january 25

Here's where we get to practice some of what we've learned.  Using what you know about the art of the remix, do your magic and remix the pages of The Great Gatsby we've read so far.  Please feel free to include connections with history, with genre, with literary devices (exposition, allusion, characterization, diction, syntax, figurative language, etc.) and with today's culture.  Please post your remix to your blog (title: GREAT GATSBY REMIX 1).  Mahalo.

AGENDA:
1. Remix what you've read so far in The Great Gatsby
2. Journal

JOURNAL TOPIC:
Now that you've had some experience with remix and literature, please reflect: what was easy and/or enjoyable about the work you did today, and what was challenging and/or frustrating?

january 24

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones]

Sometimes when we start a book it's easy to get impatient with all the background information the author gives (on places, characters etc.) before something actually happens.  Why do we get all of this stuff first?  How does it help to know these things when the action starts and the plot gets going?  What would we miss if The Great Gatsby started with a chase scene?

AGENDA:
1. Journal/ discuss exposition and getting the reader to lean in
2. The Great Gatsby  (please make a note of where your class starts/stops reading for the day)

HW: Post GREAT GATSBY NOTES 2 to your blog

gatsby narrator's relationship to daisy

On p. 10 of The Great Gatsby our narrator tells us that, "Daisy was my second cousin once removed."  Some of you asked me what that means -- and I've always had trouble remembering the specifics -- so here is a family tree diagram I found on Lifehacker.

january 23

JOURNAL TOPIC:

What makes a person "great"?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Remix review
3. Introducing The Great Gatsby

HW: Post GATSBY NOTES 1 to your blog

January 20

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: See if you can get the class to hum or sing something in unison-- if you can, and you post the video as a comment to this post or on your own blog, the class gets an "A" for collaboration today.]

AGENDA:
1. Do your remix thing
2. Journal

january 19

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Short Memory" by Midnight Oil]

(Answer one or both of the following questions.)

1. What do you remember about the ideas we've discussed the last two days of class?

2. Why do you think songs bring back memories of specific times and events in our lives?


AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Socratic seminar: Steinbeck & Genre
3. Prep for Remix Friday

remix in case you missed it

Hey!  If you were absent last week and missed our video sesh and conversation about remix on Friday, please make sure to watch the video HERE and post your notes to your blog.  We are going to start remixing our work next week and you need to get on the bus.  Mahalo.