Turn In Your Completed Blogs

All the instructions are on the Google Form. Make sure you click on the correct period. Please read all instructions there:

2nd Period - Completed Blog

4th Period - Completed Blog

5th Period - Completed Blog

Also, if you can get people to read your blog AND comment on it, then I will give you some extra credit points. And the person with the highest pageview count will get 10 points extra credit.

What's Happening March 25 - 29

Monday - Read an article on Teen Pregnancy and participate in a fishbowl discussion.

• Great discussion today! 
• The Cuss Counter tracked 3 F-bombs, 1 Sh*t, 1 A**hole, 1 B**ch, and 1 Pu**y (the last one being arguably the worst choice considering the context, especially since it was used by a guy).
• Someone in 5th period brought up an interesting question: How would the culture view the gender differences in this situation if it was the guy that got pregnant? So, I found this picture:

Tuesday - Turn in work dating back from March 18th.

• Before we turn it in, we will go over the usage worksheets and see how well you did.
• After that, everyone will submit their packets: 18 - 25 March Packet Cover Sheet
• Go over questions related to the blog assignment

Wednesday - [Update forthcoming]

Thursday - Minimum day, we'll go over the scores from the timed-write administered back on March 6th

Friday - Meaningless Minimum day - Suggest what you think we should do with our time.

As far as the blog goes, I would like you to have five posts by Friday!

Show Me Your Blog

All the instructions are on the Google Form. Click on the appropriate class period:

• 2nd Period: Show Me Your Blog

• 4th Period: Show Me Your Blog

• 5th Period: Show Me Your Blog

This is due before you come to class on Monday. Be sure to take the appropriate amount of time to get this going. If you're a newby, then you should set aside an hour or so.

Good luck. I can't wait to read what you guys put out there.

Code of Conduct Example

Here's the example of the Code of Conduct I created:

Food Code of Conduct in Frieden’s class

Introduction:

Frieden’s class, though seemingly loose in structure, is a place of mutual respect and dignity. The focus is on learning, yes, but there are many particulars that go into creating an environment where authentic learning occurs. Though it’s relaxed most days, Frieden means business and anyone who walks through the door needs to acknowledge this.

One of the ways people let loose is by sharing a meal together. Frieden recognizes that if it’s been a while since their last meal, students can easily get distracted. So food is allowed in the class, but there are certain guidelines. If any class cannot follow these guidelines, then they will lose the privilege of eating during class.

What's Going On?

Here are the titles of the three sections in this post:

Research Unit on Bullying: Calendar

Here are some other things that are coming up

What does this mean for the grade book? 

In this post I will detail what to expect for the rest of this module along with what's coming up in class. I won't only be talking calendar, but points. Pay attention to all of it because it's crucial.

Where We've Been, Where We Are, and Where We're Going

Bullying Module

Just to be clear, we are still working our way through the bullying module. If you're curious about what the whole thing looks like in the ERWC binder that I have, here: Bullying Module.

I bring this up because I have been getting a lot of blank looks from students today--people who have lost the scope of this project. That's fine, because I doubt that many of you have ever had to complete a project of this scope. I broke it down into parts, which I share below.

Big Picture

Here's what I have envisioned that you would do from the beginning:

• Get into groups
• Read/Interpret the prompt & decide upon the focus for your group's Code of Conduct
• Skim the module's 13 articles, find the top four
• Closely read those top 4 articles
• Create research questions
• Go to library to do extended research (6 articles)
• Summarize those texts you found
• Create a Code of Conduct
• Write and outline for your essay
• Profile your audience
• Write a rough draft (six to eight pages in length)
• Conduct field research
• Write an Annotated Bibliography
• Write a final draft (six to eight pages in length)
• Submit

What We've Done So Far

From the list above, here is what we have already done (the first two weeks back from the break)

• Get into groups
• Read/Interpret the prompt & decide upon the focus for your group's Code of Conduct
• Skim the module's 13 articles, find the top four
• Closely read those top 4 articles
• Create research questions
• Go to library to do extended research (6 articles)
• Summarize those texts you found

Where We Are (This Week)

From the list in the Big Picture, this is where we are this week (some assignments haven't been given yet)

• Create a Code of Conduct
• Write and outline for your essay
• Profile your audience
• Begin Writing a rough draft (six to eight pages in length)

Here's the assignment sheet for this week: 4 February -- 8 February 2013.

Where We're Going

At the point that we get back, you will really set to work getting all of this written down in an essay.

• Finish writing your rough draft 
• Conduct field research
• Write an Annotated Bibliography
• Write a final draft (six to eight pages in length)
• Submit

Make-up Vocab and Modifier Quiz

Whoops! I forgot to mention that one. How about we move that to Thursday. I already have it written and it's the same format as the first with different sentences, but are there different words? Perhaps. We shall see.

Library Research Day Two

Day one is done.

Many of you did a good job researching today and found several leads to quality articles that relate to your topic. Others of you squandered your time in the library, but that's okay. You can make it up to yourself and your group tomorrow.

Here's the goal of the week

After you have collected all your articles, your next step is to read them closely. At least read the parts that are most closely aligned with your project. You will need to summarized each of your articles in the format of an abstract. To do that, follow these steps from Reading Rhetorically:

1. Read the text for its main points.
2. Reread carefully and make a descriptive outline.
3. Write out the text's thesis or main point. (Suppose you had to summarize the whole argument in one sentence.)
4. Identify the text's major divisions or chunks. Each division develops one of the stages needed to make the whole main point. Typically these stages or parts might function as background  review of the conversation, summary of opposing views, or sub points in support of the thesis.
5. Try summarizing each part in one or two sentences.
6. Now combine your summaries of the parts into a coherent whole, creating a condensed version of the text's main ideas in your own words.

You will need to do this for all the articles that you printed at the library and they are due on Friday. I will give you a more itemized description of what you need to do at each point. To cover the above six steps, you can do a combination of annotating and summarizing.

If you're still looking for resources...

Here's a list of websites that should point you in the right direction:

• California Department of Education's (CDE) Bullying Publications and Resources Page
• CDE's article "Bullying at School"
• CDE's "Sample Policy for Bullying Prevention"
• Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center
• Remember Rebecca Black and the hit video, "Friday?" She supports Pacer.
• Their Blog
• Are Bullies Criminals?
• Cyberbullying Research Center
• Stop Panicking about Bullies
• Cyberbullying Rarely Connected with Teen Suicide