Monthly Archives: October 2013

10/31/2013

by

Happy Halloween!

We started out today with the most appropriate picture: Death and the Devil Surprising Two Maidens.

Death and the Devil Surprising Two WomenWe talked a lot about the picture while we did the KWL chart that can be found in BB (Carpe Diem: Seize the Day).

KWL

Print to OneNote and fill in what you KNOW about the picture in the first column and fill in the second column: what you WANT TO LEARN (questions). We filled in the LEARNED column in class after a discussion, but if you missed, you won’t be able to fill in the LEARNED column. Publish this as a PDF or a single web page and drop it off in the drop box.

After that, we printed the lyrics to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get in On”, listened to the song, and highlighted persuasive language in BLUE and highlighted references to TIME in yellow. Answer the three questions and drop off your highlighted lyrics (if you were absent so I can give you credit for highlighting).

Let's Get It On

We talked about the speaker and his audience (a girl) and analyzed that relationship. We highlighted evidence of carpe diem (time) in the poem, highlighted IRONY in the song, and highlighted references to LOVE in the song. We also specifically talked about how the song was contradictory and how it related to TIME (“stop beating ’round the bush”, and “this minute”).

Students then sat there puzzled as to why we listened to that song, so we read “To His Coy Mistress” to explain. It’s the original “Let’s Get It On”, just much creepier.

Coy Mistress Coy Mistress2

Lastly, we did the Syllogism Pyramid foldable. You can find the template in LMS.

For each triangle, create a text box and write the following:

  • If… (1st stanza – lines 1-20) + image
  • But… (2nd stanza – lines 21-32) + image
  • So… (3rd stanza – lines 33-46) + image

You will need to ROTATE the text box. Grab the little green ball and turn it. Make sure that the text box faces the hypotenuse. Don’t worry about the text that is already on the pyramid – that will be hidden when you fold it up.

10/30/13

by

What a horrible, rainy day! Eeek!

First block, make sure that you are keeping up with your work since we have been losing time in first block each day because Vistas Visits are cutting into our class time.

Gradespeed is not working yet, and we have no idea WHEN it will be available for us to use. So far, these are the grades in my class:

  • Character Sheet
  • Creative Coloring
  • Bucket List Pre-Writing
  • Bucket List
  • Lingerie: One Word
  • Carpe Diem Translation
  • To the Virgins Discussion Board (do 4 topics)

No, on to what we did in class today!

In the Carpe Diem section, click on the Seize the Day Learning Module. Read the story for Lingerie and follow the directions. Pretty easy.

We watched Mr. Keating creep his students out in a clip From Dead Poets Society and then we did the Carpe Diem Translation Tower.

You will read the four sentences, and then translate each sentence in your own thought. Add some clip art.

Make sure you have a clip art! You may need to resize the font. Then cut thusly:

And then fold/glue.

You will keep the foldable in your folder in case you take the final. For the grade, drop the PowerPoint off in the dropbox. If you just keep the foldable in your folder, I won’t be able to grade it.

In To The Virgins Discussion Board, we answered the required question: What Age is Best in Life” before we printed “To the Virgins” and “Coy Mistress” to OneNote.

We then read To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time. Make sure that you get the notes here:

If you want, ask me why I find this poem so offensive.

Lastly, we went back to the To The Virgins Discussion board to answer three more questions. YOUR CHOICE. Make sure you that you have four completed so you can get full credit.

10/29/13

by

Remember that you can exempt the final exam for this class in January! English IV is not associated with a TAKS/EOC, so your exemption is based on your absences, tardies, and average. Make sure you have an 80!

We started off today by doing the Bucket List Pre-Writing Questions. You can find this in the Carpe Diem folder and then click on the Bucket List learning module. You can do these questions in a Word document or in the comments section. As always, if I ask you to do something, I do it myself. Here are my answers:

  • If you had a year left to live, what would you do, who would you take with you…? I think that I’d spend most of my time in Texas still with my husband. I’m a homebody. I’d want to spend my time with my husband and my family.
  • If you won the lottery, where would you go what would you do…? Man. I think I’d pay off my off my mortgage, car loans, and then save the rest for retirement. I don’t think I’d go too crazy. I’m pretty conservative with money.
  • What did you always want to do when you were a child…? It changed all the time. A veterinarian (I liked animals), an architect (I liked designing fantastic houses), an artist (I fancied myself talented), or an actress (Still one of my loves!).
  • If you were on your deathbed, what would you most regret not having done…? Not getting more politically active, not being aggressive enough. Not showing up at the office of my representatives to make them look me in the eyes to see just who they really represent. I’m an architect, remember? I want to change the world!
  • If you had an upcoming high school reunion, what would you like to be able to tell your former classmates you’ve accomplished. I’d just want to be able to be more awesome than them. I’m not competitive, but I wasn’t a fan of the people in my high school.
  • What do you need to have more of in your life. Time.
  • Who do you admire and why…? I admire my husband. He left everything in his country to come here, not knowing what would happen. I’m too much of a scaredy cat. I used to think it was lame for students to say their boyfriend for this question, but I just put my husband. Guess I’m a little hypocritical. But, what’s interesting is that I WOULDN’T have written my ex-husband down, even when we were married!
  • Your sitting with your grandchildren on your lap and telling them about your travels, what stories are you telling them…? How I made a difference. This is kinda a moot point for me since I won’t be having grandchildren, but whatever.
  • You’ve died and are listening to your eulogy, what are your friends and loved ones saying about you. That I was quirky, made a difference, and that I was a good person.
  • If a Genie granted your 3 wishes, what would you ask for…? Happiness. I think that’s all I really want. But for the other two wishes, I think maybe I’d ask for my father to understand me, and financial independence.
  • What do you want to Be, Do or Have…? I want to be a good wife. I want to be a good teacher. I want to be a good person. I don’t want to be a jerk. I want to make a difference. I want to live a simple life with simple pleasures. I don’t want drama.
  • Where do you want to go…? I want to move out of the US one day. Right now, I want to move to New Zealand or some progressive country like Norway or Denmark.
  • Who do you want to spend your time with in your life, negative people or positive people that you like, trust, respect and that make you happy…? This is a no-brainer. I want to spend more with James, Sean and Tara, Jamie, Melinda and David, the Smith brothers, and other people who give good conversation. 🙂

After that, we watched the trailer for The Bucket List. We talked about how a bucket list should include meaningful and significant events -it’s not a to-do list or Santa’s wishlist. We looked at my bucket list (I’ve had this for years now!) and created our OWN bucket list accounts. We also watched my skydiving experience! You can tell I’m terrified because I’m just repeating everything the videographer says. Also, if anyone makes fun of my silly little helmet, that’s just mean. Add ten significant items to your list and then copy/paste the URL of your list to the message board in the Bucket List learning module.

URL

And that’s it for today!

XP Awarded

  • Bucket List Pre-Writing
  • Bucket List

10/28/2013

by

Welcome to Term 2!

If this is your first time on board, welcome! If you are a returning member, I’m glad to have you back! 🙂

The first thing we did on day one was create to characters for The Pride of Riley. The things that I’ll be focusing on when I grade them are your Nature, Demeanor, Attributes, and your (4) R’s. If you weren’t here, you can find this material in BB under Welcome to the Ship: First Day Stuff: Gamification.

Creative Coloring

After that, we did Creative Coloring and the discussion board to go along with it. If you weren’t here, do the best you can answering the questions over group work, but you should focus on the fact that you were absent and how absences affect group and partner work.

20131028_144500_resized

20131028_144547_resized

 

20131028_144517_resized

We then talked a little bit about The Buried Life and the book that resulted from the tv show. The trailer was really moving and those of you who hadn’t seen it before were interested in watching the tv show.

Lastly, we talked about what we would do if we only had 48 hours left to live. If you were absent for this, make sure you get a post-it note and write down what you would do. You do not need to put your name on it, but please make sure to keep it school appropriate.

20131028_145631_resized

XP Awarded:

  • Character Sheet

    Creative Coloring