For an Art/Health Education/Core Competencies/Social-Emotional Growth project, we dug deep into our souls and created a metaphoric representation of our Real-Life Monsters, something we struggle with every time it happens and that stands in the way of our success.

This project was inspired by a story from Lynda Barry’s book What It Is, in which she realizes that her childhood fear of/obsession with the Medusa has a real-life correlation.  

(Lynda Barry, What It Is, Drawn and Quarterly, 2008)

And I love the results so much that I am going to have a hard time giving them back…

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What’s your real-life monster?  How will you defeat it?

Vlad found this site, which gives public speaking and speech writing tips – enjoy!

Your task is to write a campaign speech, in order to influence our votes toward you on Election Day.  In this speech, you will explain why you are the ideal candidate to be the first MACC Mini-Brain.  Later, you will deliver this speech to the class on Campaign Day.

(You know now you can do that without throwing up or dying, as proven by the Mini-Research U.S. Politicians project, so just relax and don’t let that last paragraph blow your mind too much.)

Your campaign speech should include:

1. An introduction, in which you (subtly) grab our attention.  In this introduction, you should introduce your top three leadership qualities and give a brief teaser of your plan to make Portable 2 a better place. Focus here: you want to draw us in, not scare us away. 

2. Three paragraphs, explaining why your leadership qualities are suited to the position of the MACC Mini-Brain.  In each paragraph, take one leadership quality and tell us about a specific time when you have demonstrated this quality.  Think about what we have seen from Clinton, Trump, and Michelle Obama: telling specific stories about your qualities is the way to capture people’s hearts and make you relatable.  Remember, the juice is in the details.  If you wish, you can also explain why this quality is important for the MACC Mini-Brain to have. 

3. A paragraph detailing what your version of the MACC Mini-Brain would look like. You can explain how you would lead, or explain your policy plan(s), or both.

4. A conclusion, in which you recap your leadership qualities and how they relate to your plan.  You want to be memorable.  

Things to focus on:

• Specific word choice – what word says exactly what you want it to say?
• Sentence structure – how can you use structure to aid in clarity?  
• Details – how can you use specific details to strengthen your argument? 
• Flow – each ideas and each sentence should lead naturally to the next
• Realness – it should sound like a real person, talking to other real people: you are at your best, publicly, when you are closest to your most relaxed self.  You are not acting like a politician; you are just you.
• Taking it seriously – humor is okay (even encouraged!) but the objective is a real one.

Your setting is this classroom, so don’t write a speech that you would deliver at a rally in an air hanger.  This is more like a town hall. 

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar totally count.  

If you’re looking for inspiration, there are a few videos below.  Remember the qualities we identified when watching Obama and Bill Clinton speak:

• honesty
• unifying
• repetition; coming back to your theme
• unbiased
• connecting to others; finding commonality
• use of antithesis
• positive message

Obama 2004 DNC Keynote – with analysis

Obama 2004 DNC Keynote in full

Bill Clinton 2016 DNC speech

Social Studies extension for those who are interested:

Read the below articles and/or watch the remainder of the PBS NewsHour special we started watching about the passing of journalist Gwen Ifill.

In your comp book, take notes (in words or pictures, or words and pictures) capturing interesting information, and write about the following questions:

1. Why might it be important to have a woman of color as the anchor of one of the United States’ leading news organizations?
2. Why is it important for reporters to be impartial in their reporting?  Can you think of examples of media bias in the materials we have explored this term?

Videos:

Articles:

“Gwen Ifill, Political Reporter and Co-Anchor of ‘PBS NewsHour,’ Dies at 61“

“The Life and Example of Gwen Ifill“

“The Grace of Gwen Ifill“

This morning, we watched Hillary Clinton`s concession speech, prefaced with the idea that you can be incredibly smart, very successful, and hard-working (and deeply flawed), and still experience failure on a big level – and that how you respond matters.

After, when the class was asked what the important things that they heard were, one of our grade 6 girls raised her hand and said, “That girls still matter.“ 

Needless to say, this broke my heart.

I`m reposting here, for truth, Michelle Obama`s speech delivered last month in response to Trump`s recurring denigration of women.

Her words still matter – maybe matter even more, now.  And indeed, Emma, girls still matter.

As we reach the tail-end of a truly insane American election cycle, here are a few more options for you for your weekend homework.  See these as alternatives to (do instead of) your media bias homework (looking at web pages from conservative, center, and progressive news organizations), if you are having a hard time getting your head around that; or as extensions. if this is really grabbing your interest and imagination.  

Option 1:

Read these two articles, which recap the race from each candidate’s point of view:

“Donald Trump’s Road to Election Day”

“Hillary Clinton’s Path to Election Day”

Take notes in your comp book.  What are the big ideas?  What are the important details?  What are the ethical issues in play?

Extension: 

“Specter of election day violence looks as Trump spurs vigilante poll watchers”

Option 2:

Watch these three videos, again taking notes in your comp book about big ideas, important details, and ethics:

“4 days before the election, a look at campaign closing strategies”

“What’s behind fears of voter fraud?”

“Shields and Brooks on rancor in the electorate and the future of the Supreme Court”

And a few other bits and pieces:

Remember to continue to review the Obama package as you work on your Mini-Brain Campaign materials.  It can be found by clicking here. 

The criteria for the interview portion of the project can be found here: mini-brain-interview-marking-sheet.

These items can also be found in the Projects tab, under Social Studies.

And – don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday at 2:00 a.m.  Set your clocks back one hour before you go to sleep Saturday night and you will win one extra hour of sleep! 

NEW JOB POSTING: The MACC Mini-Brain!

There is a new position opening up in the Suncrest MACC 6/7 program: the MACC Mini-Brain.

The Mini-Brain is a job similar to “class president.”  The role of the Mini-Brain is to be the teacher when Mr. Gaitens isn’t in the room or when he doesn’t feel like being the teacher.  The Mini-Brain is to Mr. Gaitens as Robin is to Batman.  The Mini-Brain is a natural leader, fair, kind, and helps mediate conflicts.

(Full disclosure: this idea was stolen directly – and then adapted – from the incomparable Ms. Cowan, founder of the Cap Hill MACC Pack.)

Duties:

• Records attendance
• Leads students to the gym and Music and sends people to start again if they are talking while in the halls
• Helps Mr. Gaitens make decisions, such as:
  – what activities to do for D.P.A.
  – when to take breaks
  – what movie to watch for the end of term celebration
  – how much milk and sugar to put in his coffee (remember: we are only capable of 7-8 truly thoughtful decisions a day)
  – things he doesn’t want to think about
• Controls the class jobs basket
• Helps classmates solve minor conflicts
• Holds the tie-breaking vote in the case of a tie in class votes
• Reminds people to do their jobs
• Welcomes guests to the room
• Politely corrects Mr. Gaitens’s spelling errors (and French pronunciation, if so able)
• Sighs wearily at the P.A. system when there are too many announcements
• Other duties as they arise

Mandatory Skills/Assets – some combination of the following:

• Kind
• Fair
• Well-organized
• Makes good choices
• Is a natural leader
• Trustworthy
• Responsible
• Respectful
• Safe
• Sense of humor
• Patient
• Heart of gold
• Friendly
• Welcoming
• Optimistic
• Perseveres

Project Outline:

Hello, Leaders of Tomorrow.  Welcome to your first campaign.

For a combination of Social Studies, Career Education, Writing, Math, and Art, you will each create a two-part project to determine the first MACC Mini-Brain!

Part One:

Remember that letter and package from President Obama that we explored (click here)? For Part One of the campaign for Mini-Brain project, you will each create your own version of that document.  It will contain:

1. A persuasive essay, explaining why you should be the first MACC Mini-Brain. In this essay, you will try to win our votes by explain how and why you best fit the Mini-Brain job description.
2. A campaign poster, done on 8.5 x 11 paper or cardstock. This can be a self-portrait, like the photo of President Obama that was in the package we explored, or a catchy and meaningful visual with a catchy and persuasive slogan; or some combination of those two representations.
3. Creative choice: remember the bios of the two Obama dogs? What would you use on this third page, to humanize yourself, grab our hearts, and tell us more about your values?
4. A written interview, in which you answer the same questions that President Obama answered, with the idea of being truthful and showing your personality, but also trying to win our votes.

Part Two:

Details to follow!  I figure this would be enough to explode your (mini-)brains for the time being…

Good luck!