Encountering Evil and Seeking Justice Sample Lessons

We are going to explore a timeless question: are human beings fundamentally good or evil? Through a close study of fiction, non-fiction, primary and secondary sources, we will consider how access to power influences human behavior, and how everyday people respond in the face of unjust leadership, violent oppression, and cruelty. We will look at […]

For Oyster Academy ELA Pre-Course Writing Question 1: “How does a person develop a sense of right and wrong? What is the role of a person’s family and community in their moral development?“ A person develops a sense of right and wrong from a mixture of emotions and guidance. When we do something wrong, and […]

Pre-Course Writing On your blog, answer the following questions. There are no right or wrong answers and your job is to think about your real feelings regarding the issues presented in these questions. How does a person develop a sense of right and wrong? What is the role of a person’s family and community in […]

Assignment Read Part 1 – A Brief Overview of the American Civil Rights Movement thru The Fight to End Slavery in Civil Rights Then & Now by Kristina Daniele Watch the video Understanding Jim Crow and answer the questions that follow. You can print the transcript if you need to. Answer the following questions in […]

Literary Concepts Copy these Literary Terms into your notebook. Click each one to read the definition, then write the definition in your own words in your notebook. Allusion: An indirect reference to a person,place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or politicalsignificance. It is generally a passing comment, and the writer expectsthe reader to […]

Questions from Oyster Academy-Seeking Justice: Lesson 1. Question 1: What was the relationship between gender and the perpetuation of Jim Crow? During the Jim Crow laws, it was always inappropriate for a black man to interact with a white girl or woman in a casual way, strengthening the assumption that black men will harm white […]

Questions from Oyster Academy-Seeking Justice: Lesson 2. Question 1: What can we infer about Scout’s character based on this first chapter? Provide specific examples from the text. She’s smart, having been able to read since she was a baby, “Scout yonder’s been readin’ ever since she was born, and she ain’t even started to school […]

Assignments Pre-Writing: List the ways that you learn more about a character’s personality, expectations, life, dreams etc. Answer the following questions in your notebook. Respond to the discussion questions by creating a blog post on OYSTER Academy (formerly For Love of Education). I have sent an invitation. You will need to accept the invitation sent […]

Assignments Pre-Writing Read Straight Talk About the N-Word by Sean Price (Teaching Tolerance) Answer the following questions in your notebook Read To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 4 and 5. Questions What is Coates’s point of view on the use of the N-word by the African-American community? Provide at least two pieces of evidence from the text to […]

Discussion Questions from Oyster Academy-Seeking Justice: Lesson 3. Question: How do today’s chapters develop your understanding of class differences in Maycomb? The poorer aren’t as respected as everyone else. The Cunninghams are very poor and Scout was very disrespectful, as clearly shown when talking with Calpurnia, “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham-” (33) […]

(Key Question is from Oyster Academy-Seeking Justice: Lesson 3.) One of the most famous lines in To Kill a Mockingbird is when Atticus tells Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (33). To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper […]

Assignments Respond to the following questions in your notebook Respond to the discussion questions by creating a blog post on OYSTER Academy (formerly For Love of Education). I have sent an invitation. You will need to accept the invitation sent to the address associated with your WordPress.com site. Read To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 6 and […]

Note: Studying a film adaptation of a novel shows how a director converts a book’s words into visual media. The director supervises all the major aspects of a film, so his or her choices affect how audiences experience a text. Directors choose what to include, exclude, or emphasize in a film or stage production. Attentive […]

Questions from Oyster Academy. Question 1: How does today’s reading develop your understanding of gender roles and expectations in this text? Provide specific examples from the text. Today’s reading helped me understand that women are expected to do housework, like Jem says on page 78, “Not like a lady sewed ’em…” It also helped me […]

All questions are from Oyster Academy-Seeking Justice: Lesson 6. Question 1: “In what ways is the scene where Jem retrieves his pants similar and different in the film (30:50–32:16) than in the text (pages 62–64)?” To Kill a Mockingbird as a movie and as a book are surprisingly different, but still hold similarities. One of […]

Assignments Respond to the following questions in your notebook Respond to the discussion questions by creating a blog post on OYSTER Academy (formerly For Love of Education). I have sent an invitation. You will need to accept the invitation sent to the address associated with your WordPress.com site. Read To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 9 and […]

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/step-step-phases-holocaust What are the four key phases of the Holocaust, according to Doris Bergen? Summarize the characteristics of each. Why does Doris Bergen say it is important to not “rush to the gas chambers”? (02:10) How did the Nazis begin to prepare for the mass killing of the Jewish people even during phase one of […]

All questions are from O1: Encountering Evil. Question: Why does studying the Holocaust matter? What can studying the Holocaust teach us? Studying the Holocaust matters because we must learn about the mistakes humans have made in the past. Learning about the gruesome incidents that happened in the past can help us understand what the victims […]

Watch I’m Still Here: Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust 00:10 – 06:00 Questions Why did Klaus Langer most likely keep a diary? Who was his intended audience? In your own words, summarize each of the reasons Wiesel presents on page vii as a possible answer to the question “Why did I […]

All questions from Oyster Academy. Question 1: Why is it so important to remember the specific details of people’s experiences? It’s important to remember details of people’s experiences because you learn certain events that happened to the victims that no one else may know about, or even be told in a normal lesson about said […]

YOU MUST COMMENT ON THIS POST WITH THE LINK TO YOUR RESPONSE Writing (Reader’s Notebook) How do the people of Sighet respond to Moishe the Beadle’s warnings? What does this reveal about the people of Sighet? Support your answer with two pieces of evidence from the text. Questions (Reader’s Notebook) Describe Eliezer in as much […]

All questions are from Oyster Academy. Knowing what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, how does reading today’s text impact you as a reader? With my knowledge of what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, reading today’s text (pg. 3-11) is unsettling and sad. At first, it was peaceful, but when Moishe and […]

Reading Night by Elie Wiesel pg. 11 — 22 Focus (Comment here) On page 12, Wiesel writes, “Night fell.” What might “night” symbolize based on this section of text (pages 12–14)? Support your answer with at least two pieces of evidence from these pages. Extension: Find other references to night and darkness in today’s reading […]

Reading Night pg. 23 — 28 Focus Consider the way that people responded to Moishe the Beadle’s warning and Mrs. Schächter’s. What conclusions can you draw about human nature based on their response? Support your answer with at least two pieces of specific evidence from the text. How to Cite (Modern Language Association (MLA) Style) […]

All questions from Oyster Academy. Why does Wiesel use quotation marks around the word “normal” on page 11? What impact does this punctuation have on the reader’s understanding of the passage? Wiesel uses quotation marks around “normal” to show that things weren’t actually normal. Things were changing, Relatives were driven out of their homes, which […]

Instructions You will be learning to write academic essays. We will be working on Unit 5: Writing in “Everything You Need to Ace English”. I expect you to take notes and to practice what you learn in your writing assignments moving forward. Monday 1/27 Read pages 379 – 382 Write six different research questions based […]

All questions are from Oyster Academy. Do you think that optimism or pessimism is a more useful emotion/perspective in the world? How would Wiesel respond to this question? I believe Wiesel would say that neither was more useful and that, though optimism might’ve helped people stay a little stronger, almost every Jew in the Holocaust […]