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Today we read some advice on writing from one of America’s finest authors, Kurt Vonnegut. You may have seen an invite to view the thinking and understanding that grew from this lesson.  From time-to-time I will ask students to invite parents to view the work being created through a Google Document or the like. Parents are welcome to add their own thoughts to these documents.

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Today I collected the vocabulary work, and I will grade this over the weekend.  For this first round, I will not add the grades to PowerSchool.  In class, we worked on forming the first draft of the memoir; then we began to peer and self-edit the writing.  I showed and talked about the need to create a voice to the writing; specifically, to select words that are rich and meaningful to the ideas.  In this light, I outlined what I called the “dead words” of writing.  Words that really should be avoided or used sparingly for effect; such as in dialog if it suits the character.  These are words like: got, get, nice, sad, happy, scared, afraid, go, went, etc.

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Due Friday are two vocabulary words and the memoir writing assignment.  These are worked on in class, but if you’re not able to finish during class, then finish at home.

Grading and PowerSchool - we will use PowerSchool as a way to track assignments, as well as learning. If an assignment is missing, there will be an “M” indicated, and the grade will be a “0″, but of course this will change once the assignment is collected. If there is a “–” this means the assignment has been collected. If the space is blank, this means the assignment has not been given yet. Anything that is blue in PowerSchool is clickable, and this is used to write comments either about the assignment, or the grade given. Late assignments are marked with an “L”, and there is a 10% penalty per day applied to the grade.

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Welcome to Humanities-8!

This first week has been exciting. Already students are working on a reading assignment, which is a follow up on the books they were to have read over the vacation.  This assignment is due Friday at the start of class, and it is described in detail on PantherNet. (link opens a new window)

I will keep everyone informed of the assignments and what is due through this blog site, and also through direct emails to students and parents. Very often assignments are started in class and continued at home if not completed. Grade eight students can expect about two hours of homework a night, and the Humanities portion of that should be very small, or none at all.

There is a plethora of information for students to share with parents.  For example, there’s the 16 books, opinion pieces, and eight book reports. When you have a chance, look at Humanities 8 using PantherNet as it is an excellent course outline. Many of the year’s assignments are already posted.  Alternatively, this blog site has a course outline and other details for you to view: http://inside.isb.ac.th/sromary/humanities-8/ 

All students have an ISB email account, which is accessed through PantherNet.  This is how students can communicate with faculty, when needed. This is also the email address I will use when sending information about the assignments.  To contact me, you either use stephen @ isb.ac.th or you can use stephen @ student.isb.ac.th

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Wyn Lyovarin is a writer from Southern Thailand, and this is a list of vocabulary for ESL students to study before reading the short story “Burger”.

http://www.slideshare.net/sromary/burger-vocabulary#

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Here are links to Voice Threads created by the ESL summer school students:

Ayumi
- http://voicethread.com/share/1215371/
- http://voicethread.com/share/1227711/
Riko
- http://blogs.isb.ac.th/rikoe/2010/06/21/115/
-http://voicethread.com/share/1227731/

Yuto
- http://blogs.isb.ac.th/yuton/category/my-thoughts/

Yuki K.
- http://www.voicethread.com/share/1217088

Yuki A.
-http://voicethread.com/share/1215397
-http://voicethread.com/share/1230781

Kaito A.
- http://voicethread.com/share/1215378

Sota K.
- http://voicethread.com/share/1215391
-http://voicethread.com/share/1232182

Akari
-http://voicethread.com/share/1215370
- http://voicethread.com/share/1227745

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Here are the steps:

(1) Export the project as a webpage - this creates an HTML file
(2) Open the HTML file - select “view source” (on Firefox this is under the view menu)
(3) Login to your blog - create a new post
(4) Select “add media” and upload the .swf file that is your project - be sure to select “file URL” - it will look something like this: http://inside.isb.ac.th/sromary/files/2010/05/daichi.swf - Make sure you click “insert into post”
(5) Now, go back to the HTML file - Copy everything between the < object > … < /object > tags — including the tags themselves!
(6) In your new post, select “HTML” - then select code tag
(7) Paste the < object > code into the post
(8) Click on close code tag.
(9) Edit the < object > code. Where it says “src” and you see the file name, replace that with the link URL. It will look something like this: http://inside.isb.ac.th/sromary/files/2010/05/daichi1.swf
(10) Publish and then go to your blog to view the post.

daichi1

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Here are the Rebel’s Handbooks the students created through their study of how apartheid came to an end.  They are very well done, and I hope they inspire change somewhere around the world! Note - some of the links were not correct or missing - so this might be why your work is not here.

• http://www.slideshare.net/NickoSuth/the-rebels-handbook-3854809
• http://prezi.com/hsg7qs1zrfwr/south-africa/
• http://prezi.com/kvgllxogpdxv/rebels-handbook/
• http://www.slideshare.net/shawnielegs/the-rebels-handbook-3854869
• prezi link
• http://www.slideshare.net/dsnisawesome/doosan-and-austins-the-rebels-handbook?from=share_email
• http://docs.google.com/View?id=dj6jjk2_59gjtdsrfw
• http://prezi.com/bssdo1ct2yq6 (Gina, et al)
• http://www.slideshare.net/juuliam/the-rebels-handbook
• tinyurl.com/23c9md3

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 This week students are working in teams to create “The Rebel’s Handbook” - basically a resource for anyone trying to overthrow a government.  To understand what to put in the handbook, the teams are researching what led to the end of apartheid in South Africa.  There are resources available in PantherNet, and in class I’ve been giving examples and helping students to see the connections.  See http://prezi.com/rqf-kr165nlh/the-rebels-handbook/ as an example of what the finished product might look like.

There will be class time for this, however, students are to work on this as a homework assignment in order to be finished on time.  Students should work no more than 30 minutes per day at  home on this assignment.  I am hopeful there is no need to close school again, but if ISB is shut down again, then the handbook is the assignment to work on.  I will be available online for questions and guidance as needed.

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