Thursday February 28: who are these people reprise, part two

AN IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE YOU BEGIN: I WILL BE PUTTING IN GRADES FOR THE FOLLOWING ASSIGNMENTS NOT LATER THAN TONIGHT:

TWO SOURCES FOR EACH OF FIVE HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS

ANSWERS TO 11 SIMPLE QUESTIONS (TEXTBOOK SERIES)

PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF THIS AND PLAN ACCORDINGLY


OK, if you are reading this, it can only mean the following:

A) You have created five higher order questions, which I have approved

B) You have found at least two reliable sources of information for each

C) You have discovered the name and the email address of the person or persons associated with this source of information.

D) You have sent out an initial contact email to that person, explaining who you are, what you are doing, and the fact that you would like to 

With me so far? Cool!

Now what I want you to do is to set up the "questions email", where you ask the people you have contacted the questions you wish to ask.
YOU WILL SEND THIS EMAIL TO ME BEFORE YOU EVER SEND IT OUT TO ANYONE OUTSIDE THIS SCHOOL.

This is just to make sure that you are representing PSA to the very best of your ability.

Once I approve, I will give you permission to send them out.

Remember, the goal is to try to send out these emails to all 10 of the authors of your different sources, IF POSSIBLE

cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday February 26: who are these people? reprise

IMPORTANT NOTE: IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING, YOU CANNOT DO THIS ASSIGNMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED YESTERDAY'S ASSIGNMENT. AND OF COURSE, THIS WON'T BE POSSIBLE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE ASSIGNMENTS FROM LAST WEEK.

SHORT STORY: GET THEM DONE. TODAY


OK, so now let's get down to business.

If you have some names and email addresses to make use of -- and I mean specific individuals -- I want you to send them an initial exploratory email. Explain to them who you are, and why you are approaching them in this way. Please cc my official email from the school :

paul.larue@palmettoscholarsacademy.org

so that they know you are for real. That way, they can also ask me any questions which they need to.

PLEASE RUN YOUR EMAIL BY ME BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY SEND IT

Also, please be polite, appropriate and to the point when you do actually send.

That'll do for this part

cheers,
Mr. L

Monday February 25: who are these people?

Greetings, children!

All too often, your humble instructor has heard people complain about "the government". Well in my estimation, there's no such thing as "the government"... "the government" is not some abstract entity, it's an organization composed of people, many of whom are empowered to make decisions about our lives. (The wisdom of these decisions will perhaps be a subject for a future class discussion).

By analogy, I would like you to consider that the sources of information which you have been locating of late are also not abstract entities  they are created by people. So I would like you to consider: who are these people? And let us go beyond consideration, and act to find out.

I want you to discover the names of each of the authors of all the sources which you have gathered. Beyond that, I also want you to discover a point of contact, preferably an email address

I wish for you to send this information to me by email, with your name and the phrase "who are these people?" in the subject line.

This of course presupposes that you have already compiled these sources of information. Make sure that you take care of this task first, before anything else. Besides everything else, you will be graded on this quite soon.

cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday February 21: before we proceed any further

Greetings, one and all!

Today, we are going to have some time to get caught up on assignments which absolutely MUST be done before we can proceed any further. I am aware that many of you have had absences; I am also painfully aware of all the difficulties we have had maintaining an active Internet connection. And yes, I mean painfully -- I'm getting withdrawal symptoms just thinking about it.

With that in mind, I have sent each of you emails detailing what EACH of you need to get to me. You have two hours, so make good use of them. Meanwhile, I will be thinking good thoughts about keeping us online and on course.

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday February 19: something new part four

NOTE: BEFORE WE BEGIN THIS NEXT ASSIGNMENT, WE WILL BE HAVING A SECOND ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS ON MONSANTO AND GMO FOODS -- MR. L

SECOND NOTE: HAVING HAD THIS MOST RECENT ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS, I WOULD LIKE EACH OIF YOU TO SEND ME A SUGGESTION FOR IMPROVING THESE DISCUSSIONS. AT LEAST ONE SUGGESTION PER EACH OF YOU. PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME AND THE PHRASE "DISCUSSION IMPROVEMENTS" IN THE SUBJECT LINE

THIS TOPIC IS DUE BY NOT LATER THAN TONIGHT AT 8:00 PM

OK, so this is our new topic:
Industrialization & Economic Development

And as I've said, you can find the first round of notes for it HERE. I've already asked you to develop some higher order questions to go with what you have read. Now what I would like you to do is to start looking to see which if any of your questions can be answered by perusing the chapter in our textbook that this topic is based upon, Chapter 11.

Please make sure to cite the page or pages where you found each answer

So let's get started with that, shall we?

Cheers,
Mr. L

PS If I were you, I'd begin with the simpler questions which you created then work your way upward to the more complex questions

Thursday February 14: something new part three

Now here is where it gets interesting: 

I would like you to list at least two possible sources of information -- web based or not -- where you MIGHT be able to derive some knowledge that will help you to create an informed respone for EACH of your "higher order" questions from the other day

so yeah, that means 10 possible sources of info, 2 sources times five higher order questions

Now, a good place to begin searching for sources might possibly be here:

http://scdiscus.org/

It's a "virtual library" where you can access a lot of different material, sorted by grade level, alphabetically and by subject/topic; all of it verified as being factual and accurate.

use this username  -- discus13

 and password -- homework

 to gain access



And of course, if you STILL haven't gotten those higher order questions created yet, now is about the latest you can reasonably expect to get 'em done



cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday February 14: something new part two

BEFORE WE BEGIN: THIS ASSIGNMENT ASSUMES THAT YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE ASSIGNMENT FROM TUESDAY...IF THIS IS THE NOT THE CASE, YOU'D BEST START WITH THAT FIRST, AND GET IT TO ME BY EMAIL TUTTO PRONTO. REMEMBER THAT EACH ONE OF YOU IS RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SET OF FIVE HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS
-- MR. L


OK, so now you have "higher order" questions... questions that look for deeper meanings than just the "who what where when how" type of questions. So now, the next step is to create those simpler types of questions.

Below is both a table of types of questions which I am looking for you to create, as well as some sample questions which I have thoughtfully provided.

Sample questions:

A) Please define the main focus of economic activity in a socialist system

B) List three effects that outsourcing has had on the economy of the Charleston, South Carolina region

C) Explain why a large corporation headquarted in America might shift its manufacturing facilities to a nation overseas, such as China

Since these are questions which are simpler to produce, it should be easier to create more of them. Eleven has a nice ring to it, so therefore, you are being asked to create 11 of these simpler type of questions. That means each of you must create your OWN set of 11... you may work together to help each other, but you must come up with 11 of your own simpler questions.

Send them to me in an email with your name and "11 simpler questions" in the subject line; or, if the Internet connection is out again, save it as a file named with your name and "11 simpler questions" in the file name...then pass it in by flash drive

Cheers,
Mr. L

Remembering: can you recall or remember the information?	define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state
Understanding: can you explain ideas or concepts?	classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

February 12: something new part one

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS DUE NOT LATER THAN TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12 AT 8:00 pm

Today in our class, we will be starting a new topic:
Industrialization & Economic Development

As part of this, I would like to begin by having each of you look at the first set of notes for this topic (found HERE), and then help develop some higher order questions to go with what you have read. (This means each of you develops your OWN questions.. you can bounce ideas off of each other, but you need to hand in your own work.)
 Below is a table with the types of questions I am in search of, and the keywords associated with them.

Additionally, I have created some sample questions here:

1)     demonstrate the main difference between communism and capitalism by comparing the products successfully created by an ethnically homogenous group of people – the Koreans – who have been split into two groups along the capitalist/communist divide

2)      Imagine that you are part of an American company that has closed down all of its production facilities in the United States and now does all of its manufacturing exclusively overseas. Defend your company’s outsourcing policy

3)     Outside of the cheerleading you see on TV, it is a fairly well established fact that the current state of the American economy is not good. Develop a plan to revitalize the American economy

I wish for each of you to develop at least five of these higher order type questions, and either send them to me by email with your name and “five advanced questions” in the subject line, or save what you have done as a text file named after yourself plus the phrase  “five advanced questions”

Cheers –
 Mr. L

Types of Questions I am looking for	Keywords that would go with each set of questions
Applying: can you use the information in a new way?	choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analyzing: can you distinguish between the different parts?	appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Evaluating: can you justify a stand or decision?	appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate
Creating: can you create a new product or point of view?	assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write.

Monday February 11: a discussion... FINALLY!

OK, so here we are at last: today we will have our discussion of GMOs, Monsanto and your "players" involvement with such. As ever, the discussion will be facilitated by a program of my design, which will randomly choose students to portray their "players", as well as randomly choosing other students to begin the questioning.

cheers,
Mr. L

Thursday February 7: get 'er done!

UPDATE: since we have experienced internet connection difficulties once again today, here is what I want you to do:

A) Research your "player" for homework. Find the answers to the questions you want them to answer

B) email these questions of yours to everyone else in the class. I will send out a mass email to everyone in the class so that you will have their addresses

C) Be ready to take on the role of that person, so that if you are asked those questions, you will be able to respond properly, as that person would respond

D) We will have the discussion on Monday, and thus wrap up this section


So OK, we didn't get much done from the other day due to technical difficulties. So, today, we get to finish up all the stuff we couldn't get done that day.

So what are you waiting for?

Cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday February 5: your player's "speech"

Greetings, once again

If you are reading this, then plainly you have already finished "making your case".  Here is what you need to do now:

A) Imagine that the "player" whose role you will take up on Thursday during our discussion is going to make a speech/presentation that is open to the public

B) This speech will be accompanied by a graphic set of visual aids, explaining each point that this person will be making

C) This person has not less than 17 points to make

D) Each point will consist of an explanatory paragraph of not less than three complete sentences

E) At least nine of these points will need to have some kind of graphic-- perhaps a picture or a chart of some kind, which helps to enhance the written information that accompanies it

F) Naturally, the topic must have something to do with your "players" field of expertise; preferably something to do directly with the topic of GMO's

G) The format you choose is entirely up to you, but a PowerPoint type slideshow might be the easiest option

send this file to me attached to an email; subject line must include your name and the phrase "freedom of speech"

cheers,
Mr. L

Tuesday February 5: finish "making your case"

Greetings, one and all!

Today, you will have two tasks to complete:

A) Finish "making your case", as I indicated yesterday. We will have a discussion on Thursday based upon what you produce between yesterday and today

B) If you complete task "A" above, I have another assignment in store, on a future blog post that will be unveiled today... time permitting of course.

So what are you sitting there for? Let's get going!

cheers,
Mr. L

Monday February 4: Making your case

Note: before we begin, I will need to address you about the proper role of technology -- and learning-- in my classroom, as well as the consequences for stepping outside that proper role. -- Mr. L 

OK, if you are reading this, then it means that you are at the point where you have

A) picked out two players from the Monsanto documentary

B) Set up 11 different "interview" style questions for each of them

C) Finagled your way into getting some answers to those questions

Today, your task is simple: begin to make a "brief" which allows you to be either one of the players you have selected. What this means is that if someone else asks you the questions which you have created, you'll have the answers down cold. No note needed, no hesitations: you ARE that person

So here are some preliminary steps which you will need to take:

A) You will need to email your interview questions and answers, for EACH player, to everyone else in this class

"A)" Is due not later than the end of class today, Monday February 4

B) Likewise, you will need to make sure that you receive all such interview "Q and A" material from everyone else.

C) You (and your partners, if any) will need to practice your responses to your own interview questions. As the Oracle said in the first Matrix movie, "Temei Nostrae".... know thyself!

D) You will also need to familiarize yourself with the other "players" in the room, so that when the time comes, you can ask them the proper questions

E) On Monday next, we will have a practice run, where I will use a computer program to randomly pick out both a player and a questioner. The questioner will ask a question of that player. Everyone else will rate both the question and the response

Be ready

Cheers,
Mr. L