Catcher: Life in the 1950s

Create a blog post where you discuss what life was like in the 1950s. Use links, images, videos to show examples.

Ideas to consider: 

• What were the popular movies, songs and TV shows?
• What was it like to be a teenager in 1950?
• How did teenagers talk?
• How did people dress?
• What were boarding schools like?
• Feel free to go above and beyond this.

Grading:

Above and beyond:

• Information is appropriate, specific and used in a creative manner.
• Completed research is diverse and wide-ranging, covering multiple aspects of the topic.
• Research presented in an organized, creative, interested manner. All requirements are met and presentation suits the material and audience. 

Basically Fine:

• Information presented from research is appropriate and adequate
• Completed research covers topic, but not in a thorough manner. 
• Research presented in an organized fashion and all requirements for each group role are completed. 

 Could've done better:

• Information presented from research is appropriate but needs significant revision.
• Completed research shows a small sample of the information available on the topic. 
• Research presented fairly well, but does not complete all requirements for each group role. 

Didn't try:

• Information presented from research is vague and inadequate. 
• Completed research is inadequate to properly complete the task.
•  Research presented in an unprepared, haphazard manner.

Book Review: Brave New World

Brave New World is one of those books most people have a definitive opinion about. Either you love it or you hate it. There is very little in between.

Your mission: Write a book review of Brave New World.

We have worked on writing reviews this quarter. You have had a chance to practice and get feedback with your restaurant and movie reviews. Writing a book review follows a very similar format.

Here is an excellent example of a book review over To Kill a Mockingbird. You should consider using this as a model for your book review.

This is an example written by a student of The Catcher in the Rye (which we are reading next). 

This page has great tips for writing a book review, including important items you will want to incorporate into your review.

2nd Hour Essential Elements 

6th Hour Essential Elements

AOW: Kids who skip school tracked by GPS

Read the following article: Kids who skip school tracked by GPS.

1. Show evidence of close reading. Ask questions. Make comments. Mark up the page.

2. Answer the questions at the bottom of the article.

3. React to the article in a blog post. Consider: How might this article be similar to the ideas in Brave New World? Due Friday.

POW #4: Restaurant Review

I love going out to eat. My vice is that my wife and I go out to eat all of the time. We are always looking for new places to try, and we use restaurant reviews to find out if we should try the restaurant or stay far away.

For this blog post, you are going to write a restaurant review. Use what we learned about writing a movie review, and the examples we looked at in class, to write a review for any restaurant you wish. I would encourage you to visit the restaurant so you can take notes and write an accurate review.

Here are the examples from Smashburger and Chipotle that we looked at in class. They should give you a model to write your own review. 

2nd Hour's Essential Elements 

6th Hour's Essential Elements

Raven Blogger Award: Movie Reviews

I enjoyed speaking with many of your parents during Parent-Teacher conferences. I also enjoyed meeting with you about your grades. I think we had great discussions, and hopefully you have some ideas on things to work on before the next time we conference.

I have been reading your movie review blog post, and I am honestly a bit disappointed that many of you did not complete this assignment. This is a type of persuasive writing, and something you may be asked to do often in your lifetime. Your future boss may ask you to review a new product, article, or idea and ask for your opinion about it. You need to be able to explain why it is a good or poor product. We will be reviewing more items this semester. This movie review was one practice for something yet to come (hint hint!).

Here are the winners for the Raven Blogger Award:

Navpreet had an excellent post about Avatar. Look at his intro and how it hooks the reader. Also notice his organization. Each paragraph serves its own purpose. Well done!

Baldish picked an unusual movie: The Gold Rush. I enjoyed how he talked about how his appreciation for silent movies changed after seeing this film.

An oldie but a goodie: Izaek reviewed Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Check out his organization and the paragraph about Jim Carrey's acting.

I also enjoyed reading Aman's post about Home Alone 3. I like how he recommended this film to kids rather than parents. Recommending something to a certain group of people is a very good reviewing technique.

POW #3: Irony in Brave New World

Huxley's Brave New World is filled with irony and satire.

Remember the three types of irony: Verbal, Situational, Dramatic.

For this blog post, locate one example of irony in the book up through Ch. 10.

1. Explain the situation from the book

2. Label the type of irony

3. Explain what Huxley is trying to say with the irony.

Example:

Explanation: In this world, the popular phrase is, "Everyone is happy now." Lenina repeats this over and over. There are no wars, poverty, violence or crime. It appears to be a perfect society or utopia.

However, this world is far from perfect. The people do not know true happiness. They are actually void of any emotion at all. They may say that they are happy, but they are not.

Situational Irony

Huxley's purpose: People can be conditioned to think or say certain things, even if they do not actually believe it. Huxley is also exploring the question: What does it mean to be happy? What is the true nature of happiness? Is it something you say? Something you feel? How do you attain true happiness?

Movie Review

After closely examining the examples of movie reviews in class, write your own movie review. It does not have to be a movie that you love. It could be a movie that you think is terrible (which could turn out to be a much better review than one that you really like).

Follow the examples of movie reviews that we looked at in class. If you want to look at other examples, feel free to do so.

Your opening paragraph should somehow hook the reader. Refer to the examples we discussed in class.

Remember: Movie titles should be in italics.

This post is due by Thursday, February 3rd, 2011.