Urban and Street Culture Questions: Winter 2012

Why do most neighborhoods litter?

What is it like to be in a “Blood” gang?

How does urban and street culture compare?

Why is “street” looked at as ghetto?

What are some differences between street and urban?

Why do stores sell guns and get mad at the fact that there is a lot of shooting and killing in the neighborhood?

What’s the name of your block? How do you become a member? (Or, how do you rep?)

Why are we learning this?

What are more languages in my culture?

Why do black brothers fight?

Why do the neighborhoods in urban areas cleaner than the streets?

Why don’t my street lights work?

Tuesday, January 17th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 7

Do Now: Is it possible to write a poem about our classroom from the perspective of a desk?

Homework: 1) Complete your personification poem. 2) Wiki Article Response OR Bring in a news article answering questions: Why is it important? How does it connect to you?

Critical Thinking Questions: What is personification? How does personification offer us another perspective into seeing the world differently?

Content: April Rain Song, The Wind, Trees, Student Poem, Personification in Music

Objective: We will understand personification and be able to begin our own personification poems based on our class theme.

Class Activities: Defining personification and writing examples, Reading and listening to examples of personification, Brainstorming based on personification theme, Writing our own poems.

Tuesday, January 17th - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 8

Do Now: What is an essay? What is the purpose of an essay?

Homework: Write our first 5 All-Star Words into a creative paragraph.

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is urban and street culture? How does it impact us?

Critical Thinking Questions: How do we write an essay?

Content: Essay Planning Sheet, Class Inquiries, Nelson Mandela Speech, Vocabulary

Objective: SWBAT develop a topic for their essay, write an introduction, come up with a question from Nelson Mandela’s speech

Class Activities: Identifying topics and themes, Writing Introductions, Reading Speech, Developing Questions, Deciding on All Star Vocabulary

Friday, January 13th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

Senior Project Day

Agenda: Spend the period working on senior project assignments that would be most beneficial to you:

• Write and type ALL essays into googledocs.
• Edit your essays for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
• Do Internet research for your topic.
• Create your Works Cited page using MLA format.
• Write down homework assignments that you have not completed in order to receive some credit for them.

Homework: Review past homework assignments on blog and complete for partial credit.

Friday, January 13th - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 7

Do Now: Test today!

Homework: Bring in a news article that references life in the city and write a one paragraph summary of it.

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is street and urban culture?

Critical Thinking Questions: What was the experience of this immigrant woman in an American city?

Content: Speaking with Hands

Objective: SWBAT reflect on a poem as it relates to the lives of people from outside their culture.

Class Activities: Test, Reading poem, responding to poem, discussion

Tips for Survey Questions: The Senior Project

Wednesday, January 11th - Periods 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 6

Do Now: Why is it important to see and understand things from multiple perspectives?

Homework: Study, test tomorrow!

Critical Thinking Question: How does the perspective of a story affect its meaning?

Content: Student’s own poetry, Emmanuel Jal

Objective: Students will learn Perspective in storytelling (1st, 2nd, 3rd person narration), student will write from one of those perspectives using personification to draft a poem.

Class Activities: Presentation and note taking on perspective, Reading and picking our potential perspectives from class text, Personification poem drafting

Wednesday, January 11th - Period 1

What is Poetry: Day 5

Do Now: From the group agenda, identify the part of speech from each underlined word.  

Homework: 1) Research Paper, next 2 pages due Friday. 2) Study vocabulary, test tomorrow!

Critical Thinking Question: Why is it important to know part of speech?  How can parts of speech make you a better writer?  How do good poets and writers use parts of speech effectively?  

Content: Group Agenda, Examples of Cinquain Poems, Poetry Unit Portfolio

Objectives: Students understand and recognize parts of speech.  Students collaborate in groups to generate 3 cinquain poems.

Class Activities: Observing an artifact, Defining Parts of Speech, Cinquain Presentation, Writing Cinquains in groups.  

Tuesday, January 10th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 5

Do Now: From the group agenda, identify the part of speech from each underlined word.  

Homework: 1) Research Paper, next 2 pages due Friday. 2) Study vocabulary, test Thursday!

Critical Thinking Question: Why is it important to know part of speech?  How can parts of speech make you a better writer?  How do good poets and writers use parts of speech effectively?  

Content: Group Agenda, Examples of Cinquain Poems, Poetry Unit Portfolio

Objectives: Students understand and recognize parts of speech.  Students collaborate in groups to generate 3 cinquain poems.

Class Activities: Observing an artifact, Defining Parts of Speech, Cinquain Presentation, Writing Cinquains in groups.  

Monday, January 9th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 4

Do Now:  1) From our discussions about poetry last week, describe with as much detail as you can what you think poetry is. 2) Give an example of “poetic” language that you use or hear sometimes.

Homework: 1) News Article response on wikispaces. 2) Next 2 pages of senior project due Friday.

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is our criteria for poetry?

Critical Thinking Questions: What is poetic language? Can anyone be poetic?

Content: Student Writing, Parts of Speech

Objective: SWBAT develop their own poetic identities by developing poetic language of their own.

Class Activities: Do now discussion, 15-minute group poem exercise, poem share, vocabulary review, parts of speech notes.

Monday, January 9th - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 4

Opening Inquiry: After Tyree’s initial interaction with the new bulls in his neighborhood and the time he bloodied the kid’s nose, he sees them in a group of 20 walking down the street in his direction.  What would you have done when you saw these 20 bulls?

Homework: In your neighborhood, what rules are important to be aware of for your own personal safety?

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is urban and street culture?

Critical Thinking Question: How does street intelligence relate to personal safety?  What are the opportunities and life chances for boys like Tyree to succeed?

Content: Tyree’s Story

Class Activities: Group Agenda, Development of Inquiry Questions about Urban and Street Culture, Creation of a body biography for Tyree, Group presentations

Friday, January 6th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

Senior Project Day

Do Now:  Get a computer and view slide show titled, "The Research Paper."

Homework: 1) Write vocabulary words into sentences. 2) Next 2 pages of research paper due next Friday, January 13th (6 total pages).

Agenda:

1) Go to blog.

2) View "The Research Paper" Slideshow.
3) Write down vocabulary if needed.

4) Type essays.

5) Do research on your topic.

The Research Paper

Friday, January 6th - Period 2

Article Response Lesson

Do Now:  Get a computer and go to the class wiki.

Homework: Write vocabulary words into sentences.

Agenda:

 

1) Go to Sophomore Wikispace.

2) Read article as a class.

3) Discuss and develop a response to the article.

4) Hand back in computers.

5) Group "Word Sort" with vocabulary words.

6) Holla Back reading.

Thursday, January 5th - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 2/3

Do Now:  In a new neighborhood or a new school, how do you meet new people and make new friends?

Homework: Describe any ways in which you related to Tyree’s story. (1-2 paragraphs)

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is urban and street culture?

Critical Thinking Question:  How and why do the “rules” change when we enter different cultural contexts?

Thursday, January 5th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 3

Do Now: What do students live, talk, and think about on a daily basis?
(What major ideas or topics are a part of your lives?)

Homework: How does the theme that we decided on connect to your life?
(1 paragraph.)

Critical Thinking Question: How do we find themes in poetry, music, and literature?  Why are themes important?  Where do themes come from?

Content: Wiki-Recovery, Wiki-Loud, Langston Hughes Dream Poetry, 5 Word Poem

Objective: To see how themes are embedded in all poetry and to decide on our own classroom theme for the unit.  

Class Activities: Discuss themes of popular music and poetry, Preview Portfolio for Creative Writing Unit, Decide on Theme for class, Write our first poem on theme

Wednesday, January 4th - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 2

Do Now: Describe a time when you had to move from one home to another.  What was difficult or easy about the adjustment?

Homework: Finish reading Tyree’s Story to packet.  Write and explain 3 ways that you connected to Tyree and his story.

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is urban and street culture?

Critical Thinking Question:  How and why do the “rules” change when we enter different cultural contexts?

Content: Tyree’s story

Class Activities: Reading beginning of Tyree’s Story, Discussion of his challenges, Acting out of different scenarios of Tyree’s critical situation.

Wednesday, January 4th - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

What is Poetry: Day 2

Do Now: Can any piece of writing be considered poetry?

Homework: Article response on wikispaces.

Critical Thinking Questions: What is poetry? What is art?

Content: Writing Samples

Objective: We will analyze unconventional examples of poetry and begin to shape their own definition of poetry. Also, where do we find inspiration for our poetry?

Class Activities: Poetry analysis, Definition share, 6 Word Poems

Tuesday, January 3rd - Period 2

What is Urban and Street Culture: Day 1

Do Now: In high school how or where do students “find themselves” or develop a sense of identity?  Explain.

Homework: What beliefs, values and rules are you developing as a young adult? (1-2 Paragraphs)

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is urban and street culture?

Critical Thinking Questions: What is the dilemma of the decent kid?  What is the culture that exists that makes this dilemma possible? What are competing influences and forces that affect teenage identities? If you listen to gangster rap music, then what kinds of beliefs, values, and rules are you developing?

Content: Code of the Street “The Dilemma of the Decent Kid,” Drake “Successful”

Objective: SWBAT deconstruct culture and generate a “found poem” in groups from the underlined sentences of the class text.  

Class Activities: Discussion of urban and street, Reading Dilemma story, Text Rendering, and Found Poem writing and presentation

Tuesday, January 3rd - Periods 1, 6-7, 8-9, 10

Poetry: Day 1

Do Now: What is poetry to you? Do you value poetry in your life?  Why or why not?

Homework: Do you already write poetry?  If yes, then why?  If no, then why not?
(1 Paragraph)

Collaborative Classroom Inquiry: What is poetry?

Content: Dead Poets Society Clip, Saul Williams Videos, Introduction to Poetry

Objective: SWBAT begin their own inquiries into poetry, to see poetry as an opportunity to see the world a little differently, to see the world anew.

Class Activities: Watch videos, discussion about video, writing about videos.