Smith 9H 12-13: September 2012

I just want to clarify that my concept is "feeling small" but my visual theme is children and childlike things (for example, the writing in some slides looks like a little kid wrote it). I did this because children are a good representation of "feeling little".

Today in class we started out with some confusion on our voicethreads. If your voicethread is not public, you need to go to publishing options in the corner after editing it. Then click on the boxes that anyone can see and comment on it. After that we took our SAT lesson 4 quiz, and turned in our exercises. For the rest of the period we watched voicethread presentations.

Homework: Comment on five peoples voicethreads. Also you must print out the rubric and grade your own voicethread!
~Rubric is found on the agenda on smiths Arapahoe webpage

Its Friday! We started off class by going over how to share your voice thread. Then, we took our SAT vocab quiz. After that we moved onto presenting our voice threads. Have a good weekend!

Today in fifth hour we had a workday. We had a choice to work on our voice threads, SAT words, and any other English related thing we needed to. Mrs. Smith was not here so we had a sub. Most people got through most of their voice threads. It was a very productive class period. If you need help on how to post you can check on the class agenda for tips!!

https://voicethread.com/share/3455083/

https://ed.voicethread.com/share/3456562/

http://voicethread.com/share/3443806/

Substitute teacher: Mr. Rosenburg Went over SAT #4, asked questions and clarified problems that we had had trouble on. (DO exercise 5, always do exercise #5 questions) Had a lot of free personal time to work on our voice thread memoirs. Homework: SAT vocab words. You have to know spelling, definition, and part of speech. Work on VoiceThread. It's due by Friday

Scribe

Introduction:
After morning announcements, Mr. Rosenberg (a substitute teacher) reminded everyone that the memoir showcase is tomorrow as well as the SAT quiz.

Class:
The class consisted of work time on the memoir. The objectives for the memoir today are to:
-Impress yourself, the class, and the world
-Add visuals
-Add text
-Add audio
-Possibilities are endless

Once the blog is completed, it needs to be posted on the Class Blog. To do this, go to the class blog and find “Embed Code” under the menu cog. Title the post with your name and use the HTML/Compose mode to post.

Homework:
For homework, complete the SAT 4 exercises and study for the SAT quiz. Also, make sure that your voice thread is posted on the Class Blog for tomorrow’s showcase.

Just know that not all of mine are actual memories.

Scribe

Introduction:
The class introduction consisted of an introduction to the substitute teacher, Mr. Rosenberg, as well as a review of the lesson plan.

SAT Review:
Mr. Rosenberg stressed the importance of the SAT vocabulary and its impact on an SAT score. Students asked questions about the SAT exercises, and Mr. Rosenberg reviewed the SAT words. The review of the exercises and words encompassed the following:

Exercise III
Question 3: “A hyperactive child,” and “an impolite/degrading judge.”
Question 2: “An inclination for that activity,” “on the recliner, your physical fitness will decline.”

SAT Words
Hedonism: A belief in doing things for the pleasure of one’s self
Debacle: A disaster
Quasi-: A prefix meaning part or half
Sadistic: Enjoying the pain of others; Ex. Older siblings are often sadistic towards younger siblings
Imperative: Necessary
Facetious: Funny and often directed in a friendly manner

VoiceThread:
The rest of the class became a workday for students to work on the memoir piece, which will ultimately be a combination of all the memoirs, and converting it to voicethread. The primary focus was on adding the voice elements and putting the project together.

Homework:
The homework for today is to complete the SAT exercises by Friday and to continue work on the memoir so that it will be completed by Friday.

Today we worked on our Voicethreads the entire period

HW: Work on Voicethreads with visuals, recording, and piecing together excerpts. Study for SAT 4 test on Friday

We came in and sat down and listened to announcements.

HOMEWORK FOR TONIGHT: work on your Voicethread (adding visuals, recording, text if you want), study for SAT 4 test on Friday, SAT 4 exercises due on Friday.

Smith gave us the entire period to work through, record, and improve our Memoir Project.

Scribe September 24:

- Homework: mapping your memoir and SAT 4

- You post your PLN on YOUR OWN BLOG!

- if you posted it on the class blog then you need to take it down

- went over words for SAT lesson 4

- did the mapping your memoir paper

- talked about what she expects:

- 5 pieces

- pulling them all together

- worked on our pieces

Yet another Monday, and the start of week six is upon us. Memoir #5 and PLN-2 were due today. The

first thing we went over in class was where to post PLN's. You MUST post your PLN's to your

personal blog -do not post to the class blog. Secondly, if you haven't already, go into your settings on

blogger and turn 'word verification' OFF. Next, SAT 4 was assigned. The exercises are due Friday.

The quiz over the words is also on Friday. The words this week are celibate, fortuitous, recapitulate,

perfunctory, baroque, hedonism, obloquy, debacle, quasi-, besmirch, imperative, sacrosanct, sadistic,

demeanor, and facetious. For the quiz you need to know the word, definition, and part of speech. We

did not peer-edit Memoir #5 so that we would have more time to work on and ask questions about our

Voice Thread work. We went over what we are doing with our memoirs and Voice Thread. Tie all the

memoirs together under a common theme - this theme may not be the most obvious. We spent the

remaining time in class working on our Voice Threads.

Class begins with morning announcements, http://ahsdailyannouncements.blogspot.com/ YAY for Homecoming! Ms. Smith reminds us that Memoir 5 is due Monday, this will be our last memoir, and PLN2 on the Kony Video is due Monday as well. The weekly agenda can be found here:https://docs.google.com/presentation
The class chatters before taking our weekly SAT Words Test.
After the quiz, we learn about making our http://voicethread.com/ project.

Getting Started with VoiceThread

Each student needs to create an account using the lpsk12.org email.
Play around an get comfortable with Voicethread.com
To make a voicethread, you will use PowerPoint to make slides for your Memoir Presentation.
When you are finished, 'Save As' your name and then click 'Save As Type' select ‘.JPG’ before you save. ALWAYS save your PowerPoint as JPG for VoiceThread!
While in VoiceThread, click 'Upload' from 'My Computer' and find your slideshow.
To record your voice, click on 'Comment' and get ready to talk! USB headsets are available for rent in the Library.

Remember that this is an interactive presentation. Embed pictures, speak with tone, use other voices- whatever you can use to enhance your presentation. It's due Friday.

Once Your VoiceThread Is Finished:

Once you are done and viewing your presentation, (Project is perfect!) go to 'Menu', and click 'Embed'
Copy the Embed Code (CTRL+C)
Open a new tab and go to class blog- http://smith9h1213.blogspot.com/
Create a Post and in the post, change the format from 'Compose' to 'HTML' (It will look different that the space we are used to writing in, it's okay!)
Title the post your first name
In blank part, paste the Embed Code
Publish the post
The post should show up as your Memoir Presentation

Ms. Smith will be gone next week. We will work on VoiceThread Monday-Thursday in class.

Homework:
PLN2
Memoir 5
Create VoiceThread account if you didn't already in class

Links:

http://ahsdailyannouncements.blogspot.com/ - Daily Announcements
https://docs.google.com/presentation - Weekly Class Schedule
http://voicethread.com/ - VoiceThread

http://smith9h1213.blogspot.com/ - Class Blog

Scribe 9/20/12, Period 5

Welcome to class!
Today, we walked into class with many laptop's batteries losing life. If you ever need to charge your computer, you may unplug the cord from the power outlet in the cart and use it that way.

Starting off showing how different songs can be motivators for social change, the class listens to We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel (with the lyrics pulled up on our screens) and discussed what message he was trying to show us through his lyrics:

We are trying to put out this social fire, but it is unstoppable

The fire symbolizes the anger of the people, how society is erupting into wars but we cannot stop it from becoming so.

The fire refers to us as humans--we have always had problems, always will have problems

The video had pictures of like Hitler, etc. to show the different types of problems that humankind created and how it is impossible to fix

Showing how people try to change by generation, but they really are just rebelling against their parents

The fire around the houses show that although people may act like a normal family, we all have our own fires

Fires, or arguments, have been starting “Since the world has been turning”

Next on the playlist was Revolution (lyrics) by the Beatles. This time we tried to compare it to the first song and continued to find the meaning behind it.

Revolutions act as a fuel to the fire, just causing more trouble

How everything will be “alright” after the fire is lit, that although we can’t and will not be able to put out the fire, the fire can remain lit and everything will end up alright

It is the opposite of ‘We Didn't Start the Fire” because it is more cheerful. It is telling everyone of the chaos of society, but reassuring them it will be okay.

Both songs mention the world events of their era or their generations

We are starting the revolution for the future

“When you talk about destruction/ Don’t you know that you can count me out” is showing how they do not want to be involved in a revolution

The mention of evolution shows how over time it will still go on, and has gone on (like stated in We Didn’t Start the Fire)

Then we peer edited Memoir 4. When editing, make sure to refer back to the rubric so the author can be able to make it perfect for their VoiceThread presentation. Tomorrow, Mrs. Smith will be teacing us VoiceThread for our final memoir project. VoiceThread should include pictures, visuals, voice, and words. If you do not know a connecting theme for your memoir, tomorrow we will use the “Mapping Your Memoir” sheet to find the theme*.
The last fifteen or so minutes of class, was work time to finish or start the items listed below. If you are following “Mrs. Smith’s Master Plan of Excellency” then you should be doing the response piece of your PLN 2 tonight. Have a great day! Remember, tomorrow there is a pep assembly and football game against Mountain Vista. Have an awesome Homecoming week!!
HOMEWORK:
PLN 2 on Joseph Kony, how effective Jason Russell was in using the 3 persasive items (Ethos, Logos and Pathos) DUE MONDAY

Memoir 5 DUE MONDAY

Writing conference

SAT 3 Exercises (all but writing) and quiz ARE DUE TOMORROW!

*To find further information, sheets, and links please visit the daily agenda Mrs. Smith has provided.

Today being western day, Mrs. Smith declared from the doorway "Today say howdy!". As she

walked into the classroom a dull "Howdy Smith" arose. After one more try, she was satisfied with the

amount of joy in the greeting. After that, we went over SAT 3, due Friday. Exercise 1 is words in

context, exercise 2 is sentence completion, exercise 3 is roots, prefixes, and suffixes, exercise 4 is

inferences, and we are only doing the second part of exercise 5: improving paragraphs. The words are

pedestrian, bona fide, adventitious, fecund, deviate, obfuscate, impale, extenuate, parochial, glower,

edify, ambiguous, cataclysm, optimum, and inportune. There will be a test over the words, definitions,

and parts of speech on Friday. We also discussed Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. Some

questions we discussed were "What did Mr. Maloney do to make Mrs. Maloney kill him?", "Why did

Roald Dahl write this story?", and "What kind of social change with Roald Dahl trying to inspire with

this story?". Next, we attempted to listen to the song We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. However,

the audio wasn't working so we are listening to it tomorrow. Lastly, we peer evaluated our memoirs.

9-19-12

By: Angelina Chavez
We came into class and listened to announcements.

We wrote down our assignments. HOMEWORK FOR TONIGHT: PLN 2 (due Monday), writing conference (if you have not done so already), Memoir 4 (due tomorrow), SAT 3 exercises (due Friday). It may be a good idea to begin your 5th memoir which is due on Monday. Try to balance that out with you PLN, so you aren’t overwhelmed with the weekend and Homecoming.

We began to talk about the Ethos, Pathos, Logos examples in the Kony video. Examples are found on Smith’s daily powerpoint.

Smith expects you to hyperlink both titles in your summary and in your response. She also recommends to hyperlink various words in your PLN to be able to improve your writing. For example, you could hyperlink Kony’s name to an article or his Wikipedia. Be sure to take a strong yes or no feeling on Kony.

Then we went to the forum to listen to a lecture from our freshman class counselor for the rest of the period. He discussed GPA and the importance of doing well your Freshman year. He also talked about the amount of credits necessary to graduate at Arapahoe. He then told us about the credit requirements that most colleges have. He told us to get involved in our school to be able to succeed. Lastly, he discussed the tests that we need to take our Sophomore and Junior years for colleges to look at. These tests include the PSAT, SAT, and/or the ACT.

Today we returned out PLN rubrics. DO NOT LOSE!! and we discussed rhetorical devises for writing PLN 2. The three types of literary devices are ethos, pathos, and logos.

Ethos - ethical appeals (right from wrong) what is morally okay.
Pathos - emotional appeals, (sad or happy)
Logos - logical appeals, usually statistics

In PLN 2 we are writing a response to the video Kony 2012. In our writing we want to:

Do:
use strong word choice
proofread
use hyperlinks
look at Mrs. Smith's examples (slides 4, 6, and 8)
Don't
use personal pronouns (mine, I, me)
use general words (things, stuff)

In PLN 2 our first paragraph should be the summary paragraph, and the second should talk about the rhetorical device, which ones did they use were they effective, why or why not?

Also Mrs. Smith will be missing school next week while we work on our voice thread projects, If you need to contact her you can email her or skype her!

Homework:

Memoir 4 due Thursday
Memoir 5 due Monday
SAT 3 exercises due Friday, If you have questions we will answer them in class tomorrow.
PLN 2 due Monday

Homework:

Memoir 4 due Thursday (trying finishing tonight)
PLN-2 due Monday (try writing summary portion)
SAT Exercises due Friday

Handed-back:

SAT quiz and exercises
PLN Rubrics DO NOT LOSE

In Class Discussion:

Rhetorical Strategies:

Ethos-ethical appeals; right from wrong; starving children
Pathos-emotional appeal; puppy dog eyes
Logos-logical appeal; statistics

Kony Video/PLN:

Find out what strategies he is using and how effective they are
1/3 summary 2/3 response
No general pronouns
Use hyperlinks
Use words like horrifying, hatred, stop, disgust, inspiring

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc : Link to video

Today our class briefly went over the SAT #3 words (don't worry, they are still due on Friday), watched the music video We Didn't Start the Fire, discussed the short story Lamb to Slaughter, and peer edited Memoir #3.

SAT #3 Words

We read through the SAT #3 words out loud and looked at the exercises. Exercises 1-4 are pretty much the same as the last two times we have done this. On Exercise 5, we are only supposed to do the second half of it (the first half is writing a paragraph). The SAT #3 words and exercises are found on pages 37-45 in our Vocabulary Power Plus for the New SAT book.

We Didn't Start the Fire Music Video

We watched the music video We Didn't Start the Fire (sang by Billy Joel) today in class. After words, we shared our opinions on what it was about. We all agreed that the song was basically a list of things that have made conflicts in the past, or that are simply unpleasant. We also connected it to our semester question. See links below.

Lamb to Slaughter

Our class did a group discussion on the short story Lamb to Slaughter, written by Roald Dahl. We talked about how it relates to our semester question, and how it reflects what the human society is doing today. How we can so easily deceive ourselves. The annotations were checked, and some were collected.

Memoir #3 Peer Edit

In class, we peer edited each others Memoir #3. We did what we have done the last two times we've peer edited.

Links: We Didn't Start the Fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g

We Didn't Start the Fire Lyrics:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/we-didnt-start-the-fire-lyrics-billy-joel.html

Lamb to Slaughter Short Story:

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html

The Weeks Agenda:

https://docs.google.com/a/lpsk12.org/presentation/pub?id=1xo2x5tF_VjCTBTUY2eI8v0er69IR-XTRgi7Q0KCx5jY&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000#slide=id.g1d06a7d7_2_0

Homework: Memoir #4 due on Thursday and SAT #3 words due on Friday

Scribe for 9/7/12

HW: Memoir 2 due Wednesday, SAT 2 exercises to get ahead are due next Friday
Take SAT 1 quiz
Reality check: answered these q’s: How’s it going? What’s one thing that is going well for you? What’s one thing that is really challenging? How can I help?
Print off reality check and turn in
Aly Decolati, our vice president arrives late to class, approximately 21 minutes late. Congratulations on becoming vice president of the freshmen class.
Put our rubric out next to our computer with our memoir opened on it
Peer edit musical chairs
Took an oath not to write on our rubrics
Tony threatened me to

Scribe for September 14, 2012 Hour 3

In class today we...
Turned in SAT lesson 2 exercises

If you did not turn in annotations for Interloper/Open Window by Saki, or This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman, she will collect Lamb to Slaughter by Roald Dahl for your grade. (All under the short story on her teacher webpage.)

Took SAT lesson 2 quiz

Listened to Rage Against the Machine-Wake up Lyrics to Wake Up

This song has profanity in it. Don’t listen if you do not want to.

Discussed how it relates to our question, How can literature be a motivator for social change? Also what the real message behind the lyrics or in the lyrics are saying.

Homework
Memoir 3- Monday
Memoir 4- Thursday
Read and annotate with questions to Lamb to Slaughter-Monday
SAT lesson 3- Friday

Happy Friday!

Class Time: Energy is low because today is Friday, and it’s fifth block- which means only one more hour until we are allowed to leave for the weekend. We start the class with the traditional greetings and then segue right into reviewing our homework(see below). Mrs. Smith collects the SAT work for Lesson 2 (exercises I-V), and we take the Lesson 2 SAT test. Afterwards, we look up the lyrics of “Wake Up” by Rage Against the Machine and watch the music video. The links to both are below.
Lyrics
Music Video
The band is very much about informing the public about the reality of government and begging the public to “wake up” and make a difference in the world. This is a great example of how music motivates social change. The rest of the class period was devoted to completion of homework.
Homework: Research Roald Dahl, read and annotate his short story “Lamb to Slaughter”. Don’t forget to write 3 higher level thinking questions for discussion on Monday. Memoir 3 is also due Monday.
Side Notes for the Class: Don’t forget to ask for the extra credit question at the end of the quiz. Only one person can ask for the extra credit, otherwise Mrs. Smith takes the opportunity away.

September 13, 2012

We started off class by discussing who still has to take MAPS testing. If you have not, talk to Mrs. Smith.
We then did Aquarium-style discussion on "This way to the Gas Chamber", which was homework from the day before. After, Smith collected fourteen annotated copies from the class, with three higher level questions.
Afterwards, we listened to "Rise Today" by Alter Bridge and analyzed the lyrics, looking back on the guiding question of the semester: how can literature be a motivator for social change?

Homework: Finish SAT Lesson 2 exercises, we have a quiz tomorrow on the vocab. The Quiz will require you to know the Definition AND parts of speech.
Remember: Memoir III due MONDAY!

Scribe for September 13, 2012-Period 5

Today in class we had a "fish bowl" discussion about "This way to the gas chamber." We started off by talking about the author's background:

Borowski was arrested as a political dissident during WWII
He committed suicide after the war was over

Our discussion about the story went like this:

Why were there so many German words in the story?

The words stand out and make the story real
Just like in "Gentleman of Rio en Medio," the words relate to the setting and the people in the story
If you translate the German words to English, they are "harsh words" (according to Rebecca)

In the story, it was mentioned that by not telling the prisoners what was going to happen, they were acting in a charity

Smith joined in the discussion to inform us that Borowski was using "juxtaposition." She then explained that juxtaposition is when a writer pairs two things against each other to compare and contrast them. Borowski uses juxtaposition to contrast the beautiful nature to the harshness of the train.

Someone also mentioned the irony in this story

The train station/ramp is referenced as cheerful; however, sending people to die or to become prisoners is not cheerful

Is the narrator pro-Nazi?

He is positioned in the middle of pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi
He says that the SS officers aren't nice, but he doesn't say that the prisoners are poor, helpless people

Smith brings up another point that the story is kind if told through three classes:

The prisoners-lower class
The laborers/working group (they get more food and water than the prisoners, and are "lucky" enough to go to the ramp)-middle class
The SS officers-upper class
What did Borowski mean by the water would be "paid for by the people that have not yet arrived"

He could mean that it would be paid for with the prisoners' possessions-gold, etc.
Or it could be paid for by the water that the prisoners will not get

After we discussed "This way to the gas chamber," Smith told us to google the lyrics to "Rise Today." We watched the video for "Rise Today," as well.

Link to rise today lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alterbridge/risetoday.html

Link to rise today video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYG3BPvFOgs

Homework:

Study SAT lesson 2 words-quiz and activities due tomorrow!
Memoir 3-due Monday

Scribe 9-13-12

What we did in class was....

Discussed "This way to the gas chamber"
Mrs. Smith checked that we had our annotations and three questions done
Some people turned the paper in for a grade
Listened to Rise Today by Alter Bridge
Got time at end of the class to work on your SAT 2 if you weren't done or your memoir 3

For homework we have to do......

SAT due tomorrow (exercises plus study for quiz)
Memoir 3 due Monday

Upcoming important dates.....

Memoir 3 due Monday
PLN 2 will be assigned next week
Memoir 4 due 9-20-12
Memoir 5 due 9-24-12
PLN 2 due 9-24-12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYG3BPvFOgs

This is the link to Rise Today by Alter Bridge

Scribe for September 12th, 2012

English 9 Honors - Period 5

Yay! Today was a PLC day, so class was short, sweet, and as relaxing as the weather outside (in case you didn't look outside, it was raining).

Announcement:

Class started with a announcement from Smith. If your computer is acting up on you, you need to write it up on the sheet on the chalkboard. Also, to prevent computers from running out of battery, we all need to plug our computers in when we return them at the end of class.

Annotations:
While Smith was talking, annotations for The Interlopers and The Open Window were passed back. But don't freak out if you didn't get yours back! Only 10 people had to turn theirs in, so if you didn't turn yours in, guess what? You didn't get yours back!

SAT Exercises:
Today was also Question Day for our SAT Exercises (due on Friday, with vocab test). Questions asked during class were:

Do we do all of the exercises? Yes, the only time you don't is if it is an essay.
Exercise 3, Question 1f - the one who sits in front
Exercise 3, Question 2 - potion, potable
Exercise 3, Question 3 - insomnia, sleep
Exercise 3, Question 4 - working within yourself (thinking), the evil is in you

Peer editing:
We ended class with peer editing. In the end, each person edited two other classmates work. We focused on the rubric and being critical editors (giving feedback,
not necessarily all optimistic too)

Homework:
-Memoir 3 (due Monday, so you have the weekend, but you should get started)
-Read This Way to the Gas Chambers- annotate, ask three big questions, make connections (literal, personal, extension. Also connect to big question) Try to connect to the authors background (culture) also. You can find this short story on the Short Story Website.
-SAT Exercises - Due Friday with test on the vocab (word, definition, part of speech)

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

Getting Started with VoiceThread

Once Your VoiceThread Is Finished:

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Scribe 9/20/12, Period 5

SAT 3 Exercises (all but writing) and quiz ARE DUE TOMORROW!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Scribe for September 14, 2012 Hour 3

Friday, September 14, 2012

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Wednesday, September 12, 2012