Project Evaluation Day

Good morning,

All the cool kids are clicking this link today.  Mysterious Link To The Unknown

Research Presentations

Good Morning,

Today you will turn in the hard copy of your Works Cited page for your research project. (Pages not received today will be counted as late except for cases of excused absences.)

We will have several presentations today. After each person presents, please evaluate the presentation using this rubric form.

Online projects will be viewed and evaluated in class tomorrow.

This Week

Monday=Holiday

Tuesday=Sub day.  I'll be gone, but you get one more day to work on your project. Write a book review. Work on your Works Cited page. Read.  Brady W. found this interesting TED talk about search filters you can listen to it if you have headphones and you are done with your other work. http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

Wednesday=You present your project if it is not in an online format.  All of you will have a hard copy of your Works Cited Page due in class on Wednesday.

Thursday=You review online projects and respond to them in a form for me.
      This is also the last day in May.  Make sure you have reviewed two books.

Friday=We continue with any unfinished presentations and online evaluations.

Coming Up

Good morning,

Here is the "in writing" version of the things we said this morning.

This week:
I want to see your citation page today. It should be a work in progress, but I want to see the progress.
You have the rest of this week to work on your project.
Use Google Scholar.
Keep up with citations
Gather more information
Work on your blog, site  or other electronic format
Prepare a presentation if you need to.
Help out two of my 4th period students.

Next Week
Monday=Holiday
Tuesday=Sub day.  I'll be gone, but you get one more day to work on your project. Write a book review. Work on your Works Cited page. Read.
Wednesday=You present your project if it is not in an online format.  All of you will have a hard copy of your Works Cited Page due in class on Wednesday.
Thursday=You review online projects and respond to them in a form for me.
      This is also the last day in May.  Make sure you have reviewed two books.
Friday=We continue with any unfinished presentations and online evaluations.

Happy Friday/AP Human Geo Test Day

Good morning,

Lots of you are out today for the AP Human Geography test.

We looked at Google Scholar and found academic results for cheer leading, skateboarding and even fish tacos.  There is bound to be some good research there on your topic.  Check it out.

A few of you have asked for help with infographics.
Try easel.ly or look at this post about 16 tools for making infographics.

Research Day

Good morning,

Today you will continue your research.  Please continue to look at the history of your topic and add to the document you created yesterday.  Pay particular attention to the specific people who are important to your topic. (Many of your answers about people yesterday were way to vague.)

Complete this form about your progress so far and then continue with your research.

Tomorrow I want to see a draft of your citations page. You might want to get started on that.

Historically Speaking

Good morning,

Sorry I can't be with you. I have something fun for you though.

1. Get this document about the history of your topic.
2. Use "Save As" to rename it with your period, name and history. (ie 3JohnHistory)  (Save it in your My Documents folder.)
3. Complete the answers by using your existing research or by learning more.  If you don't know who the important people are for example, do some research, now.
4. Upload your document to me HERE the password is "pointer"
5. FYI Citelighter says they are having some problems at the moment. If it's not working use a doc to track your sources today.

When you have completed that please continue with your regularly scheduled project research. If you get stuck or have to stop you can work on reading one of your books for May.

Also if you haven't practiced using it yet, go ahead and learn more about the research box in Google Docs.

Progress

Good morning,

According to your post-it notes this morning, most of you are feeling very confident about your projects, so I am going to stay out of your way and answer questions as needed.

A few dates to keep in mind:

• I will be out this week for a training on Wednesday and Thursday.  Make sure you have quiet work to do on your project for both of those days.  If you are working with a partner please discuss ahead of time what you will each be working on during those days.
• Next week will be your last full week to work on your project.
• Your Works Cited page will be due on Wednesday 5/30.  Late pages will have lower grades. Keep track of your sources.
• We will begin presenting projects on 5/30 also.  I will make a schedule for that next week and tell you your date. Remember your project must reach a larger audience some how.  Presenting in class alone is not sufficient.

Spring Break Reading Group Dates

Thursday 5/10: Revolution

Friday 5/11: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour

Monday 5/14: Ghostopolis

Tuesday 5/15: No Country For Old Men

Wednesday 5/16: 11/22/1963

Research Plan

Good morning,

Today you will write up your formal research plan.  There is a template for that shared with you in your view only folder in Docs.  Make a copy and complete the form and share it back to me.

Yesterday I showed you how to use Google Alerts to set up a daily email for yourself with the latest search results on your topic.  I highly recommend you set that up for yourself.

Narrowing Your Topic

Good morning:

Yesterday you spent some time brainstorming your topics of interest.  Today we are going to work on narrowing your topic into a research question.

Look at the lists you made in your writer's notebook. Underline two or three topics that interest you most.

Watch closely as I demonstrate a technique for narrowing your topic and then you can try it for yourself here.  

Spread an Idea

Spread an Idea

Today we will be looking at the brainstorming process for your research project.

Spreading Ideas

Do Now:
What TED talk do you plan to talk to your group about today? What was it about? Why did you like it? What were the big ideas, take aways or insights you gained from that video? What questions did it leave you with?

With your group:  (Take turns and listen)

• Name the talk you watched and summarize it briefly.
• Explain the big idea/take aways from the video.
• What questions did the video leave you with?
• Add ONE big idea and one question to your group chart. (one per person)

Big questions to think about: What do all of these TED speakers have in common? Are their talks similar in any way? 

Next week you begin researching your big idea. Give some thought to what you want that to be.

Also, Happy Star Wars Day.  May the fourth be with you.  :)

Mail Call

Good morning,

Today we worked on getting your letters addressed correctly and into those envelopes. If you are able to donate a stamp to mail your letter that would be wonderful.

Also you watched some more TED talks you selected.  Get ready.  Tomorrow you will be talking to a small group about one of the TED talks you watched.  Be prepared to say what you liked about it, what you learned from it and what questions it left you with.  Remember you are keeping a small chart in your writers notebook about each of the talks that you watch.  You will need those notes.

Building a Windmill

If you are in third period and you weren't here today watch the video below.  If you are in fourth period you can watch it too.  Read more about William.

Remember to update your writer's notebook with that small chart for each video you watch. Watching lots of TED videos at home is good too.