Daily Agenda 3/10

Today's Objectives:
* Students will analyze the relationships between characters in the text, including conflicts, motivations, and interactions.
* Students will explain how the author uses stylistic devices such as simile, epithet, Homeric simile, metaphor, personification, anthropomorphism, alliteration, foreshadowing, repetition, and symbol to achieve particular effects in an epic.

Today's Standards:
10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.6, 10.3.7, 10.3.8, 10.3.12, 10.7.5

Today's Activities:
* Watch cartoon Odyssey
* Write at least 3 similarities on note card; 3 differences on other side

Today's Announcements:
* Interviews due TODAY -- last day accepted = 3/11
* Vocabulary 19-20 due tomorrow
* Double history period tomorrow -- meet in Ms. Hercules' room

Daily Agenda 3/3

Today's Objectives:
* Students will analyze the relationships between characters in the text, including conflicts, motivations, and interactions.
* Students will explain how the author uses stylistic devices such as simile, epithet, Homeric simile, metaphor, personification, anthropomorphism, alliteration, foreshadowing, repetition, and symbol to achieve particular effects in an epic.

Today's Standards:
10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.6, 10.3.7, 10.3.8, 10.3.12

Today's Activities:
* Receive interview assignment handouts
* Discuss requirements for interview, due by Friday
* Discuss book 9
* Begin reading / discussing book 10; receive book 10 notes

Today's Announcements:
* Vocabulary 17-18 due Tuesday of this week
* Calendar adjustment: HW: finish book 10; print out book 11 notes for class tomorrow

the Interview

the objectives:

• Students will describe and apply characteristics of a good interview.
• Students will connect the personal experiences of their interviewees with thematic elements in the Odyssey.

the overview:

Although Homer developed the story of the Odyssey hundreds of years ago, his thematic elements still allow us as a modern audience to connect with the plights, successes, and failures of his characters. Nearly everyone has visited a place outside of his/her hometown and found it to be noticably different from home. People nearly always struggle with the concept of growing up and finding one's place in the world. No matter what, people all acknowledge certain traditions or family values. People seek to be honorable and courageous in the face of tremendous uncertainties. And despite how permanent we may believe our lives to be, people we love and cherish will always come and go, and our reactions to these comings and goings may differ based on our own level of maturity.

the assignment:

• We will think about the thematic elements present in the Odyssey and mold an interview with the awareness of those thematic elements. Your interview should take place in person and not over the phone or through email communication. You may interview anyone you like, including someone in your immediate family. Develop your questions ahead of time, based on the options listed under "the content."
• Before the interview, write out at least 10 questions to use during your interview. You may want to consider contacting your person ahead of time and obtaining some intial information to help you focus your questions. Leave plenty of room to write down the interviewee's answers. It's okay to use several sheets of paper for your interview.
• Consider using a tape recorder / video recorder during the interview to preserve information.
• Before conducting your interview, write the following disclaimer statement on your interview sheet and obtain the signature of your interviewee. This is a necessary element for your grade. Failure to obtain a signature of your interviewee will result in the automatic failure of your project. Disclaimer statement: As an interviewee of (Student Name) I realize the information I provide is for a school project and may be used in the context of the English 9H class. (Interviewee Signature).
• You may choose to add to your intial 10 questions based on your interviewee's answers to other questions. Jot down more questions during the interview so you remember to ask them later.
• You may want to rewrite your questions and your interviewee's answers to ensure neatness and readability. Neatness will count -- if I can't read it, I can't grade it. Retain the original with your interviewee's signature. Again, the interview will not be graded without a signature.
• Be kind and courteous during the interview. Be sure to thank your interviewee for his/her participation both before and after the interview.
• Your interview is due Friday, March 7. The interview will not be accepted past March 10; a late penalty of 10% or one letter grade will be applied to interviews received on March 10.

the content:

Choose one from the following list to determine the focus of your interview.

• an exciting trip or vacation to a location away from our hometown
• a significant, life-changing event and its impact on the interviewee's life
• growing up and its effect on the interviewee's successes / failures in life
• re-discovering a long-lost friend or relative after many years of being apart
• one's personal experience with a guardian angel and the influence it had on the interviewee's life
• other (must thematically link to the Odyssey; "other" topics must be presented to the teacher, in writing, by Wednesday, March 5)

extra help:

If you feel like you need help beyond what is available in the classroom, I will be available before or after school Monday through Thursday in my classroom. I also check both of my email accounts daily and may provide assistance this way as well. I cannot provide assistance if you do not ask; claiming to "not understand" an assignment and not asking for help is inexcusable. If you do not ask for help I will assume you understand the assignment and plan to turn it in, completed, on the due date. Again, this assignment will be accepted NO LATER THAN Monday, March 10. Please plan appropriately.

the values:

• at least 10 hand-written or typed interview questions; questions should be "multi-faceted" as discussed above. ["Explain." does not count as a question -- it should be part of a previous question] -- 10 points
• answers, written in complete sentences, to interview questions -- 40 points
• signature of interviewee (this element is necessary to receive points for this assignment; if this is missing, student will receive ZERO points, even if the interview is complete otherwise) -- PASS / FAIL points

the resources:

• Interview Help http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson17/RWTa27-1.PDF
• Sample planning sheet http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson17/RWTa27-3.PDF

Indiana State Academic Standards met by this project:

10.4.10 Review, evaluate, revise, edit, and proofread writing using an editing checklist.
10.4.11 Apply criteria developed by self and others to evaluate the mechanics and content of writing.
10.6.3 Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct use of the conventions of punctuation and capitalization.
10.6.4 Apply appropriate manuscript conventions — including title page presentation, pagination, spacing, and margins — and integration of source and support material by citing sources within the text, using direct quotations, and paraphrasing.
10.7.1 Summarize a speaker’s purpose and point of view and ask questions concerning the speaker’s content, delivery, and attitude toward the subject.
10.7.16 Apply appropriate interviewing techniques:
• prepare and ask relevant questions.
• make notes of responses.
• use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect.
• respond correctly and effectively to questions.
• demonstrate knowledge of the subject or organization.
• compile and report responses.
• evaluate the effectiveness of the interview.

Standard 7, Speaking and Listening

Standard 7: Listening and Speaking: Skills, Strategies, and Applications

Students formulate thoughtful judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations of their own that convey clear and distinct perspectives and solid reasoning. Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine the traditional speech strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. They use gestures, tone, and vocabulary appropriate to the audience and purpose. Students use the same Standard English conventions for oral speech that they use in their writing.

Comprehension

10.7.1
Summarize a speaker’s purpose and point of view and ask questions concerning the speaker’s content, delivery, and attitude toward the subject.

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication

10.7.2
Choose appropriate techniques for developing the introduction and conclusion in a speech, including the use of literary quotations, anecdotes (stories about a specific event), or references to authoritative sources.

10.7.3
Recognize and use elements of classical speech forms (including the introduction, first and second transitions, body, and conclusion) in formulating rational arguments and applying the art of persuasion and debate.

10.7.4
Use props, visual aids, graphs, and electronic media to enhance the appeal and accuracy of presentations.

10.7.5
Produce concise notes for extemporaneous speeches (speeches delivered without a planned script).

10.7.6
Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience and choose effective verbal and nonverbal techniques (including voice, gestures, and eye contact) for presentations.

Analysis and Evaluation of Oral and Media Communications

10.7.7
Make judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

10.7.8
Compare and contrast the ways in which media genres (including televised news, news magazines, documentaries, and online information) cover the same event.

10.7.9
Analyze historically significant speeches (such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech) to find the rhetorical devices and features that make them memorable.

10.7.10
Assess how language and delivery affect the mood and tone of the oral communication and make an impact on the audience.

10.7.11
Evaluate the clarity, quality, effectiveness, and general coherence of a speaker’s important points, arguments, evidence, organization of ideas, delivery, choice of words, and use of language.

10.7.12
Analyze the types of arguments used by the speaker, including argument by causation, analogy (comparison), authority, emotion, and logic.

10.7.13
Identify the artistic effects of a media presentation and evaluate the techniques used to create them (for example, compare Shakespeare’s Henry V with Kenneth Branagh’s 1990 film version).

Speaking Applications

10.7.14
Deliver narrative presentations that:
• narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience.
• locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
• describe with specific details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of characters.
• time the presentation of actions to accommodate time or mood changes.

10.7.15
Deliver expository (informational) presentations that:
• provide evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all relevant perspectives.
• convey information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently.
• make distinctions between the relative value and significance of specific data, facts, and ideas.
• include visual aids by employing appropriate technology to organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs.
• anticipate and address the listeners’ potential misunderstandings, biases, and expectations.
• use technical terms and notations correctly.

10.7.16
Apply appropriate interviewing techniques:
• prepare and ask relevant questions.
• make notes of responses.
• use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect.
• respond correctly and effectively to questions.
• demonstrate knowledge of the subject or organization.
• compile and report responses.
• evaluate the effectiveness of the interview.

10.7.17
Deliver oral responses to literature that:
• advance a judgment demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of works or passages.
• support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text and to other works.
• demonstrate awareness of the author’s writing style and an appreciation of the effects created. • identify and assess the impact of ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.

10.7.18
Deliver persuasive arguments (including evaluation and analysis of problems and solutions and causes and effects) that:
• structure ideas and arguments in a coherent, logical fashion using inductive or deductive arguments.
• contain speech devices that support assertions (such as by appeal to logic through reasoning; by appeal to emotion or ethical belief; or by use of personal anecdote, case study, or analogy).
• clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning.
• anticipate and address the listeners’ concerns and counterarguments.

10.7.19
Deliver descriptive presentations that:
• establish a clear point of view on the subject of the presentation.
• establish the relationship with the subject of the presentation (whether the presentation is made as an uninvolved observer or by someone who is personally involved).
• contain effective, factual descriptions of appearance, concrete images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

Interview

According to the Indiana Department of Education's Academic Standards for English 9

9.7.16 Apply appropriate interviewing techniques:

• prepare and ask relevant questions.
• make notes of responses.
• use language that conveys maturity, sensitivity, and respect.
• respond correctly and effectively to questions.
• demonstrate knowledge of the subject or organization.
• compile and report responses.
• evaluate the effectiveness of the interview.