9/10/19 Samiha Aladin Period 2

Aim: How can we demonstrate the symbolic and metaphorical meaning of an individual’s personal apocalypse through Cormac McCarthy’s example in The Road?

Today’s lesson began by finishing a TEDTalk our class had watched the previous day (https://youtu.be/PBDJ2UJpKt4). The video was about people’s common misconception of the word “folklore”, and how it expands past that of old, rustic stories. Rather, the folklore of today would be memes or stories - anything that contributes to the “culture” of our society. And the medium? Not by word of mouth, as folklore is often associated with, but rather the Internet. Folklorist Lynne S. McNeill says that “Making an internet meme, or even just sharing one on social media, is participating in the documentation and preservation of contemporary folk culture.” As a result, don’t feel so bad after spending an hour browsing the internet, because it’s worthwhile if you’re able to document and preserve the culture in which we experience today.

The second part of class was discussing our upcoming project based on The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Groups will have to create a book cover depicting our interpretation of what happened prior to the events of The Road? What would its prequel be like? We would also have to support our book cover with a presentation. In class groups brainstormed ideas as to what events might’ve transpired before the book’s setting.

    From the video, I learned that me scrolling through Instagram or reading Buzzfeed is not a giant waste of time. By finding, creating, and sharing memes, I am experiencing and participating in this new style of folklore. No longer is our culture shared by word of mouth, but by internet, which is something not many people realize. The video definitely makes me feel better about being on the internet a lot, as I can just say “I’m participating in the documentation and preservation of contemporary folk culture.”

9/10/19 Brianna Assante P.D 1

We discussed the TED talk that we watched yesterday, which compared memes to folklore. The speaker presented the idea that folklore, and by extension memes, showcase the culture of the people from that time period. While scholars may not pay attention to it, the information that can be gleamed is still just as important as other sources.

We then went over the summer reading project. The goal is to make a book cover that illustrates what happened prior that caused the characters to act in the way they did. We also have to make an accompanying presentation to explain our choices. 

9/10/19 Annotations on The Birthday Party - Riya Agrawal - PD 5

Riya Agrawal
Sophomores 2020
September 10, 2019
Period 5
Blogger #1

Aim: How can we develop our close-reading skills through the analysis of Katharine Brush's "The Birthday Party"?

Today was the second day that we worked on annotating the short story, The Birthday Party. We worked on close reading the short story and worked with a few lines at a time to annotate. We tried to understand the text further than just what the text said. We highlighted words or phrases that stood out to us and talked about why they stuck out to us and what they told us about the story and the plot as a whole.

In the story, a married couple goes out for dinner on the husband's birthday. The wife sets up a little surprise for his birthday in the form of a simple birthday cake with a pink candle in the center. We annotated and inferred that, based on previous information on the story, since the man seemed smug and arrogant, the small cake may not be appealing for the man. He seems like he would be embarrassed or dissatisfied with the small gesture.

We can use annotating to help us close read other pieces of writing. As we continue with the year, we will be reading other books and plays and by practicing annotating we will be able to understand further than just what the text says.

In a short story, I feel like annotations are especially important because since the story is so much shorter than a regular book or article, every word and line is important. The author packed much more purpose in how they described the characters and why s/he decided to write it the way they did. I think that if we are able to understand why the author chose the write the story the way they did, we will be able to go beyond just the surface of the text.

Welcome to Class Blogging 2020!

Dear Students and Families,

I am so excited to welcome you to my 2020 classroom blogging initiative! Student blogging has an important role in our classroom because each student will function as a "scribe" and be responsible for group learning.

We had a great deal of success with posting blogs in 2019. Check out our journey on YouTube:

Goals:

• To become effective global communicators.
• To have every voice speak with the same volume.
• To summarize and reflect upon each day's lesson.
• To become responsible digital citizens.
• To become creators of information.

Student Scribes:

• One student will be responsible for writing a blog each day which includes:
• The date
• Your FULL NAME and class period
• The aim
• Notes for the day
• MOST IMPORTANT:
• Student reflection of the day's lesson: 
• What did I learn?
• Why did I learn it?
• How will I use what I learned?
• Student's full name and blogger number
• **Students MUST LABEL their blogs using (at least) one of the appropriate labels:


• Modern Mythology 2020
• Sophomores 2020
• Announcements
• Students are responsible for keeping track of when it is his/her time to blog.
• Students are to comment and respond to one another, including asking questions or asking for clarification.
• Blogs will be published on the world wide web, so we must practice digital citizenship and remember that our audience GLOBAL, so our tone is FORMAL.

How Blogs are Graded:

• Blogs will receive a letter grade within 7 days of publication based on the rubric above.
• Blogs may be revised, edited, and updated if the student would like an opportunity to improve his/her grade. IF the student does opt for a revision, he/she MUST EMAIL ME with a direct link to the published blog to inform and notify me to check the blog again.

I look forward to a fun and productive school year!

Mrs. Fusaro-Pizzo

June 12 2019 Elizabeth Vesialou Blogger 7-25

June 12 2019
Elizabeth Vesialou Blogger 7-25


Aim: How does the wedding scene demonstrate character strength and weakness?

Do Now: Reflect on the video projects.

Today we reflected on the video project to talk about what we liked about the project and what we wish would have been different. Some comments included that being able to express yourself and show creativity was a better way to have a final. Students liked that even if they are not good test takers, they were able to show their knowledge through a project. Others would have wanted to have the option to write an essay instead, or, even take a test. Other reflections involved wanting to do something alone, not group work, or the video minimum to be five minutes instead of seven.

Ms. Fusaro explained why she did the project. She said that in today's job market, creativity and communication are the two most important skills to have and she knew that we were being tested in the traditional sense in other classrooms and wanted to do something different. Ms. Fusaro also told us that she was impressed with our videos and the products we came up with and loved seeing students, that don't normally participate, shine in the videos.

After this discussion, we started reading scene one of act four in Much Ado About Nothing. This was the scene of Claudio's and Hero's wedding. We discussed Claudio's outburst and how shocking it was for that century.

Greg Sarn Blogger 7-24

Today is the second day we are presenting our commercials during class. The commercials show us trying to sell a useless product, while making it seem like the consumer needs it. We need to use 3 persuasive techniques.

The first video is presented by group - We’re gonna do just about nothing:
- The product they are trying to sell is The stay up alarm
- It goes off 3 times every hour randomly for every hour of the day.
- The volume is 120 decibels, which is the equivalent of a rock convert.
- Used 3 kinds of persuasive techniques

The second video is presented by group - Gossip girls ( and Ronald):
- The product they are trying to sell is the soulless shoe
- This shoe has absolutely no souls
- It also has very promising note taking abilities
- Has great reviews by veterans

The third video is presented by group - Schematic Honor:
- The product they are trying to sell is an app that tells you if the photo you took is a cat or not
- The app scans the photo you take and compares it to photos of cats from around the wold to determine if it is a cat or not
- Desinged to help those with a kind of disease referred to as face blindness, which makes it hard for them to tell the difference between dogs and cats.

June 10, 2019 | Haylie Payne

June 10, 2019

Today we are watching our english projects in class.
For the project, each group made a video trying to sell a useless product. The videos had to be 7-10 minutes long, no shorter or longer. We also had to use elements in our videos such as logo, pathos, and egos.

Each group had a different product, and we got to watch three of the videos in class today. We were also able to give feedback to the groups’ videos. In the videos that we watched, the products included a personal robot, someone that will eat for you, and a kitchen ware set which deteriorated as it was used.

Most of the feedback for the videos were positive, such as saying that the videos were attention grabbing and funny. Each of the videos used persuasive techniques as well as loud sounds and jump cuts, which was pointed out by a classmate.