Have you ever heard of the phrase "Knowledge is Power"? Most people have, and it is usually attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. Actually, he said "Knowledge itself is Power" in one of his Latin writing in 1597. A young secretary who worked for him, named Thomas Hobbes, later wrote a book called Leviathan in 1668, and used the exact phrase in Latin "scientia potentia est," which is translated "knowledge is power" for the first time. If you think about it, taking out the word "itself" is a bit better, perhaps, because it means that not just the knowledge itself, but the fact that people know you have it, or think you have it, that creates the power.
When it comes to informative speaking and writing, keep in mind that you may have an opinion, even a strong one that is expressed powerfully. Information need not be totally neutral or non-persuasive, however you should avoid loaded, or emotional words. You are not "selling" something, but you can give opinions or let the facts speak for themselves. For speaking, the Common Core standard we are primarily addressing (11SL.4) says that you should not only present your clear perspective but talk about alternative or opposing perspectives as well. Don't forget to use a picture or digital image, like a chart or graph, to help your speech, as this helps the informative speech along and means I can score you on the "strategic use of digital media" standard (11SL.5). We will be doing these for a grade (with rubric) on Thursday, but people can practice Tuesday this week.
Here is a list of articles that everyone is using for both informative speaking and writing. For the writing part, the two body paragraphs go like this - the first body paragraph you simply inform me of the contents of the article, and the second you inform me of your opinion about the contents. For more in the second body paragraph, you can tell me about the availability of the product or service, or how widespread a problem is that is discussed in the article. Please see me if you need help - intros and conclusions should be short, sweet, and general in nature. No "works cited" area is needed.
Note that although I gathered these publicly-available articles/links, these were almost all chosen by the students themselves:
Ken
Airplane Crew May Face
Increased Melanoma Risk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQaGxnMjdiX0V0YjQ/view?usp=sharing
Michelle Hawthorne Berry Tea: A Heart Tonic and More
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQeVhpb2gxZE9vNTQ/view?usp=sharing
Coleen Nine Health Benefits of
Licorice Root
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQSGtSclhCV25kY0U/view?usp=sharing
Karen Hard Lesson in Sleep for
Teenagers
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQUTBNbFg2ZDZLVVE/view?usp=sharing
Yumi What Are the Benefits of Milk Thistle
Seed?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQN3pxNnRzbWlYWXM/view?usp=sharing
Allen
5
Teas That Melt Fat
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQTEszN1YydTRwWFE/view?usp=sharing
Arielle
Benefits of Spirulina/How
Does Spirulina Work?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQcFVZYkI2N0g5Rzg/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQRWR5UkJIYUlhRzQ/view?usp=sharing
Calvin Why You Should Never
Microwave Your Food
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQS2pPWjE1a0xUWDA/view?usp=sharing
Joanna Do You Know These Five Skin
Facts?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQdi1nRXJaenR3WDg/view?usp=sharing
Josh Eat Your Way to a Better Workout
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQSXZLOHVJU0duZVk/view?usp=sharing
George 12 Natural Ways to Fight a Cold
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQTTlqUjFCVzN6c0E/view?usp=sharing
Kevin Is Sugar Toxic?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQVGVLZnZNSTZRbmM/view?usp=sharing
Paul Why
Outdoor Workouts Work Better
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQT2tubG5pZzB6LUE/view?usp=sharing
Sharah 17 Health Benefits of Cayenne
Pepper
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQWk5sWUVDMFB6UnM/view?usp=sharing
Claire
The Importance of a
Kidney Cleansing Diet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQXzdUNm9NcW1CejA/view?usp=sharing
Oscar Natural Ways to Treat
Arthritis
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQcU5CZ2t1MzlQWFE/view?usp=sharing
Alvyn Workout: Tip Up the
Intensity
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQSjVuZVB3Ti0zOXc/view?usp=sharing
Jill 5 More Popular Weight Loss Diets
Explained
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQWHhmR3BJOVh4V2c/view?usp=sharing
Kate Green Tea for Weight Loss
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQN1pVV2I1dnpxLVk/view?usp=sharing
For Good Measure - let's include some British Lit students;
Molly Superfoods for Superbugs
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQcHFkUHdESUxRTzQ/view?usp=sharing
Gordon Can Autism Be Prevented
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQSFZqb2o3SnJpblU/view?usp=sharing
Book Tai Chi Eases Depression in Elderly
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Q_tPLHIkuQNm5XUVI3cWRUZzA/view?usp=sharing
The Sky Tree
"I must be given the fruit which grows at the very top of Sky Tree."
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Q3 Debates & Assignments
This post will be updated as we progress into the middle of Q3, but we have a few unusual assignments this quarter. We will revisit debates and have informational speaking. This quarter students have been challenged to write creatively as well, by submitting a poem. Students may write a persuasive essay instead for the New York Times contest - either the poem or essay is due on March 9th. Everyone's been working hard, so please enjoy any breaks you get, especially lunar New Year with your family!
Q3 Final News Source
The first test will have 30 graded questions on comprehension & literary focus:
The second test will include vocabulary and essays related to the stories above. There are 10 vocab questions (5 multiple choice, 5 synonym/antonym) and two essays, for 50 total points.
There are no grammar questions this time, nor are there Wordly Wise questions on the final.
An earlier post on the final said:
Poem or Essay?
Students are required to either write their own poem in an acceptable format or join the persuasive essay contest hosted by the New York Times by March 9th. In both cases, revisions should be expected. Don't think about which is easier or how you grades may be affected right now, but think about expanding your horizons and getting good writing experience. One little point for honors students is that if they choose to do the essay, their needed book count will be reduced by one book.
Guidelines for Poems
Please do not attempt to do a free verse poem. For this one I'd like students to stick to a format - any set format is probably OK but I have mentioned Sonnet form as a good one to try. This is because I'd like you to get into some of the usual things poets go through - counting syllables, playing with formats, rhyme schemes, and imagery. Another way to see it: before you can break the rules, you should follow the rules!
So, try writing between 8 and 14 lines of poetry, and have an an even number of syllables on each line, keeping it the same throughout the poem, perhaps 10 syllables. There should be end rhymes, meaning that the last word of each line of the poem will rhyme with another last word on a different line. These should make a recognizable pattern, like ababcdcdefefgg (Shakespearean Sonnet form) or another one you choose, such as ababcdcd. Next, make sure to link your images so that they send a message related to your theme - a poem lacking images becomes too brainy or just not memorable. Use sensory words that make your images real and bring home sights, smells, and tastes. And if you can, work in some figurative language like alliteration or onomatopoeia. You are well familiar with these terms by now from the reader's point of view - now see what it is like from the writer's viewpoint!
Guidelines for Persuasive Essays
Please open the link at the right of the blog to see contest rules and a list of topics. Your topic must be from that list, and you should email me the topic so I can at least be informed, or possibly help with ideas. Here are some of the rules I remember - the essay must be 450 words or less, you must cite (i.e., have a "works cited" area, also known as a bibliography) at least two sources, one from the New York Times and one from somewhere else, and you can choose to write individually or in a group, but not both. If you submit an essay as a group, you must list the names of all participants in that group. Recently we have realized how challenging it could be to fit your ideas into only 450 words, which may be around 3 big paragraphs or 4 small ones. Anyway, follow their rules, show it to me before submitting it to The New York Times, and really send it to them before 6 PM Taiwan time on March 9th.
Sometimes you may need to define something in the beginning of the essay to restrict the topic or make sure "everyone is on the same sheet of music." For example, topic 144 says "How Should Parents Handle a Bad Report Card?" Before discussing this, you would need to define what a bad report card means briefly, because for some people "bad" only means having a Failing grade, for others it is anything less than top marks, or "A's." Other topics need explanation or cultural sensitivity, like topic 115 "Should the United States Stop Using the Death Penalty?" Here you would need to realize that a person in Taiwan would be more likely to support the death penalty, probably, than many Americans would. Other topics ought to be avoided simply because they are hard to prove or persuade, no matter how fun they may be to write about, like topic 33 "What Were the Best Movies You Saw in the Past Year?" If you found "Boyhood" and "Still Alice" fascinating and touching, but the reader found those insipid and was a fan of "Birdman" and "Whiplash" do you think having great citations or writing persuasively will easily change their minds?
Keep in mind you need a good opening to grab their attention - the "usual suspects" for opening hooks include dialogue, action, onomatopoeia, or a question. These may be used even in persuasive writing, but understand that you will be combining both logical and emotional approaches, with some emphasis on logical, since there will be citations. I'd keep your intro and conclusion short, and remember what I taught you about structure where you clearly state your case, or thesis, in the beginning and remind them with different words at the end. I'll go ahead and recommend two body paragraphs which would correspond with your citations, but I hope they will be rich enough to develop your case within the not-so-long body paragraphs. Flow and structure will be important because of the short length, so there must be no fluff, or extra words. A revision will sound smart, so please don't send it to me at midnight Sunday as I might not be able to get to everybody!
Fast and Furious Debates
First "day" of debates, before break, includes two topics. One change is that the time for arguments will be increased to 2.5 minutes per speaker. There will be 30 seconds in between each speaker, and three minutes for each group to research using the classroom computer before the debate begins.
Topic 1: Should individuals be forced to receive vaccinations (e.g., against the measles), even if unwilling?
Topic 2: Homeschooling & non-traditional education should be encouraged.
Topic 3: Just governments ought to ensure food security for their citizens.
Topic 4: Just governments ought to require that employers pay a (reasonable) minimum wage.
Topic 5: The U.S. federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth's oceans.
Topic 6: The U.S. federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.
Go to the National Speech and Debate Association Web Site for more info on the above topics.
Five Beautiful Sentences assignment
Please find five sentences within your Book Group book, and email the following information:
1) The entire sentence and its page number
2) Underline the word for phrase that is "interesting" (see below)
3) Include a brief explanation about why you underlined it. Also helpful is explaining the context of the sentence within the story, or the importance of the sentence.
Underline words that are effectively, or well-written, but look for use of slang, idioms, vernacular (local language), difficult, or fresh.
This assignment it for the vocabulary part of your individual test on the book you read for your group. It will be available this week, most likely after Talent Show. You will have short answer or essay-type questions, with some vocabulary questions based on the beautiful sentences documents submitted by students from that group. If that information is lacking from the group, the teacher will decide which words to test from the book and the students will receive a "lesser" study guide.
Informational Speaking
Speak for at least two minutes about An Good Place to Visit in Taiwan. You may use your blog post as a source of ideas, but you may not read the speech from the blog or paper. It is recommended that a photo from online be prepared for the speech, perhaps attached to your blog post.
Keep in mind this is informational speaking, so include some facts and figures - things like describing the geography or location, population, economics, or some details. Avoid "selling," or persuading, and also avoid too many personal stories, or narratives.
remaining Literature Homework
One thing to note that after TEST 6, we will need no more. Some students may choose to take the test for In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, to substitute for a low grade. At this point, no drops are planned in any category. If the whole class avoids plagiarism on written homework, a drop of the lowest homework score may be proposed. We endeavor to help everyone feel ready to answer homework questions on time with their own good ideas!
Grammar Quiz
Now this quiz has been put off to March 10th because we will review the information below using pages from "The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need."
Information includes the following three major points:
A) Verb Tenses - know form and use:
1) Simple Present: "Alvyn is a man." "If you heat ice it melts." "The sun rises in the East and sets in the West." "I brush my teeth every morning." "I usually/sometimes/always play piano at night.
2) Present Continuous: "I am writing now."
3) Future: a) "will" for willingness: "I will go with you to Paris." or determination: "Yes I will go see a movie with Arielle." b) "am going to V" for plans: "We are going to visit Italy next summer." c) using present tense to show future with schedules: "I fly tomorrow at 9 AM." d) using present continuous tense for future (probably for plans too): "I am visiting Italy next summer."
4) Present Perfect: a) for recently completed actions that still affect the present: "I have eaten lunch." b) for experience: "I have visited England before." c) for repeated actions happening from a point in the past, to now, and going into the future, using "for" or "since": "Book has studied Chinese for three years." or "Book has studied Chinese since 2012."
B) Verbals - words that look like verbs but are used as other parts of speech
1) gerunds - words that look like verbs but are used as nouns: "Wakeboarding is really my favorite sport. Swimming is boring."
2) participles - they look like verbs (ending in "-ing" or "-ed") but are used as adjectives: The girl sitting over there is my friend.
3) infinitives - the basic form of the verb with "to" in front of it, usually used as a noun, but may be used as adjective or adverb. We will come back to this later, but for more immediate info, try this link on infinitive use. For now you need to know that we use infinitives to explain why we do something: "Stephen attends university to learn about physical therapy." "Brandon came to Taiwan to study Chinese."
C) An understanding that English is changing and that a lot of what is "right" is that way because a lot of people have decided to speak that way: "I don't recommend having 2 beers with lunch." or "Hey, you are looking good today." Instead, a more formal or traditional way to say these would be: "I'd recommend drinking two bottles of beer on the first Saturday night after graduation." or "You look good today."
For more review, use this link to see the web site we used in class for those verb tenses.
Q3 Final News Source
The first test will have 30 graded questions on comprehension & literary focus:
HW27
Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway TEST
1 (4 questions)
HW28
Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald TEST
2 (4 questions) Vocab Essay
HW30
Leader of the People by John Steinbeck TEST
3 (5 questions) Vocab
HW33
Mending Wall by Robert Frost TEST 4 (3
questions)
HW36
Poems by William Carlos Williams: The Red Wheelbarrow, The Great Figure, This
is Just to Say TEST 5 (6 questions)
HW39
Poems by Langston Hughes: The Weary Blues & Harlem TEST 6 (4 questions)
HW42
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens by Alice Walker (4 questions) Vocab The second test will include vocabulary and essays related to the stories above. There are 10 vocab questions (5 multiple choice, 5 synonym/antonym) and two essays, for 50 total points.
There are no grammar questions this time, nor are there Wordly Wise questions on the final.
An earlier post on the final said:
There are questions
on the Q3 Final from these stories or poems – including vocab for short stories:
HW27
Soldier’s Home – E. Hemmingway – p. 693: 7,8,9,10 TEST 1 (due Thurs. 1/8)
HW28
Winter Dreams – F. Scott Fitzgerald – p. 715: 3,7,8,9 TEST 2 (due Thurs. 1/22)
HW30
Leader of the People – J. Steinbeck – p. 756: 6,8,10 TEST 3 (due Thurs. 1/29)
HW33
Mending Wall – R. Frost – p. 804: 8,9,10 TEST
4 (due Tues. 2/3)
HW36
Poems by W. C. Williams: The Red Wheelbarrow, The Great Figure, This is
Just to Say – p. 670: 4,6,7 TEST 5 (due
Thurs. 2/7)
HW39
Poems by L. Hughes: The Weary Blues & Harlem – p. 832: 4,5 for Weary
Blues and 1,5 for Harlem (due Thurs. 2/12) TEST 6
HW42
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens – A. Walker – p. 1109: 5,7,9 (due Wed. 3/11)Poem or Essay?
Students are required to either write their own poem in an acceptable format or join the persuasive essay contest hosted by the New York Times by March 9th. In both cases, revisions should be expected. Don't think about which is easier or how you grades may be affected right now, but think about expanding your horizons and getting good writing experience. One little point for honors students is that if they choose to do the essay, their needed book count will be reduced by one book.
Guidelines for Poems
Please do not attempt to do a free verse poem. For this one I'd like students to stick to a format - any set format is probably OK but I have mentioned Sonnet form as a good one to try. This is because I'd like you to get into some of the usual things poets go through - counting syllables, playing with formats, rhyme schemes, and imagery. Another way to see it: before you can break the rules, you should follow the rules!
So, try writing between 8 and 14 lines of poetry, and have an an even number of syllables on each line, keeping it the same throughout the poem, perhaps 10 syllables. There should be end rhymes, meaning that the last word of each line of the poem will rhyme with another last word on a different line. These should make a recognizable pattern, like ababcdcdefefgg (Shakespearean Sonnet form) or another one you choose, such as ababcdcd. Next, make sure to link your images so that they send a message related to your theme - a poem lacking images becomes too brainy or just not memorable. Use sensory words that make your images real and bring home sights, smells, and tastes. And if you can, work in some figurative language like alliteration or onomatopoeia. You are well familiar with these terms by now from the reader's point of view - now see what it is like from the writer's viewpoint!
Guidelines for Persuasive Essays
Please open the link at the right of the blog to see contest rules and a list of topics. Your topic must be from that list, and you should email me the topic so I can at least be informed, or possibly help with ideas. Here are some of the rules I remember - the essay must be 450 words or less, you must cite (i.e., have a "works cited" area, also known as a bibliography) at least two sources, one from the New York Times and one from somewhere else, and you can choose to write individually or in a group, but not both. If you submit an essay as a group, you must list the names of all participants in that group. Recently we have realized how challenging it could be to fit your ideas into only 450 words, which may be around 3 big paragraphs or 4 small ones. Anyway, follow their rules, show it to me before submitting it to The New York Times, and really send it to them before 6 PM Taiwan time on March 9th.
Sometimes you may need to define something in the beginning of the essay to restrict the topic or make sure "everyone is on the same sheet of music." For example, topic 144 says "How Should Parents Handle a Bad Report Card?" Before discussing this, you would need to define what a bad report card means briefly, because for some people "bad" only means having a Failing grade, for others it is anything less than top marks, or "A's." Other topics need explanation or cultural sensitivity, like topic 115 "Should the United States Stop Using the Death Penalty?" Here you would need to realize that a person in Taiwan would be more likely to support the death penalty, probably, than many Americans would. Other topics ought to be avoided simply because they are hard to prove or persuade, no matter how fun they may be to write about, like topic 33 "What Were the Best Movies You Saw in the Past Year?" If you found "Boyhood" and "Still Alice" fascinating and touching, but the reader found those insipid and was a fan of "Birdman" and "Whiplash" do you think having great citations or writing persuasively will easily change their minds?
Keep in mind you need a good opening to grab their attention - the "usual suspects" for opening hooks include dialogue, action, onomatopoeia, or a question. These may be used even in persuasive writing, but understand that you will be combining both logical and emotional approaches, with some emphasis on logical, since there will be citations. I'd keep your intro and conclusion short, and remember what I taught you about structure where you clearly state your case, or thesis, in the beginning and remind them with different words at the end. I'll go ahead and recommend two body paragraphs which would correspond with your citations, but I hope they will be rich enough to develop your case within the not-so-long body paragraphs. Flow and structure will be important because of the short length, so there must be no fluff, or extra words. A revision will sound smart, so please don't send it to me at midnight Sunday as I might not be able to get to everybody!
Fast and Furious Debates
First "day" of debates, before break, includes two topics. One change is that the time for arguments will be increased to 2.5 minutes per speaker. There will be 30 seconds in between each speaker, and three minutes for each group to research using the classroom computer before the debate begins.
Topic 1: Should individuals be forced to receive vaccinations (e.g., against the measles), even if unwilling?
Topic 2: Homeschooling & non-traditional education should be encouraged.
Topic 3: Just governments ought to ensure food security for their citizens.
Topic 4: Just governments ought to require that employers pay a (reasonable) minimum wage.
Topic 5: The U.S. federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth's oceans.
Topic 6: The U.S. federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.
Go to the National Speech and Debate Association Web Site for more info on the above topics.
Five Beautiful Sentences assignment
Please find five sentences within your Book Group book, and email the following information:
1) The entire sentence and its page number
2) Underline the word for phrase that is "interesting" (see below)
3) Include a brief explanation about why you underlined it. Also helpful is explaining the context of the sentence within the story, or the importance of the sentence.
Underline words that are effectively, or well-written, but look for use of slang, idioms, vernacular (local language), difficult, or fresh.
This assignment it for the vocabulary part of your individual test on the book you read for your group. It will be available this week, most likely after Talent Show. You will have short answer or essay-type questions, with some vocabulary questions based on the beautiful sentences documents submitted by students from that group. If that information is lacking from the group, the teacher will decide which words to test from the book and the students will receive a "lesser" study guide.
Informational Speaking
Speak for at least two minutes about An Good Place to Visit in Taiwan. You may use your blog post as a source of ideas, but you may not read the speech from the blog or paper. It is recommended that a photo from online be prepared for the speech, perhaps attached to your blog post.
Keep in mind this is informational speaking, so include some facts and figures - things like describing the geography or location, population, economics, or some details. Avoid "selling," or persuading, and also avoid too many personal stories, or narratives.
remaining Literature Homework
HW37
Poems by E.E. Cummings p. 678: 5 for both & 6 for second one
HW38
Poems by C. Cullen p. 822: 3 & 4 for both
HW39
Poems by Langston Hughes p. 832: 4,5 for Weary Blues and 1,5 for Harlem TEST 6
HW41
Black Boy – R. Wright – p. 1076: 5,7,9,11
HW42 In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens – A. Walker –
p. 1109: 5,7,9One thing to note that after TEST 6, we will need no more. Some students may choose to take the test for In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, to substitute for a low grade. At this point, no drops are planned in any category. If the whole class avoids plagiarism on written homework, a drop of the lowest homework score may be proposed. We endeavor to help everyone feel ready to answer homework questions on time with their own good ideas!
Grammar Quiz
Now this quiz has been put off to March 10th because we will review the information below using pages from "The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need."
Information includes the following three major points:
A) Verb Tenses - know form and use:
1) Simple Present: "Alvyn is a man." "If you heat ice it melts." "The sun rises in the East and sets in the West." "I brush my teeth every morning." "I usually/sometimes/always play piano at night.
2) Present Continuous: "I am writing now."
3) Future: a) "will" for willingness: "I will go with you to Paris." or determination: "Yes I will go see a movie with Arielle." b) "am going to V" for plans: "We are going to visit Italy next summer." c) using present tense to show future with schedules: "I fly tomorrow at 9 AM." d) using present continuous tense for future (probably for plans too): "I am visiting Italy next summer."
4) Present Perfect: a) for recently completed actions that still affect the present: "I have eaten lunch." b) for experience: "I have visited England before." c) for repeated actions happening from a point in the past, to now, and going into the future, using "for" or "since": "Book has studied Chinese for three years." or "Book has studied Chinese since 2012."
B) Verbals - words that look like verbs but are used as other parts of speech
1) gerunds - words that look like verbs but are used as nouns: "Wakeboarding is really my favorite sport. Swimming is boring."
2) participles - they look like verbs (ending in "-ing" or "-ed") but are used as adjectives: The girl sitting over there is my friend.
3) infinitives - the basic form of the verb with "to" in front of it, usually used as a noun, but may be used as adjective or adverb. We will come back to this later, but for more immediate info, try this link on infinitive use. For now you need to know that we use infinitives to explain why we do something: "Stephen attends university to learn about physical therapy." "Brandon came to Taiwan to study Chinese."
C) An understanding that English is changing and that a lot of what is "right" is that way because a lot of people have decided to speak that way: "I don't recommend having 2 beers with lunch." or "Hey, you are looking good today." Instead, a more formal or traditional way to say these would be: "I'd recommend drinking two bottles of beer on the first Saturday night after graduation." or "You look good today."
For more review, use this link to see the web site we used in class for those verb tenses.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Realism & Modern Life
In Q3 for American Lit this year we'll be looking at some classic American authors from the last 40 years of the 1800's and the first 40 years of the 1900's. You've probably heard of Hemingway & Steinbeck, Fitzgerald & Frost, and we'll read them. But you'll also get a taste of some odd poets like William Carlos Williams and e.e. cummings, who liked to refuse using capital letters even for his name. And there are surprisingly fresh African-American voices like Langston Hughes and Alice Walker that you will experience.
Q3 Required
Literature Homework
HW27
Soldier’s Home – E. Hemingway – p. 693: 7,8,9,10 TEST
HW28
Winter Dreams – F. Scott Fitzgerald – p. 715: 3,7,8,9 TEST
HW30
Leader of the People – J. Steinbeck – p. 756: 6,8,10 TEST
HW33
Mending Wall – R. Frost – p. 804: 8,9,10 TEST
HW36
Poems by W. Carlos Williams: The Red Wheelbarrow, The Great Figure, This is
Just to Say – p. 670: 4,6,7 TEST
HW37
Poems by E.E. Cummings: what if a much… & somewhere i have never travelled…
– p. 678: 5 for both & 6 for second one
HW38
Poems by C. Cullen: Tableau, Incident – p. 822: 3 & 4 for both
HW39
Poems by Langston Hughes: The Weary Blues & Harlem – p. 832: 4,5 for Weary
Blues and 1,5 for Harlem TEST
HW41
Black Boy – R. Wright – p. 1076: 5,7,9,11
HW42
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens – A. Walker – p. 1109: 5,7,9 TEST (Optional)
10 homework
assignments; 6 required tests
To make things more reasonable for our busy students, we have reduced the number of required homework assignments to 10, and there will be six tests. For homework assignments, the number of questions has been reduced to 3 or 4. All required homework assignments will be tested on the final.
We will have a variety of speaking and writing tasks that will be listed here later. For now, focus on your speech for speech meet, which you have received a scan of, and get exercises C & E done by Wednesday this week. By Friday everyone will be tested for the first 200 words of their speech.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Wrapping Things Up
We got a taste of Mark Twain at the end of this second quarter 2014, near the Christmas holiday, and there's nothing better to stir a bit of merry mirth for the holidays than a bit of Twainesque hyperbole and satire. We read the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and The Lowest Animal. But Twain's wit and wisdom go well beyond these selections, as a perusal of any list of quotes would show you. Here's a selection of several I found to be interesting:
It's amazing that we are finishing up the second quarter here, and the holidays are upon us! It's been a busy and enjoyable quarter. Some folks are trying to fill in gaps with missing homework, so I will put the required ones below:
HW13 –The Burning of Our House p. 30 – 2,3,4,7
A few need to resend or confirm papers, hand in vocab workbooks, or Q2 classroom notebooks. All presentations have been finished, and later I will put links to the Prezis here.
Please remember to hand in all books to the teacher at the final exam!
More info on the final exam will be added over the weekend to the bottom of this post, but some early info will be there. Another thing we need to do is get our speeches from the Wordly Wise books, and I have listed the students who are doing particular chapters from our book below. Everyone must memorize 400 words, but if your selections naturally ends a little beyond that, you stop there. Do Exercises C & E by the Tuesday after we return from break, January 6th.
About the final exam, there will be two parts. One part is about the reading in the Literature book, taken with your A class. Then there is a writing test, taken during the B class testing time. Any story we have read in Q2 is fair game for the final, but ones for which we have had tests and homework get priority and more questions.
Come back to this post later in the weekend for more details, but the homework list above is a guide. Read the literary focus parts carefully before the selection. No Wordly Wise material will be on the test, but something from your reading group should be in the writing or vocabulary section.
It's amazing that we are finishing up the second quarter here, and the holidays are upon us! It's been a busy and enjoyable quarter. Some folks are trying to fill in gaps with missing homework, so I will put the required ones below:
HW13 –The Burning of Our House p. 30 – 2,3,4,7
HW14
–Thanatopsis p. 193 –2,3,4,7
HW16
–The Raven p. 303 – 3,4,6,7
HW18
–Song of Myself 10 & 33 p. 372 - #10:3,4,5; # 33:2,4,6
HW20
–Song of Myself 52 p.374 – 2,3,4,5,7 (choose either HW18 or HW20)
HW21 –Success is Sweetest; Tell All the Truth Slant
p. 400 – 1,2,3,4 (& Truth 1,3,4,5)
HW23
–Civil War readings p. 519 – 2,3,4,5
HW24
–Jumping Frog Calaveras County p. 533 – 4,5,6,7
HW25
– The Lowest Animal p. 542 – 2,4,5,6
A few need to resend or confirm papers, hand in vocab workbooks, or Q2 classroom notebooks. All presentations have been finished, and later I will put links to the Prezis here.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
https://prezi.com/09ky1cv8_
Autobiography of Ben Franklin
Something Wicked This Way Comes
http://prezi.com/gmrmbnfn8uw-/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
Fahrenheit 451
Please remember to hand in all books to the teacher at the final exam!
More info on the final exam will be added over the weekend to the bottom of this post, but some early info will be there. Another thing we need to do is get our speeches from the Wordly Wise books, and I have listed the students who are doing particular chapters from our book below. Everyone must memorize 400 words, but if your selections naturally ends a little beyond that, you stop there. Do Exercises C & E by the Tuesday after we return from break, January 6th.
Lesson 1: Going, Going, Gone (auctions) – Ken
Lesson 2: Looking at Llamas – Michelle
Lesson 3: No Excuses (Olympic Athlete) – Coleen
Lesson 5: The Quiz-Show Scandal – Karen
Lesson 6: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
Collection (Art
Museum) – Yumi
Lesson 7: Tsunami: The Big Wave – Allen
Lesson 8: Greek Drama – Arielle
Lesson 9: Reaching the Heights (acrophobia) not assigned
Lesson 10: The Wall (Vietnam War Memorial) –
Calvin
Lesson 11: Dwarf Mammoths (frozen ancient
remains) – Joanna
Lesson 12: A Child of the Sixties (Joan Baez) – Josh
Lesson 13: Kwanzaa (First Fruits holiday) –
Kevin
Lesson 14: Washington National Cathedral – Paul
Lesson 15: Birds of a Feather (hat
designer) – Sharah
Lesson 16: Gateway to the Promised Land (immigration & Eliis
Island) – Claire
Lesson 17: Machiavellii (The Prince & strategy) – Alvyn
Lesson 18: Prisoners of Conscience (Universal Declaration of
Human Rights) – Jill
Lesson 19: Elephant Memories (African Wildlife
Foundation) – Kate
Lesson 20: It’s a Right-Handed World! (on being
left-handed) not assigned About the final exam, there will be two parts. One part is about the reading in the Literature book, taken with your A class. Then there is a writing test, taken during the B class testing time. Any story we have read in Q2 is fair game for the final, but ones for which we have had tests and homework get priority and more questions.
Come back to this post later in the weekend for more details, but the homework list above is a guide. Read the literary focus parts carefully before the selection. No Wordly Wise material will be on the test, but something from your reading group should be in the writing or vocabulary section.
Here are the
stories tested on the Final Exam, and the number of questions on each out of
42.
HW13
–The Burning of Our House (5)
HW14
–Thanatopsis (2)
HW16
–The Raven (5)
HW18
–Song of Myself 10 & 33 (5)
HW20
–Song of Myself 52 (6)
HW21 –Success is Sweetest; Tell All the Truth
Slant (6)
HW23
–Civil War readings (5)
HW24
–Jumping Frog Calaveras County (4)
HW25
– The Lowest Animal (4)
The A test will be
graded on 40 questions, so two questions are for extra credit. There is no
writing or vocabulary on this A test, which is worth 40 points, and another 10
points come from the B test.
For the B test, you will have no vocabulary and
no questions about the book from your reading group. There will be four essays
there and you can choose three of them. The authors to focus on for the essays
would include Whitman, Dickinson, Poe, and Twain.
Terms you will need
to understand to do well on the Exam include:
Inversion, plain
style, metaphor, theme, mood, alliteration, onomatopoeia, internal rhyme, free
verse, imagery, first-person point of view, parallel structure, cadence, coda,
couplet, rhyming pattern, slant truth, symbolism, tone, irony, narrator, frame
story, hyperbole (or exaggeration), understatement, vernacular, satire.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Bon appetit to Reading Groups
Some call them literature circles, others call them book clubs. Our goal is to read longer works that are on the famous side, but still entertaining. I've dipped into such sources as Amazon's best-selling classics list, Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list and their 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime Readers' Picks, Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels ever written, and some personal recommendations, including my own.
I would like to ensure that all students read two longer works this year and also one play - all outside of the textbook. I'm ready, if need be, to buy them myself. You simply have to read them, and I do not want anything to get in the way of it. If you cannot read them because you were not assigned, boo-hoo, then you can at least hear the presentations by your classmates and know what's happening in the book. Then borrow it from me later in the year and don't forget to give it back! Next year's crew will need them.
If you have great fiction in your hands, you can't help but develop a love for reading. I mean, it's like going to the movies but never hearing of the great directors out there like Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, and even Tarantino. If you don't know what I'm talking about, um, you are deprived, seriously deprived.
Anyway, we can't let that happen with literature, so I'll help you out by gently pushing you along to read these books. We don't have to wait for any kind of reading emphasis week or rule to go do it, let's just get going because time's a-wasting.
Here are the groups for the first semester book, which will be done by the end of Q2:
Notice that you have been placed in groups a) reading a book you like when possible, b) with people who are not only in your A class, where the reading should usually happen, but also in your B class, where it sometimes may happen anyway.
You can expect 3 categories of responsibility here: 1) you will be quizzed on sections of the book and tested on the whole book, 2) you will be graded on your collaborative speaking, which means being prepared for assigned reading and doing your assigned role in the group - not only assigned by the teacher but sometimes assigned by other group members, 3) each group will do a presentation the last week of the semester using PowerPoint (or Prezi for a small bonus) explaining the book content and other agreed details, mostly relating to style.
Each book will be divided into 6 major sections, and subdivided into 12 minor sections. See below:
Other suggested pages to read for the remaining books will come later,.The final decision on which pages to read rests with the group, but it should be reasonable and the teacher must be informed. At the moment we still do not have Something Wicked This Way Comes. Students with the following books will receive their books from the librarian some time in the morning: Huckleberry Finn, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Most of these books are ones I have enjoyed - some are brand new and kind of a gamble, like Something Wicked This Way Comes - it seems to be different than I thought but should be good for the Halloween season, apparently. I like everything I have read by the author, Ray Bradbury, and have read Fahrenheit 451 multiple times now. Love that one! I hope you guys enjoy what you are reading too. If there is any serious heartburn about the book you are reading maybe we can discuss it. The best way to persuade me is to go buy your own agreed book and find someone else in your current group who will do the same - then you can have a 2-person team. It works especially well if that person is in both the A and B class with you, for maximum flexibility.
Remember, some books you chew slowly, and others you can devour quickly. For much of this, the more you eat, the more you will want to eat - something like ji pai or doritos - or fresh sashimi, perhaps. Bon appetit!
I would like to ensure that all students read two longer works this year and also one play - all outside of the textbook. I'm ready, if need be, to buy them myself. You simply have to read them, and I do not want anything to get in the way of it. If you cannot read them because you were not assigned, boo-hoo, then you can at least hear the presentations by your classmates and know what's happening in the book. Then borrow it from me later in the year and don't forget to give it back! Next year's crew will need them.
If you have great fiction in your hands, you can't help but develop a love for reading. I mean, it's like going to the movies but never hearing of the great directors out there like Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, and even Tarantino. If you don't know what I'm talking about, um, you are deprived, seriously deprived.
Anyway, we can't let that happen with literature, so I'll help you out by gently pushing you along to read these books. We don't have to wait for any kind of reading emphasis week or rule to go do it, let's just get going because time's a-wasting.
Here are the groups for the first semester book, which will be done by the end of Q2:
American
Literature A1
Ken, Matthew, Coleen,
Karen, David, Allen, Michelle, Yumi (8 students)
Huckleberry Finn Ken, Matthew, Allen, Yumi
Fahrenheit 451 Coleen, Karen, David, Michelle
American
Literature A2
Arielle, Claire, Calvin,
Joanna, Oscar, Alvyn, Jill, George, Kevin, Josh, Paul, Sharah, Hibiki. Kate (14
students)
Of Mice and Men Calvin,
Josh, Kevin, Jill
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Alvyn, Paul, Sharah, Kate
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Arielle, Claire,
Joanna
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Hibiki, George, Oscar
American Literature B1
Michelle, Karen,
Coleen, David, Calvin, Paul, Josh, Arielle, Sharah, Kevin (10 students)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Arielle
Fahrenheit 451 Michelle, Karen, Coleen, David
Of Mice and Men Calvin,
Josh, Kevin
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Paul,
Sharah
American Literature Lit. B2
Claire, Jill (2 students)
Something Wicked This Way Comes Claire
Of Mice and Men Jill
American Literature B3
Yumi,
Ken, Joanna, Alvyn, Kate, Allen, Matthew, George, Oscar, Hibiki (10 students)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Hibiki, George, Oscar
Something Wicked This Way Comes Joanna
Huckleberry Finn Yumi, Ken, Allen, Matthew
Autobiography
of Benjamin Franklin Alvyn, Kate
Notice that you have been placed in groups a) reading a book you like when possible, b) with people who are not only in your A class, where the reading should usually happen, but also in your B class, where it sometimes may happen anyway.
You can expect 3 categories of responsibility here: 1) you will be quizzed on sections of the book and tested on the whole book, 2) you will be graded on your collaborative speaking, which means being prepared for assigned reading and doing your assigned role in the group - not only assigned by the teacher but sometimes assigned by other group members, 3) each group will do a presentation the last week of the semester using PowerPoint (or Prezi for a small bonus) explaining the book content and other agreed details, mostly relating to style.
Each book will be divided into 6 major sections, and subdivided into 12 minor sections. See below:
Here is a general reading schedule:
Thursday, October 2 Discuss 1-a
Wednesday, October 8 Discuss 1-b, then have
Book Quiz 1 before holiday
Thursday, October 16 Discuss both 2-a &
2-b, then have Book Quiz 2 on Friday, October 17. Note days off on October 9
and October 10 as a good opportunity to do extra reading.
Thursday, October 23 Discuss 3-a
Thursday, October 30 Discuss 3-b, then have
Book Quiz 3 on Friday, October 31
Thursday, November 6 Discuss 4-a
Thursday, November 13 Discuss 4-b, then
have Book Quiz 4 on Friday, November 14
Thursday, November 20 Discuss 5-a
Wednesday, November 26 Discuss 5-b, then
have Book Quiz 5 before holiday. Note days off on November 27 & 28 as good
opportunities for more reading.
Thursday, December 4 Discuss 6-a and 6-b,
and then have whole Book Test on Friday, December 5.
Presentations happen from Monday, December
8 through Thursday, December 11.
Of Mice and Men
I p. 1-16; II p. 17-37; III p 38-65; IV p.
66-83; V p. 84-98; VI p. 99-107
Huckleberry Finn
1-a finish section 6 on p. 21; 1-b finish
section 9 on p. 38; 2-a finish section 13 on p. 56; 2-b finish section 17 on p.
78; 3-a finish section 20 on p. 101; 3-b finish section 23 on p. 117; 4-a
complete section 26 on p. 134; 4-b read up to p. 154, finishing section 29; 5-a
read up through the end of section 33 to p. 174; 5-b read to end of section 36
or p. 188; 6-a read sections 38-40 (up to p. 207) and for 6-b go to the end,
which is sections 41-43, or p. 208-220.
Fahrenheit 451
There are three sections of the book:
The Hearth and the Salamander – p. 1-65; 1-a = 1-16, 1-b = 16-33;
2-a = 34-50, 2-b = 51-65
The Sieve and the Sand – p. 67-106; 3-a = 67-77, 3-b = 78-88 top;
4-a = 88-98, 4-b = 99-106
Burning Bright – p. 107-158; 5-a = 107-119, 5-b = 120-133 top; 6-a =
133-147 top, 6-b = 147-158
To Kill a Mockingbird
I finish section 5 on p. 50
II finish section 10 on p. 99
III finish section 15 on p. 155
IV finish section 20 on p. 206
V finish section 27 on p. 254
VI finish section 30 on p. 276
Other suggested pages to read for the remaining books will come later,.The final decision on which pages to read rests with the group, but it should be reasonable and the teacher must be informed. At the moment we still do not have Something Wicked This Way Comes. Students with the following books will receive their books from the librarian some time in the morning: Huckleberry Finn, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Most of these books are ones I have enjoyed - some are brand new and kind of a gamble, like Something Wicked This Way Comes - it seems to be different than I thought but should be good for the Halloween season, apparently. I like everything I have read by the author, Ray Bradbury, and have read Fahrenheit 451 multiple times now. Love that one! I hope you guys enjoy what you are reading too. If there is any serious heartburn about the book you are reading maybe we can discuss it. The best way to persuade me is to go buy your own agreed book and find someone else in your current group who will do the same - then you can have a 2-person team. It works especially well if that person is in both the A and B class with you, for maximum flexibility.
Remember, some books you chew slowly, and others you can devour quickly. For much of this, the more you eat, the more you will want to eat - something like ji pai or doritos - or fresh sashimi, perhaps. Bon appetit!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Our Experiment in Writing
This past week we had parent conferences, and one of the most prominent aspects of the conferences was how much everyone wants YOUR writing to improve, both in class and on standardized tests.
We should have two writing tasks per quarter, done well now that we have two classes per day. Also, we would like to do timed writing practice in the coming weeks to improve standardized testing results.
Writing is certainly an important component of our course. I've posted in other places on how to write well, and while it is not my goal to summarize those things here and now, you should be able to find links to on them to the right of this blog. Two of them are the current British Literature blog and last year's Literature 9 blog, where you can find general writing advice. Somewhere I have a list of good books on the craft of writing, which you could possibly borrow from me (if you ask nicely!), and later I hope to update this post with that list.
You should be finishing up your persuasive writing this week, by Thursday. A way to increase effectiveness would be to find out more information on the topic - on both sides of the issue, in the form of statistics, quotes by famous people, or well-known examples. Statistics should come from reliable sources like governmental or international agencies. We'll come back to this later in the year.
For the second writing of the First Quarter, or Q1, we are doing an informative/research paper. I'm calling it a mini-research paper, but it is not heavy on research for you. However, you will need to use a bibliography with three (3) sources, and at least 2 different categories. The idea here is to get you used to doing a bit of research and making a bibliography early in the year, because in Q2 you will have a longer research paper for your science classes that is related to science fair. That paper is counted twice - also for your English class - so it needs to be done well. If for some reason your science teacher or the school is not asking you to do a paper related to science fair, I will ask you to do a science-related paper that is longer in Q2. This current assignment is meant to be practice for that longer one coming up.
Notice that we are starting to read an interesting short story called Dr. Heidegger's Experiment (HW11, which is to be done two days early) in our literature textbook. This is about an old doctor who calls four elderly friends into his study to invite them to participate in an experiment. He claims to have liquid drawn from the Fountain of Youth in Florida, and pours them four glasses. They readily accept. They drink, and drink, and drink...wouldn't it be a boring story if the experiment totally failed? But note that the old doctor himself did not drink, but observed only. What he learned is different from any learning the participants had from drinking the liquid.
Now, for the writing, you have each been assigned a unique, health-related, informative article on the theme of staying young. The title of your article is the topic of your paper. For example, one of them is "How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun" and the person doing this must inform me of the contents of this article plus do a bit more research on this topic. You should have three sources, and the summary of the three sources becomes the three body paragraphs in a 5-paragraph structure. For the introduction and conclusion, you keep it short and tell me what is coming & summarize, like this:
Topic (same as title of article) - How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun
Paragraph I - Introduction - You say people can live longer by enjoying themselves, You are going to introduce three things, from the original article, from a web site on comedy & health, and a book on wine & health.
Paragraph II - Summarize the article you received - here you say too much stress increases the hormone called cortisol in your body, etc.
Paragraph III - Summarize what you find from your web site on how laughing and comedy can make you live longer. Keep it simple.
Paragraph IV - Say something from a book you found on how drinking red wine can help you live up to 20% longer, but only if you drink exactly one glass per day. Refer to examples in France of people who lived to over 100 years old doing this. Mention, as well, that some people don't find drinking red wine "fun."
Paragraph V - Conclusion - Say again that having fun makes you live longer, and mention the three things in paragraphs II, III, and IV, that you just said.
Last page - Use Bibme.org to cite your three sources, the article you received, the web site you used, and the book you used. This part is IMPORTANT as I am considering making this a separate grade.
You may use other kinds of things, such as personal interviews, to help you. Bibme.org allows you to cite personal interviews - while it is best to record them, you must at least take your own notes and remember the date on which it happened and the location, and the first and family name of the person interviewed. Some cases where that might work - one student has an article on avoiding cancer, and has a family member as a cancer survivor - interviewing that family member is a great idea. Another student has an article that basically says to eat more vitamin E and C to live longer, but she works at a restaurant. So she can interview the boss, asking about the demand for healthy foods (especially containing those vitamins, like almonds & strawberries) in the restaurant. Be creative, but learn to cite your sources, and keep your paper simple and to around one page in length. The bibliography should be on a separate, second page. We'll look at Bibme.org in class together soon.
Later, I will update this post with a list of articles given, and links to the articles. Enjoy researching!
Here is a list of articles assigned last week for the Q1 informative/research writing - for the names of the students assigned to each article, please follow this link:
6 Causes of Cancer that Can Be Prevented
9-Step Plan to Control Your Anger
10 Bad Habits that Age You
A Blood Test for Depression Shows the Illness Is Not a Matter of Will
Among Malaria Parasites, a Real Feel for Mosquitoes
Beating Back the Risk of Diabetes
Cheating Ourselves of Sleep
Drink Soda Take 12,000 Steps
Eat These Treats, Live Longer
Happiness and Your Health
How Can I Slow Aging with Exercise
How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun
Important Numbers to Keep Track of For Better Health
In a Chair, Take a Break
Learning How to Exert Self-Control
Purpose in Life Brings Longevity
Stems Cells, Plenty of Hope, but Halting Progress
Training Dogs to Sniff Out Cancer
What are Some Anti-Aging Superfoods
What are the Most Important Things I can Do to Live Longer
Would Most Women Rather Look Young or Thin? Survey Says
Tai Chi Eases Depression in Elderly
It may also be good, in your writing, to tie together your article with the story - Dr. Heidegger's Experiment. For example, if the four guests had just shown a little more self-control, the outcome might have been better. These brief allusions may be used in either the introduction or conclusion paragraphs, or both.
Also, it may be possible to have a follow-up activity in class, where groups of students get together and share similarities in their articles & research, then share with the whole class. We could have groups on anti-cancer, good nutrition, good habits, and so on. One way is to have each group just stand up and talk about their findings. Another way is to have a "jigsaw," where representatives from each group are sent to the other group, and come back and explain their findings to their original group. Then the original group could stand up and briefly share a summary of their findings in comparison with what they learned from the other groups. It takes longer but is more fun, assuming everyone's prepared.
I urge you to start early on this assignment, while keeping up with the reading in class. Our reading, writing, and speaking schedule take priority over things like grammar practice or standardized test practice. Keep a good attitude and steady pace, and watch the results over a few months!
We should have two writing tasks per quarter, done well now that we have two classes per day. Also, we would like to do timed writing practice in the coming weeks to improve standardized testing results.
Writing is certainly an important component of our course. I've posted in other places on how to write well, and while it is not my goal to summarize those things here and now, you should be able to find links to on them to the right of this blog. Two of them are the current British Literature blog and last year's Literature 9 blog, where you can find general writing advice. Somewhere I have a list of good books on the craft of writing, which you could possibly borrow from me (if you ask nicely!), and later I hope to update this post with that list.
You should be finishing up your persuasive writing this week, by Thursday. A way to increase effectiveness would be to find out more information on the topic - on both sides of the issue, in the form of statistics, quotes by famous people, or well-known examples. Statistics should come from reliable sources like governmental or international agencies. We'll come back to this later in the year.
For the second writing of the First Quarter, or Q1, we are doing an informative/research paper. I'm calling it a mini-research paper, but it is not heavy on research for you. However, you will need to use a bibliography with three (3) sources, and at least 2 different categories. The idea here is to get you used to doing a bit of research and making a bibliography early in the year, because in Q2 you will have a longer research paper for your science classes that is related to science fair. That paper is counted twice - also for your English class - so it needs to be done well. If for some reason your science teacher or the school is not asking you to do a paper related to science fair, I will ask you to do a science-related paper that is longer in Q2. This current assignment is meant to be practice for that longer one coming up.
Notice that we are starting to read an interesting short story called Dr. Heidegger's Experiment (HW11, which is to be done two days early) in our literature textbook. This is about an old doctor who calls four elderly friends into his study to invite them to participate in an experiment. He claims to have liquid drawn from the Fountain of Youth in Florida, and pours them four glasses. They readily accept. They drink, and drink, and drink...wouldn't it be a boring story if the experiment totally failed? But note that the old doctor himself did not drink, but observed only. What he learned is different from any learning the participants had from drinking the liquid.
Now, for the writing, you have each been assigned a unique, health-related, informative article on the theme of staying young. The title of your article is the topic of your paper. For example, one of them is "How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun" and the person doing this must inform me of the contents of this article plus do a bit more research on this topic. You should have three sources, and the summary of the three sources becomes the three body paragraphs in a 5-paragraph structure. For the introduction and conclusion, you keep it short and tell me what is coming & summarize, like this:
Topic (same as title of article) - How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun
Paragraph I - Introduction - You say people can live longer by enjoying themselves, You are going to introduce three things, from the original article, from a web site on comedy & health, and a book on wine & health.
Paragraph II - Summarize the article you received - here you say too much stress increases the hormone called cortisol in your body, etc.
Paragraph III - Summarize what you find from your web site on how laughing and comedy can make you live longer. Keep it simple.
Paragraph IV - Say something from a book you found on how drinking red wine can help you live up to 20% longer, but only if you drink exactly one glass per day. Refer to examples in France of people who lived to over 100 years old doing this. Mention, as well, that some people don't find drinking red wine "fun."
Paragraph V - Conclusion - Say again that having fun makes you live longer, and mention the three things in paragraphs II, III, and IV, that you just said.
Last page - Use Bibme.org to cite your three sources, the article you received, the web site you used, and the book you used. This part is IMPORTANT as I am considering making this a separate grade.
You may use other kinds of things, such as personal interviews, to help you. Bibme.org allows you to cite personal interviews - while it is best to record them, you must at least take your own notes and remember the date on which it happened and the location, and the first and family name of the person interviewed. Some cases where that might work - one student has an article on avoiding cancer, and has a family member as a cancer survivor - interviewing that family member is a great idea. Another student has an article that basically says to eat more vitamin E and C to live longer, but she works at a restaurant. So she can interview the boss, asking about the demand for healthy foods (especially containing those vitamins, like almonds & strawberries) in the restaurant. Be creative, but learn to cite your sources, and keep your paper simple and to around one page in length. The bibliography should be on a separate, second page. We'll look at Bibme.org in class together soon.
Later, I will update this post with a list of articles given, and links to the articles. Enjoy researching!
Here is a list of articles assigned last week for the Q1 informative/research writing - for the names of the students assigned to each article, please follow this link:
6 Causes of Cancer that Can Be Prevented
9-Step Plan to Control Your Anger
10 Bad Habits that Age You
A Blood Test for Depression Shows the Illness Is Not a Matter of Will
Among Malaria Parasites, a Real Feel for Mosquitoes
Beating Back the Risk of Diabetes
Cheating Ourselves of Sleep
Drink Soda Take 12,000 Steps
Eat These Treats, Live Longer
Happiness and Your Health
How Can I Slow Aging with Exercise
How to Live Longer by Having a Little Fun
Important Numbers to Keep Track of For Better Health
In a Chair, Take a Break
Learning How to Exert Self-Control
Purpose in Life Brings Longevity
Stems Cells, Plenty of Hope, but Halting Progress
Training Dogs to Sniff Out Cancer
What are Some Anti-Aging Superfoods
What are the Most Important Things I can Do to Live Longer
Would Most Women Rather Look Young or Thin? Survey Says
Tai Chi Eases Depression in Elderly
It may also be good, in your writing, to tie together your article with the story - Dr. Heidegger's Experiment. For example, if the four guests had just shown a little more self-control, the outcome might have been better. These brief allusions may be used in either the introduction or conclusion paragraphs, or both.
Also, it may be possible to have a follow-up activity in class, where groups of students get together and share similarities in their articles & research, then share with the whole class. We could have groups on anti-cancer, good nutrition, good habits, and so on. One way is to have each group just stand up and talk about their findings. Another way is to have a "jigsaw," where representatives from each group are sent to the other group, and come back and explain their findings to their original group. Then the original group could stand up and briefly share a summary of their findings in comparison with what they learned from the other groups. It takes longer but is more fun, assuming everyone's prepared.
I urge you to start early on this assignment, while keeping up with the reading in class. Our reading, writing, and speaking schedule take priority over things like grammar practice or standardized test practice. Keep a good attitude and steady pace, and watch the results over a few months!
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