Write at least one 8-10 sentence paragraph that discusses Heroes.

You may write about one of the following:
1) A personal hero.
2) Why people need heroes.
3) What makes a person or a character a hero.

Must be completed by Sunday, 12/13.

On Tuesday President Barak Obama spoke to America’s students from a high school in Virginia.  While this speech caused a lot of controversy, we are not going to discuss that at this time.  However, I want you to watch or read the speech and then respond to these questions. Answer each question in one or more paragraphs of at least 8 sentences. All comments must be appropriate for school.

The speech is on our class wiki:  Obama’s Speech.

• In your own words, summarize his speech. What was the purpose of this speech,  and who was his audience?
• What do you think the President wanted you to learn or do after watching his speech?
• Finally, what did you think of the speech?

Image via Wikipedia

Unfortunately, we no longer have daily access to computers. All of the labs are being used every hour for classes and we haven’t been able to get laptops.  With some luck, my classes will have use of laptops daily next fall. At that time, we will begin blogging again. Have a good reast of the year and a great and restful summer. See you in the fall.

Mrs. Chichester

Image via CrunchBase

P.S. I will  be tweeting on Twitter as @kchichester. I plan on blogging

regularly this summer on my personal/professional blog:

My Squirrelly View of Education

I mainly tweet and blog  about educational things, but I also comment on ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, Politics and Social Issues. Feel free to follow me.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 4 Ways to Use Twitter to Bring New Life to Your Blog (casesblog.blogspot.com)
• Five Important Points About Twitter (jwikert.typepad.com)
• Norway tests laptop exam scheme (news.bbc.co.uk)
• The Netbooks Are Taking Over! (gigaom.com)
• College Computer Labs May Be Heading For Extinction (lockergnome.com)
• Relax Already: Unplug and Chill Out (fitsugar.com)
• ASCD – True Celebration of Learning (angelamaiers.com)

#1 – Why I Need Laptops in My Classes.

It should be two paragraphs long.

1st Paragraph – Write one paragraph explaining why we should have laptops for use in our English class everyday.  (Hint: Playing music and playing games ARE NOT REASONS TO BE INCLUDED.) You should cover how they help you improve your reading and writing. You might want to discuss Google docs and Google notebook. You should explain how daily use helps you as a student and person.

2nd paragraph – Write a second paragraph about how laptops could be used in your other classes to help you learn.

Publish this post.

Today we’re setting up our blogs. Each student will:

1. Choose a blog template
2. Add Meta and Links widgets to his/her page
3. Explore the tabs on the Edublogs dashboard

Write at least a two paragraph response that answers the following questions:

1. What did you learn in my class this semester? (This should include more than the academic content that I presented. I’d be really interested in what you learned about technology use in education.)
2. What changes would you make in this class?  (You must give reasons for your changes. If you don’t think there should be any changes, explain why you feel this way.)

I have enjoyed having you in class this trimester. Some of you I’ll see next week, some not till next year. I’ll miss you all. Have a great rest of the year.

By the way, I will not delete your blogs. Feel free to keep writing about the things you care about. I am anxious to read your thoughts.

Smile,

Mrs. Chi

This is just a quickie, but I still expect you to answer thoughtfully. One paragraph of 7 or more sentences should do it.

This trimester we have focused on the “American Dream” as reflected in the novel of Mice and Men and the play A Raisin in the Sun.  We’ve discussed on the 1950s version of the dream and how it has changed.  Think about these things as you answer one of the following questions

How did each character’s vision of the American Dream affect the play’s outcome?

OR

What would the characters in the play think about President Obama and would they see his election as the fulfillment of the black man’s vision of the American Dream?

Unless you slept through this past Tuesday, you know that Denny’s gave away free breakfasts as a promotion.  As you know this affected our school. So today’s blog assignment deals with the fall out from that incident. (Image from Joits via Flickr CC Attribution License)

I have given each of you a copy of the online article that appeared in the paper along with the comments posted by readers. It is these comments that this assignment is focused on.

Let’s review the criteria for good comments.

Comments should do the following:

• advance the conversation about the topic
• relate to what was written in that blog post
• be thoughtful
• clearly explain the commentator’s thoughts about the post or another comment
• comments might ask the writer to think about something more fully or to think about the effects of his/her argument
• comments should only be about the post or another comment nothing else i.e. no personal attacks, name calling, or off topic comments.
• comments should show respect to the author and/or the commentator
• present the commentator as a thoughtful person.
• written using correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation i.e. show your readers that you understand the conventions of the English language.
• be signed with the commentator’s real name or a readily identifiable nickname. The author of the article should be able to contact the commenter directly if needed.
• be objective and stay away from emotional outbursts.

Using these guidelines, you will write a blog post of at least 5 paragraphs that covers all of the following:

1. Paragraph 1: Article Summary:

The first paragraph should be a short summary of the article. You need to assume that your readers know nothing about this incident.  You are summarizing the article in this paragraph NOT the readers’ comments.

2. Paragraph 2: Your General Impression of the Commentators .

After reading all of the comments, pretend that you don’t know anything about these people or the incident except what was in the article. What do think about the people of Monroe? How did they present themselves? Would you want to live in a place where these commentators live?

3. Paragraphs 3 & 4 : The Comments Themselves

Examine all of the comments. Reread the commenting guidelines.  In general do the comments meet the criteria I gave you. Give me specific examples of where they commentators followed the criteria or they did not. Paragraph 3 should cover the “failing” comments. Paragraph 4 should cover the best comments according to our criteria.

4. Paragraph 5:Wrapping this Up

What effect does requiring commentators to use a real name and provide an email address have on what the commentator posts? How would having the commentators identify themselves have changed the comments on this article? As a blogger, how do you feel about comments written by people you can’t identify?

It’s that time again. Time for you to share your thoughts and for you to demonstrate your BEST writing ability.  Be sure that you read the directions completely for both assignments.

Assignment #7 – How does technology affected you personally?

In two or three paragraphs, discuss how using technology affects you personally. Has it changed the way you think? Has it changed the way you interact with people? Has it changed the way you learn or what you learn? Are these changes good or bad.  THINK before you write.

Assignment #8 – Commenting on other students’ blogs.

1. Get a Blog Comment Rubric from me.
2. Choose three blog entries that you have not commented on before.
3. Write the Blog Author’s name and Blog Post number or title in the box on the left side of the Rubric.
4. Write a good helpful comment.

To get credit your comment MUST:

1. Be at least 3 sentences long.
2. Comment on what the author says not just on spelling and grammar.
3. Comment shows that you understand what was said.
4. Comment should ask the author a question about what he/she wrote.

Blog Assignment #5: Due to the Outages at Edublogs, I moved this one back two weeks.

We now live in a world where people MUST be ready to learn for the rest of their lives. Your education will not end at graduation. In your lifetime you may have as many as 10 different careers. For each career, you will have learn new skills. This is life-long learning. As a life-long learner, you must be able to describe how you learn best. You must also determine what you need to do in order to learn effectively. You must be able to clearly explain to others how you learn and what kind of assistance or guidance you need to learn successfully. Taking charge of your own learning is a skill everyone has to master.

Keeping these things in mind compose a blog entry of at least 3 paragraphs that discusses:

• What do you need to learn in high school to be prepared for college or work? – This shouldn’t be just the stuff that is presented to you in school. You should also include people skills: social skills, team work skills, work ethic, and attitude.

• How do you learn best? – If you don’t already know what works for you, I suggest that you think about how you learned to do something really well. What did you need to do in order to learn that skill from those around you? This should include how or what you need to change about yourself in order to become a better learner.

• Finally, where will you get the knowledge/information you will need to be successful.

Each paragraph should be at long enough to clearly explain yourself. It should take you at least 5 sentences to completely cover each part of the topic. REMEMBER TO THINK before you write. Other people from all over the world will see these posts and maybe comment on them.

Blog Assignment #6:

Choose 3 blog entries that you have NOT commented on before. Make intelligent hand helpful comments. Refer to Blog Assignment #3 for complete directions. Remember comments must be appropriate. Make sure that you fill out your Commenting Log so that you can get credit.

Due the Mr. Naida’s funeral on Thursday and the Resource Room Christmas Party on Friday, there won’t be any new blog posts this week.  Enjoy your holiday and come back ready to read, write, blog, collaborate, and most importantly THINK on that first Monday in the New Year.

Mrs. Chi

#3. Commenting on Blogs

Go back and read the blog entries for Blog Assignment #1 from any of my classes.  Comment appropriately on 3 of them. All comments must:

• relate to what was written in that blog post
• be thoughtful. A simple “I agree” or “I disagree” is not enough. Clearly explain why you agree or disagree. You might also have a comment that asks the writer to think about something more fully or to think about the effects of his/her argument.
• No comments about anything that is not in the blog post. That includes personal attacks, inside jokes, or other off topic comments.
• I read all comments before they are posted.
• You are graded on the the quality of your comments.
• Your comment must be at least three (3) sentences long.

#4. Why Do You Think You Attend School?

A friend of mine in California asked this question on Twitter:

“Why do your students think that they attend school?”  Good question. Now your job is to tell me (and the rest of the world.)

Do not give me the standard answers “I have to because it’s the law” or “My parents make me.”

Here are some questions to get you started.  What are you getting out of attending school? Why is going to school important? What do you think you need to know/learn to be successful as an adult?

Your response should be at least one very long paragraph or two shorter ones. I am looking for about 10 sentences total.

#1 – Why I Need Laptops in My Classes.

It should be two paragraphs long.

Ist Paragraph – Write one paragraph explaining why we should have laptops for use in our English class everyday.  (Hint: Playing music and playing games ARE NOT REASONS TO BE INCLUDED.) You should cover how they help you improve your reading and writing. You might want to discuss Google docs and Google notebook. You should explain how daily use helps you as a student and person.

2nd paragraph – Write a second paragraph about how laptops could be used in your other classes to help you learn.

Publish this post.

#2 – Thanksgiving Thoughts

1st Paragraph – First write a paragraph about what the word “thanksgiving” means to you. Give me a definition of the word NOT the holiday.

2nd Paragraph – Write a paragraph that tells how you will spend the holiday. It should include your favorite part of the day.

Publish this post.

Thanksgiving Extra Credit

At the top of the post box type: THANKSGIVING

Then list as many words as you can make from the word Thanksgiving. Put a comma and a space after each word.

When finished, publish this.

Today we’re setting up our blogs. Each student will:

1. Choose a blog template
2. Add Meta and Links widgets to his/her page
3. Explore the tabs on the Edublogs dashboard

This is the first entry on my classroom blog. Hopefully, my students will be able to access this

Image by denis collette via Flickr

daily.  We’ll see.

It’s  the first day and of course the student blogs aren’t working correctly.