I Pledge Allegiance, to Ms. Smith...

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...

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. BIG NEWS!!!!!!!! What is it you ask?? Well.... A photographer from Brand Eins is coming Thursday to photograph our class! So... LOOK YOUR BEST!
4. 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!
5. Gerhard didn't visit period 2, yet another reminder that we are better than them!!! Haha, just kidding...... well, kind of : )
6. Smith thinks Crosby's little scheme was awesome... Ahh, so they do plot together!
7. 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!
8. 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:

1. “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."
2. “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."
3. “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!

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...

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

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

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

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!!

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

Post your discussion on the blog if you like.

Period Two Scribe for April Third!

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

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.

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?

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

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

What are some possible reasons that Winston resents the government?

Fishbowl for 1-37: Our Style

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)

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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. "

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

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.

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

Calling all Parents...

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...

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?

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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??

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!

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...

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!

More Questions!

Hey guys! These are a few questions for all of those people who like to draw out there.

1) What do you ask yourself when you are drawing, or do you just start drawing?

2) How do you make a picture effective?

3) Do you just draw or really look at what you're drawing and look at the proportions?

4) Do you sometimes try to get a message across to a viewer?

5) How do you establish the difference between what really matters in the picture and what isn't really necessary?

Thank you!

Further Thoughts on Play

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

Please help guys!

So, I am doing my research project on empathy, and I was wondering if you guys could tell me if you have seen any movies lately that were about 9/11 or the war, and say if it made you feel empathetic towards the soldiers or the people, or if you just felt empathy at all. This does not have to be lengthy, it could simply just be the name of the movie and then a "yes" (empathetic) or "no".
Thank you!!!

React and Reflect on Live Blogging with Pink

Take some time to react and reflect about the live blogging we completed today with Daniel Pink.

AWNM: Empathy Periods 2/5 Combined

Fishbowl Live Blogging

February 7, 2008

8:25-9:24 MST

Daniel H. Pink

Dan is the best selling author of Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind. His articles on work, business, and technology appear in many publications including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Slate, Fast Company, and Wired, where he is a contributing editor. A popular speaker, he lectures to corporations, associations, and universities around the world on economic transformation and business strategy. Pink lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, and three children.

P.S. He doesn't like to be called Mr. Pink- it makes him feel old!

AWNM: Symphony Period 5

Fishbowl Live Blogging Participants
12:14-1:12 pm MST

Gary Stager:Gary is an internationally recognized educator and consultant who has spent twenty-five years helping teachers on six continents make sense of their roles in the age of personal computing and schools more constructive places for children.

Read Stager's review of A Whole New Mind.

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.

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.

AWNM: Symphony Period 2

February 1 Live Blogging Participants
8:25-9:24 am MST

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.

Renee Howell:
Renee is a parent of a Littleton Public Schools student as well as the Vice President of the LPS School Board.

Tim Stahmer:
Tim is an Instructional Technology Specialist working in the Office of Instructional Technology Integration for an overly-large school district on the Virginia side of Washington DC. He taught middle and high school math as well as computer literacy. For the past 11 years, he has helped teachers, administrators and others at all levels make sense of technology in their classrooms and, of course, repaired a few computers and printers along the way. These days he works mostly with the technology trainers in elementary schools.

Please Take My Lots of Laughs Survey

http://catem.pbwiki.com/Lots-of-Laughs-Survey

Here is my survey about laughter. Please go to the link above to print it out. Thank you!

Now Please Take My Poll!

You need to look at this picture before you go and answer the question.

I know I'm like the fifth person to do this, but I think that it is a great idea to do polls. The link is below. Thanks!

Morgan T.

http://snappoll.com/poll/248574.php

image from: http://www.gaiaonline.com/artarena/index.php?mode=vote&postid=486487

WRP Survey -Lauren Cochran

Hello everyone! I know a lot of people have been making surveys to go with their WRP research but if you could find the time to take mine I would be really grateful.

My survey is on the positive effects that video games can have on the mind and also how video games are greatly helping many careers.

Thank you for taking it and please let me know if you have any problems with it.

http://www.polldaddy.com/survey.aspx?id=a9e8c75c7607b5f8

mATTw's M-U-S-I-C survey

This is a survey that will definitely help me on my paper. Please answer the best that you can, and If you have trouble with it, wait until you get home to vote, or maybe just give me your results that you typed after reading the question - please.... Thank you - there are six questions:

http://snappoll.com/poll/248228.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/248230.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/248231.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/248234.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/248300.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/248472.php

If math/science were a color it would be______ because _______

I am writing my WRP on Math and Science classes and why they need more play and design but first I wanted to know how students feel about the classes now. So could you fill in the blanks for me? Thanks!

If math/science was a color it would be ____ because ______.

Poll for my WRP, please respond!

For my WRP, I am studying the negative effects of video games on those who play them. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to answer the poll questions that I have linked to below. I need the results for my research and every little bit helps! I'm sorry that they are all seperate polls, but each one will only take a second. Thanks!

http://snappoll.com/poll/247930.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/247932.php
http://snappoll.com/poll/247933.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/247937.php

http://snappoll.com/poll/247938.php

AWNM: Story Period 5

January 25th Live Blogging Participants
11:33-12:20 pm* MST
*assembly schedule

Jim Gates:
Former music teacher turned computer teacher in 1983. My blog, Gates' Tipline, won the 2007 Edublogs award for Best Resource Sharing Blog.

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.

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

AWNM: Story Period 2

January 25th Fishbowl Live Blogging Participants
8:14-9:02* am MST
*assembly schedule

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.

Renee Howell:
Renee is a parent of a Littleton Public Schools student as well as the Vice President of the LPS School Board.

Please answer this question for my Wikified research paper

Here is my question for you. What is the importance of Empathy in the workplace and in school. Can it increase productivity? Is endorsing empathy in business a plausible future? How does Empathy directly effect you?

Suggestions and Ideas

Hey Guys! Well, this post is here for a reason. I know many of you have ideas and questions about your topic for your WRP. Well, this is where we can communicate. If you have a question about your topic or a comment about somebody else's topic, write it down here! This way, we can all talk about it. Your peers may have some good ideas! =D

Don't forget to also use those subscription sites!

MorganT

Mr. Pink wants to hear from you...

Here is an excerpt from an email I received from Daniel Pink. He wants to know...

i wonder if somewhere in this process you could pose a question to your students. it's one i've been pondering, but my hunch is that your students will have more interesting answers than i could summon myself. the question would be something like this: If you had to create a new school -- or reform your current school -- so that it better develops the six senses, what one or two things would you do?

don't want to throw you off your lesson plan, but i'd love to hear how the young women and men of arapahoe would respond that one. maybe we could talk a little about it during our live blogging or some other venue?

thanks again for your great work.

cheers,
dan

So, either on the class blog, in your Personal Learning Journal, or both, respond thoughtfully to his question. This might be one you continue to come back to time and again reflecting your change of thinking as we discuss, read, and react to one another's thoughts.

Interesting Links

Our famous Mr. Fisch received some links to laughter yoga that Pink references in AWNM. I thought I would share them with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EGTETc5oFU - laughter yoga video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhN3Ryw4O4 - laughter yoga video
http://www.laughteryoga.org/ -founder of Laughter Yoga.
Here is his personal blog; maybe you guys want to comment on it? http://www.laughteryoga.org/drkataria/

Also, one of our participants in the blogging last week gave us another resource for you to pursue in your brain research and understanding of your mind. Pursue at your own desire...
http://bfc.positscience.com/brain/brain_mythology.php

Brains assessment:
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=PublicEducationOutreach_NeurosciEduResources

Enjoy!

AWNM: Design reactions

I wanted to share some of the reactions we had regarding our first fishbowl on Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Design. Please read through the thoughtful and well written posts and feel free to comment about your own impressions.

Darren Draper
http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/01/live-blogging-pink-fisch-style.html

Sean Doherty (Representative Benefield and Solano intern)
http://www.about-denverco.com/modern-heroes-2/

Julie Lindsay
http://123elearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/world-is-fishbowlcome-on-in.html

AWNM: Design Period 2

January 18th Fishbowl Live Blogging Participants:
8:25 am- 9:24 am MST

Dean Shareski:

Dean is a Digital Learning Consultant with the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. He specializes in the use of technology in the classroom. He holds a Masters of Education in Communications and Technology through the University of Saskatchewan. He is also a sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. He considers himself a digital learning specialist.

Darren Draper:

Darren is a technology Curriculum Specialist for the Jordan School District in Salt Lake City, UT. He is an avid educational technology enthusiast who loves technology, when it works...

Julie Lindsay:

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

AWNM Design: Period 5

January 18th Live Blogging Participants:
12:14 pm- 1:12 pm

Karen Janowski:

Karen is an Assistive & Educational Technology Consultant whose “passion is to remove the obstacles to learning for all students. It is important to make the curriculum accessible to all learners and provide opportunities for struggling learners to demonstrate what they know using principles of universal design.” She lives in Reading, MA.

Tim Stahmer:

Tim is an Instructional Technology Specialist working in the Office of Instructional Technology Integration for an overly-large school district on the Virginia side of Washington DC. He taught middle and high school math as well as computer literacy. For the past 11 years he has helped teachers, administrators and others at all levels make sense of technology in their classrooms and, of course, repaired a few computers and printers along the way. These days he works mostly with the technology trainers in elementary schools.

Sylvia Martinez:

Sylvia is president of Generation YES. She has a varied background in both educational and consumer software and games, with expertise along the way in design and development of online environments that encourage learning and communication. Generation YES is a for-profit company seeking to bridge the gap between students being empowered in their learning and the successful implementation of technology assisting in that endeavor.

Hey Take my survey to so I can see what you think

This survey is about play and what it means to you, take it for me.

http://tylergahmage15.playsurvey.sgizmo.com

JoseD wants you all to respond to this survey...

Please respond to my survey so that I can use it on my personal learning journal and wikified research paper.

http://s-fs607-28931.sgizmo.com

Thanks in advance.

AWNM intro-3 Fishbowl Period 5

AWNM intro-3 Fishbowl Period 2