Blog Crazy!

Our Odyssey blogs look awesome! Check out some more of your classmates' work.

Melanie and Jill
Brittany and Hannah
Joe and Brandon
Eric, Jon and Brendan
Sean and Cameron
Mary and Haley
Luke and Christian
Katey and Chrissy

A blogging we go!

The day before break marks the midpoint of our blog project. SO EXCITING! Here are the blogs of your classmates and from the other class. If the links don't work, it's because I was given the wrong address. Give them a try!

Madeliene and Missy
Thora and Rae
Brooke and Nicole
Kaeleen, Molly and Olivia
Elizabeth and Abby
Samantha
Sarah and Abbie
Dan and Bryce
Britta and Mary-Cate
Chris and Chris
Natalia and Mat

Have a great break! Great job!

Miss Holmes's Mom

Well, this has been a hard week, but my Mom is doing great in her recovery. She has the same spark and determination that I would like to think that I also have and is already talking about being home and doing everything herself. She has sat up for meals and today she walked down the hall for a short stint. She is doing just great and is amazing me every day. I will be back in school on Monday and my brother will be nursing her as she comes home. I will check on her on weekends, but I expect with her strong will, she will be ready to have things back to normal soon enough.

Thanks to all you kids for your kind wishes. Trust me, I miss all of you just as much as you might miss me. Hope Mrs. Kivi is an good stand-in for me. She's got the same laid back personality, that's why we get along so well.

See you Monday or Tuesday!

The Odyssey Blog

Here you go. These directions are also published on Edline. Pay attention to important details. This assignment can be really FUN and EASY!


You already have an assignment sheet describing the blog assignment. These are more specific directions and eventually, there will be a rubric published on Edline as well.
Some steps to follow in the planning phases of your blog:



1. Come up with a creative title RELEVANT to The Odyssey
2. Come up with "nicknames" for yourself and your partner that are relevant, even funny and of course, appropriate. (ex. Aphrodite Jones and Hercules Smith)
3. Choose your blog layout, color schemes, etc.
4. Check out the features on how to add images to your blog (I will go over this in more detail as we continue with this project, this is something you can always ADD ON later) You can create surveys, text boxes, etc that will compiment your blog.
5. Once you have figured out the basics, plan out your first "post." This will be a recollection of all of the events from Book 9. This is the creative aspect of the unit. In addition to reading about the events and answering pretty simple questions for your take home tests, you will then also get to APPLY that knowledge.



A blog post might start out something like this:


"On our long journey today, we met many enemies. I was exhausted at day's end mostly by Odysseus' determination to get home. I really enjoyed the land of the Lotus eaters because the fruit they gave us made me feel happy and sleepy. I would have liked to lay in the grass all day until we could eat again, but Odysseus was in one of his bossy moods again and tied us to the ships to get us out of there. Some of the men didn't even get to taste the lotus, what a bummer. I am getting pretty sick of listening to Captain Odysseus all the time with his know it all attitude. He thought he was so smart when we arrived on the island of the Cyclopes....."



You get the idea. Be funny, be eccentric, be specific, be ACCURATE. Make sure you are not just making up hilarious fictional stories about things that we never read about. Take a bit of the text, mixed with a bit of ninth grade humor and make a wonderful harmony of ancient text and FUN!
Your book can be a great reference and inspiration, I am sure!



Get to work!
Miss Holmes :)



One thing to remember:
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A GOOLE USER NAME, please use that, if not, only ONE of you in the partnership has to create a name, not both.
Follow the link to start blogging.
http://www.blogger.com/tour_pub.g

The Odyssey Blog Project:

As we read The Odyssey, you are going to work with a partner to develop your own "Live From Ithaca" project. This is where you will pretend you are one of Odysseus's men and are writing home about your mission. This will be something to encourage us to be creativ and have fun with The Odyssey.

One teacher that I saw first use the blog in the classroom was this one that I stumbled upon a long time ago. www.millersenglish10.blogspot.com Look on his page for the examples of student blogs.

I can't wait to start using our creativity!

Research Paper Madness

Well, we have taken a break fro creativity for a while to research topics related to the environment with the help of the library. You have done the following to develop your research and thesis:

1. Read a non-fiction book related to your topic

2. Consulted reference and database sources about your topic

3. Looked on the Internet (not google and not wikipedia) for information

Now we are working on finishing our notecards, working on our Works Cited pages and soon we will be writing our outlines....

Next unit, The Odyssey. We'll get to some blood and guts before we start the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet.

You won't believe this!

I just found something that will absolutely change the face of the way I teach poetry and writing poetry.

This is the best thing I have found online since freerice.com

The best things ever. Click on "play with words"

Give it a try, I will create a poem and hopefull post it later!

Poetry and You

I love poetry. I have been published a tad in online journals and I find it to be the best outlet for me as a writer and creative person. It is the one genre that seems to be really quick, to the point and exudes a euphoric sense of accomplishment once you have completed a poem. I also enjoy teaching poetry because there is so much there for the student to discover and sometimes it is almost accidental, coincidental and serendipitous.

Here is a poem for you to contemplate. It's by one of the greats, Billy Collins. It's sure to make you laugh.

We are going to start the film Dead Poets Society and read some poems and listen to some songs. One thing to start thinking about is your own metaphor for life, as that is the capstone of our poetry unit.

Happy Poetry Reading!

Dr. King and his dream

I am sitting here, very fortunate for the day off, but thinking about what lies beneath it. I am wondering about the dream that Dr. King had and if he would be happy with where we are today if he was still alive. There have been news tributes and things that have made me think and, since it is a part of the curriculum, let's think about it together.

If you think about your own dreams for ytour future, is anything alike to Dr. King? Do you find that there are things missing in our world today you would like to change? What would your dream be?

Watch the video of Dr. King's speech for inspiration on the video bar.

Our Favorite New Classmate: The Document Camera!

Well, the past couple days in class have been very exciting with the addition of a document camera to our classroom.


It is very state of the art and makes notetaking and reading aloud in class very interesting!





I am trying to come up with some assignments that suit the document camera specfically and hope that we can continue to experiment with it in class to make the most fun and interactive classes possible!


If you guys have any ideas of how to better use it in class, let me know!


Miss Holmes :)

Pride

The title of this post is for good reason. Check out info on a song by U2 that is particularly significant. You can also click here to view the lyrics.


We have not had any class time to go over possible blog posts or follow up on past blog posts, but I want to make sure I keep up with it. We will be having a good amount of work in the coming weeks with wrapping up To Kill a Mockingbird and starting our poetry unit. One thing we will examine at the end of the month is Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

We will watch the speech in class and will discuss not only its historical relevance, but the important anniversary of the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of this year.

Some important things to think about with the three day weekend approaching is:

How does Martin Luther King's message and goal in his speech relate to the speech Atticus gives in the closing arguement of the trial?

What was particulary effective about King's speaking techniques? Some people are saying the same things about Barak Obama's motivating speeches on the campagin trail.

Martin Luther King stood for something that organizations like the Black Panthers did not. What do you think was different about his leadership compared to other social leaders?

If you post something that is thoughtful, concise and reflective, it may be worth one point on your second quarter average!

Post away!

To Kill a Mockingbird the movie

Today we will be taking a quiz and moving through the book a little more. Additionally, we will start the film and get a feel for Maycomb and the characters. To Kill a Mockingbird is an Academy Award winning film. Once we view even a part of it, I would like you to make a connection to why you think it may have won awards. The acting? The filming? The set? The costumes? The screenplay? What makes it a great book-made-movie.

Also, take a book that you have read that has been made into a movie that you have seen. Compare the two. I just saw The Kite Runner over break and was astounded at how close it stayed to the text. This was because the author was directly involved in the filming. What do you think are the difficulties in putting a known story into a motion picture? What can be improved? What is lost? What have you found is better?


Hope this gets your brain back in gear for the New Year. Mine is still a little mushy, but once we dig deeper into Mockingbird, I will be back in the swing!

Miss Holmes :)

It pays to check the blog...

Just wanted to give a heads up that we will have a POP quiz when we get about chapters 8-15. (Psst...I might post some questions on hte blog before our return!) I will also be working on getting a "blog contribution evaluation" to everyone. Some people are posting volumes and really thinking about the questions and some people are....just posting!

Hope everyone is enjoying break. I have been grading and planning today and just wanted to let you know that my personal goal is to have everything fresh and new and up to date on Edline, so just bear with me and check it on New Years Day!


A look ahead at 2008:

You will be creating 1-3 group blogs before the end of the school year. I am going to let you feel the excitement that I do when I post to the blog!

We will wrap up of TKaM, watch the film, watch Spitfire Grill to compare to the novel.

We will have a super short poetry unit and watch my all time favorite movie (and the reason I became a teacher) Dead Poets Society.

We will have a research project on global warming and natural disasters. This will correlate with our next novel that focuses on the survival of a small Florida town with limited resources.

The Odyssey! The blood! The guts! The love story!

And we will end the year with Romeo and Juliet.....the best love story ever told....


Wow! I can't wait to get back to school now (okay, maybe I am fibbing a little bit!)

Hope you are all sleeping in, reading a ton and checking out some good movies over break. I already saw I am Legend and am off to see The Kite Runner tomorrow and then maybe Charlie Wilson's War on Saturday or The Great Debaters? Who can decide!

Miss Holmes :)

The Christmas Spirit...

Here I sit after school right before Christmas break and think that maybe I should check to see how many of you will REALLY check the blog over break. I will have some 'Christmas Trivia' questions and whoever gets them all right will get extra credit. However, you won't be able to post comments in the comment section, you will have to email them to me at missholmes@gmail.com.

1. What is the tradition behind hanging stockings by the fireplace?
2. What is the Saratoga tradition of the Peppermint Pig? (explain what you do with the pig itself)
3. What did Ralphie in A Christmas Story want for Christmas? (must have the name brand)
4. What scene from what holiday film does Kevin watch in Home Alone when he is sitting home eating macaroni and cheese?
5. Explain the rules of the the dreidel game in detail.


Hope this finds you enjoying your holiday and/or week off!

Miss Holmes :) (with some help from Madeleine)

Our new online classroom! You guys should be proud!

I thought this little cartoon kind of reminded me of me lately. I am SO INTO this blog! It's so addicting!

Wednesday and Thursday in class this week we will do "stations" in class for half of the block. In one of the stations, you will be asked to have your group post to the blog.

THIS IS THE POST YOU RESPOND TO!
Please use the following header format for your post:
Block ____ Group #_______

Over break, many asked if there would be posts. I will be traveling and seeing family a little bit over the week off, but I will be checking in on the computer and will have a couple posts that will corrsepond with what you are reading.

And...in response to the "Why are you giving us so much homework?" question. Well, here it is. We are plugging along and I don't want to slow down in TKaM. Reading over break will assure that you guys stay "in the zone." And, I know for a fact, none of this work is too hard for any of you, right? (we also might weasel our way out of the 8-15 quiz as long as the blogging and class discussion continues to flourish).

Happy posting! Great job guys!

Materialism, Selfishness and Selflessness

"The Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

For this post, I would like you to respond to the following quote based on the two stories that we have read. This is a group activity post to be done in class. Think carefully! Discuss! Dissect! Think, think, think!

"The human being who lives only for himself finally reaps nothing but unhappiness. Selfishness corrodes. Unselfishness ennobles, satisfies. Don't put off the joy derivable from doing helpful, kindly things for others."

B. C. Forbes

Think about how Della, Jim and Madame Loisel may have been selfish for personal gain and/or willing to put their needs aside for others. Also feel free to pull from what you wrote about yourself in your Materialism Thought Piece.

Keep posting! Remember two required posts by the end of the week! Over break there may be more of a chance for some extra credit! Post, post, post!

Miss Holmes :)

What's in a name? Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird

Wow! We are off and running with our mockingbird symbol posts. Some of the responses have brought tears to my eyes! I really think that we are going deeper than we ordinarily would in class simply because of this blog! Yay! You should be proud of yourselves!

Now onto other discussion points. Why do you think Scout and Jem call their father by his first name? We know that Harper Lee was being tricky with us with the name of Scout, now what about Atticus?

Consider the following:

Atticus being a mentor and teacher
Atticus is an older parent
No mother figure for Scout and Jem
Miss Maudie's comment that Atticus is the same on the town streets as he is at home.

Your Homework over break:
Read Chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14. Continue using your chapter log! There may be a pop quiz!

Blog Posts:
Also, there will be some blog activities that I would like everyone to participate in! So, starting this week, I would like everyone to make at least TWO blog postings by Friday! (Refer to all the postings labeled To Kill a Mockingbird) Those of you that posted up until this point will receive extra credit, but any posts after today will be for a grade.

Keep on posting! I love it!

Miss Holmes!

REMINDER: It's a Wonderful Life is going to be shown after school on Thursday! Be there or be square!

Discussion Post Chapters 8-10: To Kill a Mockingbird

In class today (Thursday, December 13th and Friday, December 14th), we discussed the symbol of the mockingbird. The title To Kill a Mockingbird relates to the events in the novel in more than one way. In chapter 10, we begin to understand where the title comes from. For your response to this post, consider the following:



-Who are the "mockingbirds" in this novel?
-Who attempts to "kill" a mockingbird in the town of Maycomb?
-How might you relate a mockingbird to a ghost? (Remember Atticus's comment, "There are other ways of turning people into ghosts.")
-Consider this wikipedia entry information about a mockingbird


Post as a comment to this posting. I will post another "Discussion Post" tomorrow.

In the spirit of the season....

We will be reading a couple stories that will make us think of the true meaning of the holiday season. You can start reading now online if you would like. The two stories are titled "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry.

You will also have a thought piece for this unit. I will hand it out next week. Think about how many of us get a little off track and worry about the wrong things around the holiday time. Are we losing the real spirit of the holiday? Are we forgetting what is most important? I think you will understand my message once we delve deeper into the stories.

Movies that Move You Announcement- December Extra Credit

I will be showing It's a Wonderful Life from 2:45-5:00 on Thursday, December 20th after school in my classroom. Please come! We will have some holiday treats and spread yuletide cheer. Please respond to this comment if you think that you will be able to come! Thanks!