AHS * HUMANITIES 11
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Daily Blog

Tuesday, September 16th

9/16/2014

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Learning Goals:
  • Understand Ashley's rationale for studying moral and political philosophy
  • Understand BASIC ideas behind Utilitarianism and Libertarianism

Starter:
  • Make a copy of THIS DOCUMENT
  • Go through the prompts and write your first gut reaction to each prompt (Strongly Agree, Agree, Strongly Disagree, Disagree)
  • Save this for later to see if your opinions have changed at all throughout the project
  • Discuss one of the prompts you feel most strongly about with a partner


Agenda
1. Watch the video clip above-- this is one of the main ideas of Utilitarianism.

2. Review this week's reading assignments (tell your friend what pages you need to read by tomorrow and Thursdsay)

3. 
Moral Philosophies Power Point presentation  + Moral Philosophy Note-Taking Form to prepare for next week's exam  (covering the slides on Why study it + Utilitarianism and Libertarianism)


4. Go over the Morality and Politics of Justice project overview



5. Time to read chapter 2, required pages and/or revise your Crash seminar essay 

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Friday, September 12th

9/12/2014

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Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell with Afghan villager Mohammad Gulab
Picture
Goal:
Understand, in broad terms, what the study of moral philosophy is
 
Starter: 
 The Afghan Goatherds Moral Dilemma  (Link to 60 minutes coverage)
From Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do by Michael Sandel


In June 2005, a special forces team made up of Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell and three other U.S. Navy SEALs set out on  secret reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border in search of a Taliban leader...their target commanded 140 to 150 heavily armed fighters and was staying in a village in the forbidding mountainous region.  Shortly after the...team took up a position on a mountain ridge overlooking the village, two Afghan farmers with about a hundred bleating goats happened upon them.  With them was a boy about 14 years old.  The Afghans were unarmed.  

Their choices were to let them go, thus potentially compromising their mission if the Afghans were to inform the Taliban of their location OR kill them. They didn't have any rope, so tying them up while they found a new hideout was out of the question.  

QUESTION:  What are the justifications for both options and what do you think they are morally obligated to do?

Announcements

- Thursday seminar groups-- check your email for my feedback
- Return TNTSJ by the end of class-- take out the sticky notes and initial next to your name

- Be sure to get a copy of Justice from me if you weren't here yesterday

Agenda:
1. Homework review and announcements

2.  Introduction to Moral Philosophy power point 

3.  Pass back Crash Seminar Essays plus go over Revision Guidelines:
  • DUE: Tuesday, September 23rd 
  • New draft printed and stapled WITH your old draft and rubric
  • Bullet point list of the changes you made
  • A paragraph defending the grade you think you now deserve based on the rubric and the changes you made.

4. Group 3 Seminar
Non-seminar groups: Time to read assignment for Monday
Read pages:
1-10 (to "What Wounds Deserve the Purple Heart?"
12-16 (starting at "Bailout Outrage") 
19-21 (ending at "Runaway Trolley")
24-30 (starting at "The Afghan Goatherds")









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Thursday, September 11th

9/11/2014

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Modern Day Transcendentalism??
Goal: Deconstruct Thoreau's ideas and the role of the individual in creating a just society

Term of the Day:  "Transhumanism" (From Wikipedia)Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to greatly enhance humanintellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.[1] Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the ethics of developing and using such technologies.[2]They speculate that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".[1]

Starter:
  • Get out your Individual Seminar Prep notes and "Civil Disobedience" annotations for me to check-- turn them in after seminar 
  • Watch "To be Human is to be Transhuman"
  • Review your seminar prep notes and relevant quotes/pages you want to reference during seminar.
  • Check-out a copy of Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

Agenda
1.  Introduction to Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

  • Author's website and Harvard course
  • Read aloud the first page (real-world relevance here folks!!)
  • Free-market economies
  • price gouging (support laws against? oppose laws against?)

2. Seminar Groups 1 and 2 Today

Non-Seminar Work Time Options:
  • Begin reading and annotating on "Doing the Right Thing"- Chapter 1 of Michael Sandel's book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?  Due Monday
Required to only read these pages:
1-10 (to "What Wounds Deserve the Purple Heart?"
12-16 (starting at "Bailout Outrage") 
19-21 (ending at "Runaway Trolley")
24-30 (starting at "The Afghan Goatherds")


Today's Handouts
  • Seminar Questions
  • Seminar Rubric
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Wednesday, September 10th

9/10/2014

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Picture
Positive Thoughts from Petey the Positive Parrot:
Ashley is just delighted by how awesome all of your group seminar prep BIG questions were! They are more thought-provoking than any of the discussion question guides I've seen out there on the internet designed by retired English teachers with 12 cats.  Not that there is anything wrong with retired English teachers with 12 cats. Ashley might become one someday.  (A retired English teacher, that is, not a cat.  Just to clarify.)


Today's Goals:
Analyze Thoreau's views on civil disobedience and what he believes the role of an individual is in creating a just society

Starter:

Review "Civil Disobedience":
  • Find a line or passage  that you have trouble understanding (or think other students might, or think is particularly significant) and quote it.
  • Write down 2-3 clarifying questions that you have about the reading.

Agenda
1. Small group discussion
  • Share your quote selection and ask  your group to explain it to you.
  • Take turns posing your questions and discussing them

2. Whole class discussion:
  • What questions weren't you able to answer in your small group?
  • What does Thoreau want us to do as individuals?
  • What does he want from the government?

3.  SEMINAR GUIDELINES
  • Review Seminar Rubric,  seminar groupings and the seminar questions

  • Open up the email from me that explains my seminar feedback to you from last seminar.

  • Reply to my email with ONE specific goal for this week's seminar based off of my feedback.

  • Choose 2 questions from the  seminar questions list that you think you'll want to ask from that list of questions and write those on your seminar prep.

4. Work time
  • Individual Seminar Prep
  • Finish reading and annotating "Civil Disobedience"

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Group 1: SAT Prep Day 1 Agenda  September 12th

9/9/2014

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1. Create an account on collegeboard.org
  • Use your Animas gmail and password

2. Take a look at the SAT practice test and fill in the bubbles with your name!
  • Section 1 Writing Section (timed essay, 25 minutes)
  • Section 3 Critical reading: 25 minutes, 24 questions, includes reading passages and sentence completions
  • Section 5 Writing section: 25 minutes, 35 questions, includes multiple choice questions on identifying errors and improving grammar and usage
  • Section 7 Critical reading: 25 minutes, 24 questions, 
  • Section 9 Critical Reading 20 minutes, 19 questions
  • Section 10 Writing, 10 minutes, 14 questions

Scoring
The SAT is comprised of three sections (Critical Reading, Writing and Math); each earns a maximum of 800 points for a combined total of 2400 points
* YOU ARE PENALIZED FOR INCORRECT RESPONSES (25% off per question wrong)

3. Review the SAT Essay Scoring guide (p. 73)

Essay writing techniques:
  • Know your audience
  • Use consistent tense (present, past or future- choose one and keep it the same)
  • Organization (intro/thesis, body (TEA), conclusion)
  • Track your time!  
  • Try hard on your Humanities writing assignments and rewrite after Ashley and Jessica's fabulous feedback!

4. Choose 2 essays to evaluate (i.e. Score 6 and Score 4)
  • Identify the student's thesis statement 
  • Does each body paragraph have a topic sentence? Select ONE and summarize what that paragraph's topic is
  • Does the essay follow a TEA paragraph form? Topic-Evidence-Analysis (HINT: Personal anecdote counts as "evidence")
  • Does the essay have an insightful point of view that is clearly expressed?
  • What else do you notice about the essay?
  • If reading an essay with a score LESS than 6, explain what that essay needs in order to earn a higher score (See the feedback at the bottom of the essay).

Things to consider... 
- GUESS on the ACT (you are not penalized for incorrect answers)
- SAT: If you don't know an answer, determine if you can narrow it down to a 50/50. If you can, it may be prudent to guess. If not, don't guess, just leave blank, as you are penalized for wrong answers on the SAT. 

Additional Test Prep Resources (ACT and SAT)
www.collegeboard.com 


5.  If extra time remains, do one of the following:
  • Timed essay
  • Develop your vocabulary
  • Take the practice test (see Ashley for your packet from last Friday)
  • Take one section of the test online
  • Download one of these top-rated FREE iphone APPs
  • Other apps that are NOT free but are excellent

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Monday, September 8th

9/8/2014

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Goals:
Understand Thoreau's philosophy on civil disobedience and transcendentalism

Essential Question:
What is the individual's role in creating a just society?

Starter: 

  • In 3 minutes, write down as many of the major plot elements of Act 1 as you can.
  • Take this Yearbook Survey
  • HONORS TURN IN APPLICATION ESSAY

 Agenda
1. Review the play

2. Go over this week's schedule

3.  Silently read Act 2 + Annotate 
  • 1st short discussion on what you're annotating for/types of annotations
  • Be sure to try to identify elements of Thoreau's belief system including his views on the government, justice, slavery, education, transcendentalism....

4. Themes/Binaries mini-lesson (short powerpoint)

5. Group selection + group role

6. Group Seminar Prep + complete short survey below when done

HOMEWORK:
By Tuesday:  Finish the pla
By Wednesday: Read selected excerpts from Civil Disobedience by Thoreau.  Annotate it as you read as our seminar will involve this reading. I need to see evidence of annotations as part of your ticket into seminar!  This can be questions/comments written in the margins and underlined or highlighted portions you find important. 
 
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Friday, September 5th

9/5/2014

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Picture
Goals:
Understand Thoreau's philosophy on civil disobedience and transcendentalism

Essential Question:
What is the individual's role in creating a just society?



STARTER
Trolley Car Dilemma Case #1
(Suppose you are the driver of a trolley car and your trolley car is hurtling down the track at 60 mph.  At the end of the track, you notice 5 workers working on the track. You try to stop but you can’t because your brakes don’t work.  You panic because you know, for sure, that if you crash into these workers, all 5 will die.  You feel helpless until you notice that off to the right is a side track and at the end of that track is just one worker working.  Your steering works so you know that if you turn right, you could avoid killing the five workers but certainly kill the one at the end of the track. What would you do?  Go straight ahead or turn right? These are the ONLY two choices.  Defend your reason.
(The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967)

Agenda
1. Discuss Trolley Car Dilemma Case #1 and consider case #2
Trolley Car Case #2
This time you are not the driver, you are an onlooker standing on a bridge overlooking the track.  Down the track comes the trolley car, same situation is at hand.  Except, now, you’re not the driver and you REALLY feel helpless until you notice, standing next to you, leaning over the bridge, is a very large man.  And you could give him a slight shove and he would fall over the bridge, onto the track, right in the way of the trolley car, he would die, but he would spare the five.  Now.  How would you push the large man? Explain.

2. Read to Act 2 (FINISH THE PLAY BY TUESDAY!!)

3. Act out 58-63, 67


4. Discussion
  • What is the role of the individual in creating a just society?
  • Are laws designed to protect or inhibit freedom?
  • By paying taxes that fund an immoral cause or governmental action, are you guilty too? Are you an accomplice? Is silence a form of consent? How do you see this playing out in your own life?

5. Appreciations

Homework: Get caught up in the play.  You'll need to be finished with the play by TUESDAY. We'll have time to read in class on Monday but if you are a more relaxed reader, you might want to spend some time reading this weekend. 
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Thursday, 9/4

9/4/2014

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Starter:
  • Take the survey linked above
  • Make sure you emailed me your primary source documents with the CORRECT name of the document 
  • (LastName_AssignmentTitle)

ANNOUNCEMENT:

If you volunteered to jump in on Marley's Crash seminar tomorrow, don't forget to show up, 7th period.

Agenda
1.  Review the readings and share your historical thinking skills chart notes with a partner.  What questions do you have about the readings? 

2. Whole class discussion to deconstruct the readings
  • Review: What is "Manifest Destiny"?
  • Go over the "Discussion Questions" at the end of John O'Sullivan's article
  • Read aloud excerpts from the  North Star Editorial:  How does the author highlight the class and race dimension of the war? How does the author feel about Manifest Destiny?
  • In what ways do you see these two conflicting views/ideologies on war playing out in more modern times?

3.  Ashley's ppt on Transcendentalism

4. Time to read TNTSJ through page 45


5. Act out pages 24-29, 33-38
  • Discuss: Should we value nature and animals as we do humans? Should they be a part of our sphere of moral concern?

HOMEWORK:  Get caught up in the play!  Be through page 45 by tomorrow
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Wednesday, September 3rd

9/3/2014

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Starter
POP QUIZ!

Agenda
1. Introduction to the play:
  • Go over the structure of the play (how does time work?)
  • Read pages v-vi as a class
  • Character list
  • Read stage directions and choose the best way to best show your understanding of the stage setup (Metacognition spiel from Ashley)

2. Assign student roles and Read pp 3-14 aloud


3. Go over the Annotation instructions for TNTSJ

4.  Silently read and annotate pages 14-40
  • Jot down annotations from pages 1-14
  • Try to annotate quotes that capture Thoreau's philosophy on: religion, education, the role of the government, justice, individualism/conformity
  • Also, try to identity juxtaposition on page 23: Which characters are juxtaposed and what similarities or differences are the playwrights highlighting?
  • If done early, get crackin' on homework!
Juxtaposition is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.
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Tuesday, September 2

9/2/2014

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Big Questions
o   What is  the individual’s role in creating a just society?
o   What is Civil Disobedience?
o   What did Thoreau believe in and was he justified in his actions? Do you agree with his beliefs and actions?

Starter

  • How did Dr. King distinguish between a JUST and UNJUST law in "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" that we read the first day of school?  He provided three definitions/examples of a just vs. unjust law.  Try to think of as many as those three you can.

  • Turn in your printed copy of your seminar reflection (with a title and your name at the top).  10% off if late or not printed.  If you don't have it, write me a note as to why you don't have it and turn that in the tray.

Announcements
  • Optional Honors meeting at lunch Wednesday (help with your application essay)
  • Seminar reflection due today-- absent Thursday or Friday, be sure to talk to me.
  • Any student announcements?
  • Check out the Daily Show clip posted at the end of today's blog post

Agenda
1. Return from a long weekend pep talk!  + Video: Jose or Joe- Who gets the job? (Thanks to Mila for sharing!)


2. Announcements

3. Discuss your starter responses and then Review Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (What distinguishes between a just and unjust law?)
  • Be ready to demonstrate your understanding of this reading tomorrow!

4. Respond to this quote from the first page of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail:


"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away"

5.  Ashley's PPT introduction of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

6. Go over the homework for Thursday and time to read Mexican American War primary source documents

Homework:
All students:  
1. Read the two primary source documents on the Mexican-American War and complete the Historical Thinking Skills chart by THURSDAY at the beginning of class.  I'd recommend annotating these articles as well as you will use these in our final seminar on TNTSJ next week.  
  • Primary Source #1: John O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny (don't worry yet about the questions at the end, we'll do that in class on Thursday)
  • Primary Source #2: North Star Editorial, "The War with Mexico"
  • Historical Thinking Skills Chart


Honors: Essay Application due September 8th

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    Ashley Carruth

    Humanities 11 Teacher at Animas High School

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    • Writing Growth Example Page
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  • Advisory