Pages

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Evaluating a Speech - President Obama speaks to School Children

http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse#play/search/0/8ZZ6GrzWkw0

What criteria (categories) would 'you' choose to evaluate this speech.  Some possible choices might be:

  • Message
  • Stance (agree with/disagree with)
  • Delivery of Speech
  • Memorable moments
  • Surprising moments
  • Relevance to audience
  • Quotes used
  • Humor
  • Setting
  • Surprising Facts
  • Language and vocabulary
  • etc etc...

Make sure that whichever criteria (Power 2s) you choose to evaluate this speech, you can find at least three pieces of evidence (Power3s) to support the opinion you made

Monday, September 28, 2009

Compound and complex Sentences Practice

Explanation of  Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTfgqZmmG2Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO4CBvS_i8g
Ignore use of colon (:) and dash (-) explanations

text
http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/sentences.htm

Complex and Compound Practice
http://eslbee.com/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi?helenkeller
http://www.ainop.com/users/classroom/compoundsentences.html
http://itech.pjc.edu/writinglab/senpat.htm
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/complex_sentence/index.html
http://www.quia.com/rr/126726.html
http://eslbee.com/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi?shadrach

Optional Writing Activity to Practice
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/sentencefluency/sentencebeginnings.html

Coming Next Week

Sentence Fluency Test
Can you write advanced simple, compound, and complex sentences?
Do you know the characteristics of compound and complex sentences?
Can you punctuate compound and complex sentences effectively?
Do the practice exercises on this blog to help you prepare for the test

Prepositions and Prepostional Phrases
What is a preposition?
Why do we use prepositional phrases?

Social Studies Textbook - Lesson 4
Land and Regions

Evaluating Text - Speeches
What criteria would you use to evaluate President Obama's speech to school children?

Friday, September 25, 2009

Evaluating - Mentor Text Example


Make sure the evaluation of your newspaper article resembles the paragraph below. Your opinion of what you read should be very evident. Follow effective paragrpah struture. Have you used sentence fluency?
Two adventurous fifth grade school girls search out more than they bargained for while attending a class outing at the Natural History Museum. A Mummy Mystery is an exciting story that leaves readers on the edge of their seats. The main characters, Molly and Lena, are very mischievous throughout the story. Even though they should be with their class, they wander off on their own almost immediately on their arrival at the museum. Lena is probably the most disobedient of the two. Molly seems be the type of person who worries about what other people think, “Mr. Gardiner will be furious with us!” she exclaimed at one stage in the story. Alternatively, Lena’s fascination with ancient Egypt and complete disregard for her class was demonstrated when she almost ran toward the larger banner over the entrance to the Great Hall. The author, Andrew Clements, tries to use humor to break down some of the tension that builds in the story. It was amusing when Officer Johnson thought he was on T.V. when he first saw the Mummy’s hand move or when Molly whispered to Lena about the Mummy, “…it looks more like a squirrel that’s been hit by a car.” The author does not seem to pay meticulous attention to all of the fine details, leaving some of the events of the story a little confusing. How would a mouse be able to burrow under the Mummy’s wrappings without causing damage? Moreover, the mouse would have died of suffocation if it had been stuck in the glass case all that time. Any “…ancient pieces of corn or wheat”, would surely be rotten after thousands of years and could not have provided food for the mouse. Despite some over exaggerated facts, the daring exploits of Molly and Lena and a few light hearted jokes make the tale, A Mummy Mystery both memorable and enjoyable. On your next field trip, I’d watch the exhibits really closely if I were you. Just in case.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Social Studies Test- Essay Question

Today's social Studies test required you to use your Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) to apply what you learned in Lessons 1&2 to a specific question. Read an 'adapted' copy of Will Gardner's essay below for a fine example of how to do this.

Venu has returned now to his native planet of Venutian. He was very impressed by what he learned on his Social Studies course. Based specifically on your studies on Lesson 1+2, advise Venu on policies he could implement in his own planet.
(notice key words in question that you should have highligted)

As Venu steps out of his spacecraft, his family cheers,"Venu's home". Venu begins to speak to his nation based on what he learned on his travels. Venu is tired of his country being a communist nation, so he plans to change his governement in some ways. Becoming a Republic with unique rights and responsibilities for its citizens, will be a goal for Venu's new governemnt. In a Republic, citizens elect representatives to make decisions on the citizen's behalf. Unfortunately, theese representatives sometimes vote in their own interests and not the ctizens. Venu will ensure that the citizen's representatives will vote fairly. Even though Venu does not want Venutian to be a 'direct demoncracy', he should inform his leaders about this alternative form of government. In a direct demoncrcy, everybody takes part in every decision. Direct demoncracy works well for small groups like clubs and neighborhoods. It would be took much hassle in Venutian to bring everybody together to vote on every decision. Venu should take the time to make sure his new system of government contains certain rights and responsibilities for its citizens. Some rights he learned about inthe U.S. include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freddom to live and work where a citizen pleases. Venutian citizens will have certain responsibilites like voting, going to school, and obeying martain laws. All of these would be written in the Venutian constitution, or a plan of government. By implementing all these new policies, Venu will have success in changing his government from communism to a successful Republic. Venu finishes his speech and sits down drenched in sweat. The chief of Venutian rises and says to the natio,"It's time Venutian implements a real change to its government."
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...