Lesson Assignment: 9-26-08

You've just completed the first face-to-face discussion with your literature circle of the book you're now reading. Now, REFLECT on the first part of the book--on your ideas and responses you captured in your reading journal and on the discussion you had with your group by completing the following three tasks:

1. Comment to this post: reflect on the success of your literature circle and your contribution to the discussion. How successful was your discussion? How deep into the text did your group dig? How did you, personally, contribute to the success of the discussion? In what areas does the group need to improve to have a better quality discussion next time? Before commenting, review the discussion checklist (click open to read document). **To comment, scroll to the bottom of this post and click the tiny print that says 52 Comments (or however many comments there are at the moment). A pop-up box will appear. Type in your comment, and when prompted, use your gmail account info to log in.
2. Publish a post to your blog: share one interesting thread of your face-to-face conversation. Be sure to choose a meaningful, insightful bit to share. Explain how the particular portion relates to the book, and be sure to elaborate--to thoroughly explain.
3. Read and comment on at least one classmate's post: You may read a post written by someone in your literature circle or by someone from another group. Keep in mind these tips (click open to read) for writing a meaningful comment. To locate your classmates' blogs, check out the sidebar of this blog.
   

English 11 Assignment: 9-17-2008

You have three tasks to complete during this period:
1. Read the HOW TO COMMENT Tip Sheet (the hand-out I gave you in class).
2. Read and comment (a meaningful comment) on two of your peers’ posts about their connection to the last literature circle book.
3. Update your library at goodreads. By now, you should be half way through the independent reading requirements for this quarter (6 books).\

Reminder:
1. If you haven’t posted your response to your Lit Circle book. Do so ASAP.
2. If you haven’t added the goodreads widget to your sidebar, do so. These tutorials explain how to create an account at goodreads and start building your library. As you slide your mouse across each photo, a screentip describes what each photo teaches about goodreads. Click on the photo and read the photo description for detailed instructions. If you have tips, instructions, or ideas to help us learn to get the most out of goodreads, feel free to add a comment.

2A Assignment: 9-12-2008

Today's Tasks
You have two tasks to complete during this period:

1. Create your blog.

2. Publish a post sharing one of your connections.






How To Create Blog

Use the hand-out  for step-by-step directions—with screenshots--for creating your blog:

1. Create a gmail account.

2. Create your blog. After you've created your gmail account, you can bypass several steps on the hand-out and go directly to Blogger to begin creating your blog.
3. Give the sub the URL (web address) of your blog.



How to Pen a Connection

Once you’ve created your blog, begin writing your first post: a polished response sharing a connection to your lit circle book.

• Share a single connection.
• Include the author's name and book title.
• Explain the specific part of the book that sparked you connection. Give enough detail (maybe even a quote) so people who haven't read the book get your connection. But, don't include spoilers!
• Explain your connection. Be sure to thoroughly explain your connection.
• Use muscle verbs.
• Include at least two participial phrases. Change the font color of the phrases and make them a larger size (like I'm doing to key words in this post).
• Edit you post carefully before publishing. This should be a POLISHED RESPONSE.

Need an example? Check out this model polished response, a text to world connection to The Paper Bag Princess.
 If time allows, add the goodreads widget/gadget. These tutorials explain how to create an account at goodreads and start building your library. As you slide your mouse across each photo, a screentip describes what each photo teaches about goodreads. Click on the photo and read the photo description for detailed instructions. If you have tips, instructions, or ideas to help us learn to get the most out of goodreads, feel free to add a comment.

** Don't forget: Vocabulary quiz (Lessons 3-4) next Tuesday.

Presentation Know-How

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21st Century Writing

I want to hear your ideas for creating 21st century presentations.

With your partner, analyze and discuss the sample presentations in the Track. You can navigate the track by clicking on the sites in the left tan sidebar. In the top tan sidebar, there are questions for discussions. To see all the questions, use the scroll bar to the right inside the top tan bar.

After analyzing and discussing the presentations with your partner, write a blog post responding to the questions in the last track (a link back to this post). Each individual should write a separate post and link to the post in a comment to this post.

To learn how to create a hyperlink in the comments, check out this explanation.