Gary Coyle’s Grade 8 Humanities

Significant Items Covered:

• Final Socratic Seminars – The Outsiders
• Journal – What does the phrase necessity is the mother of invention mean?
• Schoolhouse Rock – Mother Necessity
• Adjectives
• Large Group Discussion – What is the most important invention ever?
• Showing vs Telling – The Roller Coaster and The Fruit Roll Up
• Factory Game

Reflection:

Commenting is a skill in blogging that I would like to address this week. When you comment to a BLOG you are really accomplishing three things:

1.) Letting the writer know they have an audience.
2.) Encouraging others to write
3.) Helping others think more deeply about an issue.

We can help other think more deeply by commenting thoughtfully. A thoughtful comment usually does one of the following:

A) Agrees and adds supporting information
B) Moves the topic in a new direction with new evidence or a new interpretation of evidence
C) Disagrees respectfully by adding contradictory evidence

Remember when responding to a BLOG posting challenging ideas is acceptable and encouraged, however singling out individuals for criticism is not.

In order to practice this skill, please spend the next ten minutes reading BLOG entries from the people whose names are above and below yours in the class BLOG list. Then respond thoughtfully to one posting of your choice from each of those two classmates.

Here are some possibilities of how you could start that entry:

• (Insert their name here)This made me think about…….
• (Insert their name here) I wonder why…….
• (Insert their name here)Your writing made me form an opinion about…….
• (Insert their name here) This post is relevant because…….
• (Insert their name here)Your writing made me think that we should…….
• (Insert their name here) I wish I understood why…….
• (Insert their name here) This is important because…….
• (Insert their name here) Another thing to consider is…….
• (Insert their name here) I can relate to this…….
• (Insert their name here) This makes me think of…….
• (Insert their name here) I discovered…….
• (Insert their name here) I don’t understand…….
• (Insert their name here) I was reminded that…….
• (Insert their name here) I found myself wondering…….

Happy Commenting!

Adding meaningful images to your post increases the impact of your writing for the audience and is a quick and simple process.

1. Use Google Images or Flickr Creative Commons to find a suitable image
2. Save the image to your USB Flashdrive or the desktop (You could link the image directly from the website where it is hosted, but if they remove the image you lose your image.)
3. Click on the add image icon in Blogger
4. Find the image using the browse button
5. Select the placement and size you want
6. Agree to the Terms of Service
7. Click upload
8. Click done
9. Finish writing your post
10. **Give credit to the creator of the image by including the shortened version of the url in your post**

Viola.. you have added visual impact to your postings!

To practice adding visual impact to your posts and to begin thinking about industrialization, please respond to the following in your blog and find and include a strong visual image.

What does the phrase, “Necessity is the mother of invention” mean. Please include at least three good example to support your thinking

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeope/308394259/

Significant Items Covered:

• Feedback – Goal Setting Q1
• Lecture – Characterization
• Web – Pick a character and create semantic web using specific evidence from the book
• Socratic Seminar – Outsiders #3 (Why is Cherry so interested in Ponyboy and his family?) and #4 (Why is the book titled The Outsiders? To who does the title refer?
• Lecture – Theme in the Outsiders
• Listening Activity – Music and the Outsiders

Reflection – please answer the following in your BLOG

How do you learn best? Visually (watching videos or reading), Auditory (listening to lectures or discussions), Kinesthetic (simulations or making or doing something). What can I do help you learn most effectively in our classroom?

Major Points From Last Week:

• Course Overview
• Inference- Mr. Coyle, 5 items about classmates, and S.E. Hinton
• Bio Poem
• Introduce Socratic Seminar
• Socratic Seminar – Outsiders #1 All of our information comes from Ponyboy. Does he give us the full picture? What would we need to get the full picture? Explain. and #2 Does Two-Bit really think that fighting is good? Is there such thing as a fair fight?

Answer the following in your BLOG in complete sentences:

• What were two highlights from the first week of school?
• What was your first impression of Humanities?
• What are two goals you have for this quarter in Humanities? (Remember a goal needs to be specific, realistic, and measurable)

Please post your response to the following to your BLOG.

The ”Gang” plays an important role in Ponyboy’s life. Describe who your “gang” is and why they are part of it.