Archive for the ‘Humanities’ Category

The Outsiders quotes

April 8th, 2008

I wrote on the board this morning…..Boy we are busy!!!! But busy in a good way and not overwhelming so long as you keep up to date and complete the tasks as they are set. Well done to everyone who completed the work from last class….those that haven’t??? Hop to it.

A list of 10 quotes up to chapter where projected last week on to the wall with you guys choosing 2 of your favorites to interpret. Here’s the list of Important-quotes.doc

I have 30 quotes with students having to choose 4 more……2 from numbers 11 - 20 and 2 from 21 - 30. That means a total of 6 quotes…. a paragraph for each.

We spoke in class about how and what to write down but to refresh your memory……What context is the quote used in? What is the person actually saying or what does the person want us to get from the quote? How is it important to the book? For example Cherry says…. “I could fall in love with Dallas Winston. I hope I never see him again, or I will.” Cherry is really saying that she likes Dally but nothing good could possibly come from the two of them ending up together. To be a Soc and falling in love with a Greaser would be a disaster for her as she sees it as she would end up alienating herself from all her friends family etc. Cherry also implies through this quote that Dally is trouble and it can only end bad for him, either jail, drugs or death and to know that someone you love is on that path of self destruction and could bring you down with them is not a view of the future Cherry wants. Cherry is optimistic about her future compared to Dally who views it as rather black. See how easy that was????? Go for it 7th grade you have 2 options….write it in your book or post it to your blog for the world to see….. a hint though…..posting it will be looked at more favorably by me!!!!

Posted in Blogroll, Due dates, Humanities, Information | Comments (3)

Wikipedia is up and running in Shanghai!!!

April 7th, 2008

Have you noticed? She’s up and running. Without getting too political this seems to be the most noticeable blockage of freedom of information here in China, when Googling. Well done China, it is a great step forward! But 7th grade, don’t get complacent when searching for information and take Wikipedia as the Holy Grail….I think we all know that researching and finding information from several sources is always better than the one click approach. I have one more request though…….please China can we have Wetpaint back? We were on fire before it got blocked creating amazing stuff and never got to truly work it!!!

Posted in Fun stuff, Humanities | Comments (4)

Monday and Tuesday’s class

April 5th, 2008

I am on the Puxi campus today working with the Middle school alignment committee. While I am gone today it is important that you watch the 1960’s video and complete the exercise.

1. Study and investigate the images presented in the youtube clip. Name all of the clips (you should be able to name most) either naming or describing what the picture represents in your book. Then………

2. Choose 2 images and once you have investigated them further, and on your blog describe why these images were important and noteworthy in the 1960’s. For example the picture attached is of Muhammad Ali. What did he do during his life? Especially the 60’s. Sure he wass a boxer but he said and did things that at the time could be seen as quite controversial. Please complete 1 paragraph for each image.

It should start to become apparent that the time’s they were a changing! back then and S.E. Hinton was part of these times. Place these images on your blog with your description. You may have some trouble finding these images within China…I know when putting the film clip together I had some trouble when I typed in the word Protest, or War etc. Let’s leave the great firewall topic for next lesson!!!!!!

Once you complete this you can either finish reading the book, finish the questions or find resources to add to your blog….like Veronica did. Good work Veronica….but please excuse Veronica’s shorthand on some of her other entries!!!!!! It might be worth all of us trying to tighten our sentence structure and grammar!!!!! Good luck.

Posted in Due dates, Humanities | Comments (2)

Poem analysis & S.E Hinton time period

April 4th, 2008

Wow!!!!!! Reading your analysis of Robert Frost’s poem has stunned me 7th grade. Check this excerpt from Chelsea….Robert Frost says nobody can live an extraordinary life; you only have extraordinary moments. She continues by talking about cherishing those momens when they do happen. Charlie says the lesson to be learnt is…always try to enjoy and make the most out of everything because it will not last forever. And James says….the first leaf is the happiest moment for the person taking care of it. Well done everyone your blogs are looking great! Now to something new……….

By understanding the time period that immediately preceded the publication of The Outsiders we can get a sense of what S.E. Hinton was living through at the time and why the themes of the book resonated with the population then and still do now.

On Monday and Tuesday in class we will review this short video and name all the events or describe what the image is telling us.

Try naming or describing every image and in class on Monday and Tuesday we will choose 2 images each to research a little more and write up a paragraph explaining why it was important and the effect it had on the population. Check it out……..

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/TrInBJ8zmA8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Fun stuff, Humanities | Comments (9)

Bring your ipod to humanities!!!!

March 31st, 2008

But don’t listen to it!!!! Yes you heard right. Let’s take our ipods to the next level and start using them as informational tools as well. As we read through the Outsiders there will be several documents you can look at on your ipod. Hopefully as you sit on the bus and listen to your favorite music you can also scroll through a fact sheet or character profiles in your ipods notes section…….it is endless what you can do!!!!

Download the following documents by clicking the link and saving it to your desktop as a text file:

Characters-The-Outsiders.txt

Glossary-The-Outsiders.txt

Motifs-The-Outsiders.txt

Key-facts-The-Outsiders.txt

Symbols.txt

Themes.txt

Now uploading to your ipod is really simple, and you only have to do this step once.

To do this, first you need to mount your iPod on the Desktop. Plug in your iPod and load up iTunes. Go to the iPod section and make sure “Enable Disk Use” is checked.

Now you can copy files to and from your iPod.

Then whenever you want to add more things it is as easy as dragging and dropping straight onto your ipod on the desktop. Try it with the files I have for you and next class I will show you how to change anything you have in word to a text file that the ipod can read……..Best of all……..if you don’t have an ipod….this just might convince your parents!!!!!!

But let’s get one thing straight……. don’t go home and say Mr Power says we need to buy an ipod!!!!!!

Downloading the text files then copy and paste into word and print it out if you want a hard copy can be just as good.

Thanks to MacOSXhints for the screenshots and easy explanation.

Posted in Due dates, Humanities | Comments (9)

Welcome back!!

March 30th, 2008

Well I hope you all had a fantastic Spring Break and ready to hit the end of the year with guns blazing!! Thanks to Ms Flott who has done an amazing job and left the classes in great shape. And thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Mimi has really settled in and it feels as those she has been with us forever…..I really missed all of you though, and am happy to be back.

But the best thing of all is, I get to come back and jump right in to my favorite 7th grade book….The Outsiders.

Ms Flott has introduced it and you should have read up to Chapter 5. Check back here tomorrow for your homework and related Outsiders documents…and let’s have a great 4th quarter!!!!

Posted in Due dates, Humanities, Information | Comments (2)

March 17th, 2008

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.ustream.tv/record?mode=broadcast&id=R23bAei4WMiLbDFdvn4z7ozqTgbjKgF.&w=680&h=420" width="400" height="400" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Humanities | Comments (7)

Progress reports

February 25th, 2008

The 3rd quarter in Humanities is well under way. We completed our exciting unit on the Middle Ages with all students writing ballads. We’ve transitioned to the Renaissance now and will continue for the next couple of weeks. We are focusing heavily on writing using the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. This will continue as we prepare for the ERB assessments coming in early April. You can visit the following website for details on the 6 + 1 Traits.

We’ve completed our second novel of the year, Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson. Students will conclude their work with the novel this week and we’ll all enjoy an exciting visit by the author on March 5th, 6th and 7th! We’ll begin our 3rd novel of the year in the next couple of weeks by reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. As spring nears we encourage all students to stay focused and get their work turned in on time to the best of their ability.

Posted in Humanities | Comments (10)

Dear Students and Parents

February 14th, 2008

Please find attached a letter to you regarding my paternity leave. You will be happy to read that the mistakes that existed in the hard copy sent home have now been removed!!!! In my haste to send it out I was lacking several commas! Ms Flott will be replacing me and I can assure you of the high standard of learning that will take place in my absence.

The DragonKeeper assignment will be due February 22 and will constitute most of the homework next week.

However, there is a homework task that needs to be completed asap. A paragraph sent to your blog from page 158 of our textbook. This paragraph is essentially the three detailed questions we answered in class.

I will check this homework off tomorrow. Good luck in my absence and make sure to check back regularly for news and information!

Posted in Due dates, Fun stuff, Humanities | Comments (12)

Gotcha day is fast approaching

February 11th, 2008

Well I can just about count in hours until we meet our new daughter Mimi. We are all so excited and can’t believe it is finally here. Nothing is ready. Sure we have bits and pieces and really one big shop at Carrefour would have us in perfect position. Because Mimi is 13 months old the materialistic side of me hasn’t been as strong. When Hannah was born, it was all about the clothes, pram, cot etc. This time it is all emotional……what has her last 13 months been like? Will it be seamless, Mimi joining our family? I am not ready….but then again how could anyone ever be. I know I will want to kiss her at least 100 times…..but this might scare her. The best thing though is, Hannah is 100% ready……Oh to be 7 and not have the wait of the world hanging over you.

So 7th grade………………. Ms Flott is going to be doing my favorite book for 7th grade The Outsiders and all the other fun and cool stuff. It has worked out so well timing wise….as the next 5 weeks work wise is probably the best topics of the year…..ver hard to give up. Ms Flott will be with you until Spring break and then I am back. I am really going to find it hard not seeing you everyday. This group of 7th graders has turned blogging into a very exciting and real educational tool. I plan to keep this site up and running over the next 5 weeks and with Student Led Conferences fast approaching, most of you need to use your blog………it will mean your workload is cut by more than half when getting ready for the SLC’s.

Posted in Fun stuff, Humanities | Comments (9)

© 2012 The Swivel Chair | Design by DemusDesign | Choice theme by Theme Lab and Linux Web Hosting. Powered by WordPress