Lit 12 Dates to Remember

October 6 -- I check your mentor logs for three hours of contact with your mentor.
October 16 -- I check for seven hours of contact with your mentor, and we start constructing your portfolio:

1. Binder or notebook
2. Title Page
3. Table of Contents
4. Parental Consent
5. Plagiarism Policy
6. Research Paper
7. Revision Form (if necessary)
8. Mentor Agreement Form
9. Mentor Logs
10. Thank you letter to mentor
11. Photos / Evidence of Product
12. Self-evaluation

October 21 -- Revisions due
October 23 -- Products Due
October 27-28 -- Practice Presentations
October 29 -- All lit projects, reading records, and portfolios due
October 30 -- Presentations

Thursday Groups

What is that number next to my name?

Hey. I am glad you asked. . .

One of the best things about using blogging technology in our classroom is that it encourages you to view each others' work and provide feedback. The number next to your name represents how much you contribute to the on-line community of our classroom.

Want more points? It is EASY!

All you need to do is read some of your classmates' posts and provide MEANINGFUL feedback. (Meaningful suggests that you should make comments about their work, explain what you find interesting, or have any kind of productive discussion about their work)

After leaving meaningful feedback, email me ( dana.siegmund@gmail.com ) and let me know where your feedback is, and I will add to your points.

How about getting into the habit of leaving me a comment and tell me what you think of my idea?

User Agreement

Using a weblog for our classwork will require some parameters for your safety and the quality of everyone's work. First, you should recognize that your work, as well as mine will be published for the entire on-line world to see. This will ultimately make us all responsible for better and more original output than ever before. By visiting other students' weblogs, you will be able to view all their work, and it will also make it easy for me to see who is not making an effort to submit work that is original.

Once you create your own weblog for this class, I will add it to the class blog roll so everyone's work can be accessed from this page. I encourage you to look at your peers' work for ideas or inspiration, but what you submit must be your own. Language Arts lends itself well to this format since you will be asked to respond to the literature and history we study with your own ideas and opinions. There are no right or wrong answers in a Language Arts class, so looking at other students' ideas can help you. It can also create problems if you choose to be lazy.

I will leave comments about your work. These comments will usually instruct you on how you can improve your work. Please make sure you check your comments and your e-mail regularly, and make sure you are finished with one assignment before moving to the next.

Since this weblog will be part of your education at Classic City High School, any activity on your weblog should be considered school activity, even if it is done outside of school. You should feel free to create posts that are not school related, but you should also be sure to refrain from anything that could be considered inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to: references to alcohol or drugs, violence, or gang activity, foul language, nudity, threats, etc.

Plagiarism is submitting someone else's work as your own. This can be done in many ways: copying work from Wikipedia, classmates, Sparknotes, etc. If you plagiarize your work, you will receive a zero -- no questions asked.

THE USER AGREEMENT:

1. I agree to submit original work to my weblog. I realize I will have the opportunity to view my peers' work, and I will use this opportunity constructively. I understand that if I choose to plagiarize, I will receive a zero for the work in question with no option to redo the assignment in question.

2. I agree to keep my weblog appropriate for Classic City High School. I understand that if innapropriate material were to appear on my weblog, be it from myself or an outside comment, I will be asked to remove it. Failure to do so will result in my weblog being removed from the class roll. I also understand that refereneces to illegal or dangerous activities will be reported since it is the legal responsibility of my teacher.

To agree, post a comment to this message like this:
I agree to Mr. Siegmund's Weblog User Agreement.
I will not add your weblog to the class roll until I receive a comment from you like the example above.

End-Of-Course Test Practice

Fifteen percent of your grade for Lit 9 or 11 is the End-of-course test administered (you guessed it) at the end of the course. I feel it is very important that the coursework you complete with me should reflect the material on the test, but I also feel as though it is equally important that you have exposure to the test itself. Over the course of the quarter, you will see that your pacing guide includes EOCT practice assignments (four in all). You should complete these according to the dates on your pacing guide. Doing all four at once makes little sense, and it will affect your grade.

Your grade on these four assignments will be calculated as follows:

1) You should access the USA Test Prep website. The sign on is classiccity and then ask me for the password. Click "Agree".

2) Click on the EOCT tab, and choose either 9th Grade Literature and Composition or American Literature and Composition. Choose the medium test.

3) Before starting the test, please make sure your information is filled in correctly. This is how I will know whose work I am viewing. You should enter your email to get your results, as well as my email in the "other email" box. dana.siegmund@gmail.com . If I do not get your results in my email, I cannot give you a grade.

4) Take the test carefully. Do your best, and do not worry if there are items you do not know the answer to.

5) When you are through, you should read your report from USA Test Prep. In what areas did you do well? In which ones did you have trouble? Are there terms with which you are unclear. You should write a post on your blog (2-3 paragraphs) that explains these issues.

6) There will be four separate class discussions / practice sessions that you should attend and be a participant to receive full credit.

Grading Rubric:

90 - 100: Student took his or her time on the test (i can see how long you spent), wrote blog post that was complete and useful, and participated well during the discussion.

80 - 89: Student took his or her time on the test, wrote a blog post that was mostly complete and useful, and participated in the discussion.

70 - 79: Student took his or her time on the test, but probably could have made a better effort, wrote a minimal blog post, and may have participated in the discussion.

0 - 69: Student may have rushed through the test, written an incomplete blog post, and may have missed the discussion.

Lightnin' Reported in the Area . . .

Have A Great Summer!

READ A BOOK!

Senior Project Practice Presentations

These practice presentations are a chance for you to try your work out on the rest of the class before presenting to the big audience. Your presentation is a direct reflection of the kind of student you are and the work you completed this semester, so you should take every opportunity to make it as good as you possibly can.

You will receive a grade for your presentation practice. I will calculate your grade as follows:

90 -- 100: Student is completely prepared to give his or her presentation BEFORE the class starts. The presentation is nearly complete, and it shows that the student has spent ample time preparing a presentation for this practice. Students who receive a score of 90-100 are attentive to the other students who are presenting.

80 -- 89: Student is prepared to give his or her practice presentation, but it is clear the student could have spent more time. The presentation may not be complete. Students who receive a score of 80-89 may not be attentive to other students while they are presenting.

70-79: Student is prepared to give his or her practice presentation, but just barely. The presentation shows that the student has done the bare minimum to prepare his or herself for this practice presentation. Students who receive a score of 70-79 are not attentive to other students as they present.

0 -- 69: Students are not prepared to give a presentation at the beginning of class. Presentations are incomplete or extremely brief (under 6 minutes). Students receiving a score in this range are not prepared to give an adequate presentation.

You should use this rubric from your handbook to create your presentation. It is the one the judges will use when they grade your real presentation.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR LIT 12:

May 12:
On this day I will take your completed portfolios. That means you need to have ten mentor hours logged, and your product needs to be finished. Finished portfolios should have a completed self evaluation and a thank you letter to your mentor.

You also need to have your presentation ready for the class. We will draw numbers at 3:15. You will receive a grade for your presentation to the class.

May 15:
Presentations will begin at 1:00.

Portfolio Check

Along with your seven hour's worth of mentor logs, I will be checking to see how you have begun putting together your portfolios. You should be aware that since these portfolios are not in their finished state, they will not include all the elements. The elements that are not necessary at this time are listed in RED.

1. Binder or notebook
2. Title Page
3. Table of Contents
4. Parental Consent
5. Plagiarism Policy
6. Research Paper
7. Revision Form (if necessary)
8. Mentor Agreement Form
9. Mentor Logs
10. Thank you letter to mentor
11. Photos / Evidence of Product
12. Self-evaluation

Timely Topic for Writing Four (Persuasive Writing)

Recently, the superintendent of the Clarke County School District asked the school board to adopt a dress code for every student in the district to follow. The school board will vote in early May on whether to enact the a student dress code proposal into policy. They have opened the forum for public input until the vote.

READ THE ENTIRE PROPOSAL HERE.

This proposal is much stricter than dress codes you may have seen in the past. Parents in the community are very supportive of this proposal, but teachers are not. How do you feel? This can be a great opportunity for you to make your voice heard about how you feel about this proposal. Do you think it will help students in the school district succeed, or do you think it does not matter. This is an issue that may directly affect you soon, and it is a great topic for persuasive writing.

You should have a rough draft finished by Thursday (April 10, 2008), and since that will be a double period, you should have a final draft ready by the end of the day. Let's send our final drafts to the Athens Banner Herald and Flagpole Magazine to see which ones get published. We may also choose to send final drafts to the board members themselves to read before they vote.

My car wouldn't start.
I had to work late.
I overslept.
I forgot.
I had a flat tire.

Tell that to this guy:



Don't make excuses.
You are in charge of your own success.
Have a good Spring Break Y'all.