SENIORS: I've noticed that some of you are still having some problems writing your screenplay; so yesterday, we watched a video on how storyboards are used to help write a story. Watch the video above if you still need help with the actual writing.
Some of you have expressed concern that you can't draw. Watch this video (above) to allay those fears.
Lastly, I went over the rubrics for both the TV show script and the pitch. Click on this link to see what you have to do.
SOPHOMORES: First, I returned the I Have a Dream annotations, giving you the weekend to make corrections. Unless you were absent today (Friday, Feb.27) I will accept redone work on Dr. King's speech on Monday, March 2. If you were absent today (Friday), speak to me about a new due date when you return to class; if you were present on Friday and forgot to bring the work on Monday, then you'll have to accept the original grade.
The next thing we did was to form debate groups; each group being made up of four students. Some groups were able to come to an agreement as to their topic for debate and started their research, to be continued later.
ALL CLASSES: Due to the internet being down for the past few days throughout the district, I was not able to write on my blog. This blog entry will give you an overview of what has happened.
SENIORS: You've been working on your TV pilot, which needs to be completed (all 22 pages of it) by Wednesday, March 11. Ideally, you should be done sooner as you'll want to prepare your pitch, which will take place on Thursday March 12 or Friday, March 13.
SOPHOMORES: We watched The Great Debaters, looking for the techniques that effective debaters use to win their side of the argument. We also spent some time with the school counselors and CalSoap, planning schedules for next year and getting information on how to have successful Junior and Senior years.
SENIORS: Your finished pilot is due on Wed., March 11; ideally, should be done sooner than that because your group will need to prepare to pitch your pilot to the rest of the class on either March 12 or 13. You have a choice as to how you want to present your pitch. You can: 1) Act out a scene with one member of your group explaining the long-run possibilities of your show, or 2) Create a storyboard and, again, explaining why your show will be a long-running hit.
SOPHOMORES: Yesterday we focused on words, first with a review of debate terms and then expanding vocabulary with an assignment called Shades of Meaning. See me and ask about the instructions for that particular assignment as you will need some special supplies that I can give you.
Today we started viewing the movie The Great Debaters. You will need to have the handout from Wednesday in front of you as you view the movie. The handout has questions that you will need to answer in your notebook.
SENIORS: We watched a short video (see above) in which a panel of writers discussed the differences between comedy and drama, followed by class time to work on your TV script.
SOPHOMORES: You had some class time to finish annotating the I Have a Dream speech and to turn it in. Then I passed out a handout to prepare for The Great Debaters movie that we will be watching. See me and ask for that handout.
SENIORS: For inspiration, we watched a short segment of the writers from Breaking Bad discussing their process when writing as a team. Remember to structure your 22 minute TV pilot into 4 segments with the first and last segments being the longest.
SOPHOMORES: We continued annotating Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech. You should already have annotations for Logos, Pathos, Ethos, Inclusion, and Allusion. Today we focused on Metaphor, Simile, Repetition, and Text Structure. A side note about Allusion: we discovered the allusion to Shakespeare's Richard III in class, so you will have to find a different allusion on your own. This should not be too difficult; remember what Dr. King did for a living and you should find many allusions. The annotation work needs to be completed by this Wednesday at the end of the period.
SENIORS: When you write a novel, you have the freedom of writing as much as you want when describing characters so readers will have a clear picture in their minds as to how characters look, act, speak, and think. TV writers have no such luxury; they have to establish clear, compelling characters in the very first episode. To do that, writers (meaning you) have to understand the personalities of their characters and be able to describe them with a few adjectives. We did that yesterday with the characters from How I Met Your Mother. Today, I want you to do the same thing with the characters from your show. Make a list of your main characters (give them names), and under each name, list a few adjectives that would describe them. By doing this, you will now have an idea of how your characters will speak (so you can create their dialogue) and the kinds of things your characters will do. Share your list with me.
SOPHOMORES: We reviewed metaphor, simile, and allusion; then we began annotating the I Have a Dream speech for Logos, Pathos, Ethos, Inclusion, and Allusion.
SENIORS: We watched the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother, looking at how a TV episode is structured and what information is given in a pilot. I cannot create a link for that, but you can find it on Netflix.
SOPHOMORES: We finished with the word categories and watched a video of Dr. King giving his famous I Have a Dream speech. See me for a transcript because we will be annotating it. You can find his speech on YouTube.
SENIORS: Work continued on the TV script pilot. Make sure you share your email addresses with the other members of your group so that you can work on the script outside of class.
SOPHOMORES: Sometimes you can figure out the meaning of a word if you look at the context surrounding the word and if you know something about the person who is using the word. Yesterday, we learned a lot about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; today, we're going to apply that knowledge to figure out word meanings. First, click on this link for the words; then, make lists (or groupings) of the words, based on what you know about Dr. King. For example, Dr. King was a preacher; look over all the words that have a religious connection, then list them under the title RELIGIOUS. There could be words that could be put in more than one category; there could be words that don't connect directly with Dr. King, but could go together in some other category. The key concept is to see relationships and connections between words. Put all of your work in your notebook under the title MLK Word Categories.
SENIORS: You worked in your script groups, solidifying your ideas for your TV pilot script. Remember, it needs to follow these guidelines: 22 minutes long, family-friendly, correctly formatted.
SOPHOMORES: We'll be annotating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech. In order to understand what's going on in the speech, we need to understand the man who made it. In your notebook, under the title MLK List, write down everything you know (or think you know). Then do some research and find at least 5 things about Dr. King that you didn't know and add those things to your list.
SENIORS: I outlined what is going to be required to complete the rest of the unit: Your team will write a half-hour TV pilot episode. It must be 22 minutes long, be family-friendly, and formatted correctly by following the Understand a Screenplay packet. For some extra examples of pilot episodes, log on the Simplyscripts website; although there are many to choose from, focus on the How I Met Your Mother pilot and see how it is formatted.
Also, teams started to formulate the idea for their pilot episodes. A good idea will answer the following: WHO WANTED BUT SO.
SOPHOMORES: Today's focus was on credibility of sources. Click on this link for the handout and follow the directions printed there.
ALL CLASSES: There was no blog yesterday because I was absent, and I wanted to wait to see what happened with the substitute before outlining any instructions.
SENIORS: Apparently, the sub had a problem getting the Netbook Cart unlocked, so continue with your adaptation of either 1. A page from your Nano book, 2. A page from your Independent Reading Book, or 3. Any fairy tale you can think of.
So for this week you should have shared with me two assignments:
1. Shared with me under the title Format the Script, take the unformatted script from Toy Story and write it as a formatted script (it's on the last page of your Understand a Screenplay packet).
2. Shared with me under the title Adaptation, the formatted page from either your Nano book, IRB, or a fairy tale.
SOPHOMORES: See me for three handouts. The first handout is titled Under the Influence of Music; on it you will work on argument, counter argument, and types of evidence. The second handout is titled Connotation-Denotation Practice; on it you will work on the meanings of words. The third handout is titled Mood Paragraph; on it you will rewrite a paragraph to create a mood of your choice.
SENIORS: We went through the Understand a Screenplay packet, looking at the examples of what a screenplay should look like. Then, on the Format the Script page, there is an assignment asking you to take the unformatted script and put it into the correct formatted form. Share your work with me through GoogleDocs.
SOPHOMORES: The counselors came to the room and went through the process for articulation (choosing your classes for next year). See me if you need the Course Selection Card.
SENIORS: If you were absent, see me ASAP for your copy of the Screenplay Packet. Also, return your copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower to the library.
SOPHOMORES: We watched Bob Costas give his opinion about the Washington Redskins team name. You can find the video on YouTube. Click on this link for the transcript of the video. Annotate the transcript, then fill out the handout on this link. The last thing to do is, in your notebook, answer the following:
1. What is his claim?
2. What reason does he give to support his claim?
3. What evidence does he give to support that reason?
