Day 6 - Oct 31

Yup, we're working away on stuff on Halloween ... I think I was the only one in a costume, by the way...

In any case, we did a bit on essay writing today - something which we'll do again tomorrow, too. Writing your ideas down on paper is important in getting a good mark in the class. Yes, I am looking for rough notes for this essay, too.

After the essay writing, we did some presentations. Some interesting discussion happened before, during and after each of the presentations - something that is rather a cool aspect of this class. (Shhh ... it's a teacher secret that the purpose of this assignment is exactly that .... that students learn more from their fellow students that from the teacher....)

In any case, after we finished the presentations, we got into the next Unit for the course .... Animal Farm. We read to the end of Chapter One. No questions were assigned for homework as we have an essay and a web question on Fahrenheit 451 and Shut up and Sing due ASAP, too.

Other than that, we had a good day today - some interesting discussion, a good read and some time investigating material on teh interwebs. What else could you get from a class?

:):) Deadmau5intheFall :):): First Post

:):) Deadmau5intheFall :):): First Post: Chesser told me to write this !!

Today we created a blog and other stuff on Day 5

Ok, so today was the start of the end of the first unit on stories. We did a unit test in the first half of the class, then moved to the computer lab to complete work there. I can honestly say that I was impressed with the short time it took for most to get their blog up and running.

Seriously, it was good work. Cleaver people in my class. And .... you were afraid of it, pishaw!

and we learned how to embed a video:



Since we had a bit of time, I let people work on their presentations (They are due starting on Monday!) and also the webquest on F451 and Shut up and Sing.

Have a good weekend ...

close to the end of the class we saw this:

Day 4

We finished the Short Pieces Unit today - the list of stories/whatever is up on the blog by now. Make sure you have the questions and the terms for each done for Friday.

Today we watched and discussed the film Digital Nation, a rather interesting documentary film on people using the internet these days. It also suggests some ideas about how me might use our ideas of digital citizenship to change what our government can do.

Just after break I also showed the app Dragon Dictation. It was funny - some of my students were already using it by the end of the class. I'm thinking that I keep doing the "show an app" idea each day - I got plenty.

I also showed Prezi - the link is on the right side of the blog- a great way to show off your ideas. I'll get a link up tomorrow to a great presentation I've used int he past.

Right, sorry this was late, off to a great adventure in rugby!

Day 3

...and Day Three is in the books, or, well ... the blogs.

Today we took up the homework, read a short story by Rex Murphy called "Cellphones"

After that, we watched the film Fahrenheit 451, simply an awesome film. I did notice, however, that people thought it was better to watch it on their own cell phones. I find that kind of funny, considering what the idea presented in the first piece we read today was talking about.

Ah, humour ....

I had only one person actually sign up for their article for the presentation. That is a lot more troubling.

Finally, I also forgot to hand out the report cards ... man. I'm getting old.

Day 2

Right, sorry that this is so late.

Tuesday we read the story The fun they had by Issac Assimov and had questions assigned on it. After that I changed things up a bit and we had a viewing of "Shut Up and Sing" .. which generated some discussion about things like "Freedom of Speech" and the ideas surrounding being a good citizen in a democracy.

Questions were put to students for that one, too.

Have not had anyone sign up for a presentation yet ... which is more than just slightly troubling. Keep in mind that you are doing the work here, not me.

Before we finished the film, I had a but of a show on what you can do with iTunes, specifically iTunesU. I'm hoping that my students make themselves aware of the free material and ideas on there. It's seriously the way things are going into the future.

...the last thing is that I forgot to give out the report cards today ....

have to take care of that .... tomorrow...

Recap of Day One

w00t! One down, 29 to go! Yeeehaw!

Ok, so today ... we started the class. We read two short stories, the first was "The Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury. (More than likely, we're going to be doing at least one other piece of his writing this week.) After the story was read, the Literary Terms" were defined on the board with the knowledge that for each story the questions and the terms will be done. This took us to break.

After break, we started up with a look at this blog and the links on the right side for the Presentations were poked around on, too.

After that, we read Chapter 5 of Frankenstein and got questions on that, too. I gave about 25 minutes at the end of class to let people do the "Getting to know you" forms in to me.

Check this out...


...and you should watch this video, too:



Finally, this is a bit of fun, from the recently finished Rugby World Cup:



See you Tuesday!

Ready to Go!

Right. This is going to be a very important website for the next few weeks for you. Do yourself a favour and bookmark it now.

And pay attention to the guy at the front of the room, too. He's a solid guy...