Historical Fiction in Writ Lit and World History

November was the kick-off for our historical fiction unit in Writ Lit and World History, which began in English class with the delivery of students' novel baggies! Each bag contains one of the 6 novels we are reading (all centered around globalization in the 16th and 17th centuries), 2 packs of sticky notes, and the reading schedule along with reminders for how to sticky note during reading time.

Each day, students have 30 minutes of class time to enjoy reading their books. As they go, students sticky-note their thoughts, observations about the characters, and questions about historical references.

Students have also been categorizing their sticky notes as literal, inferential, or critical, helping them to better understand the different levels of thinking involved when we interpret texts.



On any given day, students can be found reading in various spots around the room. On the left, Antigona decided she was most comfortable at the high top table, whereas Noah wanted to read on the floor. There is great energy in a room full of readers (even if no one is speaking)!

The second part of each class period is giving students time to build a warehouse of resources that help them understand the historical context of their novels, events they are also studying in World History. So far, we have studied how the migration of the Germanic Tribes affected the evolution of the English language and how the Edict of Expulsion explains the beginnings of the Reconquista in Spain. Next? The Bubonic Plague!



We also used our very own BHHS statues of the Knight and the Baron  to give us insight into creating historical fiction. Below, York and Amari decide on the best angle from which to photograph the Knight for their story, and to the right you can see part of Georgia's story about the Baron.

While learning about these historical topics, students have also learned how to apply the C.R.A.A.P. test to assess a source's Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. And of course, they are quick to share that they're learning "CRAAP" in English. (As a side note, they are also using this CRAAP in World History and Biology!)

Here's what the students have to say about our unit so far:

Mathematics on LC Team 9A is on full throttle!  Algebra classes have studied linear functions and their graphs and equations this semester.  Most recently we have been solving systems of equations in many different ways including on the graphing calculator.  we have also used systems of equations in many applications.  Geometry has been getting introduced to proofs along with their study of triangles.  Crazy angle problems have been challenging.  Coordinate proofs have also been very interesting.  Both classes are ready for their unit assessment this week.  Remember this:  Mathematics is Logic, and Logic is the stepping stone into adulthood.

Goodbye, Invasive Species. Hello, Biodiversity!

Students are nearing the end of Unit 3 focused on biodiversity.  We started the unit by learning about what biodiversity looks like and how to quantify it by calculating the diversity index.  This was modeled through an activity called "Bird Island", which also helped to build our vocabulary with terms such as species, abundance, and endemic species. Students first calculated bird populations, graphed the population data, and then analyzed their data to use as evidence when discussing questions related to biodiversity.

Last week, we had beautiful weather to remove two invasive species right
in the backyard of our school.  Students learned about how invasive species impact biodiversity and the environment, the different ways invasive species come into the United States and then several methods to remove them from the ecosystem. Ten classes of biology students walked out behind the softball fields to manually remove two local invasive species, Buckthorn and Bittersweet Vine.  Clippers, root jacks and pure muscle ripped out the invaders and provided room and additional resources for other native species to continue to grow in the forest.  Sixty compost bags of leaves, branches, vines and roots are evidence of the students' hard work and dedication to help with habitat restoration at our school.  

The last piece to our biodiversity unit is presenting on how human actions such as deforestation, urbanization, pollution, and agriculture (just to name a few) affect our global biodiversity.  Possibly even more importantly is how science, technology, government and non-profit organizations are developing solutions to reduce the impact humans have on our plant and animal species.  I am looking forward to hearing the students' presentations in early December!

Editorial Cartoons

Ian Kirner's cartoon concerning the Pokemon Go craze

Throughout the year in World History, our class will be keeping up to date on current events.  Earlier in the year, I encouraged students to download a variety of news apps onto their phones.  They were encouraged to download a local, national, and international news app.  If they wanted to take it a step further, I encouraged them to allow one of the apps to accept push notifications so that breaking news would appear across the home screens of their phones!  It has been fun to see students excited to ask me about breaking news to see if I had already seen it yet or not during our current events discussion that usually occurs on Monday or Tuesday at the beginning of class.

Jenny She's cartoon providing political commentary

To go along with our continued investigation of current events, we discussed the role that editorial cartoons play in allowing writers / cartoonists to make statements concerning events that are happening in the World.  It was stressed that cartoons should really go beyond the descriptive and should reach for the analytical.  In other words, they need to attempt to say something with their cartoon.

Georgia Zimmerman's cartoon this year's Nobel Prizes  

I gave the class the chance to test out their editorial cartoon making skills by creating a cartoon that was related to any New York Times article they could find.  Students were allowed to pick any topic found in the NYT that they thought was interesting and most importantly had something to say about it.  Finally, I chose some of the very best to compete in the NYT Learning Network's Second Annual Editorial Cartoon Contest.  We are currently awaiting the results of the contest and are hoping to have a winner or two from among the thousands of entries that they receive from across the nation.  Last year, BHHS had two cartoons that were chosen for recognition!

Mari Lynn's cartoon concerning the demotion of Pluto

Young Authors

Students in Mrs. Teal's Writing Through World Literature class have been reading, critiquing, discussing, and writing personal narratives as they investigate how storytelling helps us understand and respect other people's perspectives and identities​. After writing ​their own​ mini memoir​s, students were invited to enter their work​s​ for publication in Teen Ink Magazine​, a national magazine, book series, and website w​hose​ sole purpose ​is​ publishing and sharing teen writing and art.​

Memoirs written by Brett Almany, Evan Saroken, Jenny She, and Eli Rubin have been published on Teen Ink's website. ​In addition, ​Darby Krugel received ​an editor’s choice award​, Sophie Henderson earned ​a front page feature, and Leen Rass earned ​a reader’s top ​pick recognition​.  Congratulations to ​these students!

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What Makes a Healthy Ecosystem?

We just finished Unit 2 in Biology that focused on many aspects of ecology.  During the last couple of weeks the students learned about the flow of energy through an ecosystem, how species interact to survive and how certain factors in the environment limit population growth.  Visualizing how species interact through relationships like mutualism, parasitism and predation was especially fun using National Geographic video clips.  You will have to ask your student to describe the parasitic relationship between the caterpillar and wasp larvae or how wolves are keystone species in Yellowstone National Park (see link below). Throughout this unit various graphs and data were analyzed, which is a transferable skill that I hope students can use throughout high school and beyond.  The students also used their math skills to calculate different aspects of populations, including predicted populations and population density.  Next week we are starting a new unit on biodiversity and how human activity impacts the variety and number of species throughout the world.  This unit will end in December with student presentations that explore the threats to biodiversity as well as evaluating solutions to decrease humans' impact on biodiversity.

HOW WOLVES CHANGE RIVERS

The Danger of a Single Story

September has been a month of exploring why and how people tell their stories. On one of the first days of class this year, students watched Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie's TedTalk entitled, "The Danger of a Single Story," in which she warns us against seeing others from only one perspective, of having only one story of a person or a people. After discussing her message, the students began to understand that the only way for people to truly understand one another is for us all to tell our own stories, to give one another a glimpse into what the world looks like through our eyes.

In order to tell their own stories in the best way possible, students realized that they needed to better understand the techniques that other authors use when they write personal narratives.

Consequently, we have been reading and listening to a series of personal narratives, each with a different focus. For example, we studied "The Scolding" by Nabeela Rehman to consider how dialogue can bring a story to life, while Dara Horn's "Walking With Living Feet" drove home the impact of vivid imagery. If you would like to listen to or read the narratives we've been enjoying, they can be found HERE.

During one class, students looked for various literary elements in Amy Tan's famous personal narrative "Fish Cheeks." Each group focused on annotating for a new technique as they came to each new part of the story. By the end, we had uncovered a wealth of techniques used by Amy Tan to convey the maturity that it takes to recognize and accept one's identity.



After we study a story, students apply the technique we've focused on to their own memoirs. For example, after listening to/reading and discussing Kamaal Majeed's "Being Content With Myself" to recognize the importance of a story's hook, students rewrote the first line of their own memoirs for maximum reader impact and connection to their memoirs' themes. Students wrote these on large sheets of poster paper so that they could be inspired by one another's writing.

Students are looking forward to sharing their stories near the end of October. Their memoirs cover just about every topic imaginable, but more that that, they add important stories to our collective understanding of our community. And for that, I am so grateful!

Introduction to Experimental Design and Ecology

We have had a great start to the new year in Biology!  Our first unit focused on practicing skills needed in the laboratory, such as measuring mass, volume and length using appropriate equipment, designing experiments by identifying variables and constants, and recording qualitative and quantitative data. 

Our first inquiry lab concerning isopod behavior was a success!  “Isopods” are the scientific name for the backyard critters many of us call “pill bugs” or “roly-polies”.  The students set up a choice chamber to test the preferences of isopods.  For example, some students thought it would be interesting to test whether isopods preferred dark or lighted environments, hot or cold temperatures, and sand or soil ground cover.  We will be discussing their results next week and analyzing the bug behaviors. 

Recently we started our second unit on ecology.  The students are creating food webs to visualize the important relationships between plants, animals and how human activity impacts natural food webs.  Soon we are planning to go outside to collect data for a population simulation and to remove Buckthorn, an invasive species growing in the forests behind BHHS.  Hopefully the weather continues to be beautiful! 

World History - Geography / Culture Unit

World History - Geography / Culture Review Unit

Freshman World History begins with a review unit on Geography and Culture.  Topics of discussion include the 5 Themes of Geography, 7 Elements of Culture, and Rise of Civilization.  Students have previously been exposed to most of these topics in some fashion during their sixth or seventh grades, however, I find it extremely beneficial to touch on them again this year.  It is my belief that a strong understanding of Geography and Culture are perhaps the best tools a student can possess while developing an appreciation and comprehension of World History.

This past week, students participated in an activity that used Peter Menzel's,  Material World:  A Global Family Portrait.  In 1994, Menzel traveled the World and took portraits of the "average family" in terms of income, size, religious affiliation, etc. from 30 different countries.  Before shooting the photo, he had the family move all of their personal possessions outside of their home and then took the family portrait in front of the home with all of the possessions surrounding them.

We had a discussion about how much of our culture or story could be told through viewing just our possessions and family in a picture?  After having the chance in small groups to closely analyze some of the portraits, I asked the students to describe how the 5 Themes of Geography and Elements of Culture were on display in these photos.  Through this experience, the students should gain perspective about what their own possessions, home, and family say about their personal identities.  The thought is that this will be helpful as they complete their end of unit presentations on their culture.

Currently, in Mrs. Teal's English class, our students are learning about both the telling and listening of stories and the variety of ways that stories can be told.  To connect our studies in World History with the learning that is occurring in English, I asked the students to pick one of the family portraits that they viewed and to attempt to write that family's story.  They then shared these stories in Mrs. Teal's class.  An interesting discussion that occurred out of this activity was a student question concerning the fact that they were writing the family's story with incomplete information.  Which led to a discussion about what other information would they like to have and how would they obtain it?

Symmetry in Culture

Welcome Team 9A 2016-2017!

We are excited to start the new school year! Exploring our cultures is a beginning theme on our team this year.  In math, the students' first project was to explore symmetry in their culture.  Students reported on things that had line and rotational symmetry and told about them.  Very many interesting facts were shared and we discovered that there is symmetry all around us!  The projects were awesome!  Here is just one example:

Welcome Back

We are so excited to welcome this year's freshman class and can't wait for a wonderful year! 

Celebrations

 It's hard to believe that it's June 13 and the year is almost over. We have had an incredible journey with our LC 9A students, and this has been a week full of fun and celebrations all around.


Last Tuesday was our final Tune-Up Tuesday lunch hour. We had record attendance! We are so glad that students have taken advantage of this extra time with us each week.


Students were editing advocacy letters, working on science labs, reviewing world history, and practicing math problems. Students have been eager to get ready for final exams and are studying hard.

At the end of the week, we set aside a bit of time for each teacher to surprise a student who has performed exceptionally well in each of our subject areas.  Mrs. Teal recognized Malik Salman for his passion and gift for languages, Mr. Drogosch recognized Jenna Hart's impressive skills in Geometry, Mrs. Fellin gave her recognition to Nikki Ratapanichkich for her humble but exceptional work in Honors Algebra II, Mr.  Laliberte noted Izzy Bonito's dedicated investigation of culture and history, and Mrs. Novak applauded Riya Doshi for her commitment and interest in Biology.

As we said to these students, we were lucky to have the "problem" of choosing just five students from our learning community. We have been so impressed by all of our students' work and will miss this group of students as they move on to 10th grade!

Friday brought our final celebration of the week, a time for us to spend time together and reflect on a successful year. We gathered outside during Advisory to enjoy one another's company!






We wish all of our LC 9A students a restful summer and hope you will come back and visit next year!

Advocacy in Writ Lit I

The final unit of the year is always my favorite. It's not one that can be captured in photographs or video, but I hope that you'll tolerate my attempt to summarize it here. The first step the unit is each student choosing a social justice issue about which he or she feels strongly. I am always inspired by the eyes through which students see the world. They are compassionate and mature in the ways they interpret their communities, near and far.

Students then spend several days digging into source material--frustrated, excited, shocked, and eager every step of the way. Once students collect their research in an outline, they then have to decide how they want to advocate on their issues, how to become part of the solution by using their talent as writers. And it is hard to put into words how proud I am of the work they have done. I have seen them learn SO MUCH. Every day, I was in awe at the questions students were asking as they engaged in real-world, challenging research, crafting communication that was professional and heartfelt.

Caelan J.  learned about the various processes of repealing laws from state to state as she investigated North Carolina legislation related to her topic; Emma G. made a phone call to a Detroit social services organization, trying to learn about how low-income housing and shelters are funded in Detroit; and Nick P.  unpacked statistics about minimum wage across the United States. These are just a few examples of the scores of incredible projects students undertook.  

Step two was sending the emails. I wish I could keep a camera rolling during the days following those emails. It’s the spontaneous excitement when students receive responses--often literally jumping up out of their seats in the middle of class--that is impossible to recreate in words. They are so incredibly proud that their voices have been heard. Among others, these are some of the responses students have already received:

• Malik S. received an email from Kimberly Ann Morgan, the director of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women at Wayne State University, who was impressed by his initiative regarding the gender pay gap and offered him a place in their organization should he choose to attend WSU!
• Shireen S. got an email from Jennifer Arvan, Samaritas volunteer director, regarding her interest in joining forces to help Syrian refugees begin their lives anew in metro Detroit.
• James N. heard from Serena Levy, Communications Director for The Coca-Cola Company, who applauded him on his concern for water usage at some of the company’s plants in India and shared further information.
• Izzy B. was sent an email by the BHS Food Services department, who are going to look into a food donation program, Food Bus, for elementary schools.
• Adam F. heard from Mr. Russo, Conant Principal, who thanked him for sharing an elementary-appropriate, abuse-prevention curriculum program resource called Play It Safe.
• Abby S.-M. heard from Captain McCanham of the Bloomfield Township Police Department in regards to her inquiry about human trafficking training for BTPD officers.
• Ryan E.’s response came from Shaykh Mohamed Almasmari, Imam at the Muslim Unity Center, who was excited to hear of Ryan’s passion for interfaith events.
• Katie R. heard back from at least half a dozen 9th grade teachers at BHHS regarding teacher intervention for LGBT discrimination.
• Aria H. got a reply email from Mr. Boyle, BHS Director of Equity Services, who said he will take her suggestion for a school swap day to the next Global Champions Meeting.
• Michael Z. met with Mrs. Hall (BHHS Associate Principal) regarding posters he would like to hang in the building that promote awareness of the counseling department staff.
• Timothy R. got an email from F. Thomas Lewand, Group Executive for Jobs and Economic Growth for the City of Detroit, who wrote to Timothy about a drone company whose headquarters are being considered for Detroit.

I could go on and on. It has been a pleasure working with these students all year, but most rewarding to see them actively involved in making our world a better place. What a way to end a year!

English-Science Interdisciplinary Unit in Genetics

For several weeks students have been learning about genetics in biology.  One of the main topics included predictions of offspring in both their genotype (genetic coding) and physical appearance. Students used Punnett squares and pedigrees as a method to predict the probability of having offspring with a certain trait. This week we are studying the DNA molecule and the process of replicating it into all of the cells that make up our bodies!

strawberry DNA

One of the highlights was extracting DNA from a strawberry, as shown by a lab group (left).  The DNA is the white stringy stuff suspended in the rubbing alcohol. The red layer at the bottom was the strawberry slurry.

Students began by brainstorming questions

Another interesting aspect of the genetics unit was that a portion of it was integrated into the English classes.  The focus of the content was on how foods are genetically modified, but also covered examples of genetically modified animals (such as mosquitoes) and a bit of the ethics behind genetic modification in humans.

In biology students learned about the scientific process of genetically modifying an organism, evaluated the benefits and consequences to society and the environment, and inquired about the bioethics of the products of this process. Several articles about genetically modified organisms were read during English class to practice annotating nonfiction texts, identifying persuasive language and finding evidence to support an argument.

Students match scientific evidence to various viewpoints

Students were engaged in thinking about the different viewpoints of people who are impacted through genetic modification, such as farmers, consumers and environmentalists.

The assessment for this portion of the genetics unit was an essay that was graded by both English and biology teachers. We are excited to see how the students view genetically modified organisms and the evidence that supports their ideas!

  

Investigating the Key Components of Revolutions

World History students have recently wrapped  up their unit on Revolutions.  This unit contained a variety of revolutions including the French Revolution, Haitian Revolution. and Industrial Revolution.  One of the important learning goals that we focused on was how an historian is able to take complex events and break them down into their basic components.  Through breaking down complex events into basic components, these events become much more easily understood.  More importantly, patterns can be recognized between these events when they are broken down into less complex formats.  The hope is that as students are presented with other various revolutions / rebellions in future history classes, they will be able to utilize the skills they learn during this unit to make sense of the new material.

Our summative project challenged the students to pick any revolution from history that they would like to learn more about, research it, break it down into its component parts, connect these parts together in a logical fashion, and then present it to the class.  In order to help the class get started, we brainstormed what components we thought all revolutions might share.  Since the class had already learned about a few revolutions they came up with the following list:

Leader

New Idea

Existing Problem

Action

Symbolism

Dissenters

Results

Followers

Students had the option to choose to complete the project on either a poster board or Prezi.  Below are a few examples of Prezi's that were created for this project.

Hamza's Revolution Project

Benny's Revolution Project
Ari's Revolution Project
Nikki's Revolution Project
Madison's Revolution Project

TUESDAY TUNE-UPS

Looking for help with a new concept?

Want to review an old concept?

Need to catch up on some missing work?

Bring your lunch and join us...

Tuesdays during A lunch in A101

See you there!

Your LC 9A Teachers