Tell Me Something Good! We have 1226 entries!

Tell Me Something Good!

Maggie ended up being the 1000th entry, not Caroline. 

For some of these, I had the students enter their own good things on a Google Doc.  This way they did not have to share it in front of the class.  I like it when we can all hear each other's good things, but it is nice to see some of the quiet students sharing. 

I read them all.  I know!  It would kill the typer if he/she used correct punctuation! 

A$AP guac	is level 5	1	12/2/13
Abi	Grateful to be alive	1	11/16/13
abi	tomarrow washington DC	1	11/19/13
abi	he is so happy hes not leaving	1	12/3/13
abi	christmas tree up	1	12/3/13
abi	2 half days	1	12/4/13
alexa	My Uncle was on tv!	1	17-Dec
angel	going to the mall	1	11/14/13
Angel	king of prussia again	1	11/19/13
angel	Shopping on friday	1	11/25/13
angel	party at his house for Christmas	1	12/3/13
angel	Christmas is coming	1	12/13/13
Angel	We only have 3 days before Christmas break. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay.	1	17-Dec
Bian	doesn't know what to buy.	1	11/25/13
Brian	2 more days untill Friday	1	11/13/13
brian	almost Friday	1	11/14/13
Brian	going to jersey this weekend	1	11/16/13
brian	Three more days until Friday…	1	11/19/13
brian	is wreseling	1	11/19/13
Brian	tomarrow will be two more days until Friday	1	11/19/13
brian	4 days until Friday	1	12/2/13
brian	2 more days till Friday	1	12/4/13
Brian	Having an early vacation	1	12/13/13
brian	2 more days til his Friday	1	12/13/13
Brianna	Its the last week until Christmas break.	1	17-Dec
bryshai	got 100 on math test	1	11/14/13
bryshai	brothers birthday	1	12/2/13
BrYsHaI	2014 Almost Hereeee <3	1	17-Dec
camrie	did her vocab	1	11/13/13
camrie	basketball tryouts Monday	1	11/14/13
Camrie	got her hair done	1	11/16/13
camrie	gets to eat a lot of food on Thursday	1	11/25/13
Camrie	made the basketball team	1	12/2/13
camrie	she didn't fall off the roof	1	12/3/13
camrie	21 more days till Christmas	1	12/4/13
camrie	had fried chicken for dinner last night	1	12/13/13
camrie	i found a dollar in my pocket	1	17-Dec
Cecilia	My cousins Birthday is tomorrow	1	17-Dec
Chris	Going to play my PS3 all day during Christmas break	1	17-Dec
Christian	Haircut	1	11/25/13
Christian	Earning $100 This Weekend :D .	1	17-Dec
DeAndre	I'm in Mr.Boz class!!!	1	17-Dec
deondre	ps4 comes out	1	11/14/13
Donnie	went to conrad open house	1	11/16/13
Donnie	had to go swimming he wore mankinis	1	11/19/13
donnie	brother coming back from college	1	12/2/13
donnie	likes stuff	1	12/2/13
donnie	14 more days until christmas break	1	12/3/13
donnie	brothers back	1	12/4/13
donnie	microphone is better	1	12/4/13
Donnie	Friday the 13th	1	12/13/13
donnie	got his xbox back from youngbull brother	1	12/13/13
Donnie	Exciting day	1	12/13/13
Donnievan	I, finished my science, project. *8*more*days*'till*Christmas*!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mr.Boz is my best friend!	1	17-Dec
Gloria	field trip today	1	11/19/13
Gloria	practiced to party	1	11/25/13
gloria	brother starting a dance group	1	12/2/13
gloria	is gong to sing a song to the Virgin Mary	1	12/3/13
gloria	curling iron	1	12/3/13
gloria	something about presents	1	12/13/13
Gloria	I'm throwing a suprise party tomorrow for my two bestfriends.	1	17-Dec
greer	has nothing good	1	11/13/13
griffen	18 days until he leaves for Jamaica	1	12/3/13
Griffin	Its hump day	1	11/13/13
Griffin	tackled his friend	1	11/13/13
griffin	mom gotta job	1	11/14/13
griffin	gonna go to Jamaica	1	12/4/13
griffin	not sick anymore	1	12/13/13
Griffin	We won our baasketball game yesterday!!!!!	1	17-Dec
griffin	I scored somewhere around 10 points!	1	17-Dec
griffindoor	sister leaving for college	1	12/2/13
Griffon	lock in this weekend	1	11/16/13
Jack	Christmas is next Wednesday!	1	17-Dec
jordan	Eight days until Christmas.	1	17-Dec
jose	B-day party	1	11/25/13
jose	Thursday & Friday are half days	1	12/2/13
jose	its Monday :(	1	12/13/13
jose	bought 5 monsters yesterday #energyforhours	1	17-Dec
kyle	my something good is that my grandma is alright.	1	17-Dec
Mr. Boz	really enjoy reading and listining to angels writing	1	11/13/13
Mr. Boz	his daughter has a heart	1	11/19/13
Mr.Boz	doesn't have to pay 1000 billz	1	12/2/13
Mr.Boz	aniyah is here today	1	12/4/13
Mr.Boz	Mom didn't die	1	12/13/13
olivia	back in school	1	12/4/13
Rashoan	happy aniyah not sleep	1	11/13/13
Rashoan	did his hw	1	11/14/13
S	Steelers won im hype !	1	17-Dec
seth	Sally's Test.	1	11/25/13
seth	said hes cute	1	12/3/13
seth	came in like a wrecking ball	1	12/13/13
seth	brian is back	1	17-Dec
sidra	iam gonna go to new york city in christmas day	1	17-Dec
Sterling	did his math homework	1	11/13/13
sterling	2 days and 6 hours and 10 minutes till Friday	1	11/13/13
Sterling	Friday at two thirty	1	11/16/13
Sterling	Three more days until Friday…	1	11/19/13
Sterling	steelers won	1	11/19/13
sterling	Tuesday, at 2:30, is Friday	1	11/25/13
Sterling	4 days and 1 hour until Friday	1	12/2/13
sterling	3 more days until Friday	1	12/3/13
sterling	2 more days till Friday	1	12/4/13
Sterling	five hours into Friday	1	12/13/13
sterling	Friday in  4 more days	1	12/13/13
Sterling	Got that fresh cut though.	1	17-Dec
Sterling	Found 20 yesterday #Stackin	1	17-Dec
sterling	almost Friday	1	11/14/13
taylor	look forward for the 19th	1	12/13/13
taylor	Well, I got new shoes.	1	17-Dec
Taylor	Im going to my brothers basketball game today.	1	17-Dec
Addie	Going to France	2	12/2/13
Addie	I didn't chip my tooth. YAY	2	11-Dec
Addie	Brother & sister coming home soon	2	12/16/13
Addie	made cookies yay	2	17-Dec
alex	sold bit coins and made 700	2	11/23/13
Alex	Saw Catching Fire on Friday	2	11/25/13
Alex	Bitcoin hit a thousand	2	12/2/13
Alex	No school for two days.	2	11-Dec
Alex	Dodge, light, & bit coins	2	12/16/13
Alex	No school after Friday :)	2	17-Dec
Alexis	It was snowing and we missed two days of school.	2	11-Dec
Alexis	Break starts soon!	2	17-Dec
Bradley	We might have band durring activity period not Math League.	2	11-Dec
Caroline	watched sound of the music	2	11/25/13
Caroline	I got my Christmas tree.	2	11-Dec
Caroline	I got $100 yesterday.	2	17-Dec
Chin Chin	Portable Chess	2	12/2/13
Chin x2	Mr.boz is his chaperone	2	11/14/13
Chin x2	tomorrow Is the end of the week	2	11/25/13
Dakota	It's Post Hump Day	2	11/14/13
Dakota	Tomorrow Hump Day	2	11/19/13
dakota	its hump day.	2	11/23/13
dakota	Tommarow is HUMPDAY!!!!!!	2	17-Dec
Ella	This Saturday is the day of the doctor	2	11/19/13
ella	indoor hockey tryouts today	2	11/23/13
Ella	Dr.Who special was amazing	2	11/25/13
Ella	I'm almost done my holiday shopping. :)	2	11-Dec
Ella	Watched Psych the Musical	2	12/16/13
Ella	I'm going to Vermont after Christmas :)	2	17-Dec
Elyse	Scholarship to St.Joes	2	11/14/13
Elyse	Sister got all-state	2	11/19/13
Elyse	Knocked my brother off his sled	2	11-Dec
Elyse	9 days 'til Christmas	2	12/16/13
Elyse	8 Days till Christmas	2	17-Dec
Erin	Shadowing St. Marks	2	12/2/13
Erin	I went hottubing every day of the four day weekend.	2	11-Dec
Erin	Im getting my braces off today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!	2	17-Dec
Gavin	We had two snow days. Christmas is 2 weeks away.	2	11-Dec
Gunjan	Getting report cards today	2	11/14/13
Gunjan	I went sledding and had a snowball fight yesterday!	2	11-Dec
Gunjan	13th birthday in 2 weeks	2	12/16/13
Gunjan	Christmas is in 8 days!	2	17-Dec
Ian	Book is good	2	11/19/13
Ian	had an awesome weekend	2	11/25/13
Ian	Absolutely Fantabulous weekend	2	12/2/13
Ian	Everything is great, and we had extra time during the snow days to do stuff.	2	11-Dec
Ian	Only three more school mornings before break!	2	17-Dec
Isra	We had 2 snow days!	2	11-Dec
Isra	Winter break starts in 3 days.	2	17-Dec
Jehleen	There's only three days of school this week.	2	11-Dec
Jehleen	Going Christmas shopping	2	12/16/13
Jehleen	My mom came home yesterday from China.	2	17-Dec
Kameron	I Woke Up This Morning ,	2	11-Dec
Kameron	Doing An Outline For Flowers of Algernon .	2	17-Dec
Katie	Sister's 18 birthday present is coming along very well	2	11/14/13
katie	killed her poe essay	2	11/23/13
Katie	had a fantastic weekend	2	11/25/13
Katie	Her room's Christmas tree is up	2	12/2/13
Katie	I got my cartilage pierced!!	2	11-Dec
Katie	Chicago Fire was on last night, so it's on the DVR!!	2	11-Dec
Katie	Crazy but amazing dream	2	12/16/13
Katie	I made phenominal Peacan tassies and Lemon Bars last night!	2	17-Dec
Kristen	Papa is okay	2	11/14/13
kristen	glen is still alive	2	11/23/13
Kristen	going to be in the opening of the philadephia parade	2	11/25/13
Kristen	She's psychic	2	12/2/13
Kristen	I performed at Avongrove's Country Christmas!!!	2	11-Dec
Kristin	New shoes yesterday	2	12/16/13
Kyle	I was able to try out my new 2 year old sled	2	11-Dec
Kyle	7 days till Christmas Eve :D	2	17-Dec
Laura	Penn-state won	2	11/19/13
Lien	Going to dinner party in Manhatten	2	11/14/13
Lien	Tried out for basketball	2	11/19/13
lien	i brought my dog out in the snow for the first time. i also saw catching fire unlike ALEXIS!!!	2	11-Dec
Lien	Getting haircut	2	12/16/13
lien	i brought headphones to class.	2	17-Dec
Mr. Boz	Got to see daughter's heart	2	11/19/13
Mr. Boz	put a lot of good things on his blog(880)	2	11/23/13
Mr.Boz	Ferris Bullers Day Off	2	11/14/13
Nathan	leaving for florida tonight	2	12/2/13
Nathan	I beat my brother in chess	2	11-Dec
Nathan	Doesn't know how to put a sprained knee in a good way.	2	17-Dec
nawel	brought my earphones.	2	17-Dec
Nisaiah	brother got a guienea pig	2	12/2/13
nisaiah	double snow day!	2	11-Dec
Noshin	I'm going to New York this weekend.	2	11-Dec
Noshin	I'm going to NJ during winter break.	2	17-Dec
Shane	Christmas jam	2	11/14/13
Shane	tomorrow washington DC	2	11/19/13
shane	is cute	2	11/23/13
Shane	had an extrordinary weekend	2	11/25/13
shane	Missed two days because of snow.	2	11-Dec
Shane	I got new shoes.	2	17-Dec
Shannon	Her dog didn't try to eat her hair	2	11/14/13
Shannon	All-state thing is going well	2	11/19/13
shannon	got oreo cupcake at lunch	2	11/23/13
Shannon	road clean-up is canceled	2	12/2/13
Shannon	Gave her friend's book back to her	2	12/2/13
Shannon	My friend's birthday was on Sunday, we had two snow days, and I finally finished the Lord Of The Rings!	2	11-Dec
Shannon	Doing secret Santa w/friends	2	12/16/13
Shannon	I'm going Christmas shopping on Thursday!	2	17-Dec
Will	Hit his brother, and shouted nobody expects the spanish whatever	2	11/14/13
Will	printed out a picture of Mr.Selekman	2	12/2/13
Will	Put up a huge Christmas tree	2	12/2/13
Will	snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, and snow.	2	11-Dec
Yunshik	Tomorrow Dakota will not say Hump Day	2	11/19/13
Yunsik	It's not hump day	2	11/14/13
Yunsik	found an old memory card	2	12/2/13
Yunsik	Dakota didn't say hump day! Yet...	2	11-Dec
Yunsik	Going to be a DM for the D&D AP	2	12/16/13
Yunsik	Woke up today.	2	17-Dec
Yuqing	Playing chess today	2	11/19/13
Yuqing	I finished the book "House of Hades" over the weekend. Now Alex can't spoil it for me.	2	11-Dec
Yuqing	Got a 7/7 on Mathleague again.	2	17-Dec
✿Maddie	eliza is my bestest friend and i stayed up all night last night and read three books	3	11-Dec
Amaya	Danny is coming over today!!!!!!!!	3	11-Dec
Amaya	I have a bow on my head.	3	17-Dec
Ananya	Tower Hill is amazing	3	11/15/13
Ananya	Shadowing Sanford on Friday.	3	11-Dec
Ananya	I am going to California this weekend.	3	17-Dec
Angela	Nutella for lunch	3	11/14/13
Angela	Shinny got into All-State	3	11/25/13
Angela	got technical theater book for CAB	3	12/2/13
Angela	still doesn't have seat	3	12/3/13
Angela	Piano recital today	3	11-Dec
Angela	We had two snow days!!! ^.^	3	11-Dec
Angela	took charter test	3	12/13/13
Angela	I got stuck in a giant box for lunch	3	17-Dec
angela	sang solo in choir yesterday	3	11/18/13
Ben	Tuesday is Friday this week	3	11/25/13
Ben	There was two snow days during the school week.	3	11-Dec
Ben	Christmas is soon.	3	17-Dec
Camirra	got footie pajamas	3	12/13/13
camirra	Christams is next week and this weekend me and my family are going to take our anual christmas card pictures in matching footie pajamas.	3	17-Dec
Courtney	Christmas is in 14 days!	3	11-Dec
Courtney	Christmas is in 8 days!!!!!	3	17-Dec
Elena	I acheived my goal of reaching 100 trophies on Wizcabulary.com.	3	11-Dec
Elena	In 3 days, I will be off skiing and snowboarding in Vermont! :D	3	17-Dec
Eliza	thanksgiving is coming	3	11/19/13
Eliza	I made hot fudge sauce.	3	11-Dec
Eliza	I'm going to the mall on Saturday.	3	17-Dec
Emily	Saw Catching Fire on Friday	3	11/25/13
Emily	We had two days off of school this week.	3	11-Dec
Emily	Only three more days of school until break.	3	17-Dec
Emma	Im staying at my friends house for some of winter break.	3	11-Dec
Emma	I get to walk home with Erin until January 10	3	17-Dec
Erin	Volleyball game	3	11/14/13
Erin	Wants to say something good	3	11/15/13
Erin	Babysitting jobs	3	12/4/13
Erin	My laptop is fixed !!YAY!!	3	17-Dec
Haoda	i wont get killed using correct punctuation	3	11-Dec
Haoda	I have an awesome idea for a story based on the D&D world.	3	17-Dec
Harry	Has a cold	3	11/14/13
Harry	If he gets good grades for to mp then he gets a new laptop	3	11/15/13
harry	the universe is doomed	3	11/17/13
Harry	Found a copy of Dungeons and Dragons 5.0	3	11/25/13
Harry	new 9 pound laptop coming on friday	3	12/2/13
Harry	Paper still isnt graded	3	12/3/13
Harry	New computer	3	12/4/13
Harry	found a book on astrophysics	3	12/13/13
J.T.	It's HUMP day!!!!!	3	11/21/13
Jaden	Dc trip	3	11/19/13
JaNaya	we had a four day weekend.	3	11-Dec
JaNaya	three more days until spring break.	3	17-Dec
Jeffrey	It is half way through the week.	3	11-Dec
Jeffrey	There are 3 more days of school then break.	3	17-Dec
Jeighten	Friday at 2:30	3	11/15/13
Jeighten	Loves someones hair style	3	11/25/13
Jeighten	Tomorrow and Friday are half days	3	12/4/13
jeighten	missed 2 days	3	11-Dec
Jeighten	went to the army vs navy game	3	12/13/13
Jeighten	It is not Monday	3	17-Dec
jeighton	lunch is next	3	11/15/13
John	I got to clean out the green house today and miss exploratories.	3	11-Dec
John	We are close to Christmas Break!	3	17-Dec
John	Christmas is coming up in less than ten days!	3	17-Dec
JT	thanksgiving is coming	3	11/19/13
Liam	Made All-State	3	11/25/13
Liam	loves potatoesss	3	11-Dec
Lucas	Going to Florida	3	11/19/13
Lukas	Christmas vacation is almost here and I get to go snowboarding in Vermont during vacation.	3	11-Dec
Lukas	It's my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad!	3	17-Dec
Luke	Rowing for 3 hours	3	12/4/13
maddie	drew a picture of Liam	3	11/20/13
Maddie	Taco Tuesday	3	12/4/13
Maddie	we played dress-up. Sarah looked better in the tutu	3	12/13/13
Madelyn	Sarah and I are bonding over stalking people.	3	17-Dec
Maggie	Basketball tryouts Monday	3	11/14/13
Maggie	Played uncle in basketball	3	11/15/13
Maggie	foul shots 20 in a row	3	11/16/13
Maggie	Football game	3	11/25/13
Maggie	did good in basketball	3	12/3/13
Maggie	Going to see Delivery Man	3	12/4/13
maggie	We are playing Skyline today and i am hoping to get 5 shots:)	3	11-Dec
Maggie	got a new pair of KDs	3	12/13/13
maggie	we won our basketball game yesterday 42-1	3	17-Dec
Mr Boz	got poe papers graded :(	3	12/2/13
Mr. Boz	was in baltimore	3	11/19/13
Nadia	finished her mom's xmas present	3	12/13/13
Naria	finishing painting in art and is cute	3	11/14/13
Naria	Finished painting	3	11/14/13
Naria	Got good grades	3	11/15/13
naria	hair is still curly	3	11/19/13
Naria	Today is a great day	3	11/25/13
naria	got hair and nails done	3	12/2/13
Naria	today is a good day	3	12/3/13
Naria	This weekend I got my hair done.	3	11-Dec
Nikhil	Missed the bus…again	3	11/14/13
Nikhil	Shot 2 three pointers in a row	3	11/15/13
Nikhil	100%	3	11/19/13
Nikhil	Missed the bus today	3	11/23/13
Nikhil	First phone	3	11/25/13
nikhil	got a new tv	3	12/2/13
Nikhil	I got a new laptop (Dell Inspiron 15 (3521)	3	11-Dec
nikhil	lego robotics team is going to states	3	12/13/13
Nikhil	3d triangles	3	12/3/13
Nikkhil	Phone stuck	3	12/4/13
PJ	We got 2 snow days and a 4 day weekend!	3	11-Dec
PJ	I get a 2nd tell me something good	3	11-Dec
PJ	I have a 3rd response!	3	11-Dec
PJ	It's 8 days until Christmas!!	3	17-Dec
Rebecca	Won $10 iTunes gift card.	3	11-Dec
Rebecca	It's almost winter break.	3	17-Dec
Ria	We had two snow days.	3	11-Dec
Sarah	Class with John	3	11/14/13
Sarah	Hair	3	11/19/13
Sarah	Has a party on Wednesday	3	11/25/13
Sarah	Going to Jingle Ball	3	12/3/13
Sarah	Going to Jingle Ball	3	12/4/13
Sarah	I lost my tooth in a fruit snack.	3	11-Dec
Sarah	wrote a funny song about Maddie	3	12/13/13
Shinney	Got all A's	3	11/15/13
Shinney	Mr. Bosler doesn't have eyes on the back of his head	3	11/15/13
Shinny	Cats cradle but is really bad	3	11/14/13
Shinny	hand is lovely	3	11/19/13
Shinny	Got second place suprano	3	11/25/13
Shinny	going to England	3	12/2/13
Shinny	got to miss math class	3	12/3/13
Shinny	I got a haircut?	3	11-Dec
Shinny	got a wooden tie	3	12/13/13
Shiny	AI Dupont Open House	3	12/4/13
Siddarth	No one spoiled Catching Fire for him yet	3	11/25/13
Siddarth	got new cellphone	3	12/2/13
Siddharth	Got 100 trophies on Wizcabulary :D	3	11-Dec
Siddharth	Looking forward to winter break.	3	17-Dec
Tayla	Wasn't here yesterday	3	11/14/13
Tayla	Got money for good grades	3	11/15/13
tayla	cafe valentina	3	11/19/13
Tayla	Got hair cut and styled	3	11/25/13
tayla	listened to holocaust survivor	3	12/3/13
Tayla	going to a cookie party	3	12/13/13
Vasista	I won 3rd place in the Wizcabulary Contest.	3	11-Dec
Vasista	I got 4th place in robotics.	3	17-Dec
Maggie	made basketball team	1000	12/2/13

I reviewed the outlines online. The rough draft is due tomorrow.

I finished sections 2 and 3 and will be going to section 1 now.

I read straight across.  Was there a useful hook? Did it catch my attention yet was not a thesis?  Did the thesis stated exactly what will be argued?
Were there three topic sentences that focused the paragraphs? Could each topic sentence be explained with details?  Did each topic sentence explain the thesis?

The topic sentences hold the piece together.  Use transitions between paragraphs.  Beneath each topic sentence, there should be lots of explanation of the topic sentence and supports for your thesis.

See the last blog entry for the links.

Alfaville video
Carl Jung

Get it?  It's a psychology pun!  :) 

Any '80s parents out there? 

Organizing the Flowers for Algernon essay

Outlines for the Flowers for Algernon essay
I am honestly surprised that students are so unsure about outlining.  Regardless, I have walked them through the steps, and today I am reviewing all of their outlines. I had them type them into Google Docs so I could see their work immediately.  I am also posting all of the general outlines so they can see how others outlined their papers. I am not posting all of the supports, because I think students would use what others found.


Outlines for Section 1
Outlines for Section 2
Outlines for Section 3


 If you really need all the data you typed in today, e-mail me, and I will send it to you.

The rough draft is due tomorrow so we can get some feedback.

The final draft is due Friday.

We have taken the Flowers for Algernon test.  I will get the scores up tonight.

Students will have some time in class Thursday to do Achieve.  There are 14 articles due Friday.

Outline for Flowers for Algernon Essay

Note: 
There is no vocabulary for this week.  I changed the focus to the writing.
I do want students to have 14 Achieve articles by Friday.

Outlines

I was surprised when  students said that they did not know how to outline.  Way too many students in sections 2 and 3 did not seem to know that you can organize your ideas before writing the essay.  I am not sure what that is about, but I their rough outlines showed that was true!

Here is the outline I discussed in class.  Please note that the essay should be divided by topics, not by the order of the story.  Also, I expect A papers to include the topics listed at the bottom of this page.

I will check their outlines tomorrow in class.  These should be correct.

Question: Was it good that Charlie got the operation?

P1  Introduction

Ask a question.

Two sentence summary.

Thesis: It was bad that Charlie had the operation

1, 2, 3

P2 Relationships

Charlie before the operation

Charlie as he gets smarter

Charlie as he loses his intelligence

Charlie at the end of the story

How do these show that it was bad?

P3 Lessons about life

Charlie before the operation

Charlie as he gets smarter

Charlie as he loses his intelligence

Charlie at the end of the story

How do these show that it was bad? 

P4 Algernon

Charlie before the operation

Charlie as he gets smarter

Charlie as he loses his intelligence

Charlie at the end of the story

How do these show that it was bad? 

P5 Conclusion

Sum up what you proved.

Should look like the introduction.

In order to get the A, you must go beyond the basics.

·      We discussed inferencing and point of view

·      Include some discussion about the format of the text.

·      You must have many supports for your position from the text.

o   (They do not have to be direct quotes, unless your inference comes from an understanding of a specific line.)

Rough outline and packet due on Monday for sections 1 and 2

2015 Mustang  Why? Because.  :)

Today should have been Wednesday on my schedule to complete Flowers for Algernon, so we worked hard to get caught up.

Section 1 had time to complete the packet which I collected.  We had been reading the story in class, and they should have been doing this at home. They will work on writing their outlines Monday in class.

In sections 2 and 3, I spent time discussing themes in depth this week, which means they could not take notes as we read.  I gave them time to work on the packet today.  Their packet and rough outline are due Monday.

The packet is brainstorming for the essay which is due Friday, December 20.

Below is the organization sheet I gave the students today.  I am not going to just give them an outline to fill in.  This sheet is meant to show students how they COULD chunk their talking points.

Outlining for Flowers for Algernon Essay

Question you need to answer: Would Charlie have been better off if he had never gained the knowledge?   (YES/NO)  Now prove it.

Consider how he feels at different points in the story.

Charlie before the operation

Charlie as he gets smarter

Charlie as he loses his intelligence

Charlie at the end of the story

What can we use as points of comparison?

Relationships

            Miss Kinnian

            Guys at the factory

            Landlady

            The doctors

Charlie’s aha moments

            List the things he learned about life and himself.

Algernon

            Was Algernon better off for having had the operation?

Point of View

You must remember that this piece is written from Charlie’s point of view.

Sure, you can get his thoughts, but how reliable are they at different points in the story?

As you make judgments about Charlie, you MUST infer from the reactions of others.

The essay should demonstrate these skills:

You understand the story.

You can support your position with details from the story.

Your supports are accurate.

Summary

Somewhere near the beginning of the essay, you need to include a very brief summary of the story.  This is used to focus the reader and provide a context for your discussion.  Give just enough to get the discussion started.

Why does the author of Flowers include the story of The Fall from the Bible?

The outline for the essay cannot be due by tomorrow.  I am trying to get all classes to a jumping off point.  What I mean is, I want to have taught them the skills they need to examine the piece.  Sections 2 and 3 are basically there.  Section 1 will be there after today.  Tomorrow we will work on the outlines.

As far as vocab, we will probably just do the review unit next week and unit 7 after the break.

Today:
In sections 2 and 3 we studied "The Fall" from Genesis in the Bible.  In the story Flowers for Algernon, there is a character who says that Charlie's intelligence growth is not natural, and she tells him about the story of Adam and Eve being cast out from the Garden of Eden.  Common Core Standard  CC.8.R.L.9 asks students  to analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new. I asked the students to think about why the author included this story from the Bible.  There is a parallel between Charlie's quest for knowledge and the serpent convincing Eve that knowledge is good.  We had, what I thought, was an academic study of the Bible story.  I told the students that the more they read literature from history, the more they will encounter allusions to the Bible. There are certain stories they must be aware of.  In fact, when we read the part about the snake biting the heal, some students noted that we just read about that in The Cask of Amontillado. That image was on the Montresor family crest.  Allusion to this story and evil, or just a common idea that stepping on a snake wrong can result in death?

(We did not get into theological discussions of man or woman or who or what created earth.  The focus was on how Charlie's situation is similar to the Bible story. The students did notice how human Adam and Eve were in the story.  How could they resist eating from the tree? They also did not take responsibility blaming others.)

Here is the passage we read from the Bible in class. (NIV version)

Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring^[a] and hers;
he will crush^[b] your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

²⁰ Adam^[c] named his wife Eve,^[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.

The winners of the Wizcabulary Contest are in.

I updated HAC, and interims are submitted.

I entered a formative grade today.  It is a combination of assignments we did over the last month.  That may sound like a bad teacher, but I was planning on using the activities for my own data on inferencing.  But as I become used to the formatives and summatives, I realize that the skills assessed in the activities were formative to the summative assignments.  I only took the average of the assignments.  If one was missing, it was missing, so I skipped it in the average.  If you want to know the exact scores, e-mail me.  I can send you the data in my spreadsheet.

(I found this image today.  It is the epitome of middle school, and maybe life in general.)

We just had a winner of the Wizcabulary Contest

Siddarth G. just completed the 3200 correct questions to earn 100 trophies.  He wins a $15 iTunes card.

Unless she falls asleep, Rebecca L. Should take second place winning a $10 iTunes gift card.

Third place is only has 56 with the next highest at 26.  I am going to bed!  :)

Wizcabulary Contest Updates

If I did this correctly, you should be able to come to this blog page and the chart will update as I update the chart on my end.  Experimenting.

Wizcabulary iTunes Contest Updates

As I have time, I will update this Google document.  I received 54 e-mails so far this afternoon. 

Maybe you should wear your magical hats you made in math class! (This is why I love middle school!)


The goal is 100.  When that is reached, we will wait for the next 100 trophy winner.

I will not send blog updates all weekend.  See the link above for updates.  I know you don't need me to blow up your e-mail.

Section	Initials	Trophies
3	SG	25
3	SK	17
3	RL	14
3	EH	12
3	JK	11
3	ER	9
2	IC	6
3	MV	6
3	VV	4
3	TW	3
2	KM	2
2	LM	2
2	YX	2
2	CA	1
3	RA	1
3	EB	1
2	NB	1
3	AM	1
2	KN	1
3	NS	1
2	YS	1
3	EW	1
2	AYE	1
2	AYO	1
2	JZ	1

The Wizcabulary iTunes Challenge

The first student to reach 100 trophies in Wizcabulary will win a $15 iTunes gift card.  

Second place will win a $10 card, and third, a $5 gift card.  

It's actually a pretty time consuming challenge. 
8 correct answers = a ribbon
4 ribbons = a trophy
That is 3600 correct answers.  Wrong answers lose points.

However, the words do repeat: retention through repetition. 

Every time a student achieves a trophy, I get an e-mail.  (This is going to keep me busy.)

Vocabulary is important for the SAT's. 

* If you are not sure if I am getting the scores, you can shoot me a quick e-mail: MrBoZHB@gmail.com If I am not seeing your trophies, make a new account, add a 1 to the end of your name, enter my e-mail, and BE SURE TO USE THE PULL DOWN OPTION THAT I AM A PARENT. 

Here are the results I have as of 11:30 A.M. Friday morning.  I will update the blog over the weekend.

Section	Initials	Trophies
3	SG	19
3	EH	7
3	SK	5
3	JK	5
2	IC	4
3	MV	4
3	RL	4
3	VV	4
2	KM	2
2	LM	2
2	YX	2
2	CA	1
3	RA	1
3	EB	1
2	NB	1
3	AM	1
2	KN	1
3	ER	1
2	YS	1
3	EW	1
2	AYE	1
2	AYO	1
2	JZ	1

Siddarth, keep up the good work! (He has earned 14 trophies on Wizcabulary!)

Siddarth has earned 14 trophies so far today.   
He has earned $4.64 for GIFT: Graph It Forward Today (GIFT) is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization. GIFT is committed to creating equal educational opportunities by providing free test prep and graphing calculators to disadvantaged, college-bound students.

Please see the previous post about Wizcabulary.

Wizcabulary- vocabulary practice for charity.

I found a really cool site!
The site is called Wizcabulary.  Not only is it a site to help students practice vocabulary, for every question answered correctly, the company donates money to an organization that buys graphing calculators for students who cannot afford them!  As a result of my three classes working on this site, our classes contributed almost $25.  

I had the students set up accounts using their Achieve login information.  I had them enter my Google e-mail address as the parent address.  The parent address is used so a parent can incentivise his/her child's usage.  For example, when the child earns three trophies, an e-mail will be sent alerting the parent.  Maybe the child gets a reward of some sort.  I am going to make a display in the room with the highest achievers.  Try it out.  See you you do. (I challenged my 16 year-old daughter.  If she gets five trophies, I will give her $10. It is work, but this is studying that will pay off.)

Oh, there was plenty of giggling in class.  I do teach middle school children.  Let me explain.  As you earn points, the yellow dude you see in the picture gets clothes.  If you get one wrong, he loses one piece.  That would not be my choice of how to represent achievements, but it is what it is.  Why not earn coins or flowers or... anything other than clothes? I told them to think of him as wearing long-johns. 

Are you good at completing mazes?

I have explained the due dates and gave links to the assignments in previous posts.

Mazes
In the story Flowers for Algernon, the main character (Charlie) tries to beat a mouse through a maze.  In the beginning of the story, because he has a low IQ and has not had the operation, he cannot beat the mouse.  I gave the students three mazes.  The first two are easy, but the third is hard.  I wanted them to feel like Charlie does.  He is overwhelmed by the complexity of the task.  Below are the winners from my three classes.

Flowers for Algernon Project and Resources

Homework
All sections have pictionaries for unit 6.

Flowers for Algernon
Today we started a three-week project.  I have put some resources online because students MUST work on this project at home.

I was hoping students could use their online books, but apparently, they cannot.  :(  Therefore, I found a text version online and made it a pdf.  Please download and read using Adobe Reader or whatever you use.  I assume it is close enough to the version we use. 

I also posted the packet that I gave the students.  As I explained in class, the packet is to be used as brainstorming for the essay.  The essay topics can be found on the first page. 

Calendar for December
I updated the calendar on my website.  All due dates have been reviewed with the students today.


Poe Essay (Sections 2 & 3)
I reviewed an example of a paper that "exceeds."  If you are interested, you can read it.  See below. See the other day's post about how I scored the papers.

Sections 2 and 3: The Poe Analysis essays are scored and in HAC

Explanation for the Poe essay scores 2013

A critical analysis of a piece of literature should most importantly analyze the story/stories focusing on a clear position.  For these essays, most students examined how the narrators of the stories were reliable or unreliable.  Therefore, the piece should, in an organized manner, clearly explain, with multiple examples from the text, their reasons why they think Poe’s narrators are reliable or unreliable.  The essay can include some summary to establish a context for discussion, but the main focus of the essay should be analysis, and the tone of that analysis is formal.  Finally, there should be very few errors because errors cause a reader to lose focus on the information being presented.

I divided the essays into four levels: Exceeds, Meets, Approaching, and Below. 

Essays that Meet or Exceed exhibit the expectations I explained above.  The papers that Exceed do this in a way that is intelligent and easy to read.  The papers that Meet the expectations do these in an organized manner.

Essays that are Approaching do just that.  Some papers were a little light on proving with examples.  Some did not have good introductions or transitions to make the piece cohesive.  These papers have the basic idea, but they are not the quality required of a proper analysis.  With some improvements, they would Meet the requirements.

Essays that are Below do not meet the requirements of an analysis.  These papers were short or contained too much summary.  They could have wandered through topics but did not really prove a specific point.  These are not terrible papers.  However, these students must improve their analysis skills over the course of this year. 

My goal for Sections 2 and 3 is to continually require them to analyze, organize, and write.  These are the skills required for Common Core and for AP classes in high school. 

The Below papers are not C papers… yet.  I am not ready to grade quite that strict.

Exceeds	100
Meets	95
Approaching	85
Below	80