Pep Talk from Kid President to get us amped about this week of making history!  LET’S MAKE AWESOMENESS!!!

Starter 9.8          

• To which of our driving questions do you have the most answers? Which do you expect to be able to find answers to in Chemistry? On which do you want to focus your research in Humanities the most?
• Which question can you see yourself trying to answer in your in-class essay?  If you had to develop a claim (thesis statement) today, what might it be?

Business
1. Honors application essays due next Monday, September 14. Let me know if I can print out any sources for you.
2. Permission Slips!!!  Please bring these back tomorrow!
3. Important Dates

Seminar:  Thursday, September 17

In-class Writing:  Tuesday, September 22

Storycorps Interview produced and published:  Tuesday, September 22

·         4.  Please take this survey if you have not done so! (Kyle, Garrett, Evan, Maxwell, Sophia (unless you are Sopapilla?), Brynn, Eno, Izzy, Eli Crispin, Gabe, Berrigan, Calvin, Alessandro, Piper)

Agenda

1. Storycorps Interview Task Statement and Guidelines

2. Interview Scheduling Logistics

• How do we ask for interviews?  Email and phone etiquette!
• Those of you on the Silverton list, try to make contact with some of the people on Steve’s list today.  Please note the times on the board that your group is scheduled for interviewing.  If your interview subject needs to make it a different time, we can work with that by switching up your groups a bit.
• If you don’t have a contact at all, brainstorm who you might reach out to.  Make calls, send emails, decide who you want to interview.  Think about people that may have been mentioned in different sources?
• If you are not scheduled to interview in Silverton on Thursday, you may be tasked with going around and asking people about their perspectives.  What should be we asking on the street?
• When you have your interview, let Jessica know!

3. Brainstorm interview questions for your interview. Try to be as specific to your desired interview as possible.  If possible, get with a group that has similar stakeholders and Even if you don’t know your exact interviewee, come up with questions designed for your intended audience.  Additionally, brainstorm questions that we might ask the folks on the street in Silverton.

4.  Read:  Eulogy to the Animas River.  Annotate it for a spirit read tomorrow!

5. Continue with your independent research.  Look at today’s starter and follow your own interests down the rabbit hole.  Continue to take notes and build up your evidence for seminar and essay.  At this point, it might be advisable to begin to develop your thesis statement and do some research to support it. 

• Here is another interesting (and biased!) article that attempts to put the river situation in context.
• Please share any great resources in the Google classroom stream.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION IF YOU WANT TO SHARE IT WITH POTENTIAL INTERVIEWEES.

Homework:

• Finish “Eulogy” if you did not do so in class.
• Brainstorm interview questions if you did not finish in class
• GET PERMISSION SLIP SIGNED!!
• Optional:  more research!  More Storycorps!  Make interview contact!

Today:  

• Brainstorm a list of voices that should be heard as part of our project
• Interview each other for Storycorps practice 

Starter 9.4:  Interview Brainstorm

• Which people should we reach out to for interviews?
• What questions might we ask them?

Record responses on board.

Fill out this Google Form to weigh in on who you would like to interview!

Watch:  Dave Isay's TED Talk

• Pair Share: What new understanding did this TED Talk provide you about why we are doing storycorps interviews, how they should be conducted and what the benefits of them are? 

Storycorps Practice Interviews:  Let's practice empathetic listening with each other!
1.  Brainstorm:  What makes for a meaningful Storycorps interview?  What kinds of things can we ask each other for the mock interview?  Think:  What story do you want to tell? 
2.  Use the voice memo program on your phone.  If you want to download the Storycorps App and play with it, that is fine, but we won't be using that for your project.
3.  Go over Tips for Interviewing
4.  Use some of the predetermined questions on the phone or let your partner know which open-ended questions .  Here is a list of suggested questions from Storycorps.  Please select a few that you might want your partner to ask you to best facilitate the story you want to tell.
5. If you feel nervous or on-the-spot, don't worry!  This is a low-stakes assignment partially designed to work out the kinks of interviewing.  Feel free to tell a silly story or talk about why you came to Animas or even talk about a favorite memory that you have of the river or anything else.  You don't have to upload these ones to Storycorps (unless you want to).
6.  Make sure your I-phone is stable when you record.  Elevate it to mouth-level if you can.


Jessica and Ashley to model mock interview!  (If possible...)



YOUR TURN!  
Get into partners (who has a smart phone?)  and Pick the questions you'd like your interviewer to ask you (highlight them on the list of great questions document)


Freewrite Reflection in your digital compbook: 

• What was it like to be the interviewer? What worked well? What didn't work well? What did you learn that you can apply to the next interview you do?
• What was it like to be interviewed? What can you take from the experience of being interviewed to help you be a better INTERVIEWER? 

Thursday, September 3

#rhetoric

Today's Goals

• Continue to seek and develop answers to our DRIVING QUESTIONS!
• Evaluate perspective and bias in media and identify evidence that supports your claims around bias

Starter 9.3
Listen to the NPR story on the impact on Navajo farmers.  How does looking downstream further influence your perspective on the situation?

The owner speaks...

• Owner of Gold King Mine speaks
• Pair Share:  What is his perspective on the situation?  How does hearing his view modify your perspective?

Superfund?  
In groups:

• What are arguments for and against?  
• If not Superfund, then what? 
• Share out whole group

Independent Research Time:  Continue down the rabbit hole...

• Pick a perspective from the list on the board that most intrigues you or one that you know the LEAST about or are least drawn to
• Focus your research on those perspectives
• Take notes using the template or another format.
• Did you find a SUPER good resource? Post it in the stream on our Google classroom!  Feel free to read each others' and respond in the comments.

Follow your own curiosity or click on some of the links below:  

Need further clarification on the Superfund dilemma?  Check out these resources during independent work time:

• See this Durango TV coverage on the Superfund issue
• EPA Superfund Info
• Summary of Clean Water Act
• Website of the Animas River Stakeholders Group
• History and Process of the ARSG
• Good Samaritan Info

Further perspective on Navajo impact

• Animas River Spill Unleashes Potential Disaster on Navajo Nation
• Navajo Nation President Angry with EPA
• Navajo Nation Prepares Lawsuit Against the EPA
• FEMA may deploy response team to Navajo Nation 

For historical context

• For a broad historical perspective:   History of mining in Colorado
• Silverton history
• More context:  Gold King: A long history of public risk for private gain  (What's the bias here?)

Exit Ticket!!  Fill out this Google Form

Announcements 

• Any luck with parent drivers?
• Honors meeting at lunch today
• Power lunch with the police

Starter 9.2  
From your reading yesterday, note one "A-ha!" (a new piece of information that illuminated your understanding of our questions), one "Say what?!?" (something that surprised or struck you) and one "I wonder...." (a new question or strand of thought that came up for you).


Share out starters (Whole Group)

Article Review:  
What perspectives and biases do we see in each?
What questions did the articles bring up for you?



Our Driving Questions, refined....

• What will be the lasting effects of the spill: environmental, economic, and social?
• What steps can we take to repair the damage?
• What caused the spill?  Would it have happened on its own?
• How can we learn from what happened to prevent such spills in the future?
• How concerned should we be about current and future river conditions and water use?
• What is the history of mining contamination in our area?
• What are the economic impacts for the Animas River communities, now and in the future?

Storycorps listen

A.  "It sounds like you were the black sheep"

• Great example of empathetic listening 
• What did you notice about the types of questions the granddaughter asks and how she asks them?

B. Animated: "Traffic Stop"

Assigned reading on Silverton's Superfund debate 
Driving questions' themes: Future Implications and Historical Context
A. Read Chase McCallister’s coverage in The Durango Herald of the Silverton mining situation over the last year or so. Pay attention to the date of each article! 

1. http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20140422/NEWS01/140429856
2. http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20140423/NEWS01/140429803//article/20140423/NEWS01/140429803/Superfund-label-stokes-Silverton%92s-curiosity- 
3. http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20150214/NEWS01/150219763/Is-Silverton-ready-for-a-cleanup 

B. Then read this letter to the editor in the Silverton Standard, written just before the disaster.

As you read, take notes to help you answer our driving questions (note-taking template).  Freewrite in journal, answering these questions:


Freewrite 9.2

• How do these articles illuminate your understanding of our driving questions?
• What perspective are you forming about the Superfund dilemma in Silverton?

Continue Open Research time and/or Storycorps listening tour

• Pick a perspective from the list on the board that most intrigues you or one that you know the LEAST about or are least drawn to
• Focus your research on those perspectives
• Take notes using the template or another format.
• Did you find a SUPER good resource? Post it in the stream on our Google classroom!  Feel free to read each others' and respond in the comments.

Exit Ticket 

What did you learn from your independent research today?

What feedback do you have for me at this point on the project?

Goals for today

• Keep listening....
• Winnow our questions into open-ended inquiry questions
• Gain further perspective on the historical context of the mine disaster

Announcements

• We need a handful of parent chaperones for next Thursday's field trip to Silverton.
• Honors info meeting tomorrow at lunch

Storycorps Listen
1. Listen to Storycorps Podcast Episode #436:  Great Escapes

2. Starter 9.1:  For this starter, you can think generally, not just within the parameter of our project.

• If you could interview anyone for Storycorps, who would it be and why?  What might you ask them about?
• If you were going to be interviewed for Storycorps, what story would you want to tell?  Who might interview you?

3. Share out:  What are our thoughts on Storycorps?  What did you write about in your freewrite?  How does our project relate to Storycorps' mission?

Refining the Questions

1. What is the difference between open-ended and close-ended questions?

2. Creating Open-ended questions to guide our research

• Student Questions from our brainstorm
• In your group, read the above list of questions for your group's assigned "theme" and try to synthesize them into 1-2 OPEN-ENDED questions
• Write your open-ended questions on the board under your topic
• As a class, we'll refine the questions and dial our list of questions
• Record these questions in your notes!  Taking notes digitally? Please do so in your digital comp book using this template or another format that works for you.

3.  REVIEW from Brainstorm: What are the various perspectives at stake in this issue?  (Scribe on board)

Whole-Class Animas River Spill Research 

Today's topic: History of the Gold King mine and events surrounding the EPA spill
1. Read the following articles.  Annotate for questions/confusions, additional questions raised that you'd need to research, specific perspectives on the causes of the toxic spill, persuasive and/or shaky evidence, etc....Record your notes to help you prepare for seminar and the final writing assignment. (Notes template) 

• Article 1: "The Gold King Mine: From An 1887 Claim, Private Profits And Social Costs" from Colorado Public Radio
• Article 2: "When Our River Turned Orange" from High Country News

Open research time 

• Pick a perspective from the list on the board that most intrigues you OR one that you know the LEAST about or are least drawn to
• Focus your research on those perspectives
• Take notes using the template or another format.
• Did you find a SUPER good resource? Add it to this document  pretty please!

If time...listen to more Storycorps interviews or podcasts

• Featured stories at Storycorps.org.  Explore the website, search by theme and other categories.  Take it in, kids!
• Check out Storycorps.me for personal interviews from every day folk like us.  Browse by search term.  This is how we will archive our stories.
• Check out Storycorps podcast episodes.

Homework (optional)

• Continue open research
• Listen to more Storycorps (I suggest subscribing to the podcast on I-tunes if you are into that sort of thing)

Miners work inside the Gold King Mine, near Silverton, Colorado, in 1899. - Source: https://www.cpr.org/news/story/gold-king-mine-1887-claim-private-profits-and-social-costs#sthash.sy0zsmvG.dpuf


Goals for today

• Refine a list of questions to guide our #AnimasRiverSpill project
• Understand the difference between perspective and bias and evaluate the perspective and/or biases of various "voices from the Animas"
• Understand the StoryCorps' mission and relate it to our work at hand

Today's Pre-Starter Logistics
1. Turn in the signed last page of your syllabus

***Those that are already done with these tech logistics, please read the Wikipedia page on the Gold King Mine spill, in particular, the section on the background.  What new information does this provide that you didn't already know?  If time, click on the links at the bottom of the page and read up!

2. Bookmark my DP:  jessicaahs11.blogspot.com
3. Create a Google Doc called "FirstName LastName Digital Comp Book."  Share it with me, giving me at least commenting rights.  You will begin to use these for most daily work, starters, freewrites, and note-taking.  I will try to highlight entries in the digital comp in light blue on my DP.  Also, see the Table of Contents when you are absent or behind.
4. Join my Google Classroom! 

• Log-on to classroom.google.com (or click Google Apps symbol in top right corner of Googleland, scroll down to "More" and find "Classroom")  and join my classroom by entering code t59dlf (to do this, click the + sign on the top right corner of your google classroom start page)
• Test run:  Can you post something in the stream?  What does it look like when you turn something in?
• Complete the Google Form assignment through Google Classroom
• Turn in your "Tell Me a Little Bit About Yourself" through Google Classroom if you have not done so already

Starter 8.31:  What perspective on the Animas River Spill is being satirized/exaggerated in this clip?  What is your personal reaction to this clip?

• Conan O'Brien's satire of the Animas River spill. Warning: There is some strong language here. Earmuffs, kids
• SATIRE: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Project: "Lives Streaming: Voices from the Animas"
Gold King Mine (Map, date of establishment: 1894)

TAKE SEMINAR PREP NOTES IN DIGITAL COMP BOOK: Here is a template to organize your notes in the coming days. Cut and paste its contents into your Digital Comp Book. Feel free to take notes differently if you are so inclined. Let me know if you want a printed version of this.

Review Brainstorm
1.  How are the two cartoon engaged in political discourse with each other?

2.  What are the people saying? What were some of the perspectives your group talked about?
3.  Get with your group again too try to refine some of the inquiry questions that shook out of this brainstorm.  Your questions seemed to deal with the following areas....

• Questions that deal with FUTURE IMPLICATIONS:  resolution and future prevention
• Questions that deal with CAUSE and “Could it have been prevented?”
• Questions that deal with SAFETY of the river, human health implications
• Questions that deal with IMPACT, ecological and economic
• Questions that would benefit from historical context of the mine

IN SAME GROUPS:  How can we phrase these as open-ended inquiry questions?  As a group, fill out this Google Form with 3-5 refined questions that you would like to see guide our study.

Perspective vs. Bias: Analyzing Dan Olson's commentary on the #AnimasRiverSpill

Distinguishing between perspective and bias

Perspective

• Definition: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view
• Synonyms: outlook, view, viewpoint, point of view, POV, standpoint, position
• Etymology: perspicere ‎(“to inspect, look through”),  from per- ‎(“through”) + specere ‎(“to look at”)

Bias

• Definition: prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
• Synonyms:  prejudice, partiality, partisanship, favoritism, unfairness, one-sidedness
• Etymology: 1520s, from French biais "slant, slope, oblique," also figuratively, "expedient, means"

Evaluating perspective (and bias?) in Dan Olson’s MSNBC Interview

(Dan Olson is Executive Director of San Juan Citizen’s Alliance in Durango-  they are an environmental advocacy organization)

1. Watch Dan’s interview on MSNBC

• Discuss with a partner: What is his perspective on the river situation?  Does he seem biased?  How so? Which of the above political cartoons do you think more accurately represents Dan's bias?

2. After the video, read this critique of Dan Olson’s message.  

• Discuss with a partner: Do you feel that the author of the critique made valid points? Does the author's bias seem to match one of the political cartoons?  Do you find yourself agreeing more with Dan Olson or with the critique?

Diving in to Storycorps
1. Review the StoryCorps mission. 
2. What do we mean by "empathetic listening"?
3.  Sample episode of podcast:  Listen Closely
4.  FREEWRITE in digital comp book, labeling the entry "Storycorps Freewrite 8.31" (prompt below)

HOMEWORK: 
Storycorps Freewrite 8.31 (in comp book):  

• How does this episode fulfill or exemplify the Storycorps mission?
• What is your personal reaction to listening to this episode of Storycorps?
• How might this relate to our project?

 OPTIONAL

• Consume media about the Animas River
• Listen to more Storycorps interviews
• Check out Honors to see if you are interested

Goals for the Day

• Think deeply about the purpose of education and how you want to engage with yours this year
• Preview and generate questions around our first inquiry project
• Exhale....happy weekend!

Starter 8.28 (on paper):  What kind of student do you want to be this year?  How do you want to engage with your education?  What do you want junior year to be like for you and for our class?


"The Function of Education":  Spirit Read
1.  Everyone participates at least once.  You can speak more than once.
2.  Read a word, phrase, or sentence.
3.  No commentary or opinions.
4.  When possible, try to connect with what was just read.
5.  Give all voices a chance.
6.  Pauses can be powerful.
7.  Repeating words and phrases is fine.



Discuss

• What did you find to be the thesis?
• What struck you most about this reading?  What questions does it stir in you?  Do you agree with Krishnamurti's perspective on the function of education?  Why or why not?
• Does Animas create an environment where this is possible? 
• What has to be true to foster an environment like the one he is talking about?

Feedback circle!

• What kind of learning environment do we want to have this year?
• What are the norms we want to uphold in order to create an ideal classroom environment where everyone can learn and work toward being the best version of themselves?
• (Can someone scribe on board and on a Google Doc?)

Storycorps Project Preview:  Voices of the Animas



Student Brainstorm Group Activity
Make a copy of this document and share with each member of your group
Title it: "Group Brainstorm Activity_Group Members' Names"
Share it with Jessica too


Whole Class Synthesis:  What perspectives shook out of the brainstorms?  What questions do we want to answer?


Exit Ticket (on same paper as starter):
A Rose
A Thorn
Questions about the project or the course?


If time, listen to Storycorps podcast?

Weekend Homework:

• Syllabus sheet signed by you and parents)
• Tell me about you info sheet (Turn in on Google Classroom if you can)
• Google classroom/Digital Comp Book (if you can)
• Preview Honors (if you want)
• Optional:  Consume more media on the #AnimasRiverSpill