QTR1+Graded+Activities

Homework Minor Grade Major Grade
 * Legend:**

We divided the class into groups. Each group was given a quote from page 6 in the Springboard textbook. Each member of the group was assigned a role in the group. At the end of the period, the groups stood in front of the class and presenting their analysis of the concept of challenge found in each quote.
 * 8/17 Quotation Presentation (Page 7) **

Since this was an oral presentation, this grade cannot be made up. If your student was absent this day, the grade will not count against him or her.

This assignment was the first writing assignment of the year. Each student was asked to write an impromptu essay explaining how each quote could help us relate the concepts of challenge and heroism. The students had to address each of the four quotes individually and then expound on them to make the connection obvious.
 * 8/18 Check Your Understanding: Writing Prompt (Page 7) **

Today's class featured a discussion on perspective (literary point of view) and the reading of an excerpt from //**A Wrinkle in Time**// by Madeleine L'Engle.
 * 8/19 Check Your Understanding: Writing Prompt (Page 10) **

To demonstrate their understanding of today's discussion on point of view, the students had to re-write today's excerpt as a first person narrative. This was accomplished by assuming the role of one of the characters and retelling the story from his or her point of view.

Today's lesson was a study of Visual Techniques. We viewed a PowerPoint on how these techniques are used in the creation of stories for television and film. This PowerPoint is added below.
 * 8/24 Activitiy 1.4 //A Wrinkle in Time// Storyboard (Page 13) **



We also watched a video on [|how storyboards are created...]

After this, we pretended that we had been given the job of directing the new //**Wrinkle in Time**// film adaptation. To do this, we created our own storyboards from the //**Wrinkle in Time**// excerpt.



Students were told to use three different framings and three different camera angles (After all, who wants to view a film that is shot the same way for two solid hours?)

In the rationale section, students are to explain how they used the framing, lighting, and camera angles to set the mood that they desired for that scene.


 * 8/25 Activity 1.5 Hero's Journey Graphic Organizer (Page 19) **

This assignment was at the end of the lesson on the Hero's Journey archetype.

In an effort to show students how prevalent these archetypes are, students were asked to fill out the Hero's Journey Graphic Organizer while viewing a movie that evening.



After reading "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury, the students created their own hero characters following the guide questions in the graphic organizer on page 27.
 * 8/31 Writing Prompt: Departure Rough Draft (Page 27) **

The students created a rough draft of their Departure phase of the essay that included their hero's Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, and Beginning the Adventure archetypes (see pages 16-18 in Activity 1.5). This rough draft was checked as a homework grade and is the first 1/3 of the student's Embedded Assessment 1 essay.

This test was simply getting the students to flesh out more information on the character they created at the end of Activity 1.6 on page 27.
 * 9/2 Character Test **



At the end of this lesson, the students created the rough draft of the second part of the Hero's Journey Essay ... The Initiation. The Initiation includes the Road of Trials (testing and training for the hero), the Encounter with Unconditional Love (a mentor or friend who helps the hero on the journey), and The Ultimate Boon (the hero achieves his/her goal or completes the quest).
 * 9/6 Check Your Understanding: Writing Prompt -- Road of Trials Rough Draft (Page 35) **

In addition to writing the Initiation portion of their rough draft, the students created a storyboard for the Road of Trials. In it, the students drew three pictures from their Road of Trials, labelled the framing, camera angles, and lighting that they would use to shoot the scene for a movie. The difference between this assignment and the WiT Storyboard on 8/24 is the rationale in this storyboard will be used to explain the action of the scene depicted in the drawing. There is no need to explain the framing, camera angle, and lighting now.
 * 9/6 Road of Trials Storyboard **

This quiz was a reading quiz we took in class to gather reading data from students across the eighth grade. If your student missed this quiz, it will not be counted against him/her and it will not be made up.
 * 9/7 Reading Quiz (Common Formative Assessment #1) **