October 31

Happy Halloween. If you trick or treat, remember the 10% teacher tax that you need to pay to me Monday. Good stuff only. Remember, render unto Caesar...

Freshmen: Primarily, we synthesized our viewing of Spellbound into a short essay that focused on one of the two prompts you took notes on during the film:
1. How is a documentary like an essay?
2. What is an "Average American"?
You needed to have a clear thesis, a beginning, middle, and end, and use evidence from the film to support your claim.
A typed version of this is due Monday, as is the Third Marking Period from Speak.

Sophomores: We mainly prepped for Monday's concluding seminar on The Power of One. Come prepared with at least five interesting questions to explore, as well as your completed 3EJ. We also shared your illustrated wisdom pieces today.

October 27

Freshmen: We handed in the Deadly Dozen assignment, and took a quiz on them as well as on Speak. Finish through the Third Marking Period for next Monday.

Sophomores: We handed in the This I Believe statements from Doc and Geel Piet's point of view, and are now doing an illustrated wisdom project based on the best piece of advice we have gotten from a mentor. That is due Wednesday; finish The Power of One for Monday.

October 24

Freshmen: We wrapped up our philosophical study of spelling and moved on to studying the deadly dozen - the twelve most common homonym mistakes made by freshmen in their writing. They are:
The Deadly Dozen:

1. Your.
2. It’s.
3. To.
4. Than.
5. Their.
6. You’re.
7. Too.
8. They’re.
9. Then.
10. Its.
11. Two.
12. There.
Your task is to take each one of these and write either a sentence that uses the word correctly, a simple rule for remembering it, or do a symbol that will help others to remember how the word is to be used. This is due Monday. Also due Monday is approximately page 65 from Speak - finish the chapter titled Wishbone.

Sophomores: Today we shared your illustrated pieces of wisdom from Doc and Geel Piet and wrote a This I Believe statement from that character's point of view, using the piece of wisdom as the starting off point for the essay. A typed copy is due Monday, as is chapter 22 from Power. Finish the book for Monday, November 3.

October 23

Freshmen: Today we read two essays about spelling and discussed it's importance and whether or not spelling was an accurate indicator of intelligence. If you missed this, please read them tomorrow during the first ten minutes of class. Finish through "Wishbone" in Speak by Monday and get Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay ASAP.

Sophomores: Today we discussed the difference between wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. We then did a close reading of our text to find places where Geel Piet or Doc espouse wisdom. For homework, you were to pick one of the five pieces of wisdom your group chose and illustrate it. The rubric is the statement must be truly wise and be visually appealing. You will present yours tomorrow. For Monday, finish chapter 22, and for November 3, finish the book. Get The Alchemist ASAP.

Speak Reading Schedule

Speak reading schedule 2008

Begin book: 10/21 or 10/22.

10/27: Finish everything through “Wishbone” (most editions it’s page 65).

11/3: Finish everything through the “Third Marking Period” (most editions it’s page 137).

11/10: Finish book (most editions, it’s the end of the book).

October 21 and 22

Freshmen: Today we finished a review of Elements and began Speak. The reading schedule is posted here as well. You may use this book for your 20 minutes of homework as well as in class reading time. You should also finish pages 47 and 48 from the review.

Period 6: Spend 5 minutes on this prompt in your ICP section: How would you describe the narrator of the book? Use specific words or phrases from the text to support your opinion.

Sophomores: Today we held a Socratic Seminar.

October 20

Freshmen: Today we finished our essay process by focusing on polishing and publishing. We reflected on the process, and on the 10% Solution. If you had a major error you needed to fix, then you have until tomorrow morning to get me your essay. Otherwise, I collected them. Bring Speak and Elements tomorrow.

Sophomores: We began the chapters 1-3 review for vocab and took time to read. Chapter 22 is due Monday, and we'll finish the book by Halloween. Get The Alchemist ASAP.

October 17

Freshmen: We met in the lab and performed the 10% Solution on your essays. Your homework is to finish the 10% Solution on your essays, go to easybib.com and create a bibliography for your essay, and bring a final copy of your essay Monday to class. This is the copy that will be graded. Also, read 20 minutes this weekend and bring Elements on Monday. Bring Speak the next block period we have.

Sophomores: We debriefed our use of the 10% Solution and handed in the Echoes of the Tao for this quarter. For Monday, finish reading through Chapter 16 in The Power of One. Remember to bring your gym clothes next Wednesday.

10% Solution Cheat Sheet

To find your word count:
1. Click Tools.
2. Click Word Count.
3. Write down how many words your document is.
4. Subtract 10%. The total is your goal (Draft 2 = Draft 1 – 10%).
5. Write down your goal. Meet or exceed it – don’t settle for close.
To perform the 10% Solution:
1. Click Edit.
2. Click Find.
3. Enter syllable you are searching for.
For each syllable you search for, ask…
1. Keep it?
2. Cut it?
3. Change it?
**Remember that cutting or changing may require changing other things as well – see the big picture.
Syllables to search for:
-ly of that
pronouns: I, he, she, etc. -ion was
were very about
-ing By Insert your problem word:
And (case sensitive) But (case sensitive) Because (Case sensitive)

October 14 and 15

Freshmen: I introduced The 10% Solution today. Be sure you have the notes. You need to be able to access your essay electronically on Friday so we can 10% it in the lab that day. Read for 20 minutes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Bring Elements next week. Also bring Speak. Finally, you must go to easybib.com and create a MLA works cited page to use as your bibliography for your essay.

Sophomores: We met in the lab and 10%ed our essays. Tonight, you will upload your essay to me at turnitin.com. Your final copy is due to me at turnitin.com on Friday by 8 am. Here's what you do: click on new user; go to new student; enter class ID and password (password is Judge). Period 5 - your ID number is 2440657; Period 8, yours is 2440659. Log in. Click on class name. Click on assignment to turn it in. Upload it. Click submit. You will get a receipt.

Waking - Sophomore Extra Credit

Hi. This is a second quarter extra credit assignment, worth up to 100 points. You have to do all the parts, and it must be in to me sometime in November.
1. Read the book "Waking" by Matthew Sanford. It is available on Amazon or through Barnes and Nobel.
2. Go to www.speakingoffaith.org and listen to the interview, "The Body's Grace."
3. Write a reaction to what you have read and heard. Your reaction should integrate reflection on your own life, Sanford and Tippett's ideas, as well as the texts we have read so far, including the Tao. This paper should be several pages long in order to ensure depth and clarity of thought.

October 13

Freshmen: Today we started the beginning of the vocab review. Our primary focus was on Step 6, Revision. The major emphasis was to read your paper aloud with a pen in your hand, focusing on the first 5 Traits (leaving Conventions, for the most part, for Step 7). For the next period, bring in your original copy and your revised one, and finish Elements. Continue to bring Elements this week and next, and have Speak for next week as well.

Sophomores: Today we learned something developed by local writer Ken Rand called The 10% Solution. Your essays are due Thursday. Be sure that you can access an electronic copy of your essay that day in our lab, as we will perform the 10% Solution on your papers together. Chapter 16 from The Power of One is due next Monday. I will collect your Echoes on Friday.

October 10

Freshmen: We began the chapter 1-3 vocab review. Chapter 5 from Elements is due next block period. Your typed essay is due Monday.

Sophomores: We discussed the essays your read on the This I Believe website. Chapter 12 from The Power of One is due Monday.

October 9

I was out today... I am sure you missed me terribly. Nevertheless:

Freshmen: Today we took a vocab quiz and an Elements quiz. For Monday, you need a typed, finished draft of your essay. Chapter 5 from Elements is due next block period.

Sophomores: We took a vocab quiz. For Monday, chapter 12 is due from Power. Your essay is due next Thursday, in one week. Stay well.

Leads and Conclusions to Try

Some leads to try…
1. Anecdote: A brief story that captures the essence of the issue or situation, either factual or imagined.
It’s 3 AM, and the stillness of the White House night is shattered by the ringing of the red phone. President John McCain, rousing himself from a deep sleep, turns on the light and picks up the receiver. A US Embassy in a Middle Eastern country, he is told, has been blown up, and al-Qaida is taking credit.
McCain takes a deep breath. “Character counts, my friend,” he says. “Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb Iran.”
-Harold Meyerson, “Would You Sleep Well With John McCain Answering the Red Phone?”

2. Quote: A voice not your own that speaks to or exemplifies the issue.
“This is the new face of hunger,” said Josetta Sheeran, director of the World Food Program, launching an appeal for an extra $500 million so it could continue to supply food aid to 73 million hungry people this year. “People are simply being priced out of food markets… We have never before had a situation where aggressive rises in food prices keep pricing our operations out of our reach.”
-Gwynne Dyer, “Warming and Biofuels: Here Comes a Food Catastrophe”


3. Announcement: The writer takes a strong stand on an issue.
The national outpouring after the Littleton shootings has forced us to confront something we have suspected for a long time: The American high school is obsolete and should be abolished.
In the last month, high school students present and past have come forward with stories about cliques and the artificial intensity of a world defined by insiders and outsiders, in which the insiders hold sway because of superficial definitions of attractiveness, popularity and sports prowess.
-Leon Botstein, “High School, and Institution Whose Time Has Passed”

4. Background: The writer gives a brief history of the issue or situation.
When I was in the fourth grade, I moved from a small Lutheran school of 100 to a larger public elementary school. Lincoln Elementary. Wow. Lincoln was a big school, full of a thousand different attitudes about everything from eating lunch to how to treat a new kid. It was a tough time for me, my first year, and more than anything, I wanted to belong.
Many things were difficult: the move my family had just made, trying to make new friends, settling into a new home, accepting a new stepfather. I remember crying a lot. I remember my parents fighting. They were having a difficult time with their marriage… Despite all this, the thing that I remember most about the fourth grade is Tiffany Stephenson.
-Bjorn Skogquist, “Tiffany Stephenson - An Apology”

5.News: The writer gives the reader the who-what-when-where-why of a situation or issue.
Ninety percent of American smokers started as teenagers. There are several reasons for this scary statistic: peer pressure, parents who smoke, and, most significantly, because of the billions of dollars spent by the tobacco industry on ads that target kids.
-Jack Sherman, “Stop the Tobacco Companies from Targeting Kids”

Some conclusions to try…
1. Anecdote: A brief story that captures the essence of the issue or situation.
2. Admonition or instruction: The writer tells the reader to take a particular action.
What forward-looking communities see is a chance to to get in on the power production boom, not as consumers of dirty, increasingly expensive coal-fired power, but as produces of their own clean power.
There is a solar silver lining in our present environmental mess. It’s a chance to reinvent ourselves. Let’s do it right this time.
-Ed Firmage, Jr. “Revolutionary Solar Technology is Set to Transform Energy Generation.”

3. Prediction: The writer comments on how the situation might be different.
Somehow, we have to make our children understand that they are intelligent, competent people, capable of doing whatever they put their minds to and making it in the American mainstream, not just in the black subculture.
What we seem to be doing, instead, is raising up yet another generation of young blacks who will be failures - by definition.
-William Raspberry, “The Handicap of Definition”

4. Quote: A voice not your own that speaks to or exemplifies the issue.
Well, it’s off my chest; and it feels good.
I will no longer make excuses for my musical tastes. Not when millions are being made by performers exhorting listeners to “put your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care.”
Compare that with the haunting refrain of Reba McEntire’s “I Think His Name Was John,” a song about a woman, a one-night’s stand and AIDS: “She lays all alone and cries herself to sleep/ ’Cause she let a stranger kill her hopes and her dreams/ And in the end when she was barely hanging on/ All she could say is she thinks his name was John.”
-Lena Williams, “A Black Fan of Country Music Finally Tells All”
Echo: The ending links back to the beginning - an idea, an image, or a word or phrase.

5. Strong, punched statement: The writer concludes with strong stance, perhaps a one sentence paragraph.
Cohabiting does not necessarily equal the tragic end of a relationship, but couples who do marry after living together have higher rates of separation and divorce. The lack of commitment in such a relationship plays a large role in the scenario. If a couple wishes to have a successful marriage, they should show their commitment to each other from the beginning. If they trust each other enough not to cohabit before marriage, their marriage already has a higher probability of success.
-Denise Leight ”Playing House”

October 7 and 8

Freshmen: Today we learned two simple methods of planning out an essay, as well as five possible lead techniques and six conclusion techniques. For your essay, you must use one of the lead techniques and one of the conclusion techniques that I taught you. Chapter 4 from Elements is due Thursday; there is also a vocab quiz on Thursday.

Sophomores: We finished the film today and discussed how it helped us understand our book. We also focused on how social change occurs. You must review the notes posted on my blog regarding leads and conclusions to try and use one of them in your film essay. Here's what you need to know as far as due dates go:
1. Thursday: Vocabulary test.
2. Friday: This I Believe assignment due. At least 2 3EJ entries due.
3. Monday: Chapter 12 due.
4. Next Thursday: Be able to access a completed electronic copy of your essay from school.
2 entries for the Power of One due on your Echoes of the Tao assignment.

October 6

Freshmen: Today we took Step 3 in our essay process, Focusing the Data. We looked at all the data we collected, decided what it told us, and phrased that as a clear, arguable, and supportable thesis. For example, my thesis was The driving age needs to be raised to 18. Other students' were things like: Human activity is endangering large, wild cats; Cell phones should be banned for all drivers under 25; The death penalty is cruel and should be abolished. And so on. We also took a quiz on Chapter 3 from Elements; finish Chapter 4 for Thursday. There will be a quiz. There will also be a quiz on Chapter 3 from the vocab book.

Sophomores: We continued with our film study activity. Remember, your This I Believe activity is due Friday; keep working on your 3EJ and your Echoes of the Tao as well. Chapter 9 was due today from Power; Chapter 12 is next Monday.

October 3

Freshmen: Today Chapter 2 from Elements was due; Chapter 3 is due on Monday. ALL RESEARCH FOR YOUR ESSAY IS DUE ON MONDAY - this means, your 3x5s filled out, your interview complete with notes taken, your survey completed and collected. We will take the next step then, which you can't do if you don't complete the second step. Letters to the editor are due Thursday.

Sophomores: Today we continued our film/culture study of Cry, the Beloved Country. For Monday, Chapter 9 is due from The Power of One. Continue working on your Tao assignment, your 3EJ, your essay project, and read, read, read.

October 2

Freshmen: We spent time gathering information from the internet for your essay project. All info - internet, interview or survey, and non-internet print resource - must be collected and written down for Monday. For Friday, finish Chapter 2 from The Elements of Style. Chapter 3 is due for Monday.

Sophomores: Today we began viewing Cry, the Beloved Country, continuing to build our schema for understanding the time, place, and characters of The Power of One, as well as continuing the idea of performing a close reading through analysis and synthesis. Chapter 9 from The Power of One is due Monday, and your compare and contrast film assignment is due on Thursday, October 16.