Month: April 2010

Everything seems to be moving very quickly right now, which makes me think it might be a good idea to slow things down and have a “catch-up” day.

Here are the different things you could be working on:

• Making sure your book club folders are complete, organized and ready for me to mark
• Editing and revising your business letter
• Making sure the two media assignments that I handed back yesterday are complete.
• Making sure I have your film pitch and movie trailer.
• Making sure you’ve complete your blog posts on our class ning.

If you’ve got all that done, you can read silently.

I was not able to book out the computer lab for today so if you need access to a computer, we’ll have to see if there’s room in the library or possibly guidance but I need to know where you are and if you leave that location, it can only be to come immediately back to class. No hallway wandering.

Today we will be in 211 (it seems to be fixed now) to work on our business letters and begin our research reports.

You will have 20 minutes to finish your rough draft of your business letter and then submit to me via edmodo. At that point I would like you to submit your work even if it’s not done.

Then I’m going to have you fill out your research proposal (This will be posted on edmodo). Once that is finished, I’d like to show you an online tool for doing research and making notes on web pages. You can access these notes anywhere you have internet access so you don’t have to worry about printing things off and highlighting. It’s called Diigo. I’ve already done some research and bookmarked these pages on Diigo and I will share them with you.

Once I’ve shown you the site, I’d like you to create a Diigo account and then add me as a friend so that I can see your research notes.

Today we will be in room 211 to work on our business letters. I have uploaded the business letter assignment to edmodo.

1) Work with your group to sum up your closing thoughts on your book and post them as a new discussion on the ning. You do not have to write a personal response (ie/ a blog post); however if you are missing some blog posts (you should have 3) it would be a good idea for you to do so in order to make up missing marks.

2) Write a draft of your business letter to the 4th R. Make sure you use the handout from yesterday as a model. When you are finished your draft please submit it to me via edmodo. Your completed, revised, error-free letter is due on Monday.

3) Tomorrow we’ll be back in the lab to work on our research reports.

Today is our last bookclub meeting, can you believe it? After today’s meeting, you are going to choose an issue from your novel that you think is important for young people to know about and you will complete a research report on this topic.

As you know based on yesterday’s presentation, no matter what field you go into in college, report writing is a common writing task you will be asked to complete so this is an important skill. It will also serve as good practise for your CCA.

Today we will be having a representative from Lambton College here to speak to you guys about different programs available and about the transition from high school to college. Please be prepared with lots of questions for our guest.

One last day in the lab to work on your movie trailers and make sure I’ve received your film pitches. I must have both of these by the end of this week (which is today actually since tomorrow is a PD day). Use your time well please.

Today we’re in the lab again (room 211) to work on the Ning.
You can skip the individual blog post today though. Instead, please ensure that I have your film pitch and then you can work on your movie trailer.

Book club day!
Before we start I will show you my movie trailer that I made for What Happened to Lani Garver. You’ll be back in the lab tomorrow and Thursday to work on yours and contribute to your blogs.

Today’s mini lesson will focus on the connections you are able to make between the issues in your book and the way those issues are depicted in the real world.

We’re back in the computer lab today because I was so inspired by the movie trailers it seemed like it would be a lot of fun to make a movie trailer for your book. You can work individually, or with the other members of your book club. Due to the time constraints, I’m not expecting you to go out and film anything. This will be more like an automatic slide show with music. I will show you how to do this, but I suspect you’ll be able to figure it out on your own.

Have fun with this!

Happy Friday!

We’re in 208 today working on our film pitches. I’ve included some movie trailers here to give you some inspiration.

 

For the film pitch, don’t feel that you have to stick perfectly to the original story. Very often, film makers have to omit, simplify, or change certain details in order to make the film appealing and fit into a reasonable time frame. Feel free to do the same with yours.

If you prefer to make your pitch a little more “multi media”, you could post your work on our class ning. That way you could include pictures, video clips (maybe of film trailers that have a similar look or feel that you want in your movie), or songs that you want to include in the sound track.