Weeks are flying by....

I have few activities to share. Both English 11 and Speech are working hard on new chapters or unit after finishing some tough material and at the same time proving themselves as "top-achieving" students. I am really enjoying the classes and how well they work together.

In Speech a few weeks ago we did an exercise with communication. The students got into pairs and one student faced the board while the other had paper and pencil and could not see the board. Students able to see the whiteboard were told to try and articulate the images I drew on the board to their partner. Sometimes they weren't allowed to use their hands, other times they weren't allowed to use the shape words (like, circle or square). This proved to show some of the students strengths and weakness in communication. Either way, the students did learn how important shared meanings and team work really are. Below are some images from my 4th period Speech class and the image I came up on the board.

Could you verbally describe this image?

In English 11 we just finished Unit 1 and we are starting Unit 2. This new Unit covers early America and all the Nonfiction that helped us gain our freedom. We started of with Benjamin Franklin and some of his funny work and some of his "self-help" writings as well. (Ask your students about all the information). Benjamin Franklin was also famous for some of his Aphorisms (short sayings with a  life meaning of purpose). The students really seemed to enjoy reading some of them and picking them apart to find the meaning behind the small amount of words.

This made me think about "The Shortest Short Story" by Ernest Hemingway. See Ernest was once challenged to write a story using only six words (or so the literary legend goes). His response , which matched his sense of brevity, was:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn. 

I asked the English 11 students to try and make their own six word short story! Though many turned into aphorisms (I am really happy with those too) others really did have some stories in small words. 

• Broke my leg: shattered all dreams.
• I haven't lived, until we met.
• Half court shot. Buzzer Rings. Victory!
• Bright headlights: over corrected. Never again.
• We ran: until our hearts hurt.
• My Drill. My Dot. My Life.
• Same identity, yet different birth times.
• Shy to society; Genius by night.
• We over me; team over superstar. 
• Fear the beard: Today and Tomorrow.
• Forever we said: Forever it stayed.