March 31, 2008

Homework:
Pictionaries 1-20 unit 11
Quiz Friday
(We will be doing a unit a week for the next four weeks.)

Today:
Spelling (I will have a notebook quiz April 14.)
Reviewed the schedule for the week.
Listened to the words for unit 11
Discussed what a proverb is and looked at the lyrics for "Every Day" from High School Musical 2. The song has many pearls of wisdom that might make good writing topics. Over the next few days we will be deciding what the last writing piece from the movie will be. I will post the assignment when it is ready.

Special note:
The galleries of the portraits have been removed. Dr. Carmack advised that it would be better to not have the pictures available for download. If you would like to see your child's portraits, e-mail me. I would be happy to show them to you. They turned out great, and the kids had a lot of fun.

March 20, 2008

Dear parents,
I am sure you have been hearing that we have been taking portraits in English class. Well, they are done, and I have posted the results of our efforts in galleries located at the link below. On that page you will see many galleries. Ours are located a few rows down. If you are not sure which class you child is in, you can roll over the pictures to see what the gallery contains. (There is also a video if you want to view a slide show of the best pictures. I don’t know how to delete the other videos on that page.)

I will warn you, the page has lots of graphics. Be patient. Also, you may get a page that says you need an updated browser. You can just use what you have. If you have an older computer, you might have trouble viewing these.

When you are in the galleries, you can download the pictures two ways. If you so desire, you can download the whole gallery. Click the download button on the first page of the gallery. The site will zip the pictures for download. Be warned. The pictures are about 300KB. The whole gallery will be huge.

You can also just download the pictures of your child by downloading from his/her picture. You will get one picture at a time.

These pictures are great quality. I used my Canon Rebel XTI and Dr. Carmack’s professional lights and background. The downloaded files should make good 8 X 10 pictures if you want. I have used this site for prints. I pick them up at the store by Christiana Hospital: http://www.ritzpix.com/ .

The pictures in the galleries are organized by shot. The first shot of the student is the pose he/she picked. Today I had the students write down what they are trying to say in their poses. The rest of that child’s shots are what I was able to get them to do. When they stood there, I would get a feel for who they are. Some would say I took the picture I wanted, or I posed them the way I see them. Some kids were hard to work with. Others were great!

I loved working with the kids. Like most of my projects, I tried to get the students to examine themselves and others through different lenses. In this case, that lens was mine. The pictures I produced are a result of the interaction I had with them as they posed, and for some, with the whole class as they offered suggestions! It was challenging but rewarding.

-MrBoZ

Link : http://gallery.mac.com/bozmd

P.S. During each class I explained and had written on the board that if they want their pictures removed they had to put it in writing. I had two students do that so far. If you have an objection to your child's pictures being posted, I will respect your wishes and remove them. These pictures will be up for a few weeks. Then I will remove them.

March 19, 2008

Homework: None

Today: We finished our portraits today. Tonight I will get them all organized and put the galleries up so you can download the pictures! I have a lot of work ahead of me, so I need to get to it!

March 18, 2008

Homework:
I want the students to be done the two sheets I have assigned. You can find them on the assignment page at MrBoZ.com.

Today:
We did the daily spelling. Then we took pictures! We will need another full day to finish the shots. I took 500 shots today, and I have only photographed half the students! Tonight I will narrow the shots down to the pose they had in mind and another shot (or two). Eventually the pictures will be posted so you can download them and get them printed. Ritz does a nice job. You can send the file over the internet and even get the pictures sent to your house.

March 17, 2008

Homework:
I gave out a sheet of questions that can be used to guide your thinking. The students need to be ready for a portrait shot tomorrow. In talking with a few students, they are not sure what they want to say with their shot. I guess they need to sit down and start thinking about this! You can read the requirements for the assignment here.

Today:
We did the daily spelling. I hope the students are keeping these organized in a notebook. I will have a test on these later. They can use the notebook.

We looked at some portraits I took three years ago of my students. It was interesting to just see the pictures. I was trying to tell my students that three years from now or more someone will view your portraits like this. What do you want them to think? What message do you want to convey about who you are?

Then we discussed Troy and who he decided he was. He said that people can bet on him. I want the students to have a clear message when they explain their portraits.

March 14, 2008

Homework:
The students should be thinking about their portraits.

Today:
I have been very busy grading their letters. I plan to update grades by Tuesday. Then I will make the page that explains the project. The students should know what is expected. I have the notes all over my boards and we have been discussing poses all for the last two days. Here are the pictures we have been discussing.

Here is a page I made with some sample shots of my family. They show the background and lighting I will be using. They also show the quality of the shots I am looking for. I want the students to create a shot that defines who they are. If you look at my sample page, you will see a black and white that I want to use as my portrait. The interesting discussion we will have is whether the portrait we create is who we are or how we want to be seen. Hum.... Hopefully the writing part of this project will explain what they were going for.

March 11, 2008

Homework:
None

Today:
I saw sections 1 and 3. Section 1 started the quick unit on "Bet on It." Section 3 could only handle doing grammar book work at the end of the day.

March 10, 2008

Homework:
If you can, could you bring in some lyrics about the singer searching for a source of strength and where he eventually finds it? I would like a song that says we can now count on him because of how he has grown. I will give this some thought as well, but I was hoping to find some new music you kids would know.

Today:
I saw sections 6 and 7. I reminded the students who have not turned in their letters that they owe one to me. We did the daily spelling. Then we started to discuss the song "Bet on It" from HSM2. We only scratched the surface. We are looking at the first stanza where Troy says that everyone is talking at him and trying to get in his head. I had the students make a brief chart of those people who are trying to get in their heads. Later we will be looking at how they make decisions about who they will listen to. Where do they get their guidance? In the song, Troy figures this out for himself and then has the confidence to say that people can now count on him.

I explained to the students that we will be making a prose piece similar to the what Troy was talking about: You can bet on me. We will also be taking portraits that exude the same idea. As the week goes on, we will discuss the project more.

March 7, 2008

Homework: None
Some students did not finish their letters. They can finish them at home.

Today:
Boring work period to finish up the letters. Next week we will start a fun project. The assignment page will be up on Monday. I am still organizing it.

March 5, 2008

Homework: None

Today:
Work time on the letter that is due by the end of class on Friday. I only saw sections 6, 7, and 1 today. I will see sections 2 and 3 tomorrow.

March 4, 2008

Homework: None

Today:
Daily Spelling Practice
We discussed audience and how you must clearly picture and define your audience of the letter.
We read a letter to the Commissioner of Major League Baseball written by a student 3 years ago. We analyzed how he was aware of the responsibilities and interests of his audience. We looked at how he politely expressed his opinion that the schedule for the playoff games should be changed. We also looked at the reply letter. We saw that the young man was wrong about his assertions, but the MLB Commissioner was very polite in his response to him. I encouraged the students to use the three column chart we have been talking about. I thought it would be due today, but most students are not ready to make it.

I have written my letter. Because of its content, I had Dr. Carmack read it. I took out a few references to my personal beliefs so it will be appropriate for a public school setting. Here is the final version.

March 3, 2008

Homework:
There will not be homework until March 17 because of the DSTP. That's fine. We will be doing all of our work in class. This does not mean that nothing is due. The students have a chart due at the end of class tomorrow and a letter due at the end of class Friday.

Today:
The day was pretty straight forward. I took care of some little things, discussed the requirements for the letter, and gave them time to work. Some students are not using the time provided. I will be grading the letter, so I hope they take this more seriously as the week goes on. I have spent a lot of time preparing students to write. I finished mine today. Now I am getting feedback from people so I can revise it. I will post it if Dr. Carmack thinks the content is neutral enough for everyone.