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Revisiting King’s Dream

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During the middle weeks of January, as we’ve been considering some of Martin Luther King’s words and the work he did with others in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. While most students had heard some things about Dr. King before, not everyone had had a chance before to listen to his speeches or study the actions he took (nor those that were taken against him.

Reading and listening to his actual words was challenging, though the combination of different sources and experiences seemed to help by giving us a few ways to connect to his work. The dramatization Our Friend Martin provided another accesssible way for us to learn about and THINK ABOUT King’s impact and the issue of race as we follow-up on Black Shirt Day and as we move into February, Black History Month.

Our Friend Martin

After spending time in class sharing some reflections of that program and what it made us think about, I’ve invited students to post some of their reflections as comments here.

Core Competencies 2

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My book trailer (No 2). Is My favourite book trailer yet is book trailer two. My book  trailer is about Diary of a wimpy kid: Wrecking ball.The core competence I have used is Critical thinking. Since I have used it by reading the book. Then writing down what I think the book is about. I now can wright book reports consistently. I used to get bored and distracted when doing book trailers/reports. Now I barely get distracted when i do book reports/trailers. and soon I wont get distracted when doing book reports/trailers!

 

 

 

Core Competencies

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My heart for health care workers

My heart for health care workers is one of the pictures I have chosen for one of my core competencies. I know it isn’t much, but I would like to acknowledge how hard the nurses (and doctor’s) have been working! The core competence I have chosen is creative thinking. I chose it since It was fun trying to create a mix between a picture somebody else made and what I added.Because I can create new things from old things! Before I used to wasn’t good at mixing logo’s, now I’m good at making logo’s. Next time I try, I will know what I’m doing.

We could all use (another) laugh

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Updated May 27

I’m still hoping to see some of your jokes in the comments, and I’m hoping some (or some one) of you can tell the joke that goes with the picture at the end of this post (tweeted by Danica McKellar @McKellarMath). For now, here are a couple of to help get you started:

Question: What did the poet say to Luke Skywalker?
Answer: “Metaphors be with you.” (from Poetry Fountain)

Question: How long has Anakin Skywalker been evil?
Answer: Since the Sith Grade. (from Fatherly)

Our special guest at our recent class meeting brought some good stories, positive messages and more than a couple of good laughs. That is something we could all use: a regular healthy dose of smiles and laughter. That’s not news to six-year-old Callaghan McLaughlin from Saanich, B.C., whom we read about recently with his joke stand spreading #CovidKindness. And it made me smile again to read about how some Calgary high school students have started a joke telephone hotline.

Intending to give a little boost to the spirit and spread a little joy to seniors currently isolated at home, the teens have recorded jokes and stories along with positive messages and poems which folks can listen to over the phone. They’ve called it the Joy4ALL Project and included “JOY4ALL” in the toll-free phone number. What a wonderful idea! And it has gained some big-time attention and praise from big-time comedy. James Corden, the host of The Late Show on CBS, featured the teens’ Joy4All project in one of his segments. He also seems to have recruited comedy star Billy Crystal to lend his talents to the teens’ efforts by recording a couple of jokes for the hotline.

We are currently working on writing and recording some poetry, and it’s no surprise that the funnier verses tend to be our favourites. Why shouldn’t we record ourselves reading a few more of these? Members of our current class are hereby challenged to find a joke or funny poem to add to your recordings (scroll through some of our old favourite verses found on the poetry foundation site and you can search there for amusing work by Jack Prelutsky, Kenn Nesbitt, & Shel Silverstein for starters).

Have you got a good joke to share (or a real groaner)? Actor, author and mathematician, Danica McKellar, tweeted this image based on a well-worn math joke. Do you know it, or can you take a guess at what it is? Leave your guess or another joke or short humourous verse in a comment.

What makes someone interesting?

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We are going to look at another interesting short story. Before listening to the introduction to the story below, please complete this pre-reading questionnaire. After submitting your responses, go on to listen to the introduction (as read by the story’s author).

When you’ve finished, please respond to the reflection questions here.

Then please revisit our list of assigned activities for this week to check your progress on ongoing projects and look for a new task for your designing skills. You’ll also find a link to the next part of the story.

May 12, bi-weekly meeting (& maybe mindreading?)

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With the arrival of our regular Tuesday class circle/meeting, I hope everyone will find time this morning to complete this little questionnaire before we begin. I’ll have a new story to talk about and some further thoughts on using the verses you are writing as well as some other ways to use your creativity.

I did also mention something about mindreading in the title of this short post. Well, if you’re a mind reader, you’ll already know what I mean. If not, you’ll need to wait for the meeting! See you soon!

If you are among those who still need to spend some time on a math or literacy game from yesterday and send me some reflection notes on what you thought or how it went, links to the games and other notes about latest and ongoing projects can be found here.