Nonfiction Progress #1

Complete a detailed progress report concerning your nonfiction reading project. In your report include how many pages you have read in your book, the total number of pages in your book, a brief synopsis of your reading so far, and your general impressions of the reading. Also include any progress that you may have made on the project itself. Conclude with a general reflection of the reading and project assignment along with a time line that you plan to follow to complete your project by the 11th of December.

The report can be in any format that you choose, but must be posted to you account at www.turnitin.com. If you weren't here on Tuesday (or didn't listen!), create an account for yourself using:
Period 1

• Class ID 2080034
• Password Silver

Period 3

• Class ID 2090362
• Password Silver
  

Good luck!

Who is Kino?

Is he any of these guys???

Long live education!!!

In celebration of the return of YouTube to our daily education I'd like to post another awesome video. If you doubt the educational value, please come talk to me!

Analyzing the Audience

Look carefully at each of the following websites. Who is the intended audience? How can you tell? Be specific and detailed in your answers. Consider the following questions:

• Who will be reading/listening to/ using this material?
• What special characteristics do they have?
• Which discourse community do they belong to?
• What is their background and attitude toward the subject?
  

After you have decided the intended audience, decide the purpose of the website. Again, be specific and detailed in your answers.

Sport Compact Car
MSNBC
CosmoGIRL
American Geriatrics Society
EHS

Post your responses on your blog. Due 11/14/07.

Your Letter Should Look Like This

Your Street Address (make one up)
Your City, State Zip
Your Phone Number (optional and fake only)
Today's Date

Recipients Name
Recipients Street Address Real
Recipients City, State Zip

Dear Mr. or Mrs...

Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here.

Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here. Insert body of text here.

Sincerely,



Your Name Here

Hammer Time!

Another reason why I love Youtube!

If you can't see this in school, thank big brother.

Nonfiction Project Assignment Clarification

In case anyone is confused about the purpose or requirements of the assignment, here you go:

To begin, the purpose of this assignment is to understand the importance of nonfiction reading for self/career improvement and put it into action. This purpose is written on the board and we discussed in in depth as a class before beginning the assignment. In this discussion we decided that there were two basic reasons to read: reading for the intrinsic enjoyment of it, or reading as a tool to help you accomplish another task. This assignment is intended to emphasize the second of these two reasons.

Each student is to choose a task or project that is important to them. It could be anything from developing a new hobby or improving an existing one to developing skills necessary for a particular college program or career. Students have come up with a wide variety of ideas including acting in a self-made film, creating a chapbook of poetry, taking a professional family portrait, comparing and contrasting branches of the military, and many more.

Once a project is decided upon, each student must the choose a book to help them to accomplish their project. The book is the real purpose of the assignment and we will pay close attention and study many aspects of non-fiction writing as the students work toward their individual projects. The book must be a non-fiction piece of appropriate length. Content must be justified by the student as to how it pertains to their project in a proposal letter that they will right.

If you still have any questions, please post them here on the blog so that we may all learn from them. Thanks!

Proposal Letter

Your proposal letter should be a detailed request to me asking permission to continue your project as planned. Your proposal should be written in formal business letter format and should include the following items:

• salutation and introduction
• detailed summary of your project
• an explanation of why this book is right for you
  
• detailed description of the book that you have chosen to read and how it will help you accomplish your project goal (I know that you haven't read the book yet, so do the best with the information you can get from a quick overview of the book. You may find in the end that the book wasn't very useful in helping you to complete the project. That's how life works!).
  
• a step-by-step plan of how you hope to proceed
• summary

The proposal letter is due by the end of class on Friday. Good Luck!

RIP Blog Posts

I'm very sad to say that I'm not going to post to the blog anymore this semester. After the first few weeks of posts I realized that no one was utilizing the blog. I still really like the idea and I'll be working over it for next semester. Please shoot me an email if you have any questions.

09/05/2007

Wow, long weekend and they I forgot to post yesterday. I'm turning into a bit of a slacker...I wonder if it's contagious?

Yesterday we did a whole lot of reading from "Algernon" and then we completed the plural nouns worksheet. Not too much, but if you were absent talk to me about checking out a book so that you can catch up on the reading.

Today was a little more exciting. We began a small research project on Mental Handicaps. We divided into groups and each group will do a short PowerPoint presentation on their topic. The rubric for the project is listed under assignments (right hand side of this page). We're going to work on this project one more day (possibly Friday) and then we will present our findings to the class.

Last thing, I decided that Trent has to tell me who Steve Prefontaine is before the end of the semester or he will fail English. So, if you know, you might want to help Trent out!