Lesson Plans will be posted here weekly in PDF format. In order to access them merely click on the correct class. As changes occur to the plans during the course of the week, I will note those changes at the end of the post – not on the PDF original – so please keep that in mind.
To access the current week’s plans, merely go to the “Weekly Lesson Plans” Category on the right, click it and look to the last post. If you have any questions concerning the LPs please leave a reply. I will do my best to get back to you with an answer within 24 hrs.
I hope this helps you to better organize your school work and your life.
Lesson Plan Updates – as the week progresses, there may be changes to the Lesson Plans. I will note changes below:
Music by Prudence – Assignment and Info for Period Six found at this link..
Senior Current Issues – Stay tuned this week for a follow-up assignment on your Flip-iTs.
Do not forget…any student who is participating in the Martin Luther King / Civil Rights Independent Study is welcome to join Mr. Wood’s first hour Senior Current Issues “conversation on Civil Rights” on the scheduled dates. The next scheduled conversation will take place on Monday March 26. Just ask and I will talk to your first hour teacher. Thanks.
To Oakridge Juniors…Just a thought. I know a lot of you have been stressing out about the upcoming A.C.T. Take a breath…and relax.
Colleges look at so many other things now a days. How do you spend your time? What is your G.P.A.? Have you held a job or been involved in clubs or sports or volunteering? Are your grades trending up? And your essays…the essays that you write certainly have more impact on your Scholarship opportunities than your ACT score. I’ve always seen the ACT as a “door opener” never a closer. And you know you can always take it again.
Just because you score well doesn’t insure success, if you don’t have a work ethic or the drive to find the right place for you after graduation – what good is a 28. And if you score poorly, that certainly doesn’t mean you are a failure. Your work ethic, your efforts and direction, can overwhelm a poor ACT score any day.
So what do you do about all this? You have a pleasant weekend. And on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday you get good night’s sleep, you eat breakfast before the test. Then you go out, do your best and let the chips fall where they fall.
The real pressure comes after the test. This is second semester Junior Year. You need to get your act together. This is when you need to make your move towards success in the Fall of 2013 – you need to visit colleges. You need to step up your game in the classroom. You need to think about next year as a stepping stone to the real challenge which is not the ACT test, but your landing place in the Fall of 2013.
College will be an adventure. It will open doors. You’ll meet new people. You will learn fascinating things and go in directions you never thought possible. You just need to get started on the journey today.
The ACT is merely a step on the way. Sleep well. Eat well. Watch Law and Order. And don’t fret over First World Problems.
T he Academy Award Winning Music by Prudence tells a self-empowering story of one young woman’ struggle who, together with her band overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds, and in her own voice conveys to the world that ‘disability does not mean inability.”
Prudence lives in Zimbabwe, and for a long time almost no one knew about that hauntingly beautiful voice. No one knew the strong, resilient woman that owned it. Born with a debilitating condition called arthrogryposis, they were unable to overlook her body.
I’ve never been to Zimbabwe; I was in Mali and it felt like this film. While there, amid all the chaos and poverty, I encountered wonderfully optimistic and loving people. The same is true of those featured in Music by Prudence. If ever there were a place where where you’d think people might feel sorry for themselves and give up, it’d be in a school for the disabled in one of the poorest nations on earth. Not a chance. The humor and hope in this film overcomes any sense of “whoa is me.” This story, not only of Prudence, but her band mates at the King George School, should inspire anybody who moans about their ongoing first world problems.
We came across Prudence in Senior Current Issues because Sam Fox and Jessica Carrier have chosen Zimbabwe as a country of study in the class. In Economics we’ve talked at length about the differences between life in the first and third world. Music by Prudence tells not only the uplifting story of girl born with a punishing disability, and her efforts to overcome that disability, it also provides an insight to life in a place like Zimbabwe. Take a look around Prudence and see just how life is like for even non-disabled Zimbabweans.
If nothing else, this movie should encourage you to roll up your sleeves, push past your first world problems, and get moving. It’s time to change the world people. It shouldn’t be so difficult; you have both of your arms and legs.
The Assignment for Sixth Period Government – must be posted on Google Docs by 11:59 PM on Sunday March 18.
While you may go wherever you want to go with this, you have a few requirements…compare the first world and the third. Also, bring your life into the mix as well as Prudence’s life. You do not have to support my way of thinking to get a good grade. You know how I feel about first world problems…the key here is how well you support the position that you’ve chosen, not the position itself, and that you cover the issues I’ve asked you to touch upon. That being said, it would be really cool if you could stay away from first vs third world generalizations and get specific to particular stories in the move.
Sixth Hour Government class – please ignore the following…
A few added extras for Senior Current Issues (required) and for Economics students who would like a little extra credit.
In addition to the 33 minute movie (2010 Academy Award Winning Best Documentary Short) the video provides ten special features – vignettes (5:00 to 12:00) of separate topics.
Concert by Liyana
Hair & Witch Doctor (you must do both)
Pru’s House
Healers
Morning Rituals
Going Nowhere
Dates and Girls
iThemba
KG8
For SCI students – you must pick one of the ten vignettes (your choice) get the dvd from Mr. Wood and watch it on your own or with a friend in class. Then go to Google docs and post your thoughts / summary / anything really about the vignette (150 words) – this will be a part of your 50 point grade. 300 on the general question. 150 on the vignette. Label it as Part II – with the title of the short.
For Economics students you may pick up an extra 10 points possible if you choose to watch and google docs one of these shorts. Come in after school or during lunch (just bring lunch down – tell me first) and watch it. Then go and post. I will add the points to your original assignment. All of it is due by Friday at 11:59 PM.
Oakridge High School invites the Oakridge Community to join us in an Independent Study of the American Civil Rights Movement
Two foreign exchange students – Helmi Kipelainen (Finland) and Nathalie Pamin (Germany) are enrolled in Mr. Wood’s first hour Oakridge High School Senior Current Issues class. When others work on college scholarships (a course concentration) Helmi and Nathalie are engaged in a guided Independent study of the American Civil Rights Movement. We are using the book “Let the Trumpet Sound” by Stephan B. Oates as our text and Eyes on the Prize, a six-part video series, as supplemental material. Our (50 to 75 page) readings are steered by three focus questions that also base bi-monthly discussions. Our study will run approximately three months. The goal is for Helmi and Nathalie to leave Oakridge with a thorough understanding of the movement.
Other students have hopped on board this Civil Rights study via the Internet for extra credit. Senior Jessica Carrier has joined our first hour bi-weekly discussions and nineteen juniors are following us on-line through the Internet based site Google docs. I have purchased each of the students a copy of the Oates book. All have access to Eyes on the Prize through YouTube. Student extra credit assessment will be based on the quality of their online Google docs posts, however they are also welcomed to join us in the first hour discussions. This intense Civil Rights study will provide a platform for next Spring’s bi-annual trip for Oakridge students to the Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma, Alabama.
Our proposal to the Oakridge Community – we welcome anybody in the Oakridge Community to join us in this study. The Oates’ book is a wonderful read. If you’d like to follow along, view our postings, even post with us, we encourage you to do so. If you’d like to participate in our bi-weekly roundtable discussions, we welcome you in the classroom every other Friday at 8:00 AM. If you are interested in either option, go online or to Barnes and Nobles and purchase “Let the Trumpet Sound,” or stop by we have some extra copies, get yourself a g-mail account, send Mr. Wood an email (bobwoodmsu@gmail.com). We will put you on our Google docs list.
Many urban areas in the United States participate in summer shared reading programs; Kalamazoo, Boston, Chicago among others. In each, the city proposes a particular book(s), schedules a calendar guideline for chapter completion and encourages the entire community to read along in unison. The hope is that the exercise stirs conversation between community members on shared issues inspired through reading. We hope that our study of the Civil Rights movement through the book “Let the Trumpet Sound” coupled with an invitation to the community, will encourage such dialogue.
If you think this is something that would interest you, please join us. We, myself and some fine young Oakridge juniors and seniors, hope to hear from the Oakridge community, and that you choose to collaborate with us on this unique and ground-breaking opportunity.
plans during the course of the week, I will note those changes at the end of the post – not on the PDF original – so please keep that in mind.
