Post for 5/12 - LAST POSTS OF THE YEAR

At the beginning of Macbeth, we talked about some of the big ideas we would find in the play.  Choose one that you think the play is most about, or that we should most pay attention to.  Support your choice with a two-paragraph discussion of how we have seen this issue in the play.  Do you think this issue is part of a theme (a statement the play is making about that topic)?  If so, what?

Include your work time for the week.

Self-assessment for week 4, on Blackboard.

Thanks for your creative, interesting, entertaining posts throughout the year!  I've enjoyed reading these!

Post for 5/5

Your class will have a quiz on Macbeth on Monday or Tuesday (see Whipple Hill for which), in which you will need to identify key quotations from Acts I, II, and III.  A few notes:

• I am not asking you to memorize the script; if you are up to date on the plot, have been marking key passages in your book, and understand the characters and what they want, you should be able to use the information in each quotation to figure out who is speaking, who they are speaking to, and what the context is.  
• You can prepare by briefly reviewing the scenes we have read and your notes on these scenes.  (You should NOT go to the internet to look up key quotations - remember you are on your honor to interpret on your own or through the class).  
• If this quiz is especially challenging for you, this will help you identify what you need to do to prepare for Macbeth portion of the final.  It may also help you determine whether your work in class could be fine-tuned to help you be better prepared, perhaps by asking more questions or taking more notes.

Remember you are also working on your portfolio, due May 9 to Blackboard and Turnitin.

For your post this week, please identify a quotation that you think is particularly important from the first three acts and explain what is being said and why it matters in the play in two developed paragraphs.  Alternatively, you may choose two quotations and explain them in one paragraph each.

Please include your work outside of class this week, including time you spent on the portfolio and on Macbeth outside of class, as well as on independent reading.

Finally, instead of a second blog post, please complete the self-assessment of your participation in class this week (4/28-5/2).

For 4/29

Record your reading / work time, and write a free post (2 developed paragraphs)!

Have a happy holiday and break!

Welcome Back to Blogging! For 4/14

For this week, please post your reading/working time, including time you spent working on your Nervous Conditions project outside of class.

Also, respond to two of the statements below, explaining whether you disagree strongly, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, or agree strongly.  Use examples from your experience and connect the statement to Macbeth.

1. Ambition is a positive, desirable trait in a person.
2. If you are in a position of power, you are happy.
3. Everyone is capable of lying, betrayal, and violence, which are basic parts of human nature.
4. Who we are--our essential character and temperament--is fixed and unchangeable.
5. Women are more compassionate and less violent than men.
6. Sometimes you have to do things other people consider wrong to get ahead.
7. Some things are destined or fated to happen.
8. If something is destined to happen, it will happen without your interference.

Instead of a second post, please assess your participation this week: go to the Macbeth page in Blackboard to find the self-assessment link.  This assessment is due on 4/14 and will not be accepted after 4/16.

Posts for 2/24

Just your reading details for 120 minutes!  You can include reading time, work time on your paper, and time spent preparing for the poetry test outside of class.  Please be specific.

Posts for 2/17

You have two poetry-related posts for this week.  You should spend about 15 focused minutes on the actual writing of each (as always).  If you spend time preparing to write these posts (for instance, annotating song lyrics), you can count it toward your 120 minutes.  Also, remember you need a book to read.  If you've been reading something random from my shelf in class, you are going to need a book to get to 120 minutes.  Go to the library or do what you need to do.

Post 1: Analyze a Song
For your first post, analyze a song of your choice.  Your analysis should identify the major techniques being used, how those techniques are used, and what effects they have in the song.  How do these techniques contribute to your overall interpretation of the song?  Your post should be at least two developed paragraphs in length but may be longer. Make sure to include the song's title, author/artist, and a link to the lyrics.  You may also want to type out any particularly relevant sections (this doesn't count toward the length).

You may choose any song you'd like if it is school-appropriate and the lyrics are available online.  Make sure you choose a song that has poetic devices in it for you to analyze.  End rhyme and a repeated chorus do not count - find a song with other techniques.  Your analysis should identify the techniques being used, how they are used, and what effect they create--you are making claims about the song and supporting them.  Consider aspects of the song such as tone, theme, diction, speaker, and purpose.  As always, your analysis must be your own, but you may look up any allusions that you need to.

If you are having trouble finding a song, here are a few suggestions:

"I Must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes - Lyrics, Song
"You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon - Lyrics, Video
"Dark Turn of Mind" by Gillian Welch - Lyrics and Video (scroll down)
"Love" by Mos Def - Lyrics, Song
"Float" by Aesop Rock - Lyrics and song (scroll down)
"Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Lyrics 

Post 2: Write a Poem

Write a poem!  In no less than 15 lines, use a minimum of 3 of the techniques we've been discussing, and identify the techniques at the end.

Your poem can be about anything, but if you need ideas:
- describe an object or place that means something to you with dense imagery
- narrate a memory from childhood (you can use the free-writing we did in class)
- use figurative language to describe an emotion
- a letter to someone or something
- a list

Post your reading details - be specific.

For 2/10

No blog posts this week.  Please make sure to make your ATDPTI discussion board posts and comments.

Just post your reading / work time for 120 min.  You will not receive credit for this time if you don't say what you did.  Remember vocab and blogging do not count toward this total, and you may only count reading time from class (10 min / day) if you were actively reading when the bell rang and actively read the entire time.

Ex.:
Monday, 2/3 - 10 min ATD in class + 30 min. finalizing draft
Tuesday, 2/4 - 10 min ATD in class + 30 min. ATD (finished!)
Wednesday, 2/5 - 40 min: 2 ATD posts
and so on...

Blogging for 2/3

It's been a wild week!  For your blogging this week, please document the time you spent reading and working on your paper, including our virtual school days.  Document in detail - what day did each period of work take place and what, precisely, did you do?

Blocks 1 and 2 should have a total of at least 4 hours (240 minutes)

Blocks 3 and 4 should have a total of at least 4:45 hours (285 minutes)

Post 1: Sneaux Week Free post!

Post 2: Your research paper draft: what do you feel confident about in this draft?  What are you concerned or unsure about?  What was easy and what was hard?  What would you like help changing?  What should I focus my feedback on when I read? (Write a two-paragraph post that responds to these questions but that works independently as a piece of writing, not just a list of answers).

Blogging for 1/27 - Happy Snow Day!

Happy Snow Day!  Enjoy your day.  Here's your weekend mission:

Work on your research!!!  You should have your detailed outline on paper for Monday. The more developed and refined this outline is, the better feedback you'll be able to get, so don't settle for just getting something done.

Reading details: Count your research time spent outside of class toward your 120 minutes, as well as any time your spent reading Absolutely True Diary, including on class days that you were actively reading when the bell rang and read for the entire 10 minutes.  For research, be specific about what you accomplished and when.

You only need to make one post this week, but it will count as two.  Make sure each paragraph is fully developed and that you address the whole prompt.

Post 1 (20 points): In your first paragraph, explain your research topic and preliminary findings to a friend (or sibling, parent, etc.).  Tell this person why you are interested in this topic and what, specifically, you have learned about it so far in relation to your research question.  This can be informal - try to keep the person's interest and maintain a sense of conversation in your writing.  Include your answer to your research question (thesis) in everyday language.

In your second paragraph, explain your topic again more formally, like you might in a paper or a formal class presentation.  Include the same type of information and level of detail--including your thesis--but work on more sophisticated word choices and sentence structures.

For Tuesday, 1/21

Work on your notecards!  Remember our goal is to have 20-30 by Wednesday.

Please post your working/reading time only.

Welcome Back! Blog Posts for 1/13

Two posts this week as we get back into the routine.  Two full paragraphs per response, please.

1. One more post based on a student-generated prompt.  You may use one you didn't choose from the last assignment or one of these three:

Deven: Write about one interpretation of evil and then write about how you see this interpretation.

Madison: Imagine yourself in a scene from one of your favorite books. Rewrite that scene as if you were the character, with your thoughts streaming throughout the scene. Also, feel free to change any choices made by the original character; remember, this is from your point of view, so what would you do in that situation?

Emelia: Prompt: Come up with a question to ask several people, list their responses, and talk about your favorite response.

(the authors of the three prompts here get to skip this post)

2. Research, research, research.  Explain your topic, why should we care about it, and what specifically is on your research to-do list this week?

Please include your log of 120 minutes reading / working time this week, including any out-of-class (English or History) time spent on your research project.

Your 2nd Quarter Comments