Week 8--Friday, May 22--Last day!

Happy, happy Friday! I sure hope you are planning a celebration of some kind for yourself this week! It has been a roller-coaster for sure getting to this point!

Thanks for hanging in there and especially to those of you who kept up on your work each week. I really appreciated your attention to detail and all the time and effort you put into the reading and writing as we progressed through the novels. I enjoyed seeing what you thought about the stories as each week progressed, and I hope you enjoyed them.

Your last assignment for this class is simply to complete your final quiz over the novel's end in Skyward. It will be open until midnight. *As always, no work from this week accepted after Sunday.

Hopefully, I will see you at graduation in the future!

Mrs. C

Week 3 - Tuesday, April 14th- Day 10 online school--Ch. 20-21 & Perserverance Journal

Happy Spring! I hope you had a lovely break and got to do something fun with your family. At our house, we've played some very intense Uno and Catan games; there are lots of poor losers and poor winners for sure, and Lady Luck doesn't stay with any one person for long. :)

For today's class, just a reminder to finish and upload your Perseverance journal/essay that I assigned in my last post. It is supposed to be uploaded in Teams where you can find the assignment and the rubric. The other item on the agenda today is for you to read Ch. 20-21 (P. 152-164).

I will be checking over your journals today, so if you have any questions, just shoot me a note!
Thanks,
Mrs.C

Week 2, Thursday April 9-- Day 9 online school

As you've been reading, one attribute Louie has that seems to enable him to keep going is his ability to persevere. Perseverance is about continuing to move forward even when there are difficulties, and this is a message that is important given what society is going through at this point in time. For today, it would insightful to see what each of you is doing to persevere during the time you are at home and connect it to Louie's journey. I would like to write a 1 page essay by Tuesday that addresses this idea. Think of it as a longer, more organized journal than what you usually write. Here is a template you can use for it, and when you are ready, you'll upload it to the assignment section in Teams.

Directions:
1. Put an MLA heading (your name, Mrs. C., Thematic Lit., 14 April 2020) + a Title
2. Paragraph 1--Discuss what perseverance means to you and explain at least 3-4 situations in the story so far that show you how Louie fits your definition. You might contrast him with Mac or explain what you think enables him to keep going even when all evidence points to a dire outcome.
3. Paragraph 2 - Discuss when you've faced difficult situations in your life and managed to persevere. What enabled you to do so? Was it another person who supported you? Was it an activity that enabled you have to have a goal or made you happy? Explain.
4. It should be 250-300words.

Enjoy your long weekend!
Mrs. C

Week 2, April 8 --Day 8 Online school

For those of you who did the reflection questions yesterday, I am impressed by the level of detail most of you conveyed in your answers. There was lots of good proof from the story and examples that were cited to back up your opinion. Thanks!

I also finished grading all of the projects, so you should be able to see the graded rubric and my comments in Teams. If you can't let me know.

For today, I'd just like you to read Ch. 18-19  (p. 139-151)to see what happens to Louie and Phil now that they are in the hands of the Japanese. Several of you were surprised yesterday at how nice the Japanese treated them at first, but then turned on them. It is odd....why would they try to save their lives and then later beat them? You will begin to see a pattern of duality --that of kindness and cruelty--so pay attention when it comes up in the Japanese POW camp in this part of the book. Here are some images from the camps. The prisoners look like holocaust survivors, so you know that conditions had to be terrible.

 Do something nice for someone today!
Mrs. C

Week 2, Tuesday April 7--Day 7 online school

Hello!

Today is a reflection day since you had to read quite a bit yesterday (Ch. 15-17). So, all I would like you to do is process a bit of what you read and why some actions were important. Can we all agree that it's truly amazing that Louie has survived a plane crash, constant shark attacks, and being at sea for over 40 days?!? How do you think he did it? How did he not go crazy? These are all things we will discuss as we get to the end of the novel,but for now, grab your book and reflect on these ideas.

As always, let me know if you have any trouble!
Be well,
Mrs. C

Week 2, Monday April 6-- Day 6 of online school

Hello! Hope you had a good weekend! Be sure to shoot me an message if you have submitted anything late as I have graded quite a lot of the online stuff, and don't go back to check it unless I know there is something new there. :)

For today, there are two items to complete:

1. Watch this video of Louie's dramatized crash into the ocean and think about....what do they leave out? What seems different to you than what the imagery in the book? You'll have to describe your thoughts tomorrow.

2. Read Ch. 15-16-17 (p. 118-135). In these chapters, you get to see how Louie overcomes several intense obstacles. The poor guy just doesn't get a break!

Have a good day. Be well,
Mrs. C

Friday, April 3 --Day 5 online school

Happy Friday! You did it! I hope you and your family are doing well and staying healthy. We are doing okay at the Christoffersen household, but are glad to have been able to be outside the last few days. Putting everything online has been a change for sure, but I'm trying to get used to it!

Anyhow, for today, I want you to think about imagery.

After reading Ch.12-14, one aspect that gets your attention is the vivid way the writer conveys what Louis, Phil, and Mac had to endure while stuck in the raft at sea. So, what I would like you to take some time to do is look back through those chapters and find a quote that highlights an appeal to each of the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound and put them in this form.

Thanks for hanging in there! Have a good weekend!
Mrs. C

Thursday, April 2--Day 4 online school

Hello everyone! Great job yesterday for those of you who were able to complete the online questions/discussion. I checked it at 3pm and was impressed by some really thorough answers and references to the book, but realized I need to figure out a way to be able to respond to your thoughts without having to create a distant reply....so I'm working on it! If you didn't get a chance to log in to the discussion yesterday, you still have time because I know not everyone is online yet, so I will recheck it today too. The spycraft assignments take me a little while, so be patient on those.

Also, I started adding some grades in for this week based on what has been completed online. I will keep items open, but not indefinitely, so try to complete them as soon as you can. If you are just now getting online, please let me know where you are at with all of this.

Your assignment today: Read Chap. 12, 13, & 14 which marks the start of part III in the book and tells about what happens to the crew after the crash. If you think it is terrible being stuck in your house right now, imagine being on a tiny life raft adrift in the middle of the ocean!

All you have to do is read today. I will give you an assignment over this part of the book tomorrow.
Thanks!
Mrs. C

Wednesday, April 1 - Day 3 Online School

Whoa! A lot happened in the reading yesterday, and I am curious to hear your thoughts about all of the intense drama. Your assignment for today is a reflection and interaction with others regarding the reading from yesterday (Ch. 9-10-11):

Click on this link that will take you to GoSoapbox where there are some discussion questions and put in this code: 899-967-587 to join. It works just like Kahoot, so the code should get you right in. Once there, I would like you to respond to the questions you see and to reply to at least 2 other people's reflections (If you are the first, you may have to check back in later to do this). Your reflections and replies to others should all be at least 2-3 sentences. Thank you!

Have a great day!

Mrs. C

Tuesday, March 31st - Day 2 Virtual school

Checking in...
Hopefully yesterday went fairly smoothly for you. I had a few glitches on my end, but it was nice to hear from people and "chat" online. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need something. Here is what I heard from reading your surveys...

*There are concerns about technology, work, senior year losses and family welfare....these are all items that I think about as well, so let's all just try to do the best we can and strike a balance between thinking, learning, and adapting to this new situation. I am really bummed about losing all this time in your senior year because I know you can't make those memories again in the same way. 

With that said, I think that reading Unbroken may help you because Louie is so resilient in times of trouble and in dealing with the shocking shifts in his life's plan. When we left off in the book, his dreams of being in the Olympics had just been dashed abruptly when the war hit America, so he had to come up with plan B and ended up joining the military.  I hope that life will return to normal this year, but there is no way to know if/when that will be, so we will work on plan B together even though it will mean that "school" is not going to be the exact same as it was.

Speaking of school, what are you doing today for class?
1. Read Ch. 9-10-11 (p. 78-100). You should have finished Ch. 6-8 before we left school, so I am picking up where we left off. We will do an online discussion piece regarding this reading tomorrow, along with an activity, so just have it read in time. Thanks!

Louie & his best friend in the Air Force.

Stay safe and be well!

Mrs. C

Monday, March 30th -Day 1 Virtual School

Hello everyone! I'm sad that this is our new normal, but feel glad that we can keep in touch virtually. Since this will be new for everyone, we will ease into the week. I realize that you might have bigger concerns than school right now, so do what you can and keep me posted as to how you are doing. I miss you all and hope that you are okay. You can always contact me on Teams, by email at christoffersenj@rocori.k12.mn.us, or via Remind.

With that said, for today, I just want you to try to do two things....
1. Take this survey.
2. Finish your Spycraft assignment that we started the last week we were together, and try your hand at uploading it to Teams. Most people had just about finished it as I recall, so you might just need to upload it, while other people might need to complete the research and then upload it. Don't forget to write in sentences when you need to and paste the sources to show where you got each answer.

Thanks! Stay safe and be well!
Mrs. Christoffersen