HIGH TECH HIGH CHULA VISTA HONORS INFORMATION
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Humanities Honors is centered around reading literature and coming together as a group to discuss the text and make meaning. Students read across genres, participate in weekly discussions, write a response to literature essay, and attend cultural events around San Diego. |
ASSIGNMENTS AND HANDOUTS
Cultural Event Write Up - Student directions. Cultural Event Write Up - Mr. Tim Example Essential Question Graphic Organizer - Novels |
Cultural Event Field Trips
Students are expected to attend two cultural event field trips per semester and complete a write up on their experience (see below for example assignment). If a student is unable to make any of the planned field trips, he/she may visit any one of the following institutions and write up what they saw..
Museum of Photographic Arts
San Diego Museum of Art
Museum of Man
The Old Globe Theatre
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
If you have a question about an event you would like to attend, please check with Mr. Tim before you go.
Museum of Photographic Arts
San Diego Museum of Art
Museum of Man
The Old Globe Theatre
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
If you have a question about an event you would like to attend, please check with Mr. Tim before you go.
OUR WORK - Fall 2014/SPring 2015
Over the course of the year, students engaged in weekly discussions of a wide range of American Literature across multiple genres, from poetry to drama to short stories to novels. Each week, students read the text independently and came prepared with evidence to discuss the essential question (EQ). In our weekly class session, students shared their opinions and evidence about the EQ and then engaged in a debrief of their discussion. Here are some sample EQ's:
Lastly, each student attended two culture event field trips and wrote an observation based on three questions: 1) What did you see? 2) What do you wonder? 3) What meaning do you see being communicated? Here is a list of the field trips for the 2014/2015 school year.
Museum of Photographic Arts: Aperture Remix - Saturday September 20
La Jolla Playhouse: Kingdom City - Thursday October 2
MCASD Colter Jacobsen Walk - Saturday October 11
MCASD La Jolla: Jack Whitten - Saturday November 8
San Diego Museum of Art: Gauguin to Warhol - Saturday December 13
Cygnet Theater: Sons of the Prophet - Friday January 31
Old Globe Theater: The Twenty-Seventh Man - Tuesday February 17
La Jolla Playhouse: What Happens Next- Monday February 2
MCASD Gravity and Grace Exhibit - Thursday March 6
Old Globe Theater: The White Snake - Thursday April 16
Moxie Theatre: Lesson 443 - Friday May 8
- How does our past shape our dreams for the future? (Gatsby)
- What is beauty and how is it determined? (The Bluest Eye)
- Is it possible for one person to truly know another person? (Where'd You Go Bernadette)
- What is the most important idea in this novel? (final question I ask at the end of every book)
Lastly, each student attended two culture event field trips and wrote an observation based on three questions: 1) What did you see? 2) What do you wonder? 3) What meaning do you see being communicated? Here is a list of the field trips for the 2014/2015 school year.
Museum of Photographic Arts: Aperture Remix - Saturday September 20
La Jolla Playhouse: Kingdom City - Thursday October 2
MCASD Colter Jacobsen Walk - Saturday October 11
MCASD La Jolla: Jack Whitten - Saturday November 8
San Diego Museum of Art: Gauguin to Warhol - Saturday December 13
Cygnet Theater: Sons of the Prophet - Friday January 31
Old Globe Theater: The Twenty-Seventh Man - Tuesday February 17
La Jolla Playhouse: What Happens Next- Monday February 2
MCASD Gravity and Grace Exhibit - Thursday March 6
Old Globe Theater: The White Snake - Thursday April 16
Moxie Theatre: Lesson 443 - Friday May 8
Our WORK - Spring 2014
During the spring semester, students read three novels of their choice and discussed them each week in a discussion blog or face-to-face meeting. At the end of the semester, students revisited the novels and wrote a response to literature essay based on a theme they identified in the text. See below for example conversation logs, student essays, and reading selections.
The Great Gatsby Conversation Log #1
The Great Gatsby Conversation Log #2
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Conversation Log
To Kill a Mockingbird Conversation Log
Gustavo DeLeon - The Dog Stars
Arabella Gastelum - The Joy Luck Club
Reading #1 - American Classics
Reading #2 - Alternate Perspectives
Reading #3 - Contemporary Voices
The Great Gatsby Conversation Log #1
The Great Gatsby Conversation Log #2
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Conversation Log
To Kill a Mockingbird Conversation Log
Gustavo DeLeon - The Dog Stars
Arabella Gastelum - The Joy Luck Club
Reading #1 - American Classics
- Huck Finn - Mark Twain
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Reading #2 - Alternate Perspectives
- The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
- Bless Me Ultima - Rudolph Anaya
- The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
Reading #3 - Contemporary Voices
- The Dog Stars - Peter Heller
- Where’d You Go Bernadette - Maria Semple
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
OUR WORK - Fall 2014
For our first Honors assignment, we read selections from Junot Diaz's short story collection This Is How You Lose Her. Students responded to the text by completing a notecatcher to address the following questions:
After students had read and responded on their own, we came together to discuss the stories in a World Cafe style discussion. See the images below for the students thoughts on Diaz's stories. |
After we discussed the readings, students responded in writing to the essential question: What was the author's purpose in writing these stories? In their essays, students identified a theme that was present in the stories and explained how the author revealed the theme to the reader using specific passages from the text to support their thesis. See below for links to examples of student work.
Faith Burila - Inevitabilities of Life
Haley Irizarry - This Is How You Lose Her
Rafely Palacios - Reflections from the Past
We revisited our essential question throughout the semester as students read and responded to the poetry of Langston Hughes, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and selections from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
Faith Burila - Inevitabilities of Life
Haley Irizarry - This Is How You Lose Her
Rafely Palacios - Reflections from the Past
We revisited our essential question throughout the semester as students read and responded to the poetry of Langston Hughes, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and selections from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.