Thursday, December 6, 2007
PERIOD 2!! "scribin it up"
Ashley for Period 5
Come back Ms. Smith!! Good choice of sub today though, he knows what he's talking about. Many people became annoyed by the length of the chapter today. The chapter was about Zionism. During the small group discussion, the class was very gender segregated. We have got to get over our fear of cooties! Well anyways, we thought that Danny is a very anti-social kid, and his dad took away his only friend.
During the discussion we also found that Maddie is OCD. Yay Maddie. Alex really wowed us today.... and what about Cate, she drives really well, she even ran into a tree. Maddison has some craker jacks. Ron from Harry Potter wasnt played by the right person---Maddie disagreed. Nunca, means NEVER!!!! Maddie is plum out of ideas.Though every one is tainting the scribing experience, this is what they wanted me to say.------Maddie likes pananas. Let's get serious.
Symbol of the "eye" became a basis for much conversation. The simple writting of the story was broken into this paragraph about the meaning of man.
Some feel that Reb Saunders will never change his ways. Why is Reb Saunders SO agaisnt Zionism? Cate stated that people need a balance of religion and reality in life. Morgan said, in the large group, that the simple story makes you have to become a part of the story. Dawnielle made a remark about the last line of chapter 13, where Reuven remembers that day they met, and how you must think about the series of events after that. Over all, good day of conversation.
Home Work: Read Chapter 14 and What are You Getting Ms. Smith for Christmas? (or should I say Hannukkah????) :)
Scribe for Period 5 December 5th
The homework was to finish reading Chapter 13 and to make sure you think about what you are going to get Ms. Smith for Christmas
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Period 2 Scribe for December 5th!!!
And today was a late start day, so naturally the "Hello Ms. Smith" at the beginning of class was a little more enthusiastic because we'd all slept in!
Then Molly and Ms. Smith talked about Chuck (nothing new there!). We were reminded of the question we should be mulling over night and day---"What are you getting Smith for Christmas?" Starbucks card, anyone?
We then had the rest of the class to either read Ch. 13 of The Chosen or read ahead.
And then the bell rang after a 40-minute shortened class and Period 2 English 9 Honors for December 5th was over! :-(
The Scribe for the 5th Day in the Wonderful Month of December
More from December 4th's Period Two
The role that Rueven plays in the relationship between Reb and Danny Saunders
- He acts as a way for Danny and Reb to communicate because they don't talk to each other
- Reb uses Reuven to find out what Danny does with his time in the library
- He acts as a buffer between them
The role of Danny's siblings in the story
- Reb promises his daughter when she is two
- Danny's brother might be able to take Danny's place if he decides not to be a tzaddik
The reason for the quiet relationship between Danny and Reb
- Reb is too busy
- Reb wants Danny to find answers on his own
- He wants Danny to decide what's important to him
The symbolism of the fly in the web passage
- The fly can represent Danny feeling trapped because he has no choice but to become a tzaddik like his father
How Reb's past relationships might be affecting his relationship with his new family
- He doesn't want to get to close
- His family is not more important than his religion
No homework tonight!!!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Scribe for December 4th, 2nd hour

- Danny an Reb's relationship
- Danny's feelings about his brother
- How Danny felt trapped
- Whether or not Danny would abandon his inherited job
- Why Reb decided to raise Danny in silence
- How Reb's past affects him now
- Why Danny's sister is significant in the story, and the possibility of Reuven liking her
For homework, Ms. Smith decided to give us a break and our only homework is to think of what we're going to get her for Christmas. Tommorow we have a sub, and we get to read all hour.
Period 2 Scribe 12/4/07

Happy Holidays!
Hey period 2!
Our relationship traces were due today!
Today in class we split up into two different groups for the discussion quiz. Smith suggested we talk about book 1 and 2, challenging the system, and our relationship traces and visual comparisons. Some of the topics my group discussed:
-How Reuven is spending every Shabbat with Danny and Reb and how he is getting used to the hasidic faith
- What Reb said about not waiting for the Messiah and how he disagrees with that
-We also compared Reb Saunders and David Malter and their beliefs
- Reb thinks God will fix all their problems and that the jewish people shouldn't act on anything and just wait for the Messiah to come. David thinks that the jewish people need more rabbis and teachers and that they should make their way to Palestine and make it a Jewish "state".
- We also dicussed how Reb would act when Danny tells him that he does not want to become the tzaddik
- If he doesn't become the tzaddik he might lose the relationship with his father
- If he takes up the role of the tzaddik he will have to forget his dreams
-We talked about growing up in silence and if that allows Danny and Reb to get to know each other better and comparing growing up in silence and with talking.
-Danny's study of psychology
-the symbolism of eyes and sickness and also the connection between eyes and silence.
-how Danny has change due to his study of Freud- His ideas and morals are being challenged
- the Talmud says silence is good
- Freud says talking is good
- Contridicting ideas
-How Reb talks to Danny through Reuven
-Danny's sstruggles with health, talking, and balancing his interests
- Jews in Europe were struggling and so were the Jews in America, people didn't do anything when all the Jews were being killed
-how sickness is being spread through the Saunders family
-CTS- problems lead to CTS
- problem in the Chosen, Danny doesn’t want to be the tzaddik
- problem in LOF stranded on the island want to get off get rescued and the other have fun
- how do you leave the system?
- Reuven and Danny are challenging the system
- role of Reb and David when it comes to CTS
- They are in a way challenging Reb
- Reb challenging orthodox system by Reuven be Danny’s friend
Homework:
Pink Letter, late start tomorrow, and think about the gift you are going to give Smith for Christmas
Tuesday December 4, 2007-Scribe Period 5
In the discussion, some things that were talked about were:
- The selfishness of Danny that he might or might not have
- Whether or not Danny would take the position of rabbi after his father
- The growing or shrinking of the relationship of Reuven and Danny
The homework for tonight is just to relax because smith is going to give us a break from all the work we have had to do. (Thank you very much) But our class needs to collaborate with each other and decide what the totally awesome gift we are getting her for Christmas. Tomorrow we will have a sub and we get to use the whole class period to read!!!! Hooray!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Once Upon A Time In Ms. Smith's English 5th Hour
Let me start with the homework:
- Tomorrow there is a quiz over book 2, but this will be a discussion quiz. There will be 2 fishbowls going on at the same time, and NO BLOGGING! This is purely discussion! And for all who have read ahead, don't reveal any information past book 2! Tonight we are to think of different comments we would like to say, or different questions we may have had, and we will be graded on what we say and how often, be prepared!
- The RELATIONSHIP TRACE is due tomorrow! For all that still have to finish there project, we need to connect Danny, Reuven, Reb, and David all to each other and state the relationship, the feelings about the relationship, and examples. Then we need to compare 3 aspects of our life together; Ms. Smith said to make them specific people rather than a group. And she doesn't mind how you present the information, as long as it's all there.
- And also, for anyone interested, the pod-casts are online for anyone to hear what our classmates had to say.
Today, the theme seemed to be the old saying, "What am I, chop liver!?" Some how we managed to connect this comment to many aspects of our discussion. We also had the common Emma story, and our discussion over chapters 9-10.
Here are some notes on our discussion:
Remember back to chapter 9 and the part where Reuven is describing so vividly the fly, spider and spider web. There is so much symbolism in these things, we just had to discuss what they may be! Corresponding colors are corresponding ideas) I wish I could be giving you more detail, but I couldn't write fast enough so I hope you can get the idea.
- Fly: Danny(getting caugth up in a web of the beliefs he is meant to follow and what he wants to do with his life), Reuven, Reb, Danny/Reb, David(being caught up in his controversial stories with strong meaning).
- Spider: Reb(focusing on, kind of, betraying Danny), Reb, anything that challenges Reb's beliefs, Reb/Danny, David.
- Spider Web: Reb's ideas, Reb, Reb's beliefs and expectations, Reuven(holding together Danny and Reb's relationship), Davids stories.
- A point was also made on the parallel between Billy and Danny. How they are both exposed to the world and then shut off.
- Also, a spider web is so simple, yet it has such intricate detail, like points of this story, how it has such simple language yet the message goes so much deeper.
Also, this would be important for all to pay attention to, she gave us a hint to our final; How does The Chosen fall under our theme of challenging the system? Not the superficial comparisons, but the deep meanings. Here are some of the comments people made about this question to help jog your brain for the final and the quiz tomorrow.
- Friendship choices: everyone has a black and white mold of who should play with who, or who can be friends with who, but these boys challenge the system with their relationship, both opposing forms of Jew, but thriving together.
- Also, the friendship of Reb and David.
- Reuven and David: Reuven comes breaking the system of Danny and Reb's silence. David breaks the Hasidim system established for Danny by giving him controversial books to read.
- Reb is challenging the common system by developing his own leadership, David seems to be challenging his system with his writings, Danny challenging both systems with his great mind, and this train continues...
- Danny challenging the system by wanting to be a psychologist.
- Reuven didn't pity Billy like most everyone would because of his blindness, instead he saw the real Billy and found him as someone to look up to.
As anyone can see, we had quite the discussion! I hope you are all ready for the quiz tomorrow! And one more thing, we must take out time in out busy lives to remember our wonderful English teacher in this time of giving! Have a great evening!
Manchester United-Simply The Best
here's that video i talked about!!!sorry if i get in trouble Smith... the world has to know the truth :)
aaron Weber
SCRIBAGE for Period Dos!
So, anyways, the homework is to finish book 2, finish the relationship thing (it's due tomorrow) and get parents to email or sign the pink letter.
By the way, I'm not sure if YouTube videos will show up on this, but here's one for Lia, showing that MANCHESTER UNITED IS AMAZINGLY, EXTRAORDINARILY, INCREDEBLY BETTER THAN ANY OTHER TEAM, INCLUDING NEWCASTLE UNITED, IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!! Just thought I ought to let the world know :)...
P.S. Congrats to all on the Podcasts and stuff, they sound good... an also the text is in MAN UTD. color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, HAve a Kicking Kwanzaa... and everything else!
-Aaron Weber
Friday, November 30, 2007
>GASP< period five....
Here's a really cool picture.

Is it WATER, or is it FIRE?
... we may never know...
Apparently chapters 9 and 10 are short. How quaint. Oh, you have to give the pink sheet back with a signature by email or hand. Hm... Lauren's gone. Sad day. I have a picture of a sumo wrestler on my shirt. VERY COOL.
I...can't...look...away....ugh!...Now we're reading chapters 9-10 silently. Mac's making weird faces. Almost fish-like. The chalk-board says that to listen to music in this class, you have to have it on a CD. Dawnielle is laughing with Leslie... again. Everybody else is doing what they should. The relationship trace is due December 4... and DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!!!!!
Everybody should should look up polar bear on treadmill on Youtube. It's like third grade humor, but you KNOW WHAT, I think it's pretty darn funny.
The relationship trace that's due on 12-14 is important, and if you plan on doing it by computer, start soon, because those circles are tricky little buggers.... REMEMBER: you need to have one for Danny, Reuven, David, and Reb, as well as one for your own relationships. Take quotes, phrases and pictures from the book and your life into it.
Ever notice how cool the number 5 is? It's so much better than "2".
OH, oh! here's a funny joke:
DANNY: Hi Jake. It's a nice Febuary day isn't it?
JAKE: Actually Danny, it's a nice February day. With an "R".
DANNY: Oh, well aren't you smart.
JAKE: I am.
DANNY: Yeah right.
JAKE: (now yelling) HEY! I'm smart and you know it!
DANNY: OK! Fine! Wow, you sure got mad. Your face is red like a strawbrerry!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That was funny Matt, you're hysterical.
I love the snow. It's nice, cold, fluffy and white!!! Snowboarding is frickin' awesome. If you CAN snowboard, then SNOWBOARD!!!!!! (I guess you could ski too...)
I will end with "good bye" in six different languages:
See ya!
Bon Voyage!
Au revoir!
Ni zaijian!
aloha!
c u l8er.
Salut!!!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Scribe for period 2 Thursday, November 28 2007 by Kristen Wieber
Today in Mrs. Smith's 2 period honors English 9 class,
We mainly just discussed chapter 7 of "The Chosen." In doing this we got on to a long topic of how religions have been changed and split to become the many religions of today. Just a side note, a class to class connection, this reminds me of evolution because organisms were changed over time and became all the animals of today. Anyway one of the religions we talked about was Scientology and it's history and beliefs. I had never heard of this religion so it was interesting to hear about. I learned that this religion was the religion that Madonna was. I also learned that one of this religions beliefs is that there are aliens controlling everything we do in this world like were there dolls or something. Another subject of our discussion was about Reb and why he went into such depth with his speech about why Jews should read the Torah and about the difference (in mathematics) between different religions. Other than these subject we just answered any questions or comments anybody had about the chapter. Then we were able to read to ourselves for the rest of the period. Then the bell rang and we went to our next class. The End.
-Kristen Wieber
p.s. for homework we had to work on our character trace and read chapter 8
Scribe for period five!!!
Well hello everyone!!!
Today, sadly Ms. Smith was not here :(… but Ms. Moritz was our sub:)!!!! To start of the class period we jumped right into a class discussion about chapter 7 of The Chosen. We began by summarizing the chapter, here are my notes…
Talked about Reuven’s dream-- he dreamed about eyes
Danny and Reuven are “officially” friends
In this chapter there is a “changing moment”
We see Danny’s world and the strength of Danny and Reuven’s friendship
We then moved into briefly talking about the Synagogues
Reuven’s- In the place of where a store was
Dark
Danny’s-crowed with men and women
Danny’s family lived above
Curtained off women
Shabbat
Walking to the synagogue was a very vivid scene- can be related to parting of the Red Seas- Reuven is amazed by Danny’s “power”
The two men ask for Danny’s advise-- think about Ms. Smith and Mrs. Moritz coming up to us and asking us to “solve” their problems
Why doesn’t he take advantage to this??
Danny’s personality is in a way confusing- he has a high thinking mind
It almost seems Danny has a guilty concisions
He is an honest person
And of course how could we not talk about Danny and his father!!!
Little brother has a blood disease- very sick
Reb is very confident
He seems to be almost the “Jewish God Father,” as I believe Matt Wood said
When Reb walked in the reader was given almost this “here comes the bride,” type image
When he comes to Reuven- first thing he says is you “are David Malter’s son?”
Reb does not agree with what David Malter writes, however there still seems to be that level of respect with Reb and Malter
Reb is direct and stern
Reuven is nervous around him
Reb gives service about Tohraà life is not complete if you don’t read the Tohra
During the service Reuven notices Danny completely changeà Reb makes a mistake and when Danny picks up on it he starts to relax and grin
When Danny smiles Reuven sees the smile that he saw from Danny when he was on home plate when he wanted to kill him. You can see this issue between Reb and Danny. Reb is like ‘I will make it a hard mistake to find’, and Danny is like ‘oh no I’m going to find the mistake’, it is a competition
It seems with all this competition Reb does not really support and honor his son
Reb knows that Danny must be strong, and he is pushing him to bring that
Then Reb turns focus on Reuven
Reuven explains error- Reb then says ‘good job’- and ‘he, referring to Reuven, is good at mathematics’- and ‘good thing my son has chosen him as his friend’ (connection to the title The Chosen)
Talked about how we feel around parents that are uptight and strict
We can all relate to the way Reuven feels around Reb
Wrapping up our discussion, we finished with the ending of chapter 7…
Danny is going to library and Reuven is just going there to think
When do we every have time to think??!! It would be nice to just have some time to think!!!
Random notes…
Nu- term like son or father
Ms. Moritz read a passage—Reb Saunders has had a horrible, tragic life that has helped him develop his personality
For the last, say five minutes of class we talked about, well we talked just about what ever came to our heads I guess:).
Oh, and don’t forget, Ms. Moritz likes fudge brownies and Ms. Smith would like a holiday gift!!!
BUT WAIT….
The homework is to read chapter 8 and to work on the relationship trace.
Thanks for subbing Ms. Moritz, it was fun to have you!!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
A Snowy Morning in Period 2
We then turned in our comparasion activity. If you were absent today you probably want to get this turned in tomorrow.
We took a vote and decided to read chapter 7 out loud in a big circle. Mrs. Smith read for a while then everybody read a paragraph. We discussed the power that Danny has as the son of the tzaddik. When Danny and Rueven arrive at the synagog, all of the men crowding around the synagog part to let Danny and Rueven through.
It was a really good day today in english. We got a lot of Chapter 7 read and had some good conversation.
Homework: Finish reading Chapter 7. Keep working on relationship trace. This is due on December 4th.
Silent reading on a cold November day(5th)
11-28-07Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Fifth Block Scribe
Make sure you are done reading chapter six of The Chosen.
Relationship trace due next Tuesday (12/4/07)
Period Two Scibe-November 27, 2007
Watch it tonight at seven on ABC! The final Dancing with the Stars comes on after that. Who are you rooting for- Mel B., Helio, or Marie?
In class, today we got into a ♥circle of love♥,and we discussed Book One of The Chosen. We shared our thoughts and connections about the book. After the discussion, Ms. Smith was kind enough to give us time to read The Chosen or work on the venn diagram and relationship trace.
- Venn Diagram due tomorrow
- Make sure you are done reading chapter six of The Chosen.
- Relationship trace due next Tuesday (12/4/07)
It was a wonderful and productive day in Period Two!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Alyssa's Scribe for 11.26.07
We moved onto The Chosen at that point...
Ms. Smith introduced our next major project. We must make a relationship trace showing the relationships between Reb, David, Reuven, and Danny. The one she used as an example kind of looked like an outline web that you would use to compose an essay. Each of the different characters had their own bubble and there were arrows connecting the all four of the characters to each other, which is where we are supposed to show their relationships. As on all of our projects, Ms. Smith told us to be as creative as possible and impress her with your work. We were allowed to work in groups of four on the quiz over chapters 1-4. If you didn't read all of that, make sure you do that and read chapter 5 tonight so the quiz tomorrow on chapter 5 won't be all that hard. The quizzes were just like any other literature quiz we've taken in English this year- about one page and questions relating the characters to each other and noticing symbolism. The quiz took a while but once everybody had completed that, we all sat and had a big class discussion about the first book. We mostly talked about the differences of the relationships between Danny and Reb, and Reuven and David, the personalities of the different characters so far in the book (everybody seems to adore Billy!), and the symbolism already given in the book. That's about all that happened. So for homework tonight:
Read chapter 5, compare/contrast project, and the relationship trace due Dec. 4
Period 2
Today in English we started by going over the upcoming homework...
Homework:
Relationship trace (Due December 4)
Venn-diagram (Due Wednesday)
Read through Chapter 5 in The Chosen
Introduction to relationship trait
Visually create relationships with Danny, David, Reb, and Reuven using arrows Describe relationships; feelings; examples for each arrow (or relationship)
Also do this with your own life (3 significant relationships)
You can use anything from what we have read
Next we checked to be sure that everyone had turned their TIB podcast into the dropbox.
Then we had our first test over the first 4 chapters of "The Chosen". We worked in groups of four to fill out the test. There were questions where we had to describe the relationships between several different people, we had to analyze symbols shown in the book, and we also had to remember facts about Jewish Traditions and customs.
We finished class by having a discussion about the book so far. We talked a lot about the relationship between Danny and Reuven and how quickly it has changed. We also talked about our predictions for what would happed in book 2. All in all it was a nice quiet day in 2nd period English.
Blogging Rules! And I'm Not Being Faceitious
- read chapter 5
- start your relationship trace (due 12/4)
- venn diagram (due wednesday)
We talked a lot about the relationship trace between Reuven, David, Danny and Reb. I'm curious to see what develops between now and the end of book two. We then started our quizzes on chapters 1-4. It focused a lot on main ideas instead of specifics, so when you're reading tonight I'd suggest making note of any big developments in relationships or character.
Signing off,
Mac
P.S. I thought that Hannah's recipe idea was cool, so I'll leave you with this fawesome music video by Paramore. Just go to this address: http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?ar=us_en_video_748x541_full&mode=1&pmmsid=1904302
"Hello everybody!" - "Hello Hannah (Period 5 scribe)!"
Homework:
- Relationship trace (Due December 4)
- Venn-diagram (Due Wednesday)
- Read Chapter 5 (which is very short!)
We then checked to make sure that the "This I Believe" podcasts and essays were in Ms. Smith’s drop box. Everybody seemed to be on track.
Introduction to relationship trait
- Visually create relationships with Danny, David, Reb, and Reuven using arrows
- Relationship; feelings; examples for each arrow (or relationship)
- Do this with your own life as well (3 significant relationships)
- You can use Book 1 and Book 2
We then finished the day with a very lengthy quiz (with lots and lots of writing and thinking!)
Thanks for a fun day!
P.S. For anyone who loves cooking, I made an awesome pan of fudge this weekend and the recipe is amazing and easy. Try it if you are bored!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Scribing for 11-20-06 by Stephen Field
From religion to family
The day started with the class receiving their MAPS testing scores. I personally have never felt that test scores showed very much but apparently the district does.
We were assigned our Venn diagram for The Chosen. We had an amazing example on the board filled with Mrs. Smith’s amazing drawings.
The class continued on with the final presentations that we didn’t manage to get to on Friday. The presentation on Chaim Potok was very education with the three presenters dressing and acting as Chaim himself. The presentation on Sigmund Freud was creative and made kept people entertained with Hannah Leffingwell playing Sigmund diagnosing people who are having dreams about her…. him.
We went on to talk about relationships with parents what our role is in our familes. There were many interesting points that came out in the discussion. As usually it was another amazing day in honors English.
THE FABULOUS FIFTH HOUR
"Hello Ms. Smith!" the class replied. The students seemed tired, yet excited for Thanksgiving Break! WHO HOO! Ms. Smith further bettered our moods by changing the Venn Diagram due date to Wednesday. So that allows us to be slackers and procrastinators and put off the assignment until Tuesday night.
We then proceeded to have a VERY interesting question and answer time about our "This I Believe Essays" and Ms. Smith habla Espanol muy beuno para la clase. Then the class proceeded with a united air five to have a free work period. During this free work time, The majority of the class looked absolutely enthralled in their Chosen books and I doubted that they would be able to put them down when the bell rang. The girls all seemed very focused and were working hard, however some boys looked suspicioius as to what they were doing on their concealed laptop screens. To say the least, it was a very quiet and uneventful hour only interrupted by the tip tap of typing fingers and Leslie's high heeled shoes clunking agianst the tile...a nice normal day in Ms. Smith's FAVORITE english class - fifth hour Honors English 9!
EVERYONE HAVE A FANTASTIC THANKSGIVING! Eat lots of turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, get fat, be merry, and be Thankful!
Tuesday November 20th
HI, PERIOD 2 ENGLISH CLASS!!!
Then we just had a work day to work on whatever we wanted. REMEMBER THAT WE HAVE A QUIZ ON CHAPTERS 1-4 ON MONDAY!!!
For the Venn Diagram, remember to include visuals, quotes, phrases, or words. Make them be creative!!!
HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING BREAK, EVERYONE!!!
Chelsea S.
Period 2 Scribe!
Monday, November 19, 2007
A busy day in Period 2! part 1
Hasid: Member of a Jewish sect who follows the religious and social precepts set down in the 17th century.
Yiddish: A language spoken by Jews since the Middle Ages. Its components are Hebrew, German, and Slavic.
assimilationist: One who adopts the practice of a prevailing culture.
fanatic: Rigorous believer.
Talmud: In Hebrew, the word for "teachings." Applied to the collection of academic discussion and judicial administration of Jewish law written by generations of scholars over hundreds of years.
apikorsim: An unbeliever or skeptic. One who does not adhere to Jewish religious belief or practice.
rabbi: Religious leader and head of a congregation.
Cossacks: Polish soldiers who, under the leadership of Chmielnicki, annihilated hundreds of Jewish communities in 1648, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
tallit: Hebrew prayer shawl worn by adult males.
tefillin: Two small black boxes fastened to leather straps, containing parts of the Torah and worn during morning prayer.
shofar: Ram's horn blown at various religious services.
the Kaballah: Books of Jewish mysticism.
tzaddik: According to Hasidism, a pious leader who is the intermediary between God and man, the "soul of the world."
Torah: The written law given to Moses at Mount Sinai, including the Talmud and related commentaries.
gematriya: A method of interpreting a biblical word based on the numerical value of its letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
misnaged: Opponents of the Hasidic movement who criticize belief in the tzaddik.
Teresienstadt: The name of a German concentration camp.
goyim: The Hebrew word for non-Jews.
Zionism: The movement to secure the return of the Jewish people to Palestine.
bar mitzvah: The ceremony marking the initiation of a 13-year-old boy into adulthood and the Jewish religious community.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Brian's Scribe for 11/16/07 period 2
Notes from The Chosen presentations
Hasidic Jews
Originated in Eastern Europe
Creator Israel ben Eliezer
Beliefs-omnipresence of God, Communion with God
Communion achieved through concentration, prayer
Tish-Hasidic holiday, centered around rabbi, like a community gathering
Observe Sabbath as day of rest
Marriages arranged by a matchmaker
Family has mother and father and about 8 kids
Dress-Men-black suits, black shoes, and white shirts, black hats on weekdays, no wristwatches, don’t shave face, most shave head
Women-long skirts to elbow and knee, no red or loud colors, married women cover head.
New York 1940s-1950s
Inventions-TV, TV dinners, Tupperware, penicillin, LEGO, Barbie, Paper mate ballpoint pen, corvette, Chevrolet, tin foil
Antarctica a continent
17 amendment
Food ration
No cars during war
FDR died
Judy Garland
I love Lucy, superman
Walt Disney
Pearl Harbor
United Nations HQ
Became worlds art center after Paris destroyed
Abstract expression new art form
Fashion-sophisticated suits and dresses, formal
Zionism
National movement of Jew to homeland
Resurgence of anti-Jewish feelings pushed Jews to homeland
Political Zionism-states that it’s a political movement
Took it to United Nations
World Zionist organization founded by Herzi, helped run Israel from start
Herzi wrote the Ghetto
Zion = Israel
Zionist believe in Jewish customs and documents
Dream is to have Jewish back in Israel
Christian Zionism- belief that it’s a biblical prophecy that they should go back to Israel
Europe in the 1940s to 1950s
Dominated by World War 2
United Nations formed after war
Holocaust killed 6 million Jews and 3 million other “non-perfect” races
Cold War from 1945-1991 between Soviet Union and U.S.
Chaim Potok
Son of immigrants
Chaim Potok studied Jewish literature
Ordained as conservative Jewish rabbi at 23
Joined us army as Chaplin
Returned after serving in Korea
Married Adana
Moved to Israel to study
Moved back to Pennsylvania to become editor in chief for newspaper
Wrote the Chosen
Chaim died of a brain tumor 5 years ago
Sigmond Freud
“The Father of Psychoanalysis”
Born in Czech Republic
Raised Jewish
Smart and brighter than siblings
Moved to Austria to go to high school
University of Vienna to study medical sciences
Joseph Breuer mentor
Tried to find eel organs
Was fascinated in blood and gore
Hard life, smoked obsessively
Used
Had many phobias
Committed suicide because thought life was
Believed in talking heals any problem “the Talking Cure”
Was psychologist and neurologist
Believed that dreams showed true desires
Came up with Theory of Repression, act of repressing memories was subconscious
Many people believe he wasn’t a real scientist
Wrote books about subconscious mind and a lot about
Here I am, the third scribe for 5th Period Honors!
The second half of the class is what I'm scribing so here it is:
Matt, Matt, Mitch, and Tyler presented their powerpoint on Orthodox Jews. In it, they talked about the background, principles and more. Here are a few bullets for those who didn't take any notes (just in case)
- There are two types of Torah, the written (Pentateuch), and the oral (Halacha)
- Orthodox Jews consider themselves authentic
- Hirsch is the founder
- Two principles are: God is ruler of all things, God is one, and all laws developed by God were given to Moses
Then, Katy, Rya, Ryan, Keke, and Lauren did their presentation on Europe in the 40's and 50's and here are a few notes from their powerpoint:
WW1
- Adolph Hitler
- Largest invasions, D-day in France
- Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered
Life in 50s
- Mass suburban environment
- Entertainment revolutionized
- TV!!!
- Movies focused more on teenage audiences
After that, Becky, Parker, Stefan, Melissa, and Mac presented their powerpoint on Zionism:
- Zionism comes from the hill Zion
- Founded by Theodor Herzl
- Zionist war on Nazi Germany
- Some presidents were
Theodor Herzl
David Wolfsan
Otto Warburg - (Last one) was Nahum Golden
And that was it for the period today! Well done for those people who went today! Hannah, I'm sorry that you dressed up like a man for nothing but I'm sure you're presentation will be great on Monday!
Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
11/16/07 Period Five Scribe
Smith started out by reminding us to print out the sumbmission forms for NPR and have our parents sign them, and then remember to bring them in on Monday signed. Having through telling us to get out our calendars she paused to yell at some kids in the hall.
Reminders:
- Bring in signed submission form on Monday
- Podcast essay ASAP
- We have alot of homework over Thanksgiving break, so if you are any kind of a producer of knowledge, you will look at the Chosen calendar for next week and get a head start on it
- The SAT 10 quiz this week (our last one) is a take-home quiz - !No tramposos!
- If you did not take notes on the presentations in class today, it would be in your best interest to get them from somebody
- We must do something with the Chosen Vocab list; this being, download it and save it to your computer (and your USB)
- Emma's swim practice went long last night AND Smith discovered that the new Safeway has a peanut-butter bar where you can make your own peanut butter - these are the reasons she gives for not getting more grading done last night (I don't blame her - peanut butter is amazing!)
- A Carmel Machiado will always make Smith feel better, even if she's in the best of moods already :)
Our homework is in the list above (it's blue)
The first presentation today was on Hasidic Jews. It was very good.
Hope your weekend goes well!
Parker H's Scribe of 11-15-07
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Jose' Dempere's Thursday, November 15, 2007 Scribe
After being displaced from our classroom, we got back and talked about the This I Believe Essay Assignment. Things to remember:
- The podcast is due Monday the 26th of November. You will put the podcast in the drop box.
- The essay in itself is due Monday the 19th. This means that you will submit the essay to NPR. org, and they will give you a thank-you note. Print that out and have it signed by your parents.
- Don't forget to turn in a copy of the essay into the drop box!!!
After this, we worked on the The Chosen background presentations. That is due tommorow, so don't forget!!!
SAT QUIZ TOMORROW! STUDY! STUDY! STUDY!
Happy Autumn... No, Wait... What is that?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Wednesday November 14, Period 2
1. Emma is a newly discovered scientist, and met some science guy that Ms. Smith was very excited about.
2. For our last SAT project of the semester we made MySpaces (MySpace is one word... haha) for well known literary characters (like Harry Potter or Guy Montag) Kristen Nicole's and mine was very good.
The final SAT quiz will be on Friday, along with our...
3. The Chosen projects. We had time to work on them today, and we will have have most of tomorrow to do them as well. Remember, they must be about 5 minutes long and teach the class about your topic, and give good background for the book. The presentations should be fun and not lectures because I will be very bored if you do a lecture, so lets make them fun and give away candy! Or cookies... yes, cookies. Remember that your group can try using GoogleDocs (the sign-in is your blogger stuff) or just be more productive than my group and actually finish (or even start for that matter) your project in class...
4. Lastly, your TIP essays are due... I don't know when actually, but not that long from now, I actually just checked and they are due, podcasted, submitted and all by Monday. Remember when you are reading them to practice and read slowly, but not-monotoney, that would be boring.
America's Next Top Model is on tonight, so is Gossip Girl
have fun with it... :)
Hello period 5, English Excitment
Another amazing day in English 9 Honors fifth hour. We started off with the usual. We said hello, and found out what we would do today. We began with the enlightening creation of myspace pages using this weeks vocab about one of the characters we have read about. Can you believe this is our last vocab packet? In my group, we did Lady Macbeth and, I must admit, it was pretty good. With lines like, "My husband and I are very compatible despite our many confrontations,"it had to be good.
After the amazing myspace we smoothly transitioned into editing eachothers TIB papers one more time. Way to go everybody on fabulous papers. We can now submit our purple sparkly blueberry scented papers (I really think it gives it a little something extra).
The Chosen Background groups got together after editing and began work on the projects. We assigned work for each member of the group to do, and hopped to it. That is just about it.
By everybody and remember, this is not education as usual.
Becky Gutknecht
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Another busy day in period five english honors!!!
Your essays should have these things:
1)Voice/Personality
2)No preaching
3)Tell a story
4)Tell about your experience
5)Positive
6)Explain / state a belief
7)We/us??? no about you
8)Not a normal format
Give it a little something extra, make it pretty, blueberry scented with sparkles and everything like in legally blonde!! Just Joking!
Next we did musical laptop peer editing! One of the funnest games in the whole world!
Well, since I split the scribing with Morgan I am finish with the first half of class so you will have to hold on to the keyboard until she posts hers and then you can read in great enjoyment what happened the rest of the class period.
2nd Half Of Hour 5
Well, first, we edited our second This I Believe essay. I really enjoyed reading the two I read! Then, Ms. Smith introduced to us our background project on The Chosen. Remember, we are teaching our subjects to the class, not just reading off the PPT! We also went over out specific requirements so pay attention to those.
Ms. Smith also told us about www.docs.google.com. That is where you can begin your presentations under new presentation, and also even work on them at the same time! So, use that to your advantage.
Lastly, we formed groups of five and planned out who would do what. I hope you all got a good head start on it!
That's all for now!
Morgan T =]
After we went over the homework, Mrs. Smith read us a thank you letter from President Cale of North Alabama University, who complimented us on our deeper thinking. 'Cuz let's face it people, we are deep-thinkers!
We edited each others' TIB essays next. To figure out whose paper we would read, we rocked out to some Beatle's music in musical chair editing. Things that we concentrated on when editing were symbolism and focusing on one main belief. We also had to have the story connect to ourselves, but it had to be between 350-500 words. (We checked this using word count under tools.) The last things we kept in mind were not preaching to the reader and being positive!!
We didn't have much time to work on it, but we ended class by starting our Chosen background presentations. We will also have tomorrow and Thursday to work on them, and we present them on Friday.
That's all for today, folks! Maddie, signing out!
The Chosen Links
Monday, November 12, 2007
English 9 Honors: Scribe
In Class today we started by explaining exactly what I'm doing now. We were told how to scribe and when to do it and all that other good stuff that goes with it. We found out about how everybody is going to do one blog over the course of the next couple of months and how I happened to be lucky nuber one to have this honor or work or whatever you want to call it.
Then we began work on our TIB (This I Believe) Essays. In these essays we are supposed to tell about something we believe in and have personal relationship too. Then for homework we have to make a rough draft of the essay I was just talking about. It has to be less then 500 words and just about perfect so that somebody can make it into the "This I Believe" segment on NPR, but really just for the party that we are going to get once somebody does make it on to the site. We were supposed start everything about TIB with a recording of another students but for some reason the sound clip would work and we had to take the teachers word on it that it was amazing. But it was alright cause we had already listened to some from the sight form famous people, which is just as good.
After about 30 minutes of working on the essay class ended and left us with the homework of writing that first draft of the essay and for a certain someone, writing the original Scribe posting on the website which should be fun.
The best day ever in English 9 honors!!!!!!!
As I'm listening at this precise moment, we are discussing on format and how to make our speeches, here's the list:
Not normal font
Serious but funny
Meaningful points
Can be about anything!
Personal expiriences
Voice!!!
Then, we even got to listen to Zoe's essay!
Tips for writing the essizzle:
Make sure you're telling a story (be breif)
Name the belief (focus on a core idea, be positive)
Be personal (stick with the ways normal to you)
Think about qualities that make a good essay.
Now we are working on our essays, the hustling and murmuring of the class crecsendos the decrescendos until it hits a soft piano.
Then, everyone stops talking and all you can hear is the tapping on keyboards.
Ms. Smith temporarily leaves the room, I consider trying to start a party but the idea fades almost as soon as it came in.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Is China a Bradburian Society at Heart?
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Ideas for Mr. Pink and A Whole New Mind
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
SAT- Wonder Woman style
Every week our students create interesting projects demonstrating their use of the assigned 10 SAT vocab words. My favorite activity by far though is where they are asked in groups to write their own song about Wonder Woman (my personal hero) and then we perform the songs in front of class podcasting them for all to hear. I am going to have the students comment about their work and about performing but for me sitting in the audience, there wasn't a better way to spend a Friday, laughing, listening and appreciating their willingness to step out of the box and do something different.Here are the lyrics to their wonderfully creative tributes to Wonder Woman:
Broken
Soulless Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman on the Range
Wonder Woman
She's Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is my Girl
Wonderwomen
Man I feel Like Wonder Woman
My Bizzare Woman
WonderWoman
Before He Cheats with Wonder Woman
Hero Town
My Tragic Love Song
Wonder Woman Our Hero
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Censorship...Becareful what you write, read, speak or think
1. Is it okay to have books on making bombs in the school library?
2. Will banning books keep people from reading them?
3. Television shows are censored, so are song lyrics—what makes books different?

