Studio 306 - follow this

You should wrap up your portfolio with the following posts (please type in a final draft of your work - no scans or photos):

1. This I Believe final Draft

2. Mix Tape Post

3. Invisible Man response

4. Your responses to Mark Richard’s story “Strays”

• List the characters and their traits (3-5)
• How does the story reveal their traits?
• Copy your favorite sentence. Describe why.
• Copy the most important sentence. Describe why.
• List 3-5 motifs
• What is this story about literally? figuratively? thematically?

5. Your responses to Haruki Murakami’s story “The Mirror”

• How does the narrator face his fears?
• How do you face your fears?
• What were you afraid of when you began high school?
• As you look at yourself, your life, at the end of high school, what scares you about yourself?

6. Your responses to Sandra Cisneros’ essay “Straw Into Gold”

7. Closing comments to this class and your portfolio. I’d love to hear any suggestions, but please be constructive and helpful.

8. Oh, and of course a link to your final project!

As usual, your responses should thoroughly explore these questions, should include specific anecdotes to illustrate your ideas, and should privilege the specific and concrete over the general and abstract. Include a photo in your post.

QUESTIONS:

Instructions: your responses should thoroughly explore these questions, should include specific anecdotes to illustrate your ideas, and should privilege the specific and concrete over the general and abstract. Include a photo in your post.

1. Your personal response to the Invisible Man excerpt and/or Mr. Arnold’s presentation.

2. Consider the last 12 years of your education…

a) in what ways has the veil been lifted from you?

b) in what ways has the veil been lowered over you?

3. What do you plan to do in your future education or career to keep the veil from being lowered over you?

4. How did the story “Strays” lift the veil from you?

OTHER TO DOs

1. Post your responses to “Strays” (typed, scanned, or photographed - be sure they’re legible).

2. Make sure your final draft of “This I Believe” is posted along with your mixtape. Here are some examples of what your mixtape should look like: Diana, Diana H.

3. If you need extra credit, well, there is no extra credit. Either improve your work or finish it. Then email me your original posts and your revised posts along with a reflection on how you improved your work in the same email. Then I will consider revising your grade based on the quality of your revision.

Final Project Outlines due today

*1. Use one or more of the following questions to discuss what you learned from Hamlet. (2 paragraph minimum; be sure to use examples from Hamlet to compare or contrast his life with yours)

• Which decisions I make today will affect me for my entire life?

• How do I develop a realistic plan for the future?

• How can I invent new opportunities?

• How will knowing how decisions are made help me plan for my life?

• When is loyalty to myself, and my own values, more important than loyalty to a friend?

• Can one (apparently) have all the right information and make the wrong decisions?

*1. Hamlet Act 3, Scenes 3 & 4: personal annotations & research (what lines did you star? why? What terms did you circle? Why? What words did you need to look up? Include definitions)

*2. Hamlet Act 3, Scenes 3 & 4: summary + response (YOUR thoughts about what’s happening in the play)

Hamlet Act 3 Quotations (turn in to turnitin.com)

*ORGANIZATIONAL NOTE: Either create ONE weekly post that includes all your work, OR name each post like this (using this week as an example): Hamlet Week 4:1 (for the annotations and research) and Hamlet Week 4:2 (for your summary and response).

As usual: complete and upload the starred assignments to your portfolio to earn a B for the week, add the quotations assignment for an A, anything less will earn you, well, less.

*1. Act 3, Scene 1 personal research + summary and response
(For full credit I expect thorough & complete work - typed, NOT scanned)

*2. Persistence Quotation & your written response (final draft quality)

3. Hamlet Act 2 quotations (follow the directions found at the link)

photo by flickr user J. Paxon Reyes (cc)

Please answer these questions based on writing your rough draft and revising others’—

1. What is your favorite part about your essay so far?

2. What areas of your essay need the most work?

3. How did the peer revision process help you?

4. What did you learn about your own writing by revising the work of others?

Also due to your portfolio this week:

*1. “This I Believe” essay revision evidence
*2. Act 1 Scene 2 Analysis paragraph
*3. Rough Draft Reflection
4. Act 1 Scene 2 personal research
5. Hamlet Act 1 quotations

Today during our computer lab time you should be finishing up and posting your weekly work, which is:

*1. “This I Believe” essay draft
*2. “Our Lives are Ephemeral” annotation
3. “Our Lives are Ephemeral”
      personal research

Remember, to earn a B you must at least complete the activities marked with an asterisk. Anything less earns you a C at most, and if you go above and beyond the asterisks then you’re qualified to earn an A. To ensure the grade you want, be sure your work shows that you’re engaged and that you’re exploring and extending.

Want to get started on some of next week’s A credit assignments, then check this out!

Andy p2 came across a disturbing article, and one that touches on what I had hoped more students would realize—it’s not just governments who might be watching you, who might take away your freedom. Plenty of other organizations are interested in what you’re doing, when and where. And of course, there’s you. How much of your freedom are you willing to part with? Under what circumstances? In exchange for what?

englishmang:

dustinchhum:

occupyallstreets:

Obama And ISP’s To Launch Largest Digital Spying Scheme In History (Must Read)

If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.

Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.

That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.

Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department.

The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet.

The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see

-Time Warner Cable

-Cablevision

-Comcast

-Verizon

-AT&T

and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.

Read More

Response: This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA.

What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company.

Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this.

Uh. That’s some scary **** right there.

Hey look, it’s the Thought Police!
Just like having a tele-screen everywhere you go and and children who tell on you.
GG. 

(via )

For today’s reflection you’ll focus in on a particular post in your portfolio to determine what needs to be improved and how.

1. Choose your best post on 1984. It can be group evidence, or a post you made on your own. Link to that post in today’s reflection.
2. Grade that post using our portfolio rubric (depth of knowledge, standards and multimedia)
3. Defend your grade by discussing how you “demonstrate strategic and extended thinking” (A or B grade), or discuss how you can improve you (C or D grade): “demonstrate simple recall & reproduction in their thinking and basic application of skills.”
4. *note: A or exemplary quality posts will cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support your work.

Use the rest of today’s computer lab time improving your portfolio. 

A Warning and Why?

• In its Afterword, Eric Fromm says 1984 is a warning. What warning did you sense? What are you more aware of after reading 1984? What will you avoid? 

• What’s the obvious answer to these questions? What ELSE should we be more aware and conscious of?

• Some schools have tried to ban 1984 from their reading lists while other schools have been reading it for years. Why? What are schools afraid of? Why do you think 1984 is on our reading list?

Aim to write an exemplary reflection: demonstrate strategic and extended thinking in  portfolio evidence. Connect your reflection back to specific sections from the novel. Use quotations from the novel to support your ideas. What’s your point? How do you support it? Why should we care?

Use the rest of your time today to bring the rest of your portfolio up to speed.

Some exemplary reflections from today:

Connor B.