Friday, February 27, 2009

Bollywood Blogging

This Sunday your blog post is about Bollywood. Now that we are all Bollywood fans and Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up at the Oscars, this should be a fun post.

Ms. Jarrett found a great article on loving Bollywood that you might want to blog about. Click here to read the "Bollywood Confidential" article from the New York Times.

Things Fall Apart Vocab

Click on comments for this post and let the class know that you have created a Thinking Map for your vocabulary word. Tell us the blog to visit to see the Thinking Map on the word that you did.

Create the Thinking Map with the thinking maps software (download the software for free from Edline--see blog post below). Once your map is created in Thinking Maps software, export the image as a png or jpeg file (see the file pulldown menu for the export option). Once you have the file exported/saved, then post the Thinking Map as a small image on your blog. If you post as a small image, the blog reader can then click on the image to bring it full screen to see the Thinking Map. Click on my kola nut double bubble map to see it full screen.


Remember that you can use any Thinking Map you want that illustrates or expands on your assigned vocab word. Perhaps you can made an analogy on a bridge map, define the word with a circle map, describe your word with adjectives in a bubble map, analyze the causes and effects of your word in a multi-flow map. Be creative!!

Here are the vocabulary words:

egwugwu, p. 4, a masquerader who impersonates an ancestral spirit

kola nut, p. 6, (same as cola) a nut from an African tree that contains caffeine

proverb, p. 7, a short saying that expresses some obvious truth

Oracle, p. 12, any person or place believed to be in communication with a Deity (God)

agbala, p. 13, a woman; or a man who has taken no title

malevolent, p. 13, wishing evil or harm to others, “nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw.”

incipient, p. 13, just beginning to exist, “incipient laziness” of Nwoye

chi, p. 18, personal god

abomination, p. 18, something hateful and disgusting

tapper, p. 20, someone who taps trees to get the sap or oil

share-cropping, p. 22, a farmer who gives part of his profits to the landowner

cassava, p. 23, tuber (root starch) often used for tapioca

Ibo (Igbo), p. 27, an African people of Southeast Nigeria

bride-price, p. 40, the money paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family

harbingers, p. 56, a person or thing that comes before to indicate what follows

effeminate, p. 58, having characteristics usually attributed to females; unmanly

plantains, p. 63, banana

ogbanje, p. 77, a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn

Monday, February 23, 2009

Things Fall Apart Webquest

Next week you will be starting your next book, China Achebe's Things Fall Apart. To prepare for that unit, you will spend some time exploring background information on the novel, the author and Nigeria through a webquest.

Click here to enter the webquest and complete the worksheet that accompanies the webquest.

Thinking Maps Software Available on Edline

EHS and Valley View recently received a campus community license for Thinking Maps software. This easy-to-use program will allow you to install the software on your home computer at no cost to you.

You can then create thinking maps that can be exported as PNG or JPEG file formats that can be uploaded to blogs, inserted in PowerPoints, and pasted into Word documents. In PowerPoints and Word the exported picture files appear in the same high quality that the files appear when viewed in the original Thinking Maps software. However, when the files are uploaded to blogger, much of the clear focus is lost when enlarged.



The easiest work-around for the clarity issue is to upload the picture files in "small" picture size in blogger. The "small" size allows blog readers to click on a picture to take it full screen. Then the Thinking Map is clear and easy-to-read.



To get your copy of Thinking Map software on your home computer, follow the directions below:

Log in to Edline.
Go to the Contents section of the main page.
Click on the folder marked Thinking Maps Software.
Go in to the XP install and install on your school and home computers.

You can also view a video about downloading the software by clicking here.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Nectar in a Sieve Tests and Assignments

The Nectar in a Sieve final exam will be Thursday, February 19. The test will include plot and character information on the book as well as a vocabulary section.

Study your vocabulary this weekend. Tholen's 6th hour posted a :43 second time today. Our :59 second time can go lower if we all study our words.

On Wednesday, February 18 your one-page paper (in proper MLA format) on Nectar vs. Bride and Prejudice is due. Your thesis should take a stand on the following prompt:

Does Nectar or Bride give a student in the U.S.A. a better glimpse of Indian culture?

Use your tree maps to provide details for your paper. Although the paper is not due until Wednesday, you should finish it this weekend while the film is fresh in your mind.

Your final Nectar essay on suffering, hope, change or Rukmani is due on Monday, February 23.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Third Quarter Blogging

Quarter 3 Blogging Assignment

During third quarter, we will continue the online blog work that you started at the beginning of the school year. You will continue to complete two blog posts per week—one by Wednesday, and another over the weekend.

For third quarter, we’d like you to find texts to read and write about that address a specific question. Each week, we’ll give you a question and/or topic, and your job will be to find a text that addresses that question or deals with that topic. Remember that “text” refers to print and non-print materials—books, articles, websites, blogs, films, TV shows, newspapers, etc. If you choose to read a book and it applies to the weekly question, you’re encouraged to use it!


Blog #1: Find a text about natural disasters. It may be about the natural disaster itself, or the ways in which people are affected by it. Due Sunday, February 1

Blog #2: Find a text about someone overcoming struggle or facing a difficulty. Due Wednesday, February 4

Blog #3: Find a text about a culture different from your own. It could address any aspect of culture. Due Sunday, February 8

Blog #4: Find a text about gender and gender roles. It may be specific to one gender, or address both. Due Wednesday, February 11

Blog #5: Find a text about religion/spirituality/belief/non-belief. Due Sunday, February 15

Blog #6: Find a text about hope. Due Wednesday, February 18

Blog #7: Find a text about change—any kind of change. Due Sunday, February 22

Blog #8: Find a text that addresses culture—this could be food, clothes, traditions, religion, etc. Due Wednesday, February 25

Blog #9: Find a text about Bollywood. Due Sunday, March 1

Blog #10: Find a text about holidays—national or religious. Due Wednesday, March 4

Blog #11: Find a text about a global issue. Due Sunday, March 8

Blog #12: Find a text about imperialism or colonization. Due Wednesday, March 11

Blog #13: Find a text about war. Due Sunday, March 15

Blog #14: Find a text about love. Due Wednesday, March 18

Blog #15: Find a text about someone overcoming odds. Due Sunday, March 22

The Blogging
You must post TWICE a week (by Wednesday and by Sunday). I've explained below what should go in the post. Remember that posts are due by 11:59 p.m. (i.e. before bedtime).

Your Responses
For each post, you should construct a thoughtful response to the text of approximately 150 words. You MAY NOT SIMPLY SUMMARIZE WHAT YOU READ. You should engage with the text by making text-to-text connections. Compare the text you read to another text. Compare and contrast it. Analyze it. Write a critique of it. But no matter what, DO NOT SUMMARIZE IT.

You also MUST include an MLA citation for your text and a weblink to any online texts that you use or write about.


GRADING OF BLOG POSTS: Here's how the grading will work out of 75 points.

A - You have all of the posts.You have always posted on time.Your response was always highly thoughtful and reflective. You used correct mechanics almost all of the time.

B - You have all of the posts.You mostly posted on time.Your responses were mostly thoughtful and reflective. You used correct mechanics most of the time, but there are some glaring errors.

C - You have 7-10 of the posts.You sometimes posted on time.You responded to the book.
You have several errors in mechanics.

D - You have about 4-7 posts total.You rarely posted on time.You somewhat responded to the book. Your responses do not make an attempt to use proper mechanics.

F - You have 0-3 posts.You did not do what was asked of you in the post. Your responses do not make an attempt to use proper mechanics.

Nectar in a Sieve Vocabulary

Remember to finish your 4-square for your assigned vocabulary word.

Here's the list of vocab words for this book:

repining, p. 3 (noun) expression of dejection or discontent

puling, p. 14 (adjective) whining, whimpering

fractious, p. 20 (adjective) troublesome, irritable

taciturn, p. 34 (adjective) quiet, disinclined to talk

trollop, p. 47 (noun) untidy, loose woman

assuagement, p. 60 (noun) lessening, relief

travail, p. 72 (noun) hard work, labor

fissure, p. 76 (noun) deep, narrow crack

assail, p. 86 (verb) attack

bier, p.89 (noun) stand on which a coffin is placed

stricture, p. 99 (noun) restriction

solicitude, p. 106 (noun) attentive care and protectiveness

acquiescent, p. 111 (adjective) inclined to submit passively

sate (sated), p. 116 (verb) fill, satisfy

juggernaut, p. 131 (noun) massive force that crushes anything in its path

poignancy, p. 139 (noun) state of affecting the emotions

limpid, p. 152 (adjective) clear and serene

forbearance, p. 162 (noun) patience

amity, p. 172 (noun) friendship

morass, p. 181 (noun) swamp, something that traps and confuses

paroxysms, p. 185 (noun) sudden outburst of emotion