03.31 - Quote Cab, Research

We started today's class with episode two of Quote Cab (see below).

Quote Cab - Episode 2

Following this, we talked about finding research sources for the "who" section of the future exploration project. This section focuses on notable individuals and will include the interview individuals will be doing with someone connected to their future exploration activity. The notable individual that people were finding information on today should be a significant figure in the history of the activity, someone who played or plays a significant role in the activity, and/or someone who is well known for their involvement in this activity.

Everyone had the rest of the period to work on this research and to create notecards from the information that they found.

Submitted Today:
- - -

Helpful Documents:

Future Exploration research questions

Future Exploration Sources - Model Sheet (how to copy the sheet)

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

Homework:

Find sources for the "who" section of the future exploration research project and create notecards from these sources.Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

03.30 - Quote Cab, Quarter 03 Revisions

At the beginning of class today, I introduced everyone to a game focused on identifying effective quotes called "Quote Cab." We reviewed the directions for this game and then played a round. We will work more with this game tomorrow.

"Quote Cab" - Introduction

"Quote Cab" - Episode 01

Next, several students helped me to return work for quarters three and four while I handed out grade report sheets. We then addressed revisions and opportunities to improve assignments to a 4 (see below).

Assignment: Sinkhole reading processing questions
Revision Feedback: 
In questions five and six, be sure to address skills and knowledge people need in working around sinkholes as well as challenges they face (some responses looked at one or two of these points, but not all three).
For a 4: Integrate quotes from the article to focus your writing and support your ideas.

Assignment: Speaker presentation notes (Competitive Long Distance Runner)
Revision Feedback: 
Make sure you have notes on each of the planned questions.
For a 4: Write a paragraph summary of the interview that synthesizes important information from the talk, paraphrasing key ideas and integrating important quotes from the speaker.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on revisions or to continue doing research for their future exploration project. During this time, I met individually with people to answer questions about quarter three grades or assignments.

Submitted Today:
- - -

Handouts:
Returned work
Quarter 3 grade report sheet

Homework:

Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

03.27 - Root Test, Research: Sources and Notecads

At the beginning of class today, we had the unit 3 roots test. 

Following this, everyone had the rest of the period to find sources for their future exploration research and create notecards from that research. People who were not present for yesterday's class had the opportunity to watch the recording of the interview we did in class (see previous post).

During this time, I finished meeting with students regarding their course recommendations for next year and any questions related to third quarter assignments or grades.

Submitted Today:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes
Revisions: Notecard Practice

Homework:

Find and record five (5) sources and create ten (10) notecards for your Future Exploration project for Monday 3/30 (we will have time in class tomorrow and on Friday to work towards this goal as well).


If you were not in class Thursday, watch and take notes on the interview about competitive long distance running as an activity.

Activity Interview: Competitive Distance Running

03.26 - Activity Presentation, Research

At the beginning of class today, we reviewed how to record sources and create notecards using Google sheets. A model of this work created using an article on the history of surfing can be found here. 

I then handed out note sheets for our presentation today via Google Hangout with Brigid Smith-Franey who was speaking about her experiences as a competitive distance runner. Everyone took notes on the presentation which were submitted at the end of the presentation.

(If you were not in class today for this presentation, you can come in after school to get the note sheet and see a recording of this video).

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on finding and recording sources as well as using sources to create notecards. During this work time, I met individually with people to look at their course recommendation for next year and answer any questions about quarter three grades or work.

Handouts:
Activity Speaker Notesheet
Submitted Today:Activity Speaker Notesheet

Homework:

Find and record five (5) sources and create ten (10) notecards for your Future Exploration project for Monday 3/30 (we will have time in class tomorrow and on Friday to work towards this goal as well).

Prepare for the unit 3 roots review test tomorrow.

Revisions:
Notecard Practice (due Friday, 3/27)

03.25 - Research and Course Recommendations

At the beginning of class, we reviewed how to record sources and create notecards using Google sheets. A model of this work created using an article on the history of surfing can be found here.

We also looked at requirements and prerequisites for English classes next year (see summary slide below). I then handed out grade report sheets and returned assignments that were submitted last week.

Click Image to Enlarge

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on finding and recording sources and creating notecards from sources. During this work time, I met individually with people to look at their course recommendation for next year and answer any questions about quarter three grades or work.

Handouts:
Returned work
Grade report sheets for quarter 3

Submitted Today:
- - -

Homework:

Find and record five (5) sources and create ten (10) notecards for your Future Exploration project for Monday 3/30 (we will have time in class tomorrow and on Friday to work towards this goal as well).Prepare for the unit 3 roots review test on Friday, 3/27

Revisions:
Notecard Practice (due Friday, 3/27)

03.24 - Sinkholes

I was out sick today so today's work was completed with the help of a substitute. In class, students were reading the article "Notes from the Underground" and responding to some reading questions provided with the article (see below for both). Work that was not completed in class should be completed for homework.

Handouts:
Article: "Notes from the Underground"
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground"

Submitted Today:
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground"

Homework:

Complete the reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" if you did not do so in class today.Prepare for the unit 3 roots review test on Friday, 3/27

Revisions:
Notecard Practice (due Friday, 3/27)

03.24 - Sources and Notecards

Today's work will involve recording sources in your Future Exploration Sources document and on your notecard sheet within this document. If you do not already have access to copies of these documents follow the directions below to create copies of these documents:

Copying a Document on Google Drive (use with Future Explorations Document)

1 - Make sure you are logged in to Google Drive.

2 - Select: File -> Make a Copy...

3 - Rename the document by deleting “Copy of” and replacing it with your last and first    

   name, a dash, and then the original title of the article.

       ex. A document named “English Assignment” will copy as: “Copy of English Assignment”

                          change this to: “Last Name, First Name - English Assignment”

                                             e.g.: “Smith, Jane - English Assignment”

4 - Share the newly named document with my gmail email address (posted on the board)

Copying a Spreadsheet on Google Drive into another Document (use with Notecard document)

1 - Make sure you are logged in to Google Drive.

2 - At the bottom of the spreadsheet page there is a tab with the name of the sheet (in this case the sheet is named “Notecards”). Next to the name of the sheet is a small arrow pointing down. Click on this arrow.

Select: Copy to...

4 - A window will appear showing your Google Drive folders and files. Select the file you want to copy this sheet to (in this case it should be your Future Exploration Sources document).

5 - Click select

6 - Now when you open the other sheets document (in this case your Future Exploration Sources document) you should see the new tab (in this case the “notecards” tab) at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Using the “notecards” spreadsheet:

Use this notecard spreadsheet to record useful information from your research that you would want to cite or discuss in your Future Exploration research project. This information can be recorded using summary, paraphrase, or direct quotations.

You will need 40 notecards in all (that’s about 5 notecards for each of your sources since you will have a minimum of 8 sources).

03.23 - Unit 3 Roots, Summary

We started today's class with a review of the unit three roots and prefixes. We will be having a quiz on these roots on Friday that will be counted on the third quarter. While we were working with these roots, people completed a survey about our school's core values.

Next, we reviewed key elements of summary since this was something that proved difficult for people on their notecard practice sheet. The main points we focused on for summary were:

Identifies key elements of a text

Rewords and (re)organizes information (omitting non-essential information)

Uses formal diction

Everyone then read an article annotating it for its main ideas and proceeded to write a three sentence summary of the article. People then found the other two people who had read the same article and shared their summaries. Together the group then created an ideal/hybrid summary of the article. We shared these out at the end of class.

Handouts:

Unit 3 roots review sheet


Submitted Today:
- - -

Homework:

Prepare for the unit 3 roots review test on Friday, 3/27

Revisions:
Notecard Practice (due Friday, 3/27)

03.19 - Roots Quiz, Notecard Practice

We started today's class with a quiz for the set 15 roots and prefixes.

Following this, we returned to working with the notecard practice sheet focused on the history of surfing. In class, we reviewed the summaries that people created for homework and then looked at paraphrases and direct quotes for this material.

At the end of class, I walked everyone through the process of copying the notecard spreadsheet onto their Future Exploration Sources document. We will continue to work with this next week.

Handouts:
Notecard Practice

Submitted Today:

Volcanologist Processing Questions (or online tomorrow Friday 3/20)
Source Reliability (activity)  (or online tomorrow Friday 3/20)

Future Exploration Concentric Circles Discussion  (or online tomorrow Friday 3/20)

Homework:

Continue finding sources for your Future Exploration project (two sources per section or more)

Future Exploration research questions

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

03.18 - Roots, Paraphrasing, Notecard practice

We started today with our work on the set 15 roots by reviewing the answers to the practice quiz. We followed this up with playing a game of root stick with the set 15 roots. 

After root stick we had our third installment of "The Paraphrase is Right" (see slideshow below). After everyone wrote the paraphrases for the provided quotes, we discussed the different ways that people paraphrased the quotations. 

The Paraphrase is Right 

(directions and episodes 01-03)

This work lead us into discussion of what our notecards for our research will look like. 

We also began looking at how to generate notecards from a source. For this, I handed out some information on surfing from one of the reliable sources that we found in our work on how to effectively search for information/sources. For homework, everyone should read this document and produce a three sentence summary of it's main ideas on the back.

Handouts:

Notecard Practice

Pertinent Documents:

Future Exploration research questions

Future Exploration Sources - Model Sheet (how to copy the sheet)

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

Homework:

Prepare for the set 15 roots quiz tomorrow.

Read the passage for the "Notecard Practice" assignment and complete the summary section on the second page of the sheet.

Revisions:
Volcanologist Processing Questions due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)
Source Reliability (activity) due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)

Future Exploration Concentric Circles Discussion due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)

03.17 - Paraphasing, Finding Sources

We started today's class off by continuing with the game "The Paraphrase is Right." In class, we reviewed our discussion from yesterday on paraphrasing and then proceeded to play our second round (episode 02).

The Paraphrase is Right 

(directions and episodes 01 and 02)

After playing this game, we reviewed the basic questions that our future research project will seek to answer (see future exploration research questions below). Today, people are continuing to focus on finding sources that provide information on these sections. Everyone will need at least seven sources and an interview (more on that part later) which should be recorded on the future exploration sources sheet (see link below). Everyone had the remaining time in the period to work on finding sources and recording those sources (including why they are reliable) on their source sheet.

If people had found all their sources, they were to work on revisions (due Thurs/Fri) or the set 15 roots and prefix sheets which are due tomorrow.

Pertinent Documents:

Future Exploration research questions

Future Exploration Sources - Model Sheet (how to copy the sheet)

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

Homework:

Complete the set 15 roots practice quiz for Wednesday.

Prepare for the set 15 roots quiz on Thursday.

Revisions:
Volcanologist Processing Questions due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)
Source Reliability (activity) due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)

Future Exploration Concentric Circles Discussion due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)

03.16 - Paraphrasing, Roots, and Revision

We started today's class off by playing a new game focused on paraphrase called, "The Paraphrase is Right." In class, we reviewed our discussion last week on effective summaries and then shifted our focus to effect paraphrases. After defining paraphrase and looking out how to write paraphrases, we played "The Paraphrase is Right" (see below).

The Paraphrase is Right 

(directions and episode 01)

Following this, I returned all assignments that I had which had been turned in for assessment. We went over the volcanology processing questions from last week specifically (see class feedback below) and I handed out grade report sheets. I also handed out the word list and practice quiz for the set 15 roots and prefixes.

Everyone then had the remaining time in the period to work on revisions or set 15 roots and prefixes.

While people were working on these assignments, I met with people individually to look at assignments and answer questions.

Handouts:
Roots set 15 - word list
Roots set 15 - practice quiz

Homework:

Complete the set 15 roots practice quiz for Wednesday.

Prepare for the set 15 roots quiz on Thursday.

Revisions:
Volcanologist Processing Questions due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)
Source Reliability (activity) due Thursday 3/19 (in person) or Friday 3/20 (online)

03.13 - ASVAB Testing

Class did not meet today because everyone was taking the ASVAB test.

Homework:

Find a minimum of two sources for the "what" section of your future research project and record them on your works cited spreadsheet.

(see Future Exploration research questions)

03.12 - Summary

At the beginning of today's class, we had the set 14 roots quiz.

Following this, we began looking at how to effectively summarize material. This work is setting us up for making use of the sources that people find in their future exploration research and will come in handy with our upcoming work on notecards for the project.

In class, I handed out a variety of responses to questions from the Reddit page "Explain Like I'm Five" where people ask questions with complex answers and other people with knowledge on that subject provide a response that summarizes the topic in an accessible manner. We are looking at these responses to discern what qualities an effective summary of complex material involves. After everyone had time to annotate and analyze these responses, we discussed trends that people noticed (see handouts for activity directions and questions). I wrote down key elements of this discussion on chart paper (see responses below).

Post-reading questions with a copy of the speech register chart

Click Image to Enlarge

Elements of an effective summary that people identified in class were:

- Follow step by step order
- Formal speech register and explained difficult/unfamiliar words (rather than using a casual register to avoid the words)
- Very direct, gets right to the point
- Provide examples to help explain
- Focus on what is essential
- Make comparisons to familiar things
- Use consultative register to bridge formal knowledge and casual understandings
- Starting off to the point
- Repeating key terms

Handouts:
Explain Like I'm 5: Activity

Homework:

Find a minimum of two sources for the "what" section of your future research project and record them on your works cited spreadsheet.

(see Future Exploration research questions)

03.11 - Future Exploration Research

At the beginning of class today, I handed out a question sheet for speakers that will be coming in to speak to our advocacies. The speakers are different people who work for the town in different capacities and will be speaking about the work that they do. These presentations fit well with our work in future exploration so we will be listening for perspectives related to this in addition to the speaker's message. In class, everyone had time to review the questions and then come up with follow-up questions to make sure that we are able to fully appreciate the various aspects of this persons job.

Once everyone had written their questions, we took time as a class to review the questions people came up with together. Everyone should use these question sheets to take notes on the presentations in advocacy today and tomorrow (depending on when your advocacy has a speaker visiting).

The rest of our focus for today was on finding sources that help describe basic elements and the history of activities that people have selected to research. Everyone had the rest of the period to work on finding sources and to record them on their spreadsheet.

Handouts:
Advocacy Presentation Question/Note Sheet
Search Tips
Using Unreliable Sources

Homework:

Complete the roots set 14 practice quiz sheet and prepare for the quiz on Thursday.

Set 14 Roots - Word List

Set 14 Roots - Practice Quiz