Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Seminar vocabulary review

Review the words from seminar this semester on Quizlet.  You will be given participation points for your scores on the games.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Seminar: The 3 little pigs . . . South Valley version

Vocabulary and Culture Teamwork Creativity Challenge:
Your task is to retell the story of the three little pigs, but to change it to fit the culture and setting of the South Valley of Albuquerque.  Be sure to include a description of the setting and characters, the conflict each experiences, and the resolution of the conflict with the antagonist. Possible changes: animal, type of shelter, antagonist, etc.  This is due by the end of class on Wednesday.
You may accomplish this in a written story with visuals (pictures, maps, diagrams, etc.) or as a skit (or puppet show) with props.
Each person is responsible for 1 vocabulary word (use the word assigned to you).  Your word must be used correctly in the story/skit to receive full credit for your individual part.  You must also include a distinct prop, drawing, or visual action that represents the word in a memorable way.
Group Rubric (20 points total):
  • Cultural adaptation of story -5 points
  • Creativity and Originality of story- 5 points
  • Quality of visuals or performance- 5 points
  • Completeness of the plot  - 5 points
Individual Rubric:
  • Correct use of vocabulary word - 5 points

Friday, December 12, 2014

Seminar: Interview Project Rubric

This is the last of step of this project!  I am impressed with most of you who have gone the distance and made consistent effort over the many weeks that this has taken.  

  • I have tried copying the rubrics into documents and it is causing endless formatting problems. INSTEAD follow these instructions:
    • OPEN MY RUBRIC GOOGLE DOC
    • CLICK ON FILE AND MAKE A COPY;
    • save as "[your name] Interview with Rubric". Now you will have a copy you can edit.  
    • Copy all of your text from your Interview (including introduction, interview, and conclusion) into the top of the Document.
    • Share the new document with me and make sure I "can EDIT."
  • Be sure to enter in the links and information about your Creative Documentary project so I can grade you on all parts of it. (SEE THE PART ABOVE THE "CREATIVE DOCUMENTARY" RUBRIC)
  • Enter your SELF SCORE for each section and add up your totals.  Please be as honest and thoughtful as possible in your self assessment.

INTRODUCTION Rubric category
Description of full credit (25 points)
self score
teacher score
Purpose
Explain the purpose of the project, why you are personally interested, and what you hope to learn.
1-5
__
1-5
__
setting of interview
and/or description of interviewee
Where and when did you meet; describe the room, what else is happening
and/or
clothing, facial expressions, willingness, movements, interrupted activities
1-5
__
1-5
__
personal history
How do they know the person you are asking about? any other interesting details that give us a picture (job, personality, favorite activities, career,  etc.)
1-5
__
1-5
__
Your perspective
thoughts and feelings before and during the interview about what is said or how the interview is going
1-5
__
1-5
__
audience engagement
Did you hook your audience with specific details, humor, or stories, personal details, etc.?
1-5
__

1-5
TOTAL

__/25
__/25

INTERVIEW RUBRIC
Category
Description of full credit (40 points)
self score
teacher score
Interview questions
A variety of conversational , “going deeper,” and follow up questions were asked (or are evident in the information presented)
1-10
__
1-10
Interview content QUANTITY
the interview produces 3-5 paragraphs of information and /or commentary about the interview.  If you experienced difficulty in getting interesting responses, you described what you hoped to learn and why you think you did not get it.
1-20
__
1-20
Interview content QUALITY’
You have gotten information or made reflections beyond the simple facts of their life, focusing on what made the person precious and unique.  
1-10
__
1-10
TOTAL
INTERVIEW BODY
__/40
__/40
Conclusion
Rubric Category
Description of full credit (15 points)
Self score
Teacher score
Personal significance
You explained how the the information or process of interviewing affected you or challenged you.
1-5
__
1-5
Universal observation
You made an observation about life or the world that shows how what you learned in the interview might matter to an audience that does not know you personally.
1-5
__
1-5
Overall writing quality
The entire interview (including introduction and conclusion) has been carefully edited and proofread.  It contains few major mistakes in language usage. It also demonstrates sophisticated writing style for your grade level.
1-5
__
1-5
Total
Conclusion
__/15
__/15


*Post links to your CREATIVE DOCUMENTARY project
(if possible) and briefly describe the products you created (and links or instructions of where to find them) here:
example (erase mine and enter yours):
-Timeline of my Papa's life on dipity:
-Audio podcast on google drive:
-Photo Documentary: I turned in a posterboard of photos with captions to you on friday (12/12).  You had me put it on the back table.
-If you have any part that still needs to be shared from home, make note of it here, and discuss it with me to avoid losing points for lateness.

*CREATIVE DOCUMENTARY
Rubric Category
Description of full credit (20 points)
Timeline, photo documentary, podcast, background  research powerpoint, poetry, and/or other relevant products.
Self score
Teacher score
Effort (time and hard work)
10 points
You demonstrate efficient use of more than 3 days worth of class time working on the project.
1-10
__
1-10
Quality of work
5 points
You demonstrate care and excellence in artistic, technical, and/or content aspects of the project.
1-5
__
1-5
Relevance
5 points
The project relates to your interview and adds interest and context to its subject.
1-5
__
1-5
Extra Credit
up to 10 points
You clearly invested at least double the required quantity of work for the project.  Quality remains excellent as well.
+1-10
__
+1-10
TOTAL POINTS
Creative Documentary Project
__/20
__/20

GRAND TOTAL
COMBINED SCORE:  Introduction, interview body, conclusion, and creative documentary.

___/100

___/100

GLArts: Literary Themes and "Skin"

Start today by researching about the life and art of Chaim Soutine.  You will find that Roald Dahl put a historical person into his story.  See if you can find the painting of the wind blown tree mentioned in the beginning. Read what you can find about the painter's life.

Next, look at the following worksheet about Identifying Themes in Literature.  Study the themes listed in the link, then and use details from the life of Chaim Soutine, combined with what you have read so far of the story "Skin," to answer the questions about Theme in this worksheet as well as you can.

Copy the questions and your answers in a Google Doc titled: [your name] "Skin" Theme.  Answer in complete sentences with supporting details.
If you need to look at the story again, here is a link to "Skin" online.  Do not read past line 80 or you will spoil the story for when we read next week.

Monday, December 8, 2014

IEP Student Survey

Please click on the survey and complete it to prepare for your IEP:
 Student IEP Survey

Thursday, December 4, 2014

GLArts: Writing a story with an unreliable narrator

Tomorrow (Friday) I will not be here because I am getting my cast off.  You may work in groups of 3 or less (you may choose to work alone). Your rough draft is due on Monday. Your assignment will be to write a story with the following elements:

  • You must write from the point of view of a first person narrator who is unreliable (the reader can’t be sure he or she is telling the story accurately).  This may be because of mental illness or instability; it may be due to experiencing an extremely traumatic or exciting event; it may be because they have unusual sense of perception such as synesthesia, colorblindness, claim psychic abilities, etc.: they might just have a reason to lie because they want to cover up the truth.
  • The narrator must give some self description. There must be obvious clues that show that the narrator is unreliable. For simplicity, I recommend making the narrator the main character as well.
  • Your narrator must describe the setting in which his/her story takes place.
  • The story must introduce a conflict or a problem that the main character faces (internal, external, or both).
  • The problem must come to some sort of resolution where the character learns, changes, or develops in some way.
  • You must use at least 5 vocabulary words (more is even better).
  • Complete a plot diagram (like the ones we did earlier this year) to make sure you story is generally planned out and has the necessary parts.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

News ELA and Vocabulary Practice

  Today we will continue Go to newsela.com, create a student account, and use this code to sign in to my class: TXSZG
You need to complete 3 articles with quizzes, then show me your score page so I can update your reading comprehension grade.

Then you need to start practicing vocabulary.  This link is to a list I made for our words so far this year:
http://quizlet.com/52701188/8th-grade-glarts-i-flash-cards/
but when you are done with this, try this list to prepare you for college:  http://quizlet.com/46342691/sat-words-1st-set-flash-cards/
I will be testing you on these words several times this year, so make sure you keep reviewing them.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

POST INTERVIEW: Creative Documentary (20 points)

This final phase of the project is meant to add interest, detail, and creativity to your interview.
Here are some of your options (choose at least one):

  • Photo Documentary (10-20 photographs): pictures of you, the person you interviewed,  the family member you lost, places of importance, objects of importance
    • at least 5 photos must be taken by you
    • up to half of the photos may be collected from family albums and walls (scanned digitally)
    • consider framing live people holding photos
    • include captions that describe the photo and credit the photographer.
  • Radio Style Audio interviews (edited with introduction and conclusion)
  • Visual timeline of their life
GRADING: Keep in mind that this is a 3-day assignment. To receive full credit, it should be clear that you worked efficiently for three class periods, as well as some effort on your own. Extra credit is available for those who demonstrate about double the required effort in a quality project. THIS PROJECT WILL BE GRADED ON EFFORT, QUALITY, AND RELEVANCE.