Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March 31, 2009

Homework:
Pictionaries 1-10
Start writing the script for the H.B. promotional video.

Today:
Daily Drill
Reviewed the calendar for the week.
Discussed 1- 10 vocab words.
Discussed the requirements for the script.
Work time for a few minutes.

Sections 1 and 2 are doing the ad as group projects.  They will be responsible for presenting the ad to the class before it is filmed, but each student is not writing his own piece.  Each group member must speak in the ad, and tomorrow I will discuss my high expectations for the ads.

Sections 3, 6, and 7 must write a script first.  Each student is writing up a proposal for an ad that is pretty much finished.  We will listen to these proposals and decide which ads will be presented.  Once the ads are chosen, groups will form to act out the ads for the camera.  I am finding that too many students are just watching others do the work.  I really want all students involved in writing an ad.  We have spent a lot of time preparing for this.  I want to see how it all comes together.

Friday, March 27, 2009

March 27, 2009

Homework: None
Today: In the picture above, you can see what we did today. After checking to see that all the students found 17/21 ad techniques in their magazines, I asked for examples of each. We created this bulletin board. We will use this next week when we start writing our promotional video for H.B. ! I will expect to see 2-3 of the techniques in their ads. This should be an interesting two weeks! I hope we can get them all made by spring break. The testing really played with the schedule I had planned.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

March 26, 2009

Homework:
Students should have identified 17 ad techniques in their magazines with yellow sticky tabs.  They will get a grade on this tomorrow. 

Today:
Daily Drill
Vocab Quiz
Work time on the 17 ad techniques

I was telling the students today that the reason we are learning these techniques is they must include about three of them in their promotional video.  Tomorrow we will make our bulletin board, and next week we will create our ads!  I am excited and nervous.  But I promise you one thing: this project will produce some memorable footage of these children!  It's the type of thing they hope no one sees!  It will be fun, though.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

March 25, 2009

Homework:
Sections 3,6,and 7 should make flashcards
There is a quiz tomorrow (accept for section 3- Friday)

Today:
Daily Drill
Reviewed vocab answers
Reviewed ad techniques
Work time to identify techniques used in magazine ads

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

March 24, 2009

Homework:
Completing the Sentence
Be sure to have a magazine tomorrow

Today:
Daily Drill
Checked the Choosing the Right Word using the clicker system for a grade
I explained the second half of the ad techniques
Some classes started to find ads in their magazines.

Tomorrow, I plan to give them lots of time to hunt for ad techniques in their magazines.
I have started to grade the compare/contrast paragraphs.  They will have to go on the 4th MP grade.  I cannot get them done in time.

Monday, March 23, 2009

March 23, 2009

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Grades are done on the Home Access.  I put in three new grades.  A zero in any of those last three can really pull the grade down!  However, the students had plenty of time and reminders to get them in.  I will still accept them for late credit.  I was going to grade the paragraphs for this marking period, but I will probably use them for the forth MP.  I don't want to rush and make mistakes.  I will see how the grading goes this week.

Homework:
Choosing the Right Word- We will check them with the remotes tomorrow.
Bring a magazine.  It will be easier to do the next assignment with a magazine!

Today:
Daily Drill
Reviewed the week's schedule
Reviewed vocab words to get them back in out head.
I introduced them to the first page of advertising techniques.  Some classes had some time to start searching for an example of each technique.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

March 18, 2009

Homework:
Pictionaries 1-10
Compare/Contrast paragraph is due Friday.  This sheet has the requirements.
I asked students to bring a magazine tomorrow so we can start studying advertising techniques.

Today:
Daily Drill
Listened to 1-10 vocab words for the next unit
Looked at two samples for the compare/contrast paragraph
Students read each other's pieces and commented.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

March 17, 2009

Homework:
Yes, I assigned homework.  I want the students to come in with a 300-350 word paragraph that we have been working on.  I am having trouble keeping the momentum of the current lesson going through testing.  I figured since we are done testing, accept for make-ups, I can assign some homework.  I can't wait to get to filming the videos, but we have to cover some important media literacy concepts first as part of the curriculum.

I would also like the students to bring in a magazine on Thursday and Friday.  We will be looking at artificial means of persuasion- or ad techniques.  I think they will enjoy the lessons more if they are looking at magazines they like.  Otherwise, they will be looking at boring newspaper ads.

Lastly, we are starting a new unit of vocab Wednesday.  I looked at the calendar.  We can keep up the two week schedule through March and April, but in May, we will be doing a unit a week!  May will be vocab month, and it will end with the final.  I want the students to get their $8.50 worth out of their books!

Friday, March 13, 2009

March 13, 2009

Sorry I haven't blogged the past few days, but there was not really much to update.  We are working on outlining paragraphs that compare H.B. to a private school.  Here are the two prompts students can address.  Some have the parent, and others have the student:

Audience: Parents
Should I send my child to H.B. DuPont, or should I send him to the private school you researched?  Is there anything I must know before I make my decision?
Recommendation

Audience: Student
I would like to know what middle school I should go to.  I hear private schools are pretty nice, but can I get the same experience if I go to H.B.? What do you think I should know about each school before I talk about this with my mom and dad?

The reason we are doing this comparison is to see what the competition has.  In many ways, the private schools have more than we do, but for the money and life experience, I am not so sure H.B. is that far behind.  That is my opinion.  I want to see what the students have to say. 


Again, all of these activities are preparing students for the ad they will make to promote H.B..


The final paragraph will be due Thursday of next week.  I plan to get some of my classes into the writing lab on Wednesday of next week.  I will post the rubric next week.

Have a nice weekend.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

March 10, 2009

Homework:
The students worked well in class, but not all could finish their charts.  Since this is our last day in the writing lab, I said students could finish the chart at home.  We will be writing compare/contrast paragraphs.  They will need to have the chart complete.  You can't compare two schools if you don't know anything about them!

Today:
We were in the writing lab.  We continued to work on this paper.

Monday, March 09, 2009

March 9, 2009

Homework:
I did ask my classes to conduct some interviews of people to find out why H.B. is a school worth attending.  I know we cannot assign homework, so I said those who did these interviews would be better off than those who just have to guess what people want in a school.  I think the interviews will help the students when they create their promotional videos.

Today:
I have created a nice web page that explains what we are currently working on.  We have completed the first two things on the page, and we are in the middle of the third.  Since we have to promote H.B. duPont Middle School, I thought it would be best to study what private schools do to promote their schools.  It's like studying the competition.  Sure, these schools offer many things H.B. cannot, but I am hoping we can make our school shine like these schools do on their web page.  Our school does not cost $20,000 a year.  H.B. is a great value in some ways.

This research will be turned into a compare/contrast essay.  I will have the outline posted soon.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

March 5, 2009

Homework: None

Today:  We are beginning a new unit.  We will be making promotional videos for H.B. duPont.  You can get the details here. So far we have just started to study audience.