What to do over the Winter Break

1. If you have not handed in a response to "The Destructors", write a response to "The Dark Knight" answering the same questions.

2. Watch a movie with a partner or two (or by yourself) and think about:

• What causes the darkness to emerge?
• How is the darkness shown? (in the setting, music, characters, other?)

Bring a synopsis of the movie to class on January 6.

3. Read your book... just to get ahead on your reading for January...

Have a good break!

Analysis of "The Dark Knight"

Questions to guide your analysis (brainstormed in class):

What are the causes/reasons behind the characters' actions?

Why does the darkness emerge in the characters?

What are the results/how are others affected by the actions of the main characters?

How to takes notes from the movie as you watch:

Divide your page into four sections labeled:

• Batman
• The Joker
• Harvey Dent
• Others?

Homework for December 8, 2008

1. Reread the story, "The Destructors" by Graham Greene found at the link:

http://www.geocities.com/borderline_ps2/00000098c8132df01.html

2. Write a response (alone or with a partner) to ONE of the following:

• What causes the darkness in the boys?

OR

• What is "dark" in this story?

Refer to the following criteria for a good response:

Good ideas:

• going beyond plot→imagination
• have depth, are meaningful, intelligent
• unique, original
  
• have insight
• explanation of the why

Organization:

• clear topic sentence/thesis
• ideas are organized logically
• ideas should flow
• ideas should develop →grow, build, deepen

Clarity and relevance:

• each sentence/point is relevant to thesis/topic
  
• supporting detail/included and is relevant
• examples are relevant and vivid
  

Final Reflection on Technology Unit

Reminder to get your reflections to me by Monday at 1pm. You can post them on the blog or email them to me at mdatoo@sd38.bc.ca

November 14 - Final Reflection for Technology Unit

Please post your reflections in response to this post.

Reminder - the final reflection is due before Monday, November 17 at 1pm.

Ms. D

Shift Happens

Here is the link to the video: "Shift Happens"

For Monday, October 6

Look over the list of ideas that we brainstormed for our class essay on how Youtube affects us. Think of a possible thesis statement and either post it on the blog or bring it to class on Monday. We will look over everyone's thesis statement and select one to write about together.

Most Important Invention

Yesterday, we created a timeline of inventions in communications technology starting with the invention of the printing press in 1440. From the list below, post a comment stating which invention you think is the most important and explain why.

1440 Printing Press
1565 Pencil
1755 Dictionary
1799 Battery
1826 Photograph
1837 Telegraph
1868 Typewriter
1876 Telephone
1877 Phonograph
1895 Motion Picture
1927 Television
1932 Polaroid Photography
1945 ENIAC Computer (the computer that took up the whole room)
1947 Transistor
1959 Integrated Circuit
1962 Cassette Tape
1971 VCR
1973 The Internet
1974 Post-It Notes
1976 Ted Turner delivers programming nationwide by satellite.
1979 Cellular phones invented.
1979 Walkman invented
1981 The laptop computer is introduced.
1982 Digital Camera
1987 MP3 players; the Apple iPod follows over a decade later.
1990 The World Wide Web/Internet protocol (HTTP) and WWW language (HTML) created by Tim Berners-Lee.
1992 The first text message was sent.
1995 DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented.
2004 Facebook
2005 YouTube

What was your experience of the in-class writing assignment?

Post a comment about what was challenging about today's in-class writing. What did you struggle with? What about writing in-class is difficult? If you found it easy, explain what you do that helps you when you write.

For Thursday, Sept. 11

On Thursday, you will be writing on one of the following topics:

What does it mean to be human?

or

How does technology, good/evil, hope or art affect our humanity?

Come prepared with your ideas...

What does it mean to be human?

Please post what you think is the most important aspect of being human. You can choose an idea from class or come up with another one.

The purpose of this blog...

Hello Class,

On this blog, I will post instructions, homework, ideas and suggestions for the work we are doing in our class. You can also post questions/comments and reply to questions/comments from each other.