Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Scribe 9/27

Today in class we worked in our independent study groups to discuss the first third of our novels. We answered week one questions on the wiki.

The wiki is to help us keep track of discussions and is for our use throughout the independent study project. The address for it is smithewl.pbwiki.com . When you get to the site you have to enter a password. If you were not in class ask Smith what the password is. Use your blogger name and email address in the spaces provided, this way updates that your group makes are emailed to you.

Katie and Ashley also brought donuts. They were delicious by the way.

Homework and stuff to remember:
- Have two thirds of your novel read by next Wednesday
- Make a copy of the Beowulf text if you want to
- Read hero and power of myth packets; we will discuss on Friday
- Read pages 2-19, 47 for quiz on Friday (Beowulf background)
- Conference with Smith over college essay grade if you have not done it
- Work on college scholarship applications
- Go to the bonfire, football game, parade, dance, and any other school events

Monday, September 25, 2006

Scribe 9 25

9/25

*Shortened class period because of royalty assembly*

HOMEWORK=
-Read Beowulf pgs 2-19, 47
-Be prepared for quiz on Friday over background info in the reading
-Make copy of Beowulf from purple book (optional)
-Independent study (first 1/3 finished by next Wednesday)
-Continue scholarship search
-GO IN FOR CONFERENCE OVER COLLEGE ESSAY GRADE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO!!!

AGENDA=
-Finished last two Oedipus presentations
-Signed out and turned in Oedipus books
-Received and checked in Elements of Literature books (purple)
-Received packet- The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
-Handed back Oedipus modernization presentation grades
-Circled up and read Anglo-Saxon history

KNOW FOR QUIZ=
-Great Britain has been invaded by the Iberians, the Celts, the Romans, the Anglos and Saxons, the Vikings, and the Normans
-Animism
-Druids
-King Alfred of Wessex
-“What does ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ mean?” box in top right corner on pg. 9
-Other notes taken outside of class period

HAVE A FANTASTIC MONDAY!!!

Scribe 9-20

Scribe 9/20

Donut Day!!!
-Lamar Donuts provided by Chris and Jeff

We started out by talking about our upcoming homework which included:

-independent study-first 1/3 of book due by next Wednesday
-college scholarships due October 23rd
-Read “How To Be Great” Anglo-Saxon handout

Also, we will be starting Beowulf next week. Ms. Smith suggested that we copy pages from the book so that we can directly annotate. Think about it. It is totally up to you!!!

After going over our upcoming schedule, we kind of went off on a tangent and talked about the changes we have during Homecoming Week. Ms. Smith encouraged us to be mature about the changes and show the rest of the school that we are accepting and excited for the new schedule. Also, she warned us about making stupid decisions on Homecoming Day and then having to deal with her wrath. (P.S.-That is not a good thing!!!) She simply suggested that we make the right decisions and have fun with our friends since this will be our last Homecoming. We were told that it is our job to promote this Homecoming, and not degrade it. Make the right decisions guys. It isn’t worth it to mess up!

Also, we will be having a quiz on Homecoming pep assembly day, so don’t expect a wasted class.

After we went off on this discussion, we began our fishbowl, with a few unexpected changes. Thanks to Matt Weber, we were given the opportunity to participate in “live blogging” during the fishbowl, aquarium, discussion. We were told that we could blog during the fishbowl instead of solely relying on a grade for speaking. This allows everyone to participate without having to vocalize.

Then the test began. It became very intense as everyone was trying to earn their grade. It was successful, especially when you consider that everyone had the opportunity to live blog during the discussion. Great idea Matt Weber!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Confidence in conferencing

Reflect on the college essay conferences. How did it go? What was the purpose behind it? (just less grading for me?) what did you get out of it? How will you apply your experience of deciding your grade to the remainder of your senior year?

Here little fishy...

Reflect back on the aquarium process today. How did it go? Did it meet your expectations? What are your frustrations and what suggestions do you have to deal with those? Be reflective and be constructive.

Live blogging

SO... what did you think of the live blogging in our aquarium? Be reflective of the process and recall what would have happened had you not been granted this opportunity.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

SmithEWL

SmithEWL
Remember ladies and gents that Friday there is no school!
In class we discussed conferences for our college essays.
Remember:
1) We as students have to decide upon our grade
2) It is difficult to do this so we need to review the essay ahead of time and have reasons to support our grade choice
3) If you cannot access your essay out of the dropbox, see Smith

4) If you have not signed up for a conference, DO!

During class we presented our modernization of our scenes. Two groups did not go. Since we have the test on Wednesday, they will present on Monday.

*The first group was Jeff, Kyle and Zach. The theme for their modernization was based on Burger King. Jeff pushed around a baby stroller. Zach and Kyle did good jobs on being the comic relief. The scene was the part when King Laius and JoJo find out their baby is going to kill him and marry her, and how they get rid of Pus.

*Stephanie, Richard, Emily and Andy were the next group to go. Smith decided after watching their video that in projects to come our parents have to make guest appearances (in their video someone's dad came out of the bathroom unaware of the filming). Their scene was the same as the one before in means of what they portrayed.

*Katie, Ashley, Marina and Amy were next. Their video was a based on high school jocks and included a SWEET dance off by Ashley and Marina. The film also included Amy sitting in a tree and Katie as the lacrosse coach.

*Amy King, Leanne, Sonny, Melissa, and Claire did a Jerry Springer based scene. Claire was super funny with her ghetto lingo, bathrobe, and hair curlers. Their scene was the one where Pus realized that he might be JoJo's son.

*Matt, Mark, Chris, Scott, and Kurt also did a video. Their video included the hanging of JoJo, Pus stabbing out his eyes, and a brief intermission.

As for HomeFUN:
*We all need to bring 3 TYPED questions for the aquarium test on Wednesday.
*Everyone should also be working on their independent study and college scholarships

Oedipus Final Blogging...

While not participating in the fishbowl/aquarium, blog your reactions to the discussion. This will be like a live recording of the discussion. Ask questions, record reactions, as well as important arguments. Make sure if you refer to people in the discussion, refer only by first name. Have fun and show them what you know...

Friday, September 15, 2006

Scribe 9-15

-We began the class talking about the test over Oedipus next Wednesday. We, as a class decided that it would be a fishbowl, where we sit in a circle and thoroughly discuss the play. Marie dubbed it an "aquarium" because it was one big circle, rather than a small circle in a big circle. We also, as a class, decided that we would each bring 3 well thought out questions to help the discussion along. It is quality people, quality, that counts, not quantity. The questions will be turned in for points.
-After this we worked with our groups to modernize a scene from Oedipus. If you were not there, contact your group and work with them to figure out what to do with your scene.


HOMEWORK:

-Find and apply to 5 college scholarships by October 25, it would be good if at least 3 of them involved writing an essay.
-Read your independent study book over the weekend, remember, the first third needs to be done by September 27.
-Work on your modernized scene with your group.
-Prepare for test on Wednesday, bring 3 deeply thought out questions to class for the test, they will be turned in for points. Also, prepare for thorough discussions, again quality is what counts.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Scribe: 9-13

- If you were not there you missed out on donut wednesday.
- Next Smith talked about the blog that was homework.
- Mrs. Ackerman sent her this info., she thought it was very interesting, and wanted to know what we thought about it. Blog about if you think you are prepared for the reading level of college.
- The other homework was to start studying for our test next Wednesday, Independent Study, Modernization of Scene, and College Scholarships.
- The homework for the scholarships was to turn in your confirmation of all 5 by Oct. 23.
- The major part about the class today was Mrs. Lewallen from the Post Grad. Center talking about the resources from Arapahoe regarding college scholarships.
- Arapahoe has a web page http://connection.naviance.com/arapahoehs
- Every person has a 6 digit password and when you go on to the website you will have to set up an account.
- This web page has very differed resources from college searches to your preferences.
- Also this page has links to other scholarship and aid websites.
- Mrs. Lewallen also talked about a website that was not on there to see where we can receive in-state tuition.
- www.wiche.edu
- To recieve the password and more information go to the Post Grad. Center

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Have you been taught the skills necessary to succeed?

The No. 1 Skill Teens Need for College
When it comes to academic collegiate success there is one skill more than any other that separates the A students from the C students: the ability to handle complex reading.
And they can't wait until they are college freshmen to learn how to do this.
The time to learn it is in high school, and alarmingly, most states do not require complex reading comprehension instruction at the high school level nor do they have any standards for high school reading achievement, The Associated Press reports of a new study from ACT, the nonprofit company that publishes one of the two tests required for college entrance. Instead, reading is considered a subject for elementary school and is rarely taught in later grades.
What makes an article or book complex to read? Complex reading is characterized by an elaborate organization where the messages are often implicit rather than overt. The interaction between ideas or characters may be subtle instead of obvious. Most of all, the vocabulary is demanding and intricate, notes AP.
How many college-bound high school students can read complex works? Of the
1.2 million high school seniors who took the ACT in 2005, only 51 percent scored high enough to show they were ready to handle first year college-level reading requirements. And this a concern not only to colleges, but also to employers.
What can be done? These aren't easy solutions, but the ACT insists that high school reading standards must be revised in core subjects, and struggling readers need to get help earlier in their education. Also, more teachers need to be trained in how to teach reading within their subject matter. That is, a chemistry teacher must also learn to teach reading as it relates to science

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Scribe 9-8

For class today:
~All papers should have been dropped in Smith's drop box
-We had a short blog and drop box tutorial
Blogs:
~Blog MORE! We have four blogs for this weekend..
-Crosby's freshman blog: They are talking about heroes which is what we are
focusing on this semester, so go look at what the freshman are saying and leave
an good comment.
-Alabama Blog: We discussed that in order for this to work we need to actually blog
on the page. So comment on their blog, our class needs to interact more...
-Blog on OUR Blog about the X Country: Comment on this blog about what you
would like to gain from this experience or anything else. A few of the students from
alambama have commented on this page so you can comment on those.
-Fate vs. Free Will: This blog ispired by Oedipus trying to control fate and destiny.
Independent Study:
~Go to the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch to purchase your independent study book!
The Muse needs it!
~We chose what books we would like to do an independent study on.
-Smith ran through the list of books and we chose our number 1, some people had to
change to one of their other choices from lack of people.
~We will meet with these independent study groups for 4 class periods, so you might want
to decide how you want to break up the number of pages in your book.
~The independent study will be due around October 11th ish?
Oedipus:
~We left off on page 47, where Oedipus and Jocasta are talking about the possibility that
Oedipus killed King Lauis.
~The chorus had an important speech on page 48 with 4 sections, and each section
represented a different idea...
-Section 1: The gods' laws are divine and above all other laws.
-Section 2: Man's dependency on the gods.
-Section 3: Showing that Oedipus put himself before the gods, and that was wrong.
-Section 4: It seems that the chorus is questioning whether the gods know what their
fate is, although we all know that Socrates makes it apparent through out the book that
we cannot control our fates and that the gods deserve trust.
*All of this made me think could the city of Thebes ever trust Oedipus again as a leader?
Could he even be a leader mentally anymore?
~In the next scene Jocasta comes in with an olive branch for the gods, and this is a little
bit weird considering that she didn't believe in the gods and fate before.
~Page 50: We meet the Corinthian Messenger who later tells Oedipus that Polybus was
not his real father and he was the one that found Oedipus and delivered him to Polybus.
He also informs us that Polybus is dead and that Oedipus will be crowned in Corinth.
He's not exactly the bearer of great news.
-Since Polybus has died of natural causes they kind of cast aside the fact that Lauis
was his real father... He doesn't want to return to Corinth because he knows that
he will have to marry his mother... THESE PEOPLE CAN'T PUT THINGS TOGETHER!
~Page 54: Oedpius tells of his prophecy and Jocasta remains quiet until about page 60,
finally someone has put something together.
~We figure that Oedipus asks so many questions to the messenger and to everyone
because he wants to find a way for this prophecy not to be true and wants to find a way
out of it.
~At the end of what we have read Jocasta begs Oedipus not to seek out the servent who
knows the truth because she knows what happened and doesn't know how he will handle
the news.
Homework: DO YOUR BLOGS!! ALL 4! Go to the Tattered Cover to get your book and plan how you will section it.


posted by Leanne

Friday, September 08, 2006

Fate v Freewill

As you look back on your life think of this...has your path been chosen for you or do you think you have the freewill to decide? Who is in control of you? Can you make any connections to Oedipus and his journey?

Cross Country Blogging

We need to get some ideas out there people on what you want to do with our friends in Alabama. Go check out there blog and add some ideas to Mrs. C's post or to our class.

http://mtnbrookseniors.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Cross Country Blogging...

As you all know, we are being watched by quite a few people not only in the U.S., but in the world. Thankfully, we have been given the opportunity to communicate and learn from these people. Now all we have to do is figure out how to communitcate with these folks. Check out this blog from a school in Alabama: http://www.mtnbrookseniors.blogspot.com
How do you think that we should talk with them? What do you want this to look like? And extra ideas?

August 28th Scribe

August 28,2006
Mrs. Smith collected our papers, and we read through page 27.
We took notes on dramatic irony, the tragic hero, what makes Oedipus a hero, the motifs, and the themes.
We did a popcorn exercise to refresh our brains about what we read last week.
~NOTES~
-Tiresias keeps saying personal things about Oedipus to try to get him to realize that he is the murderer, sort of verballyhinting him.
-Tiresias wants Oedipus to find out for himself, he wants him to search for his identity, a sort of self discovery thing.
-Finally after a long verbal fight, Tiresias just tells Oedipus that the murder is his fault, that he is the killer he is looking for.
-Oedipus doesn't believe him, and then brings Creon into the picture to try and blame him.
~MOTIFS~
-sickness doesn't stop, it only permiates -the concept of blindness
-on pg.25, Tiresias is telling Oedipus that even though he does not have eyes,he can still see what is clearly in front of him, and that Oedipus who has eyes to see, is blind, for not realizing what is clearly in front of him.
Anne Smith

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Crosby Connection

Crosby's freshmen are talking about heroes and I thought her questions about heroes is a good one for us to explore as well. Take a look and feel free to comment appropriately...

http://crosbyblog.blogspot.com/

Look at us, we're building bridges here between the freshmen and seniors.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Scribe 9-1

Today in Class:

-We split into groups of four and handed out laptops for the first time today!

-We went over how to handle the computers, we were assigned laptop numbers, and we went over the Laptop Computer Policy

-We edited one another’s papers using Microsoft Word’s abilities of adding comments and highlighting

Homework:

-Must have a conference with Smith regarding your final essay => DUE FRI (before class)

-Final College Essay => DUE FRI

If you missed class, you should:

-Set an appointment up with Smith for sometime next week

-Talk to Smith about editing

-Ask Smith about the Laptop Computer Policy and how to get assigned a laptop

Notes:

>Make sure your essay has the following:

-It is you (reveals who you are, your word choice, voice, etc.)

-No contractions

-Watch out for overused “like” and “that”

-1/3 Story; 2/3 Explanation/Feelings

-Work on making your essay flow by changing sentence structures

-Take out run-on sentences

-Make your essay simple, yet profound

-Grammar (as always…)