Computer Lab Again

We are in the computer lab again.


It's fun.


However, there are some unnamed students, rather one student whom I will not name, who has chosen to sit idly while I (note italics, underline, AND bold!) have been trying to help them.  Now I realize I have been used.

Is my purpose to be used and discarded? 

Like a tissue post nose bleed.

It's almost poetic...except that it hurts a little.

Am I being used if the students are so open about it? Their words do not have so much value that I have to attend every word, indeed  I can choose my own words and opinions and actions.  I love comma splices, if they are used sparingly and purposefully. Eat that adverb!
Your  most outraged teacher.

Exemplar from Friday Morning

I haven't changed anything from the moment class ended on Friday  but I feel it necessary to point out that if I were to evaluate this paragraph I would be dissatisfied with several things. 

Namely, the length of the middle Bergeron quotation - I think it is more than possible to get our point across without all of it; also that we left the same quotation as it is-I would get rid of the lines scored out and correct the grammar as necessary (in a quotation I would change the grammar only if necessary); the end of the paragraph is rushed (we were out of time, after all), so I would flesh out the relationship between the two texts and the concluding statements; and finally, (and obviously, I hope) I would check the bulleted ideas at the end to make sure they were all included (if I decide that they are all necessary of course) and then I would delete them.

Other considerations

• It is appropriate to title your work.
• Page numbers are appropriate and necessary (if you are working with a medium that makes that possible).
• Include the correct MLA works cited at the conclusion to give credit to the creator(s) of the media you discuss.
• Read your work aloud to ensure that it sounds right (in the words of Theo Heras "If you take care of the sound, the sense will take care of itself").
• Read it again from the bottom up - the last sentence first, then penultimate, and so on - to check for grammatical errors.
• Read it again from the top to cut out as many unnecessary words, phrases, clauses, ... well, you get the point.  
• Please, please, please, please, please check that you consistently use present tense throughout.
• Avoid the auxiliary verb 'had' unless you can absolutely argue that it is necessary.

        Both “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and The Incredibles, a Pixar production, have governments that force equality on their populations. In “Harrison Bergeron”, the government literally handicaps their citizens to enforce equality, while The Incredibles presents a government that chooses to hide the extraordinary ‘supers’. Vonnegut’s ballerina has to wear a ‘hideous’ mask to hide her “blindingly beautiful” face. Additionally, Harrison Bergeron wore

a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses[…] scrap metal was hung all over him… a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.

The effect of these handicaps is to limit extraordinary individuals by bringing everyone down. In contrast, The Incredibles government limits their ‘supers’ by forcing them into hiding. Indeed, Bob and Helen are forced to live in a witness protection model.  Bob’s handler expresses frustration at having to move the Parr family, yet again, after Bob sends a man through several cubicles walls. These texts demonstrate governments limiting their populations through handicaps and concealment.

·      Extreme equality

·      Celebration of Mediocrity

·      Gov’t suppression of ‘ordinary’

This is the structure we developed together on Friday - we probably should've  used two points of comparison between the texts, but alas - we did not.

  Sentence 1:     Topic Sentence   “Both texts….”

                 2:     general statement  “Text A does…text b does…”

                 3:     Point                         “Text A specifically…”

                 4:     Evidence                  “in fact…QUOTATION”

                 5:     Explain                      “this demonstrates…”

                 6-8:  repeat 2-4 for text b

                 9:     general statement to tie texts together

                 10:   concluding sentence

Bring questions and hard copies of your paragraphs on Monday and we can deal with questions then.

Have a great Saturday night and Sunday.

Last day in the lab

Given the time it took me to sort through all the settings and stuff, I think we could probably use another day in the lab. Unfortunately we need to get caught up, so today will be the last.  After today, your blog work will have to be done at home, in clinic, or on your own time.

Believe me when I write that I'm sorry.........I'm so sorry - I just searched for a song that has 'so sorry' in the lyrics and (I should have known) they are all so sad!  Maybe the music behind them is a mix of heavy metal and punk so they are meant to be less sad and more angry but one of them is sung by fiest, neither punk, nor heavy metal.

So much for being clever........

Followers......

To the students in my grade ten academic class:

Firstly, if you chose tumblr to create your blog, I'm sorry but I don't know how you would follow this blog-I assume you click on 'follow this blog' and do what it says. (?)

Secondly, somehow you all need to access my blog so that I can easily look at yours....in this case, you'll have to be a follower. This is not a comment on you as a person.

Thirdly, if you have trouble with the second note, please see the first note.

Blog Creation

I'm sure this is supposed to be exciting, but I'm so frustrated.  Choosing the font took me fifteen minutes! I don't want to talk about the url - I spent ten minutes trying to think of something creative only to settle for...well, it's not creative.