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Sunday, December 15, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Vidiomas 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Four by Four
Express your ideas and opinions on a variety of topics. Choose any four of the following (unconnected) topics and blog four sentence paragraphs on each. Then make a point to comment on four of your classmates.
GENERALLY SPEAKING... (variation on above)Start with a statement, "Generally speaking,..." Give three reasons (complete sentences) to back up your statement, so you have four-sentence paragraphs. Repeat three times and blog. Then, comment on four peers and agree or disagree.
| Family | Personality | Sports |
| Music | Clothes | Animals |
| School | Vacations | Health and diet |
| Time | Town and cities | Movies |
GENERALLY SPEAKING... (variation on above)Start with a statement, "Generally speaking,..." Give three reasons (complete sentences) to back up your statement, so you have four-sentence paragraphs. Repeat three times and blog. Then, comment on four peers and agree or disagree.
Describing a Personal Experience
Write about a small or great kindness that happened in your life. Write 200-300 words. Use the paragraph plan below to help you.
Don't forget to include structures that add emphasis, such as cleft sentences, negative inversion, and perhaps an emphatic did, and do your best as this piece should be included in your portfolio.
| Paragraph 1: | Set the scene for the story. Remember to grab the reader’s attention at the beginning. Describe the surroundings or the situation, but don’t give them all the facts at once. |
| Paragraphs 2-3: | Describe what happened. What were you doing? Were you alone? Why did you need help? How did you feel? Whom did you meet? How did they help you? |
| Paragraph 4: | What happened in the end? Did you learn anything from the experience? |
Don't forget to include structures that add emphasis, such as cleft sentences, negative inversion, and perhaps an emphatic did, and do your best as this piece should be included in your portfolio.
Arguing Your Case - For and Against
Write an introduction, the pros, the cons, and your conclusion (about 250 words) on one of the following topics:
- The cell phone
- Traveling the world in your 20s
- Adult children living at home
| The plusses of my topic are... First... Second... Then there's... Finally, ... | The minuses of my topic are Above all, ... But there is also... Then again... In conclusion, ... |
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Looking for Words of Wisdom
Why and when did they say what they said? Are their words still relevant today? What do they mean, if anything, in your own life? Blog it, please.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Where Are Those Blogs?
While most of the students have set up blogs here on Blogger, there are still quite a few that are hiding from view. I wonder what they are blogging...hmmm. All blogs should appear in the list -->
with most recent postings up on top. So, if you don't have a blog, please create one, and if you already have one, but it has been several weeks since you've posted, please write something.
Thank you.
with most recent postings up on top. So, if you don't have a blog, please create one, and if you already have one, but it has been several weeks since you've posted, please write something.
Thank you.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Where Are Those Videos?
We're down to the wire, and I've seen very few videos for Vidiomas. Less homework than before. What's happening here?
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Oy, What a Quiz!
It was a quiz about Future Forms and it turned out badly. What are we going to do about it? Maybe if everyone visited their friends' blogs and left comments, we could raise a few points.
Tell me what you're thinking.
Tell me what you're thinking.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
callow, defunct, infant, and white
He’s gone from this venue, but not defunct. He left some notes behind; musical notes, rather than the kind you’d find on little pieces of paper. You’ll hear them in the air, solitary, lingering at night on the beach. But please don’t go alone.
Featherless, unfledged, this callow bird took to the sky before he’d been weaned—like an infant, after hesitating first steps, being forced out the door to go to work as an adult—unsure, fearing to stumble, but determined to succeed; therefore earning the right of return, not as a babe in white, but wearing yellow and smiling.
Push, recall, and cheer; ponder your own success, but please don’t do it alone.
Featherless, unfledged, this callow bird took to the sky before he’d been weaned—like an infant, after hesitating first steps, being forced out the door to go to work as an adult—unsure, fearing to stumble, but determined to succeed; therefore earning the right of return, not as a babe in white, but wearing yellow and smiling.
Push, recall, and cheer; ponder your own success, but please don’t do it alone.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Mama’s mustache reminded me of...
the little twirler over the lip of Pat, my first lover. He was Native-American and had trouble growing any kind of facial hair. I should say up front Mama was not my mother, nor anyone’s really, though he acted like a mother to all of us, the destitute, the disgruntled, the disenfranchised. We’d come to the city, some of the younger ones from broken homes beyond the Palisades, some of the older ones having lost a partner to the scourge or from mere wanderlust, and a few, very few, simply looking for a new playing field. Mama’s reputation was legend. Once he took a shine to you, he’d be there for mral support forever. That funny little mustache always supplied a spot of humor, except when it didn’t—when it reminded you of one you’d dearly loved and lost.
Monday, August 5, 2013
There was a drunk in the men’s room stall...
and he was singing in a low voice, “Ninety-six bottles of beer on the wall…” slurring rather. Not knowing how long he’d been on his throne, I couldn’t tell if he’d just recently begun or couldn’t, in his condition, get through the nineties.
His singing disturbed my concentration and dried up my stream. There were other things on my mind that might have the same effect, to be sure. I knew with the surgery I was soon to face, I shouldn’t even be in a bar, but then, I had no one waiting at home to provide consolation, and at least here, at the Dew Drop, there were lights and music, however dim and off-key. And Happy Hour was not to be taken lightly.
When the drunk stopped counting bottles and a thud sounding like a falling body followed, I thought to check if he was still seated upright but felt I had not enough self-constructed consolation to share.
His singing disturbed my concentration and dried up my stream. There were other things on my mind that might have the same effect, to be sure. I knew with the surgery I was soon to face, I shouldn’t even be in a bar, but then, I had no one waiting at home to provide consolation, and at least here, at the Dew Drop, there were lights and music, however dim and off-key. And Happy Hour was not to be taken lightly.
When the drunk stopped counting bottles and a thud sounding like a falling body followed, I thought to check if he was still seated upright but felt I had not enough self-constructed consolation to share.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
posthumous, nature, depth, and plumb
Did he really write so seriously and reach the depth of feeling for which he has been credited? Was he a poseur? Another Proust wannabe, or Fitzgerald plumbing for the reasons behind a Gatsby-like obsession; going for the posthumous ble ribbon? He was sensitive to the vicissitudes of the hard scrabble life as well as to that of privilege, but it was not in his nature to be consistent, certainly not for the length of a novel.
I believe faithful Tess had a hand in all his most acclaimed work and were it not for her contributions, we would not be sitting here talking about him. What does Carveresque mean anyway—that one has a tendency to cut away all the meat?
I believe faithful Tess had a hand in all his most acclaimed work and were it not for her contributions, we would not be sitting here talking about him. What does Carveresque mean anyway—that one has a tendency to cut away all the meat?
Saturday, August 3, 2013
drinking, atheism, blue, and stony
Atheism doesn’t leave much time for drinking problems, financial worries, feeling blue when God doesn’t answer your prayers—there’s just so much not to believe in. To be sure, you will still be able to manufacture whatever stressful situations you need to get you through the stony silence of a blue sky that contains no heaven. The pointing finger that has missed you on the radar has found everyone who has the inclination to be led. Turn your head away and close your ears. Your business is your own. Time is not money if you treat it as a spendthrift.
Friday, August 2, 2013
strange, secondary, distinguished, and program
The primary stage of the program was where you were separated from your peers to be observed by experts in the field. They would note whether you excelled at simple tasks and were therefore worthy of more of their time and theorizing or were flat out incompetent and could be left among the normal group. If you did, somehow, impress beyond the ordinary and became part of their further research. The secondary phase was distinguished by severe trauma over trying to succeed at something for which most were ill-prepared, leaving you ecstatic if you achieved the set goals but feeling strange and inadequate were you to detect the merest sign of a scowl on the faces of the judges.
They never lie.
They are never complacent.
They never lie.
They are never complacent.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
telepathy, family, balance, and calm
Jackson’s family was first in all matters. Through a sort of telepathy, each would know when one or another member was in need of help, be it financial or support of a more spiritual nature. An equanimity settled over the big house, and all could be accomplished with a calm other clans could only wish for. Mama said they were in balance due to their poise and upbringing. Papa claimed it was their birthright, as they were born with superior genes. Jackson only hoped his next girlfriend would be more understanding of his family’s quirks. He would like to marry and father children of his own one day.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
HoW 04
HoW 4: Cape Charles 2013
I had bought new swim trunks to go to California the week before, and so within the same week I wore them in the Pacific and in the Atlantic. This was the HoW at which Nicole and I met face to face, and the one at which I spent the least amount of time, having to return early for a school conference.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The Portfolio Development Process
In the second lesson of her course, Dr Barrett discusses and supplements through various resources her concept of the two faces of electronic portfolios wherein she asks is it a workspace for students to process their work throughout the semester; is it a showcase, that is, a product to be built perhaps at the end to be assessed and graded, or is it both? It is, and there are three development levels evident in its implementation. During its process stage it is a “case” for storage or a digital archive, and there is a suggestion that no work, or even the attempts made toward producing assignments should be lost. The electronic portfolio can provide the workspace where everything is saved toward the goal of achieving best examples. It is a reflective journal, which may take the form of a blog, so students look over their various attempts and remark on what they have learned at each stage of their development, and of course, it is a presentation in the traditional sense of how we perceive what a portfolio is, and this may be displayed on a structured website, being that this is the electronic age, where we have so much technology available, many young people are adept at handling same, and there is no longer any need to archive and transport stacks of paper documents as examples of their abilities and achievements. In fact, today there exists the possibility of carrying around representations of ourselves in our pockets on cell phones, small tablets, and the like.
One of the facets of teaching in the modern classroom that heretofore has seemed an insurmountable problem has been the overuse of personal gadgets, which until now have “gotten in the way” of teaching, if an instructor sees his or her job only in the traditional way of, say, spouting grammar rules and expecting students to listen attentively, learn and remember, and then be assessed in some standardized way. This just isn’t possible anymore. The technology is here to stay, and with Fulanita checking with friends about an assignment due in the next hour’s class, or the weekend’s activities, or worse, playing some hand/eye coordination game that ostensibly has nothing to do with the task of the moment, it is frustrating to the teacher who sees it as a distraction. What if, however, the lesson were conducted through the said gadget, and the student were motivated by the idea that every task being done was becoming part of her personal portfolio?
One of the ways, among many possibilities, that students can express themselves, in a mode they often feel motivated to do, is through the telling of stories. These give them the opportunity to write about personal issues, emotions, and problems they are having difficulties in resolving through non-creative channels. I have been assigning writing tasks for several years, with and without formulae and/or templates, but mostly as work to be done outside class. These have always been meant to become a part of students’ portfolios, and have been uploaded to a social networking blog. Unfortunately, without guidance, that is about where I have left them. In recent semesters, students have been instructed to produce presentation portfolios, using Powerpoint, of which, it is hoped, they maintain a copy along with what they present for a grade, but I can see now this is only the end product half of the concept, and there has been little motivation to put an enthusiastic effort into these presentations. Most do not see this as something they may have use for later in life, and thus are doing the work merely to obtain a grade. I feel the onus is on me as the instructor to motivate students to produce permanent records of their learning for purposes they may not yet see. I hope I am up to the task, and that I come out of the course equipped to be more effective at my job.
One of the facets of teaching in the modern classroom that heretofore has seemed an insurmountable problem has been the overuse of personal gadgets, which until now have “gotten in the way” of teaching, if an instructor sees his or her job only in the traditional way of, say, spouting grammar rules and expecting students to listen attentively, learn and remember, and then be assessed in some standardized way. This just isn’t possible anymore. The technology is here to stay, and with Fulanita checking with friends about an assignment due in the next hour’s class, or the weekend’s activities, or worse, playing some hand/eye coordination game that ostensibly has nothing to do with the task of the moment, it is frustrating to the teacher who sees it as a distraction. What if, however, the lesson were conducted through the said gadget, and the student were motivated by the idea that every task being done was becoming part of her personal portfolio?
One of the ways, among many possibilities, that students can express themselves, in a mode they often feel motivated to do, is through the telling of stories. These give them the opportunity to write about personal issues, emotions, and problems they are having difficulties in resolving through non-creative channels. I have been assigning writing tasks for several years, with and without formulae and/or templates, but mostly as work to be done outside class. These have always been meant to become a part of students’ portfolios, and have been uploaded to a social networking blog. Unfortunately, without guidance, that is about where I have left them. In recent semesters, students have been instructed to produce presentation portfolios, using Powerpoint, of which, it is hoped, they maintain a copy along with what they present for a grade, but I can see now this is only the end product half of the concept, and there has been little motivation to put an enthusiastic effort into these presentations. Most do not see this as something they may have use for later in life, and thus are doing the work merely to obtain a grade. I feel the onus is on me as the instructor to motivate students to produce permanent records of their learning for purposes they may not yet see. I hope I am up to the task, and that I come out of the course equipped to be more effective at my job.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Teachers' Day
First day of Michael D. Brown's Blog, specifically for school-related stuff and language learning material.
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