Language Rts is Awesome

Poem, poem poem.

Awesome poem.

Extra Credit!

I know, I know...I told you that I don't give extra credit. Well, I've made an exception this trimester. This is for a couple reasons: 1) we have run out of time in the trimester to do our whole utopia technology project, and 2) it's TEEN TECH WEEK! So I've decided to give extra credit to those of you who want to turn your portfolios in using technology. In H block yesterday, we brainstormed some ways this could be done:

1) iMovie: Make a movie of your pieces and how they helped your grow as a writer this trimester. Obviously I won't be able to read all of the writing, so you'll have to submit them in full in another way (such as sharing them on google docs, putting them in a dropbox folder, etc). But it would be a great way to show what you learned in our iMovie project!

2) Dropbox: If you go to Dropbox.com and sign up, you can simply save all of your work in a Dropbox folder and share the folder with me. It's basically the same idea as creating a folder on ClassShare, but you don't have to be connected to the school network for it to work! (I'll show more of this in class.)

3) Website: Whether you choose to do a Google Site or blog of some kind (like this one!), you can create a website to add all of your work to and send me the link to the site! If it's the kind of site where I need permission to have access (like Google Sites), be sure to share it with me.

4) Audacity: I haven't used Audacity much, but you can! Put together an Audacity presentation and share it with me.

5) Prezi: Prezi.com is an online presentation tool. I will be showing it to you in class so that you can see how it works.

...there are so many more things you can do to incorporate technology into your portfolio. The idea is that we're cutting down on paper usage and increasing our technology skills. This is NOT required--you can absolutely turn it in old school style. This is also not a comprehensive list of ways to incorporate technology. Use your imagination--if you think of a way you'd like to use technology to present your portfolio, GO FOR IT!

Happy Teen Tech Week!

Portfolio Requirements

1 Brainstorm

2 Prewrites (NOT brainstorms--this can be a quickwrite, plot hill, outline, etc)

your best draft

your best revision

your best proofread

2 published pieces (different types of writing)

your favorite page in your notebook (put a sticky note on this and I will photocopy it

**You also need to include a brief summary of how these pieces reflect you as a writer, what strengths and weaknesses they show, and how you think you've grown as a writer this trimester.**

DUE: March 2nd

Portfolios

Hi all!

I hope you had a wonderful DO and restful four day weekend. Your teachers have been busy at school on your two days off getting ready for some excellent student learning in the last two weeks of the second trimester. Given all of the holidays before winter break and all of the fun things (field trips to the mangroves, Unity Day, DO) we've had going on after the break, we are a little behind in our Utopia unit! Oh no! In the next two weeks, we are going to create a podcast in which you will tell the creation story of your utopian community and we will watch the movie The Village. At the end of the trimester, on Tuesday the 8th or Wednesday the 9th, you will write an in-class essay exploring the utopia/dystopia theme. Don't worry, we'll discuss this more in class.

With all of our in-class work coming to a close, you also need to be finishing up your independent writing! Yep, portfolios!! They are due March 2nd. That's THIS Wednesday! Make sure you have all of the requirements and write a brief summary of how you think you improved as a writer this trimester. Your summary should be half a page to a page, typed. I will post the portfolio requirements in my next post.

See you tomorrow!

Ordering

I'm doing my ordering for next year this week. What does that mean for you? Well, it means NOW is the time to tell me which books you REALLY want to see in our classroom library next year. I've got the basics--the rest of the Percy Jackson series and other Rick Riordan books, the Hunger Games series, and the rest of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. And I've got a huge list of my own of books that I'm super psyched to share with you. But I also need to hear from you about books that you want to see in the library. So give me suggestions all week and I'll add them to the list!

Done, done, and DONE!

We have officially finished our videos and posted them on YouTube for the Science Fair. HURRAY! I can imagine that you're all as relieved as I am to be done with that project. It was fun, but it took more time than I had anticipated. The end product was worth all that time. We've been watching the videos in class and I've been watching them after school as well. They're great!! Just this morning I was going through a bunch of them to pick out a couple to post on the blog. I've decided on three of them to share with all of you. These three students did a stand out job putting together their videos with pictures and great scripts. Great work guys! Now it's time to get ready to head back to the Mac lab to work on our group videos and learn some of the trickier parts of video editing. Are you ready??

Sweet New Website For Readers and Writers!!

You're getting a double dose of me today; you are lucky creatures! I just HAD to share this wonderful site that Ms. Edquist (now Mrs. Kathol) sent my way!! It's called Figment and it's a place for you to share your writing, as well as read what others have posted. I'm going to go over it in class, but I wanted to add it to the blog as well so that you have an easy link to it. It's free (and very easy) to sign up for. So many of you have written wonderful pieces for class or just for fun--and this is a great way to publish! This way you can get feedback, support, and ideas from other readers and writers. To check it out, just click the Figment link at the top of the page!

Videos Complete!

As of 4:30pm today, your videos will be complete! I've seen quite a few of them already, and I must tell you--I'm impressed. If you haven't finished yet, I will be in the mac lab at lunch and after school today. At 4:30 I will be publishing ALL of them (unless you have a prearranged extension). I can't wait to see the finished products. We will be watching them in class and giving each other feedback next week in class. We will then return to our regular scheduled programming of The Giver and our Utopia projects. Next up for the Utopia project? Propaganda! Get ready to manipulate the minds of the masses with your new video skills!

The Giver: You should have finished Chapter 17. We will have a lit group in your first class next week (Saturday/Sunday).