Welcome to our third week of Common Core practice prompts, each classroom-created and tested by our teacher-collaborators, Jonathan Olsen and Sarah Gross, and the ninth grade humanities class they team teach.
This week, the class was so inspired by a Times article about an artist’s inflatable Buddha sculpture, that they have designed a challenge for students (and adults) everywhere: find a piece of “art” (however you define it) in your own surroundings, and post a photo of it to Twitter with the hashtag #art4me.
They hope to “see how far this project will travel,” so consider joining in!
Common Core Practice Tasks | Week of Oct. 1-5, 2012
Narrative Writing
Arts and Religion: “A Buddha, Full of Air, Sits Serenely On the Waves”
Common Core Standards: R14, RI10, W3, W3d, W4, W10
Near the shore of the East River in New York City floats a 10-foot-high transparent inflatable Buddha. Why is this Buddha, created by Korean-born visual artist Chang-Jin Lee and named “Floating Echo” sitting serenely on a lily pad in one of the most highly populated cities in the world? In her article about this Buddha, Sharon Otterman blends figurative language, reflection, and vivid word choice to paint a picture for the reader of the art and surrounding park.
Your Task: Look around your school, home or community, or think about a place you know well, and choose an object that you would like to call attention to as a piece of art, the way the Socrates Sculpture Park did with the inflatable Buddha.
Using the first four paragraphs of Sharon Otterman’s article as a mentor text, write a paragraph describing the object and surrounding area. You should include figurative language, vivid descriptions, and sensory details.
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Take a picture with your phone or camera of an object that you consider art, or an object that has important meaning to you right now. Post your picture to Twitter under the hashtag: #art4me. Add a caption briefly describing your object and why it is important to you, or why you consider it to be art. We will then see how far this project will travel! Ms. Gross and Mr. Olsen’s students will be adding their own pictures this week and spreading the word using social media.
Informative Writing
The Arts: “Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives”
Common Core Standards: RI10, W2, W4, W10, WHST9
What would you do if you won $500,000? The MacArthur Foundation awards “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” The grants, which are awarded annually and cannot be applied for, are for $100,000 per year for five years.
The winners can work in any creative field ranging from science and medicine to writing and history, and don’t have to report how they spend their money. This year’s winners include a mandolin player, a documentary filmmaker, a fiction writer, a bioengineer, a historian, and 18 others.
Your Task: The MacArthur “genius grants” reward “out of the box” thinking in many different disciplines. In a paragraph, propose a dream project that you hope the MacArthur Foundation would help fund.
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
- Visit the MacArthur Foundation Web site and read about this year’s Fellows.
- Think about what kinds of projects excite you. Can you translate your interests to appeal to a wide audience?
Extension Activity
Mr. Olsen and Ms. Gross have started a program in their classroom this year called News With Newsmakers where they have invited innovative thinkers to talk current events with their freshmen students.
This week, New Jersey Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande stopped by High Technology High School to discuss today’s news with their classes. The students discussed the MacArthur Foundation awards with Assemblywoman Casagrande and asked her what she would do if she won the award. Here is her MacArthur Foundation dream:
I would focus like a laser on using the funds to put more American women on a path to take over S.T.E.M. jobs currently held by foreign workers holding visas throughout the New Jersey tech-belt. The money would be spent to train New Jersey women for employment at these companies and in the process close the gender wage gap that currently exists in the state.
Ask a range of people in your own life what kinds of projects they would create if they were funded to design a creative pursuit.
Argumentative Writing
Science and Politics: “Shift by Cuomo on Gas Drilling Prompts Both Anger and Praise”
Common Core Standards: RI1, R14, W1, W1c, W1d, W4, W9b, RH1, RST8, WHST2a
A means of accessing natural gas reserves, hydraulic fracturing is a topic that many citizens feel strongly about because of its potential environmental and economic impact. Governor of New York Cuomo has spent the past four years authorizing various studies into the health, environmental and economic concerns of this process.
According to the Times Topics page, hydraulic fracturing is a drilling method, “better known as hydrofracking or fracking, in which large amounts of sand, water and chemicals are injected deep underground at high pressures.” Now, after four years, people on both sides of the debate feel that a decision needs to be made.
Your Task: Write a letter to the editor of The New York Times explaining whether Governor Cuomo should allow fracking to occur in New York State. Use evidence from the article to support your argument.
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
Extension Activity
Students can compile their letters to the editor and create a classroom newspaper devoted to the topic, including articles about the science behind hydrofracking and natural gas. Science teachers can become involved in this project by guiding students as they write about the more technical aspects of this debate.
