Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wk. 4 Option #10: Black Like Me

esponse Requirement:

Going from her “all-white” world into the world with the Boatwrights presented many revelations for Lily. Read this short bit about John Griffin’s experience as a white man AND as an African American man.
Lee Harper wrote the famous line, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” in the hugely famous To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960.

Less than a year earlier, John Howard Griffin, a white journalist, literally walked around in the skin of a Southern African American. For a year, Griffin experienced the South’s African American and white reactions to his skin color, mannerisms, and stereotypes.

At the age of 39, Griffin had already undertaken similar experiments. Once, he became temporarily blind and lived in New Orleans. When offered this new skin pigmentation experiment as a reaction to the alarmingly high suicidal tendencies among the Southern African American population, Griffin jumped on the unique opportunity.



After five days of skin pigmentation and exposure to sun lamps, Griffin was shocked at the results. After looking in the mirror for the first time he wrote, “The completeness of this transformation appalled me. It was unlike anything I had imagined. I became two men, the observing one and the one who panicked, who felt Negroid even into the depths of his entrails. I felt the beginnings of great loneliness, not because I was a Negro, but because the man I had been, the self I knew, was hidden in the flesh of another.”



Having walked through the New Orleans streets and ridden the bus as a white man and an African American man, Griffin experienced a variety of emotions. From the shoe shiner to the very same man who served him coffee, Griffin realized “the real story is the universal story of men who destroy the souls and bodies of other men for reasons neither really understands.”



Thanks to his column and his book, Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin opened the world’s eyes to the racism that surrounds us all.



Response Requirement:

  • How did this article about John Griffin open your eyes to the experience of racism?
  • Consider this unit title “Chasms to Cross”—what “chasms” has Lily crossed in her life?

Wk. 4 Option #9: Introduction



Prompt:

Consider the introduction to chapter 12:

If the queen bee were smarter, she would probably be hopelessly neurotic (irrational, anxious). As is, she is shy and skittish, possibly because she never leaves the hive, but spends her days confined in darkness, a kind of eternal night, perpetually in labor… Her true role is less that of a queen than mother of the hive, a title often accorded (given to) her. And yet, this is something of a mockery because of her lack of maternal instincts or the ability to care for her young. –The Queen Must Die
Response Requirement:

Describe how this metaphor represents Deborah.

How does this metaphor represents Our Lady in Chains/Mary.

Wk. 4 Option #8: Poetry Dissection #2


Prompt:

Read the following poem and make connections to Secret Life of Bees.

  
4 daughters

Lucille Clifton



i am the sieve*

she strains from

little by little

everyday.



i am the rind**

she is discarding.



i am the riddle

she is trying to answer.



something is moving

in the water.

she is the hook.

i am the line.



*sieve=a strainer used to separate a liquid and a solid

**rind= outer shell or peel of fruit



Response Requirement:

  • Dissect this poem and apply it to Lily’s life.
  • Dissect this poem and apply it to August, June, and May’s lives.

Wk. 4 Option #7: Poetry Dissection #2



Prompt:

Read the following poem and make connections to Secret Life of Bees.



Why some people be mad at me sometimes

Lucille Clifton



they ask me to remember


but they want me to remember


their memories


and i keep on remembering


mine.



Response Requirement:

Dissect this poem and apply it to Lily’s life.


Wk. 4 Option #6: The Sick Rose

Prompt:

Lily reads this poem in her mother’s book:


The Sick Rose

By: William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,



Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy,

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.


Response Requirement:
  • Dissect this poem and apply it to Deborah’s life.
  • Dissect this poem and apply it to Lily’s life.


Wk. 4 Option #5: Coping with the Truth



 
Prompt: There’s a famous saying, maybe it was Mr. T—“You can’t handle THE TRUTH!”

 

 

 
Response Requirement:

 
  • In Chapter 13, Lily confronts many feelings about her mother.
  • How does Lily’s story connect to something we’ve read or seen this year?

 

Wk. 4 Option #4: The Mother Mystery



Prompt:

Lily has gone on this journey to learn more about the mystery of her mother. T. Ray painted an ugly picture of Deborah and it is Lily’s hope that T. Ray is lying.



Response Requirement:

What does Lily learn about her mother from August?

Lily thinks, “Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth.” How is she coping with this knowledge? What is she feeling now?

Wk. 4 Option #2 Desserts

Prompt: Lily and August’s favorite dessert is peanuts in a Coke bottle.


 

 

 
Response Requirement:

  •  How does the bonding in chapter 11 aid Lily’s self-confidence and sense of family?
  • Write about your favorite dessert.

Wk. 4 Option #1: Zach

Prompt:
Zach is the leading man in Lily’s life. He has replaced T. Ray—in a good way. In this week’s reading, however, he seems to be taking on a bitter tone.






Response Requirement:


• How is Zach changing?

• Why is he changing?


End of Unit Blogs

There will be three blogs required for week four of the book (chapters 11-13).
Blogs will be posted as of 8 a.m. Thursday, March 31 and closed Monday, April 11. 
Being away will not be an acceptable excuse as blogs are open before you leave and after you return. 
There is also reading assigned for the break, Ch. 11 &12. 
The quarterly will be based on the text and it takes place on Wednesday, April 13.  This means that you will have very little to finish the book AND prepare for the quarterly if you put it off until Monday night.

Vocabulary Week 3-- Performances are Friday, due with your scripts

Week #3 Vocabulary Writing Immunity Etiquette Ingenious Ambitious Magnitude
Cunning Crevice Vigil Ritual Industrious Taunting

SHORT STORY WRITING:You must choose at least 9 words in a story based on one of the following skit or talk show focuses.
SKIT

1. Create an ending to the book or how you think the book will end.
2. Conduct a radio talk show in which you introduce the characters as guest stars.
3. Conduct a talk show, such George Lopez, Oprah, Chelsea Lately, Dr. Phil, Ellen, etc.
4. Re-create a scene from the book, but change what you might say or do to use the vocabulary words.

**This could also be done using Xtranormal or makebeliefscomix.com**

BONUS STORY: If you wish to replace a prior vocabulary story, also write a story using these words and these story lines:1. Write a story that summarizes things that Lily has learned about bee-keeping from August.
2. Write a story Zach wanting to be a lawyer and Lily criticizing his plans.
3. Write a story about June’s relationship with Neil, or write a story about the different jobs that June has worked (teacher, funeral home music, bee-keeping).

Extranormal Videos:
OneShot Videos
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11591488/the-secret-life-of-bees



Double Trouble Videos
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11591916/secret-life-of-bees-scene
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11605350/the-talk

Schmowzow Videos:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11611338/colorz-movie
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11611280/alternet-endind-to-secret-lifes-of-bees


Sunday, March 27, 2011

"Secret Millionaire" tonight---homeless focus!!  

Wk. 3 Option #10: What's up with the moon?


Prompt:
The moon is a symbol in the story.  In the beginning of the novel when Lily and Rosaleen sleep by the river bank, Lily has a dream that the moon breaking apart, which symbolizes that her life is falling apart.  Similar, Kidd alludes to a rocket landing on the moon, which symbolizes that Lily will scratch the surface of learning about her mother.

Response Requirement:
In the beginning of Chapter 10 on page 189, the moon is mentioned again.  What does the moon symbolize here?  Consider the events of Chapter 10 when responding.

Wk. 3 Option #9: Dissect a song--You pick!

Prompt:
As we all listen closely to the songs we listen to, it may become apparent that the song perfectly fits with what we read.


Response Requirement:
  • Pick out a song that reminds you of Bees. Provide us with a title, artist, and at least some of the lyrics.
  • Dissect the song and its meaning. Does the song relate directly to a character? a greater message? a theme?

Wk. 3 Option #8: Ch. 8 Introduction

Prompt:
Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support. Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die. The Queen Must Die

Your Required Response Instructions:
  • As we move into Chapter 8, make a prediction about the events to come.
  • In what ways does this apply to the novel already?

Wk. 3 Option #7: Hello, 911? It's Lily.

Chapter 8

Prompt:
Lily made an important call in chapter 8.  It wasn't to 911, but if it was, what would she be calling about?


Response Requirement:
Think a little more deeply (and not just about health) and imagine what Lily would say to a 911 operator if she needed help with something in her life.
  • What would she say?
  • If you were on the other end of the line, what would you do to help her? 

Wk. 3 Option #6: Freedom Writers

Prompt:
Let's admit it... most of us love Freedom Writers. Lucky for us, it applies to most of our reading. =)


Response Requirement:
  • In what ways are Bees and Freedom Writers similar?

Wk. 3 Option #5: Ch. 9 Introduction

Chapter(s) #9

Prompt:
"The whole fabric of honey bee society depends on communication--on an innate ability to send and receive messages, to encode and decode information." --The Honey Bee

Response Required: Cover all parts of the question.
  • Apply the quote to the events of chapter nine.

Wk. 3 Option #4: Memorable Quotes

Chapter(s) #8-10

Prompt:
I personally love the quote found on page 170: Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head, but if you lie down now and then and get as still as you can, it will slide open like elevator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that have been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top.  The real troubles in life happen when those hidden doors stay closed for too long."

Response Required: Cover all parts of the question.
  • Find a quote you love in the text.  Type it for us to see.
  • Explain why it helps you make text-to-text or text-to-self connections.

Wk. 3 Option #3: My Name is a Month!

Prompt:
On page 137, Lily decides if she could have picked a month to be named for, she'd have selected October and gives her reasons.


Response Requirement:

  • If you could pick a month to be named after, what would you choose and why? How would you spend your special month?

This must be a strong example of persuasive writing. It does not have to be a five-paragraph essay per say, but it must use the good habits of persuasive writing--hook, transitions, reasons backed up by examples, anecdotes, and topic sentences for each paragraph.   NO QUOTE NECESSARY.

Wk. 3 Option #2: Acrostics

Chapter(s) #8

Prompt:
In Chapter 8, Lily shares an acrostic that she wrote for T.Ray:
D- Despicable
A- Angry
D- Dud of a father
D- Disappointment
Y- Yoke around my neck


Response Required: Cover all parts of the question.

  • Create an acrostic for two different characters.  Choose any that inspire you, no matter how large their role in the book is. NO QUOTES NECESSARY.

Wk. 3 Option #1: Oh Susanna!

Chapter(s) #10

Prompt:
Stephen Foster wrote the original lyrics in 1847.
I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I'm going to Louisiana,
My true love for to see

It rained all night
The day I left
The weather it was dry
The sun so hot,
I froze to death
Susanna, don't you cry

Oh, Susanna,
Oh don't you cry for me
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee

I had a dream the other night
When everything was still
I thought I saw Susanna
A-coming down the hill

The buckwheat cake
Was in her mouth
The tear was
In her eye
Says I, I'm coming from the south
Susanna, don't you cry

Oh, Susanna,
Oh don't you cry for me
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee

I came from Salem City
with my washpan on my knee
I'm going to California,
the gold dust for to see.
It rained all night the day I left,
the weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death,
Oh, brothers don't you cry.
Oh, Susannah, Oh, don't you cry for me
I'm going to California with my washpan on my knee.
I soon shall be in Frisco
and there I'll look around.
And when I see the gold lumps there,
I'll pick them off the ground.
I'll scrape the mountains clean, my boys,
I'll drain the rivers dry.
A pocketful of rocks bring home,
So, brothers don't you cry.


Response Required: Cover all parts.
  • Choose two stanzas  (poetry/musical paragraphs) to rewrite about BEES.  Pick a character.  Pick two.  Whatever you do, stick with the rhythm and flow of the song's original lyrics.  You can also listen to the song online in case you don't know it.   (When you hear it, you'll smack yourself because you do actually know it.)

Week 3

Three blogs are required this week.  If you are leaving for a vacation, make sure that you can access the internet or post them before you leave.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Week 2 Vocabulary Story--Post here or turn in on Thursday.


Consolation        naïve         revelation          righteous           vigilante    agitates             eclectic      jilted                 solace               incessantly         Umpteenth      stifling

Short Story Writing:

You must choose at least seven words to incorporate in a story based on one of the following story lines:

1.     Write a story about Lily and Rosaleen’s journey to Tiburon, South Carolina.

2.    Write a story inspired by the pink house where the Boatwright sisters live, or the “Calendar Girls” themselves.

3.     Write a story inspired by all of the lies that Lily has told so far on her journey in search of her mother’s past.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Response Requirements--Make yourself aware.


What do fantastic/great/good/mediocre responses look like?


4 (A):
100%
"Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open." That voice gave her the courage to run away.  he had been thinking about it, but never had the guts to
do it. That one little voice gave her the push, to get out of her crazy
life.
---> Before she left her house she wrote a note to T.Ray. It stated not
to find her and that people like him should "rot in hell". She grabbed
her duffel filled it with clothes, and grabbed her mother's gloves and
black Mary. She decided she was going to make her way to Tiburon
because she thought someone had to have known her mother if she was
there because the inscription on the back of the photo said "Tiburon,
S.C.". Then she went and found Rosaleen. Rosaleen was in the hospital
getting stitches; there was a guard blocking her door, so no one could
see her. Lily made a clever plan, and called the hospital pretend there
was an emergency, and the officer had to go down to the station right
away. Then she fooled the nurse at the hospital by calling her
a "shitbucket" and ran into another room. She waited for the nurse to
leave the desk, and then the two of them bolted out the door.
---> They made their way down to Highway 40 and tried to hitch hike. A
colored man going to visit his sister in Columbia, (3 miles away from
Tiburon) took them. They got to a sign that said "Tiburon 3 miles" and
the man let them out. They walked awhile and made it to a bridge. They
decided to stay there and sleep by the creek; they would finish their
way to Tiburon the next day.

95%=
June Boatwright has been cruel to Lily and Rosaleen ever since they arrived at the home of the “Calendar Sisters”. She refused to let them stay there, and if it wasn’t for August to come along, they probably would have been living in the streets now or still just wandering around Tiburon, South Carolina, looking for a home that consisted of people who would actually greet them in with open arms. “But she’s white, August.” (pg. 87) June said this while talking to her sister, trying to convince her that Lily and Rosaleen should be forcibly removed from their home. Being hated by June so much really confused Lily; she would wonder why a black person would hate a white one. Usually, back then, it was black people that were mistreated, but when someone non-black (like Lily) is treated the same way, it doesn’t make her feel exactly jubilant on the inside.

In addition, what also confused Lily is that if June does not like white people, then how come she wouldn’t let in Rosaleen, who is black? Even though whites and blacks are all EQUAL, June obviously doesn’t feel that way. But then, don’t you think that she should have at least let Rosaleen stay there? It is all completely wrong, and I think that there is a stronger reason behind why June doesn’t like them. Now, I just want to find out.




3 (B), 88%:
Being discriminated against is a very strange concept for her because she is white. She is surprised because she always thought that racism was a one way street, that whites treat blacks differently, not the other way around. Lily is used to being held as a normal person, at least when it comse to the color of her skin, but now she is being discriminated against for it. But yet, Lily is surprised of the hipocricy that they are mad about normally being discriminated against, yet now they are doing it to lily. "I wanted to march up there, flip a couple of tables over, and say, Excuse me, June Boatwright, but you dont even know me!" (87) She is also shocked to hear, that the sisters dont believe her story. THey saw right through her lies. "There's no aunt and you know it," (87) Lily thought that she had fooled the sisters into believeing her false story but she didnt fool them.

2 (C), 75% :
"But she's white, August."(pg 87) Lily "Williams" finds this so unusual because she not used have people not like her because she is white. Lily is so accustomed to having people look at Rosaleen weird not Lily. Lily is also so confused why June doesn't like her because she thinks that June has no reason to dislike her. Also she probably thinks that everyone should be nice to her just like she expected Rosaleen to apologize to the three white men.

1 (D), 65% :
The unusual-nest in this situation is that she a little girl. Lily is surprised when the think someones after her. Rosaleen with her made her even more suspicious.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Wk. 2 Option #13 Paint Me a Picture

Prompt:
Sue Monk Kidd (the author of Secret Life of Bees) is a figurative language master. She uses a variety of literary and figurative language elements. These include:

* Simile
* Metaphor
* Personification
* Alliteration
* Allusion (biblical, historical, literary)
* Onomatopoeia
* Rhetorical Questions
* Foreshadowing


Response Requirement:
Find four examples of literary devices throughout your reading. Use your sticky notes to aid you in posting.

* Identify first THE ELEMENT, then the quote, the page number, and why you believe it is a specific element.

Note to the Worker Bees

Dear Worker Bees,
Based on some of the quiz scores from Friday and the overwhelming of students who did not complete their blogs, it appears that many of you are not reading.  This is just the start of the novel so it is imperative for you to get yourself caught up before we are 100 pages into the novel and catching up becomes overwhelming.
Also, if you are having difficulty posting, please save your responses in a Word file.  That way, you can email them to me if I don't get them and you don't have to do your work over again. 
You must utilize RAQE in your responses.  Two to three sentences answers are not quality responses.  It must be evident that you are reading and understanding how the reading relates to the prompts and responses.
For those of you who are writing quality responses and keeping up with your reading, thank you.  :)
**Queen Bee


Wk. 2 Option #12 L is for Lily

Prompt:
On page 105, May made  an "L" pancake for Lily. June throws it in the trash.


Response Requirement:

  • Besides "Lily," pick an "L" word that applies to Lily. Explain (and use a quote) to show the word's importance.
  • Pick one more character and come up with a word that describes them using the first letter of their name.  Explain the word's importance. 

Wk. 2 Option #11 The Supremes Lyrics

Prompt:
The Supremes song that makes Lily think "There's nothing like a song about lost love to remind you how everything precious can slip from the hinges where you've hung it so careful" (50) is called "Where Did Our Love Go". The lyrics to "Where Did Our Love Go?" are:

Baby, baby
Baby don't leave me
Ooh, please don't leave me
All by myself

I've got this yearning, burning
Yearning feelin' inside me
Ooh, deep inside me
And it hurts so bad

You came into my heart
So tenderly
With a burning love
That stings like a bee

Now that I surrender
So helplessly
You now wanna leave
Ooh, you wanna leave me

Ooh, baby, baby
Where did our love go?
Ooh, don't you want me
Don't you want me no more

Ooh, baby
Baby, baby
Where did our love go
And all your promisses
Of a love forever more

I've got this yearning, burning
Yearning feelin' inside me
Ooh, deep inside me
And it hurts so bad

Before you won my heart
You were a perfect guy
But now that you got me
You wanna leave me behind
Baby, baby, ooh baby

Baby, baby don't leave me
Ooh, please don't leave me
All by myself

Ooh, baby, baby
Where did our love go?
(http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Where-Did-Our-Love-Go-lyrics-The-Supremes/0D470E3B06AB9FF84825693B00112B40)

Response Requirement:
In what ways does this song relate to the novel thus far? Make a text-to-lyric connection.

Wk. 2 Option #10 Xtranormal

Chapter(s)
  5-7

Prompt  
Life with the Calendar Sisters provides Lily with a "time out" and "consolation."  She is faced with many opportunities.


Response Required
Create an Xtranormal video of the most important, telling, or life-changing experiences from chapters 5, 6, or 7. Post the link here on your comment once you've received an email from Animoto with the URL.
In your comment, also include a short introduction that explains why you chose the scene.

Wk. 2 Option #9 Animoto

Prompt:
Lily and Rosaleen have comfortably settled into life with the Calendar Sisters.  This new life is very different from the life they had in their prior "colony."

Response Required:
Create an Animoto video of "a day in the life" of the Calendar sisters, Lily, and Rosaleen.  The text you input in Animoto should be details from the text that walk the audience through the day--from wake-up to bedtime.

The promotion code is:
a4edros4b00ac


Wk. 2 Option #8 Food and People

Prompt:
Kidd describes August Boatwright with images of food and candy.

Response Requirement:
  • What kinds of food and candy are used to describe August?
  • Describe someone you know using food.

Wk. 2 Option #7 Ch. 5 Introduction

Prompt:
Let's imagine for a moment that we are tiny enough to follow a bee into a hive. Usually the first thing we would have to get used to is the darkness..." Exploring the World of Social Insects


Your Required Response Instructions: (use textual evidence)

  • In what ways is this introductory quote relevant to the events of Chapter 5?

Wk. 2 Option #6 The Calendar Sisters

Prompt:
Besides a home the color of Pepto-Bismal, Lily and Rosaleen have no idea what to expect when they meet August, May, and June Boatwright.

Your Required Response Instructions: (use textual evidence)

  • What do you think of the new characters? What are they like?
  • Can you compare any of them to characters in other books? Which character is your favorite? Least favorite?

Wk. 2 Option #5 The Bees

Prompt:
Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.- August

Honey making, bees, and bee keeping are central to the novel.






Your Required Response Instructions: (use textual evidence)

  • In what ways are the characters like the bees mentioned in the quote above?

Wk. 2 Option #4 Bee Yard Etiquette

Prompt:
August teaches Lily about "bee yard etiquette."


 

 
Response Requirement:
  • How does she compare the world to bees?  What IS bee yard etiquette?
  • In what ways has "bee yard etiquette" impacted the characters in the novel so far? 

Wk. 2 Option #3 The Likeness of

Prompt:
Sue Monk Kidd introduces the reader to August, May, June, and even April by building life into them.  Review your notes about characterization and compile a list of characteristics that describe any of the ladies.

Response Required: Cover all parts of the question.
Instead of typing a response, you are to create a collage or drawing of one of the sisters (or of all of them on one sheet if you so desire).  This will be displayed in the room, so make sure to do an excellent job.  This will be turned in at any point this week.

Wk. 2 MANDATORY POST

ChapterPrompt:
You are to create a special attractions entry for the AAA Tiburon, SC tourist guide. Provide strong descriptions to lure tourists to visit the Boatwright Beekeeping Estate.


Sample entry for Boone Hall Plantation and Garden in Charleston, SC:A ½-mi drive through a live oak alley draped in Spanish moss introduces you to the still-operating plantation, the oldest of its kind in the country. Tour the 1935 mansion, the butterfly pavilion, the heirloom rose garden, and nine antebellum-era brick slave cabins. Stroll along the winding river, tackle the fields to pick your own strawberries and more, or dine in Serena's Kitchen, the on-site restaurant that serves Southern fare. North and South, Queen, and Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook were filmed here. 11 mi east of Charleston. (http://www.boonehallplantation.com/home.htm)

Your Required Response Instructions:
Using Chapters 4, 5, & 6, write a paragraph inviting tourists to visit August, May, and June's Beekeeping Estate in Tiburon, SC.
Remember that their home is charming and welcoming--so include the necessary details (of which Sue Monk Kidd gives you PLENTLY!).

  • What kinds of things will visitors see?
  • What can you hear?
  • What kinds of foods will visitors eat?
  • What activities can visitors do?
  • What are some rare sights?
  • Who will host your visit?

Wk. 2 Option #2 The Title

Prompt:
Although The Secret Life of Bees sounds like a strange title for a book about a girl and the women she lives with, it's actually "spot on" for the story.


Response Requirement:

In what ways is the title a greater theme and symbol of the novel?

Wk. 2 Option #1 Music and Lyrics

Prompt:
Tracy Chapman's famous song, "Fast Car":

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere

Anyplace is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe well make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We wont have to drive too far
Just cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old mans got a problem
He live with the bottle thats the way it is
He says his bodys too old for working
I say his bodys too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebodys got to take care of him
So I quit school and thats what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still aint got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
Youll find work and Ill get promoted
Well move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
Id always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I aint going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way

(http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tracy+chapman/fast+car_20140283.html)
You can go head and listen to it online too!

Response Requirement:

Make a text-to-lyric connection between Bees and Fast Car. Copy and paste the lyrics you are referencing.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wk. 1 Vocabulary: Story can be posted here or turned in on separate paper.


Week #1 Vocabulary Writing
**Writing Grade**
Categorize all of the following words according to how well you know them and can use them:
Orneriness     welts          scalded           unperturbed         pious           sprawled       scorched                
agitation   Sashay          unperturbed           beseeching     consternation

strangers
acquaintances
friends







Story Writing:
You must choose at least seven words to use in a story based on one of the following story lines:
1.      Write a story about Rosaleen’s childhood with her mother (who sold baskets on the side of the road) and her siblings (there were six others).
2.    Write a story about T. Ray and Deborah’s marriage and life together before or after Lily was born.
3.     Write a story inspired by the topics and events we covered last week:
§  Warriors Don’t Cry (Do youth have the power to change society?)
§  Egypt’s Facebook Revolution (Is Facebook the Social Network or the Social Change Network?)
§  The Power of Nonviolence (Can there be social change without violence?)
Keep in mind that the nature and theme of these words is unpleasant so you need to plan your story accordingly so that it is easier to use them.  Start your story in class today (Wednesday) and finish it for homework.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Response Grades


What do fantastic/great/good/mediocre responses look like?

4 (A):
100%
"Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open." That voice gave her the courage to run away.  he had been thinking about it, but never had the guts to
do it. That one little voice gave her the push, to get out of her crazy
life.
---> Before she left her house she wrote a note to T.Ray. It stated not
to find her and that people like him should "rot in hell". She grabbed
her duffel filled it with clothes, and grabbed her mother's gloves and
black Mary. She decided she was going to make her way to Tiburon
because she thought someone had to have known her mother if she was
there because the inscription on the back of the photo said "Tiburon,
S.C.". Then she went and found Rosaleen. Rosaleen was in the hospital
getting stitches; there was a guard blocking her door, so no one could
see her. Lily made a clever plan, and called the hospital pretend there
was an emergency, and the officer had to go down to the station right
away. Then she fooled the nurse at the hospital by calling her
a "shitbucket" and ran into another room. She waited for the nurse to
leave the desk, and then the two of them bolted out the door.
---> They made their way down to Highway 40 and tried to hitch hike. A
colored man going to visit his sister in Columbia, (3 miles away from
Tiburon) took them. They got to a sign that said "Tiburon 3 miles" and
the man let them out. They walked awhile and made it to a bridge. They
decided to stay there and sleep by the creek; they would finish their
way to Tiburon the next day.

4--(A) 95%
June Boatwright has been cruel to Lily and Rosaleen ever since they arrived at the home of the “Calendar Sisters”. She refused to let them stay there, and if it wasn’t for August to come along, they probably would have been living in the streets now or still just wandering around Tiburon, South Carolina, looking for a home that consisted of people who would actually greet them in with open arms. “But she’s white, August.” (pg. 87) June said this while talking to her sister, trying to convince her that Lily and Rosaleen should be forcibly removed from their home. Being hated by June so much really confused Lily; she would wonder why a black person would hate a white one. Usually, back then, it was black people that were mistreated, but when someone non-black (like Lily) is treated the same way, it doesn’t make her feel exactly jubilant on the inside.

In addition, what also confused Lily is that if June does not like white people, then how come she wouldn’t let in Rosaleen, who is black? Even though whites and blacks are all EQUAL, June obviously doesn’t feel that way. But then, don’t you think that she should have at least let Rosaleen stay there? It is all completely wrong, and I think that there is a stronger reason behind why June doesn’t like them. Now, I just want to find out.
 

3 (B), 85%:
Being discriminated against is a very strange concept for her because she is white. She is surprised because she always thought that racism was a one way street, that whites treat blacks differently, not the other way around. Lily is used to being held as a normal person, at least when it comse to the color of her skin, but now she is being discriminated against for it. But yet, Lily is surprised of the hipocricy that they are mad about normally being discriminated against, yet now they are doing it to lily. "I wanted to march up there, flip a couple of tables over, and say, Excuse me, June Boatwright, but you dont even know me!" (87) She is also shocked to hear, that the sisters dont believe her story. THey saw right through her lies. "There's no aunt and you know it," (87) Lily thought that she had fooled the sisters into believeing her false story but she didnt fool them.

2 (C), 75% :
"But she's white, August."(pg 87) Lily "Williams" finds this so unusual because she not used have people not like her because she is white. Lily is so accustomed to having people look at Rosaleen weird not Lily. Lily is also so confused why June doesn't like her because she thinks that June has no reason to dislike her. Also she probably thinks that everyone should be nice to her just like she expected Rosaleen to apologize to the three white men.

1 (D), 65% :
The unusual-nest in this situation is that she a little girl. Lily is surprised when the think someones after her. Rosaleen with her made her even more suspicious.