Humanities Newsletter
March 2013
How Can Ideas Transform Into a Revolution?
Lord of the Flies
At the beginning of March we read Lord of the Flies by William Golding. We looked at how the Lord of the Flies related to society through station activities and discussions. Everyone made a bottle head that represented both the inner and outer aspects of a character from the book and displayed them in a museum during class. To demonstrate what we learned about conformity and obedience, we made a timeline of important events and examples from the book. We had a pop quiz and quest on the Lord of the Flies.
French Revolution
To learn about revolutions, we focused on the French Revolution. We took notes, studied the different events, and then performed point of view speeches. Everyone chose a person involved in the revolution to research and write a speech about what their life was like. Then, we talked about revolutions in general. We looked at the steps of a revolution and the elements necessary for one to occur. In groups of three, we were assigned a country that has/had a recent revolution. We made a recipe for a revolution poster that we displayed in a museum.
Revolutions Project
In the beginning of March, we presented our revolutions projects. In groups of 1 or 2 everyone chose a revolution, revolutionary, or invention that revolutionized people's lives. Our IST, BEST, and Humanities classes were all involved in the creation of the PowerPoint. The morning team gathered in the auditorium and took notes on our classmate's presentations for three days.
How Can Ideas Be Corrupted?
Beginning of Unit 6
In the second half of March, we started a new unit. In this unit we are focusing on the Russian Revolution, Socialism, and Communism. We are reading Animal Farm by George Orwell to help us understand the Russian Revolution. Our Socratic Seminar for this unit is on how ideas can be corrupted. To help us understand the question better, we are watching the film The Village.