Treading Delicately In Tragic Territory

The first order of business today was an announcement concerning an opportunity to do a nice thing for a neighboring school:

• Freshmen at Hillwood High are gearing up for a unit on Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Remember Junior? Rowdy? Gordy? Sweet but flawed Penelope? Mr. P? 

• They would love to BORROW (as in, return at some point) 35 copies of this book from MLK students willing to lend them.

If you are willing to LEND your copy, come drop it off in the Collection Box in my room! I can't give you bonus points, but I'll gladly give you candy. See Collection Box below:

A lot of times when I think I'm funny, I'm just sad.

And then, real class began.
Classes today were remarkably serious. Rather than take a Reading Quiz on Ch. 11-15, we used class time to appropriately, and respectfully, process the traumatic events that happen to Maya in Chapters 11 and 12.

The notes sheet we used in class became a take-home quiz (Students were instructed to provide answers to the questions that accompanied Ch. 13-15.)

Here is the sheet of powerpoint questions and notes. I will take this up on Monday, to review answers to Ch. 13, 14, and 15.

HW for Over The Weekend:

• Answer Q's on slide-notes sheet for Ch. 13, 14, and 15
• Read IKWCBS Ch. 16-20