My Journal - Lord of the Flies

Dear Journal,
This week has been a week full of reading. We have pretty much been finding ideas from the book and writing in our words what we understood from it into the assignments we completed in class. We have experienced and came out with a sense of vulnerability and innocence from the kids in the book. They are stuck on an island with no parents and no hope of rescue, but it hasn't really hit them yet. They haven't noticed or haven't had the seriousness of the situation sink in yet. The main characters seem to be Piggy, Ralph and perhaps Jack. It seems Ralph is the designated leader and the one who will make the decisions and keep the kids alive. It is only the first week and we have yet to find out about what happens with the kids from the "Lord of the Flies!" What a great first week it has been.
-Miguel Bustamante (migy10)

The Rubric for your journals

You will get a hard copy of this in class. The grid does not transfer over but you get the idea of the criteria.

Response EE FM M MM NY
 Response is superior
 Reflects a strong insight of the topic
 Deals with deeper meaning strong depth of discussion/level of insight
 References clearly support and are connected/well explained
 Style, rhetorical devices, diction, sophistication of response effective
 Effective
 Well organized and demonstrates a strong command of the conventions of language and sophisticated use of language/some errors in more complex language  Response is proficient
 Reflects a strong grasp of the topic
 Attempts to Deal with deeper meaning of topic strong depth of discussion/level of insight
 References support and are connected to topic/explained
 Content and support is thoughtful and interesting
 Well organized and demonstrates a strong command of the conventions of language /some errors in more complex language  Response is competent
 Generally understands topic
 Addresses what is obvious
 Appropriate reference, but minimal support Limited ideas/support connected to topic
 Content and support not clearly connected to the topic or explained
 Conventions of language followed but has some errors
 Clear sense of purpose but not engaging.
 Response Is barely adequate
 Understanding of the topic flawed
 Ideas underdeveloped and/or simple or awkwardly expressed
 Little if any support
 Weak sense of purpose
 Little variety in diction and sentence structure
 Errors may be distracting
 Response is inadequate
 Understanding of task is flawed
 Ideas underdeveloped and simple
 errors are recurring and distracting
 meaning is impeded

Lord of the Flies Journal #1

This week we read the 1st chapter and a bit of the 2nd chapter of Lord of the Flies. For the first section(first20pgs), we had to make a venn diagram for the two characters Ralph and Piggy. We established their differences and similarities, differences being their appearance and back round, similarities being their situation(being stranded on an island). For the second part, we look for examples of violence, conflict, pain, darkness and destruction. In our reading, we found examples of conflict, darkness and pain. Those examples would be being stranded on an island for conflict, the dark creature for darkness, and pain because Piggy feels left out by Ralph and Jack.

Rigel's Movie Presentation: Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

Synopsis:

A year after the events of Scarecrow, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent, begin to clean up Gotham's streets. Enter the Joker: a mysterious and psychopathic killer known only by his alias, to wreak new havoc upon Gotham's streets. Batman, again has to take up his mask to once more face evil: this time, to the point of questioning everything he believes, and his true identity. Joker has taken evil and darkness to further limits, and makes this struggle of good and evil Batman's hardest trial.

What are the layers of context/setting in this film?

• The mood portrayed throughout the story of darkness,confusion (The night time robberies, abductions,etc.)

• Way of presentation (Movie's picture contrast is very dark, a lot of dynamic explosions, intense music)
• Context of movie had many references to darkness and evil by way of imagery, symbolism, and satire      ( ie: Dead victim dressed up as Batman, Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face's "evil side" physically represented as the burnt part of his face, Joker's famous "Why So Serious?" phrase, in intense scenes.)

How does the filmmaker convey evil or darkness?

• The mind of the Joker is grasped by the audience, and shared to viewers, through Joker's actions and words, as well as his blunt delivery of sensitive topics (ie: Joker's way of carving bloody smiles to dead victims, and twisted stories he tells to other characters in the story)
• Evil and darkness is conveyed by way of delivery by the filmmakers, and how they have depicted it through scenes of violence, music, and scenery (Numerous deaths, blown up hospitals, & fast-paced, instrumental music)

What expressions of darkness had the most impact on you and why?

• Throughout the movie, we see many acts of darkness, and evil. All orchestrated by the mind of one individual: The Joker. This piece of information had the most impact on me, because of how it just goes to show us, how one individual can be so capable of so much evil.

How can a character represent darkness?

• A character can represent darkness through their appearance, their actions, and relationship with others. We learned by example of Harvey Dent, how one's whole identity may change, simply by the way you choose how to handle what life may throw at you. Harvey Dent was a good man, and lawyer, who represented Gotham's hope, until the incident in which Joker burnt his face and killed his girlfriend, from then on, Harvey decided to change how he approached life, and by doing so, changed from representing the hope of Gotham, to representing the evil and darkness which he has felt and suffered.

A Connection: Text to Self

•  In the movie "Dark Knight", Joker's influence on Harvey Dent, drastically changed Harvey Dent's life, for the worst. It reminds one of how even we ourselves, are capable of doing great things of evil, or good.

A Connection: Text to Text

• Metaphorically speaking, Bruce Wayne's "Batman" persona, could be seen as Bruce's physical representation of what he believes to be his own justice. In Paulo's movie presentation, "Inception" Paulo believes that in the same way, Mal's constant manifestation within Cobb's dreams, is nothing else but a mere representation of what Cobb believes to be his own darkness and guilt..

A Connection: Text to World

• A connection I made through this film is that there is darkness and evil within all of us. As it is a part of humanity. Everyone has different feelings towards certain things whether it is positive or negative, and it is only through this diversity that our humanity can express both qualities of light and darkness.

Essential Question: Does evil or fear lead one to the following: experience of violence, infliction of violence, and/or observation of violence?

• I believe that when evil and fear is spread, it leads to many more opportunities to do greater evil and cause greater fear. In "Dark Knight", we see that fear of evil expressed by the city of Gotham, provoked the Joker to take advantage of the situation; and cause further chaos. The fear shown by Gotham lead to the violence produced by the Joker. Violence such as robbery of banks, takeover of hospitals, and murder of people. This infliction of violence was due to the fear of the city, and the evil within the Joker. Furthermore, as one experiences violence and evil, one may be persuaded to inflict to others back in return what he/she may have felt. As it is with Harvey Dent, and how his experience with evil, caused him to inflict further evil.

Final Media Task

Media Critique

Based on websites, articles, movies etc
• Comment on the logic and quality of evidence.
• Relate and critique the perspectives presented
• Identify and challenge bias, contradictions, and distortions
• Identify the importance and impact of social, political and historical factors


You will then write*, an analysis that that is
1. A synthesis of your understanding of the issues (topics),
2. Discuss the way your sources have presented the topic and connects to any essential question we have covered this year.
*(or create an other form of presentation, power point, movie maker etc)


Media analysis rubric
(The grid never transfers over;you have a hard copy and you know what I am looking for-this is just your backup)

Criteria Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
Context: purpose and implied values Makes insightful inferences about the creators purpose, motivations, perspective, biases, contradictions, distortions and values

Makes logical
inferences about the creators purpose, motivations, perspective, biases,
contradictions, distortions biases and values Makes some logical inferences about the creators purpose, motivations, perspective, biases,
contradictions, distortions biases and values Makes few if any logical inferences about the creators purpose, motivations, perspective, biases,
contradictions, distortions biases and values
Context: connections to other works
Makes effective and insightful connections to other works and experiences
Is well supported with specific examples Makes relevant and logical connections to other works and experiences
Is well supported with specific examples Makes some connections to other works and experiences
Limited support and or examples vague. Makes few relevant connections to other works and experiences
Support may be missing, examples not relevant.
Message
Identify social, political, historical factors, connections to EQ Shows a thorough and insightful understanding of EQ how it is connected to central message. Is well supported with specific examples Shows a solid understanding of EQ how it is connected to central message.
Is well supported with specific examples Shows some understanding of EQ how it is connected to central message.
Limited support and or examples vague. Shows limited understanding of EQ how it is connected to central message. Support may be missing, examples not relevant
Clarity of expression Communicates ideas with a high degree of clarity and effectiveness Communicates ideas with considerable degree of clarity and effectiveness Communicates ideas with some degree of clarity and effectiveness Communicates ideas with limited clarity and effectiveness