October 12-13: Essay Edition

We will be completing the final essay for our short story unit this week. This is work that must be made up in class, so if you are absent, please come see me!

October 9: Book Share Edition

Today we all took a little bit of time to share something about the book that we are reading for independent reading. For those that didn't get a chance to share, we will be doing this periodically a few students at a time.

October 5-8

During these classes we read "The Flowers" by Alice Walker.

• Carefully consider the character of Myop in this story.
• Try to see things from her point of view. What would it be like to be in her situation.

Following a close reading of "The Flowers," write a 5 paragraph essay describing the character of Myop in the story. Make sure to cite evidence from the text, develop your arguments, and follow a logical flow of information.

October 1,2009

Today we did a bunch of homecoming stuff, so if you were absent you don't have to make anything up!!!!

September 29,2009

Watching the princes bride
-character sheets
-setting sheets

September 23, 2009: character addition

Character
-through actions
-through words
-throught thoughts
-description
-location
Character Part II
-flat:
-round:multifaceted
-stock

9/21/09

Find the definition of theme in a dictionary or online.
Read "Tortise and the Hare"
Write the subject of the story, what the story is about.
Create a list of 5 possible themes.
Read "Powder" in our textbook, page 687.
Write the subject of the story.
Create a list of 2 possible themes with evidence from the text for each.

9/17/09: The Third Draft Edition

Starting today we will begin individual reading to be completed both in and outside of class. For individual reading you will need to completely read 3 books between now and the end of the semester. Two of the books must come from the 9-12 Reading List. The other book may be any book that you choose, but must be approved by Mr. Shellabarger.

9/14/09: The Unprepared Edtion

I have to admit that I'm a little bit worried when %80 of my students show up without their homework. To be honest guys, this means that you will get much more homework in the future. Call it punishment, call it opportunity, call it practice.

You should have your first two drafts of your memoir complete. The first draft is mainly intended to get your thoughts onto paper. For the second draft we look closely at showing vs. telling. Third draft will start tomorrow.

9/11/09: Patriot Day Edition

On the anniversary of a day when so many died, I will be away saying goodbye to one more as we lay my good friend Dmitri to rest. Mr. Dalton will be covering for me and I'm sure you'll find that he's a much better teacher than I.

Bellwork: Read the poem "Names" by Billy Collins. This poem was written by the National Poet Laurette on the one year anniversary of September 11th. It is a poem that I found so powerful that I started a poem of the week project, which amazingly enough continued until at least April of this year at Weber State University. In your journal write about September 11th for about 5 minutes.

Show, Don't Tell: After you watch the video below, complete the worksheet and turn it into the box. When you start your second draft of your memoir, look closely at all of "be" verbs and consider whether or not you should replace them with more active sentences.

9/10/09: Slightly dissappointed edition.

We will be redoing today's presentations next Wednesday on the half day.
Nuff said.

9/09/09: The Audio Edition

Memoir Plan Presentation Rubric

Plan is complete, well thought out, actionable, and realistic.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Plan is well-described in a manner intended to persuade the audience.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Presentation is well-organized, rehearsed, and well-delivered.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Each member of the group plays an important role in the presentation.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Technology is utilized to enhance the presentation.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Proper presentation protocol is followed.
1-----2------3------4------5------6-----7
Presentation is complete, ready, and on time.
0-----8

9/8/09: Work it people!

We've spent two weeks learning about memoirs, now it's time to get producing! There are two things that you need to be working on that I'll discuss here.

First, your memoir.

Remember:

1- Every text event has to have a purpose.

2- The memoir needs to show attitudes or feelings before, so that the reader understands the author's learning at the end.

3- The memoir needs to show the before several times, not just once.

4- The memoir needs to show the after: How did the learning change the author's life? Why was it significant?

5- Every text event needs to build toward, show, or explain the significance of the author's learning.

Also Remember

Ways to Show Meaning In Text

1- Through the character's actions.
"I tuck the kitten under my jacket and run out of the woods."

2- Through the character's dialogue.
"'Don't worry,' I tell it, stroking its scabby head until the mewing is replaced by a faint purr. 'Everything will be okay.'"

3- Through the character's thoughts.
"I feel the warmth of the kitten through my shirt and start thinking of names."

4- Through comparisons.
"This time I was alone. Lucky for you I was, I think to the kitten. Otherwise, David or Claude might have decided you'd be good practice for their slingshots.

Second, your group presentations. Remember that you are creating a plan to disburse our memoirs to the 8th graders. You must create a plan and create a presentation to be due Thursday that sells your plan to voters, utilizes technology in its presentation, and involves all of your group members. Good luck!

President Obama's Education Address Backchannel

We had the opportunity in second period today to watch a Presidential message on education. This is the backchannel discussion that accompanied that message.

9/01/09: The Substitute

In case you didn't notice, I wasn't in class today. Instead, I was at the district office with a reading/writing specialist, Superintendent Bailey, and teachers from the high school and middle schools learning new methods for teaching writing.

Hopefully everything went well in class today. You should have read "The Great Rat Hunt," (Available Here) and then completed a three-column chart that details the events, feelings, and evidence for the story. Following the chart, you should complete a 1/2 page reflection on the meaning or importance of the memoir. Remember to look for the turning point--the point at which the authors feeling about the topic changes.

If you have questions, please contact me at nshellabarger@uinta1.k12.wy.us

Good luck! Bien Suerte!

8/28/09: Memoirs

We finally finished introduction presentations today, and we're on to memoirs (yea!).

As a class we read James Howe's memoir "Everything is Going to be OK." (you can read it here)

Each student is to create a 3 column list that includes all of the events that happened within the story, how the author was feeling during those events, and textual evidence that proves how the author was feeling. This lists are due at the start of class Monday morning.

That's about it for today, but on Monday we will be participating in one of my favorite classroom activities for the year, so be ready!

8/27/09: Presentations Begin

Today we presented our first presentations. We learned quite a few things today. First, we will have technology problems and that is never an excuse. You must plan ahead, verify your equipment will work, and have a backup plan. Second, presentations take a lot of time. It's not very often that we will have individual presentations, but when we do, we need to be prepared, organized, and quick-moving.

We will finish presentations at the start of class tomorrow and finally begin our memoir unit. I'm excited!

8/26/09: Computer Confusion

Today we spent a good deal of time getting computers, figuring out passwords, figuring out power issues, figuring out PowerPoint issues, and so on. We will begin presentations at the start of class tomorrow.

8/25/09: First Presentation

Your first presentation assignment will give you a chance to practice your presentation skills (which we'll use often in this class) as well as help everyone else to get to know you. For this assignment you must create a PowerPoint presentation of appropriate length that tells the class who you are. The presentation must be illustrated with photographs and I do not want you to read off of the board! Should be pretty simple.

Watch the following video for the classroom lecture.

8/24/09: Introduction

Hi everyone. Hope that you didn't miss the first day! If you did, you missed a lot of getting-to-know you and introduction type stuff. We'll just have to work extra hard the next few weeks to help you catch on.

Homework:

1. Have your parent/gaurdian send me an email at nshellabarger@uinta1.k12.wy.us that includes their name, your name, and a phone number I can reach them at. Make sure they send this email from an address that I can reply to with future communications.
2. Bring tissues for 10 points extra credit.
3. Bring a notebook that can be left in class.

That's it for the first day. Good luck.

Check out the slide show from the first day below.

Photography Assignment 3/9-3/13

Notes:

• Understanding exposure separates photographers from picture takers!
• Exposure occurs any time that light reaches your film or digital sensor.
• A good exposure accurately represents light and color throughout your image.
• An underexposed image generally appears dark and has loss of detail in the darkest areas.
• An overexposed image generally appears too bright and has loss of detail in the brightest areas.
• Quality and quantity of exposure can be manipulated in your camera with the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
• No singular exposure exists for any given situation. There are always multiple combinations of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO that will result in the same exposure.

Assignment:

• Write a magazine article that thoroughly defines and explains exposure.
• Include in your article an explanation of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.
• There is no required length for your article, but it must do a great job explaining these topics. 500 words is probably a pretty good estimate.
• You must include 6 pictures taken by you specifically for this assignment in your article.
• Cite any sources!
• You will have 3 full class periods to complete this assignment including the 6 pictures. Get to work!
  

It's a Girl!!!

Born March 4th, 2009. 7 lbs. 14 oz., 19 inches long.
Still lacking a name, but we're working on it.
Mommy and baby are doing great!!!

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

From Harper Birth

Photography Assignment 3/5, 3/6

The third ingredient for exposure is ISO. ISO is a measure of how sensitive your film (sensor) is to light. A higher ISO setting will result in a more sensitive sensor, and will therefore decrease the length of time (shutter speed) needed to take a picture. A low ISO setting will result in a less sensitive sensor, and will therefore increase the length of time (shutter speed) needed to take a picture.

It is generally considered best to shoot at the lowest ISO possible to capture the cleanest images possible. Shooting with a high ISO value results in increased grain size and noise.

Grain is another term that has come from film photography and it refers to the visible interruptions in smooth gradients. These interruptions look much like grains of sand...hence the name. For example:




Noise is the photographic equivilent to static in music. Noisy pixels are colorful pixels not part of the image recorded. Noise is a bad thing! We try to shoot at the lowest possible ISO possible in order to avoid noise, but sometimes in low light situations we have no other choice. The following picture is an example of a very noisy picture.





High grain pictures are often converted to black and white pictures, which is what we're going to do today!



Your assignment:

1. Set your camera to aperture priority and open the aperture as wide as it can go.
2. Set the ISO as high as possible (1600 on Nikon, 800 on Canon I think).
   
3. Take a picture of someone's face in the best light that you can find (hallway, outside, right by a window.
4. Set the ISO as low as possible and take an identical picture.
5. Convert each of the two images to black and white in Photoshop.
6. Label and post the two images to your blog.
   

Photography Assignment 3/3,3/4

Your assignment:
First, search Google (or you're favorite search engine) for slow shutter speed or shutter drag pictures. Look over pictures for 10-15 minutes to help you come up with an idea for your picture.

Then, you are to take one picture using a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second or slower to demonstrate effective use of slow shutter speed to enhance an image. Post the image to your blog along with at least 100 words reflecting on the image you created and the process you went through to create it.

Grendle the Puppet

Freakin Hilarious. I can't wait to make my own puppet!

Announcement Clip

Project YouTube Videos

Freshman students were asked to create a YouTube video on anything they wanted in order to become familiar with script writing, video production, and YouTube posted. The group with the most views at the end of the semester wins extra credit. Here's the results:

Photography Hall Pass Assignment

In the photography class there will be many times when you will need to leave the class to take pictures. In order to do so, you will need to create a photography hall pass. The design is up to you, but here are the requirements:

1. 4"x6" at 300ppi
2. Your Name
3. My Name
4. "Photography Hall Pass"
5. A clear picture of yourself.
6. Flare
   

Photography Assigment

1. Take 5 pictures of anything.
2. Post these 5 pictures to your blog.
3. Look at photography blogs on the internet.
4. Find a photography blog that you like and post a link to that blog on your blog along with a 200 word explanation of why you like that blog.
5. Good Luck!
   

Project YouTube

Project YouTube
Hey guys, I know that you want to get started with reading and writing, but there’s something that we need to do first. A lot of the projects that we complete in this class will involve multimedia output such as videos, pictures, and websites. This first project will help acquaint you with some of the skills that you will need for later projects. Good Luck!
• In groups of 3-4 come up with an idea for a short YouTube film.
• Write a script for your film including dialog and actions (script will be turned in).
• Record and edit your clip using a Mac laptop and Imovie.
• Submit your clip to YouTube.
• Email a link to your clip to nshellabarger@uinta1.k12.wy.us
Your clip may be humorous, dramatic, sad, or just plain strange. At the end of the semester, the clip with the most views will win extra credit!