In a "Wrinkle in Time" Madeleine L'Engle argues.... by Holden 6th grade students

Grade Level: 6

Objective: To begin brainstorming thesis statements for our upcoming paper on A Wrinkle in Time

In a Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle argues that....

-love is stronger than evil
-the world is covered in darkness
-outward appearances aren't the most important things
-if you're brave you can beat things bigger than you
-it's what inside that counts
-unconditional love is real
-to become an adult you must go through hardship
-love is stronger than hate
-we must do someting to save our dying world

Environmental Literature: Food---TED talk rhetorical analysis

Grade Level: Middle School and High School

TedTalks Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet:

(Adapted from: https://depaul.digication.com/forrest_wrd_103/Appeals_Worksheet)

Birke Baehr-What’s wrong with our food system?

               

Graham Hill-Why I’m a weekday vegetarian

Malcolm Gladwell-Choice, happiness, and spaghetti sauce

Goals: The goal of a rhetorical and visual analysis is not only to analyze what a writer is arguing concerning a focused issue/topic, but to analyze how the writer and creator of the visual is presenting the argument. You’ll do this by analyzing the use of rhetorical strategies.  Using a text with a strong visual component, you will provide an objective analysis of the strengths and weaknesses in the writer’s use of ethos, logos, and pathos within his or her textual and visual argument(s).

Purpose:

• In two to three sentences, identify what the purpose is of the TedTalks presentation. What is the speaker attempting to communicate to the audience, and what is he/she hoping to achieve through this communication?

Ethos deals primarily with credibility.

• Examine the author’s reputation, authority, and/or expertise.
• Should we put any stock in what he/she is saying? Why or why not?
• These factors as well as the argument being made will either improve or detract from the writer’s credibility:
• Identify at least 3 elements that contribute to the ethos of the writer/speaker.

Logos is concerned with the logic of the writer’s argument. 

• In considering the writer’s use of logos, you will analyze issues such as the quality and quantity of supporting evidence. 
• You may also want to consider any bias that the writer might have toward the subject and the effect of that bias upon the argument being presented. 
• Is the writer’s reasoning sound? How have they structured the arc of the presentation? In short, you will want to address any weaknesses and/or strengths in the logic of the argument. 
• Identify at least 3 pieces of evidence regarding the logos of this presentation.

Pathos deals with emotion.  

• You should identify any attempts on the part of the writer to evoke a particular emotion from the audience. 
• Additionally, you will want to consider whether or not appealing to emotion is an effective strategy for the argument being discussed.
• Identify at least 3 examples of how the presenter is appealing to his/her audience’s emotions within his/her presentation.

One Billion Rising

 Grade Level: 6

Objective: To contribute to our community's "One Billion Rising" even through an art project inspired by one of our favorite TED speakers, Candy Chang.

We strive to connect classroom and community whenever possible.  Today, our community is organizing a "One Billion Rising" event and the kids were invited to partake in educational programming related to the event and create an art project in reaction to it.  They chose to invite community members to participate in their project (in the style of Candy Change) by creating "graffiti style" signs for others to write on and respond to. 

Setting the table...in French

Grade Level: 6

Some of my students' favorite TED talks

For the past couple weeks we've been beginning our mornings with a story problem, a writing prompt, and a TED talk (followed by a brief discussion of the talk.)  TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "ideas worth

spreading".  The talks presented the TED conference tend to be thoughtful, evocative, and creative. 

Maya Penn, a young designer and activist

A's favorite TED Talks:

Candy Chang: Before I Die...
In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist and TED Fellow Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: “Before I die I want to ___.” Her neighbors' answers -- surprising, poignant, funny -- became an unexpected mirror for the community. (What's your answer?)

Maya Penn: Meet a young entrepreneur, cartoonist, designer, activist …
Maya Penn started her first company when she was 8 years old, and thinks deeply about how to be responsible both to her customers and to the planet. She shares her story -- and some animations, and some designs, and some infectious energy -- in this charming talk.

Sarah Kay: If I Should Have a Daughter
"If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B ... " began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis -- from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. -- and gives two breathtaking performances of "B" and "Hiroshima."

Tyler DeWitt: Hey science teachers -- make it fun
High school science teacher Tyler DeWitt was ecstatic about a lesson plan on bacteria (how cool!) -- and devastated when his students hated it. The problem was the textbook: it was impossible to understand. He delivers a rousing call for science teachers to ditch the jargon and extreme precision, and instead make science sing through stories and demonstrations. 

K's favorite TED talks:

Larry Smith: Why you will fail to have a great career
In this funny and blunt talk, Larry Smith pulls no punches when he calls out the absurd excuses people invent when they fail to pursue their passions. 

JR: My wish: Use art to turn the world inside out
JR, a semi-anonymous French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face, by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases. At TED2011, he makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. Learn more about his work and learn how you can join in at insideoutproject.net.

A and K's favorite TED talks:

Dave Eggers: My Wish: Once Upon a School
Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open

Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything.  Believe me, I'm a model.
Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old

Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time
Combining dry wit with artistic depth, Billy Collins shares a project in which several of his poems were turned into delightful animated films in a collaboration with Sundance Channel. Five of them are included in this wonderfully entertaining and moving talk -- and don't miss the hilarious final poem!

Ron Finley: A guerrilla gardener in South Central LA
Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA -- in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where "the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys."

Pi Day

Grades: Elementary and Middle School

Objective: To learn more about pi through a series of hands-on activities

Today we:

-measured the circumference and diameter of a number of different circles around the room, recorded them on the chart, and then divided the circumference by diameter to see how close to "pi" the answer was
-watched "The Infinite Life of Pi" (from TED education)
-created a chain of colored strips of paper, with each color representing a digit in order to visualize the first couple dozen digits of pi

Molecules in the atmosphere

Grade: 6

Objective: To reinforce our knowledge of atoms, elements, and molecules through a hands-on activity that allows students to model different "greenhouse gas" molecules

Dots=atoms, Toothpicks=bonds

 

We created two charts to show the atomic make-up of five different molecules found in the atomosphere

We then used the models as a springboard for a discussion about the greenhouse effect

 

Garbanzo Beans for Breakfast

Grade Level: High School

Objective: To continue to consider food in the context of community and privilege

Please read, print, and be prepared to discuss on Tuesday 3/11

"When I was sixteen, I told my best friend that I could never become a vegetarian because I loved steak too much. I understand the allure of red meat, the chewy toughness, like slightly worn out gum, dripping and juicy, pressed and grinding in your jaw. My father used to grill steaks out in the summer, and I remember vividly jamming toothpicks between my teeth after those July meals, grey-black steaks peppery and flavored with nothing more than the juice caught up in the muscle of the animal, corn on the cob dripping with butter and salt. The stringy tendrils of silk and shreds of flesh caught in my mouth. So, I get it. Meat tastes good. Do we really have to give it up?

What if, instead of thinking of this as sacrifice, we think of it simply as cutting back? And cutting back to only once a week, which is not exactly a rarity. This barely even makes steak night a treat. Once a week, red meat becomes a habit rather than an extravagance. What if we remember that, with every extra bacon-double cheeseburger, we are slowly killing ourselves?

This is what I began to remember in Ghana, feeling the familiar stirring in the pit of my stomach. The sensation of helplessness and rage and obligation that combines to form activism. I remembered that I lived in a world of gross inequality. I began to feel and sound, I know, like the girl with the lip piercings again. What I learned in Africa was that, shaved head or no, there are some things worth fighting for. I am not willing to live in a world where some people die from consuming too much meat and others die from not consuming enough. I can still love steak and only eat it once a week." -from "Garbanzo Beans for Breakfast" by Marissa Landrigan, in Fringe Magazine

Holden School Connections

Excerpted from the Holden School Winter Newsletter

During second quarter Holden School and Holden Village changed--our number of students doubled, snow fell, temperatures dropped and trails froze.

Holden’s lone upper elementary student (up until January 22nd!), 6th grader K., returned to Holden School in October along with his brother 8th grader E., after beginning their school year in New Castle, Maine. Although K. misses sports and the middle school social scene, he’s found a sense of purpose at Holden School in the projects he’s taken on this semester. He’s written essays and poems, and read novels by Lois Lowry, Natalie Babbitt, E. L. Konigsburg. K. has mapped Holden’s food supply and calculated the average distance our food travels for National Geography Week. He’s crafted a comic book exploring the evolution of hominids and created a timeline of major events in Ancient India. According to K., working on projects which he can display for his fellow villagers is one of the best things about going to school at Holden.

The elementary school students continue to study science most days. M. and M. have worked hard to help me shape the school library into a center for nature discovery complete with owl and grouse feathers, dried lichens, Ponderosa bark, terrariums, birds’ nests, and a whole wall full of potted plants. They’ve also filled the hallway with their science learning covering the walls with a taxonomy chart which displays their knowledge of species and sorting and posters about geology and the rock cycle. K. serves as a leader in the science classroom, both participating in and helping to facilitate activities while M. and M. bring enthusiasm, interest, and creativity to class each day filling the room with energy, curiosity, and more questions that I know how to answer. M. and M. particularly enjoy doing experiments, planting seeds, looking at feathers and lichens under the light microscope, and watching Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Holden High School students have undertaken a full semester of studying environmental literature. During our first unit we focused on “American Explorers” reading John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Berry, and Woody Guthrie, among others. We looked at images from National Geographic and watched the film 180 South. Our unit culminated in a project where the students imitated one of the pieces they’d read and wrote a rhetorical analysis of both the original work and their imitation. A. and A. chose to imitate Wendell Berry’s poem “Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” E. wrote a song in the style of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” and C. found inspiration in an excerpt of Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire.” We’re several weeks into our second unit on “American Eaters and Farmers.” I’m very excited about our future reading, writing, and conversation. It’s been fun to watch our conversation become more nuanced as we develop our class canon of environmental writers, poets, and thinkers.

Exploring Molecules

Grade Level: 6

Objective: To better understand molecules and surface tension through a series of hands-on demonstrations

We've been studying atoms and molecules in science over the last couple weeks.  Recently we did an experiment using milk, food coloring, and dish soap.  We poured food coloring in milk then added a drop of dish soap and watched the dye swirl.  We learned how soap is bipolar, enabling it to break the surface tension on the milk.  The kids had fun drawing different kinds of molecules and watching the ways in which they behave.

Photo Recap

Learning French

Making Math posters

Making Posters about Molecules

More Molecules work

Math: Calculating how much snow is on the roof of our Village Center

Grade Level: 6

Objective: To practice figuring out volume and measuring angles through an informative project

Becky, one of our volunteers has been working with K. and A. to measure the amount of snow on the roof of our village center by using calculations that take advantage of their knowledge of angles, volume, and area.