Blog Archives - AHS * HUMANITIES 11

AHS * HUMANITIES 11

Monday, 2/29

2/28/2016

Starter #22: Read the following quote by our man, Ed Abbey, then write about a place that holds significance to you and that you find beautiful. It could be ANYWHERE! Inside or outside! A corner in your bedroom, or a mountain range. A city alleyway or a highway corridor. Describe it in as much detail as you can and explain why you find it beautiful or why it is significant to you.

"This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary. A house-boat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near Hoboken waterfront, or even possibly for those of less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio or Rome- there's no limit to the human capacity for homing sentiment" -- Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, pages 1-2.

Class Biz/Deadlines

Happiness and Meaning DP Update is due Sunday, March 6th at midnight (EMAIL ME THE LINK TO YOUR PAGE WHEN DONE)
Honors Ind. Study students: DP Update is due today. Email me the link to the update.
Projects are due START of class on Friday
Tomorrow is the last day to ask for extensions
Shea, Kaleigh and George-- peer critique + make up Friday's starter

Agenda
1. Share out your starter

2. Watch photographer, Barron Bixler's 5 minute film: A New Pastoral: Views of the San Joaquin Valley
Over a period of three years, California photographer Barron Bixler crisscrossed the San Joaquin Valley capturing images of large-scale, industrial agricultural enterprises. From dairies to orchards, from scrap yards to packing plants, the pictures offer a provocative look at one of the most important and productive agricultural regions on Earth.

3. Discuss the "film":

What are your general reactions? What thoughts/feelings did this raise?
What is your interpretation of Bixler's series of photographs?
What is he suggesting about the relationship man and nature? between agricultural "productivity" and environmental impact?

4. Work Time

Peer critique the OTHER part of your project
Continue refining written and visual pieces
DP Update

Friday, 2/26

2/26/2016

Starter #22: Pick 2 out of the 3 of these prompts to respond to--Agree/Disagree (Explain why)
1. Humans have no moral obligation to protect or conserve environmental resources.

2. Humans have no moral obligation to limiting energy consumption TODAY in order to secure energy for FUTURE generations of humans.

3. We need to break our dependence on the fossil fuel industy

Agenda
1. Four Corners on the starter

2. Work time:

Must get your idea critiqued today-- be sure Ashley observes you getting critique.
Conference with Ashley as needed
Refine your written or visual piece

Thursday, 2/25

2/25/2016

Starter #20
Research on relationship between gratitude and happiness

Read this article and jot down key findings about the relationship between gratitude and happiness as revealed through the various studies.

Agenda
1. Watch this short video clip called The Science of Happiness- An Experiment in Gratitude” and discuss your reactions: Cheesy? Legit? Resonates with your own experience?

CHALLENGE: Do what the folks in the above experiment did for someone you love. See how it makes you feel.

2. Work time!

Draft your written or visual piece
Peer critique--> Ready for critique of either the draft of your visual OR written piece?? Must form a group of 3 with two other students who are also ready and do the following...

Draft Critique guidelines:
Step 1: Share your philosophy statement in 2-3 sentences
Step 2: Present your piece to be critiqued to your group
Step 3: Group will spend time reading and/or interpreting your draft and discuss the following prompts:

How does this piece capture the author's philosophy statement?
What do you LIKE about this piece?
How does it align with EACH category of the rubric (page 2 of this document): Seriously, go through each category and discuss to what extent the author has excelled at each category or at least shows promise in each category....
How can the author refine this piece to make it shine?!

Wednesday 2/24

2/24/2016

1. Laurel to talk about transcripts

2. Project work time

Conference with Ashley on project proposal
Upcoming Deadline: In class on Friday you must get your 1st project piece critiqued (this can EITHER be the philosophy statement OR the visual piece DRAFT/SKETCH

Tuesday, 2/23

2/23/2016

Class Biz

SLC's tomorrow
Honors seminar on F451 today during......x-block?
Ind. Study Honors-- don't forget about the DP update by Monday, 2/29
Slam Poetry contest! See flyer on my whiteboard
Missing books!!! Check the white board for your name

Starter #19
React to the following quote....
“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” - Edward Abbey

Agenda
1. "Lesson of the Moth" poem analysis

What is the moth’s perspective on happiness?
What is archy’s perspective?
Which perspective do you think leads to a more meaningful life? Which to a happier life?
Do you think you are more like the moth or archy? How so? Does this differ from your response to Abbey's quote at all?
Food for thought: Is it better to immolate yourself in a ball of flame or live a life of contentment? To Be or To Become? That is the question!

2. Project work time + Conferences with Ashley
Review of Deadlines

Due BOC Tomorrow: Draft of project proposal
Proposal Peer Critiques: Get your proposal critiqued (SEE YESTERDAY'S DP BLOG FOR CRITIQUE GUIDELINES)
Due tomorrow, E.O.C.: REFINED project proposal after critique
Conferences: Once you've had your project idea critiqued, refined your proposal and emailed it to Ashley, sign up for a conference with her. OR if you really really really feel like your idea is AMAZING, you can conference with her today. Do so at your own risk of ridicule, though. ;)

Monday, 2/22

2/22/2016

Good morning sunshines!!

Dearest Students,

I have forsaken you all again in your time of need (namely coming up with inspiring, AWE-SOME projects that will transcend time and space and will leave all my future students feeling inadequate and essentially like husks of human beings.)

However, you're in GREAT hands! Sarita is the BOMB and will be here to support the creative process.

Here is the GOOGLE DOC FOLDER OF ALL 3 PROJECT DOCUMENTS (RUBRIC, PROPOSAL GUIDELINES, EXAMPLES and GUIDING QUESTIONS)

Here's whatcha gotta do today:

1. Take this quick survey for Anish Well's Stats project

2. Hone your Happiness and Meaning project idea(s). You can choose if you want to start with the written part (PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT) or with the visual part BUT you must complete the proposal by Wednesday AND have your visual piece IDEA critiqued by a classmate before you begin implementing it. Follow these steps today...

Step 1: Review the project proposal guidelines

Step 2: Continue to brainstorm ideas IF needed

Once you have a few ideas for your visual piece or your philosophy on Happiness and Meaning, run them by a friend and get feedback on which idea they think is most authentic to you and most inspiring/cool

Step 3: Begin working on either your philosophy statement OR your project proposal

Step 4: Get your project idea critiqued using these critique guidelines:
CRITIQUE GUIDELINES
1. Get into groups of 3 (IDEALLY)
2. Explain your project to the critiquers
3. Talk about:

What is the main idea/message the artist seems to be trying to express in the piece?
How does it connect to class concepts/texts?
What's the best thing about this project?
What feedback does your group have for refinement? (How could it be more beautiful? How could it better represent the idea(s) you're trying to express? Does it need to be tied more clearly to one of the texts we read/watched, etc...? Does it represent this person's authentic self?)

Friday 2/19

2/19/2016

NO STARTER

Class Biz

Turn in your lit circle make-up work
SLC guidelines for those who need to attend
If you know what medium you're doing for the visual part of the project, bring in any necessary supplies on Monday so you can use class time. Otherwise you'll keep brainstorming and maybe outlining or writing your philosophy statement on Monday.

AGENDA
1. Finish the film Happy and discuss

2. In groups of 3-4, share out your TED Talk homework:

If you watched the same talk, discuss how you felt about it.
If you watched different ones, summarize and share take-aways.

3. In your starter google doc title this entry "Happiness and Meaning review journal" (to start getting the wheels churnin' for your project). Answer the following prompt:
What ideas have stood out to you from this project so far that you think resonate with or are influencing the formation of your own personal philosophy of happiness/meaning?

Here is a list of the resources/philosophies/concepts we've studied thus far:

Readings

TED Talks, Podcasts, Media Clips

Films

The Stranger
Into the Wild/Tale for Time Being
“The Catastrophe of Success”
Solitude and Nature: Key Ingredients to a Life Worth Living?
(Jennifer Aaker: Happiness v. Meaning
“the lesson of the moth”
Research on Gratitude from Harvard Health
Summary of Aristotle's philosophy of Eudaimonia (ignore page 1)
Existentialism powerpoint

“Are you there God” TED Talk series
Success Podcast (5 talks)
“The Science of Happiness- An Experiment in Gratitude”
“The Paradox of Choice”
"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us"
"Why I Hate School but Love Education"
"What Makes a Good Life: Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness"
"The Pale Blue Dot" narrated by Astronomer and astrophysicist, Carl Sagan
Youtube video called, "Existential Bummer"
Radiolab podcast on "Bliss" and the youtube video of Aleksander Gamme's blissful cache discover
I AM by Stephen Sellers
Alan Watts' youtube video: "What is it you desire?"

Stranger Than Fiction
Happy
BBC's film on Science and Religion

4. Review Project Guidelines, Deadlines and Rubric

5. Rubric critique
Dig in to some of the rubric language. With the people near you, answer the following:

What does thoughtful mean in the context of our project?
What does authentic mean in the context of this project?
What does it mean for a piece of writing and a creative visual to "work together cohesively"?
What does it mean when a project is "refined to exhibition standards"
What does it mean to "exemplify beautiful work"?

6. EXAMPLES?

Ashley's Example philosophy statement and project proposal
Watsky's spoken word poem: "Tiny Glowing Screens, Part 2": This poem tells a depressing story about how the stars make us feel inadequate, about how — amongst seven billion people — each one of us is insignificant. However, upon closer look, Watsky seems to be trying to make meaning or find his purpose in the face of that feeling of inadequacy/insignificance. Think about how he defines meaning/purpose in this poem.
Stephen Sellers "I Am" Video
Student philosophy statement and project proposal examples from last year's project

5. Brainstorm! Here are some options for brainstorm time....
*Remember: BY next Wednesday you must complete the project proposal AND get your idea critiqued in class before moving forward with implementation.

Spend the next 15 minutes writing or drawing as many different ideas as you can OR continuing your starter by reacting to the various resources that we studied (listed above) that stood out to you as particularly inspiring.
Spend some time re-reading/re-watching the resources above that stood out to you
Talk to a friend about some ideas you have
Read through some of the guiding questions and student examples on this document. Journal on them.
Go for a walk and think about your ideas and when you come back, write down the INSPIRING thoughts that stood out to you
Write your personal philosophy statement FIRST as this may help you choose what sort of medium you want to do for your art piece! Stuck on your personal philosophy? See the first three bullet points!!!

Wednesday, 2/17

2/17/2016

Starter #18: Read the project guidelines for our Happiness and Meaning project and write down any clarifying questions/confusions you have OR if you think you get it, write down a few ideas you might have or react to the assignment-- are you excited about this assignment? Why or why not?

Class Biz

Lit Circle Grades: I emailed you your lit circle final grades as a google document. Check that ASAP and if you're grade is NOT PASSING, you can receive 50% credit for the missing components if submitted by Friday BOC. HOWEVER, this will NOT get you off the hook for SLC's if your overall Humanities grade is a 74% or lower as of today.
Book Club Honors: Final Seminar on F451 is this Thursday, 2/18
All Juniors: 8:30-10:30 am Assembly tomorrow with a guest speaker on 'The Admissions Game" for college admissions
This week's homework: Complete the TED Talk assignment for Friday, beginning of class (include the write-up on your starters)
1st Semester Honors: DP Update and Reflection guidelines

This week's homework:
1. Make-up lit circle work for partial credit IF this applies to you (DUE Friday, B.O.C)

2. Also by Friday, B.O.C: Extending Science, Religion, Happiness, Meaning TED Talk Exploration Are You There God? Playlist
Explore 2-3 different talks (depending on length) ONE should be from the "Are you there God" playlist and one can be from the list at the end of today's blog)
IN STARTER DOCS, for each talk:

Briefly summarize the main points of the talk.
REACT: What stood out to you about this talk? What lines resonated? Did you agree or disagree?Why? (A-ha; Say What?; I wonder...)

[NOTE: Ashley does NOT recommend the talk titled "On Reading the Koran".....]

3. Optional: Get a jumpstart on brainstorming your Happiness and Meaning final project

Today's Agenda
1. Go over the required note-taking form for Happy

2. Watch Happy and take notes

HAPPY is an award-winning, feature-length documentary that takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes people happy. Combining real life stories of people from around the world and powerful interviews with the leading scientists in happiness research, HAPPY brings to life the science and application of the film’s themes.

3. Discuss the film

Additional TED Talks related to Happiness and Meaning for this week's homework

Thursday, February 11th

2/11/2016

Starter
EMAIL ME YOUR SEMINAR PREP!!
(Include both Steps 1 and Steps 2. If you were the contextualizer, please include the link to the article/video on your seminar prep)

Agenda
8:40-9:00: Seminar prep

Share your role with one other group member with whom you've not been working on seminar prep. Provide any feedback you can in the time we have to make those changes
Come back together as a whole group: Go over your game plan as a group-- review the "flow" of your seminar, and each student's role.
9:00-10:27 Student-led seminarsLit City with Untitled
Papa T and the Boyz and Claire with TOO Legit

Wednesday, February 10th

2/10/2016

NO STARTER

AGENDA
1st period
Watch a film about the Historical Context of the Religion/Science Struggle: BBC Documentary: The End of God? A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion

Take note of major events in the historical ideological struggle between religion and science.
Jot down questions. Think about where are now in this struggle as a species and where you are as an individual.

2nd period:

Class discussion on the film
Individual seminar prep time
EVIDENCE PROVIDER: MAKE COPIES OF YOUR EXCERPTS BY THE END OF CLASS TODAY!!