day 3 will be a day for introducing some of the founding fathers as well as some of their motivations and inspirations.
we will start by watching a video found on youtube about John Locke as the father (his writing was used in some cases word for word in the constitution) of the founding fathers:
Before each video, I will give a brief intro about each person and after each video there will be a discussion on his importance and significance.
English
Begin by collecting Bill of Rights assignment from Tuesday.
Walk around the room and check rough drafts for completion. Create new groups for peer editing. Give students about 20 minutes to review the constitution's of two other groups. Feedback criteria: Comment on two things that you liked and two suggestions for how to make the constitution better. Be specific. I liked that you included... but you could add...
After students have finished peer editing collect the papers to do grammatical editing. Return papers to students on Thursday.
Introduce new material for the unit from the Norton Anthology of American Literature. (I acquired this anthology for one of my english classes and plan to use it extensively in my classroom.) If this is the first time the Anthology is being used a brief introduction of the text would be necessary. The Norton Anothology of American Literature Volume I is a compilation of the greatest literary works by American writers and orators through 1865. This volume would be perfect for this unit on early colonial America because it contains numerous entries from this time period.
In Class Reading: I would distribute copies of a selection from The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson. (Norton pages 42-46) This reading includes an original cutting of the Declaration of Independence. I think it would be extremely interesting for students to see how much of Jefferson's original draft was omitted from the final version, which looks very watered down in comparison with Jefferson original intentions for the document.
I would have the students take turns reading the piece out loud, paying particular attention to the sections that were removed from the Declaration. I would follow this up by asking the students to speculate why these sections weren't included. Why was Jefferson willing to give them up? Were these revisions necessary for the documents approval? How have these key changes along with revisions of the constitution shaped our nations future? Did these changes lead to the racial inequality that our nation has struggled with since its birth?
This discussion would last until the end of the hour. Let students leave the room pondering the question of institutionalized racism. This subject matter can be a slippery slope but I feel that it is entirely appropriate for high school students to be talking about these issues and English class can be the perfect setting to address such topics.
Assignments for tomorrow: I would have the students read a selection from Common Sense by Thomas Paine. 326-338 in the Norton Anthology. Rather than kill trees by making a bunch of copies, I would post the material at our classroom blog spot. [[ http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1| http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1]]
My students would have access to this blog that I would set up at the beginning of the year. The blog would be used to further our classroom discussion, respond to blog questions, and to post reading materials.
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we will start by watching a video found on youtube about John Locke as the father (his writing was used in some cases word for word in the constitution) of the founding fathers:
and this video about Thomas Payne from Yahoo video:
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=thomas+paine&n=21&ei=UTF-8&js=1&fr=my-myy&SpellState=n-3107593101_q-g26N6EHL6%2FKnkc1ncVSTIAAAAA%40%40&tnr=20&vid=000165257222
this one with Thomas Jefferson quotes from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5mXPYPX79s
and this one about Ben Franklin on Google Video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6329031382347210775&ei=pz_3SbPHFIH4-wH16L2fAg&q=ben+franklin
Before each video, I will give a brief intro about each person and after each video there will be a discussion on his importance and significance.
In Class Reading: I would distribute copies of a selection from The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson. (Norton pages 42-46) This reading includes an original cutting of the Declaration of Independence. I think it would be extremely interesting for students to see how much of Jefferson's original draft was omitted from the final version, which looks very watered down in comparison with Jefferson original intentions for the document.
Assignments for tomorrow: I would have the students read a selection from Common Sense by Thomas Paine. 326-338 in the Norton Anthology. Rather than kill trees by making a bunch of copies, I would post the material at our classroom blog spot. [[ http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1| http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1]]
My students would have access to this blog that I would set up at the beginning of the year. The blog would be used to further our classroom discussion, respond to blog questions, and to post reading materials.
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