I had to switch things up a little due to a limited number of books for The Things They Carried. You guys are going to do the debate unit first, then do the Vietnam Lit unit at the end. I cannot believe we are this close to the end!!! I have enjoyed this semester and I am especially looking forward to hearing you all in your debates.
Monday, 11/30
Research debates
Tuesday, 12/1
Research debates
Wednesday, 12/2
Plan with team
Thursday, 12/3
Debates
Friday, 12/4
Debates
DUE: Journal
Monday, November 30, 2009
Week of November 30 for 4th period
Posted by A. Davis at 7:05 AM 0 comments
Week of November 30 for 3rd period
We are going to be reading excerpts from one of my very favorite books this week, The Things They Carried. I am excited about this, as well as hearing your oral presentations and seeing your visual projects. I can hardly believe that we only have 15 days of school left together. It has been a good semester thus far and I am really looking forward to the two units we have left!
Monday, 11/30
Define Unit 6
Lab to research Vietnam topics
Tuesday, 12/1
Lab to research
Wednesday, 12/2
Oral Presentations
Thursday, 12/3
Notes
The Things They Carried
Friday, 12/4
Vocab Quiz
The Things They Carried
DUE: Journals
Posted by A. Davis at 6:30 AM 0 comments
Monday, November 16, 2009
Week of November 16
I have felt really good about your discussions in this unit. You all (both classes) did an outstanding job in the seminar. Both had depth and focus. I am proud of you. This week we will finish that unit, then head into poetry (which I love and I bet you hate!). :)
Monday, 11/16
"Life is Beautiful"
Tuesday, 11/17
Culminating Activity
DUE: Essay packets
Wednesday, 11/18
Poetry terms
Thursday, 11/19
Read and analyze
Friday, 11/20
Write poems
*** Don't forget to blog over the Holocaust by 11/18 and that your extra credit creative projects are due Wednesday as well.
Posted by A. Davis at 10:50 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thank You, American Heroes.
Thank You, American Heroes.... from CHS English II Honors, Fall 2009:
"Superheroes may not be real, but the closest to a superhero is you protecting us and fighting the bad guys."
"I think a true hero is someone who puts their life on the line for what they believe in."
"The thought of someone risking their life so I can sit here, free, today, is an incredible thing to me. Thank you. You are the reason why I can hold my own religion. You are the reason why I can dance. You are the reason I have free speech to writ this. You are the reason I am the girl I am today. I will probably never meet you, but despite this, in a sense, you have saved my life."
"I think we citizens take for granted our rights and freedoms and forget who is helping to protect these freedoms."
"In this life, there are always the people who take chances, who take what they have and try to make something out of it. There are also people who take all that they have for granted and just live until they die, leaving nothing behind. But in the end, it's all possible thanks to the people who are willing to serve before being served. People that sacrifice all they have so that their children have time to play and never worry about their lives and whether or not they are going to make it through. This great life we have is thanks to people like you."
"I know it takes a lot of courage to call yourself and be a soldier and people should realize that you fought for them and their future generations. Without you, brave soldier, I can honestly say that I might not be here to enjoy the wondrous joys of freedom that I have today."
Posted by A. Davis at 5:26 PM 4 comments
Monday, November 9, 2009
Honor to Whom Honor is Due
You all might have noticed that I changed the song on the blog. I just thought that with Veteran's Day coming up this week, and the Holocaust unit, this would be a great time to reflect on the honor we owe our veterans and current armed forces personnel. You guys have seen as we have gone through this unit how blessed we are to live in America. The rights that we enjoy (the same rights which were taken from the Jews in Nazi Germany) are protected by our military personnel. Your political persuasions don't come into play, your personal opinions about our current war don't matter, and your like or dislike for the way our country is run has nothing to do with the fact that we are a blessed people. Today, you wrote a thank you letter to a veteran. I would like for you to spend some time between now and Wednesday and reflect on what it means to be American, and what kind of a debt of gratitude we owe to people like that.
*Note: Feel free to comment on this (I would love it if you did), HOWEVER, it does not count as your Holocaust unit comment.
Posted by A. Davis at 6:50 PM 1 comments
Week of November 9-- Is it starting to feel like a balancing act???
I am enjoying this unit with you all so very much. I am proud of your maturity and your insightful comments. There have been so many things stated this semester that feel much more in depth than what I have heard in previous semesters. Thank you for taking the topic seriously and for respecting me during this unit.
Monday, 11/9
Rescue/Resistance/Liberation Notes
Responsibility
Triangle
DUE: HEL Paper
Tuesday, 11/10
Night
Wednesday, 11/11
Night
Thursday, 11/12
Night
Seminar/Test
Friday, 11/13
"Life is Beautiful"
DUE: Journals
Essay Packet
Posted by A. Davis at 6:43 PM 0 comments
Your Cause
In some of my previous classes, Sonja DuBois challenged them to pick one cause to devote their time, energy, and resources to. As you age, there will be lots of requests and demands of you for social causes and charities. One lesson of the Holocaust is that "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." (Edmund Burke) We are responsible, throughout our lives, as citizens of a democracy, of a society, for doing our best to correct injustices around us. Too often we do one of two things: we either ignore these problems or we try to give a little to everything to ease our guilty consciences. As Sonja so eloquently pointed out, imagine if each person chose ONE cause and devoted him or herself to it for life?
Obviously my passion is respect for your fellow man. I have devoted myself as an educator to a study of the Holocaust in the hope of educating those around me about making the world a safer place. I feel that every human being deserves respect. As far as my "cause", beyond being a Holocaust educator, I am committed to a ministry for abused and neglected children called Royal Family Ministries. My church does a camp every summer for nearly forty children in the foster care systems of Bradley, Hamilton, and McMinn counties. I have served as a counselor at that camp almost every year since its inception in 1999. This is our tenth year for Royal Family Kids Camp, and we have expanded that ministry to include a middle school retreat about five years ago. I serve on the Royal Family board at my church, Kraig and I are both counselors, and we have chosen to make this ministry the source of our financial support. You know that I try not to ask you to do anything I would not/am not doing, so I wanted to answer the question that follows before I asked you to.
My question to you is, what is your cause going to be? What are you passionate about? What do you see as something that merits your time, energy, and resources? Or are YOU going to stand by and do nothing?
Posted by A. Davis at 6:41 PM 17 comments
Kristallnacht-- the November Pogram
If you are interested in learning more about Kristallnacht, check out the link above to the USHMM online exhibition. Again, feel free to leave any comments. For example, why were their places of worship attacked? Can you think of other examples in history where places of worship were attacked?
Posted by A. Davis at 6:40 PM 17 comments
Father Patrick DesBois
I read this afternoon about a French priest who has taken on the mission of discovering every mass grave of Jews in the Ukraine. It is a pretty interesting story and the link to the NY TImes article is below. I am also linking a podcast (below that) from the USHMM about it.
NY Times article:
Podcast:
If you read the article or listen to the podcast, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. These would have been the victims of the mobile killing squads we talked about today.
What is the importance of knowing where someone is buried, of having an actual grave to visit? Why do people return to the scene of accidents and deaths? Why are these things so important to us as humans?
Posted by A. Davis at 6:40 PM 1 comments
For Chuck :)
"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
~Joseph Campbell
Campbell has done a lot of research on heroes, legends, and quests, the stuff that the Arthurian Legends are made of. We also have talked about rescuers in the Holocaust unit. What reactions do you have to this quote?
As a side note, I chose the picture at the top because it is a photograph of the Holocaust survivor who spoke to us last semester at Vanderbilt. This photo was taken the day she left on a ship for the United States to her new adoptive family (her aunt and uncle). Her name is Frances Cutler, and her parents put her in an orphanage in Paris to save her. Her mother was murdered in Auschwitz and her father died as a French resistance fighter. I don't think I need to make the connection for you between this quote and this picture. I will say that, though Frances is certainly a hero for telling her story to student groups around the country, I cannot imagine being in a situation where the best scenario for my child to live is for me to have to give her up and leave her with strangers.
Posted by A. Davis at 6:38 PM 4 comments
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Photo Activity
I did not book the computer lab in enough time, so I need you all to do something for me between now and Monday, the 10th.
First of all, jot down three words that you relate to every day life. These words might be eating, sleeping, shopping, playing outside, playing sports, reading, school, etc.
Then, please go to this website.
At this site, you will find a place to enter a search term into the field and hit search. Enter one of the words you jotted down. It will pull up a list of photos with thumbnails. Scroll through the photos until you find one that really speaks to you. (Please don't just pick the first one you come to!) You might want to search each of your three words. Pick TWO photos that you really like. You need to pick photos that were taken PRIOR TO the camps and ghettos, of everyday Jewish life. (There are descriptions on most of the photos that will let you know that information.)
Once you have selected two that fit the above requirements, please copy and paste them onto a sheet of paper and print them out (they will be black and white). I typically have some questions for you to answer, but since you are doing this at home, we will skip that part.
Bring these printed photos with you on Thursday. This is for a grade.
Posted by A. Davis at 8:12 AM 4 comments
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week of November 2
So far I have been impressed with your interest and participation. I am anxious for us to further delve into this topic together.
Posted by A. Davis at 11:20 AM 0 comments