Our free reading book for this month is biography. Go to the library and browse the many choices available in the biography section. It’s a big collection in the library because people like to read interesting and enlightening stories about other people. You have approximately a month to read the book; it’s due Monday November 27.
Write another post and comment on someone else’s post on YouthVoices by Monday 11/6. That’s the last assignment of this quarter
Your group needs to answer all the questions in your Google document for tomorrow.
Part One – October 23
Part Two – October 30
Part Three – November 7
Today we’ll start adding events to the Google calendar for writing contests. It’s first come, first serve. Click on the button below to add your contest entry to the calendar. (You need a free gmail account to access this calendar).
If we’re going to have an October issue, we need to finish it! Looking for some leadership here…
Contracts for first quarter ads are due next week. For the first quarter, you either get an ad OR raise $20 for Bulldog Press through the magazine drive (that’s $50 in total sales since we only get 40%). The newspaper has to be self-sufficient, and we all have a stake in it: No $, no A.
Also, on Monday we’re going to do a webradio simulcast with some students from New York, Oregon, and Wisconsin. It will take place from 11:20-11:40. Anyone who’s been doing audio stories is welcome! Extra credit available.
November 17 is the annual Writers and Photographers Day at the University of Utah. There’s no cost and you get to attend workshops by professionals. Unfortunately you’d have to miss school that day.
Vocabulary lesson 3 and the unit review are due today. The books are on the heater where you turned them in last time. Turn in your books by the end of class. The vocabulary quiz on Monday, 10/23, is over units 1-3.
Tuesday, October 17, is a reading day. Bring Orwell’s 1984 to class with you. Finish Part One for Monday, 10/23.
Listen to this audio story about Orwell’s Politics and the English Language.
Read this about political language today.
We’re starting to put together the print edition, but we need to really shape up the pages by Friday, October 20. Here are a couple of procedural matters:
In class we began four assignments: using Writely to compose your first YouthVoices blog post, commenting on another blog post in YouthVoices, writing about your special place, and searching for images relating to your research paper idea. These four assignments are listed in detail below.
For homework 10/16: complete the assignments that you didn’t finish in class today.
I. Sign up for Writely online word processor by going to writely.com. Follow the directions for signing up.
1. Click ‘new’ and begin typing.
2. Write 10 questions you have about the world and yourself. Think of them as something you might research.
3.Turn those into one word ‘tags’ that you’ll enter into your interests in your profile in youthvoices after step 5.
4. Now Freewrite for 10 minutes about one of your questions that really interests you. Write what you know about it and then what you want to know more about.
5. Save, and then click ‘done.’
Then…
6. Update your profile at youthvoices.net with your new tags about your interests.
7. Search online for sources for your research topic. Add that to your Writely document.
8. Proofread your freewrite about your topic. Copy and Paste it into your first blog post on YouthVoices.
II. Comment on another blog entry on YouthVoices. Keep these things in mind when doing so:
- Write meaningful comments
- Show the writer you “hear” them
- Share some of yourself when you comment
- Criticize kindly
• Will it make a difference?
• Focus on content more than surface errors
• Is my perspective already shared in the comments?
• Start by genuinely complimenting the author
• Point out each area of disagreement and why in a brief, non-rantish, professional manner.
• NEVER: Be sarcastic, rant prolifically, curse, or personally attack a person.
Procedure for commenting:
• Introduce the quote. Begin with something about what the blogger said like “I noticed…”
• Insert the quote. Use quotation marks.
• Interpret the quote. Why do you think the blogger said this? What are your thoughts on it?
III. Writing about your special place:
First peer edit your place description using the descriptive writing rubric. Then write your 50 word place description in a new Writely document.
IV. Search for Creative Commons images for your research topic using these sites:
