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.

Secret Master Plan

Alright bloggers you've been doing some really good work. You've learned to post and also found many useful articles about your topics. I am surprised by how many of you are surprised to be learning some pretty basic facts about your topics. This encourages me that you're learning some things you really should know.

It's time for me to reveal my secret master plan. I asked your group to select the five best articles about your topic. I will make those articles available to the whole class. What this means to you is that everyone in the class will have read about the basic information on your topic. Everyone will soon know as much as you do now about your topic. This means you must run faster, stretch out your arms farther and ... LEARN MORE. (Anyone get the reference?)

Your group will make a presentation to the class about your topic. Your presentation must go far beyond the basics. Many of you have large groups. I suggest you break yourselves up into smaller sub-groups and have each sub-group focus on a different aspect of your topic. For example, the group studying food shortages could have some members focusing on causes, and others on effects. The group studying climate change could divide into geographic areas and focus specifically on the way the climate is changing in that part of the world.

Think about how you want to divide yourselves, think about how each person's work will contribute to the whole. Use your blog to assign jobs, post progress, and link to useful information. I am grading your final presentation, but I am also evaluating the contributions you make on your blog. The blog is a good place to write intelligently about your topic.

Today (Wednesday)
1. Sign on to your groups' blog and post a comment about someone else's post from yesterday. Look for the place at the end of their post that says " Posted by Display name at 1:03 PM 0 comments" Click where it says comments and write what you want to say about their post.
2. Then use the links on my blog to visit the blog of another interest group. Post a comment there too.
3. Read several of the articles linked below. They are all about climate change. ON YOUR GROUP's BLOG post your response to the article. Make sure you include the title of the article, a brief description of it and your thoughts. Remember not everyone in your group is reading the same articles so you need to explain what you read about in your post.

1. Life feels the effects of a changing climate

2. State of Knowledge

3. Climate change: A guide for the perplexed

4. Climate Change Has Major Impact On Oceans

The To Do List:

Captain-

• Make sure everyone understands their tasks.
• Make sure your group selects the five best articles.
• Make sure everyone joins the blog and posts.
• Watch the time. Group members should start their blog posts 15 minutes before the end of the period.

Secretary-

• Make sure list of e-mail addresses is up to date (have you added any new group members?) and formatted correctly.
• Format list of articles for easy use.
• Encourage group members to prioritize articles. We need the best five.

Technologist-

• Make sure all group members are invited to join your blog.
• Invite jrobertsplhs@gmail.com to join your blog.
• Give administrative privileges to your captain and Mrs. R.
• Make sure blog URL is pasted at the top of your list of articles.
• Help group members respond to invitations to join blog.
• If you have time create a linked list on the blog with links to your top five articles.

Group members-

• Respond to invitation to join your group blog. (check your e-mail)
• Chose a display name that is close to your real name.
• Review articles you found on Friday.
• Find more articles, summarize them. (If necessary)
• Decide which five are the best for helping to understand your topic.
• Write a post to your blog about what you did today and what you learned.

Interest Groups

Today you will find out which interest group you are in.
Your group needs to select a captain, a secretary and a technologist.

Captain- Coordinates group activities. You need to know what everyone is working on. You will lead group meetings and follow up on action items. When someone is absent you are responsible for make sure they know what they missed.

Secretary - Responsible for group communications. You will collect the e-mail addresses from your group and enter them into a Google doc. You will share that document with everyone in your group. When your group needs a doc created and shared you will handle that.

Technologist - Responsible for the groups' technical needs. You will teach your group the technology skills they need for this project. You will start the group blog and add your group members as authors. Blog Requirements

After you have selected these people you should start hunting for articles about your topic. By the end of today your group secretary needs to send me a list of five articles. Each article needs to include a link and a brief summary of the article. (Hint: Find more than five articles and pick the best five.) (Hint 2: have each person in your group search with slightly different search words to find a variety of articles.)

Does School Kill Creativity?

Today we are watching Sir Ken Robinson. As we watch his talk please respond in your readers journal (in google docs) to these three questions.

1. What is his main point?
2. What questions does he ask?
3. What questions come to your mind?
4. Is he right?
   

Do not click this link in class. We will watch him together on the big screen. If you were not in class please use this link to watch what you missed.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66 < Sir Ken Robinson