Monthly Archives: January 2018

Fast Food Nation Update — Week of 1/29/18

Lots happening in Fast Food Nation, including:
1) Propaganda Slideshows. We’ve been learning about seven different types of propaganda to explore how information be “spun” to shape perspective or show bias.
2) Central American country advertisements.  Students are now working as part of their own mini ad agency to create positive or negative ads about a certain Central American country.  We’ll be doing a mini advertisement film festival of our work later in the week.  (Wednesday?)
3) Geography.  We’ve started focusing on South America — and looking at South American exports through this fascinating online resource called the  Observatory of Economic Complexity.
4) Stock Market Contest.  I am currently in last place in our competition.  (The students love this.)
5) LTPs.  We are going to start brainstorming and conducting initial research for our LTPs later in the week.
6) ADI #1.  We are remaining at school for our first ADI on Friday.  Students will be cycling through four workshops led by staff from the Museo de las Americas.  We’ll be playing Mayan Ball (a double elimination tournament!), learning about the history of the tortilla (and making them too!), knotting Inca quipus, and creating protest art modeled after Jose Guadalupe Posada’s prints.  Lunch will be as if it were a typical day.
Upcoming due dates:  (subject to change)
 
Monday:  Students should have their propaganda slides complete. (If they are struggling with this — they should follow up with me on Monday.)  Also, scripts should be written for country positive or negative videos.
Wednesday:  Advertisements edited and published.
Thursday:  South American Export Maps due.
Monday 2/5:  Three topics identified for LTPs.
Have a great week!  -JF

LA Update — Week of 1/29/18

I looked at the calendar the other day and noticed that we only have 13 more days of LA in this trimester.  Craziness!
The big thing for this week is a narrative peer-critique that we’ll be doing in class on Tuesday.  Students need to have a strong draft of their narratives (the voiceover for the personalized video book reviews) by Tuesday so that they can fully participate.
Upcoming due dates:
Monday:  All 8th graders need to bring in a printed copy of the piece they are going to share for author’s night.
Tuesday: Strong draft of Narrative ready for Peer Critique at beginning of class.  (This was moved from last week.). This does NOT need to be printed — but it should be in bullet point format online.
Wednesday:  Final draft of Narrative complete.  (Not collected).  This should be in bullet point format and take between 2:30 and 4:30 to read out loud.  We’ll start “virtual storyboarding”  on this day.
Thursday:  Eighth grade author’s night beginning at 6pm.
Every day:  Read 30 minutes.
Have a great week!  -JF

Co-op Update — Week of 1/29/18

Thank you for a great conference week.  Not too much to report for next week.  A few happenings:

Thursday:  Eighth grade author’s Night 6pm-7pm.  If students wish to volunteer by either baking goods, helping set-up, or playing music — we welcome all help.  They can also use this for community service.
Friday:  Our first ADI for the Spring Semester.  Students in Trasky’s, Rundell’s, or Dvorak’s classes will need to bring a sack lunch.
Please continue to help by bringing in canned food and plastic bags for Homeless Matters.
Have a great week!  -JF

Fast Food Nation Update — Week of 1/22/18

Hi Fast Food Nation Fanatics,

After settling our own civilizations last week, students have begun researching Central American countries to learn more about their geography, history, and culture.  Our next step is to take that research and create propaganda ads highlighting both the positive and negative attributes of one particular country.  To do so, students will be wrestling with two essential questions:
  • How do you determine the quality of life in a given country?
  • How can propaganda shape beliefs?
We’ll also be starting a read-aloud of the young reader’s edition of The Omnivore’s Dilemma to acquaint ourselves with the different food pathways that exist in our country.  It will also be great practice for learning how to gather important ideas from informational texts.
Here are due dates for this week:
Tuesday 1/23:  Central American country research turned in via Google Classroom
TBA:  Students will be working on a group slideshow propaganda project and will need to complete their scripts for filming (probably by Thursday).
Have a fantastic week!  -JF

LA Update — Week of 1/22/18

This week, we’ll be transitioning from researching our book into writing our narratives for our personalized video book reviews.  Here a few great questions to ask your student:
1) What is the theme of your book?
2) What is a PVBR?
3) What text-to-self connections did you make while reading this book?
4) What image did you draw for your book?
5) How did you arrange the character map?
6) Does your book follow the “Hero’s Journey?”  Why or why not?
7) What are you reading as your choice novel right now (different from PVBR book)?
Here are upcoming due dates:
Tuesday, January 23rd:  “Read This Book” due at the BEGINNING of class with rubric.  This should include a stapled packet with rubric, twenty questions, plot mountain, drawing, and character map. (Students will need to print this out.)
Thursday, January 25th:  Strong Draft of Narrative should be complete.  We’ll be peer critiquing these in class on Monday, 1/29
 
Monday, January 29th:  8th graders only — one piece of writing, printed and mounted on construction paper, ready for sharing at author’s night.
Thanks for all your continued support.  Enjoy the snow!  -Josh Feiger

Co-Op Update — Week of 1/22/18

Hi Everyone,

I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone at student-led conferences.  Here’s the schedule one more time just in case.
A few other notes:
1) Alex, one of our awesome 8th graders, is conducting a plastic bag drive as a service project.  If you have leftover plastic bags (think grocery), please bring them to Alex who will be knotting them into a chain for a program called “Homeless Matters.”
2) Platt and CHOICE are also conducting a canned food drive.  Please bring canned and/or non-perishable items and there is a donation box in the classroom.
3) Lastly, a quick reminder that Friday is a conference release date.  8th Graders will be visiting the CTE campus, while 6th/7th graders have electives.  All students should plan on being picked up at 10:31am.
Enjoy the snow!  -Josh Feiger

Fast Food Nation Update — Week of 1/16/18

A few assorted notes from class:
1) We’re off to a terrific start in class as students created food museums and are in the process of settling their civilizations.    Students will be presenting their settlements on Wednesday during class.
2) We have started the stock market competition.  Each of the students started with $100,000.   See if your student can explain what it means to “short” a stock…!
3) Students will be researching a food topic of their choosing for our LTP this semester.  We won’t choose the topic for another month or so, but we are starting to explore possibilities and will continue to do so in class over the next few weeks.
4) Later in the week, we’ll apply our learning about the GRAPES of a “fictional” civilization to real life.  Students will begin the process of researching Central American Countries and creating propaganda video ads based on their research.
Upcoming due dates:
Wednesday:  Create a Civilization Presentation Due.
Tuesday (1/23):  Country Research Due.
Have a fantastic week! -JF

LA Update — Week of 1/16/18

Crazy to think that we only have one more month together in LA.  After February 15th, 8th grade students will continue with me in 8th grade seminar, while 6th and 7th graders will have the opportunity to learn LA with Mr. Morrow or Ms. Matthews for the final trimester.  As we get into the final month, here’s where I need your help.

1) Maintaining reading.  Students should be continuing to be reading different genres and updating their book plan accordingly.  I’m always available for book recommendations.

2) Keeping up with assignments.  There were a number of missing assignments during this first week of January school.  I update Infinite Campus regularly and students should be checking in to make sure that they have no missing work.  (Unfortunately, I have professional development on Tuesday — so students may need to wait until Wednesday for some sign-offs.)

3) Book return.  I’ve lent a LOT of books out from my personal library — which is wonderful — but some of the books have been out for months.  Please check with your student to make sure that any books they are not actively reading are returned to my classroom.  (I’m sure there are many library books out too — those should be returned to school library.)

4) Friendly reminder that February 1st is 8th grade author’s night (6pm-7pm).  8th Graders will be reading one piece of work from their CHOICE career.  6th and 7th graders welcome to attend.

5) Making sure that students have their PVBR Novel with them at school.  Some students have not had their books at school during these past few classes, which makes a book study really hard to do…!

In class, we’ll continue diving into our Personalized Video Book Reviews through book study.  Students will be finding important passages in their books, identifying theme, making text-to-text connections, writing summaries, and more.

Here’s an upcoming overview of our time together (subject to change)

Every day:  Students should be reading their choice novel and bringing their project novel to school.

Friday, January 19th: Questions #8-#15 and #17 due on “Read This Book” sheet. (Not collected)

Tuesday, January 23rd:  “Read This Book” due at the BEGINNING of class with rubric.  This should include a stapled packet with rubric, twenty questions, plot mountain, drawing, and character map. (Students will need to print this out.)

Thursday, January 25th:  Strong Draft of Narrative should be complete.

Friday, January 26th:  No class — Conference release day

Monday, January 29th: Narrative Peer Critique.  And for 8th graders only — one piece of writing, printed and mounted on construction paper, ready for sharing at author’s night.

Thursday (2/1).  Author’s Night.  8th graders will be reading pieces from 6pm-7pm.  Required for 8th graders.  All others welcome!

Friday (2/2):  ADI #1.  No Class

Monday (2/5):  Narrative spreadsheets complete.  This includes all pictures/images/videos.

Tuesday – Thursday (2/6-2/8):  We’ll be recording and creating our videos in class.

Monday and Tuesday (2/12 and 2/13).  Final touches on videos. Updated padlet/book plans. All classroom books due. Trimester self evaluations due.

Wednesday (2/14): PVBRs due at beginning of class to Padlet.    Book Film Festival Day 1.

Thursday (2/15):  Last day of the trimester.  Book Film Festival Day 2.

Monday (2/20):  8th Grade seminar begins.  6th and 7th graders will have a new LA teacher for 3rd trimester.

Have a great week!  -JF

 

Co-op Update — Week of 1/16/18

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for signing up for conferences.  A few resources for students:
 
 
For students low in volunteer hours, there will be several opportuniuties coming up, including:
 
Author’s Night:  February 1st. (All 8th graders will be reading on this evening, 6th/7th can help with set-up/snacks)
Wrestling Set-up:  Platt is hosting three big wrestling matches and will need help with that.  
 
Details for both will be in the CHOICE weekly in the coming weeks.  
 
Have a wonderful weekend!  -JF
 
 

Fast Food Nation Update — Week of 1/9/18

Dear Fast Food Nation Students and Parents!

I’m so excited to be your (students’) teacher for Integrated this semester. This is a long email — so feel free to skim for those details that might be of interest to you.
1)  We’ll conduct three major projects this semester, including:
—Quality of Life.  What makes a country “good” for its people?  Students will be creating their own “made-up” country and then researching Central American countries to determine what factors contribute to “quality of life.”   They’ll be learning propaganda techniques and this using this information to create both positive and attack video ads for their country of choice.
—Ancient Civilizations.  Students will be studying an ancient civilization of their choosing (Western Hemisphere) and collaborating to create a newscast to better understand the GRAPES of that Civilization.  (G=Geography, R=Religion, A=Achievements, P=Politics, E=Economics, and S=Social Structure.)
—Fast Food Nation.  Students will be researching their own food identities and then choosing one food-related issue to research the historical, economic, environmental, social, and personal components of that topic.  They will be presenting their findings (and their food) at our POL (Presentation of Learning) afternoons on April 17th and 18th. We hope you can join us for your student’s presentation.
*Supplemental work, including:
—Students will be participating in a stock market simulation game at howthemarketworks.com — this will give us an opportunity to learn how the stock market works in addition to exploring some basic economic principles.
—We’ll be reading excerpts from the young reader’s edition of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  It’s got some wonderful explanations of the origins of our food and our food choices.
—Geographic Mapping.  Our focus this year is on the Western Hemisphere and we’ll be playing games to learn basics about this half of the globe.
—And lots of other fascinating ideas too (Banana economics, The Story of Stuff, The Huexotzinco Codex, etc…)
2) Here’s a bit of information on our three ADIs fyi…. (Subject to change)
—On February 2nd, the Museo De Las Americas will be coming to CHOICE to teach us three workshops — 1) Inca Quipus, 2) Protest art by Jose Guadalupe Posada (We’ll be making our own protest pieces using a Tortilla press, and 3) the History of Tortillas.  We’ll also be playing an ancient Mayan Ball Game.
—On March 2nd, we’ll be learning about the “food-industrial” complex by visiting Hammond’s Candy, McDonald’s, and the Kitchen in downtown Boulder.
—On April 6th, we are still locking this down, but we’ll hopefully be headed up to Ft. Collins to visit the National Laboratory for Genetics Resources Preservation.  (Seed Vault) and I am hoping we’ll be able to visit a few other food locales along the way.
3) I have composition notebooks for students.  They should plan on bringing a writing utensil to class daily.  (You may wish to replenish these.)
At this point, there is nothing “due.”  This will change.  🙂
Happy New Year!  –Josh Feiger