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Archive for the ‘Humanities’ Category
Using Transitions when writing May 26th, 2008
Now that our Introduction has been written and a strong thesis statement has been
included the sorting and placing of all your research must take place. Some of you heeded advice and wrote complete paragraphs from your notes, others still have to convert your notes into paragraphs…..but how do we join all of it together? The answer………Transitions! Explore this site to give you a better understanding of what I am on about.
To successfully join all your writing together and improve your wordsmithing it is important not to become repetitive, repetitive, repetitive….(sorry bad joke!) and to switch it up a gear
Look in the left column of the table for the kind of logical relationship you are trying to express. Then look in the right column of the table for examples of words or phrases that express this logical relationship. Be creative.
| LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP | TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSION |
| Similarity | also, in the same way, just as … so too, likewise, similarly |
| Exception/Contrast | but, however, in spite of, on the one hand … on the other hand, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, in contrast, on the contrary, still, yet |
| Sequence/Order | first, second, third, … next, then, finally |
| Time | after, afterward, at last, before, currently, during, earlier, immediately, later, meanwhile, now, recently, simultaneously, subsequently, then |
| Example | for example, for instance, namely, specifically, to illustrate |
| Emphasis | even, indeed, in fact, of course, truly |
| Place/Position | above, adjacent, below, beyond, here, in front, in back, nearby, there |
| Cause and Effect | accordingly, consequently, hence, so, therefore, thus |
| Additional Support or Evidence | additionally, again, also, and, as well, besides, equally important, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, then |
| Conclusion/Summary | finally, in a word, in brief, in conclusion, in the end, in the final analysis, on the whole, thus, to conclude, to summarize, in sum, in summary |
I find it much easier writing fast and furiously then reworking a paragraph underlining “ugly” words and getting rid of repetition. Much like the approach to our ERB’s.
Give it a go….I dare you!
Posted in Humanities | Comments (2)
Where have I been? May 20th, 2008
It has been too long between posts and I have lots of excuses. The best one is of course our amazing trip to Beijing. I am sure we all had reservations about visiting Beijing as it is one of the few places most students will journey to with their families…..but the friends you get to travel with makes for a completely different feeling. Everyone enjoyed the trip. The frustrating thing was paying for internet access and my room not working. …..my goal of uploading to Picasa every night just didn’t happened….that’s OK though it left more time one evening for an amazing foot massage!!!!!!
From Kung Fu performances to sight seeing to shopping to eating it was a fantastic trip!
Check out my Picasa photos. It really is crunch time here with the portfolio for our trip due Friday and our resaearch note cards completed by Monday.
Only 12 days of school left…..let’s not let our guard down on the home stretch. 
Posted in Humanities | Comments (3)
Google Trends and researching your issue May 8th, 2008
Oh my stars!!!!!
Whilst stumbling I just came across Google Trends. An amazing information tool that will allow you to see where and when your issue hit its peak or peaks. Not only does it tell you that but also continues by telling you which region and even which city had the most hits. I typed in Whaling and came up with the following…..
Not only does it show when and where it was figuring in the news it also gives you news items showing you the year and a link to that item……WOW!!!
Hopefully some of you will be able to use this to further research and find articles related to your topic.
We are off on China Alive next week but will be frantically completing our project the following week….get ahead of the game and complete a few more research note cards!
HAve a great weekend and see you at the Airport Monday morning
Posted in Humanities, Information | Comments (7)
Reading online May 2nd, 2008
For so long now National Geographic has been a favorite of mine. The beautiful pictures and the amazing articles. Richly described
and written in such an eloquent way at times.
This month the National Geographic has a feature on China. Amazing pictures and extremely thought provoking articles. Check it out.
Posted in Humanities | Comments (3)
test May 1st, 2008
Posted in Humanities | Comments (1)
Current Conflict Research Project April 27th, 2008
By now most of you have set up your Netcipia place and here is where the fun really begins!!! All resources and information you find out there can be placed in it. Be careful to really think about how it is going to be set out and make sure you are adding pages. 
Once the conflict outline has been written, the research begins. Use the following Note taking page format and create a page using the topic Notes as your title. This will allow you the opportunity build a page full of information that has been synthesized by you……DO NOT COPY AND PASTE TO THIS PAGE. ALL WORK ON THIS PAGE SHOULD BE IN YOUR OWN WORDS. To avoid a mix up create another page where all your links, videos, word documents etc. can be stored and call this Research documents.
So let’s outline what needs to be completed.
1. Your current conflict plan. Here is a plan and here is an example.
2. Next start taking notes using this proforma.doc
3. By next class you should have completed your conflict plan and begun note taking and gathering documents, etc.
4. Be sure your blog has a link to your Netcipia place
Goodluck…..Let’s go for it!!!
Posted in Due dates, Humanities | Comments (4)
Netcipia 7th grade personal wiki for research April 23rd, 2008
As I looked over the 30 page research project booklet for 7th grade and checked my netvibes page this morning and read more about you guys reading and learning so differently to how us “oldies” (i am 35!!!) …..it occurred to me…..we have to wikitize this project and move as far away from paper as we can.
It has bugged me all year about what happened to our wetpaint site and the amazing content we started to develop, and wikispaces just doesn’t do it for me….it looks too “computery”…. ugly…..which leads me to Netcipia.
This my friends could be our saving grace here in China….so long as we don’t get too vocal with our current conflict issue. Click on the picture……Sign up for an account today and let’s work on each of us developing a wiki where all your information can be stored and devoured by all of us. Make sure your blog has a nice big link to your new
space, and let’s set up the boundries in class……….this will be one amazing project. This picture sums it up for me and this project….Your brain, delicious, your blog and now the wiki….it is all connected…..I am so excited! 
Posted in Blogroll, Humanities | Comments (7)
Earth week, Pollution and The Outsiders April 21st, 2008
After being sick last week and not posting for a while I have so much to discuss…….. First of all, this week we have been reviewing our scores on the practice ERB writing test. Suprisingly the topic revolved around pollution. Excellent tie in to Earth week this week! Whilst some students may have been disappointed with their score, there are several things that must keep us focused on our school work. 1. It only counted as a Homework grade, therefore the actual weight is lower than a test. 2. It was a very difficult topic, to come in cold and be asked to write on. 3. It has now made us extremely aware of the areas that will be assessed for the upcoming Outsiders Essay.
The Draft of this essay is due tomorrow. Final copy due for H & I Block Thursday. Friday for J Block.
After reading all the essays on pollution last week and this week being Earth week I ventured over to The Times website. I wanted to see if Shanghai was one of the highest polluters…thankfully no, but I started to think about which countries are polluting and why? Sure China is high on the list, but they are making the majority of products that “we” want and crave for….doesn’t this mean that you can’t dismiss the problem and say oh it’s China’s fault for pollution? When essentially it is “us” that want things cheap, “us” that need more than one television, computer, fridge, car, ipod, phone, heater, air conditioner……and we want it cheap!!!!!
What do you think??? Do you feel guilty when you start thinking about it? Are you polluting more than you think….do you wear shorts in the house with the heater on high? Help me out here I am confused. I think it is time to move away from blaming anyone….and time for countries to help countries………and if your still stuck, check out The Global Warming Survival Guide
Posted in Humanities | Comments (8)
Sick as a dog April 13th, 2008
I am really annoyed at not being at school today….the main reason being I have your practice ERB to hand back and work on with you, but it will have to wait. While I am away today please complete Vocab lesson 20 first. Many of you haven’t posted your 6 quotes for The Outsiders….that needs to be done asap. Finally the big part of today, please post to your blog an entry discussing your opinion of the movie. A review, but you need to go further describing the movie and the book. Were there characters that seemed out of place? How did the movie compare to the book.
We were lucky to have the extended version which adds a lot of scenes people complained were missing in the original version….the boys in bed, a longer opening, Johnny’s mother in the hospital. Read this article about the director, Francis Ford Coppola’s decision to release this longer version. Discuss it when reviewing the film. Good luck and stay focused!!!! Any information on Francis Ford’s directing techniques would also be great.
Posted in Due dates, Humanities | Comments (9)
BookBird is the new black! Plus The Outsiders quote analysis April 12th, 2008
It’s official….Dianna has now explained why bookworm is a ridiculous name for people who love books I am a BOOKBIRD. I refrain from using the phrase ‘bookworm’, because worms are like… yeah. They crawl on their bellies for all eternity, and eat dirt. Not exactly what I want to be when I grow up.
What to call guys though? Bookbird is fine for Ladies, but Gentlemen…..what should we call you? Leave a comment.
Reading your Outsiders quote analysis had me thinking…….Let’s be really careful and thoughtful as to your title of posts. Don’t call it “Um Yeah Homework he’s making me do” because I can pretty much guarantee not many people will google that!!! But if we think about it, I wonder how many people are right now studying The Outsiders and have at some point gone looking for quotes or writing that could help them generate ideas?? By naming your post properly traffic to your sight will increase significantly. For those that haven’t posted your quotes…hop to it. Be creative and think Google!
Posted in Due dates, Humanities | Comments (6)
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