Learning is Change

I was sick today.

Here are the lesson plans that I left for my substitute.

You can also find the link to my example for a “Buliding Comment” here.

When I read this piece for the fourth and fifth time, I really got it.

SoccerLover did a great job picking something that I could really connect to. She picked a representation of life through books that I find tantalizingly fulfilling. It did leave me with a few questions, though.

• What do I think about it?
• What does it mean to me?
• Do I think this metaphor for a book is accurate or could I come up with a better one?

Ultimately, I decided to take the challenge that I thought that this post represented.

You read A Book.

Its words are an inviting whisper, a nearly unspoken calling of laughter and thought. This playful friend beckons you to get lost, without a worry for finding your way back. It is Pan and his flute. It is the harmless apple in the Garden. It is a million possibilities that never really narrow down because they always reach the furthest recesses of your mind. It is the beautiful dancer that hypnotizes you until you forget that you are watching anything, you are such a part of the moment. It is the playmate that leaves you at the bottom of the gorge, with only your wits as defense. It is the bug that crawls in your ear just before you sleep and won’t let you forget that it is there, for the buzzing. It is a hopeless cause of remembrance on every page, the whole of yourself mirrored back to you, disfigured yet satisfying.

ELT:

1. Write-Ons:
   • Why do you think that people act differently online then they do in real life?
   • How can we create a safe environment for everyone on our blogs?
   • What are the inherent risks of posting to a blog once a week?
2. Explore the Discovery Blogging Rules websites looking for the following:
   • Creating a blogging environment without fear (of insult, of reprisal, of dishonesty).
   • Creating a scholastic blogging environment.
   • Creating a blogging environment based upon protection (of personal information, of identity, of unique thoughts).
   • Creating a creative, non-restrictive, tolerant, and sensitive blogging environment.
3. Write down aprox. 5 Blogging rules in your category that you think should be a part of the Discovery Blogging Rules.

Cores 1-4:

1. Why do we memorialize some events and not others? How does society choose the things it collectively remembers?
2. Getting more out of your blog:
• Personal Connection World Events:
• 9/11 – Remembering
• Writing Ideas on 9/11
• Comments and Change on 9/11
• Commenting Back (Or Commenting on Comments)
• Continue the discussion either on their blog or on yours. This produces a conversation about your writing. It also enriches the community through true collaboration.
3. Go to the library and work on your next Weekly Authentic or continue commenting discussions.

Cores 1-4:

1. Introduce the process of commenting. (Model using Commenting Like a King or Queen.)
2. Introduce Bloglines (optional account to set up using How-To)
3. Go to the library and read and comment on your own core class first using the grazr navigator.
• Guiding questions:
• How/Why do you think this post is important?
• How/Why do you think this post is entertaining?
• How/Why do you think this post is authentic?
• How/Why do you think this post is unique?
• How/Why do you think this post is honest/true?
• How/Why do you think this post is revealing (of the author, of the reader, of the character of life)?
• How/Why do you think this post is connection maker?
• How do you think this post can be expanded, changed, and made better?

ELT:

1. Write-Ons:
   • Why do you think that people act differently online then they do in real life?
   • How can we create a safe environment for everyone on our blogs?
   • What are the inherent risks of posting to a blog once a week?
2. Explore the Discovery Blogging Rules websites looking for the following:
   • Creating a blogging environment without fear (of insult, of reprisal, of dishonesty).
   • Creating a scholastic blogging environment.
   • Creating a blogging environment based upon protection (of personal information, of identity, of unique thoughts).
   • Creating a creative, non-restrictive, tolerant, and sensitive blogging environment.
3. Write down aprox. 5 Blogging rules in your category that you think should be a part of the Discovery Blogging Rules.

Core 1+3:

1. Write-On: If you were to split your personality into two equal sides, what aspects of yourself would be on each side.
2. Read “The Dichotomous Middle Schooler Part I”
• Discuss which dichotomies are the hardest to deal with.
• Find strategies for living with our own dichotomies of grades and parental pressure.
3. Student presentations of more “Good Parts.”

Core 2:

1. Discuss-On: With 2-3 other people, discuss your answers to “How can you change/question tradition when everyone else seems to buy into it?”
2. Go over front side of “The Lottery” Handout.
3. Discussion Questions:
• What are the reasons for continuing such a heinous tradition?
• Why are people reluctant to change? (Why was Old Man Warner so reluctant?)
• What insight can this story give us into our own societal traditions?
4. Student presentations of more “Good Parts.”

Core 4:

1. Reflect-On: How did writing within Robert Frost’s style inform your understanding of his original poem (the theme, the idea of dichotomous change, the rhythm, etc.)?
2. Share with at least 2 other students your rendition of a dichotomous change poem.
3. Share with the class the most imitative piece you heard and/or the most unique.
4. Discussion Questions:
• How does reading and understanding this poem affect the way that we should think and act in this class?
5. Student presentations of more “Good Parts.”

ELT:

1. Write-Ons:
   • Why do you think that people act differently online then they do in real life?
   • How can we create a safe environment for everyone on our blogs?
   • What are the inherent risks of posting to a blog once a week?
2. Explore the Discovery Blogging Rules websites looking for the following:
   • Creating a blogging environment without fear (of insult, of reprisal, of dishonesty).
   • Creating a scholastic blogging environment.
   • Creating a blogging environment based upon protection (of personal information, of identity, of unique thoughts).
   • Creating a creative, non-restrictive, tolerant, and sensitive blogging environment.
3. Write down aprox. 5 Blogging rules in your category that you think should be a part of the Discovery Blogging Rules.

Core 1+3:

1. Write-On: What do grades mean to you?
2. Take a look at your writing assessments:
   • Grade according to the six-trait rubric in your planner.
   • Compare your six-trait grades with mine.
   • Writing Question: If there is a difference, why do you think that we assessed the same paper differently?
   • Take one of the traits that we both think could be an area for improvement (Lower than your other scores or 3.5 and below). Writing Question: Why did you struggle (at least comparatively) with that particular aspect of writing for this piece?
   • How do you believe you will approach your writing differently

Core 2:

1. Write-On: Every tradition presents a dichotomous choice: to change or not to change. Which traditions are beneficial and should stay the same, and which are detrimental and should be changed.
2. Read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
   • Answer questions on theme and change (from handout).
   • Discuss the nature of this tradition, change, and dichotomous choice.
3. On the back of the handout, answer the following question:
   • How can you change/question tradition when everyone else seems to buy into it?

Core 4:

1. Write-On: What is the most difficult dichotomous choice (only two options) you have had to make in your life?
2. Read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
   • Answer questions on theme and change (from handout).
   • Discuss poetry analysis, dichotomous choice, and change.
3. On the back of the handout, write a parallel poem about a major dichotomous change in your life.

ELT:

1. Write-Ons:
• Why do you think that people act differently online then they do in real life?
• How can we create a safe environment for everyone on our blogs?
• What are the inherent risks of posting to a blog once a week?
2. Explore the Discovery Blogging Rules websites looking for the following:
• Creating a blogging environment without fear (of insult, of reprisal, of dishonesty).
• Creating a scholastic blogging environment.
• Creating a blogging environment based upon protection (of personal information, of identity, of unique thoughts).
• Creating a creative, non-restrictive, tolerant, and sensitive blogging environment.
3. Write down aprox. 5 Blogging rules in your category that you think should be a part of the Discovery Blogging Rules.

Cores 1-4:

1. Ask for “Good Parts” from 5 students.
2. Show the first fruits of The Weekly Authentic.
• How to nominate a post for an Authenticity Award.
3. Work on your own Weekly Authentic (adding pictures too) or work on book/web review.