Smith 9H 07-08

Semester Reflection Period 5

2008-05-13T10:10:00.004-06:00

What changes have you seen this semester in regards to your education? What role did technology play in that change? What role did the constructivist philosophy play in that change? (constructivist-students becoming producers of information, students in charge of their own learning. What suggestions for improvement do you have for me next year? What are some of the things you would suggest I do again?

Make sure to include specific examples and expand on each other's ideas. Your feedback- honest and reflective- is important!

Semester Reflection Period 2

2008-05-13T10:08:00.002-06:00

Scribe for period 2

2008-04-29T22:20:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone!!! :)
Today in class we were all excited to have Mrs. Smith back in class and to have our laptops too! The first thing we did was take our last grammar quiz of the year on colons, semicolons, itilicizing, and quotation marks. Then we had different people play the roles of the characters in Romeo and Juliet and they read the beginning of the first Act. In the part that we read some Capulets were just walking when they got into a fight with some Montegues. Then tons more people joined in on fight. Finally the prince of Verona had to come and break up the fight. Next we watched two Romeo and Juliet movies. Just like we did with Macbeth. The first movie was like the old fashioned one that Mrs. Smith said she watched when she was reading Romeo and Juliet. The second one was, as Mrs. Smith says, the "ghetto" one. This one was more modern with guns instead of swords. That's basicaly all we did today. The homework is... I don't think there is any.
Anyway have a good night and see you tomorrow :)

Period 2 Scribe, April 28, 2008

2008-04-28T22:18:00.002-06:00

Today as we all walked into class we were reminded of Mrs. Smith's absence by the calling out of "Put your laptops away! Put them away!" from our lovely substitute teacher. We tried to tell her that we were specifically told to use them today, but she denied our requests by saying, "I have found a way to make her lesson plans work without laptops." And that she did. She had us turn in our grammar review sheets, and a small gold half sheet of paper was handed out to each student that read:

"Attitudes:
Consider the following offenses and rank each in the order of seriousness, with 1 being the most serious.

Planning to trick someone
Lying to parents
Killing someone for revenge
Advising someone to marry for money
Two families having a feud
Selling poison
Killing someone by mistake while fighting
Cursing
Killing someone in self defense
Suicide
Crashing a party
Marrying against parents' wishes
Giving the finger
Picking a fight

So we all numbered our lists, and the substitute then wrote on the boars which ones we thought were the worst, and which the least bad. I am not quite sure what the point of this exercise was, other than just to let us know what happens in the play.

We then moved onto reading a single, class copy, of the Prologue of Romeo and Juliette on the overhead out loud three times, just so everyone got a chance to read it out loud...

We decided that the prologue stressed 3 Juxtapositions,

Life versus Death
Fatal versus Love
Hatred versus Love

And this was supposed to help us with tonights assignment, our Summary Response to the Prologue. We are to, according to the notes written on the board, have these elements,

1 page

Summary

Clear Thesis
Examples
Clear Conclusion

Response

Begin with "I think.../I agree..."
Focus on one or two aspects
Clear Conclusion

We then began reading the first scene of Romeo and Juliette as a class, acting and all, and once the bell rang we all packed up (not our laptops...) and left for our 3rd period classes.

Homework:
One Page Summary Response to Prologue
Be glad that Ms. Smith isn't gone everyday... today was just too boring!

It's and okey, dokey, artichokey king of Day in 5th period

2008-04-27T16:34:00.002-06:00

Ms. Smith pulled up the power point then turned around and shouted “Helloooo everybody.”
“Helooo Ms. Smith,” replied the class. Ms. Smith is gone on Monday and every one was rather disappointed as we will have a sub. She has saved us though by making it impossible not to use computers. We have to find an online text which will be used for Romeo and Juliet. A summary response paper on the prologue of Romeo and Juliet is due Monday. The second paragraph is a response to the first section of the reading. The class then broke into the hustle and bustle that is common when a class moves into groups. Groups were scattered across the room some in the corner. They were mostly away from the front of the room. I am, of coarse, working on the scribe for today. Everyone is discussing how they will be presenting their ideas to the class for the semester project. Some people were speaking a little louder then everyone else. Most groups are either working or trying to work. Rachel waved to me from across the room and asked if I was ready for the Arapahoe Singers audition. I responded that I was quite excited but rather nervous. The best thing is to keep your cool and not freak out. Ms. Claire came and visited the class with Mr. Fisch to take notes on our learning. Ms. Smith talked with them in what appeared to be a conference. Hannah works quietly on her laptop. Parker is also working on his laptop. I was then informed that Zach was staring at the vitamin robot on the board. It has a voice bubble which reads, “Takin’ lots of vitamins.” Morgan and Kristina are talking in British accents and Morgan starts every sentence with, “Hark hither”. I was reminded not to forget that. I checked the room and everyone is still working. In fact the class is very hard at work, well they’re a little distracted but that’s ok. Ryan, Jordan, and Katy are discussing quite a lot while Rhya simply watches from across the table. Everyone seems somewhat tired. Morgan T. just sighed very loudly right behind me. There is a lot of little talk all over the room. Morgan was discussing the style of your life through music. As this is an open blog anyone can add anything they want to it. I think? It seems the sound level in the room rises and crashes like waves in the ocean. It appears that a lot of the class is getting bored but I am sure they have done a lot of work. Everyone has lost it. It’s Friday and nobody really wants to work which is rather obvious. Class is almost over and well now it is done.

The homework is to work on the semester project, do the chapter review and be ready for class on Monday.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Scribe-4/25/08

2008-04-25T19:17:00.003-06:00

Happy 4 month aniversary of Christmas! I know this is just such a big event for everyone that you can barely contain it even though you probably hadn't realized that until reading... Well, today in class, Ms. Smith gave her usual cheery "Hello" and the class answered with their usual enthusiastic "hi", barely audible over the typing on the laptops. Well, down to buisness. Today we continued to work on our semester projects. Nothing really exciting happened today besides that. Just a reminder, we only have 3 more in-class workdays on teh project and those are right before finals so get as prepared as possible so you only need to add in Romeo and Juliet. For homework tonight, you need to complete the grammar chapter 14 review and that's due Monday. Also due Monday is everyone needs to have an electronic or a book copy of Romeo and Juliet which we will start reading in class. Other than that, just work on or plan to work on your semester project. Merry quadmonthiversary of Christmas to all, and to all a good weekend!

Work Day in Period Five (4/24)

2008-04-24T13:32:00.004-06:00

Today, class started out as usual with Ms. Smith greeting everyone with "Hello Everybody!" The class sort of groaned back "Hello Ms. Smith." Ms. Smith said that it was just as pathetic as period two normally is in the morning. A few people said we should try it again, but we had a lot to do, so we moved on.

Basically, today was a work day for us to work on our semester long project and get that updated with information from 1984. Tomorrow is going to be the last work day until the end of the semester (we'll have 3 days after Romeo & Juliet.)

Before we broke out into groups, Ms. Smith gave us our homework (see below) and asked us to answer a post she has on her personal blog about how we taught each other about 1984. If you didn't get this done in class, it is homework. What she wants to know is:
"I want to know what they got out of this learning experience versus me teaching them.
I want to know about their assessments (quizzes) and see why they chose to go the route of regurgitation.
I want to know about the collaboration in the groups to put together their teaching day. Was it difficult to get together? Did you have enough planning time? How did you do your planning?
I want to know what suggestions they would have for doing this again."
One of her friends who is also a teacher really wants to know about the collaboration. They don't think kids get together much anymore now that we have text messaging and e-mail. As always, Ms. Smith is sure we will have something brilliant to say.

Before we started working, she passed back our t-shirts or the design pattern for us to make them at home. Everyone was talking about how cool it was and how it worked. So, Ms. Smith “whistled” to get everyone quiet. Then she explained how to do it. (Step 1: Take the image in Publisher or PowerPoint and press Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C. Step 2: Open Paint and press Ctrl-V. Step 3: Rotate the image. You then buy a Light T-shirt Transfer Paper at Target or Office Depot. Step 4: Print out the design on an inkjet printer. Step 5: Iron the t-shirt for a few minutes, before slowly ironing on the design. You let it cool for a minute and it is ready to wear. Ms. Smith reccomends you try this the next time you baby sit.)

Then we broke up into groups and worked on our projects. A few groups got a lot done and are really making some head way while others are still struggling. The group that presented on Tuesday- Tyler, Mitch, Mitch, and Matt- handed back their quizzes. Most people did pretty well and got A's or B's.

Before class ended, Ms. Smith called us back together to remind us that tomorrow is our last in class day to work on the project until after Romeo and Juliet (we will have three days after that and then the project it due.)

If you missed class today or you forgot the homework here it is:

*Grammar Packets!!! Proofreading and Editing worksheet & Chapter Review~ Due tomorrow
*Answer the blog question on Ms. Smith's blog.

Hope everybody has a great evening. See you all in English tomorrow.

Scribe for April 23, 2008

2008-04-23T14:39:00.002-06:00

Today, we had a late start day due to the ACT testing. Classes were only twenty-three minutes each and school started at 11:30 am.

English class began with a greeting, "Hello Ms. Smith". We then jumped right into the homework. The Homework is:
Hw: grammar 15/16
Editing worksheet due Friday
Chapter review due Monday
Essay due tomorrow, no excuses

For the essay, we were given three options. They are as follows:
Option One: formal essay. Orwell wrote 1984 to warn us about the future. What was he warning us about? How has it come true in our society today? (two examples for each)

Option two: Write a new chapter in 1984. Stay true to the tone and form of the original book. Make this creative and emulate like Orwell, Pay attention to detail, keep accurate to the existing characters

Option three: In your life, who can you state ‘controls’ you? Do they control with fear? Opportunity? We would all like to say that we control ourselves, our actions, but is this true? (Use specific examples from your personal life) connect this to 1984. This is in personal essay format.

Remember, you only have to do one of the options, not all three.

Have fun writing!

Period 5 Scribe for April 22nd

2008-04-22T22:45:00.007-06:00

Ms. Smith's 5th Hour class opened with the normal chorus of "Hello Ms. Smith". My group was teaching today, so we got started shortly after that. Mitch L. split the class up into four small discussion groups. Each group discussed some of these questions:

Would you have betrayed Julia while being tortured and starved like Winston was? Why or why not?

Would you be able to reject the Party’s ideas even after realizing that you can do nothing to stop them? Or would you give in like Winston?

"All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds truly happens.” Do you believe this is true? Why or why not?

Do you think it is possible for a society to become something like 1984? Would the people let it happen?

What is the importance of Crimestop?

Do you think it is possible to the overthrow the Party? How?

How could you keep a secret while also hiding it from yourself?

What would be in your Room 101? Would you give in to it?

Why was Winston no longer interested in Julia after being in the Ministry of Love?

Is it human nature to only care about yourself like Winston and Julia admitted to doing?

What do you think will happen to Winston now?

My group had a great discussion on how they would have reacted being in Winston's situation and whether or not reality is only in the mind. At about 12:45, we set up the large fishbowl discussion group. We talked for about five minutes about whether or not Winston is alive, and if he is, what will happen to him. At the end of the discussion, we passed out the quizzes. A few people complained that the extra credit question was too hard and the numbering was a little bit off, but otherwise the quiz went smoothly. It looks like most of the class did well, so far. And now for everyone's favorite part of the day....

Homework:

Post an answer to our blog question
Grammar 14:13

Scribe for April 22nd! Period 2

2008-04-22T16:47:00.002-06:00

Happy Earth Day!

Today Alex, Clara, and Louise led the fishbowl day

The agenda was:

the quiz (which was pretty straight forward as long as you read the pages.)

A group project( after they told us about it Ms. Smith said what a good idea)

and a class dicussion

Group Project:
Groups of 6
Find or create an image, series of images, poem, video, song, ect. That you feel summarizes the transformation of Winston throughout the progression of this book
On a word document, explain what you chose and how it represents Winston.

Here's what all the groups did and said:

Aarons group: Their group had images of the same guy doing different stuff, and they said that this shows how Winston is confused and angry, shows a happy face for Julia, shows how he is beaten senseless, shows trying to change mind, show end how he conformed

Maddie’s group: Showed a timeline. Wrote a poem for each event they had on the timeline. One for childhood. One for when the book begins. One for the diary and his deception. One for Julia (how she makes a brighter future). Another for the thought police (no hope) one for the end when he gives up.

Phoebee group: Talked about Winston writing in his diary, filled with lust, betrayed, attacked by rats, don’t speak don’t feel don’t trust.

Amanda’s group: so my group did a collage, we had a picture of Big Brother and that in the beginning he hated big brother. We also had a picture of a rat eating someone's finger because Winston was afraid of rats, we had words written on their like betrayal, sex crime, love for big brother, and rebellion. We also had a quote from a song Winston hears in the end of the book, "Inder the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me." Then we had a pisture of a man and a woman with a rainbow, the sun , the sun with clouds, and rain. We also had a picture of a catipillar and a butterflly to show his progression. We also had a quote from Fredrick Douglass, "the thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion."

Marks group: They had a collage. They had a picture of a robot because Winston was conformed. Arrow going to rebel without a cause james dean. Brad pitt and with AJ with guns and this showed the relationship between Julia and Winston. they talked about how he was tortured. they also had an arrow going to Big Brother with a heart around it how he accepted everything.

Molly’s group: Their group showed eyes, comrade for the society. The one blue eye shows how Winston was just beginning to see the real society for what it was. The other eye was varying shades of blue to gray. This showed that they couldn't ever escape big brother. Everything will be gray.

So here's the homework for tonight!

Answer the blog question

do grammar exercise 13

Here's the plan for tomorrow!
SAT testing tomorrow! Late start (so sleep in, eat a good breakfast, and be glad you aren't a junior!)

Blog Question for Per. 2

2008-04-22T08:59:00.001-06:00

What surprised you about the way Winston changes throughout the story and why?

Period 5 Blog Question For 274-297

2008-04-22T07:03:00.003-06:00

Do you think Winston really changed his beliefs, or did he just forcefully push them out of his mind to stop the torture? Why?

Scribe April 21, 2008 Period 2

2008-04-22T06:45:00.002-06:00

As always, the class begins with a lovely, "Hello!" from Ms. Smith. The class, though, responded not as enthusiastically. So, we began a short discussion on how tired everyone was and how short the weekend was. Then, we wrote down the homework: Read 1984 (274-297),

Grammar: exercise 10,

Finish 1984 political t-shirts.

After that, Smith sent us off to work on our political t-shirts in our groups, and when she clapped her hands for us to get going, she hurt herself because of a scar she had on her left wrist. After the groups assembled, we began work. Fortunately, I came to be included in a group with Jose, Mark, and Nile. Jose had basically finished the t-shirt already. So, that went into the drop box. Afterward, Mark called to Molly for whatever reason, and the rest of us had to find something to do. Jose and I spoke of starting a business by buying products in bulk for a cheaper price and selling them again. Nile fiddled with a lemonade stand game online. Mark decided to play multiple games on some website. The rest of the groups either continued working or also played games. I assume the later, but I did see some people actually doing something productive.

As class progressed, a couple people went to Ms. Smith for scheduling, but the class, overall, maintained the same status: playing games or working on something.

Peroid 5 Scribe for April 21

2008-04-21T14:55:00.002-06:00

As usual, before class began there was quite the hullaballoo while students got laptops from the carts and hastily tried to find friends who had remembered to bring a t-shirt to decorate. Luckily those who forgot were able to relax as Ms. Smith was so kind as to have t-shirts for us. She greeted us as usual then proceeded to explain the activity we would be doing today.
Working in groups of four were were supposed to design a t-shirt either for or against big brother. There were many creative ideas flowing today and I'm sure that every group's t-shirt will be unique and clever.
When some of the groups finished their designs and had dropped them in the drop box they had a little fun while they waited for class to end. :)
Don't forget our homework tonight! Read through page 297 of 1984 (i.e. finish the book)
The last group presents tomorrow and I'm sure they will be as creative as all the others!

Scribe for Friday, April 18, 2008 5th period

2008-04-20T20:42:00.004-06:00

Welcome Comerades. Sit down in your assigned seats and be silent! Watch the screen that is at your desk.
That was how the day began. In the dark room illuminated by the laptop screens displaying a slide show filled with propaganda picture after propaganda picture. The group that presented put the room into four groups, each representing ministries. Behind the Ministry of Love, was the feared Room 101. Of course, a few rebelled instantly, and were sent away! And might I say, they misbehaved so much that we almost had to restrain them! Then, the presenters handed out a "Loyalty Assesment". It seemed that the tests only point was to rat out other members in your group. After all the Ministries had finished correcting a speech that Big Brother had given, then had discussions in small groups, then in one large group, and then were given the quiz on pages 225-274.
The homework was to bring a T-Shirt (I wish i had one of those lying around!) Have a good weekend all.

Scibe for April 18th 2008 Second hour

2008-04-20T14:04:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone! The weekend has been incredibly beautiful so get off your computer and go outside! Mrs. Smith second hour class opened the usual chorus of hello. Then she talked about an exciting new project we will be working on. We are going to become fashion designers! Everyone got into groups of 2 or 4. We will be making political t-shirts by designing the the cover on the computer and then Mrs. Smith will be able to transfer the picture to the shirts. So one person from each remember to bring one white shirt! After the initial excitement we got down to business. Mark, Nile, Molly, and Kristen were the leaders of the day so if anyone missed the quiz; talk to them. The quiz went over the pages 225-274. It was mildly hard and 10 questions long. After the quiz, the class split into groups and created brains to represent a character from 1984. Afterwards the group explain the symbolism of each section of the brain. Here is a few examples of what was said in class. Liz Carlson created an incredible poem to represent the brain of the starving man. If you see her then I highly suggest you ask her if you can read it. It was very powerful. Another good example was from Jose's group. They showed the face of O'Brien. One side was black and the other was white. The black side represented Big Brother and the white side represent the Brotherhood. It was a very good project and brought out a lot of good discussion.
That's all!! Here was the homework. Have an amazing weekend!
Blog question from leading group, Read 274-297, scribe
Bring white t-shirt to class on Monday
Grammar Day 14:8

Period 5

2008-04-18T15:07:00.001-06:00

Ok here is where you continue the great conversation that we were having in period 5. Enjoy!

period 5 question for 225 - 274

2008-04-18T15:03:00.002-06:00

What do you think happened to Julia? Do you think that Winston and Julia will ever see each other again? Do you think that, if given the option, Winston would take on more pain to save Julia, based on what you know by the end of the section.

Period 2 Homework Question

2008-04-18T14:19:00.003-06:00

Today in class we discected the brains of the main characters of 1984 just like we did for Fahrenheit 451. So for our homework question we are asking you to compare the brains of one character from 1984 and one from 451. Be sure to back up your reasons with stuff from the book.

Have a lovely evening,
Molly, Kristen, Nile and Mark

Period 2 Homework Question

2008-04-18T14:19:00.001-06:00

Scribe for period 2- (another one)

2008-04-17T21:44:00.002-06:00

Hi guys, Im thinking that maybe I mixed up my day and was supposed to do this yesterday but I wrote it down wrong in my planner so I will just add on to Serena's very well done scribe.

When we came into class today we got our laptops out and discussed our thoughts about the substitute teacher and how the class went yesterday. Everyone seemed to agree on what they thought about the subject.

Then Nicole, Javon, and Alyssa presented on pages 167-224. Then they collected the questions that everyone was supposed to write down for homework (which the majority did in class). They gave us a quiz that was on a powerpoint and everyone either did theirs on the computers or on paper. The quizzes were printed and turned in. Then the class split into two groups for two different fishbowls. (Aquariums, as Mr. Bast would put it). The two fishbowls discussed the questions. Here are some of the questions that were asked and brought up.

Could the kind of society in 1984 ever happen to us?
How has Winston changed since the beginning of the book?
How does F451 and 1984 compare?
Why did Charrington betray Winston and Julia now?

Then we went on the usual tangents about whatever we felt like.....

Here are some of the random thoughts that were brought up

A Whole New Mind
military brainwashing
brainwashing in general
equality
technology
totalitarian governments
communists
propagada

As always the discussion was fun and informative!!

Homework:
scribe
answer blog question
read (get ahead so you dont stress out)
grammer packet

see everyone tommorrow

Period 2 Scribe April 17th

2008-04-17T19:02:00.002-06:00

Today, our "HELLOO" was very dull so we had to say it two times to get the full effect. As usual, there were many computer issues. Internet not working, dead batteries, etc. And as always, Molly was making her random comments. Class wouldn't be the same without all of you.

A group presented 1984: pages 167-224 today.
We started off with a 10 question quiz, which wasn't too difficult.
Then we split into two groups to have two fishbowls.
They read the questions that we handed in at the beginning of class.
We talked a lot about Mr. Charrington and the shop.

Here are some of the questions we discussed:
"What could they have changed to avoid getting caught?"
"What was the significance of destroying the glass paperweight?"
"Why did Charrington wait so long to turn in Winston and Julia?"
"What do you think is going to happen next?"
"Was the telesceen there the whole time or did Charrington put it in there?"
"What do you think the ideas through the book were trying to give people?"
"What do you think of O'Brien letting Julia and Winston join the Brotherhood?"
"Do you think O'Brien is really a member of the Brotherhood?"
"Do you think members of the Brotherhood notice the things Winston do like changing their enemies and the past?"
"Do you think the members of the Brotherhood use the book as rebellion or come up with their own forms of rebellion?"
"Does doublethink take place in today's world?"
Then we returned the laptops and carried on to our next class. (Which, of course, is no where near as fun as English with Smith..)

Homework:
Blog question, grammar exercises 5-6, read 225-274 for the discussion tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow!
Have fun.

Period 5 Scribe April 17th

2008-04-17T17:50:00.002-06:00

English today was very exciting. My group (Becky, Mac, Melissa, and Rachel) presented over pages 167-225. We began with the first part of the quiz. This was a pretty easy multiple choice short answer type quiz. We allowed people to work with one other person. During the quiz, 80’s music played because of the 1984 theme. The extra credit question was to properly identify one of the songs. This was fairly easy because we played “Thriller” and some people started doing some of the dance in their seats. There was another extra credit point for identifying another song.

After the quiz, each person took one cookie. The cookies had numbers on them and were the way we broke them into four groups. The groups separated with each of the four leaders. Each group discussed the chapter from a different characters perspective. The 1’s went with Mac and discussed from Big Brother’s perspective. The 2’s went with Melissa and discussed from O’Brien’s perspective. The 3’s went with me (Becky) and discussed from Julia’s perspective. The 4’s went with Rachel and discussed from Winston’s perspective.

After our separate group discussions we came together into a giant circle to fischbowl. This pretty much wrapped up all the separate discussions and introduced more intriguing thoughts about the book. We had to cut off a little earlier than we would have liked because the discussion was going so well and was so interesting, but we had to take the second part of the quiz. We put four questions on the screen and each person had to put down their thoughts about at least one of them on the back of their quiz. By the time they finished class was over and we had completed yet another fantastic day in Smith 9 English Honors, Period 5.

HOMEWORK:
For homework tonight, don’t forget to answer our blog question. Also read pages 225-274 (if you haven’t already done so because I know many people are reading ahead) and do grammar worksheets 14:5-6.

Have a fabulous night and almost weekend!

If you haven't seen it yet, you should go to the play. I have heard it is amazing and that you will love it!

Go Period 5!!!

Period Five Blog Question

2008-04-17T13:58:00.002-06:00

Okay guys, here it is:
Why does the Brotherhood withold information from it's members? What do you think would happen if the Brotherhood took over?

GO PERIOD FIVE!!!

Period 2 Blog Question pgs. 167-224

2008-04-17T09:40:00.002-06:00

What changes do you think will occur in Winston and Julia's relationship now that they have been caught, and how will this effect their challenging of the system??

4/16/2008 Period 5 Scribe :)

2008-04-16T17:26:00.002-06:00

Basically, we didn't do too much today. But we do have some homework.

Homework: Blog question, read 167-224, and grammar exercises 3-4 in Ch. 14

From there, we moved onto our grammar quiz on punctuation. Very exciting, I know.

After that, we got to listen to the musical styling of the Eurhythmics, who made the soundtrack for the movie version of 1984 (ironically made in the 80s). We listened to 4 of the songs: "I Did It Just The Same", "Sex Crime", "Julia", and "Doubleplusgood". These song lyrics and more from the soundtrack can be found on a link on Ms. Smith's English 9 Honors Webpage here.
http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/TEACHERPAGES/MrsSmith/English9Honors/tabid/1924/Default.aspx
We took notes about our reactions to the music, lyrics, and overall feelings about the songs. The overall consensus of the class was that the music was overwhelmingly 80's and very repetitive, especially "Doubleplusgood". Morgan T. said that the song was "embedded in her mind". Everyone seemed to agree that this is very similar to how the telescreens just repeat the same information over and over again to the citizens to block out any thoughts but that one thing. The songs were very robotic and used a lot of synthesizers. Mac said that these were not the type of songs she would have picked for 1984. Matt W. said that one of the songs kind of reminded him of the James Bond theme. One last thing everyone picked up on was the relation between the songs and the book. The lyrics included Newspeak words and many distinct references to the book. A lot of good points were made in this little discussion. Kudos, everyone.

So basically, not much was done today in class but it was still pretty neato-sweeto.

Hope it keeps snowing! :)

Period 2 Scribe for April 15, 2008

2008-04-15T16:28:00.002-06:00

Alright, so this morning, Mr. Bast came to the class to talk to us about scheduling for next year's classes. He handed out a few different forms and told us what we needed to know about each one. Don't forget that the Registration Card and Locker Partner Request Form are due on April 29th (the day after Mr. Bast's birthday). That means we all have two weeks to decide what classes we want to take next year. The day when we actually do the arena scheduling is May 23, and make sure you get in line for the courses you really, really want right when you walk into the cafeteria.
We spent the rest of the class period looking over the scheduling information and discussing it with one another.
HOMEWORK:
-The fishbowl for pages 167-224 has been moved to Thursday.
-Grammar Exercise 1 is due tomorrow.

5th hour is the best!!

2008-04-15T16:04:00.002-06:00

Good afternoon people of period 5! Today was very interesting. We had Mrs. Kirgan here to help us get our schedules for next year all planned out. She handed out our registration cards, which were yellow, our contact info form, our graduation status report, which was attached to our registration card, our master schedule, and our locker partner request form, which was also yellow. WOW run on sentence! Make sure that you have at least 24 hours each semester, and i don't think that you are allowed to have 3 off hours in a row, so be careful. Depending on what classes you are in this year, you have to sign up for different classes then other people next year, so watch out.

Remember our registration cards are due April 29th. DON'T BE LATE!

I just want to say that all of the political propaganda posters for 1984 are AMAZING! Everyone in our class is really creative.

Ok, lots of people looked really cute today so i just wanted to call attention to some of the things i noticed. First, Racheal, I really liked the collar of your shirt. Second, Cate, your plaid shorts were amazing. Kristina, i really liked your camo bandana. Leslie your hair was awesome. Madison, i liked your very spring inspired shirt. Maddie, i liked your pink hair ribbon. Everyone was very springy today. Sorry guys i didn't really notice your outfits, but i am sure that they were amazing.

Ok, was anyone else sad that we didn't get to use our laptops? I understand why we couldnt, but i am kind of attached to my laptop now. I have no idea how i ever survived without it.

Ok, now everyones favorite part of the day: HOMEWORK!!!!
Remember to do grammar excersize 14.1
READ! READ! READ! We have alot of reading to do. For tommorrow read 167- 225, and for Friday read 225- 274. On Friday, the best group in the world, Rya, Ryan, Jordan, and I, are going so be ready!

~Everyone have a wonderful day~

Scribe For April 14th

2008-04-14T22:33:00.002-06:00

We started this b-e-a-utiful Monday affternoon no different than usual---- Hello Ms. Smith, talked about the rest of the week, classes next year, all that fun stuff.

It was one exciting day playing $1984 Pyramid! Cate, Maddie, and Alex put on a wonderful presentation by having the class get with a partner and play Pyramid. You could see the excitement many people had for the game. Being partners with Maddie H., there was never a boring minute. I'm guessing you could hear her enthusiasm from the corners of the room. It turned out that Maddie's enthusiasm really payed off when her group won the delicous candy at the end.

It was a hard game but led to an excellent discussion of the big question: Is O'Brian trustworthy? Several factors came up in duscussion such as: If he is untrustworthy, will Winston take the chance to find out? Is he really numb to the idea of death? Smith stated how it is much easier for Winston and Julia to say they aren't afraid of death than when they will actually be faced with it. Becky also mentioned how if they were truly un-afraid of thier inevitable death, then why are they trying to hide thier rebellion?

An overall exceptional discussion, well done everyone.

Homework:
Read 167-224 and answer the bolg question
QUIZ sometime this week, probably Wednesday

(Please excuse how late my scribe is, technical difficulties, you know how it is)

-Ashely F

Period Two Scribe

2008-04-14T20:48:00.002-06:00

Today was monday.....
But it was a good monday. Class started with a grammer quiz on punctuation placement, fragment sentences, and run-on sentences. The quiz took only about 10 minutes at the beginning of class. After the grammer quiz, we started the fishbowl for pages 147-167.

The group leading class had some technical difficulties with their quiz, so we ended up having to take the quiz right off of their googledocs. The quiz was a partner quiz, and worth 10 pionts.

After the quizes were taken and hande in, we were told what we would be doing for the class. The leading group had a creative assignment to make a poster that was from the brotherhood, and that opposed Big Bother. This took most of the class period, due to our classes outstanding creativity and motivation to draw amazing posters. We didn't have much time to discuss our posters, but they were hung up on the chalkboard in the back of the classroom.

Homework for the day:

read 167-224 for wednesday
blog question

147-167 blog question for period 2

2008-04-14T08:25:00.001-06:00

Considering Winston's own childhood story how do children in 1984 compare with children in other books we've read? Also explain your poster you made in class and explain its significance.

Blog question for p. 5 (pages 147-167)

2008-04-13T10:20:00.003-06:00

Answer as many questions as you feel (just make sure you answer at least one)!

1) How does someone's past shape their future? How would Winston's life be different if he had not felt responsible for his Mother and Sister's possible deaths? What does Winston's past show about the society's past?

2) The meeting with O'Brien is a significant part of the book. If you were Winston would you go to O'Brien's house? Why or why not? Do you think O'Brien is trustworthy? Do you think the Party knows something is going on with Winston?

3) Explain the significance of Winston's views of love, feelings, and being human. This is an open ended question, you may take this however you feel. To jog your memory think about the mother's arms and Winston's conversation with Julia towards the end of the pages.

Thank you and hope you enjoy these questions and we hope you had fun in class!!

Maddison, Cate, Alex

Ms. Smith, Gone, 5th Hour

2008-04-11T12:32:00.002-06:00

Today, sadly Ms. Smith was gone in preparation for a wedding so our substitute was Mrs. Rediske. Also, because of the Spring Pep Assembly, our class period was 10 minutes shorter. Everyone, but Ms. Smith, was here today! We took the quiz left over from yesterday’s class period (because of the German photographer that came out to take pictures of our Fishbowl). Extra credit: who was the first person vaporized in the game yesterday? (answer: Tyler)

After everyone finished the quiz, the rest of the class turned into a class of completely on-task students ready to get to work; with a little side conversations in the mix. Our substitute did not want any talking; today was to be a hard work day, but those left over groups to still present were allowed to continue planning. The amazing group of Leslie, Whitney, Maddie, and Ashley spent much of the time grading quizzes, others read, and some posted their comments on the blog (be sure to have that done). Also, Hannah, Kristina, Morgan, and Dawnielle finished grading the quizzes (but they couldn't hand them back because Ms. Smith still needs to record them in the grade book) and since the scores were not so great, they generously curved the quiz 2 points. Also, Mrs. Rediske said that earlier today a laptop went missing and it gave her and Mrs. Leclaire a real scare, so we had to put our laptops away 5 minutes before the end of class. We were definitely sad to not have Ms. Smith with us today!

For homework:

We are to read pgs. 147-167 for Monday as well as “study” for the grammar quiz (on Monday).
The deadline for the IPoem is 3:00 p.m., April 28 in the classes drop-box!
It also may be smart for anyone that has not read ahead, to read ahead because next week, in total we will have to have read 126 pages total!

Period 2, blog question

2008-04-11T08:45:00.001-06:00

What is the significance of Winston's relationship with Julia? Why does Winston risk everything for the relationship?

Period five Scribe

2008-04-10T17:28:00.003-06:00

Homework:
Blog Question
Chapter Review
Group Quiz Tomorrow!
Hint: One of the questions is, "What is Winston afraid of?" there are three things, death, rats, and the third you have to find yourself. ;)
Read Pages 147-167
We started out class today with the presenting group teaching the class 1981 style. The girls had to sit on one side of the darkened classroom, while the boys had to sit on the other. On each desk there was a "Telescreen" featuring Big Brother. Class began with toe touching exercises, then began a question an answer session. (I didn't get detailed notes due to computer trouble) One question was, "Why didn't Winston push Katharine off the cliff when he had the chance?" Some of the responses were: He still loved her, and he thought she loved him, and pushing her off wouldn't solve any problems. Another question was, "What significance do the songs that the Proles sing have?" Some answers were, they expressed emotion, and that they were not related to the Party.
Our final challenge was for the girls to get a message to the boy's side of the room, while the boys tried to get a message to the girls side of the room. The catch was the boys and girls could not interact with each other, if they did and were caught by the teaching group, they were instantly vaporised.(Sent to the back of the room) The girls won by getting the message to the boys side in the form of a text message. Afterward, we turned the lights on and "Staged" a fishbowl, so that the visiting German photographer could get pictures. At first, the fishbowl talked about their response to the presenting groups way of teaching. The presenters admitted it was really hard trying to keep from laughing. When the German photographer, Julia came in, we switched topics and discussed the blog question.

4.11.08 Period 2 seminar over Pgs. 117- 147

2008-04-10T16:55:00.002-06:00

Here is the link for today's quiz! Good luck!
Once you are done, do not exit out of the quiz results, we will give you instructions on what to next!
http://www.gotoquiz.com/1984_pages_117_147
Good Luck!

Period 2: April 10, Scribe

2008-04-10T16:49:00.002-06:00

Today we started, and spent pretty much the entire class listening to songs from the 1984 Soundtrack. All the songs were very bad, very 80’s songs. Several of the songs, which you can see the lyrics to below, actually became hit songs around the US and Europe. Nowadays, they probably wouldn’t have even made it onto a movie soundtrack at all.
Here are some of the songs that I thought were better then all the other ones. It you want to see all of them I put a link to the rest at the bottom of the section thing.

Sex Crime
Sexcrime (nighteen Eighty Four)
Sex sex - crime crime
Can I take this for granted with your eyes over me?
In this place this wintery home
I know there's always someone in.
Sex crime
sex crime - 1984
1984.
And so I face the wall
turn my back against it all.
How I wish I'd been unborn wish I was unliving here.
Sex crime
sex crime - 1984
1984.
I'll pull the bricks down one by one.
Leave a big hole in the wall just where you are looking in.
Sex crime
sex crime - 1984
1984.
This song was the one that I was talking about. When I looked up the lady who sings this song, it said that this song was a hit in US and all over Europe in the 80’s.

For the Love of Big Brother
Like a train passing in the distanceBlack bird in flightI hear you callAnd even though there's no oneDark shadows move across the wallI still hear the echoOf your footsteps on the stairsStill recall the images thatSeem to live out thereFirst you see my fingerprintsLike skeletons of leaves on the wallPeople changing placesI stand for a momentAnd it's goneI still hear the echoOf your footsteps on the stairsStill recall the images thatSeem to live out thereLike a train passing in the distanceBlack bird in flightI hear you callAnd even though there's no oneDark shadows move across the wallI still hear the sound ofConversations from the hallLook to see who's comingBut it's nothingAnd there's no one there at all(No one there at all)
When we heard this song in class Molly described in as "intense". I think that is a pretty good way to describe it too. A lot of the lines in this one are metaphors too.

6. JuliaWhen the leavesTurn from green to brownAnd autumn shadesCome tumbling downTo leave a carpet on the groundWhere we have laidWhen winter leaves her branches bareAnd icy breezes chill the airThe freezing snow lies everywhereMy darlingWill we still be there?JuliaWhen spring rejoicesDown the laneAnd everything is new againWill everything beJust the sameWill we be there?Oh Julia
I thought that this one was kind of creepy. It had a lot of ghostly kind of noises going on in the background. In fact, they made up more of the song then the lyrics did.

7. DoubleplusgoodAttention!Your attention please!A newsflash has this moment arrived from the Malabar front!Our forces in South India have won a glorious victory!I am authorized to say that the action we are now reportingmay well bring the war within measurable distance of its end.Here is the newsflash...plusgooddoubleplusgoodplusgooddoubleplusgooddoubleplusgoodtimes 17.3.84 bb speech malreported africa rectifytimes 19.12.83 forecasts 3 yp 4th quarter 83 misprints verify current issuetimes 14.2.84 miniplenty malquoted chocolate rectifytimes 3.12.83 reporting bb day order doubleplusungood
According to Ms. Smith, this song gets stuck in your head and you can’t get it out for the rest of the year. The tune is pretty catchy and I really hope that isn’t going to happen to me or anybody else in the class. However, I think that I would rather have this song stuck in my head then some of the other ones.
http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.com/Portals/7/Language%20Arts/Smith/1984%20Song%20Lyrics.doc

After we listened to all of the songs we split up into groups by the song we liked most. In the groups we had to combine all of our notes on the song and then print out a copy for Ms. Smith to keep.

Homework:

Tonight we have to do the chapter review for the grammer packet that we are on right now. Its going to get turned in tomorrow so it better be done.

We also have to read 117-147 in 1984 for group thats leading tomorrow.

5th Period Question - pgs 117-147

2008-04-09T22:36:00.002-06:00

Compare and contrast Julia and Winston. How do you think their similarities or differences will affect their relationship and the rest of the plot?

Period Two Blog Question for Pages 69-117

2008-04-09T12:45:00.001-06:00

How does love in 1984 compare to love in other novels we've read this year?

Period Two Scribe for April 8

2008-04-08T21:01:00.002-06:00

Before the bell rang, Molly walked in and looked at the back chalkboard, which we all usually do. She then complained to no one in particular that none of the random comments were funny anymore. No one really responded, but it's true!
Of course we started class off today with Ms. Smith's usual, "Hello everyone!" with the class responding, "Hello!" Smith then told us the story of how she went to pick up Emma yesterday from school, and she ran up to Smith telling her how her gym teacher, who frequently does so, pulled out her tooth. (A little weird if you ask me, but whatever floats your boat.) Smith showed us the picture of Emma looking very cute, as always, and proud, smiling with a missing tooth.
Once all of that was over with, Smith explained our assignment for the day. In small groups we had to create political cartoons, from the perspective that we were working for Big Brother in 1984. She very much emphasized that today was a creative day!!!! The main things we needed to focus our poster on were: the image and message we were conveying with special emphasis on the font and color of our lettering. So for the rest of the class period, we worked on our posters and listened to music.
As for homework tonight....

Read 69-117 to prepare for our quiz and fishbowl tomorrow by the leading group
Grammar Editing and Proofreading Worksheets 1 and 2; They are due tomorrow, No exceptions!
And if you chose to do the iPoem presented by the Muse

Remember: tomorrow is the last PLC Day, so enjoy sleeping two extra hours!

69-117 Blog Question for April 9th, 2008

2008-04-08T20:15:00.002-06:00

For our group tomorrow (you don't have to answer this until tomorrow but I put it up now anyways) we would like you to think about and comment on these three questions as our "big idea" blog questions. If you like, you can answer all three, or mix them together, or just answer one if you are short on time. This chapter has a lot of meaning and these are only some of the questions we came up with. There will be more in class, but these are the ones we just wouldn't have time for! Enjoy!

What do the Proles represent in modern and ancient societies? Will there always be a class of people like this?
Why does Winston find hope in the proles? Is he justified in this reasoning?
What has been lost in Winston's society that he finds in the crumbling quarters of the Proles (this is nothing specific, just philosophical ideas)? What does this say about society?

These questions need some time to mull over, so try to give a thoughtful and philosophical answer worthy of worldwide viewing!

Thanks,

Period 5, April 9th, 69-117 amazing group (A.K.A. Kristina, Hannah, Dawni, Morgan W)

P.S. I posted a question during spring break about Emmanuel Goldstein and no one answered so if you would like to answer that, I would be eternally grateful!

A Recap for Period Five

2008-04-08T19:15:00.003-06:00

Hannah covered it all brilliantly, but I will just have to rephrase what we did in class today. c:

Ms. Smith reminded us:

- Today is a creative work day
- We are supposed to create political posters
- Muse is holding a poetry contest

It is national poetry month after all, so enter your best work! It has to be an "IPoem" so you can use voicethread, photostory, powerpoint, etc. etc. The poem is due on Monday, April twenty-eighth in the Classes Dropbox. The prize for this contest is an IPod shuffle and Ms. Smith wants to remind you that you should enter your poem and win so you can give it to her. If you'd like more information on the contest, see the article about it on the Arapahoe Website Home Page.

- The proof reading worksheet(s) for the grammar packet are due tomorrow so do not forget!
- Julia the photographer is coming to class on Thursday to take pictures.

We are going to be staging a Fishbowl, and Thursday would be the day to look nice! ;)

- Emma's gym teacher pulled out her tooth yesterday! She was a tough girl and did not cry. Plus, she received five gold coins for her tooth!
- Read pages 69-117 for tomorrow and Hannah warned us it would be hard so STUDY!!
- Read pages 117-147 for Thursday!

Today in class we made our political propaganda posters for 1984, but before, Ms. Smith showed us some examples to help us visualize our own. The first poster was a picture of a woman who said, "Gee, I wish I were a man!" Ms. Smith reminded us that the use of text is critical for our own posters. The second poster was of a soldier that read, "If you're not a terrorist, then stop asking questions!" Ms. Smith reminded us again of the importance of text, and added that color is important as well. The third and final poster showed two young men in the navy that read, "Sub spotted - Let 'em have it!" The images in this poster showed us the significance of imagery as well.
We were able to do the posters however we wanted to do them, but we had to make sure that we were working as a member in the Ministry of Truth. Everyone worked hard and I can not wait to see what other people did!

That is April Eighth Two-thousand and Eight for you!

I Pledge Allegiance, to Ms. Smith...

2008-04-08T17:18:00.002-06:00

It was a crazy day in Crosby's class, which was what most conversations consisted of when entering C-11. Her evil plot to make us think that teachers were being fired because they didn't say the Pledge of Allegience left many of us stressed and happy that it was not real!
Once we talked that out of our system, Ms. Smith explained that today we would be making a propaganda poster as if we were a memeber of the MiniTru(Ministry of Truth). She said she would explain that later but first reminded us of a few things...

The Muse contest should be won by someone in period 5! You can submit your poem/mutimedia production of it to the class dropbox called iPoem by April 28th and possibly win an iPod shuffle!
HW: READ 69-117!!!! This will not be an easy quiz, I know because I made most of the questions, so STUDY UP! Also, you need to do revising/editing worksheets 1-2 tomorrow.
BIG NEWS!!!!!!!! What is it you ask?? Well.... A photographer from Brand Eins is coming Thursday to photograph our class! So... LOOK YOUR BEST!
Someone said something about Nile not being here today, I don't know what that has to do with anything, but hey, it happened so i wrote it!
Gerhard didn't visit period 2, yet another reminder that we are better than them!!! Haha, just kidding...... well, kind of : )
Smith thinks Crosby's little scheme was awesome... Ahh, so they do plot together!
Smith's surprise: Her daughter came home from school smiling, had had a loose tooth, but didn't any more! She showed us a picture of her smiling. She lost it because her gym teacher pulled it out!! EWW!! She didn’t cry, she was a tough cookie. This was her first tooth lost!!!!! Go Emma! Oh ya... she got 5 gold coins from the tooth fairy, I'm so jealous!
Some classperson- "Hey Smith, did you watch Dancing with the Stars last night?" Smith - "No I couldn't, I was at school." Yet another sign that Ms. Smith cares more about our well being than a television show!!! WOW!

Next, we looked at examples of political propaganda posters:

“Gee!! I wish I were a man! I’d join the Navy!” Maddie- "It's a manly thing to join the Army." Smith- "Like in Macbeth." Morgan - "All the women will love you for it!!!" Smith- "Image, color, and placement work together."
“If you’re not a terrorist… then stop asking questions!” With a soldier in the middle. Becky- "It’s saying there is a reason for asking a question, and that’s only if you’re a terrorist." Rya- "Terrorists prevent things from happening by asking questions." Jordan - " The soldier guy looks like he will kill you if you ask questions."
“Sub spotted- let ‘em have it!” with men in middle with missile on a boat. Dawni - "Guys are good looking and look adventurous." Morgan- "'Let em have it' is red to make it look important, 'sub spotted' is white and cursive to make is sound like a secret." Smith- "They are usually white guys who are muscular with sailor suits." Rya- "They aren't ever worried." Katy- "The men look bigger than the incoming cannon."

Rules for your poster-

You must use Image, message, wording, and color.
Work in groups of 2-3.
You can do it on the computer (gasp) or by hand (i.e., voicethread, ppt)
It can be a commercial.
We have recording mics!
Turn it into the drop box when you are done, which should be by the end of the period.

Ohh... one more things Smith has to say...

You should probably be caught up on reading because the next presentation is Thursday so you need to have read 117-147 by then. However, there will be NO HOMEWORK as far as reading over the weekend.

Smith- "Gooooo!!!"

That's all, I hope you had a good class!

P.S. Me, Dawni, and Morgan's poster was super awesome. It was the "I Want You for the U.S. Army" poster with Big Brother's face on it and the words "I want you for the ministry of truth" on it. It was awesome. Sorry I had a lot more cool stuff to add but I have to go to dance like... now so I am typing really fast and freaking out a bit because I still have more homework. But, it was good enough! Have a great day!

Oh... and don't forget...

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!

Just another amazing day in period two!

2008-04-07T16:58:00.002-06:00

4/7/08
It was a rainy morning this morning as kids returned to school after their fun filled weekends. As Ms. Smith arrived, all of the students in period two prepared themselves for another exciting day in English. To start off the day AmyW asked Ms. Smith how her half marathon went. Our teacher responded by telling us about how well she did. Go Ms. Smith!

To start off the day we went over homework and the class plan for the day and the week. There will be two class blogs this week; one on Wednesday which is over pages 69-117, and one on Friday, over pages 117-147.

“Do you want to win an iPod?” asked Ms. Smith. The majority of the class nodded our heads. Ms. Smith went on to explain that there was a contest being held school wide, for anyone who wanted to win an iPod shuffle to submit some form of virtual poetry to the Muse. We could submit our Voice Threads (From our poetry unit), along with a typed copy of the poem, which should be dropped into the drop box under the classes folder, called iPoem, by Monday April 14, 2008. (See link below) http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/Portals/7/Language%20Arts/iPoem2008.pdf

Jose and John had some trouble with the quizzes from last week’s seminar, but no fear! They solved the problem, so see one of them or Brian for your newly graded quiz.

Ms. Smith will be gone on Friday, so the group that is going to be running the fischbowl on Friday could decide if they wanted to go on Friday or Wednesday. They are still going on Friday.

The rest of the class period was filled with class work time on the lesson plans by different groups over 1984. Or if the groups had already gone they could work on homework.
All too soon the bell rang and Ms. Smith wished us all a great day!

Homework:
Grammar 11-12
Read pages 69-117 in 1984
Class Discussion on pages 69-117 on Wednesday

Continue the conversation...

2008-04-07T13:06:00.001-06:00

Here is a post to continue the conversation we had in period 5. If you have any questions about the book, or comments on the movie, you can post them here.

Make sure you answer the blog question below!

Period 5 Scribe for 4-7-08

2008-04-07T12:20:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone. I'm a little iffy on the beginning because of technical difficulty, but I'll do my best. We started the day as usual, with the "hello class/ hello Ms. Smith" beginning. Smith told us about her half-marathon, and how she placed 8th in her age group. After that, my amazing group took charge of the day. (my group is Stephen, Zach, and I) A quick Q&A session was next. There was one about Syme, another about how Shakespeare was a part of 1984, and other good questions. (Dang technical problems. I couldn't get the questions asked because of it. Sorry) After the short Q&A session, we went on to the next part. My group showed a short video clip from the movie 1984 , which started with the Two Minutes Hate. It was kind of eerie. The movie portrayed the book closely in this scene. It was also kind of funny. The movie then went to his work, where he was rectifying news items. Things are slightly different in the movie than the book, but the movie is very close from what I can tell. The "meat" in the soup was kind of gross though.

After the movie, another short discussion on the movie ensued. I tried to get some of the comments.

Hannah doesn't like the movie.
Ryan said that is was likely that the existence of the USSR influenced what was said in the movie.
Maddie likes watching movies, and said that it enhances it, or something of the sort.
Many people said that they like to see what other people think about a book. Others don't like watching book-to-movie productions.
Smith commented on the "v" thing that the movie people did.
Rya was reminded of Hitler by the movie.
People visualized the book very differently than what the movie showed.
Morgan W. doesn't like book-to-movie and movie-to-book things very much.
People thought it was strange hearing him think sometimes, and not others.
Morgan W. said that she didn't like how the 3 slogans did not show up in the movie.
Newspeak was a topic that made people mad.
Becky said that the kids' attitudes were not shown in the movies.

There were a few too many comments to type, but many were along these lines.

After wrapping-up the session, the quiz was handed out. It was a shortish 10-question quiz. The class didn't like the extra credit question though. It was... what is the name of the person Winston made up while editing things? After that, people handed in the quiz, and class was pretty much over after that. Yay my group!

5th Hour Monday Blog Question

2008-04-07T11:42:00.000-06:00

So far in the book, what have you found confusing? Is there anything in the book that you find to be disturbing (example: totalitarian leader)? What connections can you make between the book and our world today?

Scribe for April 4

2008-04-05T13:21:00.001-06:00

Hello Ms. Smith!
Hello everybody!!

Scribe for April fourth-

Today Ms. Smith decided to change the “format” of the class. Instead of having our group present, they were postponed till Monday. So be ready for pages 37-69 on Monday. Additional homework for the weekend- due grammar 10&11 and READ. This upcoming week is going to be a little crazy, so just keep in mind your reading!!! We have two sessions coming up with 50+ pages so it would be a very very very good idea to get ahead!!

In class today we had a man visit us all the way from GERMANY!!!! His name was Gerhard W. and he works for a business magazine called brand eins Redaktion. He is preparing an issue that revolves around what education should be in the 21st century. So, he wanted our take on the topic. He wanted to know and what our school looks like, what makes it good, and what we want it to accomplish. He wanted to know what the high school does well, and not so well. He also wanted to know what we expect, how we are preparing our self, and what we do outside of school. Also, he said we could get our name in the paper J.
So for this class period I tried my best to blog the whole conversation!

Q- What do we like best about going to school here?

Morgan- English and history- honors, because there is more technology involved, she likes that

Melissa- She likes the freedom we have at AHS, it is like collage and it will help us in prepare for the future

Kristina- Likes the diversity of the school and the diversity between the people.
She also thinks the teachers do a great job

Dawnille- Likes how all of our ideas are not just limited to this class, we are professional learners, and we do more then just learn, we go above and beyond

Lesliel- Likes how much the school trusts us. We are allowed to do more and it’s nice

Rya- Likes how there is a lot of the activities, we get to build up our own ideas. Also, it is nice that you get to learn what others get out of it

Maddie- Enjoys the computers, and whishes we could use them everyday

Mac- Likes the honors classes because the people in the classes actually want to learn, the whole class wants to learn. That makes it a lot better, it makes you enjoy the class more

Matt- It is nice getting to choose your classes, high school is a gigantic jump from middle school and it is really nice that we get to choose what we want to learn

Becky- You have so many options here at AHS- ex: swimming class- it is required, but there are so many options that you can take, like diving, scuba diving, or just swimming

Rya- The freedom here makes us feel like we are trusted

Morgan- It is really neat that the principals go out and talk to you, yes, it can be creepy, but it is cool because they don’t just sit in their office, they go out and talk to you. It just really shows that they care about you

Katy- It nice because everyone cares how you’re doing, and what is going on with you, AHS has a variety of counselors that are there for you, and make sure you are ok. Even if you just look tired, the staff here will still make sure you are doing OK

Whitney- teachers present the basis for learning and then we go on and explore and learn in our own way, it seems we learn better that way

Hannah- “I understand how but I don’t understand why” that quote is almost the basis for AHS

Q- What would we change?

Maddie- I would definitely change ERE!!!!!!!!!! It is boring, you just copy down notes, she hates it extremely, she thinks there is a better, more hands on way to teach it.

Lesliel- Sometimes it feels like the teachers don’t know what they are teaching, she is disappointed with ERE teachers due to their lack of helping

Kristina- Some of the teachers are not truly making sure you learn and extend

Ashley-In ERE you can just get the notes off line, however with English, you cant miss English and then get it offline, you have to be there

Whitney- instead of just giving you the notes, the teachers could give you experiments and have you discover things for yourself, that would help a lot

Hannah-Experiments can take you to a certain point, it would be better if the teachers had students create their own experiment and work to create their own theory

Mac- 8th grade science is harder then 9th grade science and she wants more of a challenge

Q- In creating your own learning, what are things you would change?

Dawnielle- She thinks that talking about things helps her grasp the ideas better, and it seems now there is no room for that

Katy- emotional connections helps her remember things, and in ERE, you don’t connect

Stephen- believes discussing things helps you understand, and teachers like it when students get help

Kristina-Thinks Word Religion is a really interesting class- students do the research, bring it in and then discuss it, discussing helps make discoveriesàFishbowls

Wait; lets explain to Gerhard W. what a fishbowl is. And did we ever come to an agreement on who the “fishbowl leader was”? Smith or Fich???
(If you are unsure what a fishbowl is, it is where you have and inner circle discussing and outer circle blogging and sometimes the conversations intertwine, and they are very constructive and the students runs them more then the teacher.)

Jordan-Thinks its good to have a good balance, it leads to good conversations

Becky- thinks its cool in the fishbowls that you can hop in and out

Dawnielle- thinks we got more out of books, thanks to fishbowls

Zach- Thinks there is still some parts of education that we need to update, for example we still have a schedule based off farming

Melissa- When we get hw back, you just basically just get a grade back, when you get something back it is better when teachers help us understand what we missed, and give us more to learn

Lesliel- In math she really likes how her teacher grades, their hw is the first try and they are graded on completion, and then on the test, you get graded on if you know the material or not. She thinks more homework should be graded on completion

Rya- Thinks the teacher decides everything and it should be collaborate, Likes how Smith is have a collaborate grade on our AWNM project, it creates a well rounded grade

Mac- very deep quote (I hope I got I right)-there is a portion of what you know you know, a portion of what you know that you don’t know, and then the largest portion is what you don’t know what you don’t know

Q- Is there an image we have? Are we prepared for 21st? Will we have to make an extra effort because there is so much change?

Maddie- it seems like people want you to be afraid, but it doesn’t really bother her, we will adapt and rise to meet the occasion

Katy- people have been adapting for a long time, and she thinks learning is changing more then jobs are

Ashley- we are learning as things are being created, and one thing we will adapt to is technology

Whitney- education is not fully preparing us, we depend on computers, and the 21st century is going to be about creating new ideas, not so much knowing info

Morgan- education can’t prepare us for everything, we don’t know what the future will look like, but they can try to do there best. Mental image of 21st century learning- going to school not on strict hours, there would be more independent studying, and more technology

Dawnielle- Facts are more available, for science in 21st we should learn how to learn by our self, we could cure cancer! We need experiments, and we need to learn how to solve problems

Kristina- We need to create, not produce.

Lesliel- In the 21st century we will have a completely new life style, for example, we will have to use fossil fuel

Matt- World Language in 8th grade- French was just strictly the language, however, you need more, you need culture, you won’t survive with just language

Smith- Took a class in collage- first year JUST grammar, however the second year was amazing, it was based off culture classes, art, and music. She learned to speak better because the culture behind it.

Matt- drinks chi tea every Tuesday, two days a week not enough, one day is culture, second day is language, it is a lot better

Stephen- Do you think knowledge or facts is more important?

Hannah- ability to have wisdom is more important, wisdom can not be taught. In the 21st century we have to seek things, life is short so why learn why how many people live in this world, instead know why all those people live in this world

Zach- thinks we are stuck in the system of just testing on the facts

Gerhard W – explains how there are sessions of ‘school’ online!!

Smith- It is frustrating with subs, it would be cool to have a with a web cam, web cams could add so much!

Rya- you need to be well rounded, if your job becomes obsolete, you can be prepared

Becky- you do need to be well rounded, that is what learning should be about

Final question from Gerhard W.- It appears that we experience school not as a burden, (class nods head). Well that’s an improvement! We all know that there are a lot of challenges, do you think in time we will just deal with those challenges and get as prepared as we can now?

Becky- education is trying to change but nothing can ever completely prepare us, we need to learn things every day

Dawnielle- High school allows you to do things you care about. Why waste time with things you will never do again

Mac- It is limiting, but good to choose what you want to do and focus only on that, hard to come up with a system with out cons and all pros.

Matt- ERE is boring, one time I doodled all over my worksheet and the teacher didn’t even mind

Ryan-Day that everything goes online will be the day when we loose human contact.

Morgan- thinks teachers and deadlines can be good to help push us

Lesliel- doesn’t want to loose human contact, it would be cool to be at home and learn, but it is nice to get outside of your home

Human contact is GOOD, education based only on computers makes you loose so much, for example, sarcasmJ.

So there ya have it!!! Hope you all enjoyed the experience to talk to Gerhard W., (who came all the way form Germany!) Have a great week and do not forget to do your grammar and to READ READ READ!!

2008-04-04T22:17:00.000-06:00

Period 2 Scribe 3/4/08

Hellooooo, Period 2!!! So, we started off today going over the homework assignments. We have grammar exercises 10 and 11, as well as having to read pgs. 69-117 for next week’s fischbowl on Wednesday. (My group’s presenting- YAY!) Anyways, just a reminder; we also have our semester project, and if your group has not led a class discussion yet on 1984, prepare for that.

Today we had our discussion on pgs. 37-69. We had a short quiz on the reading, and there was a bonus at the end. “Cake is a _____.” (Hint it rhymes with pie!) The answer to this riddle is at the bottom of the scribe! So anyways, after the quiz, we all made 1984 movie posters based on some of the themes in the book. The six themes were Happiness, Conformity, Corruption, Distopia, Change is inevitable, and private rebellion. On the posters, we included quotes and pictures that fit the posters’ themes. We also had to come up with creative titles and casts. Aaron’s group probably had the most creative cast, with Sean Connery starring in it! Yep, you’ve gotta love those Scottish accents…

We ended class discussing the posters and how the themes relate to 1984. Personally, I think that Distopia is caused by the other five themes. So, that was our fabulous class schedule today!!

Oh yeah, the answer to the riddle was “lie.”…Yeah, I don’t get it…And thus, we also learned of Jose’s obsession with cake!!!

This is Maddie, signing off!!!

Smith 2 Pgs. 37-69 Discussion

2008-04-04T09:00:00.004-06:00

Post your discussion on the blog if you like.

Period Two Scribe for April Third!

2008-04-03T17:58:00.001-06:00

Hey guys!

For our class today we got to read and work on our projects and grammar! At the beginning of class Ms. Smith talked to us about a very important man that is coming all the way Germany just to sit in on one of our classes! How cool is that? Its crazy to realize that we are actually making a difference for other people’s learning in the future!

Also, Ms. Smith talked about how much she had to do after school, luckily only six more weeks until summer! Wish her good luck in the teacher-student basketball game, number –37! After that short discussion we went to work reading.

Aaron, Luke, and Nick’s group handed back their quizzes and surprise, they gave points to the people who talked in the fischbowl. But don’t fret if you didn’t get that point because they realized that number four on their quiz was an incorrect question so if you got that wrong you can turn in back in to them to get full credit back!

The homework for tonight is grammar ex. 8-9, read pages 37-39 in 1984, and write on a piece of paper what you think the theme of 1984 is for tomorrow’s discussion. Good luck and see ya tomorrow!!

Scribe for Period 5 -- 4-3-08

2008-04-03T12:59:00.003-06:00

Hey guys! Okay, today we basically had a work day. Everyone pretty much got in their groups and started planning! Here are some sneak peeks as to what is to come!

Hannah, Dawnielle, Morgan, and Kristina's group:
"Read Thoroughly. The quiz will be a killer!"

Mac, Becky, Melissa, and Rachel's group:
We decided to finish the basic plan of our presentation which is on the 16 of April over pages 167-225. There is one special, unique surprise; but you will just have to wait and see!

Ryan, Jordan, Rya, and Katy's group:
They have a really cool poster that says, "We are watching you!" and is similar to Big Brother's poster, but has a different set of eyes.

Cate, Maddison, and Alex's group:

We have an amazing powerpoint that will blow y'all away!!!! (Think about group of 5 for the 14th) (We are nice and our quiz will be fun and "hard" wink wink) (cate)

Okay! So, there you go!! Be prepared!

Don't forget, our homework is excercises 8-9 for grammar, and you need to read pages 37-69 in 1984 tonight! And...if your wikispace or voice thread has your full name on it, change it!

That's all for now! Thanks!

1984 Pgs. 37-69 Blog Question.

2008-04-03T08:56:00.003-06:00

Our Blog Question is simple. It stems from Winston's story near the end of our reading; the one with the prostitute. Why is Winston so desperate to go to such lengths to try to find love, that he even tries sexual intercourse with a prole?

2008-04-02T21:12:00.001-06:00

Hello all, and welcome to your local 9 0’Clock Scribe

Today in period two, things did not start out with the usual “Hello Ms. Smith”, but instead started with Ms. Smith hurrying into class from a supposedly “short” meeting. She quickly reviewed our homework (see below in red) and told us to pull out our political cartoon reviews. As she said this, she remembered that she had forgotten the E-mailed reviews and ran to go fix that crisis. In the meanwhile, she told the presenting group (consisting of Aaron, Luke and myself) to start preparing. When Ms. Smith returned with the other reviews, she gave us the go-ahead to start. From my humble perspective, it felt like the whole thing went off very smoothly, although I think I did botch something and got laughed at for it. Can’t quite remember what it was, but I am 99% sure that it happened.
Now that the summary is over with, I’m gonna split the remaining tasks into two sections:
For the stuff turned in and that one would have to make up, see the lime section.
For the homework, see the section in red.

TO MAKE UP:
Turn in Political Cartoon response
E-mail your answers for the quiz to Aaron, and he will (hopefully) accept them
Here is the actual PPT viewed in class for all those who missed it. -->CLICK ME!

HOMEWORK FOR 3/2/07:
Respond to the blog question (Below 5th hr’s post)
Grammar 6&7
READ MAN READ! (Upcoming quiz & discussion thru pg. 69)

If there’s anything I miffed, please comment and ill fix it ASAP.
-NickB

5th hour Scribelicious

2008-04-02T19:07:00.001-06:00

First we said the typical Hello Mrs. Smith, Hello Class, ect, ect. Then Smith started the day by reminding us that it is IMPERATIVE that we do not put our full names on our wikis and voice threads! Afterwards, Ms. Smith proceeded through the daily plan with us. We also turned in our summary-responses on the political cartoons. Before turning them in, however, we all took out our handy-dandy planners and filled in our homework for the evening.

HOMEWORK: Read pgs. 37 - ??? (Don’t know the exact page, but I believe its 60-something. Sorry), Check wiki and voice thread for full names and correct if there (remember - first name, last initial ONLY. No more. Nada.), Grammar exercises 6 & 7, and last but not least, work on your group presenting project (Unless you are Selena, Matt W, Lauren, or Morgan T – then you are already done and do not need to worry about this assignment)

People commenced to scurry around the room as the presenting group prepared. The group consisted of SelenaM, LaurenC, MorganT, and MattW. (By the way, nice pants Selena! And I liked Morgan's and Lauren's shirts! Very colorful indeed :) And Matt…well… not much to say about you…just kidding ;) ) Their plan for the day consisted of all of us participating in collaborative group discussions and then going into a big group discussion, after which we were to take a quiz.

We followed their plan and split into to groups to discuss the questions that our facilitators (AKA: Selena, Morgan, Matt, and Lauren) gave us. Then we returned to the big group to discuss the answers we came up with. We had a great discussion. It went as follows:

Question: Why do the slogans of the Ministry of Truth seem to contradict themselves? Why do you think they are this way? – all used to confuse the people with contradictions, do the people have separate meanings for the slogans, making it okay,

Ignorance is strength - ignorance creates a buffer around you, knowledge saps your strength, knowledge causes you to second-guess yourself and your ideologies, no one questions. Ignorance is easy to control – makes the government happen, blindly doing one's typical citizen job

War is peace – you have to fight to gain peace, war becomes the norm, meaning of war changes, creates inner peace, always been at war – don't know any different

Freedom is slavery – If you're free then you have to take care of yourself and if you're a slave you're taken care of by others, slavery you don't have to worry about certain things, blind the people, "no one is truly free" – always a slave to something,

Question: Similarities and differences between 1984 and Fahrenheit 451?
-TV used as control
-Take away all resources of people
-change info to fit what they need
-Controlling figurehead
-Opposition eliminated
-Take away things that provoke thought or doubt
-F451 has more of a control and trust in the ignorance of their people
-Society trying to make everything perfect
-Big Brother has opposition and people know it
-1984

Question: Why do think people in the 1984 society view their lifestyle's as acceptable?
-because it was
-Lack of intelligence
-memories re-written
-they don't know anything else
- get pulled in
-think the government saved them
-Constantly in a fear for your life
-"Anything's better than death"
-No history, no truth
-monkey see, monkey do
-Not any exposure to other viewpoints
-Security over rebellion

Question: What do you think the cover art means? What about the colors in particular?
- an eye, being watched
- eyes
- important characters have significant eyes
- big brother's eyes are blue
- Blue, water washing away everything
- Red type for blood
- Blonde hair, blue eyes, ideal race
- Blue, noticeable color
- Black at center - abyss

Question: In Winston's diary he writes "down with big brother" repeatedly. Does anyone else feel this way?

- No. At least subconsciously
- Government trains them to think that they can't think those thoughts – they simply can't do it

We, well, Melissa and Jordan, to be specific, also came up with a startling revolution concerning the language the author uses to paint a mental picture for the reader. They mentioned that they saw the story unfold in black and white, and many others agreed, though not all. Some said they saw colors, but, curiously, only on the Big Brother posters and the diary. Still others said that they saw it in washed-out colors, some even said that they saw it no differently, and there were a lot who either didn’t comment, or I didn’t hear what they said. Anyway, it seemed the vast majority (of those who spoke out) agreed that they either saw it in black and white with shades of gray or in faded, washed-out colors. Interesting food for thought, I’d say.

As the discussion came to a close the room filled with apprehension as we awaited the *dun, dun, dun* Quiz. It actually turned out really good. Thumbs up to them. Anywho, after such time as quiz time we had a few minutes to pack up, in which we were reminded by Ms. Smith that we were not animals waiting for slaughter and therefore should not crowd the door waiting for the bell to ring at the end of class. Rather, we should sit quietly in our desks until we were excused. We were then required to go back to our seats and wait till Smith told us to “have a nice day” and that we were excused.

1984: 1-37 Blog Question

2008-04-02T10:32:00.000-06:00

What are some possible reasons that Winston resents the government?

Fishbowl for 1-37: Our Style

2008-04-02T08:37:00.002-06:00

Okay. Everyone blog here on the random questions in the blog and also put your own comments and questions. GO!

1984 Discussion (pgs 1-37)

2008-04-01T18:52:00.002-06:00

Hey guys! Here is a post if you want to continue discussing what we discussed in class today on pages 1-37. Feel free to leave your comments on here!

Teaching Blog Post

2008-04-01T18:29:00.002-06:00

Okay, I just remembered that the day before your group presents, you have to put a question on the blog. My group is presenting tomorrow, so here it is!

What do you think the Party's slogan, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" means? How does it relate to the society in "Fahrenheit 451"?

Smith Period 5, the First of April

2008-04-01T18:18:00.003-06:00

Hello all! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!! So if you have any good April Fools day stories please share them to spice up this scribe. I would if it weren't for my somewhat lacking sense of humor. Well it was another lovely day in Ms. Smith's 5th period English 9 Honors class. We all seemed a little more attentive, the carefree feeling of Spring Break seems to have almost worn off. The class began with the marvelous Ms. Smith assigning homework (if you happened to miss it: grammar exercises 3 and 4, summary and response to political cartoon, and 1984 pages 1-37). After the homework, there was a frenzy to the stapler, printer, and the backpacks as the Summary and Responses from last night were turned in. Jordan then announced Wish Week and offered a tennis can for donations (please donate and support Marcus, he is a very cute boy=). Following these pre -class announcements and the turning in of homework, we proceeded to find political cartoons on the Internet. Because many of us students have Ms. Crosby as a history teacher, we have practiced looking at and analyzing political cartoons. It was interesting though, to look at more present day cartoons. Once we found a political cartoon, we had five minutes to find one of our classmates’ political cartoons to due a Summary and Response paper on. As I walked around, there were some very good political cartoons making fun of Hillary Clinton, the War in Iraq, the Presidential Candidates, and more. Some were very funny, while others did not make sense. After choosing our cartoon and returning to our seats, we as a class discussed the cartoons and saw that they all included humor, or more specifically as MorganW said "sick humor." Then Ms. Smith translated the "sick humor" into satire and seemed to get passionate as she explained it. She told of the two types of satire and how it is so effective, because it calls for a change by giving a warning of what could come if things stay the same. REMEMBER SATIRE IN YOUR SUMMARY AND RESPONSE!
Finally, with a "WHOHOO!", Ms. Smith released us to embark on the journey through 1984. However, not before there was a bit of apprehension at the thought of our classmates creating quizzes for us and controlling our grades. We trust each other though and therefore proceeded to our groups. The mood in the room quickly changed as chatter, laughter, and the tapping of laptop keys issued.
That was our class on April 1, 2008. We are getting closer to summer, YAY! Have a wonderful rest of the year!

Scribe, 4/1/08

2008-04-01T17:04:00.002-06:00

Hello! Today was a fun day, but don't freak out if you missed it. It was a work day for the most part. At first, we playfully bantered, discussing things which were pushed out of memory for the important news: we need to give Mrs. Smith a plan for what we will do for our fishbowls! We got the homework, which was to scribe, to do the grammar packet up to lesson four, and to read pages 37-69 in 1984. Next, we did an assignment. We were to find a political cartoon we liked, find another cartoon that we liked, and then write a summary and a reaction about what we saw. The summary must have a conclusion, a topic, some details, and a main idea, not in that order though. It is a homework assignment and . After that, it was pretty much a work day for our fishbowls. Remember, you need:

A syllabus/plan
A quiz
A blog question
To let people know what Mrs. Smith assigns!

And that's all!

3-31-2008 Scribe/ Beginning of 1984

2008-03-31T19:21:00.003-06:00

It's time for scribing once again! Suprisingly, Mrs. Smith came into class rather today rather dazzled from her spring break. Usually, she has herself all pulled together! I have to admit it's not the greatest thing to be back in school, but we should all start off on a good note.
We are pretty much jumping right into 1984 and tonight we have to read pages 1-37 for tomorrow. Don't forget to do those grammar exercises (1 and 2). Also, if you did not finish your summary and review on the poster and videos then finish that up! Mrs. Smith began by telling us about the new FishBowl system. There are several groups and on each fishbowl day they will have the chance to present their thoughts and teach the class about the reading. There are many requirements for these presentations. They include:
1) Have a syllabus (teaching plan) on hand in the form of a power point or on paper.
2) Create a quiz for the class room in any way of your choosing. The ideas are endless. However, make sure that you include strong questions! Don't forget that you will also have to have a way to grade the quizzes.
3) The night after your presentation, come up with a blog question and post it on the blog. This should be a good discussion question that can be answered with more than a "yes" or "no".
4) Lastly, during class you should have a way to lead the class in a good discussion. Be creative and make sure that the chapter is discussed and disected thoroughly! No one wants to sit around and listen to pointless chatter.
After Mrs. Smith introduced this to us we started off with an introduction to 1984 in the form of a poster and two videos. We then had to write a summary and review about it. They were actually pretty interesting!
Well, have a great rest of the night and get a lot of sleep! (I'm sure that we all need it!)
~Liz Carlson

Welcome Back!!!

2008-03-31T17:42:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone,
Welcome back to school and the never ending strive to learn!
Today in 5th period:
Homework!!
1) We got a new grammar packet!! It is a biggy so better get started ASAP on the introduction of punctuation: end marks and commas!!
2) Time to put on your magnifying lenses and read 1984 (could they have made the type any smaller). finish through page 37 by Wednesday
3) Finish your summary response to the freaky videos and poster!! (Find something to interconnect all of them)

HEY!!!! Come Sunday morning at 9 am be in downtown Littleton for the 1/2 marathon ms. smith is running! Bring along your bike and ride beside her!!! GO GO GO!!!!!!

Did you sign up for the day that you are in charge of the class????
This is what you and your group should be doing to discuss the pages that were assigned
1) syllabus plan (you could be a copy cat and do what ms.smith does with the power points)
- put it so all can see it
- you also need to know and present the homework that will be assigned
2) facilitation (how are you going to plan out your day)
3) QUIZ!!!!! You even get to make it yourself!
- Any kind (multiple choice, essay, fill in the blank, true or false)
- You have to grade them too! It is not Ms. Smith’s job! You made it, grade it!
- Make good questions too! Spend a lot of time thinking, they are hard to come up with!
4) Blog question
- Link to other books
- Think big, outside of the box
- 1 big ahha question
5) Collaborate on Google docs/ wikispace/ what ever you want!
6) Get Creative!! The Pressure is on!!!!

TOMORROW WE GET WORK TIME! SO WORK, WORK, AND WORK!!!!!

Don’t forget to do your summary paragraphs on the freaky videos, find connections, and make discoveries!

One last thing, I do not think that Stevens computer likes him very much! Maybe it is because Ms.Smith is playing it as a piano and calling it Eric! What if it is a girl and its name is Sally!

Have a great day!!!

The Dalai Lama Vs. Emmanuel Goldstein

2008-03-22T15:27:00.002-06:00

For those of you who have started 1984 and read about the absolute enemy of Big Brother, Emmanuel Goldstein, I would like you to read the following article (it is a bit long) from Time Magazine about the Dalai Lama.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1723922,00.html

I found it interesting in the fist few paragraphs when the author mentioned the recent protests in Lhasa and the reported 99 dead that the Chinese government said were actually 13 "innocents" killed. This connected a lot to the changing of information in the Ministry of Truth in 1984. Also the picture painted of the Dalai Lama reminds me in a few ways of Emmanuel Goldstein, former top member of the Party who broke away and formed "The Brotherhood" to bring down Big Brother. The Dalai Lama lacks the violent tendencies of Goldstein but relates to him nonetheless. Here is a Wikipedia article about Goldstein that I also found interesting that explains some of the people who he could have been based off of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Goldstein

I know it's spring break, but I thought those of you who have started reading might find these articles interesting.

Have a great break! (Even though Big Brother is watching!)

Darkroom Poem

2008-03-11T07:00:00.002-06:00

To do this exercise, you need to spend some time locating a photograph that holds a genuine and compelling interest for you. It need not be a "good" photograph- in fact, sometimes, the botched one will have more resonance, especially if you took it yourself and can reconstruct the gap between your astonishing vision and what actually showed up on the print. You might choose a photograph that someone has taken of you or of someone you know, a photograph that is more self consciously artistic (Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Diane Arbus) or a journalistic photograph that documents a historical event.

When you have found your photograph, spend some time writing out just what you see in it in as much detail as possible: objects, landscape, people, clothes, trees, architecture, light, and shadow. In a sense, you will have to narrate the photograph, or at least create a discernible image so that we can, literally, see what you are talking about. Then, using the same photograph, write a poem from any of the following perspectives or points-of-view:
1. Speak the poem as the photographer.
2. Speak the poem as someone or something in the photograph.
3. Speak the poem as someone or something in the photograph addressing the photographer.
4. Address the poem to someone you know who has not seen the photograph.
5. Address the poem to someone in the photograph.
6. Address the poem to the photographer.

You can also shift the perspective of the poem by manipulating the time, but still using the same photograph:
1. Write what happened just before the photograph was taken.
2. Write what happened just after the photograph was taken.
3. Write what happened as the photograph was being taken just outside the range of the camera.
4. Write the poem as if you have found the photograph years after it was taken.
5. Write the pome as if you were planning to take the photograph.
6. Write the same poem in three versions: present, past, and future tense.

"Any photograph has multiple meanings; indeed, to see something in the form of a photograph is to encounter a potential object of fascination...Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy."

-Susan Sontag

This poem is from the book The Practice of Poetry by Behn and Twichell

Homonym poem

2008-03-10T08:21:00.003-06:00

Brenda Hillman wrote a brilliant poem called"Cleave and Cleave" which examines these words that sound and can be spelled the same but have opposite meanings. I'd like you to think of two words that are homonyms but mean different things. , e.g. lie and lie, stone and stone, bear and bear, write and right. Here is a complete list.
Think of an emotional situation in memory that these homonyms might speak to, then imagine yourself "encountering" each of these words separately, in concrete examples- e.g. you are writing your name on a blackboard as a child, over and over; the sun is spilling in the window, fading the slate as you write. you start to think about your "right" to be yourself, and you look at your self, the clothes you are wearing, your hands, etc...
Then bring both words together at the poem's conclusion, like Hillman, who dramaticized the words' opposite meanings by ending with two strong sentences: You might say, e.g." I will write my name over and over on the glass." Then, "I will disappear: my right."
This poem is taken from The Practice of Poetry by Behn and Twichell.

Persuasive Poem

2008-03-05T14:59:00.001-07:00

This is a poem where you are trying to convince somebody of something they don’t want to be convinced of. The poem is an argument, an attempt to persuade. Think about all the situations where you are trying to convince somebody of something: getting out of a ticket, getting mom or dad to not ground you for breaking curfew, getting a date with your dream girl/boy, getting mom or dad to give you more money, getting a teacher to let you turn in late work.

Continue the Conversation (with no grades in sight)

2008-03-05T14:13:00.001-07:00

For all you 5th perioders, here is a place to continue the conversation on grades in school and how they affect both teachers and students. I would love to hear feedback from educators as well!

Oprah Winfrey poem

2008-03-05T10:04:00.001-07:00

I am going to collect all of your secrets and redistribute them. With another person's secret, write a poem telling the story of that secret as if it were your own and addressing what you think about it. You could even look back at the secret as if you were older and wiser.

Learning in Our Everyday Lives

2008-03-04T16:36:00.003-07:00

Mr. Fisch's blog post today about how we can go the extra mile, so to speak, in our learning really got me thinking. I commented about how sometimes I would consider going back and commenting on the blog and trying to do research, but I either didn't have the time or the energy (or both) to do it, so I wouldn't. However, that made me feel really guilty. Not all teenagers have the opportunities that we do here at Arapahoe and we should be taking advantage of them. So I started to think (partly to re-deem myself in my eyes) about the difference between learning and school-work. School-work can be exactly that; work. Work isn't always that fun and most often we just try to get through it without taking the time to reflect on what it's trying to teach us. Even if teenagers were finally able to snap out of their age-old custom of slacking off in school (seriously - how many of you reading this right now haven't, at one point in your education, found yourself slacking off in class? Didn't think so), not many of them would really, realistically, want to devote all their time to learning. To do that, they would have to stop spending time with friends, playing sports, and doing other extra-curricular activities. Or, they could change their mind set on learning. They could, instead, take every opportunity in their life as a learning experience. They could start to change the way they thought about work. Work, by definition (courtesy of Answers. com), only means to put time and effort into achieving a goal. That doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?

So my question to you is this; Do you agree with what I've said above? Why or why not? I really think this could bring up an interesting discussion on how our society views education, so feel free to comment on anything changing-education related that you want. Whether or not you agree, would you be willing to change your mindset and thinking about school and education? Why/why not? How? What obstacles stand in your way? How do you think we, as students and learners, could get around such obstacles?

Table of Contents Poem

2008-03-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

I was searching through The Practice of Poetry looking for some fun new ways to approach kids writing their own works and came across an assignment called "Index/ Table of Contents Exercise" by Lee Upton. I liked the idea of their life being a listing of where they came from and where else they can go from here. When finalized, the assignment came out as, "List ten significant people events in your life. Think of your life as a book; these are the chapters. Group together what can be compiled. Make sure to create a creative title for each chapter using a poetic term. Also the numbers of pages in a chapter should be reflective of their importance. "

2008-03-02T16:28:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone~
I just figured we could all use a blog to ask our final questions regarding our PLJ's and WRP's. This way, we can all answer each other. (Maybe not, but I have a question anyways... :D)

Here is my question:

I was just wondering, for the PLJ's, do I need to cite a website that I used that was recommended in Pink's book (in the portfolio section)? For example: Do i need to cite the results of an online quiz? and/or Do I need to cite just a website that i referred to?

Also, one final question: I used some magazines for a PLJ and i said the name in my response. Should I cite them even though i didn't use a quote?

Reactions and Reflections to the Video Conference

2008-02-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

I would love some feedback from you as well as reactions to one anothers' comments about what you thought of today's video conference with Daniel Pink.

Here's the place to continue the conversation from the Pink Live-Blog.

2008-02-28T10:20:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone. Here's that blog I talked about. Anyone can comment, so just have fun talking!

Calling all Parents...

2008-02-27T09:33:00.001-07:00

Parents,

As you know, your student will be participating in a live video conference with Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, this Thursday, February 28th, from about 8:30 am until 10:15 am. In addition to the videoconference, we are going to attempt to stream some audio and video out to those of you who might be interested. We will be using Ustream, and our “channel” is available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ahsawnm . In addition, you’ll be able to watch some of the students live blog the discussion using CoverItLive at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2008/02/ustreaming-and-live-blogging-daniel.html. Both of those should hopefully become active at approximately 8:30 am on Thursday.

Our primarily goal is to simply get the video conference and discussion with Mr. Pink to work. If the Ustream and/or CoverItLive don’t work, we’ll briefly troubleshoot those but then let it go and simply focus on the rest. We want the students to focus on this incredible opportunity to discuss the book with the author, so if our attempts to provide some live feeds out to you don’t work we’ll be disappointed, but that’s not our primary purpose – we know you’ll understand.

Mike Hasley needs our help...

2008-02-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

Hi,

For those students who I might have met last week during my observations, I just wanted to thank you for letting me ask you questions and allowing me to respond with you during the live blogging. You’re all doing some great stuff in your English classes. I wanted to ask you a question because it comes up a lot these days, and the question is, “What does ‘the real world’ mean to you?”

So if you could go to the link below and respond to the question directly on my blog, it would be very helpful. I’m also asking students at my school in Virginia to see if students from different states have the same perspective.

http://henricowarriors.org/hasley/?p=421

Again, thank you,

Mike Hasley

Instructional Technology Resource Teacher

Help?

2008-02-25T17:15:00.006-07:00

I know that everybody is doing this... but I really need any help I can get on my WRP, I am trying to get some last minute quotes put in this week, so if you want to take the time to answer my questions that would be swell!
Okayy,
1. Do you feel as if Hollywood sets unhealthy and unattainable body standards for teenagers? If so, why?
2. Do advertisements for things such as diet pills or weight loss plans, or even television shows, affect you? How do they make you feel about the product or yourself?

and lastly...

3. How does High School affect your image of yourself? Are there different standards here then in the outside world?

if you took the time to do this...
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
and if you didn't, well I guess thats okay too.

Color Poll

2008-02-24T16:57:00.004-07:00

Hi everyone!
I was wondering if you could answer this second survey for my WRP.
I need the data now that I have the thoughts.
Please take both the first and second polls.
Thanks alot!
~Caitlin
http://snappoll.com/poll/254555.php
http://snappoll.com/poll/254557.php

In Regards to the PLJ's...

2008-02-23T14:41:00.003-07:00

I was trying to finish my last three PLJ's when I saw Ms. Smith's check list. I have everything except the reflection and reaction to "Daniel Pink's question about the role of the senses in changing education." Anybody know what this is? If so, if you could give me the link or copy his question that'd be great! Thanks

Daniel Pink Questions

2008-02-23T13:23:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone, I wasn't sure where we were told to put our Questions, so I made this Blog. Have A great weekend!

Reflections or Continued Conversation on Meaning

2008-02-22T18:00:00.002-07:00

Hi. I thought someone at least might want to blog again, so I decided to put this up. The only real subject is the fishbowl. Anyways, have fun.

Parker

AWNM: Meaning Period 5

2008-02-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

Fishbowl with Live Blogging
February 22, 2008
12:14-1:12 pm

Judy O’Connell:Judy writes, speaks, and consults on school technology and library issues. She is an educator and information professional. Currently, Judy is the Head of Library and Information Services at St. Joseph’s College in Hunters Hill in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Scott Murphy:
Scott is Superintendent of Littleton Public Schools.

Christian Long:
Christian is a high school English teacher and coach working at a college-prep, preK-12, independent school in Ft. Worth, TX. In addition to working in schools as a teacher and coach for over ten years (prior to his return in the fall of 07), he spent several years working with architects/planners, educational and technology leaders, policy makers, and communities to design and build schools from pre-K through the university level. This work took place throughout the United States and around the world.

Lucy Gray:
Lucy Gray is the Lead Technology Coach at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago. In her current role, she is responsible for the development of a technology professional development program on three University of Chicago Charter School campuses. Lucy also supports technology integration efforts at the North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School. She is also an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Andy Kerr:
Andy is the Representative for House District 26 in the Colorado Legislature.

AWNM: Meaning Period 2

2008-02-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Fishbowl with Live Blogging
February 22, 2008
8:25-9:24 am

Julie Lindsay:
Julie is the head of Information Technology at Qatar Academy in Doha.

Will Richardson:
Will is “Learner in Chief” at Connective Learning and the author of the recently released Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms published by Corwin Press. His blog Weblogg-ed.com is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audiocasts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world. He is a national advisory board member of the George Lucas Foundation. Will lives in New Jersey.

Stephanie Sandifer:
Stephanie describes herself as “an educator with a background in visual art and design.” She is currently employed at a Houston, Texas area high school in an administrative position focused on school improvement, and her personal interest areas related to that include: school size and structure, leadership (including distributed and teacher-leadership), technology integration, experiential learning, and the elimination (or radical revision) of No Child Left Behind.

Kristin Hokanson:
Kristin is a blogger who also happens to be a Classrooms for the Future Coach as well as Teachnology Leader. She is working in King of Prussia, PA where she is committing her time and efforts to creating a constructivist learning experience for her students.

Questions for my Wikified Research Paper

2008-02-21T09:07:00.003-07:00

Hey for my paper I am writing about Empathy and its importance in schools. Here are a few questions I need answered for my paper. For each question you can leave a text, audio, or video response.

One Question for Daniel Pink

2008-02-21T08:33:00.002-07:00

Think of one really fabulous question you want to ask Daniel Pink. Make sure to check that you haven't repeated somebody else's question.

HannahL This is for You (and anybody else who wants to answer)

2008-02-20T15:21:00.003-07:00

Hannah, I tried sending you an email, but it returned it to me saying it was an invalid email, so I'll just put it on the blog. If you don't mind answering the questions.

Other people are welcome to comment as well. You can only do one question if you want, or all of them...whatever floats your boat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Do you learn better when you learn your own way, or when the teacher gives you the information and you memorize it?

2. Do you like free learning environments? (obviously) Why / why not?

3. Would you rather the teacher let you take your own initiative with learning and just back off, or keep you under their wing. What's wrong with the teacher taking you under her/his wing so to speak?

4. Have you begun to question teacher's more often then when you were younger?

If you play online games could you answer a question? -for WRP

2008-02-20T12:35:00.003-07:00

As many of you know I'm researching the postivie effects of video games. I would love a quote from someone about why you enjoy playing Online Video Games (ex, World of Warcraft, Ragnarok, Halo, etc) If you could also talk about the social aspect of these games that would be great. Thanks a bunch

Songs and Acronyms

2008-02-20T06:25:00.002-07:00

Hey guys. I just need to know how many of you have ever made an acronym or song to remember facts for a test or quiz and what was the benefit for you?
-Mac

Good cause or not??

2008-02-19T14:52:00.003-07:00

Hey guys,
This is yet another survey, except you could call it something else because that word is getting kind of old. I will call it a questionare.
Here is the question.
If you had to choose between buying something that supported a cause and something that didnot which would you choose?
Have you ever been faced with this choice?? Explain which product it was and if you supported it.

Also:
Do you remember facts better when you are just given them quickly and then have a test the day after or do you remember them more when the teacher gives you time to read it, maybe even in a story, and then you take a test on it a while later. Like we did with macbeth and the parts where we read it and acted it out versus just be handed a list of facts to memorize?

Thank You so much,
Kristina
P.S. You don't even have to leave a lengthy answer, simply a yes to supporting a cause or a no to not and the name of a product you have been faced to decide between for this reason.

A Survey!

2008-02-19T09:13:00.003-07:00

Hey Guys!I was wondering if you could answer a couple questions for my WRP:
1. How does color affect your mood in a classroom?
2. Which would you prefer, tables or desks to sit at?
3. If you could change the school, what changes would you make?
4. What things would you want to incorporate into a classroom to make learning enjoyable?5. What other classes would you want to create?
6. Have you ever used clickers to answer questions?
7. Which would you prefer to learn from; textbooks, word documents, or books on CDs?
8. If you could choose a color for a classroom, what color would it be and why?
Thank you for responding to this survey!

Just a Couple Questions...

2008-02-18T17:02:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone, I am writing my paper on the affect music has on education and learning. I have a couple quick questions for you all to answer if possible...

1. Do you listen to music while you study?
2. Do you enjoy listening to music during class?
3. Do you think that music affects your ability to remember facts?
4. Do you think that music affects your ability to pay attention?
5. How often do you listen to music? (Per week)

Thanks!

Further Thoughts on Play

2008-02-15T14:09:00.002-07:00

For anyone interested in talking about some topics we did not get to in discussion, here is a post for questions and discussion. I have a few questions to start off with...

How does coping through humor affect people in a negative way? How about in a positive way?
If you think about it, how is humor/laughing really good for you? This does not have to be scientific!
How does a playful relationship between bosses and employees improve the workplace? If it is not taken too far, how could this help our generation become more stable in our careers and be happy with our jobs?

Thanks to all who choose to comment! If any of the adults want to comment as well, of course, we would love to hear your thoughts!

Yup, it's a survey

2008-02-14T19:13:00.008-07:00

few quick questions:

1) do/did you play an instrument? If so, which one(s)?
2) what genre of music do you most listen to?
3) are you right or left brained?
4) do you listen to music that matches your current mood, or does your mood change to match the music you hear?
5) do you listen to music when you study? if so, is it for concentration or just to "fill the silence"?
6) have you ever been embarassed of sharing your taste in music with others?

THANKS you can just put one or two word answers, but expand if you want.

Just one more quick survey... Just one!

2008-02-13T21:33:00.002-07:00

I'll make this quick and to the point!

Which one of your parents do you get along with better, Mom or Dad?
Do you think this is because one is more empathetic than the other?
Do you think having an empathetic relationship with one, or both of your parents is a good thing?
Just leave a couple sentences (or words) of information.

Thank you for your help!

Field Hands-on Survey

2008-02-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, Stephen here, and I want to here what you have to say.
Please answer the following question.

Do you feel that having hands-on or interactive learning helps you to learn better or not?
Explain why.

Teachers what is your take on interactive learning?

I have a few questions I need you to answer to help me with my paper thanks!

2008-02-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some questions I need you to answer to help me with my paper, if you don't mind! thank you!

1. In terms of design, what would you improve about your school?

2. What do you think would help improve your learning in school?

3. Do you think there is enough student space in your school? What do you like about it or don't like about it?

4. Do you think there the structure of your school enhances your learning? Why or why not? what would you do to improve it?

5. What do you think of the location of our school? Why? If no where would you rather have it located?

6. What is your least favorite thing about the school in terms of design? What is your favorite?

7. What would you want our school to look like if it were re-designed?

8. Do you like where the cafeteria, gym, library, bathroom. and forum are located? If not where would you locate them or what would you do if you could change them? why?

9. What would you change about the design of your classrooms?

10. If you were to paint the walls inside the school what colors would you paint them?

11. How does the design of the school impact your learning? Do you think your learning can be enhanced if it was designed differently? If so how?

Food for thought on empathy

2008-02-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
I was thinking this weekend on empathy and how it relates to other books we have read this year in english.
As I reflected I remembered that in Macbeth and in Lord of the Flies, the author portayed man as being instinctively savage, something very opposite from empathy. You also see this being portayed through out history in events such as the holocaust. But now, as I read a Whole New Mind, Pink says that, on page 159, "It (empathy) is something we do pretty much spontaniously, an act of instinct rather than the product of deliberation."
It is very contradictory and I was wondering what you guys thought!!
Thanks for your input.

AWNM: Play Period 5

2008-02-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Fishbowl with Live Blogging
February 15, 2008
12:14-1:12 pm

Judy O’Connell:
Judy writes, speaks, and consults on school technology and library issues. She is an educator and information professional. Currently, Judy is the Head of Library and Information Services at St. Joseph’s College in Hunters Hill in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Mike Porter:
Mike is the Assistant Director of Instructional Technology in Littleton Public Schools. He is a former Language Arts teacher and a parent of an LPS student.

Eric Grant:
Eric is a techie, an educator, and a futurist. He holds degrees in Information & Decision Systems and Political Science from Carnegie Mellon, and a Masters in Learning, Design, and Technology from Stanford. Eric's career began in enterprise software, moved to new media, and then drifted into education; he spent the past few years as a researcher and instructional designer at the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning. His areas of academic interest include learning and working spaces, distributed and co-located collaboration, cross-cultural education, foresight strategy, and just about anything to do with the intersection of humans and technology. Eric lives in the SF Bay Area.

AWNM: Play Period 2

2008-02-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fishbowl with Live Blogging
February 15, 2008
8:25-9:24 am MST

Dan Maas:
Dan is the Chief Information Officer for Littleton Public Schools as well as a parent of a LPS student.

Cathy Nelson:
Cathy is a teacher librarian from Myrtle Beach, SC. She writes her own personal reflections about technology integration in the classroom at technotuesday.edublogs.org. Her blog is designed to offer helpful hints, tips, and tricks to teachers who are integrating technology in an authentic manner.

Chris Lehmann:
Chris is the Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Previously he served as a Technology Coordinator/English Teacher/Girls' Basketball Coach/Ultimate Coach at the Beacon School, a fantastic progressive public high school in Manhattan.