11 11 11...

Hey gang,

      Today is High Five Friday, November 11, 2011.  We have our Great STEM Challenge today!  Your guest teacher will lead you through the day.  Please your time to your advantage.  Your Digital Memoirs of the Holocaust are due on Monday.  You will also have Monday in class to do any finishing touches you may need.  So far your work is looking great! 

      Yesterday, you all heard, saw, and discussed a literary technique called PERSONA.  In the youtube video that I attached is Johnny Depp talking about the persona he took on for Captain Jack Sparrow.  As you watch, think about how his persona as Captain Jack is a similar technique to what you are all doing as you create your memoirs.  Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/T5p2EVcKeCE

Sincerely,
C

From the cluttered mind of C, Teacher

School District of Waukesha

Waukesha STEM Academy

Persona in our memoirs...

Good day to you Teenie-Boppers,

      Today is Thursday, November 10, 2011.  I need not remind you that tomorrow is 11-11-11, the day of the Great STEM Challenge.  You will be having a guest teacher tomorrow and Monday as the 8th grade teachers have their alignment day.  What that means is that we have meetings.  Personally, between us, I would want to be in class with you guys and gals, but sadly it's not my call.  So please do your best to help out the guest teacher. 

      Anyways, down to brass tacks!  PERSONA.  Persona is a literary technique writers use to tell a story.  PERSONA refers to the voice through which an author tells the story.  Persona can be the identity of a character or narrator.  Writers develop a persona in order to help an audience see events from a particular perspective; in our case, a historical perspective.  By seing a digital memoir through the eyes of a bystander, perpetrator, victim, or helper our audience will naturally sympathize with that character.  The mood and tone you set in the memoir through soundtrack and text will also help your audience sympathisize with a PERSONA.

      PERSONA is connected to to point of view.  Since you are creating a memoir, your persona should come in the first person point of view.  This brainpop will help you grasp the concept.
  http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/pointofview/ 
      Username: waukesha
      Password: media
Use your imaginations along with your schema.  Tie your right brain to your left brain and have fun while creating your memoirs.  If you would like to leave a comment for me feel free.  Enjoy!

Sincerely,
C

From the cluttered mind of C, Teacher

School District of Waukesha

Waukesha STEM Academy

Word Wednesday...

Sooo...

      Today is Camel Day, November 9, 2011.  Yesterday after all of you lovely students left most of your teachers had meetings to attend over at the Randall Campus.  I joined the Literacy Leadership Team for my meeting, but happened to agitate the Community Leadership Team which I was once a part of.  Mr. Tomsett proceded to call me a TURNCOAT. 

      Now, the name that I was called stopped me in my tracks.  It made me start to wonder.  What is a turncoat?  Where would a weird word like that come from?  What is it's entymology?  Does the word have a historical context?  Did the word originate during a certain era in history: the Revolution perhaps?  So my next step was to find the definition.  I did and sent it via text message to this blog THINK SPOT.  The definition is below for your enjoyment. 

Turncoat:1.
a person who changes to the opposite party or faction, reverses principles, etc.; renegade.

      There are additional resources I added to Blackboard 9 that will help you download video and/or audio.  Ask me to show you! 

Yours Truly,
C

P.S. I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
Do your best and forget the rest!!

Let the Digital Memoirs Commence...

Totally Tubular Tuesday Teenie-boppers,

      Today is Tuesday, November 8, 2011.  Remember that procedural writing is a genre that guides, teaches, and instructs a reader through a task or experience.  Read the mini syllabus below to become familar with how we will use our time the rest of the week as we create our digital memoirs...

Survey, read, and review this syllabus to understand and complete your digital memoir. 
Memoirs are deep thoughts that touch the essence of an experience.   Memoir is your memory and your study of an experience in life.  Memoir is your thinking really deeply: the meaning below the meaning…  The meaning below the meaning you thought you found.  Memoirs are not biographies or autobiographies.  They are something similar, yet not exactly the same.  The subtle differences make memoirs more like a narrative: a story about a particular experience in someone's life.  Memoirs are a part of a life: not the whole life of a person. 
Your task is to choose a "persona" from the era in history known as the Holocaust.  A persona is the perspective or lens through which you will tell your memoir of the holocaust.  We will be using the program Windows Moviemaker to incorporate TEXT and MULTIMEDIA to demonstrate what we have learned as we explored this dark time in human history. 

From the cluttered mind of C, Teacher

School District of Waukesha

Waukesha STEM Academy

Digital Memoirs: mood and tone...

Monday Funday is here!

      Today is Monday, November 7, 2011.  Quick reminders: Friday is the STEM challenge. Next Monday your digital memoirs are due.  Next Monday your historical fiction texts are due as well.  You will have the majority of the week to work on your digital memoirs and also next weekend. 
      Now, down to brass tacks.  Click on the link below to start our class today...
http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/moodandtone/
Username: waukesha
Password: media

      Ask and ye shall receive!  You all have expressed an interest in seeing some of that digital memoir again so let's roll up our sleeves, get out the rubric, and do some grading.  Woohoo!   As we watch portions of the digital memoir use the rubric to critique what you are reading and watching.  pay careful attention to the MOOD and TONE of the piece.  What do you think the creator/writer is trying to get the audience to think and feel?  Enjoy, and be gentle. 

Yours truly,
C

From the cluttered mind of C, Teacher

School District of Waukesha

Waukesha STEM Academy