Out with the old, in with the new. (Guest blogger: Tyler Levinson)

      As this is an English blog, I will write about literature. Thoughout my school life, I have been forced to read many "classic" novels, such as Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. While these novels do have modern appeal, they are not very relatable to today's youth (and if you can relate to Holden Caulfield, I pity you). I feel that novels that are considered "Modern Classics" would be more relatable to today's youth readers, and because they are more relatable, students will better understand the themes and emotions that are being conveyed.
      Now, I am not saying we should do away with timeless classics from such writers as Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and Hemingway, I am just saying that we could cut out some of the literary fat (i.e. Nothing but the Truth and Tangerine).
      If you were on the school board, what modern classic would pick to replace Nothing but the Truth or Tangerine and why? Remember, the book should be relatable for guys and girls and be school appropriate.

Tyler Levinson

A Time To Reflect

It's Thanksgiving.  (Duh.)


Usually, people take this time to list what they're a thankful for and express gratitude.  I'm sure you all have done that a million times in your educational careers.


Here's a twist.  

Most Thanksgivings are spent with family and friends; sometimes, it's with those we only see a few times a year.  When I was a young girl (way, way back...), I remember how older members of my family (and friends) would take this opportunity to give advice to the younger generation. Sometimes it was a simple piece of advice. When I was about 12, Lily, a family friend, told me, "Gina, start using Oil of Olay moisturizer everyday now. You will look young when all your friends look like old hags."  It was a fabulous piece of advice.  Sometimes the advice revolves around life lessons like the advice given by my parents, "It's important to manage your finances. Never borrow more than you can repay."

This Thanksgiving take the time to reflect on pieces of advice you have been given recently or in the past, and by whom. Include everything from the mundane to more abstract ideas about character, getting along with others, and so on.

Let's get a good list going. Part two coming soon.....

The "C" Word

Every year, this topic rears its ugly head.  Cheating.   In fact, cheating came up twice in just the past few days.

The first time, a previous student sent me an email describing an incident.

I got a first-hand look at a serious case of cheating today. A girl got her hands on a test that she was going to take later, and she offered a new friend of mine the chance to work on the problems together so that he could do well on the test. He took it. I was obviously not too okay with it, but it wasn't my place to really do anything.

This is a clear case of cheating.  This kind of cheating will get a student kicked out of most universities.  Case closed.

The second time was just this morning and involved my daughter - in my car - on the way to school.  She was talking to her friend about the homework they had to complete over the weekend. Her friend asked if she finished the history notes.  My daughter replied, "All except for two.  I'll just copy them from you real quick when we get to my mom's room."  Um, I think NOT.  Here's the thing.  To them, that wasn't cheating.  To me, it most definitely was cheating.  And I did not allow the "copying" to happen.

Because these two situations happened within days of each other, I felt compelled to research it more.  Cheating isn't new. It happens. All. The. Time.  This I know.  However, I'm intrigued at how cheating changes over the years.  During my first year of teaching, students used to roll up cheat sheets and put them inside their highlighter pens. (This was also the preferred note exchange method.) Now, technology has enabled it to become easier and (dare I say it?) more acceptable.

Read this article A Cheating Crisis in America.  It was published back in April, but it's still relevant.

What is the point of cheating anyway?  What is there to gain?  Is it the grade? It's just a letter.  Isn't the point of all this education, all this lifetime of learning - just that:  to learn.  If you cheat your way through middle school, then high school, then college, what happens when you get out into the real world?  Will these "cheaters" be able to function in a job?  How?   What is cheating to you? Do you think it's acceptable in certain situations? Why do you think students cheat?

Will anyone answer this:  Do you cheat?  Why?

Edit:  Here is a link to the article mentioned by Howard Ki (thanks) The Shadow Scholar

Update:  After reading through the comments, I am compelled to add a bit to this post.

First, I want to thank those students who are being honest and commenting on this post in the spirit for which is intended.  Indeed, I do not want you all to respond the way you think I want you to respond. You should communicate your true ideas on the topic.  That is the point.  Thank you to those who are doing just that.

Have I cheated before? Well, sure when I was in middle and high school, I did. I don't know a person who hasn't cheated once in his or her life.  Does that mean I can't think it's wrong now? I don't think so.  Does it make me a hypocrite? No. What I know about cheating and how I feel about the subject has guided me to implement some strategies in my classroom to hopefully teach you guys the value of learning.  Anyone ever notice how much collaborative work I allow in my classroom?  Wonder why?  Is there a difference between cheating and working as a team to accomplish a common goal?

Banned Websites?

Each year, I "celebrate" Banned Books Week by pointing out all the banned books which sit on my classroom bookshelves, discussing the ones which you have already read, and the classics you will be assigned to read.  Therefore, when I came across this article in The New York Times:  A Call for Opening Up Web Access at Schools, I was intrigued.  Is the practice of blocking certain websites in schools synonymous with banning books?  


The rules for commenting on this post:
Read the article first. Find some interesting sentence or section of the article and format your comment around that part.  Quote it!  Read comments posted by previous students.  Then, either comment on something original or refer to another student's comment and add your own spin.  Please do not repeat the same mantra over and over again.

Goals

Okay, so now that the school year is underway, I’m sure that a few of you have thought about what you want to accomplish this year. Looking at my life, I’ve started to set goals for myself as I believe all of you should do. What I want to know is this:

• Do you have any goals?
• Why are they important to you?
• Are these goals that you want to complete in one month? One year? Five years? Are your goals something that you want to continue to work on forever? (Eating healthy, helping others, etc.)

Your goals don’t have to be something like “get good grades.” (That should be a priority for all of you.) They could deal with family, school, social stuff, competitions, health, ANYTHING. For example, my two goals are to make the math team for my grade and place individually in the top 25 in state, and to read through the entire list of books on teenreads.com (around 400 books) by the end of my sophomore year.

The key to finding out what your goals should be is to think about what you want out of your life. Once you do that, ideas should come pouring out. Afterwards, it’s all a matter of figuring out how you’ll achieve what you want and getting to work!

Caterina Golner

Period 2 (Class of 2011) :)

My Top Ten List (Again)

Last year, I posted this list of Top Ten:


My Top Ten Ways to Procrastinate Grading Papers
1. Playing Scrabble
2. Reading
3. Watching mindless TV
4. Playing with my kids
5. Cooking
6. Finding interesting articles to blog
7. On-line shopping
8. Texting
9. Facebook
10.  Running (I hate running....)


At the request of a previous student (thanks, Cat), I'm posting a new Top Ten list.   Apparently, you are all boring and falling into the crazy pattern of posting comments that fall into the category of "This is what I think Mrs. Powers wants me to write." Yuck.  (And, btw, I do not want you to DO that - ever. Be who you are!)


Here is my new list......


My Top Ten TV Shows 
Bet you all thought I would list Best Books  or  Grammar Mistakes! Oh, I have a life outside of English; I swear I do. I'll save those two top ten lists for another day.  For now, I will let you in on my dirty little secret addiction: TV.  Here is a list of the shows I never miss!!


1. Dexter
2. Criminal Minds
3. Flipping Out
4. Any Housewives of... (but especially New Jersey)
5. Curb Your Enthusiasm
6. Modern Family
7. How I Met Your Mother
8. Gray's Anatomy
9. In the Middle (edit) GLEE (HOW did I forget Glee?)
10. True Blood and Vampire Diaries (both vampire shows so I'm allowed to give them a tie)


Now, before you comment, here is the biggest rule:  You can comment on my list of Top Ten or another student's list, but you can NOT repeat the same topic.  In other words, no more Top Ten TV Shows lists. Come up with your ideas!!!


For example, you can say, "Hey, Mrs. Powers, I love watching Vampire Diaries, too! My list is the Top Ten _____"  <---  then you fill in the blank!  :-)


Let's have fun and show those personalities!

A Reason to Visit the Principal

I just read this article Go to the Office!

It's really an interesting thought.

How often have you gone to the office to meet with principal?

Who wants to?

Read the article.

Do something fantastic.  I will send you to Dr. Kaplan and Mr. Segarra.

Wow. Well, THAT's annoying....

Where to begin?  I suppose with the most annoying question which can ever be uttered in my classroom.  One I was asked too many times today, "Is this for a grade?"

No, kids, no it's not for a grade... not today anyway. Sometimes I ask you to complete an assignment simply for knowledge. Yes, as insane as that may sound, sometimes, I just want you to learn something without having to assign a numerical value to it.  Honestly, there is information I want you to know which just does not justify a number.  That information is going to help you later. That information is valuable.  And eventually, that information, is going to help you earn a "grade." Your eventual grade will be exactly what you gained from the assignment that was "not for a grade." Today.

Seriously. I hope that question is never uttered in my classroom again this year. Seriously.

Another unquestionably annoying occurrence encountered too many times today was the misuse of collaborative learning time.  I defined it last week.  I asked you to define today.  Yet, time and time again, the rules were not followed.  It's exhausting really.  The entire purpose for collaborative learning is to .... collaborate! Work together to gain knowledge and insight into a situation.  Work. Together.

I'm done ranting for now. What do you guys have to add? What is your perspective into these situations?

Welcome New Writers!

Blogs are an amazing way to practice writing to share.  Participating in our class blog is a great way to exchange ideas and practice communicating digitally.

One of the greatest obstacles facing young writers is learning how to write without plagiarizing the work of other writers. In this post, I would love to share a great article from The New York Times about plagiarism, Are You Part of ‘Generation Plagiarism’? Read the article and share your thoughts.

Summer Reading

It seems like the only time I get to truly enjoy reading books is over the summer when I have much more free time on my hands.  (If you guys only knew how much time you take from my life! It's not just 8:30-4:00, I promise!)  Anyway, I'm downloading some books onto my Kindle, and I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for me. I like to keep up on what you are reading, too.

Just so you know:  yes, I'm a Harry Potter lover; I read the Twilight series, too, but that was my honestly weird obsession with vampires... the writing... well, it was pretty lackluster. (I'm being polite.)

Right now, I'm feeling completely nostalgic, and I'm reading the Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal which is the "adult" follow-up to the Sweet Valley High series which I started reading way back when. It's a light, easy read, and I'm not expecting much out of it.  I love, love, love Jodi Picoult (Sing You Home already on Kindle). I also enjoy historical fiction: The Red Tent and The Other Boleyn Girl being my favorites.  I'm kinda eclectic in my taste for novels. I like all the genres as long as the author can hook me.

I just downloaded:  This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  I'm now searching the NY Times Bestsellers list and also the top Kindle list.

I am truly interested in what you guys have read and enjoyed.  Let me know!

EOY - Look to the Future

What are you looking forward to next year?  What do you imagine high school will be like?

EOY - Feedback Part Two

For this, comment on what you liked this year. This is harder.... Do you have a favorite lesson?  I know, it's all about the Caught'yas and punctuation formulas, right? 

EOY - Feedback

Here is an opportunity to give me feedback (constructive criticism). What would you change about this year? How can I improve?

No More Teachers, No More Books........

I know that at this point all anyone can think about is SUMMER, but I'm going to attempt to start a conversation about the exact opposite: school. While looking for summer voulenteering opportunities, I stumbled across the Sunset Sudbury School. As I explored the website (http://sunsetsudbury.org/) I discovered that this was no ordinary program. At Sunset Sudbury there is no curriculum. I know it's unbelievable, but it's true. This school lets its students do whatever they like, and I do mean ANYTHING. If the students want to play video games all day, that's what they do. If they want to run around all day, that's what they do. Of course this means if they want to study rocket science or find the cure for cancer, they could do this too. The school's theory is that "students become inspired and passionate about learning. Because they have chosen their activities, they are genuinely interested and motivated to pursue an interest to its completion (as determined by them alone)." They say skills in reading, writing, math, etc. will "develop organically, not necessarily through a planned process." In addition, students are not separated into grade levels, they can come and go as they want as long as they're in school for five hours every day, there are no grades, standardized testing is not mandatory, and all rules "for day-to-day life" are voted on by the entire school, students included. According to the website, students can and do go to college. What do you think about this kind of education compared with how we are being taught? How do you think you would fair in this type of environment?

Lauren Goboff
Period 3

Judge a Book's Cover

During the course of my life, I have heard many times, "Don't judge a book by it's cover". Thinking back on this common piece of advice, I wonder if this is really a wise saying. the more I think about it, the more I am convinced it is not. Your thoughts?

Francisco Rivera

(If anyone does not know my period number, I'm sure you can find it someplace else on the blog, but I shall reiterate, pd. 5)

New Scrabble Words? Say it ain't so! Or maybe this is a good thang...

By now most of you are well aware of my Scrabble obsession.  I'm not sure how I feel about the expansion to acceptable Scrabble words:  Scrabble adds 'thang,' 'grrl' and 'Facebook' as official words (click the link to read the entire article).  On the one hand, language is constantly evolving (thou certainly concurs), so shouldn't the game reflect these changes? However, are we becoming too lax in the rules if we allow every new slang term and seemingly random two-letter words enter the Scrabble lexicon?

Shakespearean Insults

Shakespeare is famous for writing the best insults without using foul language!  In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2 is full of insults the four lovers hurl at one another.

What are some of your favorite insults from this scene? Why?

Can you use Shakespearean language to write your own insults?

Voz

Okay, so every time I comment on this blog, I can’t help to notice the many different types of voices. By voice I mean each individual person’s writing style. Some people have a very casual way of writing, almost as if they were having a friendly chat with the reader. Others are more formal and reserved, writing only to inform and/or convince and nothing else. Some people write almost exactly like they speak; still others take on an entire different style from their usual way of communicating. Whatever the case, everyone has a different way of writing, a different voice. That being said, what do you think your voice sounds like? Do you think other people see your voice the same way you do? Are there any particular writing styles that you like? Any that rub you the wrong way? Is there such thing as too much voice?

Also, I thought it’d be fun if every time a person commented, they would describe how they “hear” the voice of someone who has commented before them.

Cat Golner
Period II

Why Read Shakespeare?

This maybe a good reason:  Your Brain on Shakespeare: How the Bard Makes You Smarter

What do you think?

What's Your Curriculum?

Awesome!

Let Kids Rule the School

If given a similar opportunity, what would you choose to learn? How would it be taught and assessed? Think of topics in each subject.  How do YOU want to spend each period of the day?

A Story.

Mr. Bryant and I have a favorite blog post. It's intelligent.  It shares art and a story.

In Love with A. Lincoln by Maira Kalman

Take some time to truly appreciate the art, the story, and Maira Kalman's words.

When you do comment, we would like it to be insightful.  Use two pieces of art and commentary and reflect on the point of view of the author, and what you know about Lincoln.

Take this challenge to WOW us with your perspectives.

Mrs. Powers and Mr. Bryant

Characteristics of a Leader

Okay, so for weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what to write about on this blog, coming up with many ideas and then deciding they were all [expletive]. Now, seeing Sisco’s post, I realized that I have to speed it up a little. So I decided, why not write about something I tend to obsess over?

I find myself to be fixated on the many different personalities that I encounter on a day-to-day basis, but there is a certain type of person that never ceases to fascinate me. This type of person has a wide circle of friends (or better said, followers) and is usually either respected or feared. He may be the captain of the basketball team, motivating his team to play better every day. She may be the cliquey mean girl who is the target of much gossip and envy, and yet no one ever says anything remotely not-nice to her face. He may even be that one kid who realizes that every person in his designated project group is a moron, ends up taking charge of the situation so as not to fail, and realizes that, hey, he’s good at it!

These people are leaders. (Obviously, some more than others.) They may know it, or they may not. They tend to be comfortable talking in front of others, taking responsibility, and designating roles in activities such as group projects. These are just some of the characteristics that most leaders possess. Now I am asking, what are some important characteristics a leader must have to be successful? What are some different types of leadership styles? How do characteristics vary between different types of leaders? What are some examples of great leaders throughout history?

Sorry, guys, no NY Times article for this one. Or better said, not yet. ;)

Cat Golner

Period II

Reading Devices

After reading this article E-Readers Catch Younger Eyes and Go in Backpacks, I realized just how popular reading devices such as the Kindle and the Nook are becoming.
I personally welcome this change, but I have also heard from others that say that the devices can't compare to "traditional" books. Which do you think is better: a reading device, or a "traditional" book? Why?

Francisco Rivera
Thank you for letting me blog, Mrs. Powers :)!

Brought you to the water - now DRINK!

Teaching is a metaphor. Constantly.  Sometimes it drains me; sometimes it inspires me.  Other times, I just laugh because, honestly, you guys crack me up! 

After reading this blog post, I realized that every day of my life is, in fact, a metaphor.  Guest Post: James Geary on Metaphor, A Taxonomy

In an effort (nerdy) to figure out what type of metaphor-user I am, I tried to place the metaphors I use regularly into James Geary's categories.  I found I am mostly an equal-opportunity employer of metaphor. 

How often or when do you use metaphors? Why?  What would the world look like without the use of metaphor? What if we didn't use this ability to draw these comparisons in order to explain what a thing is (or is not)? How does using metaphor allow us to expand communication (written and oral) in a way that allows us to add more detail to our point of view? How important is this technique?

What do you think?

Read:  Obama's Missing Subject

My perspective on the subject is unnecessary. You know what I think.

What do you think?

The State of the Union

Are you watching President Obama's State of the Union? If not, you should! Use this as an opportunity to hone in on some language arts skills, too.  Remember, speeches are written first. I bet you can apply all the concepts of good writing to the speech.

What was the focus of the speech ?  How did the President support himself? Did he use strong, detailed ideas to back up the central idea of his address?  Did anything in particular stand out to you? Why? Can you remember a line or phrase? What made it memorable?

Update:
Did you miss it? You can still respond to this blog. Just read the transcript of President Obama's speech here: State of the Union 2011

Read this

Where are you from?

Interesting.

Human Rights

I don't know how many of you are watching the human rights PSAs after morning announcements, but I am.  I am touched by most of them. Saddened that a PSA even has to be produced. Our world has come to a point where we have to remind each other that we all have rights simply because we are human.

Today's PSA:  Human Right #26 - The Right to Education.  (If you didn't see it, click the link.)

Wow.

How many of you take your right to education for granted? How many of you are actually (deep down) excited to come to school each day in the hopes of learning something new? More importantly, do you take advantage of this right or are you throwing it away?