- We began our Wednesday with a good middle-of-the-week poem: "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," by Robert Herrick. We also watched a short clip from Dead Poet's Society in which a character reads the poem.
- We spent some time recording our personal goals for this year in our notebooks. The purpose was threefold: 1) Research shows that those who write down and share their goals with others are 33% percent more likely to achieve them. I want you to achieve your goals! 2) A big goal of ours--the senior team--is to help you develop your own strategies to learn. Next year, more than ever, you will be in charge of how you learn. We want you to feel ready and armed with a toolkit of personalized strategies. This is a baseline assessment of your understanding. It's like taking a before picture of your own understanding of how you learn. By the end of the semester, you will be able to look back and see your progress. 3) This will also serve as an initial ("before picture"_ writing assessment.
- Here are the two prompts that were provided: 1) Tell us about your GOALS for your senior year. (What's on your bucket list?) 2) Tell us about HOW you learn. (Note that I am not asking how you like to be taught.) What strategies have you found that work you? Include examples.
- We discussed why we tell stories. I showed you this video, and several of you claimed you saw a story. We then reviewed what is going on in your brain when you write, read, or hear a story.
- We furthered our discussion of story by examining a common storytelling pattern used in literature: the quest. We reviewed "The Allegory of the Cave" and a clip from The Matrix (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) to note how both employed this pattern.
Please ask your families to read over the course overview and complete the last page by TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER English and Spanish versions.
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