Heroes!

Today in class, we finished writing a six-paragraph essay on heroes in Greek mythology. This essay should take this form.

Paragraph 1: Introduction
Paragraph 2: Discussion of Theseus
Paragraph 3: Discussion of Perseus
Paragraph 4: Discussion of Jason
Paragraph 5: Discussion of Heracles/Hercules
Paragraph 6: Conclusion including comparison of these heroes' similarities

For homework tonight (Tuesday), please transcribe your essay from your notebook to the computer and submit it to the blog.

REMEMBER!: As is the case in class, you should be using word processing (like Microsoft Word) to write this essay, should be saving frequently, and should copy-and-paste your work in the blog only when you are finished. If you compose directly to the blog, you may lose your work!

Heracles/Hercules!

Today we have finished reading "The Twelve Labors of Heracles". Please write a short three-paragraph essay about the hero Heracles/Hercules in the following form.

Paragraph 1: Heracles in the written myth "The Twelve Labors of Heracles"
Paragraph 2: Hercules in the film Jason and the Argonauts
Paragraph 3: Hercules in the film Hercules

Further Summary! (It Never Ends!)

Today we continued viewing the film Hercules. Please use your previous work and your ideas about today's portion of the film to summarize everything we have seen so far. (Remember that just because we have now seen more does not mean that your summary should now be longer!)

Summary (Friday plus a little Tuesday)

Please summarize the portion of the film Hercules we have already seen. (We didn't see much new today, so you can cut and paste most of Friday's summary and then just make some small additions.)

Twelve Conflicts, Twelve Resolutions

Today, we read the Greek myth "The Twelve Labours of Heracles" and spoke about each of these "labours" in terms of conflict and resolution. Please list these conflicts and resolutions here.

Friday's Summary

Whoops! I forgot to put this up over the weekend.

On Friday, we viewed the beginning of the animated film Hercules. Please spend 5-10 minutes tonight summarizing what we saw.

Compare and Contrast - Jason!

You knew it was coming! Please compare and contrast the myth "Jason and the Golden Fleece" with the film Jason and the Argonauts and submit it here.

Paragraph 1 : Introduction
Paragraph 2: Compare (Similarities)
Paragraph 3: Contrast (Differences)
Paragraph 4: Conclusion

Book Report - Final Draft!

Please submit the final draft of your book report here. This final draft does NOT need to be printed, but MUST be submitted to the blog before Friday, January 15.

Summary!

Today in class we viewed the beginning of the film Jason and the Argonauts. For homework tonight, please spend TEN MINUTES writing a ONE PARAGRAPH SUMMARY of what we saw. In case you forget anything important, here is the video.

Empathy - "Jason and the Golden Fleece"

This period, write a retelling of the myth of "Jason and the Golden Fleece" in the first person from the perspective of one of the Argonauts. This is NOT homework. You should spend the WHOLE class writing, but should finish writing at the end of class. Let this represent forty minutes of your best work.

Book Report First Draft!

Today we will begin writing first drafts of book reports on the books we have been reading independently. Book reports should include one illustration of a moment in the story’s action with a caption, be six paragraphs long and include all of the following.

Paragraph 1: An introduction including the book’s title and author.

Paragraph 2: A discussion of the book’s setting (the “where and when”) and main characters.

Paragraph 3: A summary of the book's plot. (This paragraph may be long, but you should use just one paragraph for this!)

Paragraph 4: A discussion of the way that the book connects with one or more other texts. Have you read similar books? What are the similarities? Can the themes of this book be found in other books? Have you read other books of the same genre? Other books by the same author? How do they compare? etc.

Paragraph 5: A discussion of the way that the book connects with you. What is your personal response to this book? What did it make you think about? Did you empathize with the characters? Did anything about the story give you insight into aspects of your life? etc.

Paragraph 6: A conclusion including a discussion of whether or not you recommend this book to other 6th graders and why. Include at least two good reasons for recommending or not recommending.

This first draft is to be finished for homework before Monday and submitted as a comment to this entry.

Let's have fun with this project!