Responding to the Holocaust Sept. 30

Writing Portfolio
We continued to work on writing transitions. Students composed transition sentences for two sample student essays, both a 5 paragraph essay and a more advanced and lengthy essay.

Core
Bellwrite #14: Why the Holocaust? (What do people mean when they ask this question? What are some of the answers various people offer?)

In class we held our first literature seminars. In the seminar, students discuss in a smaller group a passage of text, which today was Chapter 11 of The Chosen. The teacher only asks questions, as needed, and does not answer questions. Students are encouraged to listen actively to one another and to refer frequently back to the text in their discussion. Our seminar today explored the ways in which the characters responded to the Holocaust and other world news. We also explored how the inner lives of characters were affected by and reflected in the external world.

Homework:

• Read Chapters 12-13 of The Chosen by Thursday.
• Evaluate the transition sentences for the essay on the state of the world. For the effective ones, be able to explain why they are effective. For the less effective (or missing) ones, please write new transition sentences (due Thursday).

Concerning Iraq Sept. 29

Class B completed the bellwrite (#13) from class on Thursday. We spent some time evaluating the article we read on the War in Iraq and reviewing parent interviews. We also spent some time considering how covert CIA operations actually helped put Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq and make it possible for Iraq to use chemical weapons against Iranian troops. Students generated questions based on what they learned:

• How did the Middle Eastern conflicts get started?
• Why did the U.S. oppose Iran in the Iraq-Iran War?
• What was Saddam's childhood like?
• Why did Saddam attack the Kurds?
• Where did the state of Iraq come from?
• Why were Iraq and Iran fighting a war?

Class A also reviewed parent interviews. Students then began sharing the answers they found to the following questions they generated in class on Thursday:

• Why did Saddam kill/use gas on the Kurds?
• Why would the U.S. help Iraq in it's war against Iran?
• What is the U.N.'s position on Middle Eastern conflicts?
• What does President Obama have to say about the situation in Iraq and Syria?

We learned about how Western nations drew national boundaries in the Middle East following WWI. These boundaries grouped members of different ethnic groups in a way that fomented discontent. This was partly a result of the European policy of "divide and conquer" as well as the intent to protect European oil interests in the region.  This helps explain why Kurds would resist the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein.

Both classes considered the passage from The Chosen on pp.174-75 which deals with Reuven's rescue of the fly caught in a spider web. We saw a connection to Danny's thoughts on pp. 84-85 where he compares humans to ants. Perhaps these humans play the role of God with regards to these insects. Reuven may be questioning the meaning of suffering, particularly since he has just learned that young, innocent Billy has become blind for life.

Homework:
Class A: Read Chapter 11 of The Chosen in preparation for our first literature seminar tomorrow.
Class B: Research one of the questions we generated in class today. Prepare to share what you have learned with the rest of the class tomorrow.

Both classes: write one transition sentence linking body paragraphs 2 and 3 of the sample student essay from Writing Portfolio on Thursday.

Tzadiks Sept. 25

Writing Portfolio
We learned about transition sentences linking paragraphs.  Please write a paragraph linking body paragraphs 2 and 3 from the sample student paper we considered in class.

Core
Bellwrite #13: What is the main point of the article on the War in Iraq? What evidence does the author give in support of his thesis? Do you agree or disagree with him? Why?

Mr. Hone visited again today to continue his presentation. He discussed the tradition of tzadiks in Judaism as well as the Arab-Israeli Conflict. We are grateful to him for his generosity in sharing his time and expertise with us.

Homework:

• Class A: Read Chapters 9-10 of The Chosen. Class B: Read Chapters 9-11 of The Chosen.
• Conduct the parent interview.
• Class A: Answer one of the questions we developed in class about Iraq's history.

U.S. Foreign Intervention Sept. 24

Bellwrite #12: Some argue the U.S. has a responsibility to bless other nations by providing assistance and spreading democracy. Others argue the U.S. needs to stop bullying other nations and respect their autonomy. What do you think?

Students discussed at length the bellwrite question in light of the article they read on the War in Afghanistan. This discussion should help students as they ponder the two key questions of this unit:
1) What misconceptions do Americans have of Muslims?
2) What misconceptions do Islamists have of Americans?

Class A also discussed the idea of "buffers" in The Chosen: Reuven between Danny and Reb Saunders, the Tzaddik between Jews and God, the Jews historically between Polish overlords and peasants, and the Jews theologically between God and the world.  It seems that the chosen ones are called to mediate.

Class B was able to hear Mrs. Rutherford share her story of helping introduce cellphones (and by extension other "smart" devices) into missionary work.

Homework: Read and annotate the article on the War in Iraq.

Jewish Symbolism Sept. 23

Writing Portfolio
Students wrote their second 5 paragraph essay (topic: Should schools eliminate grades?). This essay will be graded on the following three areas:
1) Introduction: hook, background on issue (showing major arguments of both sides), and thesis (one sentence statement of position on question with three "because" reasons).
2) Body paragraphs: claim, concrete evidence (logically connected and consistent), concluding sentence
3) Personal areas for improvement from grading rubric on uniform essay


Core
Bellwrite #11: Elder Bednar talks about a miraculous progression of technologies that have helped to hasten the work of the Lord. Create a timeline to show this progression including as many technologies as you can. (Try to get the sequence, but don't worry about dates.)

Students took a second reading quiz on The Chosen (chapters 6-8). They also discussed what they have been annotating and indexing on the themes of silence and vision/blindness.

Mr. Dann Hone, founder of the BYU Jerusalem Center, was a guest speaker who shared with us insights on major symbols of Judaism.  He will be returning on Thursday to discuss Tzaddiks (from The Chosen) and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

Homework: Read and annotate the packet on the War in Afghanistan.

Clean Culture, Consent, Conscience, and Consistency Sept. 22

Today we had Mr. Beckwith visit our class to share a devotional thought. He expounded on four "C"s:
Clean Culture
Consent
Conscience
Consistency

Students also took a quiz on sentence diagramming, focusing on compound sentences (ones that combine two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction) and sentences with compound predicates.

Finally, we continued to consider Elder Bednar's talk on social media in building the kingdom of God.

Homework: Read and annotate Chapter 8 of The Chosen. There may be a reading quiz tomorrow on chapters 6-8.

Media: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Sept. 19

No bellwrite.

We continued our sentence diagramming work from yesterday. Today we learned about diagramming compound sentences, compound subjects, compound predicates, and even compound objects. We also learned about appropriate comma use with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS). We practiced diagramming the following:

I had lived in it all my life, but I never really saw it until I went through it that Friday afternoon. (compound sentence)

I had lived in it but never really saw it. (compound predicate)

My father and I had lived in it. (compound subject)

I had spent five days in a hospital and the world around seemed sharpened now and pulsing with life. (compound sentence, compound predicate adjective)

The windows were open, and I could hear children playing in the street. (compound sentence with participle)

We continued watching the documentary on Islamic extremism from yesterday. We discussed to what extent the documentary's comparison of Hitler and the Nazis with Islamists is fair and accurate. The video also discussed the role of propaganda in spreading extremist ideology. A student asked if we create any similar propaganda. I shared the first minute of the popular country song by Toby Keith, "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue." In light of the documentary, it was easy to see the violent rhetoric in this song's lyrics. (Please be aware, I only shared the first minute of this song because it has some profanity in it later on. I do not recommend this song. It was simply an appropriate illustration of the ways in which Americans also engage in inflammatory rhetoric.)

Having considered the use of media for promulgating evil, we next considered how social media has been used to promote liberty in the Arab Spring. We watched and discussed a short video. Finally, we began considering how social media can be used to build the Kingdom of God by watching part of Elder Bednar's BYU Education Week address.

Homework: Chapters 6-7 of The Chosen are due on Monday. Please annotate/index.

Annotating Novels Sept. 18

Writing Portfolio
Students shared peer feedback on their two practice body paragraphs. I delivered written feedback from me on students' first 5 paragraph essay (on school uniforms). Students need to attach this feedback rubric to their next 5 paragraph essay. They are responsible to show improvement on the areas I indicated. All students are also responsible to demonstrate on their next essay what they have learned about writing effective introductions and body paragraphs.

Students received the prompt for their next 5 paragraph essay. Today they did prewriting for the essay, so they can be prepared to write it during class on Tuesday.

Prompt: Some educational policy makers argue that grades kill the love of learning. They argue schools should get rid of grades. Others argue grades provide important feedback to students which enhances learning. Please write a 5 paragraph essay in which you respond to the question whether or not schools should eliminate grades.  Please support your position with three main ideas.

Core
Bellwrite #10: Diagram the following sentences from The Chosen.

I had lived in it all my life.
I never really saw it.
I had spent five days in a hospital.
The world around seemed sharpened.

We read Chapter 5 from The Chosen. I taught a method of indexing annotations from the novels we read. Students should create their own index in the front or back cover of their novel to track significant symbols and themes. For example, we came up with the following categories for The Chosen:

• silence
• friendship
• microcosms
• eyes/perception
• father-son relationships
• being chosen

For each category, students should note the page number for significant passages related to the topic. Along with the page number, include a brief note to yourself about why the passage is significant. When we finish reading the novel and you need to write an essay, this index will be invaluable to you. Furthermore, this process helps you become a deeper reader, noticing themes as they develop across a novel.

We also began studying a documentary on radical Islam. Please note, this documentary is disturbing because of the nature of the topic. In class I have tried to be sensitive to the tender spirits of students. We only watched a portion of the documentary so that we could understand what would be helpful. If families intend to watch this documentary, I do not recommend it for small children and caution should be practiced. There is a scene in it near minute 45 which is particularly violent and offensive. In class, students watched for information that would help them answer the following questions:

1. How do Islamists view the West?
2. How do Islamists use the media?
3. Is this documentary biased?

Homework:
Revisions of State of the World projects are due Friday.
Chapters 6-7 of The Chosen due on Monday

Constitution Day Sept. 17

Bellwrite #9: What is constitutionalism? (based on what you understood from the assembly this morning) Why is it dangerous for the people not to remember the Constitution?

We discussed constitutionalism and related concepts from Dr. Hancock's address at the high school assembly.

Constitutionalism involves valuing the Constitution, knowing the Constitution, and governing according to the Constitution. We must recognize that the purpose of the Constitution is to limit government to its proper and useful purpose. In our nation today, we are experiencing Constitutional oblivion, or forgetfulness. In the absence of a constitutional people, the courts have taken over interpreting the Constitution, a process that has led to the creation of expanding "rights". That expansion necessarily entails the growth of government beyond its proper limits.

The people need to understand the uniquely inspired form of the U.S. Constitution so that they can be guardians of it. The Constitution is a unique synthesis which creates the golden mean of two extremes:
1) Traditional fusion of moral authority and political authority (such as the governments of the Puritans, the kingdoms of Europe's Middle Ages, and even the Islamic State). This form of government can create moral laws, but it also tends to infringe on the rights of individuals.
2) Modern separation of moral and political authority, though such a separation is an impossibility. Thus in place of natural or divine moral law, we have the substitution of the moral relativism of popular appetites and opinions. This form of government can provide for the protection of the rights of individuals, but it also tends to moral decadence and decay.

The U.S. Constitution uniquely synthesizes these forms of government, providing for a separation of church and state but also a government grounded in natural laws. It is rational but also acknowledges deity. It balances the vertical relationship of obedience to authority with the horizontal relationship of individual sociality.


Today students also took a quiz on Islamic Extremism. Class A then began reading Chapter 5 of The Chosen.

Homework:

• Work on revisions of State of the World projects.
• Two body paragraphs for Written Portfolio due tomorrow.

Intro to Islamic Extremism Sept. 16

Writing Portfolio
We continued to work on writing effective body paragraphs for 5 paragraph essays. We worked on being consistent with plurals and singulars within a sentence, being logically consistent within a paragraph, using appropriate academic voice, and ensuring that supporting evidence use appropriate details.

Homework:
Please write effective body paragraphs supporting each of the following claims:

1.       Uniforms do not inhibit individuality; rather, they actually accentuate true individuality.

2.       Uniforms limit students’ freedom of expression denying American students the opportunity to practice responsibly exercising their Constitutional right to free speech.

Core
No bellwrite.

Students took a reading quiz on part 1 of The Chosen. The quiz evaluates students' reading completion, approach, comprehension, and analysis.

Students wrote responses to the following questions about the article "An LDS Perspective on Muhammad":

1. Summarize in your own words the quotation by Orson F. Whitney.
2. Comment on the quotation by B.H. Roberts.
3. What truths and values do Latter-day Saints share with Muslims?
4. What are some significant differences in their doctrinal beliefs?

Students also read "Understanding Islamic Extremism" article and took two-column notes (questions and answers) in preparation for a quiz.

I finished giving individual feedback on State of the World Projects. Revised projects can be turned in through this Friday. When turning in a revision, a student should fill out the second rubric at the bottom of the one I completed and attach it to the project.

Homework:
Finish in-class work. Revise projects if needed.

Joseph of Egypt in the Qu'ran

For those who are interested, you can read the story of Joseph of Egypt in the Qu'ran through the following link. You will find the text with commentary in Chapter 12 (Sura 12)

http://www.muslim.org/english-quran/quran.htm

D-Day in The Chosen Sept. 15

Bellwrite: How are Danny's visits to Reuven a sort of D-day in each of their lives?

Students worked in small groups to discuss the following questions as they explored the Bellwrite question.

p.76 Danny "seemed to be seeing something he had been searching for a long time." What did Danny see?

p.71 Danny tells Reuven that he had wanted to kill him at the baseball game and that he doesn't understand why: "It had nothing to do with the ball game. At least I don't think it did. You weren't the first tough team we played. And we've lost before, too. But you really had me going, Malter. I can't figure it out." Beyond the obvious that it was a heated game, does Danny find any answer to that question?

p. 75 What is the significance of the following portion of dialogue between Danny and Reuven? What does Reuven learn about himself?

"You didn't want to duck." 

"That's right," I said, after a while. 

p.72 What is the significance of Reuven's thoughts: "I was fascinated just listening to the way perfect English came out of a person in the clothes of a Hasid. I had always thought their English was tinged with a Yiddish accent. As a matter of fact, the few times I had ever talked with a Hasid, he had spoken only Yiddish. And here was Danny Saunders talking English, and what he was saying and the way he was saying it just didn't seem to fit in with the way he was dressed, with the side curls on his face and the fringes hanging down below his dark jacket."

p.74 What might Freud and psychoanalysis have to do with Danny and Reuven's conversations in the hospital?


I shared a little bit of information on Freud's basic theory:
1) The mind is divided into the conscious and the subconscious. Sometimes a person can act in a way, or feel an emotion, that they cannot account for. When this occurs, it is the subconscious driving the experience.
2) The mind has three components:

Id: the animalistic, appetite-driven part of us that demands to be satisfied

Superego: the angel on the shoulder which tells us what we should and should not do

Ego: the part of us that negotiates between the id, superego, and reality

3) Father-son relationships are often full of unresolved psychological tensions due to subconscious conflicts relating to unfulfilled appetites.
4) Freud argues man invents the concept of God to create a father-figure to cope with his unresolved subconscious conflicts.

Can you imagine the son of an orthodox rabbi being interested in this theory? No wonder Danny has unresolved subconscious tensions with his father, not to mention his sense of being powerless in choosing his future (he will inherit his father's position but would rather study psychology) and his inability to talk with his father except when studying Talmud together.

Following this discussion, students rewrote their responses to the Bellwrite question and turned it in.

Class A also had a brief discussion about factors to consider when encountering profanity in a novel.

I gave individual feedback to about half the students on their State of the World projects. I will finish with the remainder of the students tomorrow. Because this is the first project of the year and we are learning about expectations, students will have the opportunity to resubmit their assignments through the end of this week for an improved grade. Resubmissions must include a cover page which indicates what specifically is different about the resubmission. They should also include the first grading rubric attached for reevaluation.


Homework: Read Chapter 4 of The Chosen and annotate the following:
1) vocabulary you learn
2) important passages
3) questions you have about the chapter (write them in the margins)

If applicable, please work on redoing your State of the World project.

Khadeeja Mosque Field Trip

We will be having lunch together at a restaurant and then visiting the Khadeeja Mosque in West Valley. As part of our visit, we will observe the Friday prayer service.

When

Friday, Sept. 12
10:30-3:10
(Students will meet in Mr. Dye’s classroom at the start of 3^rd period)

Dress

Men should wear their full dress uniforms.

Ladies should wear ankle-length dresses/skirts with long-sleeve tops. They should not be form fitting at all. If possible, please bring a scarf to wear over your hair. Because you will be attending regular classes for periods 1 and 2, please wear your full uniform to school in the morning and bring clothing to change into at the start of 3^rd period.

Parent Drivers

Parent drivers/chaperones are still needed. If a parent is available to help, please email Mr. Dye at bdye@ahsmail.com.

Islam and Technology in the Kingdom of God Sept. 10

Bellwrite: Please write on a separate piece of paper. 1) How are you doing personally, in school, with friends, etc.? 2) Please provide feedback on core class so far. What should we continue doing? What should we stop doing? What should we start doing?

We are working on memorizing our history anchor scripture, Jacob 5:71-73.

I continued giving the presentation on basic beliefs and history of Islam. We learned about the historical division of Shia and Sunni Muslims. We also learned about the six articles of Muslim faith and the five pillars of Islam. (Class A will finish this presentation next week.)

Class A had a guest speaker, Mrs. Rutherford, who shared her experiences with helping introduce cell phones (and mobile device technology) into missionary work.

Homework:

• By Friday, please read the article, "A Latter-day Saint Perspective on Muhammad."
• Please bring to class tomorrow your signed permission slip for our field trip on Friday.

Introducing the Middle East Conflict Sept. 9

Writing Portfolio
I discussed the need for many of the students this year to improve their spelling. I compared poor spelling to poor hygiene. You may be a good person with interesting ideas on the inside, but poor hygiene can be very hard to look past. Each student should keep in their notebook a list of words they misspell with correct spellings.

We continued our work on our 5 paragraph essays. First period completed rewriting their introductory paragraphs which include the following:
1) Hook
2) Background on the issue (a brief summary of the main arguments on both sides of the issue)
3) Thesis statement (Opinion because________, ________, and __________.)

We learned about pronoun antecedents. Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. The noun which is replaced/referred to is called the antecedent. Pronouns must match their antecedents in number (singular or plural). For example, in this thesis statement, the pronoun "it" is singular but the antecedent "uniforms" is plural. Instead of "it" the writer should use "they":

American high schools should not adopt uniforms because it is expensive, uncomfortable, and students can't use their freedom of expression.

Please also note that in the foregoing thesis statement, the three listed reasons are not all in the same grammatical format. One way to avoid this problem is to insert the word "because" in front of each of the reasons. The problem and solution will quickly become apparent:

American high schools should not adopt uniforms because they are expensive, because uncomfortable, and because students can't use their freedom of expression.

Corrected:  American high schools should not adopt uniforms because they are expensive, they are uncomfortable, and students can't use their freedom of expression.

Better:   American high schools should not adopt uniforms because they are expensive, they are uncomfortable, and they limit freedom of expression.

Best:  American high schools should not adopt uniforms because they are expensive, uncomfortable, and limit freedom of expression 

Next, we worked on composing effective body paragraphs. Strong paragraph structure includes the following:

1. Claim (AKA: the topic sentence)
2. Supporting sentences (with concrete evidence)
3. Concluding sentences

We began examining and critiquing sample body paragraphs taken from the students' 5 paragraph essays on uniforms.  We will continue this work on Thursday.

Core
Bellwrite #6: Describe your relationship with your father. How does it compare with Reuven's?

We considered vocabulary from Chapter 2 of The Chosen. The only word that was unfamiliar with a Jewish word "tefillin" (explanation).

Next, we began reviewing sentence diagramming using sentences from The Chosen. We reviewed diagramming patterns for action verbs with direct and indirect objects as well as state of being verbs with predicate nouns/adjectives. We also reviewed diagramming of modifiers such as adjectives, adverbs, articles, and prepositional phrases. If you need a review, this webpage is helpful.

For history, we began our exploration of the Middle East Conflict. We started by considering the Arab-Israel conflict (the source of many of the conflicts in the Middle East) with this video. We discussed the bias of the video and considered how Palestinians would describe the conflict differently. They might argue that Palestinians/Muslims had occupied the region for generations and that Western countries had no right to vote to give their ancestral lands over to create a new state of Israel. We discussed the claims of Jews and Muslims to descent through Abraham's offspring: Isaac and Ishmael and disagreements over which family lines were covenant lines. We also considered the grounds for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic claims to Jerusalem as a holy city. A student astutely pointed out that these disputes resembled the baseball game in The Chosen.

Next, I gave the first part of a presentation on basic history and beliefs of Islam.

Students should prepare, over the course of this unit, to answer these questions:

1) What misconceptions do many Americans have about Muslims?
2) How does the Islamic world view America?

We watched a little video that begins to reveal some of the misconceptions Americans have about Muslims.

Homework: Read and annotate Chapter 3 of The Chosen. (Learn vocabulary as you go.)

Chapter 1 The Chosen Sept. 8

Bellwrite #5: Do you ever lose perspective on life? When? What is it like? How do you gain perspective?

Students turned in their State of the World projects. A few students shared their PowerPoint presentations and speeches. We discussed our assessment of the state of the world and of the kingdom of God.

We discussed chapter 1 of The Chosen. First, we learned two vocabulary words from the novel: assimilate and zealous. We also noted how Chaim Potok helps the reader understand most of the Jewish terms in the novel (such as tzitzit or yeshiva) through context clues. Students are responsible to understand the words in the book. First, they should see if they can figure out the meaning of the word through context. Only if context is insufficient should they then turn to a dictionary or the Internet. Book annotations should include vocabulary definitions.  Advanced learners can also look up the roots of vocab words.

Next, we discussed the following:
What is the source of Reuven's anger towards Danny?
What was the turning point when baseball was no longer a game but rather a fight?
Why does Chaim Potok use so much battle imagery in describing the first chapter?
How did Reuven's anger limit his perspective?

I introduced the term microcosm and asked how the baseball game was a microcosm.

Homework:
Read and annotate Chapter 2 of The Chosen. Annotate vocabulary, questions, thoughts, important ideas, etc. The purpose of annotation is to enhance and focus understanding while reading.

The Allegory and World History Sept. 4

Writing Portfolio
Students considered why God would want them to learn to write better.

We worked on writing effective introductions with interesting and relevant hooks.


Core
Bellwrite #4: What do you think of when someone talks about the Jews? What do you know about Jewish culture? Jewish history?

We discussed the answers to the questions on the Allegory of the Olive Tree (due today). Students were invited to revise and/or add to their written responses in class.

We discussed at length how the Allegory relates to our study of world history. The Allegory shows us God's perspective on what matters from world history. We are living during the period of time in the Allegory when the Lord of the vineyard labors with few laborers to gather in the scattered branches and purge out the wild. This gathering seems to be taking place as missionaries spread the gospel throughout the world and as family history and temple work gather in the dead. Gathering involves the making and keeping of covenants, as missionaries invite scattered spiritual Israel to gather into local stakes of Zion through the covenant of baptism and as temple workers provide opportunities for the dead to make sacred covenants. It is conditions of liberty that make it possible for individuals to exercise their agency in making these covenants. Thus in world history, we watch the different forms of liberty as they expand or contract: political, intellectual, religious, educational, economic, etc.  When considering events from world history, and even current events, we can understand their significance by asking ourselves how they contribute to or inhibit the work of gathering.

Class A also shared their thoughts on the main themes of the Allegory:

• God never gives up and He labors intensively for His children.
• God allows suffering because He knows we can't grow without being free, which includes being subject to the consequences of our free choices and the free choices of other people.
• Returning, repenting, reuniting
• Agency (The quality of the fruit is not determined by the quality of the soil or the quality of care given to the plants.)
• God's love
• Atonement (the gathering of the branches into an at-one-ment of the original tree)

Today students took a computer-based assessment of their reading comprehension. This will be used to enhance reading instruction in this class.

Homework:

• Tomorrow you will have time in class to work on your State of the World project. If you have a computer you can bring, you may want to do so.
• Read Chapter 1 of The Chosen by Monday.
• State of the World project is due Monday.
• Rewrite of introduction paragraph for uniform essay is due tomorrow.

Diagramming the Allegory Sept. 3

Bellwrite #3 Define and give examples of each of the following parts of speech:

• verbs
• nouns
• articles
• pronouns
• adjectives
• adverbs
• prepositions
• conjunctions

We reviewed the definitions of the parts of speech:

verbs: action words OR state of being words (linking verbs); the most common linking verbs are conjugations of the infinitive verb "to be" (I am, he is, they are, I was, I will be, I might be, etc.)

nouns: person, place, thing, or idea; common versus proper nouns

Note: the part of speech is often determined by context. For example "hope" can be a noun or a verb. I hoped we would go to the park, but after I learned she was sick I lost all hope.

articles: the or a/an; Does it matter whether a girl tells you, "You are a man of my dreams?" or "You are the man of my dreams?" Yes, the difference is between the definite article "the" which specifies one out of a class of things and the indefinite article "a" which does not specify/single out one from the class.

pronouns: take the place of nouns

adjectives: modify (describe) nouns

adverbs: modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs; Example "She is so very friendly." ("friendly" modifies "she", a noun, and is therefore an adjective; "very" modifies "friendly" and is therefore an adverb; "so" modifies "very" and is therefore an adverb)

prepositions: indicate relationships, usually of space and time; ON the chair, UNDER the chair, BY the chair, WITH the chair, BEFORE the kiss, DURING the kiss, AFTER the kiss; other prepositions include ABOUT, FOR, OF, DESPITE, etc. Prepositions are followed by a noun called the object of the preposition.

conjunctions: words that join words, phrases, and clauses; one subclass of conjunctions are the coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). Students should have these 7 memorized.

This brief review of parts of speech is a refresher. Students who are not already familiar with these terms need to come visit with me after school so we can get them up to speed.  This is a basic foundation for our grammar studies this year.

After our grammar review, students worked in small groups on diagramming the sequence of events (pictorially) in the Allegory of the Olive Tree. The purpose of diagramming is to clarify the events in the allegory. Students then discussed the questions about the allegory from the reading packet.

Homework:

• Write paragraph responses to the six questions on the Allegory of the Olive Tree.
• Continue working on the State of the World project, due Monday.

The Olive Tree Sept. 2

Writing Portfolio
Students finished writing their 5 paragraph essays on whether all American high schools should adopt uniforms. After drafting, students saved a few minutes for editing.

Core
Bellwrite #2: How would you explain who Jesus Christ is to someone unfamiliar with Him? What do you think about and feel about Him?

We explored the layers of meaning in the symbol of the olive tree in the scriptures. I shared a selection of pictures that helped us consider the following:
1) The olive tree is an evergreen and trees over 1800 years old are known to bear fruit.
2) Olives are used for food but must be processed first to remove the bitterness. Likewise they may be pressed to extract oil.
3) Olive oil was used anciently as a source of light and heat in homes.
4) Olive oil was used medicinally, as a salve to soothe and to draw out infection and toxins from wounds.
5) The menorah was a branching candlestick which burned olive oil to light the ancient tabernacle of the Israelites. It is a tree of light.
6) The tree is used symbolically in Lehi's vision of the tree of life, in which the fruit, which is white and delicious above all else, represents the love of God.
7) The cross on which Christ was hung is sometimes referred to as a tree.
8) Olive trees require extensive labor to produce good fruit. Typically, a tree must be nourished and pruned for 8-10 years to produce desirable fruit. Grafting can preserve a root that might otherwise appear to be dead and is a method for improving harvests.
9) The Hebrew roots of Gethsemane mean "press" and "oil." Likewise, the title "Messiah" (Greek equivalent is Christ) means "anointed one" and the Hebrew root of messias (yishar) means "to glow with light as one glistens when anointed with olive oil." We watched a video depiction of Christ's suffering in Gethsemane which "pressed" great drops of blood from every pore.
10) Anciently, kings were anointed with olive oil to set them apart for their office and authority.
11) The olive tree is sometimes used to represent the House of Israel. This family tree is the covenant line through which the power of the Atonement becomes available to mankind.

After our study, students wrote a well-crafted paragraph explaining the symbolism of the olive tree.

Class B considered indicators that China has been asserting its status as a world leader, including the announcement that it would build the world's tallest tower and the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (we watched a few highlights from the following video).

Homework:
1) We CHANGED the DUE DATE for the State of the World project.  It will now be due on Monday instead of this Thursday. Please continue watching/listening to world news.
2) Students should read all of the Allegory of the Olive Tree packet from class. They should annotate and prepare to answer in class tomorrow the six questions inside the packet.