Cemetery trip

Students in 804 and 808!!!  The cemetery trip is still on for Monday!!  Not many of the 808 kids have brought their permission slips and money, and neither have a few from 804. If you don't bring them on Monday morning, you won't be able to go. So PLEASE remember them, and spread the word to your classmates via email, text, Facebook, phone, etc.

Hope you are all doing ok. What a week!  See you Monday.

Just had to share this great post from Ms. Robbins's classes!

I don't know how Ms. Robbins and her students compiled this list of writing prompts, but I'm stealing them!  When you're stuck for a focus for your weekly blog post, I bet some of these will unstick you!

All-Star Posts on "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"

Check out the strength and sophistication of these all-star blog posts!!!

Elinor's post!

Sasha's post!

Sylvie's post!

Nicole's post!

A Few Notable Blog Posts from Last Year

http://luvmeliv.blogspot.com/2012/05/making-splash-robyn.html

http://rottinghyacinths.blogspot.com/2012/04/response-by-paul-volponi.html

http://rayreads.blogspot.com/2012/05/way-war-separates-people.html

http://alexstutt5.blogspot.com/2012/03/important-relationships-in-mother.html

How to Get Your Blog Started!! 2012 - 2013

How To Set Up A Blog

URL/permission slip due on: Monday, September 10

You will be setting up your blog and submitting your URL.  Then you will write your first post, which will be a reading response based on a summer reading book that will be due on Friday, September 14.

How do I start a web log?
1. Go to www.blogger.com and click on the “Create a Blog” button.
2. Blogger is a part of Gmail and you will need a Gmail account if you don’t already have one. If you already have a Gmail email address, simply type it in. If you don’t, you can create one. Don’t forget your password! You can now also use this account for email, or use it just for your blogger account.
3. Follow the directions to name your blog and create its URL. The name and URL do not necessarily have to match. (For example, Ms. Robbins's blog is called “Books Upon Books,” but that URL was already taken, so her URL is http://www.room116ela.blogspot.com/.  Mine happens to match - my blog is The Starry Void, an allusion to one of my favorite Pablo Neruda poems, and my blog is http://www.thestarryvoid.blogspot.com/.) Don't choose a URL name that's too wacky to remember!
4. Follow the directions to pick a template, and your blog is ready to go!

Privacy Settings and Options

1. It is important to first adjust the privacy settings.  Click on the blogger icon and then your blog’s name or just go to the “Design” link at the top right hand corner of your blog’s page. You will see a list come up on the side.  Click on “basic” to get to the privacy settings and click on “edit.” Answer “no” to both questions so that it won’t come up in a search.  Click on the “save changes” button.

2. Please leave the "blog readers" setting on "everybody", so that your classmates and I can access your blog.

3. Click on “posts and comments.” Change it to “user with google account.”

 

Adding Gadgets

Click on “design” at the top right hand corner again.  Click on “layout” on the left hand side.  Click on “add gadget”.  When you find one you want, click on the “+” sign.  Be sure to save changes! As you customize your blogs, feel free to utilize all the tools available to you on blogger. The following are required:  

1. Labels: Label each post according to your focus (for example, “character change” or “theme”).  You can also label posts according to topic (“friendship” or “sports”) or title (“Hunger Games”).  

2. Blogroll: you can create a list of blogs you are reading on the sidebar. Everyone will be responsible for commenting on a handful of other blogs, so this is a great place to put the blogs you plan on keeping up with.  Each time an author posts something new, it automatically moves that blog to the top of your list. You can add in the blogs once I add them to our home base blog, thestarryvoid.blogspot.com. 

3. List: Please make an online list and call it  “Finished Book List.” As you finish a book, add it here. 

Additional Guidelines
1. This blog is a part of a school project. Therefore, all content on your blog must be related to your reading and writing life in some way. Please do not use this blog as an online journal.
2. My expectation is that we are a community of readers and writers. I will be monitoring all blogs and trusting that your words that appear online will come from a place of respect for your fellow classmates as well with a tone that is appropriate for school.
3. For my own sanity, do not add any kind of sound gadgets to your blog.  Also, please type in readable colors (no pink or yellow) and fonts (avoid ones that are cursive or all caps, especially). 

Thanks!  Let's get this blogging started!
 
-Ms. Rear

Last Post!!! Due Monday, June 18!

For your past post of the year, I want you to think and write about your experience blogging about reading this year and about what it means to have an 'online identity'.


Answer some or all of the following questions. . .


* What did you learn about yourself as a reader from creating and keeping up with your blog?
* In what ways did you benefit from the experience?
* Is writing online different than in a notebook?  In what ways?
* In what ways can writing online be liberating?  Limiting?
* Do you think that people are more real online or do we create online personalities that project the best of ourselves? Or something else?
* Do you think that teenagers abuse the freedom that being online gives you on sites like facebook? Do people type things they would never say to a person's face? Do you think this is a good or bad thing? Why?
* Can you imagine yourself keeping up this blog or creating another one?  What would it be about?  What's your opinion of blogs in general and why?  

Thanks for all your hard work this year, and thanks for helping me learn about the world of blogging with students, too! 

Deep Thinkers!!!

Here are some really thought-provoking philosophical posts from the last week:

Daniel starts to think about choices in the context of war:
http://arcofthenoid.blogspot.com/2012/05/philosophy-and-war.html

Life, love, and happiness according to Francesca:
http://rottinghyacinths.blogspot.com/2012/05/value-of-life-in-if-i-stay.html

Start with these, and navigate through some more to find some mentors!

Culminating Questions for Ms. Bates's Ethical Dilemma Study

Directions:  After you have completed your PSA, Public Service Announcement for your Voki character, think and write about three things:

            1^st Why is your issue a moral/ethical dilemma?

            2^nd Which approach did you take to your solution?  Explain why you classify your approach that way.

                        i.e. - Is it a Virtue Approach to Solving your dilemma?

                              - Is it a Common Good Approach to Solving your dilemma?

            3^rd: (Might require some research!!!)  What actions has society (the public, the government, organizations, etc.) taken to solve this dilemma?  Have these actions been “right or wrong”?  Why?  Have the consequences of these actions been “good or bad”?  Why?

Ms. Bates’ Example:

Topic: Prohibit America from Smoking

1^st: Why is your issue a moral/ethical dilemma?

1 in 5 deaths are due to smoking each year.  Americans are dying at rates higher than HIV, motor vehicle accidents, alcohol use, illegal drug use suicides and murders combined; yet the government still permits Americans to purchase them.  But, many would argue that American adults have the mental capacity to decide how they want to relieve stress and subsequently die.   Isn’t the government supposed to look out for the common good of its people?  This is a moral/ethical dilemma because the government wants to help its people by not infringing upon their rights, but it also realizes the need to intervene its smoking habits due to the alarming death rates.

2^nd: Which approach did you take to your solution?  Explain why you classify your approach that way.

            By getting people to write to their congressman to ban smoking, I would classify my approach to solving this solution as the Common Good Approach because through the outlawing of smoking, I would be getting our government to do what’s best for the greater whole. 

3^rd (Might require some research!!!)  What actions has society (the public, the government, organizations, etc.) taken to solve this dilemma?  Have these actions been “right or wrong”?  Why?  Have the consequences of these actions been “good or bad”?  Why?

Some actions that society has taken in the prevention of smoking are the increased awareness of smoking’s harmful effects through the creation of billboards, televised commercials, and health warnings on the sides of cigarette packages.  I think that this is a right action because the government is utilizing pictorial ads to prevent smoking; but it yields bad consequences, because only 15% of the world’s population meets the best practices for pictorial warnings (World Health Organization.) Additionally, unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million, globally, by 2030 (World Health Organization.) 

 DUE FRIDAY, MAY 4!!!!

** BE READY TO PRESENT YOUR WORK!!!! ***