The 5th teacher

Sketch Up Demonstration

2010-10-29T20:08:00.003-05:00

In this demonstration we are going to:

Use Sketch Up for some basic modeling fun
Learn some key concepts in 3d modeling
Access and download from the Sketch Up warehouse
Learn to access and utilize video tutorials from Sketch Up
Create in Sketch Up

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

Concepts Inventory

After Class Concepts Inventory

Key Concepts:

3d modeling
three dimensional
orbiting tool
plane
engineering

Video Tutorials

If you do not have Sketch Up, here is where you can down load it

Sodaplay

Metaverse Graphic Design 1 DGIM 2500..............Class V

2010-02-23T22:25:00.003-06:00

Guidelines for Cubes³ completion.

Make sure to have all documentation --

Poster, video of virtual cube, video of wood cube, video of pin up.
Create brief study

This should include enjoyment etc. viability of textures and who likes what -- be strategic -- do not cut any part of the demographics out, instead include more by adding textures and featuring.

Create a Walk Through

Include your process and the method for replication and recommendations including materials, time, costs, and projected gains --guesstimate, taking elements of puzzle cubes goals and criteria and annotating the process.

Create a Post Mortem

This including: success, failure recovery, participants' roles, materials, new directions, construction principals, methods, and eventually usability, design choices, costs, and production replicability issues.

Present
Self-Evaluate

In my great wisdom, as your benevolent dictator, I have decreed that you will be in new groups.

That is my word.

Metaverse Graphic Design 1 DGIM 2500

2010-02-16T19:49:00.000-06:00

Session 5

Cubes³

Documentation -- taking elements of puzzle cubes goals and criteria and annotating the process including success, failure, recovery, participants, materials, new directions, construction principals, methods, and eventually usability, design choices, costs, and production replicability issues.
Resume building -- using this experience to build resume and reference through publication and exposure through the metaverse, conferences, and social networking.
Pin-ups -- check in on progress with assignments by sharing and showing work on cube.
Mixed technology integration and documentation in the protocol documentation.
Usability study and evaluation
Product presentation docs -- slides and poster.
Product presentation
Team roles and self-assessment.
Group assessment and presentation
post mortem and video

EDC 533/ 310 Learning & Dev in Ed Settings

2010-02-12T16:05:00.006-06:00

Due Dates

Observation:

1 observation on 2 children send in on email or google docs or moodle 3/19/10
Teaching a lesson 3/12/10
Grad students will present 3/26/10
Field Experience Journal 3/26/10
Quiz 2 4-7 2/26/10
Quiz 3 8-11 3/12/10
Chapter presentations

2/26/10 chapter 8 -- Tim, mark; chapter 9 Brock ; chapter 10 Brock; chapter 11 Debbie Sue, & Tim

Article Disability as Culture This is really a must read -- I hope you find time for it.
Agenda for Friday Night:

Assignments and due dates.
Discuss the descriptions, expectations and rubric
Changes in assignments:

Journal-

one reflective journal at the completion of the service learning experience

Prompts:

What did you see related to development stages as described in the text?
What motivational tactics did the host teacher use to engage students?
What typed of teaching strategies did you see implemented?
Were they effective and what might you have done differently?
How were students assessed following each lesson to know that students learned?

Presentations-criteria:

The information both summarizes and extends one or more learning theories in the chapter.

Applications to both elementary and middle/secondary settings.

Supplemental material included.

Use of effective teaching strategies used: creativity, student involvement.

For undergraduates: all team members are equally engaged in the presentation. (Criteria taken directly from your syllabus)

c. Quizzes-There is no longer enough time for 5quizzes. Quiz 1 is complete so there will only be 2 more for a total of 3.

d. Observation Project- see attachment for description and assessment criteria.

e. Teach a Lesson-lesson planning and presentation-see attachment for description and criteria.

f. Portfolio-will not be required. Reflection on learning will be included in the journal assignment described above.

4.Quiz 1- Review as described by you in emails- use this opportunity to highlight important content from Chapters 1-3.

5.4 Presentations scheduled for this Friday- on Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7. Will take a minimum of 1 hour assuming they are 15 minutes each.

6. Should prepare students for Quiz 2 next week.

7. Research Paper for Graduate students

Remaining time will be used to discuss key concepts from the readings and/or from the presentations.

Teach a lesson rubric
Education Autobiography
Observation of Learning
Graduate Research Assignment

DGim 2500 Metaverse -- Replication

2010-02-09T20:39:00.002-06:00

Documentation: So to allow other people to do what you have done.

Step 1: always get the client to do what you do best. active listening. Don't interrupt. Encouragement, build under ideas. work with the customer not against, abundance and constructive conversation.
Step 2: sit down and make a list of criteria for the outcomes that are goal-worthy.

make a variety of prototypes that vary off of the main documentation.

Step 3: build and go through quality improvement cycle for quality and criteria checks.
Step 4: research and customer feedback and patron opinion,

categorize and analyze

Engineering is about documentation -- if it is not clearly documented, it cannot be inexpensively replicated.

So how do you do this?

chunking: putting information in chunks. estimating and grouping in a step-by- step process.

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

If I could do anything, I would

2010-02-03T13:25:00.002-06:00

Hello teachers,

Happy New Year, Groundhog's Day, winter, and anything else you may be celebrating. We've got some exciting things to share with you, so without any further ado...

Do your students love to doodle? Give them a chance to showcase their art on Google.com's homepage by registering your school for Doodle 4 Google. Doodle 4 Google is a competition open to K-12 students in U.S. schools who are invited to create their own Google doodle inspired by the theme, "If I Could Do Anything, I Would . . . " We are delighted to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people, and we look forward to seeing the range of creative doodles that are submitted. The competition kicks off today, and you can find details on the Official Google Blog.

Teachers should go to www.google.com/doodle4google to register their school by 11:59:59 P.M. Pacific Time (PT) on March 17, 2010. Parents and children interested in participating should pass this link on to their teachers to get them registered. Teachers must sign up on behalf of their students and submit their doodles and entry forms by March 31, 2010 11:59:59 P.M. Pacific Time (PT) after they register their school online.

A competition wouldn't be complete without prizes. What prizes are awarded to Doodle 4 Google winners and finalists this year?

The National Winner will win a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it. We'll also award the winner's school a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab. The winning doodle will also be featured on the Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010.
Each of the other 3 National Finalists will win a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it.
Each of the other 40 Regional Finalists will win a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010 and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it.
Each of the other 400 State Finalists will receive a "Doodle 4 Google" certificate and be featured on the Doodle 4 Google web site.

As an additional incentive this year, we are also giving out eight (8) Extra Credit: Technology Booster Awards that consist of netbook computers to schools who submit the maximum number of doodles by March 10, 2010 and have a student who is one of the 400 State Finalists. For more information on eligibility, visit the Doodle 4 Google website here, http://www.google.com/doodle4google/.

Students' doodles will be judged on artistic merit, creativity, representation of the theme, and other criteria. This year we'll also have a panel of 10 "Expert Jurors" who will help judge Doodle 4 Google. These are well known illustrators, cartoonists, and animators from organizations such as The Sesame Street Workshop, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, and Pixar Animation Studios who are the creators of Toy Story 3. A public exhibit of the 39 regional finalists and the national winner will be open to the public at the Smithsonian's, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum from May 27 to July 8, 2010. To give your class a little inspiration, check out last year's winners at the Doodle 4 Google website.

Are you or your administrators thinking about bringing Google Apps Education Edition to your school? Join us to hear from Clarkstown Central School District in a webinar on February 10, 2010 (11AM PST/2PM EST) to learn how the district created a collaborative curriculum portal for teachers across all their buildings and campuses using Google Apps. Hear what factors helped them decide to "Go Google" and the results they've seen with school staff and students since making the switch. You can also submit your questions for Clarkstown School District and the Google team ahead of time to be addressed during the webinar.

Access past Google Apps Education Edition webinars here: http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/resource_center.html. For more information about Clarkstown Central School District and Google Apps, read or download the case study or view the blogpost describing their solution.

Thanks, teachers - we'll let you get back to what we're sure is a very busy school year. See you again in the spring!

Cristin Frodella
Google K-12 Education Outreach

Google for Educators
http://www.google.com/educators

Documentation and Replicability

2010-02-02T18:38:00.001-06:00

I have told you over and over that REPLICABILITY is your MANTRA

CHANT with me now REPLICABILITY, REPLICABILITY ommmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I may change fonts, but I will not change my message. You must be able to replicate your work so that other can do what you do so that you can sell it, and, you must be able to measure the effects that you promise so that you say that it is anything other than art.

Art is awesome.

But this is science and engineering.

When you have designed your prototype puzzle cube for cubes cubed. You need a presentation medium as well as documentation from multiple perspectives, a variety of options if possible, cost potentials -- choice can be advantageous -- as well as a means for how you can project figures and cost benefit analysis. This is why we work in teams.

We will be working to do this in LayOut.

Please watch this video and be ready to go over how we might prepare your project for LayOut and documentation as a walkthrough hybrid/sales package.

2010-02-01T16:24:00.000-06:00

“Guard your thoughts, they become your words. Choose your words, they become actions. Understand your actions, they become habits. Study your habits, they mold your character, it will be your fate.”

A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
LeninRussian Communist politician & revolutionary (1870 - 1924)

EDC 533/ 310 Learning & Dev in Ed Settings

2010-01-29T18:13:00.008-06:00

Important Rubrics

Take Home Quiz
Teach a lesson rubric
Education Autobiography
Observation of Learning

Replace audience response hardware with Poll Everywhere

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

Am Lit // Comp

2010-01-25T11:30:00.006-06:00

Richard Wright

We will be reading:

The Man Who Was Almost a Man

Study Packet

Story board rubric

In this short reading, you will read the story and packet. You will be asked to do a genre-level analysis with the concepts we have been using for the last few months. The key to this assignment is in the creation of a time line of the story and the creation of points of causation. In this assignment you should identify each of the following:

Setting
Mood
Point of View
Central Conflict
Protagonist
Antagonist
Inciting Cause
Climax
Resolution

Along with these, you should give examples of these literary devices and how they are employed and explain their effect on the plot, the characters, and the reader.

foreshadow
flashback
suspense
irony
symbolism

Theme:

What statement is the author making in this story about human nature and/or society in general?
How do events in the story prove or support your statement you mentioned in 1.?

Our schedule:

2 weeks out	Am Lit	Comp
Monday	Almosta Man	Syllabus // Almosta Man // Voice
Tuesday	Notes//annotation// Focus	Syllabus Quiz // Annotation
Wednesday	Packet // Time Line	Lit Notes// Focus Question--Terms// Timeline
Thursday	Quiz	Draft 1 due // Writer’s Workshop
Friday	Time Line Due// ILP Summative// Paper due Monday	Revision Memo Due //draft 2
Monday	Paper due -- Read A Louds--Voice THREAD	Present // Voice Thread
Tuesday	Huck Finn Intro / / Packets	Present//Voice Thread
Wednesday	Chapters 1-5	Success Plan // draft
Thursday	Chapters 6-10	Writer’s Workshop
Friday	Chapters 11-15	Draft 2 due

ILP - You need to get your 3-story compare contrast summative project to the in-basket.

EDC 533/ 310 Learning & Dev in Ed Settings

2010-01-22T19:09:00.004-06:00

Review:
Going to the Jungle Jumble -- TO chunking, miller, simon, and that research on memory.
Cooperation and distributed memory -- the memory outside of our heads.
What do we actually need to learn and what can we look up.
Read the Jean Anyon article in your infinite time.

Read Dubbels Article on Social Learning
Testing and differentiated instruction.
Formal and informal instruction
Learning Autobiographies.

We will be finishing the Learning Autobiographies next week
This will include an assessment activity that includes review of the rubric
Clapping academy
Discussion of criteria and excellence
Quiz on chapters 1-3 -- you will need a personal computer or cell phone with texting capability
Discussion of wiki
Presentation of chapters 4 and 5
Arrangement of future chapter presentations
Observational techniques and arrangements

Make sure you consider how you will assess and evaluate your workshop on chapters 4 and 5

Meeting Two -- Making Stuff Up

2010-01-19T17:47:00.002-06:00

Review Class Session 1

Preview Class Session 2
Major topics include:
*Analog Multi-player game

Teaming
Creation of our game
Roles, Rules, Tools, Contexts, Win-state

*Beginning Building
*Opening SketchUp
*Making your first drawing

Action
Identity and domains in the metaverse
Creation of Teams

Summarize

Mid-term literary terms

2010-01-15T11:27:00.002-06:00

Writing The Literary Analysis

View more presentations from brock.dubbels.

Am Lit // BAV

2010-01-13T17:09:00.003-06:00

Reflections

Reflections from the story board are still due.

Have them in by Tuesday

Please use this link for a checklist.

For those of you who are missing the complex sentences packet that went long with the STYLE section on Sonny's Blues, you can get it HERE.

Board Games are due for Syllabus Students on Tuesday.

We will plan on conferencing this week and going over missing work.

Metaverse Graphic Design 1 DGIM 2500

2010-01-12T21:57:00.003-06:00

Next week,

Buy the texts for the class:
Google SketchUp Cookbook, O'Reilly

ISBN 978-0-596-15511-7

Google SketchUp for Site Design

ISBN 978-0-470-345244-2

be prepared by having watched and practiced using these tutorials -- make sure you have have covered the beginners' fare.
Differences between games, models, simulations, and virtual worlds
Play analog multiplayer game
form teams for client and production
go over syllabus and co-create rubrics, criteria, scheduling, and checklists
virtual tours through architecture in PS3 games
begin sketchUp

What we covered in the first class:

What is virtual -- almost
What is a World -- beliefs, perceptions, existence, imagination, people, environment, atmosphere, area, time, surroundings, interaction, memory, container of objects, self, place, IT -- THAT.

Measurement -- You should assess, measure and evaluate your environment. This is what will make your work stand above the rest. Data talks -- no need for sales talks.

Barbell Factory was an example of this. Student comments.

Tools, toys, pivots, activity theory

Play provides a transitional
stage in this direction whenever an object (for example a stick) becomes a
pivot for severing meaning of horse from a real horse. The child cannot yet
detach thought from object. (Vygotsky, 1976, p 97).
Thus play seems essential to development, and the role of the pivot ( a toy, representation, or even a game) is important in aiding that early childhood development, where children may move from recognitive play to symbolic and imaginative play, i.e. the child may play with a phone the way it is supposed to be used to show they can use it (recognitive), and in symbolic or imaginative play, they may pretend a banana is the phone. This is an important step since representation and abstraction are essential in learning language, especially print and alphabetical systems for reading and other discourse. There are as many types of play as there are people and cultures. A few types to consider are:
• Recognitive, or Mastery play – learning how to use objects
• Creative play – playing with aesthetics
• Deep play – learning about risk and danger
• Recapitulative play – den building, hiding, climbing
• Dressing up – experimenting with identity
• Rough and tumble play – testing your own strength
For this reason play and gaming, structured forms of play, may be reasonable predictors for comprehension and problem solving. In play, we create models; try on roles; and experience the world in the safety of play. Play may also expand comprehension in surprising ways, but often activities involving play are seen as non-academic—therefore non-educational, lacking rigor and thus, not really learning (Dubbels, submitted).

Learning and Development in an Educational Setting

2010-01-08T20:44:00.002-06:00

Schedule and due dates

7 class meetings

1/8/10 Ice breaker -- Do not underestimate your ability to learn --- proved example of mnemonics Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995) and Millers magic number 7 (1950) through chunking Chase and Simon (1973).

Changed the format of the room to group setting -- circled the wagons

Salon: What is the difference between learning and education?

education is learning with intent

leanring is always happening

when you stop learning you start dying

Activity Theory -- an object can educate as it instructs in use through design as the user works towards use to a goal.

Barbell Factory -- Any activity in the classroom is measurable and worthy of research.

What methods can we use -- many.

Yoga Stretch

Next meetings.:

1/22/10 Friday 6 -10

Chapter 1, 2, & 3 Read

Learning Autobiography

Team presentation chapter three -- David, Katie, Jenny Allie

Please post your autobiography on google docs and do the peer review.

Turn in the peer review sheet with the final copy.

1/29/10

Chapters 4 and 5 presentations -- 4 Erin and Emily / 5 Karla, Randy, Katy, & Debbie

Field Methods Instruction Overview

2/12/10

Chapters 6 and 7 Elie, Becky , Amy, and Melissa // James, Meggie, Allison, Chris

Holiday Reading -- Their Eyes Were Watching God

2009-12-14T14:27:00.009-06:00

Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Guide

You have an opportunity to work ahead on this unit so that when we return we can go into a multimedia project studying video games as new narratives. Like Sonny's Blues, we are going to looking at Theme and Motif as important literary elements. These patterns in narrative are subtleties that reflect the ability of mature and talented writers. As you read through this text, look at the narrator's voice--is it first or third person?

Is VOICE important here? How is language and and dialect important in helping us to understand place, time, and culture?

Syllabus and C level ILP

For this assignment, please do the study questions, and then be ready to create a board game. Here is an example of a novel that has been turned into a board game:

Recreate the character's journey through the novel and create wrong turns and snafus that still allow the player to advance to some end--you decide what the novel was about--was it about self-realization, liberation, civil rights, separatist colonies, ethnography, love? Look at the themes, setting, plot, motif, and characters and create a well-designed game board that embodies the storyline of the novel that 2 - 8 can play.

Make sure that spaces on the board change with cards, and that the characters, places, symbols and imagery play key roles.

The Jane Austin Pride and Prejudice Board Game

The Pride and Prejudice Board Game attempts to develop a thematic board game about Pride and Prejudice.

The central mechanic of the game is collection. The player controls a couple, suggesting that the couple that winds up marrying has this as their intended goal through the entire game. In the board game, navigation is central, and is the means for acquiring tokens. For the players, navigation enables a sense of vicarious exploration. It gives the player an opportunity to tour and visit the memorable locations from the book.
Instead of creating a procedural representation for the story conflicts in the game, it is likely that the players will create their own story variations as explanations for their actions. So, while the game does not represent the dynamics that happen in the story, the players can construct their own stories, based on their knowledge of the story world, and on what their characters are doing in the arena of the game itself.

This is a place to start

Countdown to Break

2009-12-09T13:48:00.003-06:00

Schedule for the coming days

Black American Voices

Friday	Dec. 11	Present Story Boards
Monday	Dec. 14	Quiz/ Complex Sent.
Tuesday	Dec. 15	Lackawanna Blues
Wednesday	Dec. 16	Lackawanna Blues
Thursday	Dec. 17	Lackawanna Blues
Friday	Dec. 18	Lackawanna Blues

American Literature

Wednesday	Dec. 9	Mid-term compositions due/ last day for ILP
Thursday	Dec. 10	Writer’s workshop – 3 drafts of essay for work shop due/ sonny’s blues
Friday	Dec. 11	Final essay due for work shop/begin Sonny’s Blues **Answer preview /review questions
Monday	Dec. 14	Quiz
Tuesday	Dec. 15	/ Sonny’s Blues create framework for story board with substantiated “most important” scenes.
Wednesday	Dec. 16	Create images of scenes with quotes, lit elements, and text
Thursday	Dec. 17	Present Story boards
Friday	Dec. 18	Reflect and Guided Relaxation – bring something to lay on

Rubric for Story Board -- Story Board Assignment

	Visual / Imagery	Literary Analysis	Explanations/ Support	Artistic Effort
Excellence 25	The visuals have subtle as well as direct connection through theme and motif in symbol, image, and character and depict the events with complexity.	The use of literary elements creates insight and connection that create clarity, coherence, and unity with through imagery, text, and depiction to create a whole.	The panels have copious support and description for the intended effect with artistry, process, images and the connection to the text with quotes and overall theme.	Excellence is evident in the production of these panels through overall quality and stated intended effect.
Approaching Excellence 20	The visuals clearly and concisely capture the essence and purpose of the events in question.	The use of literary elements creates insight; however there is some difficulty in continuity connection weaving all of the elements, the imagery, text, and overall depiction to create a whole.	The panels have support from the text and description for the intended effect with some artistry, process, images and the connection to the text with quotes and overall theme.	Excellence is emerging in parts of the project; The production of these panels shows great promise through overall quality and stated intended effect.
Moderate 15	The visuals represent the events but may distract the viewer or may lack some details or element.	The use of literary elements creates insight; however they are not connected across panels to create a whole.	The panels have support from the text and description for the intended effect with some artistry, process, images and the connection to the text with quotes and overall theme.	Great effort is evident in the production of these panels through overall quality and stated intended effect
Needs work 10	There is a connection to the events but it is not clear	Some literary elements are used; however, there is room for improvement.	The panels have little support from the text and little description for the intended effect with little effort in artistry, process, and images.	More time is clearly needed for this project to clarify the artistic direction.
Neglected to consider	There was no evidence of effort	Literary elephants?	Huh?	Art is my uncle

should you get a degree? here is what unemployment averages say

2009-11-30T16:37:00.003-06:00

The recent unemployment numbers were interesting, and encouraging.

Educational attainment              Sept. 2009  Oct. 2009
Less than a high school diploma         13.7%       14.7%
High school graduates, no college       10.0%      10.2%
Some college or associate degree         8.1%       8.5%
Bachelor's degree and higher                5.0%       4.6%

these figures come from the bureau of labor statistics www.bls.gov

what it says: if you have a bachelors degree or higher as of October, you are part of 4.6% of the population that are unemployed.

Contemporary connections to the Scarlet Letter

2009-11-19T14:29:00.000-06:00

Somali woman stoned for adultery

A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people.

A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man.
He said she gave birth to a still-born baby and was found guilty of adultery. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes.
It is thought to be the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab.
The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis.
'Lenient'
According to reports from a small village near the town of Wajid, 250 miles (400km) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu, the woman was taken to the public grounds where she was buried up to her waist.

Read more. . . .

Exam Questions for Am Lit, Nov. 30, 2009

2009-11-18T16:17:00.001-06:00

Here are the exam questions for November 30th.

Make sure you have read the instructions and know how to answer the questions by reading the scoring rubric.

You should have already put together your answers before you come to class -- this is why you are getting them now!

We will be going to the computer lab so that you can word process them.

Exam questions: LINK

Sonny's Blues

2009-11-10T12:05:00.004-06:00

Everything you should know about Sonny's Blues to help you: LINK

Complete project LINK

Over the next two weeks we will be reading Sonny's Blues

We will be creating a story board.

Here is the full text

Here are Enotes

Parts of interest for AP test:

I: James Baldwin Biography

II: Plot Overview

III: Socio-historical setting
a. Growing Up in Harlem
b. Military Service
c. Jazz Music, Class Divisions and Racial Politics

IV: Characterization
a. Sonny, the artist
b. The narrator
c. The story’s final scenes and how they develop the narrator’s changes
V: Imagery

VI: Themes

Questions for Understanding "Sonny's Blues"

1. What is meant by the word "blues" in the title? What are Sonny's blues?

2. What are the narrator's emotions when he reads the news about Sonny in the newspaper? How would you describe the relationship between these two brothers?

3. What is the narrator's occupation? How is his occupation significant vis-à-vis Sonny's story?

4. What event in the narrator's life acts as a catalyst to encourage him to contact Sonny in prison?

5. Why, according to the narrator, were Sonny and his father estranged from one another?

6. What does the narrator's mother believe to be his responsibility to Sonny?

7. What is the significance of the scene with the street singers?

8. Give two different explanations for why Sonny leaves Isabel's family's home while the narrator is in the military. (One explanation would be from Isabel's/narrator's perspective, the other from Sonny's).

9. What might be some reasons for why the narrator buys Sonny a drink at the end of the story?

BAV - Piano Lesson

2009-11-08T22:10:00.001-06:00

We will finish up this play with a story board.

You can work independently or in a group to create images, quotes for the text, and explanations using literary elements to show:

Plot,
Point of View,
Voice,
Character,
Setting,
Tone/Mood,
Theme,
Figurative Language, and Symbolism.

Remember, you will be expressing yourself mainly with imagery here. Use color, shade, tone, and content to tell the story. Remeber there are subtexts and symbolism. Create your pictorial language to tell the story. Each student must have their own reflection explaining each panel. There are a minimum of 8 panels, and each panel must have a summary and important quote so that we have a strong sense of the importance and feeling.

Here is the scoring rubric

Am Lit -- you spoke, I listened.

2009-11-08T22:02:00.000-06:00

Individual Learning Plan

When you click on this link, you will have access to your own individual learning plan.

There are still minimum requirements, but you will plan and schedule your time, how you interact with the teacher, as well as products for proof of learning.

I am hoping this provides you with choice, empowerment, and agency.

You may work in groups, or individually.

You may schedule teacher-time as appointments during class.

The class may schedule lectures, examples, yoga, meditation, exam prep, and strategy sessions.

As an independent learner with an ILP, you may choose not to participate in this class-scheduled event.

You will still have a required number of texts, and a quiz for each text, and you will still have an exam each quarter.

The teacher will give you the outline for the exam, and it is still open note, web, and book --still no group test-taking though.

There will be one extra-credit project each quarter at the discretion of the teacher. These will come in the form of a project. The proposed extra credit projects are:

Video game walkthrough and literary analysis
Rhythm and Flow
Grade the News

We will finish the Scarlet Letter this week and you will make decisions on your ILP by Friday.

The quiz for the Scarlet Letter will happen on Friday.

We will no longer be offering a mandatory reading Friday, as you can schedule this by consensus or personal planning. All reading of non-assigned books can now be done during your own time.

I hope you are exctied about this, as I am hopeful that you are ready for this kind of classroom.

The Enlightenment and Dark Ages

2009-11-03T08:15:00.000-06:00

Hawthorne and the Enlightenment

Yesterday in class I spoke on the Dimmesdale as representing Religion, and Chillingsworth as representing science and the Enlightenment in Europe.

What are the characteristics of Dimmesdale, and thus Hawthorne's views on how religion was conducted?

What are the characteristics of Chillingsworth, and thus Hawthorne's views on how Science was conducted?

How does each view the other?

Read this section from pages 84 and 85:

There was a fascination for the minister in the company of the man of science, in whom he recognized an intellectual cultivation of no moderate depth or scope; together with a range and freedom of ideas, that he would have vainly looked for among the members of his own profession. In truth, he was startled, if not shocked, to find this attribute in the physician. Mr. Dimmesdale was a true priest, a true religionist, with the reverential sentiment largely developed, and an order of mind that impelled itself powerfully along the track of a creed, and wore its passage continually deeper with the lapse of time. In no state of society would he have been what is called a man of liberal views; it would always be essential to his peace to feel the pressure of a faith about him, supporting, while it confined him within its iron framework. Not the less, however, though with a tremulous enjoyment, did he feel the occasional relief of looking at the universe through the medium of another kind of intellect than those with which he habitually held converse. It was as if a window were thrown open, admitting a freer atmosphere into the close and stifled study, where his life was wasting itself away, amid lamp-light, or obstructed day-beams, and the musty fragrance, be it sensual or moral, that exhales from books. But the air was too fresh and chill to be long breathed, with comfort. So the minister, and the physician with him, withdrew again within the limits of what their church defined as orthodox.

How does the Enlightenment eventually influence the British colonies to self-govern, separate church and state, and lead to democracy -- one man one vote?

fluency growth scale

2009-10-27T14:23:00.005-05:00

When we read, or listen to reading, how do we know good reading?

When we began this course, we participated in Minnesota Can Clap -- this gave us some ideas about how we could create a framework for quality, growth, and assessment. Today we will talk about what is fluent reading and compare to what we hear and perform in class.

On Reading Friday, we will begin our literacy coaching with the guidelines for fluent reading.

Agenda for Thursday:

Finish-up Scarlet Letter and packets
Finish up Piano Lesson and packets
The role of voice in reading fluency -- the creation and awareness of voice as a reader/performer
Reading Friday

Scarlet Letter / / BAV

2009-10-26T08:32:00.002-05:00

Literary Interpretation and Criticism

This last week we examined Hester Prynne as a scapegoat for the wealthy citizens and their disregard and flaunting of the sumptuary laws and the current parallels in society-- moral issues becoming more prominent than big issues: like obfuscating the national debt with emotional issues like same-sex marriage etc. rather than the way the rich are getting richer and the middle class has more debt than it ever has.

We also explored the book from the feminist perspective when we looked at the role of religion and intermingling of religious belief and law -- connecting the patterns of rule through the original sin and the vilification of women and matriarchal religious belief systems such as the original sin, sexuality, and agency. In brief, we examined the state of women and the roles of women in this narrative.

To look at gender equity, please look here to gain better understanding of global rights based upon gender

http://genderindex.org/

These two perspectives come from established traditions of literary theory and criticism.

You should not be surprised if this type of content is on your next open-book exam after Thanksgiving Break.

Literary Theory

In 1957 Northrop Frye published the influential Anatomy of Criticism. In his works Frye noted that some critics tend to embrace an ideology, and to judge literary pieces on the basis of their adherence to such ideology.

Marxism

The English literary critic and cultural theorist Terry Eagleton defines Marxist criticism this way:

"Marxist criticism is not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with how novels get published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings. But it also means grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the product of a particular history."^[1]

The simplest goals of Marxist literary criticism can include an assessment of the political "tendency" of a literary work, determining whether its social content or its literary form are "progressive"; however, this is by no means the only or the necessary goal. From Walter Benjamin to Fredric Jameson, Marxist literary critics have also been concerned with applying lessons drawn from the realm of aesthetics to the realm of politics.

Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or by the politics of feminism more broadly. Its history has been broad and varied, from classic works of nineteenth-century women authors such as George Eliot and Margaret Fuller to cutting-edge theoretical work in women's studies and gender studies by "third-wave" authors. In the most general and simple terms, feminist literary criticism before the 1970s -- in the first and second waves of feminism -- was concerned with the politics of women's authorship and the representation of women's condition within literature. Since the arrival of more complex conceptions of gender and subjectivity and third-wave feminism, feminist literary criticism has taken a variety of new routes. It has considered gender in the terms of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, as part of the deconstruction of existing relations of power, and as a concrete political investment.^[1] It has been closely associated with the birth and growth of queer studies. And the more traditionally central feminist concern with the representation and politics of women's lives has continued to play an active role in criticism.
Lisa Tuttle has defined feminist theory as asking "new questions of old texts." She cites the goals of feminist criticism as: (1) To develop and uncover a female tradition of writing, (2) to interpret symbolism of women's writing so that it will not be lost or ignored by the male point of view, (3) to rediscover old texts, (4) to analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective, (5) to resist sexism in literature, and (6) to increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style.^[2]

The American Dream continued -- BAV

2009-10-21T12:03:00.001-05:00

The American Dream

FACT
The term the American Dream was first used by James Truslow Adams
in his book, The Epic of America (1931). He states: "The American
Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer
and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to
interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary
and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages
merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman
shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately
capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the
fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (p.214-215)

FACT
This notion lays at the heart of the U.S. and there are many rich
examples throughout our history: people left the big cities of the East
coast to search for gold in the West; immigrants came to the country in
the pursuit of happiness, liberty and their Dream; when veterans returned
from World War II, they yearned to settle down with a home, family and
a car; and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of a dream when we would not
be judged on the color of our skin but the content of our characters.

FACT
You might argue that the American Dream is now a slightly different
concept, in which we dream about winning the lottery, becoming famous
or becoming a millionaire, rather than having moral or ethical goals.
Some families where the head of the household must work two jobs to
make ends meet might not be living the American Dream. On the other
hand, you might feel that the American Dream is about living a simpler,
more fulfilling life.

Sumputuary Laws and Inequity in Early America

2009-10-21T11:28:00.001-05:00

From the Wikipedia:

Sumptuary laws (from Latin sumptuariae leges) are laws that attempt to regulate habits of consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc."^[1]. Traditionally, they were laws that regulated and reinforced social hierarchies and morals through restrictions on clothing, food, and luxury expenditures. In most times and places they were ineffectual.^[2]
Throughout history, societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They attempted to regulate the balance of trade by limiting the market for expensive imported goods. They were also an easy way to identify social rank and privilege, and often were used for social discrimination. This frequently meant preventing commoners from imitating the appearance of aristocrats, and sometimes also to stigmatize disfavored groups. In the Late Middle Ages sumptuary laws were instituted as a way for the nobility to cap the conspicuous consumption of the prosperous bourgeoisie of medieval cities, and they continued to be used for these purposes well into the seventeenth century.

In the Scarlet Letter, Hester sews fancy clothing like wedding veils, linings for coffins, and outfits for the magistrates and the ministers for religious an government ceremony.

Is there a contradiction here? Hypocrisy?

That Hester should be an outcast by the town, but provide finery for their most important citizens and civil and religious ceremony?

In fact, why is that the ordinary citizens should be subject to sumptuary laws, but the wealthy and powerful should not?

What are the belief systems that justify this?

Do the poor create valor for their sacrifice?
How do the wealthy justify their privilege?

Is this an issue today?

A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total assets.

In the United States

In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth.^[15]
In 2003, the 1% with the highest salaries paid more than 34% of the nation's federal income tax; the 10% with the highest salaries paid nearly 66% of the total income tax; the top 25% of paid 84% of the income taxes; and the upper 50% accounted for nearly 97% of US income tax revenue, primarily because, as stated above, the bottom 40% had comparatively no wealth (less than 1%) to be taxed in the first place. ^[16] The US has a progressive tax structure which taxes less for smaller incomes; correlating income taxation to wealth is misleading. Also, wealth is not taxed in the United States except with estate taxes upon death, so a small amount of wealth has nothing to do with who bears the most income tax.

One-Percenter

A one percenter or 1%er is an individual that lies in top 1% of the American Tax bracket. These are the top earners in American society. It has been noted that the richest 1% of the American population owns as much as the combined wealth of the bottom 90%. Typical 1%er's include top-level executives, high-rung politicians, professional athletes, celebrities and wealthy heirs. Ivy League educations are common amongst these individuals. Famous 1%er's include Bill Gates, George Bush, Tiger Woods, Stephen Spielberg and Paris Hilton.

Debt in inches = 11 trillion

189, 393, 936 in Miles

distance to Sun

93,000,000 Miles

debt= 11, 959, 391, 588, 204.

$38,937.72. per citizen

$3.92 billion per day

With this in mind, is there a reason the wealthy would prefer that we focus on moral and privacy issues and sin rather than wealth and sumptuary laws?

Why did the leadership allow Hester to be made an outcast?
Does it focus attention away from the social financial inequities?
What are the belief systems that enable this scapegoating?

Is there irony in her producing the finery that decorates weddings, funerals, civil, and religious functions?
How do the townspeople feel about her living a more charitable and plain life than most of the other townspeople?

Am Lit --The Scarlet Letter /// BAV Langston Hughes Packet

2009-10-09T16:15:00.003-05:00

The Scarlet Letter

Painted by T.H. Matteson

Study Guide A -- classroom activities

Study Guide B -- Listening/ Reading Notes

Enotes for support and secondary voices and sources on book.

Audio Files for listening

Redemption Monday will be rescheduled for Tuesday, October 20th.

We will begin the Scarlet Letter on Monday, October 12th, 2009

and end this unit with Exam 2 on Monday, November 9th, 2009

There will be one more quiz before Exam 2.

I would like to suggest that you purchase this book or go to the library and borrow it -- reading it in class will not be enough. In college, one must often read a thing twice to really get it.

A strategy for you:

Read the Enotes
Read the Packet B and GUESS --yes -- Guess, but write in pencil; then write the correct answer when you find it in the book.
Read the book before we meet so you can participate in discussion and ask questions about the classroom activities -- packet A
Take notes on vocabulary, note page numbers in your packets and journals for the open-notebook exam.
Answer the study guide packets thoroughly since this is where the next quizzes will come from.
Form discussion groups and really use them -- test each other; create a project to help you extend beyond memorization.

One of the key differences between high school learning and college learning is the difference between

"what"

and

"why".

Typically students are not asked beyond facts--things recalled from the reading. In college you will be asked to take what you remember from the books and formulate theories and inference about what is going on, or what could possibly happen in the story, equation, or setting being observed. This is called hypothesis testing, where you create a theory based upon the available evidence, make a prediction to test the theory, and then see if the theory passes the test.

The ideal is not to prove your theory, but to test your theory and find a truth.

Being correct does not make a thing a truth.

A truth needs testing.

BAV

Langston Hughes

Go through the packet and follow the directions. You may work with one other person, no more.

This packet is due when I return on Tuesday and will be part of the next quiz and exam -- do a good job!

Monday -- Am Lit // BAV

2009-10-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

Redemption Monday

We will be

going through the Quiz
reviewing the cooperative work from Girl
Getting ready for Scarlet Letter //////////// Radio Golf

Obama wins Nobel

2009-10-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

OSLO — The Nobel Committee announced Friday that the annual peace prize was awarded to Barack Obama, just nine months into his presidency, “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Barack Obama speaking at the United Nations on September 23.

out nuclear weapons.”

Read more . .. .

American Chronicle | Who is to blame for our children becoming more violent?

2009-10-08T17:24:00.001-05:00

American Chronicle | Who is to blame for our children becoming more violent?

Shared via AddThis

Thursday -- Finish reading and packet

2009-10-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

Am Lit

Finish reading and packet

BAV
Finish Study Guide and reading -- through the end of the book

Resources:

Study Guide for Frederick Douglass

Audio/ MP3 files for download

Time line of Early African American Experience

Slavery in the Colonial United States

AM Lit / BAV

QUIZ on Friday / Compound Sentences Packet Due

Congo: The Crisis We Ignore

2009-10-08T08:01:00.001-05:00

Congo: The Crisis We Ignore

Shared via AddThis

Searching for roots of U.S. violence in teen's murder | U.S. | Reuters

2009-10-07T17:28:00.001-05:00

Searching for roots of U.S. violence in teen's murder | U.S. | Reuters

Shared via AddThis

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills -=- Assumptions and Anecdote

2009-10-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills -=- Assumptions and Anecdote

Tuesday -- Am Lit // BAV

2009-10-05T18:18:00.001-05:00

Always remember

the library is where they keep banned books

Am Lit

Tuesday
pages 3 through 10

Wednesday
pages 10 to end

Journal 13: Review the Authors style identifying themes, syntax, and word choice.

Review reading guide and vocabulary

Podcast

Thursday:
Compound sentences packet due at beginning of class
Quiz -- from study guide and compound sentences packet

10 questions / 30 points
Restate question - Complete Sentences -- Correct answer with support.

BAV
Tuesday
Chapters 1 - 5

Wednesday
Chapters 6 - 11

Thursday:

Compound sentences packet due at beginning of class
Quiz -- from study guide and compound sentences packet

10 questions / 30 points
Restate question - Complete Sentences -- Correct answer with support.

Monday -- Am Lit // BAV

2009-10-04T10:30:00.006-05:00

This picture might give you some sense of what it might have looked for the early American colonists.

We briefly explored who these people were, and why they might have come to America:

Speculators
Tradespeople looking to create new markets
People wanting their own land and escape from feudalism
Indentured servants
Criminals
People facing religious persecution

We will be reading in class, however, BAV has their own books, so I would like to see you reading ahead.
We also have access to the study guides -- which you should print out and put in your 3-ring binder.

We will be briefly going over 7.5 in class from your SYNTAX packet on Compound Sentences
We will read with the audio file playing for both classes.

Be sure to have all handouts and any papers that have been returned in your 3-ring binder for a grade for being complete to this day -- all handouts.

If you do not have them, you should go to the blog and print them out.

We will have a quiz on Thursday from the study guide and SYNTAX packet.

AM LIT

7.5 due in class Monday

Complete packet for compound sentences is due on Thursday at the beginning of class!
Look for a POP - Quiz Thursday -- no notes -- all questions come from packets.

Resources:

BAV

7.5 due in class Monday

Complete packet for compound sentences is due on Tuesday!
Look for a POP - Quiz Thursday

Resources:

Study Guide for Frederick Douglass

Audio/ MP3 files for download

Time line of Early African American Experience

Slavery in the Colonial United States

Again -- the American Creed revisited

2009-09-30T19:30:00.000-05:00

You may recall that we asked what the American Creed was about three weeks ago for Journal 6. In this entry, Neil Postman's question: what is the American Creed and Spirituality?

One of our reasons for thinking about this due to the prevailing themes in early American (as well as most other cultures) writing that focused on the spiritual and religious. You will see that this is one of the themes pointed out in the slide show shared with you on Thursday.

Take a look at this article;

Why are increasing numbers of Americans declaring themselves as having “no religion”? Don’t automatically assume that a new wave of godlessness is sweeping the land, writes Christopher McKnight Nichols in the Fall 2009 issue of Culture magazine. Nichols attributes the trend to three different factors, none of them having to do with humanism, paganism, socialism, or Satanism taking over:
“First, over the past few decades there has been a marked trend toward sharper polarization among religious outlooks.” Nichols cites the rise of evangelical Christian influence under the George W. Bush presidency, but also the more recent emergence of polemic “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris.
“Second, diverse changes on the geopolitical stage have had profound impacts on images of public religion.” Americans’ common enemy used to be the godless powers of Europe and Asia. Now we are chilled by the specter of Islamist extremists driven by a deep religiosity—and suddenly it’s not so clear whose side God is on. “No doubt there will be important consequences for American civic culture,” he writes, “now that affirming America’s godliness no longer servers to distinguish ‘us’ from ‘them.’ ”
“Finally, alienation from organized religion is growing for other reasons.” While Nichols is hard pressed to speculate on these reasons, he notes that while fewer of us are calling ourselves “religious,” more of us are calling ourselves “spiritual,” indicating a growing acceptance that the two are not synonymous—and that “one can believe in God and yet have no religion.”
Source: Culture (article available in PDF)

Extra Credit Opportunity

2009-09-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

Event: Sound Unseen Local Shorts Program
"Local films! Local music! Local!!"
What: Movie/TV Night
Start Time: Saturday, October 3 at 7:00pm
End Time: Saturday, October 3 at 9:00pm
Where: Oak Street Cinema

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=144271829833&mid=12d5711G20d6b77bG37537ccG7

Give a summary of the films you saw, a program and ticket stub.

10 points towards journals

Thursday Am Lit/ BAV - Legend of Sleepy Hollow -- F. Douglass -- Syntax Analysis -- review 7.5

2009-09-29T18:09:00.009-05:00

We will review the home work on 7.5 from the packet and then read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow together--

Written by Washington Irving in the early 1800s. They are presented to the reader as true tales from the collected papers of one Diedrich Knickerbocker. Both take place in the late 1700s and are placed in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. Irving was an American romantic writer, so all of his writing has elements of the supernatural. His stories also exalt the natural world. Indeed, the The setting, with its rolling hills, deep, hidden valleys, rushing streams and rivers, and quiet ponds, lends itself well to the story which uses folklore and superstition to build their respective story lines. -- the Hudson River valley and the Catskill mountains are not only the setting for these tales, they are also characters in them

Let's read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Postscript on the next page-- LINK to STORY -- I will have print copies of the story in class, but you might want to read it at home too.

We will then take a paragraph and look at the voice regarding SYNTAX and voice regarding word choice, diction, and coordinating conjunctions and punctuation.

Choose a paragraph with a partner, choose a paragraph and see hao many compound sentences you find.

What do they do to the story?

Packet for compound sentences is due on Tuesday!
Look for a POP - Quiz

Study Guide Questions for Sleepy Hollow
Enotes for background

Audio for online listening or download to MP3

BAV -- Black American Voices

Remember the key elements of this course are: voice, social justice, the American Creed, the role of education, and the the perspectives of those who might not have been invited to the table to be heard.

First published in 1845, the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass became Frederick Douglass's most well known work. It is as the name implies his autobiography.

Frederick Douglass was born a slave and underwent horrendous treatment at the hands of his owners. He later escaped to the north and became an outspoken abolitionist. Not only did he have a great life story to tell, his skill in telling it has long been admired. Douglass traveled throughout Europe lecturing about slavery.

After publication, the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass quickly became a best seller and within three years there were over 11,000 copies published in the United States, had been reprinted nine times and had been translated into two languages (Dutch and French). The book was so well written that some argued that an ex-slave could not be as articulate as Frederick Douglass demonstrated himself to be. Of course, Douglass did write the book and it stands today as a monument to the human spirit and what may be achieved with hard work no matter where in society somebody may begin.

Frederick Douglass had to leave the United States and flee to Ireland for a period after the books publication and its immediate success for some believed that Douglas' ex-owner Hugh Auld might try to get his "property" returned. After two years he was able to return to the United States after his freedom was purchased for $710 from Auld.

If you are interested in learning about the life of a great man who rose above his birth as a slave and became one of the greatest literary figures in American history, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the book to read.

From Chapter 1 -- key quotes

By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters to keep their slaves thus ignorant" (p. 21). [The intentional ignorance of slaves plays an important role in Frederick's understanding of the system.] (Education)

"He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding" (p. 24). [This is an important point that Frederick will continue to make throughout the narrative.] (History)

"It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass" (p. 25).

Study Guide for Frederick Douglass

Audio/ MP3 files for download

Early American Writing Blog

View more presentations from brock.dubbels.

Home work for Thursday Night -- Early American Lit

2009-09-29T18:05:00.001-05:00

This slide show gives a beginning to our investigation of Early American Literature leading to our current current experience and expectations for the future.

Familiarize yourself with the time line by taking notes and listing important vocabulary and themes (ideas) from the slide show below -- expect a quiz on this and our packet on compound sentences and its contents.

Early American Writing Blog

View more presentations from brock.dubbels.

Wednesday -- Syntax -- Compound Sentences and beyond

2009-09-29T12:03:00.009-05:00

You will need your notebooks here to create a series of outlines on SYNTAX.

You may remember that SYNTAX is an element of voice.

You will want to be ready for a mini-quiz on Syntax and compound sentences, coordinating conjunctions, punctuation, and what they mean in the sharing of ideas, as well as composing ideas as text.

Also, what is a text?

Today, get out your CORNELL Notes

We are going to be creating an organizer for elements of syntax and how it works with voice to recreate meaning working ahand-in-hand with punctuation, grammar, meter, themes, pitch, emphasis, and word choice.

All language, including slang, has syntax, grammar, and punctuation.

Language is cultural, political, and has a basis in power.

What are these syntax, grammar, and punctuation used to convey?

What might a coordinating conjunction do to influence meaning?

What are CCs?

Key words today: vernacular, dialect, slang, grammar, punctuation, coordinating conjunction, independent clause, sentence types.

, ; -- . . . .

Know what these symbols are and represent, as well as what they do!

Let's read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Postscript on the next page-- LINK to STORY

Then we will see if we can identify some of the features listed above, and that you practiced in your compound sentences packet.

Make sure to finish the compound sentences packet tonight as homework.

Wednesday -- BAV -- SYNTAX -- Frederick Douglass

2009-09-27T12:36:00.021-05:00

We are beginning the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass."

You have the book -- here it is online LINK

You should be looking beyond me and what I offer in class to see what other people say about him and learn what he was about. Do not come to trust and rely upon one source of information-- choose to extend yourself and invest your time and thought into things you do not know and in the process become more than yourself presently.

This, the act of learning, is becoming.

We have agreed that we will read the first chapter together, and that the compound sentences packet is due Thursday, October 1.

We will begin looking at VOICE -- especially SYNTAX -- to ready ourselves for our first quiz next Monday.

Redemption Monday

2009-09-26T18:50:00.001-05:00

This image, by Pedro Bull is called "Redemption"

If you look carefully to the eye and whats comes from the back of the man and remember Dali it will look like Dali"s mustache and eye .

It is a portait of Dali's pride according to the artist

Let us redeem any points missed on Thursday's exam.

You will receive print-outs of your online exam and we will go over the questions.

You may correct your answers and describe why they are right to get half-credit on what you missed.

Compound Sentences

This is going to be our entry into syntax and grammar, as well as punctuation.

These three elements describe voice as static print to make voice come alive.

As we become aware of how they work in literature and conversation, we will begin to see how important they are for us to know -- and how easy they are!

We will start with compound and then learn other categorizations, as well as clauses and phrases as we go deeper into VOICE.

Make sure you take a packet and begin work on exercises 7.1 -- 7.3 and have them ready for class on Wednesday!

Don't be surprised if we have a quiz on these items.

If we have time, we can do a short relaxation and explore the role of breath in voice and oral reading -- and how this coincides with syntax and punctuation, as well as grammar.

Weird how it is all tied together -- I think it is cool and makes it easier to understand!

Coming out

2009-09-26T09:20:00.000-05:00

Austin didn’t know what to wear to his first gay dance last spring. It was bad enough that the gangly 13-year-old from Sand Springs, Okla., had to go without his boyfriend at the time, a 14-year-old star athlete at another middle school, but there were also laundry issues. “I don’t have any clean clothes!” he complained to me by text message, his favored method of communication.

When I met up with him an hour later, he had weathered his wardrobe crisis (he was in jeans and a beige T-shirt with musical instruments on it) but was still a nervous wreck. “I’m kind of scared,” he confessed. “Who am I going to talk to? I wish my boyfriend could come.” But his boyfriend couldn’t find anyone to give him a ride nor, Austin explained, could his boyfriend ask his father for one. “His dad would give him up for adoption if he knew he was gay,” Austin told me. “I’m serious. He has the strictest, scariest dad ever. He has to date girls and act all tough so that people won’t suspect.”
Austin doesn’t have to play “the pretend game,” as he calls it, anymore. At his middle school, he has come out to his close friends, who have been supportive. A few of his female friends responded that they were bisexual. “Half the girls I know are bisexual,” he said. He hadn’t planned on coming out to his mom yet, but she found out a week before the dance. “I told my cousin, my cousin told this other girl, she told her mother, her mother told my mom and then my mom told me,” Austin explained. “The only person who really has a problem with it is my older sister, who keeps saying: ‘It’s just a phase! It’s just a phase!’ ” Read more

Your Friday Karaoke Serenade through the Stylings of Your Teacher Brock Dubbels

2009-09-25T08:25:00.000-05:00

Lyrics | Burt Bacharach lyrics - What The World Needs Now Is Love lyrics

Reading Friday

2009-09-24T15:45:00.000-05:00

Reading Friday

You know the drill friend . . . bring a book, read, and journal = 30 points

Love it.

Exam 1

2009-09-24T08:45:00.000-05:00

Hour 1 Exam
Hour 2 Exam
Hour 3 Exam
Hour 4 Exam
Hour 6 Exam

When you are finished with the quiz, you can create your blog on Blogger.com and then take the timeline game found here.

Our next steps in this class are to:

finish up the compound sentences packet -- look at how syntax, grammar, and punctuation inform voice -- yes, slang has all these things!
create a time line from the pre-colombian era to the present in class
look at where we are presently and go back to different eras and literary movements and genre exploring the socio-historic praxis (look it up) of America and determining what is American and what is an American Voice / For BAV, we will be looking primarily at what is a "Black American" voice.
We will being our unit on August Wilson's play Radio Golf October 5th.-- you will be allowed some choice in this as we will be exploring the role of space, place, culture, and narrative.
Please take the opportunity to see the play!

We will be finishing up our compound sentences packet on Monday, Project Success will be here Tuesday.

Don't forget your book for Reading Friday!

Quiz Bowl 5000

2009-09-22T17:03:00.000-05:00

Quiz Bowl 5000

The Winner of Quiz Bowl 5000 will be exempt from the quiz on Thursday and receive 20/10 for a quiz grade. To qualify they must score 96% as a group mean score, and if there is an intergroup tie, they will have a quiz bowl cage match.

2nd place: take quiz, 5 extra points

3rd place: take quiz, 3 extra points

All group quizzes must be in for quiz bowl to happen, otherwise we will combine classes to have a minimum of four quizzes per class section.

Groups without a quiz are not able to participate except as a practice for the actual quiz.

Mid --Quarter reports on Friday

2009-09-22T14:53:00.000-05:00

Be READY kid

House Cleaning

2009-09-21T15:17:00.002-05:00

House Cleaning

Review of what has come before -- check student portals and blog for assignments

Submit review of progress and assignments to Brock so he can update your gradebook after a parent or guardian has reviewed this with you and signed-off.

When you have your assignment review finished, yous should begin your quiz review.

You will need to form a small group, no more than six people, and brainstorm possible quiz questions from the blog, packets, classroom discussions, and syllabus.

This quiz review form should be handed in. All group members should have a minimum of 5 good questions each with their name next to their contribution.

A good question will be:

Not obvious -- the student will not choose right from wrong answers, but choose from a range of answers from "kind of right" to "right without a doubt"
Multiple choice or true false with all right and all decoy answers
The quality of your questions come from the use of context, description, and thought involved to answer them.

Hand in review packet for quiz from groups--beginning of class on Wednesday.

Jigsaw with other groups to see what questions were the best.

Create own quiz guide -- Journal 11

Begin work on the compound sentences packet when finished with review and student progress sheet.

Here are the assignments that have been offered that need to be caught dealt with:

572937	Girl Cooperative Work	Projects	40	N	09/17/2009
572953	Girl Paper	Projects	40	N	09/18/2009
572922	Girl Presentation	Projects	32	N	09/16/2009
557816	J 1 World Traveler	Journals	10	N	09/01/2009
572917	J 10 RF	Journals	10	N	09/18/2009
574569	J 3	Journals	10	N	09/04/2009
574577	J 4	Journals	10	N	09/08/2009
574585	J 5	Journals	10	N	09/09/2009
574590	J 6	Journals	10	N	09/10/2009
564571	J 7	Journals	10	N	09/11/2009
572905	J 8 stage directions	Journals	10	N	09/17/2009
572910	J 9 Aud Group Evaluations	Journals	10	N	09/17/2009
557851	J2 Class Summary	Journals	10	N	09/03/2009
557932	Maori Mihi	Projects	50	N	09/03/2009
564558	RF Book	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/11/2009
574324	RF Book	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/18/2009
557864	RF Booki	Projects	10	N	09/04/2009
557873	SSR	Projects	10	N	09/04/2009
564563	SSR	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/11/2009
574340	SSR	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/18/2009
557806	Survey	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/03/2009
557801	Syllabus QUIZ	Practice Quizzes	10	N	09/03/2009
573023	Zombie Haiku	Practice Quizzes	1	Y	09/18/2009

Quiz on September 24th -- online rm 148

2009-09-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Quiz 2 – 10 questions – 10 points

Vocabulary from packets, syllabi, and class

Make sure to look at blog for what we covered in class and the readings

The syllabus quiz is still fair game, as well as policy from the syllabus

Self-Care: bring a mat or towel

2009-09-18T11:54:00.001-05:00

Monday is Self-Care day

The key to happiness is to know oneself.

When you know yourself, you can make choices that suit you.

In this activity, we will calm the bodies and minds and create a benchmark for who we are in our most relaxed state. You will be guided with breath and gentle stretching to ready yourself for the work ahead.

Try to extend this practice mindfully throughout your day.

Awareness and perception are important parts of who we are.

Enjoy every possible moment.

Reading Friday

2009-09-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

Reading Friday

Bring a book = 10 , borrow = 7

Read silently for 40 minutes = 10 points, -1 for each redirect

Journal 10 = 10 points -- summarize what you read 1 page skip every other line

Journals due at beginning of hour for scoring

Assignment: Document of Script, Interpretation, and Stage directions -- includes assignment description and scoring doc

2009-09-16T15:41:00.013-05:00

When you performed your play, you told a story, you need to create a document that is like a script that will hook your audience with the intro (an intro has a minimum of 3 sentences), and then go into characters, script and stage direction, and then finally, the closing paragraph where you explain your interpretation.

We will be in lab 261 for hours 1, 2, 3, and 4

We will be in lab 150 on Friday for hour 6

The paper is due at the beginning of the hour Friday 9/18/09

Here is the ASSIGNMENT Description to guide you in format and to use the key terms as well as the original assignment description.

Do not forget that you have already done several journals for the prewriting elements on the rubric; you already have stage directions in your journal from class.

It includes a description, key terms, the poem, rubrics, and a template for your paper with exemplars.

Do not forget to include your 8 terms in describing your intentions and message in your final paragraph i.e.

Dialect A particular variety of language spoken in one place by a distinct group of people. A dialect reflects the colloquialisms, grammatical constructions, distinctive vocabulary, and pronunciations that are typical of a region. At times writers use dialect to establish or emphasize settings as well as to develop characters.

Diction An author’s choice of words based on their correctness, clarity, or effectiveness.

Mood The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader. The use of connotation, details, dialogue, imagery, figurative language, foreshadowing, setting, and rhythm can help establish mood.

Point of view The vantage point from which a story is told. In the first person or narrative point of view, the story is told by one of the characters. In the third person or omniscient point of view, someone outside the story tells the story.

Journals assignments current to Friday, 9/18/09

2009-09-16T13:54:00.002-05:00

This is a list of your journal assignments:

Journal 1 -- dinner party (bon voyage) traits
Journal 2 -- class activity reflection
Journal 3 -- Reading Friday Summary
Journal 4 -- group names; 10 lines from poem
Journal 5 -- agree to lines w/ group consensus
Journal 6 -- Narratives, America, and Education
Journal 7 -- Reading Friday Summary
Journal 8 -- Stage directions
Journal 9 -- Group Evaluations
Journal 10 -- Reading Friday

Journal 9 -- Auditorium

2009-09-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

For journal 9 you should score groups presentation and then give them a score from the rubric with your reasoning for each category.

What ten lines are they using?.

Zombie Haiku Contest Extra Credit

2009-09-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

Create a Zombie Haiku for 10 extra credit points towards quizzes

A haiku is composed with a meter of 5, 7, 5

You should post your haiku as a comment to this post.

Here are examples:

I need me some brains
Clearly you're not using yours
Can I borrow it?

Hello, may I come in?
I promise not to kill you.
*CHOMP* Sorry, I lied.

I look to the brains
The hunger builds within me
I want to eat brains

Racism in DNA Profiling

2009-09-14T14:00:00.002-05:00

From the Utne Reader
9/3/2009 4:21:03 PM

by Bennett Gordon

Tags: Science and Technology, Politics, DNA, criminal justice, GeneWatch

As of January 1 of 2009, the state of California has the right to take a DNA sample from everyone arrested in the state, analyze it, and stick the profile in a criminal database. This applies whether or not the person is ever convicted or even charged with a crime. According to Michael Risher in GeneWatch, the new law allows “a single law enforcement officer the power to place people under lifetime genetic surveillance. “
The new law could also magnify racial disparities in the criminal justice system. “Given the ubiquity of racial profiling” in this country, Risher writes, “people of color will largely populate the databanks.” This places people of color under increased scrutiny from the law for the rest of their lives. He writes, “a racially skewed databank will produce racially skewed results.”

Surveys for revision

2009-09-14T10:16:00.002-05:00

Surveys for 9/2/09
These surveys are not a quiz like the syllabus quiz, but an inventory for you to share how you feel and what you know. This is not graded.
American Lit Hour 1
American Lit Hour 2
American Lit Hour 3
Black American Voices Hour 4
American Lit Hour 6

Happy Monday

2009-09-14T08:30:00.001-05:00

Journal 8

Create stage movements -- consider what setting where your scene/s should take place.

Use vocabulary at end of packet to describe how the play should look, sound, and feel

What is the mood?
Identify patterns in diction -- where is she from?
Whose point of view.

Use EIGHT of the terms from the packet.

The final document you create should include the background to your interpretation -- what steps of understanding did you go through?

Did your interpretation change?

Is your interpretation a reconsideration of the poem (connotative) or a strict interpretation (denotative).

List the lines from the poem and then the script and staging including mood, tone, and any movement.

Last, create a description explaining what you were trying to communicate abou tthese characters and the content.

School Quality and Soft Measures -- boys bathrooms

2009-09-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

Soft Measures

You don't always need a standardized test to know a school is in trouble. Just look in the boys' john.

By: Folwell Dunbar

Whenever I evaluate a school, my first stop is the boys' bathroom because, without an unflushed urinal of doubt, it is every school's least common denominator. Its sticky floors, calcified wads of toilet paper and juvenile-yet-timeless graffiti ("Here I sit broken hearted...") are generally not what a principal shows off. Then again, I once visited a school run by the Knowledge is Power Program — which focuses on preparing students in underserved communities for college — and found fresh cut flowers next to an automatic recycled-paper-towel dispenser. At another school, there were toilet targets. (Apparently, research shows that they increase accuracy by as much as 70 percent.)

My all-time favorite positive indicator, though, was a school that posted weekly "Stinky Animal Fun Facts" in the stalls and on the walls. For example, did you know that dung beetles, using polarized moonlight for navigation, roll up balls of No. 2 to use as nurseries for their babies? This school's educators saw even the potty break as a teachable moment. Read more

Why People Believe in Conspiracies

2009-09-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

From the September 2009 Scientific American Magazine

After a public lecture in 2005, I was buttonholed by a documentary filmmaker with Michael Moore-ish ambitions of exposing the conspiracy behind 9/11. “You mean the conspiracy by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to attack the United States?” I asked rhetorically, knowing what was to come.
“That’s what they want you to believe,” he said. “Who is they?” I queried. “The government,” he whispered, as if “they” might be listening at that very moment. “But didn’t Osama and some members of al Qaeda not only say they did it,” I reminded him, “they gloated about what a glorious triumph it was?”
“Oh, you’re talking about that video of Osama,” he rejoined knowingly. “That was faked by the CIA and leaked to the American press to mislead us. There has been a disinformation campaign going on ever since 9/11.”
Conspiracies do happen, of course. Abraham Lincoln was the victim of an assassination conspiracy, as was Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, gunned down by the Serbian secret society called Black Hand. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese conspiracy (although some conspiracists think Franklin Roosevelt was in on it). Watergate was a conspiracy (that Richard Nixon was in on). How can we tell the difference between information and disinformation? As Kurt Cobain, the rocker star of Nirvana, once growled in his grunge lyrics shortly before his death from a self-inflicted (or was it?) gunshot to the head, “Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”
But as former Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy once told me (and he should know!), the problem with government conspiracies is that bureaucrats are incompetent and people can’t keep their mouths shut. Complex conspiracies are difficult to pull off, and so many people want their quarter hour of fame that even the Men in Black couldn’t squelch the squealers from spilling the beans. So there’s a good chance that the more elaborate a conspiracy theory is, and the more people that would need to be involved, the less likely it is true.
Why do people believe in highly improbable conspiracies? In previous columns I have provided partial answers, citing patternicity (the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise) and agenticity (the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents). Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns and then infuse those patterns with intentional agency. Add to those propensities the confirmation bias (which seeks and finds confirmatory evidence for what we already believe) and the hindsight bias (which tailors after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened), and we have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition.Read more

Reading Friday

2009-09-10T15:07:00.000-05:00

Bring your book!

10 points to bring -- 7 points to borrow
10 points for SSR
10 points for journal summary (we are on journal 7)

Edugami

2009-09-09T14:28:00.005-05:00

The idea of public education depends absolutely on the existence of narratives and the exclusion of narratives that lead to alienation and divisiveness."

". . . public education does not serve a public. It creates a public. And in creating the right kind of public, the schools contribute toward strengthening the spiritual basis of the American Creed."
~ Neil Postman

Journal 6

In this course we are actively investigating narratives and how their presence, or absence, can lead to unity or alienation when narratives are excluded.

Postman says there are two contradictory beliefs that form the narrative of what it means to be human, to be a citizen, and to be intelligent:

Schools must teach the young to accept the world as it is -- the rules, the constraints, and prejudices.
The young should be taught to be critical thinkers, to become of an independent mind, with the strength and skill to change what is wrong.

What is the "right" kind of public, what is school for, and what might Postman mean by the s"spiritual basis of the American Creed"?

Interpretation and Scripting

2009-09-08T15:54:00.000-05:00

It is important that you identify the voice of your narrator as you choose the most important sentences -- utterances-- from the poem.

After you have identified the sentences most important to you, come together as a group and begin to share you sentences and decide as a group which ones should be performed and how.

The key here is supporting your interpretation from the text or connecting to experiences outside of the poem to your life, or the lives of others to share or convey experience and ideas.

Once you have decided which lines you will perform, begin to script and choreograph each line.

decide how you will present it
who will present it
how it will be presented
with what props and movement
why it should be done this way -- what are you trying to convey/communicate?

Tuesday gather and brainstorm

2009-09-07T21:35:00.006-05:00

Barbell Factory
Create initial groups ( 4 to a group)
Cooperation and group scoring
Key vocabulary featuring voice
Girl Assignment -- choose, interpret, and perform the ten most important sentences.

Ten most important sentences--make sure you get this part.

Give evidence for your interpretation of connotative and denotative.

There is no correct interpretation -- get your evidence from the poem and secondary sources.

It is important to get background information ans secondary sources
Please visit Jamica Kincaid's biographical page and her wiki to see what you can learn about her and how these secondary sources might influence your literal and figurative interptretations of the poem "Girl".

Brainstorming
What really counts in making brainstorming sessions effective is your ability to ignite, encourage, synergize and extend your partner thoughts and ideas without ever spending useless energies in criticizing or vetoing this or that proposal.

All ideas are good, they are only limited by our own ability to connect them rapidly with other, relevant ones to create mental mashups or to jump to alternative solutions we wouldn't have considered otherwise.

Brainstorming from Johnson & Johnson

Here are the roles you should take on:

ENCOURAGER and SCRIBE
writes and reports groups ideas;
is not a gatekeeper

Record all ideas
Don’t block
Seek clarification
Report

ENCOURAGER and STORE KEEPER
locates, collects and distributes resources including informational resources like web pages and encyclopaedia entries

Get all the materials for the entire group
Collect worksheets from the teacher
Sharpen pencils
Tidy up

*Allowed to leave your place without teacher permission

ENCOURAGER and COP
reads instructions and directs participation

Read the instructions
Call for speakers
Take turns
Call for votes
Count votes
State agreed position

ENCOURAGER and SPY
summarises findings and trades ideas with other groups

Check up on other groups
Trade ideas with other groups
Summarise findings

*Allowed to leave your place when directed by the teacher

"No task is too big when done by all"

2009-09-04T15:23:00.001-05:00

If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on Thursday, Dec.
14, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had
become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was
weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to
struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope
wrapped around her body - her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her
mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside
the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a
few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad
off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very
dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous
circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time,
and nudged them, pushed them gently around-she thanked them.

Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their
lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was
following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate----to be
surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things
that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and
receiving gratitude.

A'ohe hana nui ke alu'ia "No task is too big when done by all"
Proverb from 'Olelo No'eau

Your voter registration

2009-09-04T13:20:00.002-05:00

Click this link to register

What questions interest you most?

2009-09-04T10:10:00.003-05:00

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

Important Sundry Items

2009-09-02T15:23:00.002-05:00

Sundry (yes, you should look it up).

Key themes and topics:
Voice & Oral traditions
Diversity and notions of text and media
Important vocabulary
Literary interpretation
Performance
Literal and Figurative
Connotative and Denotative
Cooperative work

Activities
Clapping Academy
Barbell Factory
Reading Friday
Literary Yoga & Self-care
Maori Mihi

Thursday: How you say it is just as important as what you say.

Guiding questions:
What is equity? What is voice? What is a text?

Key vocab

Voice --context and expression through:

syntax, meter, diction, word choice, themes, volume, pitch and emphasis.

Go over syllabus quiz
Clapping Academy -- equity
Image interpretation -- a text conveys information. Can be pictures, clothing, dance, words.

Class activity reflection (Journal 2):
What did you do? Was it fun? What was the point? Why? How will you use these ideas?
Full sentences / minimum 1 page/ skip every other line.

Friday
Reading Friday -- Bring a book!
Yes, a book of your choice.
10 points for bringing a book, 7 for borrowing.
10 points for 40 minutes of silent reading (-1 for each redirect).
10 points for journal entry
Literacy coaching

Monday -- No School

Tuesday
Barbell Factory
Create initial groups ( 4 to a group)
Key vocabulary featuring voice
Girl Assignment -- choose, interpret, and perform the ten most important sentences.
Give evidence for your interpretation of connotative and denotative.
It is important to get background information ans secondary sources
Please visit Jamica Kincaid's biographical page and her wiki to see what you can learn about her and how these secondary sources might influence your literal and figurative interptretations of the poem "Girl".

Wednesday
Girl cont'd

Thursday
Lab 148 finish Mihi

Friday
Reading Friday

Welcome and Bon Voyage

2009-08-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Another Great Year!
Welcome from Superintendent Green

Today we will cover class organization

An overview of topics and assignments

Syllabus and classroom policies like grading etc.

Connection to the gradebook called "classroom for success".
Connection to classroom calendar
Classroom activity -- World traveler
Family letter -- home work 1
Journal Template
Tomorrow

-- go to Mac Lab room 340 -- do syllabus quiz, bring parent letter signed with contact info.
Create Maori Mihi -- Welcome presentation

Vgalt Richfield 2009

2009-06-15T23:22:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Vgalt Richfield 2009

View more OpenOffice presentations from brock.dubbels.

Games Unit Final, ( Lost Planet)

2009-06-02T13:14:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Games Unit Final, ( Lost Planet)

View more OpenOffice presentations from pilot_kris.

Games Unit Final

2009-06-02T13:13:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Games Unit Final

View more OpenOffice presentations from sk8erdude322.

Sly Cooper Games Unit Final

2009-06-02T13:11:00.003-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Sly Cooper Games Unit Final

View more OpenOffice presentations from Cras1001.

Games Unit Final Will Peepels

2009-06-02T13:11:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Games Unit Final Will Peepels

View more OpenOffice presentations from wpee11.

Games Unit Final

2009-06-02T13:10:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Games Unit Final

View more OpenOffice presentations from moopooky.

Games Unit Final

2009-06-02T13:09:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Games Unit Final

View more OpenOffice presentations from brock.dubbels.

Learning Roles

2009-06-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

The learning role assignment is worth
40 points.

This is a brief write up on the learning role that you chose and your response to the questions with evidence supporting your position.

The Learning Roles questions will be answered with the questions restated. The highlights from the learning role questions will be used to answer the guiding question for each role. These should be written with supporting evidence as a paragraph with a minimum of five sentences of support

For example:

Code Breaker: How do I crack this code

How do I solve the difficult problems?

Participant: What does this game mean to me?

How do you relate to it – how do I make sense of it compared to the rest of the world.

User: What do I do with this game?

What strategies should I use to make sense of it?
How can I purposefully navigate it and solve the puzzles?

Analyst: What does this text do to me?

Are there issues of equality in this game?

What are the politics and assumptions?

vgAlt ~ Video Games as Learning Tools

2009-05-29T12:57:00.001-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

vgAlt ~ Video Games as Learning Tools

View more OpenOffice presentations from brock.dubbels.

Seward Games Unit Spring 2009

2009-05-13T13:32:00.000-05:00

Video Games Unit Assignments and Presentation

Steps for finishing the unit and having
all of the fun and success you deserve.

This unit asks that you create:

a blog
a work plan
a walk through
a slide show presentation
answering the learning role question/ reflection on the game and project
group contributions

Goals:
1. Create your blog once you have formed a group of four, decided who can bring the game system, what game you will play, and how you will present the game as a walkthrough on your blog.
2. Each day should involve gathering information about your game – each step of the way, including the opening titles, credits, style of game you will play (multi-player, etc.), where you will find other resources, and note taking on the game with linkages to key vocabulary (included in this document).
3. It is recommended that you gather images and video for this assignment. By creating visuals through the use of images and video, you will make a stronger case for the person using your walkthrough to be successful.
4. As you are making notes on your game, make sure that you include your strategies, your feelings and experience.
5. What connections can you make to other books, movies, games, and experience? One of the game play experiences in Halo is Capture the Flag, are their other simple commonly known games that you can connect to the game you are using with analogy?

The Work Plan.
The Work Plan Worksheet
• The projected work that will happen over the course of the assignment on a day-by-day basis.
• The assigned functional roles.
• The assigned learning roles.
• Reflections of team members of what happened each day.
• What was completed?
• What was learned?
• What was the process like?
• The blog and walkthrough

The Walkthrough:
central to the assignment and includes 16 blog entries.
defined:
(taken from the wikipedia) In video games, a walk through is a document which attempts to teach a player how to beat or solve a particular game. Many people consider walkthroughs to be a form of cheating, but no game is suited to be a fair challenge to everyone. Walkthroughs are often made by amateurs after they have completed the game and date from the earliest text adventures and the simplest graphic adventure and puzzle-adventure games. Now they are most common for complex games, such as role playing games and strategy games; less involved games usually have a FAQ instead.

Reflection:
This is the part of the lesson where you look back on the lessons taught. Reflect upon how your lessons could have gone better or how they went well and why. If they didn’t go as planned, what do you think you could have done that would have helped? If they went well, were there certain things that happened that helped them go that way? Feel free to write as much as you would like.

You should very clearly and directly connect to the grading rubric for this unit.

Presentations:
This is what we plan to tell the class about our project. We are going to include: What was our goal? How did we plan to accomplish our goal? How do we know if we succeeded? What could we do better next time?

Grading

Blog -- 16 entries (you do not need to finish the game)
Reasoning for game
Introduction to the game including controls, rules, goals, how to win – image
Choices and explanations of playing modes – hard, easy, single player, etc
Characters,
Maps,
Equipment
8 major decision points (detailed descriptions with pictures and strategy)
Review of game with rubric
Slideshow embedded from slideshare

Power Point Slides
Total number of slides 33

Title
Work plan
Timeline
Game description
Walkthrough – 8 slides
Rubric – 11 slides
Learning roles – 1 slide per group member
Contributions – for each group member
Reflection

33 slides -- 3 points per slide -- 100 points

Walkthrough on blog -- 16 entries -- 80 points
Learning Role Question -- 40 points
Planning doc 20 points
Group contribution 40 points

Total unit 280 points

Genre instruction for grades 1 to 3

2009-02-10T18:45:00.001-06:00

2009-01-13T13:20:00.000-06:00

Kicky The Gh Pirate

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Spore

2008-08-26T19:44:00.000-05:00

Will Wright says that simulations can recalibrate our intuition. Can we look at patterns and be more education in our predictions and expectations to influence planning and learning for the future?

Games, Learning, and Society: Dance Dance Education

2008-08-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

Dance Dance Education Gls 2008 Dubbels

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: community of)

These slides were shared at Games, Learning and Society 2008

Identity Informs Motivation and Engagement

2008-08-09T13:45:00.000-05:00

Project Piece Due Dates

2008-05-14T14:54:00.000-05:00

There are several pieces of the larger project that are due in the next two weeks:
Due Points
Isometric Sketch Packet--- 5/6 100
Sketch of Puzzle Cube Box ---- 5/14 25
Draft of Box 5/16 100
Cardboard Model 5/20 100
Metal Etching 5/27 100
Fabricated Metal Box 6/7 300

Grading for Sheet Metal Project

2008-05-14T12:15:00.000-05:00

SHEET METAL PROJECT (300 POINTS)

Sheet metal fabrication provides an excellent way of exploring manufacturing processes, such as measurement, layout, shearing, notching, punching, bending, hemming, spot welding, finishing and the associated safety procedures. To this end, a simple sheet metal product will be fabricated within the activity time schedule.

OBJECTIVES

1. Introduce students to basic manufacturing processes.

2. Give students an opportunity to fabricate a product and provide process documentation.

MATERIAL

Each student will be given enough 20-gage plain sheet steel to fabricate into an approved product. The student may purchase extra and/or associated material(s) as the case may be.

REQUIREMENTS, CRITERIA, AND FORMAT OF PROJECT

Students are required to review and familiarize relative laboratory tools, safety procedures and instructor demonstrations before engaging in this project. All written work must be typed. Each student must produce the following within the activity time schedule provided (see product activity schedule):

1. Process Planning Documents:

a) Process charts (8 points)

b) Operation process charts (7 points)

2. A product approved by instructor to meet the following product quality attributes:

a. All specified product dimensions to be within +/- 05” (15 points)

b. Overall finish (burrs, dents, warps, roughness etc.) (10)

c. Product functionality (functional, completeness, durability, sits flat when

assembled, strong weld etc.) 10

EXTRA CREDIT (3 Points)

You may want to paint your product for extra credit of three (3) points. The painting is not a requirement but may demand additional skill, time and material. The paint job must not show any evidence paint runs, uneven spray, wetness, pealing etc.

SUGGESTED PROCEDURES

1. Begin by studying the drawings provided by instructor

2. Do your process planning (must be typed)

3. Determine amount of material needed using the formula: total length of blank before bending = L = l1+l2+...+(Pa1/180)R1+(Pa2/180)R2 +... (Where R= radius of neutral axis= a+0.4t; a = inner radius of bend; t = thickness of sheet metal)

4. Cut rough stock

5. Trim to size

6. Do the layout

7. Process material

8. Submit for grading

GRADING CRITERIA FOR PROJECT ONE (50 POINTS)

STUDENT: _______________________________________

CRITERIA POSSIBLE POINTS POINTS EARNED

PROCESS PLANNING:
1. Process charts 40 ______________

(Completeness, format & clarity)

2. Operation process chart 45 ______________

(Completeness, format & clarity)

PRODUCT QUALITY:
1. Required dimensions to be

within +/- .o5” 45 ______________

(Completeness, within tolerance etc.)

2. Overall finish (burrs, dents, warps,

sharp corners, scratches, rough

finish etc.) 75 _____________

3. Product Functionality (functional,

completeness, durability, sits flat when

assembled, strong weld etc.) 75 ______________

TOTAL POINTS RECEIVED OUT OF 300 ______________

Comments:

Steps to Creating the Box

2008-05-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

You are going to be making a box out of sheet metal that will hold your puzzle cube. The box should have a lid, a hinge, a clasp, and can be decorated with color, cuts, etc.Gwen.Stern@mpls.k12.mn.us

Making a box for your cube

2008-05-08T13:43:00.001-05:00

Now that it is Friday, and you have handed in your:

Puzzle Cube Walkthrough
The Isometric Practice Packets
Your Assembled 3d puzzle cube

You should be thinking about how you will create a sheet metal box to hold your cube.

The box should be measured to allow the cube to slide in and out easily
It should have a hinge
It should have a lid
You should account for how the sides will be attached: spot weld, rivet, Pittsburgh seam

First draw the box in your notebook.
You should include all of the perspectives and two isometric views
You should draw the box unfolded
Try make the box in one piece if possible, and if not, show what other pieces will be included.
Annotate your drawings so that you have a written description of what is being displayed and how it will be manufactured.

Animating your 3d

2008-05-08T09:35:00.001-05:00

Now that you have created your cube by creating, decorating, and assembling the pieces into an assembly file, you can create an exploded view. This will show the relationships between the parts.

When you have done this--and remember, the way you use constraints around a central piece will affect your exploded view and animation--you can begin to create an animation of the cube assembling and disassembling.

Here is an example of an animated video clip of a puzzle cube made by a student that demonstrates the video capture and the explosion of the components and the re-assembly.

Upcoming Schedule

2008-05-06T14:08:00.001-05:00

Cube is assembled and due
Packet finished by Thursday
Create sheet metal sketch of box for cube
Build box in metal shop
Create autodesk plan for tool box
build tool box in sheet metal shop

Due dates for Isometric drawings

2008-04-28T11:09:00.000-05:00

The first assignment:

Draw your puzzle cube pieces in Autodesk Inventor.
Make sure that you have constrained your pieces with a measurement.
Make the 2d drawing into 3d drawings.
Make each piece and save it in a separate file
We will be assembling these pieces into an animated feature

This is due on Wednesday.

So begin by opening Autodesk Inventor and sketch your pieces in 2d and then extrude them.

Make sure that you have constrained the cube with general dimensions.