A Tale of Two Cities - Day 40 / E14

Congratulations! You finished your three new multi-genre pieces!

Here are the directions for today's sharing and peer feedback! 

Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 39 / E13

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a good weekend and are doing well.

It is time for our work with A Tale of Two Cities to come to a close. Today is your last time set aside to complete work on your new multi-genre pieces.

Once you are finished, you need to go to this document and insert a link for each one. Whatever format it is in, find a way to make it viewable to everyone in the class. When you put in the link, please be sure to set the sharing settings to all "anyone at township district 113 to view. 

• Multi-Genre Project Sharing Sheet

If you have any questions or need help with making those links, I will be at my computer all day and will do what I can to help, either through email or even a zoom call if needed!

On Wednesday we will be checking out the awesome creations you've been working on - I can't wait!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 38 / E12

Happy Friday!

No new directions today - just a second day to work on your new M-G's.

If you want to run your topic and question by me, feel free to e-mail me.

Lastly, check out this great story about Jessica and her father!

Have a great weekend!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 37 / E11

Happy Wednesday! Today there is an optional zoom call at 10:30 a.m. (I will send the link through email). We can use this time to talk about the project and also for some time to talk through everything else going on out there during these challenging times. Now that we know we won't be together in the classroom again, we are all experiencing a range of feelings. I'm happy to set aside as much time as you'd like to be there to talk.

As for the project, the next three days are set aside for your new M-G's. The key for today, as I noted yesterday, is to come up with a good question. Remember: Your question needs to be something the book does not answer directly. Like I showed in the example, you are not just finding things that happened in the novel. Don't just come up with a broad idea like "change" and make M-G's about characters who change. That would be an incomplete project.

Take the time to ask some questions about the topic you discovered - this will lead you to the question you want to answer with your project. Remember: Your new M-G's are answers to the question. Here are some questions to consider:

• What causes your topic to happen? When does it occur? Why?
• What actions come as a result of your topic?
• What are the results of your topic? Are they positive? Negative? Why?
• Who are the different people impacted by your topic, how are they impacted, and why?
• Does every character in the novel link to your topic in the same way? What are the reasons for the difference?
• Who in the book sees your topic as important, who doesn't value it, and why?

Good luck coming up with your question! Feel free to run it by me through email before you get started!

Here is another link to the handout.

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 36 / E10

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a great weekend and were able to get out and enjoy the nicer weather!

The plan for today is to do step one of the project. I shared the handout with you last week and we talked through some of the basics of the project.

• Multi-Genre project handout

For those of you ready to move on to step two, of course you are welcome to do that. However, be sure to follow the directions for step two and create a question about your topic. This needs to be an interpretation of your topic - something that cannot be answered directly by the book. If you look at the examples (in the handout) you can see what I'm talking about. For the Othello example, you would not just find three examples of jealousy. That would make for an incomplete project. Instead, you can see that I created a question about it that I will answer with the project: How does a person’s jealousy inspire their actions?

Again, I will talk more about this tomorrow but I wanted to give a sense of that before people went too far with their work.

Also, tomorrow (Wednesday) I will have an optional zoom call at the start of class. There are two topics for this call. First of all, I will be happy to answer any questions about the project. Second, more importantly, I'm sure the cancellation of the end of the school year brought out mixed feelings. Lots of disappointment and loss and sadness and uncertainty, just to name a few. All year, we have been a close community and I want to be available to you to talk about these topics as well. I'll send the link tomorrow night.

Good luck with the start of the project!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 35 / E9

Happy Friday!

We'll start today with a zoom call at 8:30 (see your email for the link).

After our discussion, I'll talk through the final project. The details are all in this handout.

• Multi-Genre final project

See you then!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 34 / E8

It's time for the last chapter of A Tale of Two Cities! So much has been happening over the last few chapters and now it all comes to a close. I'm looking forward to talking about it all with you and then seeing what you will make of it with your final projects.

After you read "Chapter the last" today, you will create an M-G response to the end of the book.

Then, think about these questions:

1. Does the novel end in the way you expected? How so? Why?
2. Which character were you most interested in? Why? Did you sympathize with that character? Did you find something about that character to be especially powerful or meaningful?
3. What points do you think Dickens was trying to make with this novel? If the novel is the answer to a question, what is that question?

We will talk about those in our discussion on Friday. You do not need to write out answers but it would be helpful to have some notes.

Also, on Friday, your group will discuss one of you will answer one of these questions (the one corresponding to the number of your group - see group numbers below):

1. What is the role of women in the story? Think about: mothers, sisters, wives, single women. Name and explain a specific character this applies to.
2. What does the novel say about the conflict between a sense of duty and commitment with that of desire? Name and explain a specific character this applies to.
3. What does the novel say about the role emotions play in controlling one’s actions? Name and explain specific characters this applies to.
4. Explain the role of the phrase “recalled to life” in the novel. Name and explain specific characters this applies to.
5. What does the novel say about the ways in which a person’s past plays a role in their future? Name and explain a specific character this applies to.

Groups:

1	2	3	4	5
Matt S Gavin Morgan Josh D Emma	Ben G Augie Adi Sophia Jared	Maggie Gracie Eli Ethan Aaron	Matt F Hannah Lauren Lily Josh M	Daryn Caroline Jessica Ben S Keshav

Yes - you will have a short group discussion! We will all join together for a class zoom call at 8:30 a.m. on Friday (I will send you the link and invite on Thursday night). I will put your group into a breakout room for about 8 minutes to discuss your question, then we will all come back together. You will share your answers and we will all discuss both them and the reflection questions. Also on Friday, I will give you a preview of the final project.

So, to recap:

Today - Read the final chapter; create an M-G about the last chapter; review and think about questions, making notes as needed

Friday - Zoom call at 8:30. Be prepared to answer questions both in small groups and whole-class discussion.

See you Friday!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 33 / E7

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a great weekend. If celebrating holidays has been a part of your world for the past week or so, I hope it has been a meaningful and enjoyable experience! If you haven't been celebrating holidays, I hope you have been finding joy in whatever you do. Well, those both kinda go for each other too - it is certainly important for us all to find some joy each day.

As for class, we are in our final few days with the book. You'll be finishing it over the next two days and then we will move toward a cumulative activity.

Today, Tuesday, you will read (and/or listen to) chapters 13 and 14.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, you will read the final chapter and then make an M-G response to it.
As you work through chapters 13 and 14 today, feel free to go ahead and just finish the book if you want. I'll give you more details about everything as the week goes on!

And just in case you haven't seen this week's edition of "Some Good News" from John Krasinski, here it is:

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 32 / E6

Happy Thursday!

For today, please read chapters 11 and 12.

I originally thought we would start with a zoom call at 8:15, but then decided to put it at the end of class instead. It will be at 8:45. During this zoom session, in addition to just catching up with everyone, we will talk about the many events that have taken place in the book over these last few chapters. I hope you are finding a way to keep track of it all!

I'll be emailing the zoom link to you Wednesday night. See you in the morning!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 30 / E4

Happy Monday! I hope you are all doing well. These are not easy days for any of us as so many parts of our lives have been turned upside down! I do hope you are able to do some things that bring you happiness! I was able to get outside a bit over the last few days and enjoy the sunshine, even though the warm weather and spring blossoms are still a few weeks away.

For today and tomorrow, you are reading (and listening to, if you'd like) the next chapters of the book. For Monday, read chapters 7 and 8. For Tuesday, read chapters 9 and 10. Annotate / take notes as you have been doing. You're going to want to make use of it all later!

Pay close attention! The details and twists and turns in the story come quickly at this point - there's a lot to keep track of! Things you thought you knew get changed, characters you didn't think were important suddenly play a larger role, and the way it all comes together is still a mystery!

We will have a zoom meeting on Thursday - be sure to check your email on Wednesday for the link and the password.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, if there is anything else beyond just class stuff I can be helpful with, let me know.

See you Thursday!

A Tale of Two Cities - Day 29 / E3

Happy Friday! It was so great to see many of you on the zoom call! I hope you are doing well and are able to get outside today - looks like it is going to be a beautiful one!

For today, please make a copy of this handout. You can either work on it by yourself or with another person (or two) from the class - you can get together however you'd like. However, each person does need to turn in their own work. When you are finished, please submit your work to Schoology.

Note that work from this point forward will be in a special "e-learning" category - it will not impact your grade at this point. At the end of the semester, I'll look at this category and see if it raises your grade from where it is now.

When you are done, read/listen to Book 3, chapter 6.

Lastly, I have posted the revised calendar on the blog. Here is a link to it as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions! See you Monday!