Recent Changes

The following is a quote from a blog by Michael Moore-Jones about Non-linearity in Life:
"If we study for 365 days on a given subject but learn absolutely nothing, what’s to say that on the 366th day it won’t all suddenly click and the previous 365 day’s work will have paid off? Because of a degree of non-linearity in life, we cannot comprehend what events might occur. We are trained to think linearly — if we do x, then y will happen after z period of time. But in reality, that’s not how things work. We may play soccer for five years and suck, but then become world-class in the sixth year.
your doors open”.open." If we
What is your initial reaction to this quote? Do you agree or disagree?
Should we always "keep our doors open?" Can we, or are there doors that we must close?
Are there 'doors' that you would intentionally close or suddenly be able to open because of a random event as discussed above?
Texts That Pair Easily With This Lesson:
The Lottery"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
The
"The Lottery TicketTicket" by Anton Chekhov
After
"After the BallBall" by Leo
Chance in Fiction
Links for Cross-Curriculum Studies:
Writing Prompts - Random Word Generator
Poetry/Drama - Possible 'Lessnesses'
To give credit -credit, I used the lesson usefuluseful, and I

Education. The United States of America has always coveted and touted the belief that all children should, and will receive a free education. For decades, the education system of the U.S. has been in dire need of changes, and Davis Guggenheim, the documentarian of Waiting for Superman, argues that the only solution is for a hero to come and save our education system. Guggenheim uses his ethos as a respected documentarian and the pathos of heart-wrenching stories of children who are losing hope as swords that will strike fear and action into the hearts of every American, eliciting a cry for action from all who view his message.
Guggenheim’s documentary and resolution has been met with praise as well as controversy. One specific look into Guggenheim’s message found the message lacking and led a group of parents and educators, Julie Cavanagh, Darren Marelli, Norm Scott, Mollie Bruhn, and Lisa Donlan, to create the documentary The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman as a response. These directors argue that Guggenheim failed to include the views and concerns from educators in the classroom as well as the cost of implementing charter schools and how these dollars will cause a drain from public school education funds.
will explore boththe films Waiting for will examine the way thathow the filmmakers a classroom. Please
Please begin your to incorporate thethese documentaries into the Superintendent and, Union , and Lottery Lesson Plans pages.

Bring the topic of the chance of the lottery out further to the randomness of life in general - more philosophical discussion.
Show a clip from the TV Show Numb3rs where Charlie Epps, a genius mathematician is giving his students a lesson on randomness:
Show frombeginning segment from 1:40-2:50 (The above link goes to Netflix, so you will need a subscription to view it - this clip is not available on Youtube)
People sometimes say that life is a lottery and you never know what is awaiting you, around any corner.
Why/why not?
Could also discuss Carpe Diem, being prepared vs. being paranoid, possibility vs. probability, et. al.
In pairs / groups of 3, have students talk about and list some of the things (both wonderful or terrible) that could possibly happen in the following situations:
Discuss cinematic techniques used and what is being portrayed - what does this clip set up for the rest of the movie?
Writing Activity:
to them?
Students have the choice of how to tell their stories:
Descriptive Narrative Essay

Perspective/Possibilities Lesson Plan
Students will spend a minute or two writing down all of the different words they associate with the word 'lottery.'
These words would be called out and displayed on the board for discussion - ideally, a word cloud would be created.
Possible Questions for Discussion:
What do you think of lotteries?
Do you buy lottery tickets? How about family or friends?
Have you ever received any kind of windfall?
Do you think some people are luckier than others?
What are some things you have been kept in suspense over?
What are some things (other than the huge jackpots) that people win through a lottery drawing?
Would the acceptance of applicants using a lottery system make college admissions more fair? Why/why not?
Watch the following clip (the lottery scene) from the film Waiting for Superman:
If students have not seen the other clips on this wiki and do not know about this film, explain charter schools vs. public schools and why these students want to be given one of the few open spots in the charter school they applied for.
Have students paying particular attention to the following & open up these questions for discussion after the video:
The tension created as we watch the results unfold - what do the film makers do to enhance this tension?
How do you feel as you watch this clip? Do your feelings change as it progresses? Why/why not?
In what ways will the students' lives be changed after this lottery? Both those who won and those who did not.
Have you ever been in a similar situation as the students in the film? How does it compare?
Refer back to question about about college admissions - re-discuss - compare/contrast opinions of fairness.
Bring the topic of the chance of the lottery out further to the randomness of life in general - more philosophical discussion.
Show a clip from the TV Show Numb3rs where Charlie Epps, a genius mathematician is giving his students a lesson on randomness:
Show from segment from 1:40-2:50
People sometimes say that life is a lottery and you never know what is awaiting you, around any corner.
Do you agree with this sentiment? Why/why not?
Could also discuss Carpe Diem, being prepared vs. being paranoid, possibility vs. probability, et. al.
In pairs / groups of 3, have students talk about and list some of the things (both wonderful or terrible) that could possibly happen in the following situations:
In what ways would the 'wonderful and terrible' events you listed change your life?
Walking into a convenience store.
Swimming at the neighborhood pool.
Taking the airplane instead of the overnight train.
Buying a new computer.
Starting a new job.
Taking the dog for a walk.
Buying a lottery ticket.
Texting your best friend.
Checking the mail.
Think of some other situations of your own!
Have students volunteer to share some of their situations and wonderful and terrible outcomes.
Share this video clip of the beginning of the movie Sliding Doors to set up the writing activity which follows:
Discuss cinematic techniques used and what is being portrayed - what does this clip set up for the rest of the movie?
Writing Activity:
Students will use the discussions above as inspiration for the creation of two stories. They will choose one event/situation and write a story following the same main character where the event either happens to the character or not or where the event has a favorable or unfavorable outcome for the character. How is the character's life changed by something good or something bad happening to them?
Students have the choice of how to tell their stories:
Descriptive Narrative Essay
Short, One-Act Drama
Picture Book
Digital Video - either using live actors or narrated images/drawings and text.
Other Method - must be approved prior to beginning project!
Students must write two stories following the same character and two outcomes of the same event. They can either follow the pattern of sliding doors and alternate between paths (must clearly differentiate between character after good event and character after bad event) or they can write two completely separate stories which begin in the same way, but the outcome of the inciting event is different thus changing the story.
Topics/Activities for Further Discussion:
The Lottery Mentality - Op-ed article discussing America's mentality regarding income
In what ways might you argue that it parallels the portrayal of education in this film?
The following is a quote from a blog by Michael Moore-Jones about Non-linearity in Life:
"If we study for 365 days on a given subject but learn absolutely nothing, what’s to say that on the 366th day it won’t all suddenly click and the previous 365 day’s work will have paid off? Because of a degree of non-linearity in life, we cannot comprehend what events might occur. We are trained to think linearly — if we do x, then y will happen after z period of time. But in reality, that’s not how things work. We may play soccer for five years and suck, but then become world-class in the sixth year.
In my opinion, this is why our parents always tell us “keep all your doors open”. If we close routes in life, then we let linearity have its way because we have removed the possibly of non-linearity working to our advantage."
What is your initial reaction to this quote? Do you agree or disagree?
Should we always "keep our doors open?" Can we, or are there doors that we must close?
Are the scenarios listed as examples about studying or playing soccer realistic/possible? Why/why not?
How do 'doors' get opened or closed for us by random events that are out of our control or ability to predict?
Are there 'doors' that you would intentionally close or suddenly be able to open because of a random event as discussed above?
Texts That Pair Easily With This Lesson:
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov
After the Ball by Leo Tolstoy
Chance in Fiction
Links for Cross-Curriculum Studies:
Computer Science/Technology/Graphic Art - Randomness Lesson
Economics - Prospect Theory
Business/Marketing - Fooled by Randomness
Philosophy - The Lottery of Birth
Math - Certain and Impossible Events
Probability and Chance
Probability Lesson Ideas
Useful Online Tools:
People use RANDOM.ORG for holding drawings, lotteries and sweepstakes, to drive games and gambling sites, for scientific applications and for art and music.
Randomize a List - numbers, words, phrases, emails, etc.
Writing Prompts - Random Word Generator
Poetry/Drama - Possible 'Lessnesses'
To give credit - I used this site as inspiration for this lesson, though I did not use much directly from it (I did not find much of the lesson useful and I was unsure what level this lesson was geared for. Some of the discussion questions seemed to reach an older audience, but the activities were extremely simplistic).

{http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Z15RhXK8e4E/TJgxYVA7jXI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/t3qh0QAW2lk/s320/rhee1.jpg}
Michelle Rhee: The Good and the Bad
Superman and The Inconvenient Truth behind Waiting for Superman are two of Washington D.C'sD.C.'s Chancellor, Michelle the educational changeschanges, and she
Michelle Rhee Describes Her Chancellorship Responsibilities
In this lesson, we will explore the film footage, read extra background articles, discover what role a chancellor has, and discover if Michelle Rhee had the right to make drastic changes to the educational system in Washington D.C during her chancellorship.
the lesson. Topic:" DidTopic: "Did she impact
What does a Chancellor do?
Wikipedia description and background information The job description for New York's Superintendent
Inconvenient Truth- 52:15 (Discusses her schooling in small class sizes growing up)
Socratic Seminar:
negative perspectives.
It
It is the as chancellor.
Did she make the education system better or worse? Why?
Socratic Seminar Introduction and Basic Materials
deeper level.
Students
Students could divide make conclusions.
Ending Questions:
Do you feel like you understand the text at a deeper level? How?

Davis Guggenheim's Storytelling Revealed
Visual & Audio Track
mistakes made byin the past in public education, and that experts to toutoffer solutions to the problems increase.increase and in the charter schools who promised a miracle but produced the opposite. This is meant to elicit angry emotions from the viewers towards the school board for being the cause of education failing. It also strives to point out that the promises made by these charter schools are empty, which is apparent with the interviews of parents who have bad experiences with these schools.
Interestingly, both documentaries choose to have their interviews narrate the plot of the documentary. In WS, the Voice of God narration style is chosen in order to have a faceless, mysterious guide take us through the journey of finding a “better” education for our children, our future. The reason for this guide being mysterious and faceless is to make the viewer feel like they are there with him discovering, exploring, and finding that there is a problem with education that needs to be addressed, and the viewer can help in this problem. The whole point is to make the viewer feel like they are finding the answer and not being influenced, guided, or pushed towards Guggenheim’s answer, private corporation funded charter schools. However, IT has most narration done onscreen through almost an interview style. The purpose of Cavanaugh and Marelli narrating onscreen is to express to the reader that they, as educators, are the experts, and create an element of ethos within the viewer, trust them because as teachers, they know what the problems and solutions are dealing with education.
The narrator of WS is Davis Guggenheim, also the documentarian, who created An Inconvenient Truth, a controversial documentary that looks at former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and his journey to educate the population about the severity of climate change. Because of Guggenheim’s success with this film, the documentarians for IT chose to mock Guggenheim’s reputation as a documentarian by using a play on words of his two previous documentaries as the title of their own film. The word inconvenient is used to portray the idea that the film made by Guggenheim glossed over the uncomfortable part of the problem. It is uncomfortable to hear the truth, and the unrevealed truth behind Guggenheim’s film is that he had tens of millions of dollars of private money pumped into the charter school system. The narrators for IT made sure to point this out. It is convenient to believe that the corporately funded charter schools will fix every problem that we have in the field of education. It is inconvenient, and it means that we do not have an answer to our problem, if the corporately funded approach will not work. The main narrators of IT are Julie Cavanagh and Darren Marelli. Each of these narrators are in agreement of what their message is, but each portrays the message in a different way. Marelli seems more angry with the supporters of charter schools and the board members because they allow charter schools. Much of his speech is discussing his anger, and little deals with how public education can work. Cavanagh is just as angry, but she appeals more to viewers because of her inspirational story of public education working for her.
interviews her, she is questioned about her daughter's future and educational concerns while she is public education. It is also used to make it more real. It is not merely a small problem you have heard about; it is now something that is effecting families and neighboorhoods across America. The non-diagetic the form of music. It played behind both the voice narrator and the images with
Graphics
While these two documentary films oppose each other in the perspectives they offer of the educational crisis in this country and its potential solutions, they both frequently employ graphic strategies to bolster and express their positions. As might be expected, Guggenheim's highly produced WS features more refined graphics than the low-budget IT, but each provides ample material for analysis.
{WS fill knowledge.PNG} {WS lemon dance.PNG}
These animation sequences affect the viewer in a variety of ways, but it is worth noting the particular style employed. Guggenheim certainly had access to the kind of budget that would allow him to use any type of animation he chose, so he clearly elected this style for a purpose. The sketches of the figures and buildings, though admittedly more sophisticated than a typical student's, evoke the kind of drawings that children might create. In this way, the filmmakers call to mind schoolchildren's behavior while addressing grave concerns about the education system. Doing so throughout the film ensures that the viewer keeps children at the fore of her mind, emphasizing the urgent need to address our education woes for the sake of the children. In addition to supporting the children-first mentality, the animated sequences also express a subtle idea that the filmmakers may not have intended. In an effort to represent pressing educational issues in clear, straightforward ways, they have dramatically oversimplified many aspects of education. As we see the first animation pictured above, we hear the words, "It should be simple. A teacher at a schoolhouse, filling her students with knowledge, and sending them on their way" (30:17). What Guggenheim fails to recognize is that educating kids is not simple, and suggesting that it is calls into question his credibility, undermines his purpose, and perpetuates society's belief that teachers have easy jobs.
budget. The map first map is from WS,WS; the one
{WS map.PNG} {ITmap.PNG}
The first map (WS) represents the percentage of students proficient in reading. As you can see, the filmmakers have dramatically expressed the severity of these numbers by portraying the proficient readers as situated on a raised piece of land that ends in a straight drop-off. Not only does this representation polarize the data by splitting it into two categories--proficient and not proficient--but it also creates a sense of urgency. Even the proficient readers are at risk of falling off the cliff any minute! It's kind of hard to tell from this clip, but those are individual students holding up the percentage signs, which supports the filmmakers' point that very few students are proficient. Of course, we know that more than one student per state is proficient at reading, but even if they decided to show, say, 31 students to represent 31%, the effect just wouldn't be the same.

Lessons on rhetoric and modes of argument as well as uses of comparisons should occur prior to this activity.
Students will use their analytical techniques of the film elements to decide if the director's message was clear.
their opinions.
Students will state their opinions while using their research as evidence in their argument.
Students will produce a formal paper and may also participate in organized debates.
Purpose: To allow students to practice stating their opinion and using supporting evidence in an argument.
To give students the opportunity to practice writing a persuasive argument or a compare/contrast essay using multiple research sources.
multiple perspectives.
Who is Michelle Rhee?
Some articles and film clips about Michelle Rhee and her Chancellorship:
Rhee's Reign Over?
Digital Text Analysis & Comparison Lesson:
Waiting for Superman vs. Inconvenient Truth Footage:
AsAs a class, digital text.
Take out a sheet of paper and Continue discussion after students complete their lists:
Students will list and describe the element categorieselements of film and their importance in yourtheir own words:
Audio
Visual
Graphics
Waiting for Superman Footage:
Watch the footage of Waiting for Superman and note the techniques the director considered.
Think and Discuss:
of the footage?documentarians in this video?
How did they use sounds, graphics and other visual elements to enhance their message?
Did they portray the message effectively? Why or Why not?
HowWhat could they make the footage better?
Next, viewhave changed to improve this footage?
VS.
The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman Footage:
View the Inconvenient
Think and Discuss:
of the footage?documentarians in this video
How did they use sounds, graphics and other visual elements to enhance their message?
Did they portray the message effectively? Why or Why not?
HowWhat could they make the footage better?
Comparehave changed to improve this footage?
In pairs or groups of 3, students will discuss their opinions of these videos and Contrast the footage.will compare and contrast them.
Think and Discuss:
What do theythese segments have in they different? Think further than just 'one says she's good and one says she's bad.'
Which one you agree on?with? Why? Did the video make a stronger argument? In what ways was it stronger?
For additional footage on Michelle Rhee, refer to these time stamps:
down schools)
1:22:53 & 1:22:53 (Test scores
Inconvenient Truth- 52:15 (Discusses her schooling in small class sizes growing up)
Socratic Seminar:
Socratic Seminar is a great activity for students to discuss a medium on a deeper level. Students could divide and discuss the character by using their research information and the above footage to make a conclusion about the Super attendant. WithinWithin the films negative perspectives. It
It is the as chancellor. Did
Did she make
Socratic Seminar Introduction and Basic Materials
Socratic Seminar is a great activity for students to discuss a medium on a deeper level.
Students could divide and discuss the character by using their research information and the above footage to make conclusions.
Ending Questions:
Do you feel like you understand the text at a deeper level? How?

{http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Z15RhXK8e4E/TJgxYVA7jXI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/t3qh0QAW2lk/s320/rhee1.jpg}
Michelle Rhee: The Good and the Bad
two films that perceivedproviding opposite portrayals of Washington D.C's Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, in both good and bad ways.Rhee. In both Chancellor status.
Michelle Rhee Describes Her Chancellorship Responsibilities
In this lesson, we will explore the film footage, read extra background articles, discover what role a chancellor has, and discover if Michelle Rhee had the right to make drastic changes to the educational system in Washington D.C during her chancellorship.
Finally, the class will use the Socratic seminar technique to conclude the lesson. Topic:" Did she impact the education system in a positive or negative way?"
Procedure: Students will use their analytical techniques of the film elements to decide if the director's message was clear. Based on the supplied footage, students will look through sources in order to find support for their opinions. They will state their opinions while using their research as evidence in their argument.
Purpose: To allow students to practice stating their opinion and using supporting evidence in an argument.
What does a Chancellor do?
background information
Below, is the The job description New York's Superintendent.
UseSuperintendent
Compare/Contrast or Persuasive Argument Research Lesson:
Procedure: Ample time should be given to students for researching the topic and developing their argument or comparison (time length would depend on student level).
Lessons on rhetoric and modes of argument as well as uses of comparisons should occur prior to this activity.
Students will use their analytical techniques of the film elements to decide if the director's message was clear.
Students will look through the sources on this wiki, as reference toolwell as any they find on their own, in order to find support for their opinions.
Students will state their opinions while using their research as evidence in their argument.
Students will produce a formal paper and may also participate in organized debates.
Purpose: To allow students to practice stating their opinion and using supporting evidence in an argument.
To give students the opportunity to practice writing a persuasive argument or a compare/contrast essay using multiple research sources.
To lead students to more readily see the 'other side of the classroom.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/43804026/Dueling-Job-Descriptions
Michelle Rhee Describes Her Chancellorship Responsibilitiescoin,' so to speak - recognizing multiple perspectives.
Who is Michelle Rhee?
Here are someSome articles and film clips from the internet about Michelle and her Chancellorship. Use these resources for citations in your argument.Chancellorship:
Wikipedia Background of Michelle Rhee
Michelle Rhee's Student First Organization
Education Reformer Tells Her Side
Rhee's Reign Over?
Digital Text Analysis & Comparison Lesson:
Waiting for Superman vs. Inconvenient Truth Footage:
As a class, we have mentioned different elements of digital text.
and list and describe the element categories:categories in your own words:
Audio
Visual