"All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD,
all you lands;
break into song;
sing praise.
The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power."
~Psalm 98
NEW AMERICAN BIBLE 05.17.12
GREETINGS Class of 2014.
Thursday was our Writing Workshop because it is the only day of the week that I get to work with both sections for a three block period. As you know, I really enjoy the long block of time to pray, think, read, write, talk, and work on our many diverse assignments that eventually will connect into our holistic approach to learning and living. Trust me! There is reason to our madness!!!
"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."
~Friedrich Nietzche
[C.E. 19th Century German Author & Philosopher]
Daily practice of reading and writing drives
our SFX Language Arts Program.
We focus on learning as a holistic process over isolated content areas. All that we do is interelated...thinking, reading, writing, speaking, presenting, cooperating, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, technology,...
"The Writing Workshop is based on research showing that students learn best when they write frequently on topics of their own choice and when they are explicitly taught the skills, strategies, an qualities of effective writing."
~Winnetka Public School District 2012 Annual Report
THANK YOU STUDENTS & PARENTS Thank you to 
all students and your parents who continue to provide communal snacks to our Room 305 Snack Basket. The bags and bars are getting low again...so, many of you may want to go private ownership the rest of the year and bring a snack in your lunch bag to enjoy during Thursday Global Studies.
MID TERM REPORT FORMS SIGNED & RETURNED I am waiting on two signed Mid Term reports out of the thirty distributed last Thursday. Thank you to parents who reviewed with their adolescents and signed in by Friday of last week. Emails were sent to parents of students who need to submit their signed report. So, as they say folks: "No news is good news!"
BIOGRAPHY ASSESSMENTS Presently, I have assessed all Expository Biography Research Papers, and students are invited to review their work, read my edits and suggestions, and revise their work for additional learning and credit.
I spent an average of 35 minutes on each paper and your prewriting materials. As the Mid Term Report documented, the project points include:
LANGUAGE ARTS: 100 points (Cover, Dedication, Multi Paragraphs, Works Cited Page)
SOCIAL STUDIES: 60 points (5W Chart, Outline, Note Cards, Rough Draft(s), Planning Packet)
READING: 10 points (Four+ Reading Sources)
I am extremely pleased with your reading and writing progress. However, I sense that several of you are disappointed with your point scores. People, please consider that even an outstanding paper may be marked with many a green edit and marginal suggestions! It is a big part of my job and my responsibility to carefully read the work that you spend so much time and give so much effort!
Even the best of writers, edit-edit-edit-edit-and reedit their work!
"We are not writers...we are rewriters!" Our work is never finished. Life and learning are a process! Do not be discouraged when a teacher corrects and guides your learning. This is what a teacher does! You are an apprentice. (Look it up!) You are in the middle of learning and developing. Get comfortable with guidance and revision so that you are ready and willing to face the world in the near future as a mature, prepared, and engaged adult! But, not yet! So, get use to corrections and suggestions.
Most of us do not have "A"material the first draft just as most of the best baseball players rarely hit a home run or a grand slam each time they are at the plate. Try to relax, be open to suggestions, and take the time before June 6th to check out your paper from your Writing Portfolio and revise your work.
NOTE TO PARENTS: Student will bring their complete Writing Portfolio home the last week of school. If a student checks out their written and graded work from the portfoilio, the original work needs to be refiled in the portfolio with your revised work. Students know to make a "new document" and not to tweak the original or white out teacher edits. Following is a list of the typical edit marks and suggestions repeatedly marked on your biographies:
Typical Edits & Suggestions to improve learning and credit include:
~Add a Hook/Starter Sentence(s.)
~Strengthen your Topic Sentence with name, century, culture/nation, and "magnum opus." You know what that means!
~Add transition words to introduce your three main supporting points.
ADVANCED WRITER: With compound sentences, use a more sophisticated transition word in the middle with proper semi-colon-transition word-comma use such as:
Annie presented an excellent digital slide show on William Shakespeare; however, she needs to type her formal topic sentence on slide two to receive full credit.
~Add your five+ Vocabulary Words.
USE A THESAURUS! Do not overuse a word unless you specifically want to draw attention to that particular word such as "sweet" in our "What's in My Bag" paragraph.
~Add your required two+ images with one sentence captions.
~Indent paragraphs.
FULL CIRCLE WRITING PLEASE! Restate your topic in the last paragraph.
~Add your quote about your person.
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts, ..."
~w.s.
POEM HUNTER: Shakespeare
~Add description with adjectives for nouns and adverbs for verbs.
~Do not overuse pronouns! Do not use "you" when understood, or in a research paper. Also, "you" is an informal pronoun in a formal work! Write to the unknown "Every-person."
~Do not say..."I am going to tell you..." STOP! Do not reference yourself in a biography. Save that for a persuasive opinion piece. This is research; document facts!
~Follow format and mandatory directions given in class, on the blog, on GREAT SOURCE, and in WRITE SOURCE text.
~Break up run-on, meandering, run-away, way-too-long, which-road-am-I-taking-anyway sentences into 
two sentences.
~Revisit comma use with compound sentences.
~Add variety of sentences. Short/Long, DECLARATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, IMPERATIVE, and EXCLAMATORY!
Okay now, I can do this!
Ms. Mash said to put a semi colon first,
then the transition word followed by a comma,
or was that a comma first...oh bother,
where is my WRITE SOURCE book?
~Check your Works Cited Page for format. You were to have at least four resources and one resource a book. Extra Credit was distributed to the many of you who went way beyond four sources, especially Class of 2014 Researchers, i.l. and m.t. As Socrates might say: "Kudos to you! Write your life Scholars! Live and Write your life!"
~Lastly, and I do mean the-last-step, use spelling/grammar check and then check again for conventions. Don't trust a machine. Double check word choice for content and conventions.
~Spelling errors were not an issue, but many of you had major capitalization errors. Please return to capitalization rules in WRITE SOURCE on proper pronouns and adjectives. You are not writing a text message or a twitt or tweet though your generation finds them so sweet! You are writing. Keep your purpose and audience in mind. Thank you.
AND ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THAT CONTENT TRUMPS CONVENTIONS!
Again I want to express how much I enjoyed reading your written work. Of the five years that I have taught at SFX, The Class of 2014 has delivered the best biography efforts! Though part of this may be that each year, I try my best to become more aware and better skilled on how to guide and support my scholars; moreover, it speaks volumes about you as individuals and a group! Thank you students and...Good for you Class of 2014!
"Alice did you know that Marco Polo..."
I hope that in your reading, research, thinking, and writing exploration of your historical persons that you are learning to live your own life with the extreme passion and compassion revealed in their stories!
"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
~Robert F. Kennedy
[C.E. 20th Century American Author, Political Leader, & Activist]
"SUMMER DREAMING"
READING SUGGESTIONS:
Soon and very soon you will be receiving information regarding your SFX Summer Reading Assignments. However, let me put a "bug in your ear" now! I suggest that if you enjoyed doing your biography project, you may want to include at least one biography or non fiction book on your summer reading list!
In class this week, we mentioned the play: THE MIRACLE WORKER by William Gibson. Since we are reading a play in class you may be in the mood for another great play based on the life of Helen Keller. What a story! In addition, our IRB book this month is the classic THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER and if you like Tom you will love Huck! This summer consider reading Twain's best: ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Also, I am so pleased that I am hearing you talking to each other in class about TOM. As I mentioned this week, Tom is a 19th Century adolescent living on the banks of the Mississippi and you have so much in common! Don't believe me? Keep reading! And keep circling those vocabulary words and searching their meaning. By the way, What did Mark Twain and Helen Keller have in common?
Who were these people?
What did they believe in common?
How do we know?
"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
~h.k.
[C.E. 20th Century American Author, Educator, & Activist]
DIGITAL PRESENTATIONS & CLASS NOTE TAKING:
Throughout the rest of the year, we continue to hear peer digital shorts about their biography person. Thank you to a.h., m.h., p.s., and a.d. who have presented their digital short about Shakespeare, Ponce de Leon, Cortez, and Dante.
Students are taking notes regarding the: Who, When, Where, What, and Why? about each person. In addition students are asked to respond to these to questions:
I think that ______________ was...
If I met ________________, I would ask them... or tell them that...
"If I met William Shakespeare, I would ask him if he would like to go bowling with me."
~e.f.
"If I met Ponce de Leon, I would tell him that there is no fountain of youth!"
~m.h.
KEEP DIGITAL REVISING As with the traditional expository writing, you are being asked to revise your digital slides as well.
As with the paper, the work is impressive, but revisions will strengthen your content and multi media presentation.
Remember, in class you were asked to reference WRITE SOURCE pages on Group Work, Multi Media, Speaking, and add Note Taking.
TYPICAL DIGITAL REVISIONS INCLUDE:
~FOLLOW THE 10-Slide Format Directions in order 1-10.
~You can not receive full credit on any slide that is missing required information.
~Make sure that you have that Topic Sentence on the second slide.
~Balance Words & Images.
~No more than one-two sentence per slide or three bullet points per slide.
~Full Size your images. NO BLURRY IMAGES!
~Check for Spelling, Capitalization, and punctuation points!
~Make sure you finish with a "Credit" slide and self image.
~Anyone who did a Pod Cast or iMovie over a Keynote Slideshow, give me a copy of your script. Great job p.s.!
~CONTENT is great!!!
~As always, work on following directions and conventions. I give you a lot of creative options, but you must work within the boundaries presented and mandated.
CURRENT WRITING BEING ASSESSED
As my dear father always says people:
"Keep the fermenters going scholars!"
As we wind down or is that whine down the end of your year scholars keep on keeping on. Believe it or not, we are almost finished with your Sixth Grade Studies! However, press on as St. Paul writes in his letters and run a good race especially as we near the finish line.
I am working on assessing your following assignments:
Biography Note Taking & Response Statements
Cooperative Learning Reflection Forms
*Asian & Pacific Rim Brochures for Content & Format
Expository "How To Make A PB. & J. Sandwich" Final Draft
THANK YOU MS. SULLIVAN, MS. McGIVERN, MS. ELLIOTT I want to thank Ms. Sullivan for teaching on Wednesday as I attended Institute of American Education seminar on "Using Technology in the 21st Century Classroom" The professional development day provided extremely interesting and fascinating information and instruction that is both exciting and frightening at the same time. Such is life in any century!
I am grateful to Ms. Howard and Ms. Kelley for inviting and encouraging the faculty to join EDMODO this semester. And especially to Ms. Elliott who inspired me to join EDMODO based on how much the Class of 2014 enjoyed using the social learning site. The first instruction we received from our facilitator yesterday, Mr. Zachary Walker, was to log into EDMODO. It was nice to be ready!
As with Gutenberg and the printing press, and the crew who presented the first public television in 1939 at New York City's World Fair, the computer and global network have changed life and learning forever! Email is on its way out...my Macbook looked dated next to so many smart phones and ipads! And the average adolescent is gaming 10 hours a day!? I hope that is a stretched statistic! Regardless of the stats, I return from the conference renewed and determined to deliver quality instruction, guidance, and inspiration to my students!
Thank you Ms. McGivern for teaching Friday morning. Friday, Students have an opportunity to finish their "What's in My Bag" writing, read TOM through Chapter VI, and read their peer Asian & Pacific Rim travel brochures and edit. Also, thanks to Ms. Elliott for teaching Friday afternoon "English Studies" and dismissing 7M Homeroom.
Have a Blessed May Weekend.
