Thursday, 9/24

Starter #16:  Respond to the following quote.
"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“ - Henry David Thoreau

• Be creative with this response
  
• Draw or write
  
• What ideas, images, questions, examples does this quote raise for you? How do or don’t you connect to it? 
  

Class Biz

• Junior Retreat permission forms (DUE FRIDAY)
• Self-assess on the rubric for final reflection on #VoicesfromAnimas project once you've submitted final project
• Powerlunch today! TJ's dad talking about a career in the legal field

Today's Driving Questions

• How does Dr. King distinguish between  a just and an unjust law?
  
• Why did Thoreau protest the Mexican-American War? 
  

Agenda
1. Review: "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
With a partner, review the three ways Dr. King distinguishes between a just and unjust law and then translate each of them into "Durango speak". 

2. Finish our seminar

• Clarify any confusions still remaining
  
• Share quote selections (discuss rhetorical devices and tone)
• How does Dr. King distinguish between an unjust and just law? 
  
• Do you agree that we have a moral responsibility to obey just laws and disobey unjust laws? 
• Would you ever sacrifice your freedom or life in the way MLK and other civil rights activists did? 
  
• Do you believe he deserves to pay for breaking an unjust law? 
  
• Critics of King’s tactics said the fight for desegregation should happen in the courts, not on the streets. Do you agree? Do you trust our “Justice system”?
• King argues freedom is never voluntarily given up by the oppressor.  Do you agree? What other political/social event supports your opinion?  
• What techniques does Dr. King use to make his message more effective? Think about who is audience is, and what type of "evidence" and language he uses.
• Dr. King says, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". What does he mean, what's a real-world example of this and do you agree?
• How do we decide what is just or unjust? 
  

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

4. Go over the structure of the play (how does time work?)

• Read pages v-vi as a class
• Character list
• Read stage directions and volunteers to set up the stage.

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

6. Go over the Annotation instructions for TNTSJ

7.  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.


8. Homework due by Monday
1. Read the two primary source documents on the Mexican-American War and complete the Historical Thinking Skills chart by MONDAY 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