Update May 15

We are continuing our World War II games. Students have received two reading packets: one on the rise of the Soviet Union and the other on WWII. By tomorrow, students should have read all of the first packet and the first three sections of the WWII packet.

Students should finish Angel Letter #9 by tomorrow (Screwtape Letters 26-28).

Please remember to bring PE clothing for our field activities tomorrow. Each group/country is also responsible for planning at least one obstacle/challenge for our obstacle course.

Small Plates and Commonplace Books (History Final)

SMALL PLATES: When Nephi delivered the plates to his brother Jacob, he indicated there were two sets of plates: a larger set for the detailed history of the people and a smaller set for “the things which I considered to be most precious” (Jacob 1:2). Likewise, this year you have kept a working notebook with all your notes and day-to-day assignments. These are the “large plates.” Now, from that collection of work, it is time to compile your own “small plates,” a record of the things you consider to be of greatest value.

These small plates should highlight the following:

1.      Work that you consider some of your best

2.      Work that includes ideas you consider to be most important and interesting

3.      Work that demonstrates your growth over the school year

You have three audiences for the “Small Plates”:

1)      Yourself 10 years from now

2)      Your parents

3)      Future AHS students: I will be photocopying portions of your small plates to share with future students. If there is something you would prefer I did not share (or read myself), please mark it with a sticky note.

Along with each item in the “Small Plates,” you are required to give a paragraph introduction including a justification for why it has been included. Think of this as a four-part evidence analysis. Your evidence is the work sample itself. The introduction provides the following in a paragraph:

1)      Claim: What does this sample of work demonstrate about your learning this year?

2)      Background: What is the work sample? Explain it to someone who has not participated in our class this year and who does not know anything about what we have been doing/learning. Give background on the topic and on the assignment itself.

3)      Commentary: What should readers of your small plates notice about this work sample that they might not notice on first glance? Why do those details matter?

Your small plates should be compiled in a three ring binder. They should have an attractive cover and title page.

 

COMMONPLACE BOOK: The commonplace book is where you have recorded the very best and most important of the ideas you have encountered this year. When you have felt the Spirit inspire your thoughts, you have recorded those ideas in the commonplace book. When you have read a quotation that rings true, you have recorded it. Because this book is a record of your most sacred learning, you have used it across all your classes, not just for history and literature. Because the commonplace book is a permanent record, it needs to be tidy and orderly. It has not been a place for note taking or doodling.

For your history final, you will be asked to write a commonplace entry reflecting on what you have learned from each of the following topics. Your reflections should be include two paragraphs for each topic:

1) A thorough summary of the topic (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?)

2) A personal response to the topic (What did you find valuable? Why? What principles and truths can be learned from the historical topic? How does what you learned affect your life?)

Each entry should be clearly labeled with the topic as a heading.

1)      Renaissance

2)      Protestant Reformation

3)      Glorious Revolution

4)      American Founding

5)      French Revolution

6)      Industrial Revolution

7)      New Imperialism

8)      World War I

9)      World War II

Please refer back to your assignments, notes, and readings for each topic. For example, when you review the Glorious Revolution you may want to review the reading from Cato’s Letters (by Trenchard and Gordon) or when you review the Protestant Reformation, you may want to review Fire in the Bones (You could check out a copy from the library if needed.)

 

Due Date: Tuesday, May 20.

Screwtape Ad (English Final Project)

For your final project, please create a Screwtape Ad poster in the style of a Mormonad poster. Your poster should “inspire” other devils, highlighting one of the strategies from the Screwtape Letters that was most meaningful to you. Your poster should meet the following standards:

1)      Interesting graphic (in color) that visually represents Screwtape’s strategy

2)      Catchphrase in bold font

3)      Quotation from Screwtape Letters that captures the essence of the strategy (include citation indicating which letter the quotation comes from)

4)      Formatting should imitate the formatting in Mormonads

5)      Due: Wednesday, May 21

Update May 12

Bellwrite #40: What does it mean to be unselfish? Which of your relationships require you to be unselfish. Explain.

We read and discussed Screwtape Letter 26.

We discussed the guidelines for the English and History finals (see separate post).

Students continued to work on their Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting the Hitler Youth with the Boy Scouts movement.

Homework:
Final edit for Family Past is due tomorrow.

Update May 8

Writing Portfolio
We are learning about how to write timed college entrance essays, specifically the ACT essay. Today we finished reading sample essays that received scores from 1 through 6. Next week students will practice writing ACT essays under time constraints.

Core
Bellwrite #39: Should the Church continue to partner with Boy Scouts? Does Boy Scouting need to updated or replace?

Disclaimer: This bellwrite is not intended to question the Church's policies with regards to Boy Scouting; rather, it is intended to help students explore the reasons for the partnership and the values of the program. In a spirit of disclosure, I myself am a Scoutmaster and Eagle Scout and personally believe the Scouting program is needed in the world today.

We are learning about the history of the founding of Boy Scouts by Lord Baden Powell as a counterpoint to the Hitler Youth program. It seems in history that when a development for the good emerges in the world, there is shortly thereafter a counterfeit or perversion of the good. In Germany during the rule of the Third Reich, the Boy Scout program was outlawed and the Hitler Youth program was instituted, borrowing heavily from the scouting program.

In class today and Monday, we will be watching films and reading original documents from these two youth programs to compare and contrast them. Today we watched the first 15 minutes of a video biography of Baden Powell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefYjvlolXc). Students will need to create a Venn diagram to record their learning.

This topic of study is not only relevant to the young men in class who are participants in Scouting, but also to the young women who will indirectly, and most likely directly, be involved in Scouting throughout their lives. Furthermore, the principles reasoned through this comparison and contrast will help young men and young women alike to understand why tyrants and heroes have worked to win the hearts of the youth. This discussion is not limited to Hitler and Baden Powell, but could be extended to understanding the role of education in Karl Marx's communist theory as well as the role of youth in building the Kingdom of God on earth.

Today we also finished reading Screwtape Letter 25.

Homework:

• Angel Letter #8 (based on Screwtape Letters 22-25) is due on Monday.
• Final edit of Family Past research project is due on Tuesday.

Update May 5

Bellwrite #37: How does someone like Hitler gain power?

We finished our Marxism game and then discussed how Marxist theory compares with FACE principles 6 & 7. Students wrote a half page personal evaluation of Marx's theory.

We began watching a documentary on the rise of the Third Reich.

Homework:

• Read Screwtape Letter #23.
• Final draft of resume due tomorrow.

Update May 2

Commonplace books.

We finished reading the excerpts from the Communist Manifesto and we played the game, "Who wants to be Karl Marx?" Students turned in Angel Letter #7.

Homework: No new homework. Final draft of resume is due on Tuesday with a review by someone who hires others as part of their job.