Team Alpha story time was incredibly enjoyable for me yesterday. Your creative ideas and stories are fabulous, entertaining and awesome. I hope you all keep on working through your ideas this weekend.

As preparation for our presentation and display of our photographs and stories on Thursday, this weekend please:

1. Refine your first draft of your story (type this please!!)

2. Write your artist's statement -- this is your opportunity to talk about the photograph that you chose. Write about one paragraph. We will display this by your photograph.

Additionally, please finish the reading in Tom Swift -- there will be a quiz on chapters 16-25 on Monday.

Contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Best,

Kay

Your first official Media Analysis journal is due on Monday! For this assignment, you must select an advertisement in a magazine, and answer the seven analysis questions about it. Remember, first, describe (what do you see?) and then interpret (what does it mean?).

If you lost the handout, these are the seven questions:

1. What do I see?

Record your observations – Write down everything you about the visuals of the media -- lighting, camera angles, how the pictures are edited together. Describe any people-- what do they look like? what are they doing? wearing? Focus only on what is actually in the media, not your interpretation of what you see.

2. Who created this message?

You may not know exactly who created the message, but take your best guess. See if you can identify the author of the message from a close look at the media. Remember that everything you see in the media was created by someone.

3. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

The way that the media is put together is very intentional. Try to see if you can identify the mood or the story that the media is trying to create. What is the emotional appeal? What is the persuasive appeal?

4. How might different people understand this message differently than me?

No two people see an image the same way. Each audience member brings to each media encounter a unique set of life experiences (age, gender, education, cultural upbringing, etc.) which, when applied to the text – or combined with the text – create unique interpretations. Imagine you were someone else – how would that change the way you understand the message?

5. What values, lifestyles or points of view are represented, or omitted, in this message?

In looking at the content of a media message, it is important to understand that there are no value-free media and never will be. All media carry subtle messages about who and what is important. Try to analyze your media for values and points of view.

6. Why is this message being sent?

Try to look at the motive or purpose of a media message – and whether or how a message may have been influenced by money, ego or ideology. To respond to a message appropriately, we need to be able to see beyond the basic content motives of informing, persuading or entertaining.

7. Finally, how can I review my insights and summarize my ideas about the message?

Summarize how the media is constructed and how various elements of the construction trigger your own unique response-- which may be very different than how others interpret the text.


If you feel like you could not answer all of the questions, do not worry, just do your best! We will have plenty of opportunities to refine our ideas during this project.

Contact me with questions or concerns.

Best,

Kay

"I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you." - The Matrix

During this project, we have looked at the world around us and have identified real problems and have imagined real solutions. Maybe your opinions and perspectives have changed since we begun this project. Maybe you see some things differently than you did at first.

So this is my question, what would you do to change the relationship between Mexico and the United States? If you had the power, what would you do?

Question to ponder: What if the Native Americans told the Pilgrims that the border was closed, and they could not immigrate? Where would we be then? Technically, the pilgrims were illegal immigrants!

Onto the OT...These assignments are designed to help prepare you for your first debates, which will happen on the Tuesday after we get back from break (November 27). The more work and research you do, the better prepared you will be to win your rounds and argue with style.

1) Write a blog post on the question, Why does the world have borders?

2) Try to finish your book, Breaking Through – we will have two literature circles the week we get back, so it needs to be finished by Friday, November 30

3) Write a Negative brief against your own case, with at least 5 pieces of evidence

4) Refine your Affirmative case – make sure that it is 8 minutes long and try to correct any problems that you have found with it during piranha packs

5) Challenge assignment: Contact an expert about the border (by email or phone).

You can call the government and ask questions about policies, and you can also contact many authors by email. See what connections you can make, and what kind of information you can find. Document this contact and show me after break.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and keep checking the Humanities blog for more information and updates.

As you could see when the debaters came on Wednesday, debate is a valuable tool that will teach you public speaking, critical thinking, notetaking, persuasion and poise. In order to gain these things, you must work hard on creating your affirmative case! Writing an affirmative case is hard work, but it is within your power! As with any assignment, please do the best you can.

Here are some helpful questions that will guide you as you write your affirmative case (due TUESDAY).

1. Do you have a catchy introduction?
2. Do you state the resolution, "Resolved: That the United States should significantly change one or more of its policies towards Mexico"?
3. Do you have definitions of words from the resolution, defined with a dictionary?
4. Do you have at least two harms, or problems with how things are right now? (e.g. smuggling, or illegal immigration)
5. Do you have evidence to prove your harms? (Evidence is expert testimony or research from credible sources. You will need to research to finish your case!)
6. Do you have a plan to solve your harms? Remember that you can do anything you want! You can remove the border, or create a wall. The sky is the limit!
7. Do you list your agent (probably Congress and the President), your enforcement (probably the Border Patrol) and your funding (probably taxes)?
8. Do you have at least two advantages, or good things that happen because of your plan?
9. Do you have a conclusion, that encourages your audience to vote for your case?
10. When read out loud, does your case take 6-8 minutes to read?

You may have noticed that high school is getting harder to manage! We are knee-deep in projects all over the place, and we need to work together to stay on top of our assignments. If you need help, please email me. I would like to be a resource for you!

In addition to your affirmative case, you should also continue to read in your book, Breaking Through and you need to post a blog (approx. 10 minutes) answering the question, "How does the US benefit Mexico and how does Mexico benefit the US?"

Debate is hard, but it is worth it! We will be concentrating on this topic for the rest of the semester. Please let me know how I can help you, and I will do my best to guide you through problems.

best of luck.
Kay

I have good news and good news.

The first good news is that we will have an opportunity to start researching in class tomorrow! We will research the relationship between Mexico and the United States, in the first preparation for our debates coming up in just a few weeks. This might be something related to the environment, immigration, pollution, economy, culture or business (or anything else you can think of!).

The second good news is that you will be posting one or two research resource(s) (a website or an article) that you found on your blog! Please post the link, and also a short little description of the website or article and what you found helpful about it.

This way, you can connect to your classmates' blogs and use the resources that they found to help you with your research over the weekend.

Please post your resources by Friday so that we can all access them online in class and over the weekend.

peace,
Kay

Bonjour mes estudiantes! We have a vocabulary test tomorrow and it will be on the following 8 words (or the 5 words that you chose to define as part of your Space and Place Project).

1. anomaly
2. exasperation
3. plethora
4. tangible
5. behoove
6. imperative
7. megalomania
8. zealous

As part of our "making changes," we will start building our vocabulary on a regular basis and having quizzes every week. Words are power! If you ever feel like you have trouble making ideas (and I know sometimes you do), then start putting more words in your minds. Words help up make ideas! (And ideas can change the world!)