February 26, 2015

If you could come up with ANY machine or device that would do something “useful” and maybe a little crazy, what would it be and why? 

Consider things like the Tomato-Feeding Jogging Machine. 

STEP 1

Think of a “problem” or a situation you have that bothers you. Make sure it’s not a huge, serious problem. 

STEP 2

Think of a few possible solutions. 

STEP 3

Brainstorm ways to incorporate those possible solutions into a crazy machine of some sort. 

STEP 4

Try to sketch it out or plan how it might work. 

NOTE: Feel free to get as weird as possible. Real science is not as fun as unreal science! (at least for this little assignment)

One idea I had - I want something that will allow my cat to tell me when it needs to have water. I NEVER remember. Rube Goldberg

THIS IS BLOWING MY MIND!

I JUST CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE WHAT HE’S SAYING - SO LOGICAL

I Am Number Four - by Pittacus Lore

John Smith - main character

Henri - his “dad” - his protector

Where does this story take place? 

Seems like everywhere - somewhere in Florida - the Keys at first, but they move to Ohio

What do we know about Ohio? 

Corn, cows and nice people - in the book, at any rate

Why are they leaving the Florida Keys?

There are some “people” who are killing the other numbers ahead of John. As each one is killed - he manifests a scar on his body. 

One, two and three are dead, which means, that he is NEXT!

Whomever is after them all, will be looking for him now. 

His feelings at the start of the story are fear, worry, tired of running. I think he might be getting to the point where he might want to fight back. CORNERED!

Mogadorians - what are these guys? the alien bad guys who are killing the other numbers

We also note that there is some reference to a nice girl at school. I think this is foreshadowing something to happen with her. i.e. some sweet dating fun in a friendly and non-threatening alien way - Sabasgn predicts that this may be something alien after all!

Loric chest? - we need to figure out what this is… seems to be linked with his home planet - Lorien - now, we have to wonder what is inside this chest

Predictions after Chapter 3

Sabasgn - predicts that the girl at school is another number

Jonathon - predicts a light bulb high five

Jessica - predicts some dating

Shawn - predicts that the girl and boy with go to school together

Dawson - predicts that the lead character will be attacked

Ryan - rooster noises - not the most informed prediction

Danny - predicts that he is unsure what may happen

Matt - predicts that the girl might rat out Henri and John

Reading Journal #1 - February 26, 2015

What do you think are the qualities that “John Smith” has that make him an interesting LEAD CHARACTER?

1. John is smart, which means he makes the right decisions to keep the story going. If he didn’t make the right decisions, he would get killed too early and the story would be over!

2. John is different from everyone else, which makes the story more fun and special. The character is different from US, so the story is better to read.

3. John is always on the run, which makes the story change over time - it’s not boring. 

4. John gets scars when the other numbers die, which makes the story build up with excitement - we are worried about what will happen to him. 

(In the audiobook, Henri sounds like he an accent - Henri is a French name. )

5. John has something that he really wants, which makes us care about him more. 

Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015

Building stories - story starters

When looking at a photo, sometimes, you get an idea of a story.

BEFORE - what happened to get this situation like we see it? 

- one great approach - put a character into the situation

2.   AFTER

what situation is this photo (or the action in it) going to create? 

WHAT MAKES SENSE? LOGIC!

3. What’s happening now? 

the photo is confusing and it takes some thinking to figure out what you’re seeing

you need to take in ALL the details and think about what they mean when they’re all put together

4. What about all these feelings? 

you look at a photo and you think about the feelings that the characters/subjects have

5. What about MY feelings? 

- writing about YOUR OWN response to a photo - what you think, what the photo makes YOU feel

Monday, Feb 17, 2015

Finding and Building Narrative

(ie writing a story)

Our brains WANT to make stories, and they do it all the time whether you want it to or not. 

Your brain can’t stop itself from trying to turn everything that it sees into a story. 

18 pictures per sec 

60 seconds per min

90 min per movie = 97200

Video is 30 pics per sec

The Hobbit was 48 or 60 frames per sec

Ms. Hayter - learning coach - to help us be the best learners that we can be (maybe not the best students, in every case, but the best LEARNERS)

What do we want in a “reading room”?

Shawn - comfy chair *at least one!*

Danny - coffee maker 

Matt - bean bag chair

Sabasgn - tea centre

Sabasgn Part 2 - offer of tech help! 

Shane - sports books - many interests to be deal with

Jess - Justin Bieber EVERYTHING

Jess Part 2 - iPads or traveling laptops

Jonathon - futuristic look 

Jonathon Part 2 - comical posters

Jonathon Part 3 - working computers

Ryan - snacks 

Dawson - the light table (and a pet fox, which may have to be a stuffy)

Dawson Part 2 - special interest corner

Second Week! Feb 9-13

Feb 9 2015

There may have been some talk about the action figures I had on my desk:

Especially Xaltotun, who looks pretty creepy.

But then we started in on the news, with a little look at the Grammy Awards.

Here is a winner's list:

And I don't know if we agreed with the list of winners, however, then:

we started working on the skill of using excellent DESCRIPTIVE words that come into our minds when we look at photos, especially photos from the news.

We try to make a complete list of different descriptions that occur to us.

We know they need to be descriptive words, and that means we don't just list things we see in the photos.

Yes, we see a cute cat:

Okay, well maybe it's not so cute.

But we see it, and instead of saying - There is a cat! - we think about how it looks, what it sounds like, what it might feel like, smell like, etc.

The five senses are the guide here, of course.

We will build up our abilities to find the details in photos and think about how to pull out those awesome descriptive words and then:

There will be a challenge!

We will get a photo and we will work together as a class to create a fat, beautiful, complete list of the best words to describe what we're seeing.

And we will do it THIS WEEK!

Stay tuned...

First Week

Jonathon -

Ryan and I wouldn’t interact unless we “cheated” 

Dawson - 

More communication - “cheating” will actually allow this!  

Jessica - 

Maybe if we “cheat” we’re actually coming up with something of our own, not just the answer - the collaboration actually increases

Ryan - 

(thinking)

Danny - 

if students “cheat” they will get the work done

Roy - 

it will get students the correct answers, and then maybe they have to do the same reading anyway

Ms. Hayter - 

Sometimes “cheating” is actually MORE work than just getting the answers

Example: Morgan the “Cheater”

she READ, she RESEARCHED, she GOOGLED, she THOUGHT, she PROCESSED

One of the most obvious and important features of all public schools is the importance of grades. 

NOT IN THIS CLASS

CHEATING = RESUBMISSION OF WORK

CHEATING = DECIDING ON YOUR OWN MARK

CHEATING = RESEARCHING

CHEATING = WORKING TOGETHER

CHEATING = NOT MARKING SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND FINE POINTS OF PRECISION

CHEATING = MAKING UP THE TEST YOURSELF

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM IN CLASS? 

A way to talk about this:

Possible problem - possible solution

2.   Problem solving activity that works for MANY problems - DOES IT WORK? Explain how.

3.   General way of thinking that can fix problems in advance - HAVING A PLAN 

Because grades are the way we measure success in schools, they are used both to make students work harder and punish students who don’t work.

They are a major component of a student’s portfolio and have the potential to impact their future. Educators might try to stress the value of “learning” over grades, but that is a complete farce. When learning is not commensurately represented by grades, students rightly feel cheated by the system and become apathetic. To insist on valuing learning over grades is offensively disingenuous and hypocritical. It is akin to telling workers at McDonald’s that they should care more about doing their job than their salary.

February 3, 2015

We learned about a crazy expensive book - The Windup Girl

It’s about the future, and there is no more gasoline or oil. Scary!

The writer is named Paolo Bacigalupi and he did a video called:

Two Truths and One Lie

He drank a shot of chunky blood. (gross) (five people say LIE) TRUE!!!! snake blood

2. He tipped over a dead body. (three people say LIE)

3. When he met his wife, she told him she was Indian and he didn’t know what that was. (three say LIE) TRUE!!!

What do WE know about India? 

high population

girls have to wear dresses and cover their hair and the children have to wear jewelry, guys have to wear long pants and head things (turbans) 

they have a different religion

YOUR TURN!

Write down TWO truths and ONE lie and try to trick me!

I lived in Germany for a whole year and kept teaching in this area. 

2. I am currently planning to interview Arnold Schwarzenegger in the summer. 

3. I am a very talented artist and I can paint animals that look photorealistic. 

What would YOU do differently if you KNEW you would never die? 

You are still only you. No super powers, no magic, no amazing strength. 

Pain, illness all that still hurts, but you will live. 

FOREVER!

Ryan - “I would go to war.” “I would survive and become rich and buy a lot of cars.”

Jonathon - “I would fight a lion.” Certainly, you could “play” with lions. 

Matt - “I would finish the war in Afghanistan.”

Jess - “I would swim with great white sharks.”

Sabasgn - “I would probably go to Malaysia and explore without fear.” - ie pits of snakes

Shawn - “I would swim to Hawaii.” (some help from Dawson)

Cobie - “I would swim in the ocean.” 

Danny - “I would eat healthy foods and I would go on walks.” (with help from Sabasgn) - “to the moon!”

Shane - “I would jump off the CNN Tower and race a penny to the ground.”

Roy - “I would do the cliff dive of Acapulco.”

Lobbster - “I would fight crime. Like a boss.”

Dawson - “I would survive the zombie apocalypse.”

Friday Fun Facts!

Danny - rock ‘n roll

Shane - country 

Shawn - modern rock - pop rock?

Cobie - country and classic rock

Sebasgn - dub step and electronic

Jessie - pop and country and rap

Dawson - a little of everything

Jonathon - dub step and electronic

Ryan - rap

Monsieur Lobb - post-rock, European stoner-metal

Under your name and the kind of music, I want you to brainstorm on these ideas:

REASONS WHY YOU LIKE IT

BANDS and PERFORMERS -

SONGS

FASHIONS and STYLES

ANY SNIPPETS of LYRICS that you might like (no cursing, this is a family show)

ANY RANDOM IMAGES that come into your mind (no saucy images, plz)