Final Reflection

What does it all mean? We reflect in order to learn; we learn by reflecting.

In this blog, you will be considering yourself as a student, your work as a reader and writer, and what you will keep from your topic.

You may have an intro and conclusion paragraph, but for the body paragraphs, focus on:

1) What type of student have you been this semester? Consider your process of completing assignments, of clarifying assignments, and of finding help when you need it. How did you organize yourself and ensure you were completing what you needed?

2) What will you keep from your research this semester? What really sticks with you from your chosen topic? What ideas will stay with you? How might your topic relate to something you plan to do in your future? Will you continue to keep up on information about this topic? Do you feel differently about your topic then you did at the beginning of the year?

Remember, the questions are suggestions as you can take those paragraphs wherever you need to.

Book Blog

Book Blog

The following ideas/topics need to be included in your 600-800 word response blog for your outside reading book. In order to receive an advanced on this essay, you must have textual support (i.e. quote the book for support).

These questions are to get you started, but you will need to expand on them and decide how to organize them in order to create your post.

Purpose: Why was the book written (you might need to read the preface and/or acknowledgments to really understand this)? Did the author meet his or her intended purpose?

Structure: How was the book organized/laid out? In what order was information given? What text features were included? Did the structure of the book aid in comprehension of the material? Why or why not?

Credibility: Who is the author and can we trust what he or she has written? Why? Does the author have any obvious biases? Is the book endorsed or sponsored by anyone? What types of reviews has the books received—what have critics said about the book?

Key Information: What are the main points/conclusions that the author makes in this book? Give specific details for each topic/idea covered in the book. Summarize what one would learn by reading this text.

Style: What style of writing did the author choose? What point of view was the book written in? What types of word choice and sentence structure did the author employ? Is this straight expository text or does it include elements of narrative or dialogue or other ways of giving information?

Personal response: How does this book tie to your topic? Did it help you meet your goals for what you wanted to know about your topic? (Be specific) What did you particularly enjoy about the book? What did you not enjoy about the book? When and why might you recommend this book?

Rhetorical Analysis - Due by 7:00am on Dec. 4

In this blog you will be doing a rhetorical analysis of a speech, article, editorial or news story.  This blog is based on the premise that all writing is aimed at a specific audience for a specific purpose (i.e. an argument).  Your task is to determine the purpose (not just the subject) of a piece of writing and explore the strategies and literary devices used by the writer to achieve this goal.

Begin by introducing the article you analyzed, stating the full name of the author and article, and putting the rest of the source information in the works cited section on the bottom of the blog.  If you found the article online then a link should be included.  Next, offer a concise, but thorough, summary of what the writer says and an analysis of the argument's rhetorical components.  These may include:

• How does the author establish his/her credibility (ethos)
• The purpose (to assert, inquire, negotiate or dominate)
• The significance of the medium (speech, academic periodical, popular newspaper, etc.)
• The context
• The reasons (logos) given as support
• The emotional appeals and/or mood created by the author (pathos)
• Literary techniques utilized in making the persuasive case (metaphors, repetition, alliteration, etc.)

This blog should be 300-400 words (two of which should be vocabulary words) and it should be edited to perfection.

4.2.d (analyze rhetorical devices)
3.3.a (conventions)
3.2.e (transitions)
3.2.a (support and evidence)

Student Choice

What do you want to say, research, present that you haven't had a chance to yet? This is your chance!

You design this blog. The requirement is 300-500 words. At the beginning of the blog, you just need to say what your goal was before you write the actual blog. (i.e. I chose to do a summary of different personal stories around my issue OR I chose to do a review of another website that I have found very informative OR I am writing a research piece on why _______ happens OR this is my recommendation blog about what people should do about ________, etc.)

Incorporate two vocabulary words into your blog.

This blog will be graded on the following standards:
3.2.c (appropriate language for content)
3.3.a (conventions)
3.1.d (manipulate elements of style to appeal to the senses of the reader)
3.2.e (enhance flow of ideas through transitional words)
3.2.g (draw a conclusion)

Research Blog

Time to research! Choose one of your questions from the "10 questions" in class and look for answers! This should be a pretty BIG question with more than a "yes" or "no" answer.

Use the Internet, the public library databases, and the school library. Find as much info as you can. Then, write an expository essay (written to explain with an identifiable intro, body, conclusion) of 600-800 words that reports what you've found. In class on Thursday, we will be reviewing what makes a strong essay and a strong thesis statement.

A few things to remember: 3rd person point of view, clear, supportable, identifiable thesis, each body paragraph focused on one point that supports thesis, and conclusion synthesizes what you've found.

The blog should be edited to perfection and include two vocab words that are used effectively.

Sources: @ least three with both in-text citations and a works cited at the bottom.

Standards: 3.2.a, 3.2.d, 3.2.e, 3.2.g

Interpret Data

In this post you will interpret the results of your poll. 

I want you to connect the results of the poll to what you learn through your research and then evaluate the connection.  Do the class results mirror what you are finding in other areas of your research?  Are the class results significantly different?  If so, why do you think that is.

At this point in the semester you should be getting deeper into your research and learning more about your topic.  To help with that endeavor, I want you to incorporate at least two reputable sources (no Wikis this week).  For a 4 on the sources standard you will need to complete an annotated bibliography (located at the bottom of your post) explaining why your sources are reputable.

Post a Poll - Due October 22

21st Century Learning Poll

This week you are going to do two things.

1) Add a poll to your blog.  First go to Design and then Gadget.  Scroll down until you see a link for "Create a Poll."

2) Respond to this posting (comment) with at least two things you have learned about your topic that you didn't know before.  If you have trouble then you are not digging deep enough in your research.