English Journal and Themes

Today we will create a new Google Doc that will be your English Journal. It will be a place where you can do short daily assignments without constantly having to create new documents and share them with me daily.
This is important. You will ALWAYS put your most recent work at THE TOP of this document. That way neither of us has to scroll down a lot to find your current efforts.

1. Go to Google Docs now and create a new document.
2. Name it properly (i.e. 4JBEnglish Journal)
3. Also include your full name at the top of the page.
4. Share it with me immediately! (Create it, save it, share it.)

Today we are going to begin talking about themes in political speech. You will use the two links below in a moment. You can preview them now IF you have ALREADY created and shared your English Journal.

10 Themes in Political Speeches
Two speeches to look at

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.
Inspirational Speakers

1. Start a new Google Doc. Name it by period #, initials and speech 4JBspeech
2. Go to the link above and look at some of the speeches there.
3. Choose a speech and read it.
4. Find a quote from the speech that you think is expressing a belief or assumption.
5. Copy and paste that quote into your document.
6. Write a paragraph to explain that quote. Make sure you include the title and author of the speech.
7. Include words like assumption, belief, implicit and explicit. Use them correctly.
8. VERY IMPORTANT SHARE YOUR DOCUMENT WITH ME!

Week 2

Good Morning!
You have found the blog. Good. Today you will use the blog as your starting place.

1. First you will visit Google Docs. When you get there sign in using your g-mail address and password. You will start a New Document in Google Docs.

2. This will be the first thing you type on your new document: The number of your period, your initials and 'assumptions'. (I know this sounds weird, trust me). For example if your name is John Brown and you are in my 4th period class you would type, 4JBassumptions.
(This will help me a lot when you all start to shre your papers with me. I will easily be able to tell what period and assignment, while the initials will help me to make sure I have the right student. )

3.After you have been to Google Docs come back to the blog on another tab. (Ask for help if you don't know what that means.) Now you should have at least two tabs, one for the blog and one for Google Docs. We are going to add another.

4. Today we begin work around standard 2.5 Analyze an author's implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject.
I will teach you about assumptions and then...

5. You will seek out five quotes from the speech Sarah Palin gave last week and explain the assumption in each quote.

6. You will cut and paste the quotes into your new Google Docs document and then explain the assumption she is making in that statement.
Another source for Sarah Palin's speech in case the first one doesn't work out.

Welcome Back

Hi everybody! Thanks for checking the blog today.

I hope your first day back was wonderful. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

Your first blog assignment is to leave me a comment before you leave the site. (Remember everyone can see your comment.) If you don't have something nice to say this is not the place to say it. I suggest writing about something you are looking forward to about this year (even if it has nothing to do with English class.)

Also don't forget to vote for your favorite subject in the poll on the right.

Here's a picture of my boys helping to water my father's vegetable garden. We had a great summer.

Ahhh Summer...

Finals

After groups presented I asked my period three class to write about what they felt they learned this year. These are excerpts from their writing. Period five highlights will be posted Monday after their final.

• I've learned that technology is my friend not my enemy, especially when it comes to my English class.
• What I learned about myself is that I need to stop being so lazy and get my priorities done or I will not be so successful in life.
• I think that this class has helped me a lot in [writing] though, because of the writing groups.
• I think that it was a very help full way to get us interested back into class and well personally I think that it made me want to come to class.
• I've learned that literature is a lot more interesting than I thought.
• In this class we have read a few good books.
• After a while it became very easy and comfortable for me to write essays.
• Lastly I learned that sometimes you really don't know why things are they just are. So shut up and do your work. :D
• I feel like you, Mrs. Roberts have helped me mature in that way and helped prove to me that I can do it just as long as I give it a try.
• I learned the you have to work hard in order to be successful.
• I got to read a good book The Great Gatsby and really bring out my ability to write a some what good paper and to have fun in this class.
• I never thought I could stand up in front of a whole bunch of students and speak to them and give a presentation to them. The idea of doing that frighten me so much and it still does, but not as much as before.
  
• I learned that if you try hard you can accomplish things. Especially if your teacher is cool and lets you turn in work late even for partial credit. I learned that I can do more work when I'm on a computer. So using these computers have been helping me get a way better grade than what I think I would of gotten. I liked working in the group it was fun.
• When I would have a bad start in school this was the class I would look forward to all the time. I'm going to miss this class a lot and thats pretty much it.
• I have been through a lot but I'm sure this is just a preparation for the rest of my life, so I'm willing to go at another rough round and learn from a lot of mistakes. And school its a great place, yeah its boring sometimes but I guess we can learn a lot from it, duh its school but yeah I wish it wouldn't end that fast.
• This class has been so fun and interesting to me that it just made me want to learn more and actually come to class.
  
• I never would have thought I could be a technologists for a group, but I actually did a damn good job at it if I do say so myself.
  
• When I herd my friend Jesus talk about her I thought that teachers like her aren't true. Miss. Roberts has earned her spot on my top 10 favorite teachers. She earned spot number 5.
• Well this year I learned that school does not have to be hard as long as you do all your work, and that I can accomplish what ever I put my mind to.
• Through out this year I noticed that just being mediocre isn't enough, it's about putting a high standard for others to try to reach. Being in this class I also started to like writing a little bit more and the books and stories we read in class were really enjoyable.
• When people look at your writing they get an idea to who you are and how you think.
• I've also learned that I'm better at computers than I thought.

Readings on Water Shortages

Four articles about water shortages. Read one and post your reply to your blog.

1. Dawn of a thirsty century
2. Drought declared in California
3. Worldwide Water Shortage On Horizon
4. Not all wet

Mystery words: Which one goes with your topic?

1. Methane
2. Nitrogen prices
3. Desalination
4. Richard Reid

One possible solution to food shortages is the introduction of genetically modified crops. There are arguments for and against this possibility. Explore the issue and inform yourself at Harvest of Fear, a PBS site.

Thursday 6/5

Do you know which word(s) go with your topic? If not you have more work to do.

1. Earth Liberation Front
2. John Howard (hint: he's a politician)
3. Haiti
4. Hamas
5. Delta Smelt

Work on your research and your presentations today. Don't forget to check the link to the Presentation Guidelines under Links You Can Use.

Readings on Terrorism

Today's task:
1. Read one of the articles linked below.
2. Write a post about it on your blog. (Include: Full title, what it said, what it relates to and what you think.)

1. Terrorism RESEARCH

2. Patriot Act draws privacy concerns

3. International security chiefs meet in Jerusalem to discuss counterterrorism

4. Pentagon: Suspected Mastermind of USS Cole Bombing Confesses

One more thing:

• Guantanamo
• Kyoto
• Rome
• Atlanta

One of these places relates to the topic your group is studying. If you don't know which one then you have a lot more research to do.

Food Shortage Articles

Food Shortage Articles

1. Food shortages loom as wheat crop shrinks and prices rise
2. 40 countries face food shortages worldwide
3. Experts: Global Food Shortages Could ‘Continue for Decades'
4. Food shortages: how will we feed the world?

Read one of the articles. Post a response on your blog. Remember your post (response) should include:

• The title of the article.
• What it says.
• What it relates to.
• What you think.
• Extra: Provide a link to the article in your post.

Comment on someone else's post please.