Harkness Table Discussions

Escape The Box

We have spent the past week and a half discussing questions surrounding identity. As part of those discussions, we you have read several stories, listened to music, performed poetry, written in journals, and created identity collages to express your own unique cultural identifiers. We have also discussed various examples of "the box," which is a metaphor for any obstacles or barriers that might isolate, frustrate, enclose, or sometimes protect someone from a larger world.

Think back over everything we have read so far for this unit ("Theme for English B," "High Yellow White Trash," "Black, White, and Jewish," "Those Who Don't," "Sylvia's Story" from National Public Radio, "Alone and All Together," and "Two Kinds"). your task now is to write and post a comment in this forum in which you describe a connection between TWO of these works, focusing on the role of "the box." Think about how different characters face similar or different challenges. Think about similarities or differences in the kinds of disguises characters wear. Do you think these characters will escape from their boxes?

When you have made a connection between two works, write a post describing that connection. Make sure to mention specific characters/narrators, and to be clear about how the "boxes" they experience are similar. Your post does not have to be long; three or four sentences is plenty. You should feel free to respond to your classmates' posts, as well as to ask your classmates questions.


*** Remember to use your first name and "Doyle period ___" when you sign your post. Also, if you choose to respond to what another classmate wrote, please do so in a respectful manner.

The Taste of Chicago Summer 2009

When your two year old likes it, you know its good. Eating gazpacho and mango Italian ice at the Taste of Chicago made it feel like summer, finally, and the warm sunshine only added to the feeling that the long-awaited summer ritual had arrived. Our Taste experience began with gazpacho, cool, tasty cold tomato soup from The Alley, sweet salty corn on the cob from the Abbey, and mango Italian ice from Mazzanos. We rounded out the real Chicago experience with a ride on the Merry-Go-Round and a walk to Buckingham Fountain.

Luc and Maisie loved the Metra Train ride to the Taste the best, however, and why not when the train had an American Flag on each car? They exclaimed, "Flag train is my favorite!"

They also enjoyed the speed of the express train, and equally the slowness of the regular train so they could examine the stops along the way.

The true Chicagoan visits the Taste on public transit, and searches out the unique along with the standard favorites of summer.

What Happened to LeAlan and Lloyd?

We've listened to and read LeAlan's and Lloyd's stories about growing up on Chicago's South Side. LeAlan and Lloyd continued their individual struggles to break the boundaries and boxes that attempted to encircle them in lives devoid of hope.

To learn more about what they are doing now, read and listen to The Changing World's recent post.

You may comment on what you have learned about where each of them are now.

Please include your first name and class period.

Changing Boundaries: The South Side of Chicago

Read the essay and view the attached photo essay in Mother Jones Magazine. Then write a paragraph response in which you connect issues discussed in this article to many of the issues of racial boundaries that we read about and discussed in class in the past few weeks.

You many want to write about A Raisin in the Sun, Our America, or any of the articles and poems we read. You might also consider the images we discussed such as The Great Migration series from Jacob Lawrence or the photographs in 12 Million Black Voices.

Please sign your post with your first name and class period.

Colonial Projects: Learn From Your Classmates

Now that you have completed your Colonial Project, you have a chance to see what your fellow classmates worked on for the last two weeks before winter break. Spend at least fifteen minutes, and read ONE of the newspapers created by students in Mr. Nekrosius's class. Then, below, view ONE of the documentary videos created by Ms. Doyle's class. After viewing one video and reading one newspaper, on Ms. Doyle's blog, post at least three things, in sentence format, that you learned from the newspaper and three things you learned from the video. In addition, write one question for each of the two projects you viewed. Your question may be about the creative process or about the actual content of the project.

Be sure to note which class period's projects you are writing about in your blog post

Include your first name only in your post. Your post is due on Thursday!

Look here for the Salem Newspapers and see the videos on Ms. Doyle's blog.

Colonial Projects: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson

From December 8th through the 18th, 7th grade students researched, wrote and acted in video documentaries of the historical importance of the Trial of Anne Hutchinson, Puritan, in 1637.

Period 3-4 Documentary of The Trial of Anne Hutchinson:




Period 8-9 Documentary of the Trial of Anne Hutchinson: