin Luther King once said: "Just as it is the duty of all men to obey just laws, so it is the duty of all men to disobey unjust laws". [Presumably he meant women too! ;)] It seems true that rules and laws play a pivotal role in maintaining some sense of social order. What if there were no laws? Would chaos unfold? Would the world as we know it fall apart? Or would life take on some new kind of structure, maybe something we haven't imagined yet? What is the role of rules and laws in our society? Is there ever a time when some rules or laws should be broken? Why?
Read more