Dr. King and his dream

I am sitting here, very fortunate for the day off, but thinking about what lies beneath it. I am wondering about the dream that Dr. King had and if he would be happy with where we are today if he was still alive. There have been news tributes and things that have made me think and, since it is a part of the curriculum, let's think about it together.

If you think about your own dreams for ytour future, is anything alike to Dr. King? Do you find that there are things missing in our world today you would like to change? What would your dream be?

Watch the video of Dr. King's speech for inspiration on the video bar.

Our Favorite New Classmate: The Document Camera!

Well, the past couple days in class have been very exciting with the addition of a document camera to our classroom.


It is very state of the art and makes notetaking and reading aloud in class very interesting!





I am trying to come up with some assignments that suit the document camera specfically and hope that we can continue to experiment with it in class to make the most fun and interactive classes possible!


If you guys have any ideas of how to better use it in class, let me know!


Miss Holmes :)

Pride

The title of this post is for good reason. Check out info on a song by U2 that is particularly significant. You can also click here to view the lyrics.


We have not had any class time to go over possible blog posts or follow up on past blog posts, but I want to make sure I keep up with it. We will be having a good amount of work in the coming weeks with wrapping up To Kill a Mockingbird and starting our poetry unit. One thing we will examine at the end of the month is Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

We will watch the speech in class and will discuss not only its historical relevance, but the important anniversary of the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of this year.

Some important things to think about with the three day weekend approaching is:

How does Martin Luther King's message and goal in his speech relate to the speech Atticus gives in the closing arguement of the trial?

What was particulary effective about King's speaking techniques? Some people are saying the same things about Barak Obama's motivating speeches on the campagin trail.

Martin Luther King stood for something that organizations like the Black Panthers did not. What do you think was different about his leadership compared to other social leaders?

If you post something that is thoughtful, concise and reflective, it may be worth one point on your second quarter average!

Post away!

To Kill a Mockingbird the movie

Today we will be taking a quiz and moving through the book a little more. Additionally, we will start the film and get a feel for Maycomb and the characters. To Kill a Mockingbird is an Academy Award winning film. Once we view even a part of it, I would like you to make a connection to why you think it may have won awards. The acting? The filming? The set? The costumes? The screenplay? What makes it a great book-made-movie.

Also, take a book that you have read that has been made into a movie that you have seen. Compare the two. I just saw The Kite Runner over break and was astounded at how close it stayed to the text. This was because the author was directly involved in the filming. What do you think are the difficulties in putting a known story into a motion picture? What can be improved? What is lost? What have you found is better?


Hope this gets your brain back in gear for the New Year. Mine is still a little mushy, but once we dig deeper into Mockingbird, I will be back in the swing!

Miss Holmes :)