![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sd41blogs.ca\/gaitensp\/files\/2017\/04\/miss-j-shocked-gif.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nand<\/p>\n
But, I<\/strong> have to be in school, so you know the drill…<\/p>\n You are about to receive some instructions.\u00a0 Remember that in order to read instructions with clarity, we need to prepare ourselves: remove distractions, external and internal, so that you can read in a calm, friendly, and curious way.\u00a0 Read all the way through, to get a general sense of things, and then reread each part as you do the work.<\/p>\n In truth, there are only two things I’d like you to do in these days leading up to January 10 – I leave the amount of time you put into these two things entirely up to you:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Warm up your hand.\u00a0<\/strong> We are heading into graphic novel work, and you’ll want to get your drawing hand in shape.\u00a0 This can be done in any number of ways, including:<\/p>\n Also, spend at least 45 minutes coloring your House on Fire drawing, preferably with pencil crayons (if you have some at home – they don’t have to be the same colors you were using).\u00a0 \u00a0Remember Lynda Barry’s instructions: spend time<\/em> on it; try overlapping colors; use this as an exploration of color – what are you learning while you do it?\u00a0 You will use this learning in our graphic novel.\u00a0 See below for some ideas of what you do while you color.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0<\/strong>Personal inquiry into MINDSET in general and CLARITY in particular<\/strong>. We’ve done a lot of work here already, and you’ve had a lot of warning that “we will<\/em> be doing something with this!”\u00a0 We will start that “something on Monday.\u00a0 I’d like you to be ready for it.<\/p>\n We shall not cease from exploration ~ T.S. Eliot,\u00a0Four Quartets<\/em><\/p>\n Consider the exploration we have already engaged in:<\/p>\n If you are looking in your comp book and noticing that your notes on these things are, well, a little thin<\/em>, use these next few days to dive back in and beef things up.\u00a0 (For reals.)<\/p>\n For everyone, spend some time with those notes and start to look for patterns and connections and “A-ha!” moments.\u00a0 Write those ideas down.<\/p>\n Consider, too, some of the less explicit learning we have done:<\/p>\n These are all things that you can spend some time sitting with and recording thoughts about in your comp book.\u00a0 Avoid full sentences!\u00a0 Consider a web, or a mindmap, or sketchnotes (if you have that ability).\u00a0 Regardless, aim for thoroughness.<\/p>\n There are a few other things I’d like you to do, too.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Get your Burnaby Public Library card (or borrow your parent’s, and if no one has one, see if your parents can help you sign up for one!) and click here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n This will take you to the Oxford English Dictionary, which is the Grandaddy of all dictionaries.<\/p>\n Enter “clarity” in to the search window.<\/p>\n Spend some time with the definitions.<\/p>\n Then, go to the top-ish right of the page and click “Historical Thesaurus,” and then enter “clarity” into that search window.<\/p>\n Spend some time exploring this page – click on the red “clarity” in each result and explore the page that comes up.\u00a0 Make note of the synonyms (words that have the same or similar meaning to clarity) that appeal to you and\/or that help change the way you think about the word “clarity.”<\/p>\n Spend time on this activity.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n
<\/a><\/li>\n
\nAnd the end of all our exploring
\nWill be to arrive where we started
\nAnd know the place for the first time.<\/p>\n\n
\n