2nd hour fishbowl #4 over chapters 14-18 of A Long Way Gone: December 6, 2016

Good morning, all!

 Looking forward to a great last discussion of A Long Way Gone.

 If you are choosing the blog as the receptacle for your thinking, to earn full credit for your work, please be sure to...

• Employ effective writing strategies, such as carefully proofreading your work
• Contextualize your questions & defend your claims with quotes, not just page numbers, from the text.  Remember what we talked about last time about how those really specific questions & comments inspire better discussion.
• Participate thoughtfully throughout the discussion, contributing at least a few well-developed comments.

Here is a great example post from last discussion.  I love how Ashley not only used a quote, but also led into the quote, giving some context for the evidence she includes.  She then goes on to discuss its relevance to her claim and to cite that quotation.  Her post is also carefully written.

Ashley commented, " I think the justification, is that he's been brainwashed by the Corporal. 'Over and over in our training he would say the same sentence: visualize the enemy...those who are responsible [for] everything that has happened to you.' (112) During the training everyday the Corporal has engrained it in the brains of the boys that the rebels deserve to die, and that it is their duty to kill them."

Let's make it a great last discussion!

1st hour fishbowl #4 over chapters 15-18 of A Long Way Gone: December 6, 2016

Morning ladies!

Great having so many participate in the discussion online.  I hope you continue to see the benefit in the dialogue with your peers & how you can use it to explore unanswered questions & unexamined ideas.

As a reminder, please...

• Carefully proofread your work
• Use the "@" symbol to make it clear to whom you are addressing your comments or questions
• Contextualize each post, question or comment, with a cited quote from the text.  Many aren't earning full credit on days they're in the outer circle because they're not rooting their thinking in text.  
• Also, please avoid leading questions that ask as they answer.  

Here is a great example post from last discussion.  I love how the question is thoroughly contextualized and rooted in text, making the origin of Ashley's thinking evident.  I love the layers to the questions to that provide many response opportunities.

Ashley said, "Ishmael felt a way that once he got in his tent after the day, he couldn't even sleep because he had time to think and when that happened, he got angry or almost 'taken away' by everything that has happened to him (Page 113). Later on in the book in Chapter 13, after they had their fight and [killed] that man, once the "white capsules" wore off and the lieutenant pulled him out and gave him more of them, do you think that Ishmael realized to not have nightmares anymore or remember anything from his family, that he liked having the drugs help him? Or if he wanted to do more drugs just to fit in with the other guys in the camp?"

Happy posting!

Live Blog 1st hour fishbowl #4 over chapters 14-18 of A Long Way Gone, December 6, 2016

 

2nd hour fishbowl #3 over chapters 11-14 of A Long Way Gone, December 2, 2016

Good morning, all! To honor wishes of dissenting parties, today we'll use Coveritlive to capture our thinking and questions about our last few reading sections of A Long Way Gone.

As a reminder, to earn full credit for your work on the blog, be sure to...

• Employ effective writing strategies, such as carefully proofreading your work
• Contextualize your questions & defend your claims with quotes, not just page numbers, from the text.  Remember what we talked about last time about how those really specific questions & comments inspire better discussion.
• As we are using Coveritlive, which doesn't thread discussion, be sure to use the "@" symbol to make it clear to whom you are writing.

Also, I noticed there was some redundancy in posts.  Please be sure to read the comments that came before yours before your publish; I appreciate that can be tricky with Blogger.

Here are a couple of great posts from last time that exemplify the kind of work I'm looking for:

Kenny responded, "Along with him saying on page 78 'I should have killed the dog' there also was on page 81 where they talk about if they should eat the bird or not and there is also on page 84 where they say that they stole food that night. As Dom says this shows that there are many problems in the country with food and how hard it is to get some. It also shows that Beah and his friends will do whatever it takes just to get some food because of how hungry him and all his friends are. Maybe next time they run across an alive animal like a dog they will kill it just to get some source of food.

And Casey wrote, "On page 74, Ishmael talks about the story of the 'Bra Spider.' What is the importance of this story?"

And Natalie commented, "I do not think he will see his family again because on page 43 it states 'It was the last time I saw Junior, my older brother.'"

Also, Mac asked, "On page 85 '"This will do it.'"The man sprinkled some of the cold water from his bucket on Saidu. But Saidu didn't move... His palms were turned upside down and they were pale.' This is the only quote that does not describe the rebels killing people. Why did the author describe death in the book? Why did the author describe a boy that is 15 that died on his own in his sleep instead of one of the rebels killing him?"

Happy posting!

Live Blog 2nd hour fishbowl #3 over chapters 11-14 of A Long Way Gone, December 2, 2016

Live Blog 2nd hour fishbowl #3 over chapters 11-14 of A Long Way Gone, December 2, 2016

 

1st hour fishbowl #3 over chapters 11-14 of A Long Way Gone: December 2, 2016

Morning, ladies.  If you aren't signed up or elected for the inner circle today, please use this back channel to capture your questions and comments about our last few reading sections of Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone.

In addition to contributing your thinking throughout the course of discussion, to earn full credit for your work, please be sure to...

• Carefully proofread your responses before you publish them
• Employ your understanding of professional writing practices, including making sure the tone of your word choices is appropriate for its audience & purpose
• Contextualize your questions & defend your claims with quotes from the text. In other words, for each post you make, you should be using quotes from the text to provide the genesis of your thinking or to support your ideas.

Happy posting!

Live Blog 1st hour fishbowl #3: chapters 11-14 of LWG, Friday, December 2

 

2nd hour fishbowl #2 over pgs. 55-end of chapter 10 of A Long Way Gone: Tuesday, November 29

Good morning! I'm looking forward to a great discussion of A Long Way Gone today.

It sounded like we had conflicting feelings about Coveritlive versus using Blogger to capture our thinking.  

To honor both parties, today we'll use Blogger.  We'll move back to Coveritlive for fishbowl #3.

To earn full credit for your posts today, be sure to...

• Carefully proofread your work.

• Contextualize your questions with cited quotes and defend your claims with passages from the text as well.  

Here are a couple of great example of posts: 

Ben wrote, "Both the Kite Runner and A Long Way Gone start the book off with the protagonist doing mundane and normal things, The Kite Runner having Hassan and Amir hanging out in the tree and A Long Way Gone having Ishmael walking to his grandmother's house (Pg 7-8). Then they both begin to escalate, Long Way Gone a bit faster than the Kite runner which took a few chapters. Why do you think Ishmael Beah jumped so quickly to action?"

And Daniel said, "On page 20 the author says that his memories 'are an important part of what my life is; who I am now,' even though he also says that he regrets his past and actions and wishes it could go away. I made a connection between TKR and this part of the book because obviously both Amir and Ismael's childhood pasts affect their adult life. It seemed that in TKR that all of Amir's memories and regrets were negative and he wanted them gone, whereas in A Long Way Gone it seems that the author in a way embraces his past and accepts that it is a large part of what his life is like now. What are your thoughts on this?

Daniel and Ben both have grammatically sound, well-developed questions that are thoughtfully contextualized with passages from text.  

Happy posting!

1st hour fishbowl #2: pgs 55-the end of chapter 10 of A Long Way Gone

Morning, ladies.  Looking forward to a great second discussion of A Long Way Gone.

If you're using the blog to show me your thinking, to earn full credit, please be sure you...

• Use the "@" symbol to make it clear to whom your comment or question is addressed, for example, "@Susie..."
• Carefully proofread your work.
• Include a quote to contextualize your questions or support your claims.  In other words, please include a quote with each post you make.  
• Are active throughout the discussion's duration.

Live Blog 1st hour fishbowl #2 over A Long Way Gone: pgs. 55-end of chapter 10

1st hour fishbowl #1, pages 1-54 of A Long Way Gone: Friday, November 18

Live Blog 1st hour fishbowl #1 for A Long Way Gone, pages 1-54: Friday, 11/18

 

2nd hour fishbowl #1 for A Long Way Gone, pages 1-54: Friday, November 18

Live Blog 2nd hour fishbowl #1 Fri 11/18: p.1-54 of A Long Way Gone

 

Second hour's fishbowl #4: the end of The Kite Runner

Good morning!  Looking forward to a great last discussion of The Kite Runner.

A few pieces of feedback from our last fishbowl & outer circle blog...

Make it clear to whom you're replying:  be sure to use the comment threading feature so it's clear to whom you're replying.  If you're replying to a comment or question from the inner circle, indicate that with a phrase such as "(insert name here) in the inner circle asked...and I thought..."

Proofread.  Because, hey, it's English class.  Be sure your comments indicate learning professionalism.

Consistently participate.  Aim for at least 3, well-developed comments throughout the course of discussion if you wish to earn full credit for your outer circle responses.

Incorporate quotes.    With each comment or question, come back to the text, defending your claim or contextualizing your question.

First hour fishbowl #4: the end of The Kite Runner

Morning, ladies!  Looking forward to a great last discussion of The Kite Runner.

Please be sure to use the comment threading feature to make it clear to what you're responding, or, if you're responding to a comment or question in the inner circle, make that evident with a sentence starter such as "(insert name here) asked...and I think..."

Continue linking your thinking to text, but work on fluid incorporation of quotes by leading in, introducing the speaker and the context in which a quote is spoken; in places, relationship between claim or question and quote is unclear.  Also, cite the page number that your quote came from so your reader can refer back to it if she needs more context.  Lastly, challenge yourself to choose a quote that supports your claim or contextualizes your question versus just summarizing plot.

Here are a couple of examples of effective posts:

Skylar asked, "What do you think happened to Sohrab? 'Later, they said I was still screaming when the ambulance arrived.' From the context clues we know something happened to cause this sort of reaction. Could it really be super bad or do you think that maybe Amir was overreacting?"


And Jerrica commented, "I don't think that Amir sees himself as Assef because Assef took things to the extreme. He sexually assaulted children. When Amir was asked if he'd ever tried it from Assef in Chapter 22 on page 285 Amir responded 'That's disgusting'".

Second hour's fishbowl #3 over chapters 22-24 of The Kite Runner: Monday, October 31

Happy Halloween morning!

Loved seeing more of your participate in blogging last week.  Let's all give it a try today & see how it goes.

To earn full credit for today's outer circle, be sure to...

• Carefully proofread & polish your work
• Incorporate quotes as you contextualize your questions & defend your claims.  In other words, each time you post, include a quote with your thinking.  Work on rooting your thinking in text.
• Participate thoughtfully throughout discussion's duration.  
• Refrain from negatively affecting the inner circle discussion with, for example, side conversations.

Also, be sure to log into your Google plus account; some of your participated last week but your grade might not reflect that as I was unable to determine who was posting.  

Happy posting!

First hour fishbowl #3 over The Kite Runner, chapters 22-24: Monday, October 31

Happy Halloween morning, ladies!

Loved seeing more of your participate in blogging last week.  Let's all give it a try today & see how it goes.

To earn full credit for today's outer circle, be sure to...

• Carefully proofread & polish your work
• Incorporate quotes as you contextualize your questions & defend your claims.  In other words, each time you post, include a quote with your thinking.  Work on rooting your thinking in text.
• Participate thoughtfully throughout discussion's duration.  
• Refrain from negatively affecting the inner circle discussion with, for example, side conversations.

Happy posting!

Second hour's fishbowl #2: The Kite Runner chapters 13-21

Good morning!

If you are on the outer circle today & choosing to participate by posting on the class blog, please adhere to the following expectations:

1.  Participate throughout the discussion's duration, posting a minimum of 3 times.

2. Link each question or assertion to a quote from the book that inspired it.  Let's practice the skill of defending our thinking & grounding it in text.  (If you need an example, see the sample question I posted on the fishbowl syllabi.)

3.  Carefully proofread your work. Hey, it's English class.

Feel free to vacillate between this role & joining the inner circle.

Happy discussing!

First hour's fishbowl #2: The Kite Runner chapters 13-21

Morning, lovely ladies!

If you are on the outer circle today & choosing to participate by posting on the class blog, please adhere to the following expectations:

1.  Participate throughout the discussion's duration, posting a minimum of 3 times.

2. Link each question or assertion to a quote from the book that inspired it.  Let's practice the skill of defending our thinking & grounding it in text.  (If you need an example, see the sample question I posted on the fishbowl syllabi.)

3.  Carefully proofread your work. Hey, it's English class.

Feel free to vacillate between this role & joining the inner circle.

Happy discussing!

Second hour English 10 fishbowl #1 October 13, 2016: chapters 1-12 of The Kite Runner

Morning!

If you are on the outer circle today & choosing to participate by posting on the class blog, please adhere to the following expectations:

1.  Participate throughout the discussion's duration.  I am not looking for a certain number of posts. Afterall, longer posts will take more time to craft than 1-liners.  I am looking, instead, to see that you're focused throughout the discussion's duration & you're consistently participating.

2. Link each question or assertion to a quote from the book that inspired it.  Let's practice the skill of defending our thinking & grounding it in text.  (If you need an example, see the sample question I posted on the fishbowl syllabi.)

3.  Carefully proofread your work. Hey, it's English class.

Feel free to vacillate between this role & joining the inner circle.

Happy discussing!

First hour fishbowl #1 October 13, 2016: chapters 1-12 of The Kite Runner

Morning, lovely ladies!

If you are on the outer circle today & choosing to participate by posting on the class blog, please adhere to the following expectations:

1.  Participate throughout the discussion's duration.  I am not looking for a certain number of posts. Afterall, longer posts will take more time to craft than 1-liners.  I am looking, instead, to see that you're focused throughout the discussion's duration & you're consistently participating.

2. Link each question or assertion to a quote from the book that inspired it.  Let's practice the skill of defending our thinking & grounding it in text.  (If you need an example, see the sample question I posted on the fishbowl syllabi.)

3.  Carefully proofread your work. Hey, it's English class.

Feel free to vacillate between this role & joining the inner circle.

Happy discussing!