The Wave Blog Post Assignment May 14, 2009
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Choose one of the following questions and respond to it in a thoughtful answer based on your reading of the novel The Wave.
1) Describe a class lesson that changed the way you see the world.
2) Describe the rules of a group that you belong to (or would like to belong to) and explain why you want to be a member of this group.
3) Laurie’s parents debate about what is more important: community spirit or individualism. Which do you feel is more important? Support your answer.
4) Write about a time when you defended yourself or somebody else. Can you think of a time when someone defended you or another person against being physically or verbally attacked? (Do not use specific names please.)
5) Three women in the novel (Mrs. Saunders, Laurie, and Christy Ross) are suspicious of The Wave but fail for a long time to convince their husbands and boyfriends of the danger. Choose one of the following sets of characters and contrast how each feels about The Wave. Choose from Mrs. Saunders/Mr. Saunders, Ben Ross/Christy Ross/, or David Collins/Laurie Saunders.
6) Ben Ross is so delighted with his success in disciplining his class that he daydreams about reading a story in Time magazine about his achievement. Write the article. Make sure you refer to the events described in the novel.
7) Write a list of things that you could do in your own life to make the United States a more tolerant place.
8) Produce an anti-Wave edition of the Gordon High School newspaper, The Grapevine. You might write an article on the destructive effects that The Wave has had on education or how the movement has divided students and destroyed relationships. Be sure to mention specific events described in the book and title your article.
Good luck – I am excited to read your thoughts and reactions.
The Week In Rap 05.08.2009 May 9, 2009
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Enjoy!
Teacher Appreciation Week May 3, 2009
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As we finish up our eighth grade year in district 68, we will take some time during American Education Week this week to thank the teachers who have impacted your life in a positive way. Although we won’t be writing a Miss Foley song (see video below by Barry Lane), we will be writing Attitude of Gratitude letters. Know that by doing so, you will bring smiles to the faces of many staff members this week. We appreciate and believe in all of you!!
The internet is a powerful tool, and your blogging assignment this week is to post three teachers who have made a positive difference in your life (or who you think are the three best teachers you have ever had) and support your choices with evidence, examples, or explanation.
For each entry, please include the teacher’s name, the school they teach/taught at, and why he/she is such a great teacher. I’d be happy to pass along the link to our blog to them, so that they can see that what they are doing does make a difference. Thanks!
The Week In Rap – 5.01.09 May 2, 2009
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Enjoy!
Speak Your Mind April 21, 2009
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Which video do you think best describes or captures these difficult periods in our history? How do you feel about the way the messages were presented? Please leave a minimum of a three sentence reaction to the video of your choice… how might you have presented the information differently?
Miri Ben-Ari’s “Symphony of Brotherhood”
Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”
Movie Trailer for the background of Amazing Grace
Anne Frank as a Writer (US Holocaust Museum’s Tenth Anniversary Project)
The Week In Rap 04.17.2009 April 18, 2009
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Channel One (an educational company) joined together with Flocabulary to create a new, innovative way of informing teens about events happening throughout the world. The Week in Rap provides a weekly summary of current events in a hip-hop music video for teens and students… it’s a week’s worth of news, rapped. New every Friday.
Week In Rap 4.17.09 from Week in Rap on Vimeo.
Anne Frank April 16, 2009
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As we are studying Anne Frank and reading the play version of her story in class, please consider visiting this Scholastic website. Here, you can learn more about her life and the lives of the people around her… there is even an interview with the real Miep Gies!
Scholastic Remembers Anne Frank<--Click here to check it out!
After you visit the site, please feel free to comment on any three new facts you learned after visiting this site. No repeats - I am interested to see what you learned from the site and each other.
Pick a Poem April 13, 2009
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The Academy of American Poets has declared April National Poetry Month. To get us all excited about poetry, we will participate in “April Madness.” April Madness is like March Madness, but it uses poetry instead of basketball teams in the brackets. Two students each round will read or recite a poem. After they present, the class will vote on which they liked best (equal parts poem and presentation), and the winner will advance to the next round. The rounds continue each day until an overall class winner is chosen. You may choose to repeat a winning poem or change to a new poem for each round. You can choose a famous poem by a famous poet or something you have written yourself. To add an incentive, I will offer 2 bonus points each time a student advances, and the overall winner from each class will receive a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble bookstore. Additional assignment details and a grading rubric were distributed in class today. Some websites to help you find a poem are:
Poetry for Kids: http://www.poetry4kids.com/poems
Library of Congress Poetry 180 Website: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
Teen Ink Poetry: http://www.teenink.com/Poetry/
Some famous poets you may want to investigate include: Naomi Shihab Nye, Billy Collins, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Shel Silverstein, Jack Pruletsky, William Stafford, Walt Whitman, and lots more!
A New, Fun Update April 11, 2009
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I hope you enjoy the music as you work! 
DID YOU KNOW?? April 10, 2009
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Some of you have been asking why we are blogging and using web 2.0 tools in a language arts class. The word “blog” is a hybrid for web log. I found a video that I think is extremely interesting about the increasing importance of technology in our lives. This updated version of the original created by Karl Fisch was made in 2008 about the status of our society. What are your thoughts after watching this? I’m interested to hear what you think… let me know!
