With all the spirit of the Academy Awards upon us, this week’s blog assignment will be for the students to write a movie review. 

Move Us With a Movie Review

Here is what you need to include in your blog post:

Paragraph 1
Include the following: name of the film, stars of the film, basic setting ( time and place), and type of film ( comedy, adventure, drama, etc.)

Paragraph 2
Write a plot summary for the movie. Do not reveal the ending! Discuss at least 5 events and be sure to cover the entire scope of the movie except the very end.

Paragraph 3
Discuss one aspect of filmmaking. You may choose from acting, directing, editing, costume design, set design, photography, background music, or anything else you may think of. Be sure that you are specific and cite examples from the movie.

Paragraph 4
Discuss another aspect of filmmaking. You may choose from acting, direction, editing, costume design, set design, photography, background music, or anything else you may think of.  Cite examples from the movie but obviously choose something different from what you discussed in the previous paragraph.

Paragraph 5
Give your overall reaction to the film as well as your opinion on the quality of the film. Last but certainly not least, include the grade you give this film based on your previous description.

Steps to Prepare for Writing This Post:

1. Think about what you like and don’t like about a particular movie you have recently seen. Jot down your likes & dislikes in a free-write list.
2. Next, write down as much information as you can about the movie (plot, aspect of filmmaking, etc.) 
3. Begin to articulate the information into your blog.  Aim for about 600-700 words for the entire review.
4. Save your draft and proof your work.

 ***Hint:  Attempt to match the tone of your review with the style of the movie. For example, a humorous writing style would work well for a comedy, whereas a more serious tone would be good for writing a drama review.

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Last week, my students signed up for their blogs!  They are excited to write their first post later this week. Here is the deets on this new blogging project we’ve embarked upon ~

WHO:        3 classes of sophomore Reading Strategies (students reading scores below grade level)

WHAT:  
a.  Two introductory activities (click here for GG’s activities)
b.  Blogging etiquette discussion (see below)
c.   Initial sign up & theme choice
d.  This week = first post!!!!

WHERE:  Edublogs by WordPress

WHEN: ongoing throughout this semester

WHY:       to facilitate motivation and fluidity with students’ reading and writing skills.

HOW:      Students will be blogging once a week.

Guidelines

When you write anything in the blog, please use the following guidelines. There are some questions so you may want to reflect on your posts.

1. Only post things that you would want everyone (in school, at home, in other countries) to know.
Ask yourself: Is this something I want everyone to see?

2. Do not share personal information.
Ask yourself: Could someone find me (in real life) based on this information?

3. Think before you post.
Ask yourself: What could be the consequences of this post?

4. Know who you’re communicating with.
Ask yourself: Who is going to look at this, and how are they going to interpret my words?

5. Consider your audience and that you’re representing Palatine High School.
Ask yourself: Do I have a good reason/purpose to do this?

6. Know how to give constructive feedback.
Ask yourself: What will I cause by writing this post?

7. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.
Ask yourself: Would I want someone to say this to me?

8. Use appropriate language and proper grammar and spelling.
Ask yourself: Would I want this post to be graded for proper grammar and spelling?

9. Only post information that you can verify is true (no gossiping).
Ask yourself: Is this inappropriate, immature or bullying?

10. Anytime you use media from another source, be sure to properly cite the creator of the original work. Otherwise, this is considered plagiarism and is reason to fail the class.
Ask yourself: Who is the original creator of this work?

Commenting Guidelines

As a blogger, you will be commenting on other people’s work regularly. Good comments:

• are constructive, but not hurtful;
• consider the author and the purpose of the post;
• are always related to the content of the post;
• include personal connections to what the author wrote;
• answer a question, or add meaningful information to the content topic;
• follow the writing process. Comments are a published piece of writing.

Blogging Terms and Conditions

1. Students using blogs are expected to act safely by keeping personal information out of their posts. You agree to not post or give out your family name, password, user name, email address, home address, school name, city, country or other information that could help someone locate or contact you in person. You may share your interests, ideas and preferences.
2. Students using blogs agree not to share their user name or password with anyone besides their teachers and parents. You agree to never log in as another student.
3. Students using blogs are expected to treat blogspaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate for class is not appropriate for your blog. While we encourage you to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers, we also expect that you will conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of this school.
4. Student blogs are to be a forum for student expression. However, they are first and foremost a tool for learning, and as such will sometimes be constrained by the various requirements and rules of classroom teachers. Students are welcome to post on any school-appropriate subject.
5. Students blogs are to be a vehicle for sharing student writing with real audiences. Most visitors to your blog who leave comments will leave respectful, helpful messages. If you receive a comment that makes you feel uncomfortable or is not respectful, tell your teacher right away. Do not respond to the comment.
6. Students using blogs take good care of the computers by not downloading or installing any software without permission, and not clicking on ads or competitions.
7. Students who do not abide by these terms and conditions may lose their opportunity to take part in this project.

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“Like” must be one of the most abused words in the English language.  Like, what’s up with, like, the overuse of, like, the word “like.” Like, I don’t understand how, like, people are actually, like, communicating with as many uses of the word “like.”   Like, the most used word in, like, most high schools in America is “like.”  Whoa, I can’t do that anymore.

I don’t know how that use of “like” actually started but I’ve been on a personal crusade to alleviate it for quite some time.  I assign a speech early on during the year in which I deduct a point each time “like” is used out of proper context.  Sadly, two out of 22 students earned an A on that speech this year.  Beside this annoying misuse, “like” is often confused with “as” when making a comparison.  This may be easier to correct.  Let’s try:

Like vs. As

This looks like the dog(s) I grew up with and the cat I now own. I miss Prissy and Cindy!

 

Like is a preposition used for making comparisons.  (Like can also be a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb; but, GG is concentrating on comparisons here.)  Like must be followed by a noun or pronoun:

Roman looks like my dog.    My dog looks like him.

As is a conjunction.  As is followed by a verb:

Taylor does as her friend says.     Do as I say, and as I do.

When you are uncertain whether to use like or as, look for a verb.  If a verb follows, you’ll know as is the word to use:

Every day the child acts more like her father. (no verb)     He acts as if he saw a ghost. (verb = saw)

**Tricky point ~ In comparisons, the verb may sometimes be left out to avoid wordiness.  In that case, you need to pretend it’s there:

Linda loves the city as much as I.  (the verb, do, is left out)

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Hardly a month goes by that I don’t run across research reiterating the highly significant benefits of read aloud in both the classroom and home.  In honor of Teacher Tuesday, this post concentrates on the classroom.  The following are prompts I use with my students to enhance their digestion of information.

Teachers can use the read aloud as a common text and model the reading strategies as well as explain literary techniques such as foreshadowing and flashback . . .

It's not a bad idea to always have a book ready for those idle moments!

Think-Aloud Prompts I Say Aloud to Model My Thought Process During Reading ~

(these should not take longer than about a minute)

• Prepare students to listen to the selection by activating and building their prior knowledge.
• Predict what will happen next; offer support from the text.
• Make a connection to yourself, family, community or world issues.
• State that a passage confuses you, then show how you unconfuse yourself by rereading or using visual context clues such as photographs, illustrations, diagrams, charts, maps or graphs.
• Pinpoint an unfamiliar word and show how you use context clues.
• Stop and infer what you think a character’s personality is like and explain what in the text helped you determine this.
• Explain point of view and show students how you use your knowledge of pronouns to figure this out.
• Reread a short, tough passage to show how this strategy helps you understand.
• Point out a flashback and explain what you learn from it.
• Show how the main character changes from beginning to end and explain what made him/her change.
• Point out these narrative elements and spotlight one or two until students “get it.”
  • protagonist and problems faced
  • antagonistic forces and how each works against the protagonist
  • setting
  • conflicts
  • minor characters
  • climax
  • denouement or return to normalcy
  • point out these informal informational text features
  • sidebar
  • diagram
  • chart or map
  • quote
  • part of a letter
  • newspaper clip
  • photograph and caption

Questions/Prompts I Use to Engage Students While Reading Aloud

• What will this character do or decide?  How do you know?
• Is this character similar to anyone you know?  How?
• What information did you gather from this sidebar?
• State the problem the protagonist faces now.  Predict how he/she will solve it.
• Can you explain the antagonistic force at work here and how it works against the protagonist?
• Can you identify a theme?
• What is the point of view?  How do you know?
• Can you connect the title to the story?
• What new information did you learn?
• Did this information change your thinking?  If so, how?
• How would you solve that problem differently?
• Is there a community/world issue this part of the story addresses?

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A student raised his hand in class today and inquired about the use of whom.  He asked if it is one of those words that has fallen out of the English language since he rarely hears it.  I told him, au contraire . . . the word is alive and well – many just don’t know how to use it appropriately.  There is actually a simple little trick for understanding which word to use!:

Who vs. Whom

Who is that behind the mask?

Use who (or whoever) when I, he, she, we or they could take its place.

Who and whoever are nominative forms.

Example:

Who is in charge of the redundant meeting? (She is in charge of the redundant meeting.)

Thank whoever made the delicious carrot cake. (He made the cake.)

Use whom (or whomever) when me, him, her, us, or them could take its place as a direct object or object of a preposition in the whom clause.

Examples:

For whom is he writing? (He is writing for her.)

I will vote for whomever you recommend. (You recommend him.)

Whom and whomever are objective forms.

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A student came up to me after class and asked if irregardless was a word.  This prompted GG’s latest mini-lesson:

Irregardless vs. Regardless

To answer my student’s question, irregardless is not a word.  It is a double negative, combining the words regardless and irrespective.  Yes, there can be double negatives in English as well as mathematics.  Let’s take a closer look:  Regardless means despite something or without regard.  If we say irregardless, we are literally saying without without regard.  This does not make sense!

Here’s an example of the correct usage of regardless:

Regardless of the obstacles, he persevered and overcame his hardships.

Regardless of the obstacles, he finished the race!

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Here is another pair of words many of us interchange incorrectly.

Between vs. Among

Between A Rock and a Hard Place (cupcakes2 on Flickr)

Use between when you refer to to people, places, or things.

Example:  Kimm had to choose between going on a cruise and catching three Broadway shows.

Use among when you refer to three or more people, places, or things.

Example: The gold treasure was divided among the crew of the pirate ship.

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People love to complain, rant, and rave – my students are no exception.  I use this lesson early on in the year to get them warmed up to writing.  They rarely experience brain freezes for this one!

What Bugs Me . . .*

• Talking loudly on cell phones at inappropriate times and places
• Shopping on the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas
• Subscription cards that fall out of magazines
• Telemarketers
• People who lose all manners to get a parking space
• Filling my car with gas
• Drivers who don’t observe the rules of the road and crash into your less than 2 month old car!!!!
• People who say “ta” instead of “to.”
• People who update their FB status 12 times a day.

. . . You get the picture!

YOUR TURN TO RANT AND RAVE -

1. Brainstorm a list of at least ten things that bug you.
2. Choose ONE to write about.
3. Type a one-page description of why this particular issue/item/etc. bugs you.

There!  Doesn’t that feel good to get that off your chest?!?

adapted from Kelly Gallagher’s Teaching Adolescent Writers

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People usually love to write about themselves.  Writing can be therapeutic, it can be a chance to express oneself more openly than one may in person, and it can provide a creative channel to explore.  Here’s an assignment my seniors run with time and again:

Find the Fib*  

Below you will find five statements about me. Four of the statements are true, one is a fib. Can you guess which one is the fib?

1. My voice is the voice of two characters on a pinball game.

2. I worked as a runway model.

3. I was interviewed and appeared on a national television show to give my opinion about one of the past season’s American Idol contestants.

4. Teri Hatcher is my third cousin on my mother’s side.

5. I hang glided 1400 feet in the air, and later jumped off 100 ft cliff.

Now it’s your turn!

a. Type five statements about yourself. (think of your accomplishments, accidents, travels, mishaps, etc) Four statements must be true and one statement must be a fib.

2. Print a copy of your statements. Go to as many classmates as possible. You must go to at least ten people, but the more the better. Keep track of how many people can spot your fib and how many cannot. Tell me your results here: _____ # of people you fool _____ # of people who correctly guess your fib The person with the fewest correctly guessed fibs will be officially titled the “Best Fibber” of the Class of 2010!!!

3. Now . . . choose one of your true statements to elaborate on. Your assignment is to tell the story of this statement in writing! (minimum one well-developed paragraph)

*adapted from Kelly Gallagher’s Teaching Adolescent Writers

btw – the fib is #4! 

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Adviser or Advisor???

AP style tells us to use adviser rather than advisor but it does not indicate why.  I am interested in learning the reason.  Perhaps it has to do with the etymology of the word.

Maybe because the root verb (“advise”) ends in the letter E, the -er suffix is preferred to the -or suffix.  An analogous case is the verb organize, which becomes organizer (and clearly not “organizor”).

Dictionaries say these words are synonymous.  Neither seem technically incorrect or correct.

What do you think?  Comment back – do you use advisor or adviser?

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