Class Work for May 26-29, 2009
This week’s class work will focus on music with a social message.
Remember: If you share a computer to get directions for this assignment, you do NOT share answers! Also, you are NOT permitted to print anything for this assignment. Read the articles and questions on the computer, and put all answers on your OWN paper.
Step One:
- Read the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s song, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” by clicking here.
- This song was written during the early 1960s.
- Answer the following questions:
1. Knowing the historical context of the song, what do you notice about the lyrics?
2. What is the song about?
3. How does Bob Dylan use rhetorical questions to engage listeners?
4. What does he mean when he says “the answer is blowin’ in the wind”?
5. Last year, Neil Young said, “I know that the time when music could change the world is past.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
6. Was there a time when music had more impact?
7. What makes a song significant as opposed to just popular?
8. Does music in general have the potential to change the world?
Step Two:
- Read the article, The Morning After “American Idiot,” by clicking here.
- Answer the following questions:
a. How did the success of “American Idiot” affect Green Day?
b. What is significant about their album “21st Century Breakdown”?
c. How is the “cultural moment” at which this new album is arriving different from that during which “American Idiot” emerged?
d. In what way is it worse, according to Billie Joe Armstrong?
d. What do song titles like “American Eulogy” and “Last Night on Earth” suggest?
e. What themes emerge on the new album?
f. How is the new album structured?
g. Which characters people the album? Why do you think the lyricist creates these different personae?
h. Why does the author begin the article with a tour through a tour of their longtime studio and trace the band’s evolution as part of the article?
j. Why does Armstrong hold off on completing the vocals?
k. What do you think Armstrong means when he talks about what he would like to write saying, “It’s something where you write the soundtrack to the chaos. And you write the soundtrack to some kind of revolt”?
You may turn in your work one step at a time or all at once. ALL work (including this class work, Odyssey/FCAT Explorer work, and AR Notes) is due by Friday, 5/29/09. NO late work will be accepted without an absence.
Bioethics: Where do you stand? (5/18-5/22)
This is your class work for the week of May 18-22, 2009.
Remember, you are to WORK ALONE on this assignment. Even if you share a computer, you do NOT share answers! Also, NO PRINTING will be allowed on this assignment. Do ALL of your work from the computer and your OWN paper.
Step One: Where do you stand?
- Review the worksheet found here. Answer the opinion questions on your own paper.
- Then answer these questions:
a) How quickly were you able to make up your mind about these issues?
b) Did you use facts or emotions to make your decisions?
c) Did you take a case-by-case approach to decision-making, or were all of your decisions made according to your personal morals?
Step Two: Read the Article
- Read the New York Times article here.
- Answer the following review questions:
d. Identify three different points of view portrayed by the article. What is at stake for each? Are there any viewpoints on this issue that are not represented and what are they?
e. What are the possible solutions to the Best’s problem? Which solution do you think you would choose if you were in their place and why?
f. In your opinion, what changes in practice or regulation, if any, should be made to the current system used by fertility clinics in the United States?
g. After reading the article, have your views or opinions about Scenario 1 in the initial activity changed? How so and why?
Step Three: Explore
- Look at the graphic organizer found here, and make one like it on your own paper.
- Use one of the following articles to help you fill in the organizer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/opinion/31kristof.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/archival/19970628euthanasia.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/business/worldbusiness/26corn.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/science/20tier.html
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/rationing-health-care-part-2
Turn in all work by the end of the week.
Optional Extra Credit Assignment:
If you attended the guest speaker presentation on Monday, you may do the following for extra credit. You must complete ALL steps or you will NOT get your extra credit.
1. List 3 things you learned from the presentation.
2. List your plan for life after high school.
3. How will you achieve that plan? What money will you need, skills/training, etc.?
4. Go to one of the scholarship web sites listed below, and find a scholarship you qualify for. List the name of that scholarship and the dolar amount.
- Fastweb
- College Scholarships
- Find Aid
5. Turn in your extra credit work along with the rest of your class work by Friday, 5/22/09.
The American Dream
This is your class work for May 12-14, 2009. First, you must read the article, What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession?, and answer the comprehension questions. Then, proceed with the following activity.
Directions: Work alone, not in a group! Even if you share a computer, your answers should be independent.
Read one of the following articles online.
America Faces 1933’s Realities
Then answer the following questions:
1. What events, people, movements, ideas, norms and/or perceptions does this article mention that were important during the time period in which the article was written?
2. How is the American Dream defined and/or described in this article? How does this definition reflect the historical context in which the article was written?
3. What quotes from the article best illustrate the article’s “take” on the concept of the American Dream? Do you agree with the image of America that these quotes present? Why or why not?
4. Compare and contrast the article’s presentation of the American Dream with contemporary conceptions of concept. What about the representation of the American Dream has stayed the same through time and what, if anything, has changed?
Turn in your work, together with your comprehension questions on the article, by the end of the week.
Researching Depression and Suicide
After reading the NY Times article on Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why, explore the following links. Then write 10 facts about depression/suicide, and 5 questions with answers on this topic. (NOTE: Your questions cannot be the same as your facts.)
