Thursday, April 28, 2011

Vocabulary Program Test 41-50

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEZORXMtOVZDZWptYnV6VzBJd3dSZlE6MQ#gid=0

Who Do You Need to Learn? Yourself

Students:  Who do you need to learn?  The answer is:  NO ONE!  Once you can read at a certain level, you don't need teachers any more.  But then, why do so many students believe they need a teacher?  Why do students even go to school?  Because schools have created the vice of dependency in students.  If students were scholars, we wouldn't have schools.

So, what is a scholar?  A scholar is simply an independent learner.  A scholar learns whether she is at school or not.  A scholar has broken the chains of dependency on teachers and schools that most students have.  A scholar still has his curiosity intact.  Or he has regained it, somehow.  Pulled curiosity back from the deep dark recesses of their toddler's brain.  And when they regain the curiosity they once had as a child a palpable joy attends their thoughts, as if a long lost  best friend has returned. 

A scholar is like the colonists who were angry at England for all the taxes and unfair rules it placed on them.  They broke free and claimed independence.  Hopefully, you will all come to the point in your life when you will break free from dependency on teachers and school to learn.  You will want to go to school, then, because as a scholar you will crave what school is offering, and you will naturally go above the knowledge that school is offering because it is not enough.  You need school to give you a paper that verifies you were able to jump certain hurdles.  But that paper, your diploma, is not an indicator that the holder of it is a scholar.  No, a scholar can only be proven by what she does.  She constantly searches for truth, wisdom, knowledge, and skills.  He is never satisfied.  He realizes as he learns more and more that he knows less and less and he is amazed by this and excited that his journey will never end.  Only the few, the lucky, the persistent, the determined will ever reach the high place that scholars inhabit.  In fact, many if not most college students have not reached the mountain peak that scholars inhabit.  It is a title for the humble few who never advertise their greatness but know deep inside how great their attainment is.

What is the sign of a scholar?  Simple:  A scholar thinks listens and speaks and reads and writes.  A scholar is just as happy in a prison cell as a library, as it affords him as much time as he needs to think.  He listens to all he can, for he might hear something that is true.  He speaks in questions hoping someone knows the answers.  He reads with the hunger of the starving man, for the effort of writing winnows the field down to those whose knowledge has motivated them to write.  And finally, he writes to share his own knowledge with those other scholars who seek

Monday, April 11, 2011

Cyber-bullying Essay

About three years ago a student spread a vicious lie about me through a text message.  Before I new what was happening, dozens, maybe hundreds, of people read this lie.  Who knows, if they were stupid enough, they might even have believed the lie.  Ever since then, I have been very serious about eradicating rumors, lies, and viciousness spread through the web or electronically, because they spread so quickly on the web or electronically and so are so much more harmful.

Students school-wide have the opportunity to write about their experiences with cyber-bullying or bullying in general.  This could be from the perspective of victim, bully and/or bystander and could be in any form (essay, poem, letter, etc.).  We are hoping to have some sort of lunch time event where students can choose to read their work, or have someone else read it if they want to remain anonymous.  This event would be after spring break. 

Mr. Kringel's students:  You will receive extra credit for doing this assignment.  The amount, up to 20 points, will depend on the quality of work and whether or not you read at the lunch-time event.

Vocabulary Program Test 21-30

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&pli=1&formkey=dGlpZDZnR2lKSVBnbW5RODE3MGtKVmc6MQ#gid=0

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Vocabulary Program Test 11-20

Click below for Vocabulary Program Test 11-20

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dERxT0JNcDRlTjduLV95WXZ5eXkwVHc6MQ

Podcast on Daniel Pink's Book Drive

Students, what would happen if you went to a school where you decided what you would learn and when you would learn it?  Would you have what it takes to learn on your own?  Or would you play video games all day long?  Click below to hear a podcast on some interesting ideas on this topic from a book called Drive, by Daniel Pink.

http://www.box.net/shared/upmrvrc9fu

BTW, to all you students who have smartphones.  You can download this podcast to your smartphone and listen to it in your car or on your way to school.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY:  Students in AVID (or even in one of my English classes):  I'll give you 10 points of extra credit if you list and explain the three elements of motivation for high level thinking that Daniel Pink thinks are more powerful and relevant than the old carrot and stick approach to motivation.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Vocabulary Program

I am excited to announce the new vocabulary program!  We just finished Vocabulary Workshop (Hooray!) and now we need a new list of words to study.  I decided to use El Camino's Words of the Week list, some words that you will find on the STAR Test, and some vocabulary words from your textbook.

Now here's the exciting part:  You will get to work at your own pace and you will take your tests online, in the computer lab.  If you get the word correct on the test, you will get to move on to more words.  The words you don't know, you will have to take again.  Each week, you will be expected to put 20 of these words on one side of a flashcard, and the definition, part of speech and example sentence on the other side.  As soon as you master the first 150 words, I will post the second 150 words.  All 150 words can be found here:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zJI9D4McDiM4cJHnr5ZkdoUo3I_K-QyCtjAOTgDE990/edit?hl=en

Here are the first twenty words for the week of April 4 - April 8:

1.           contrast – (v., n.)  To show the difference; to compare;  to differ;  to stand out against something else.  Her calmness contrasts with her husband's loud voice and frantic gestures.
2.           passage – (n.)  A part of an article or the entire article;  a paragraph;  an excerpt.  Please find the metaphor used in the passage you have just read.
3.           contradict – (v.)  To oppose, to disagree with, to challenge someone’s statement.  It is difficult for most students to contradict their teacher because usually the teacher knows much more than the students.
4.           imply – (v.)  To hint, to mean, to indicate.  The worker had to imply that her friend should be fired because she didn’t know how to run the machines.  If she said it frankly, her friend would have been angry at her.
5.           infer – (v.)  To guess at using information;  assume, deduce, conjecture.  The reader can infer that the character was embarrassed because of her red face.
6.           reveal – (v.)  To make known, uncover, show.  Her tears revealed how much she cared for the dying cat.
7.           selection – (n.)  Article, passage, or story.  Mr. Timmons entertained us with a selection that was written by Shakespeare.
8.           classify – (v.)  To categorize, to sort, to group with others that are similar.  The scientist classified the newly discovered animal by comparing its DNA with a mouse’s DNA.
9.           reminiscent – (adj.)  Suggestive;  reminding of something in one’s past.  The smell of the burning candle was reminiscent of many days spent in church as an altar girl.
10.       contents – (n.)  Subject matter, subject.  The contents of the backpack were sticky from the spilt coke.
11.       link – (v., n.)  To connect, relate, or bring together;  OR, a connection, a relation, a bond.  What word best links the ideas in the first paragraph to the ideas in the second paragraph?
12.       variation – (n.)  Difference, dissimilarity, alternative.  Which variation of the original sentence is clearest?
13.       emphasize – To highlight, to stress, to put emphasis on;  to point out.  The last sentence of a paragraph should emphasize the topic.
14.       excerpt – A part taken out of a passage and put somewhere else; a piece cut out of an article; extract.  The  excerpt contained the main idea of the passage it was taken from.
15.       lack – To not have, need, require.  What does the soup lack that would make it taste better?
16.       accurate – Precise, correct, true.  Please be accurate  when writing facts in an essay.
17.       derive – To get, or receive.  I derive much pleasure from watching my sons grow up.
18.       suggest – To hint, imply, indicate.  Blake’s dirty clothes suggest that he doesn’t  have enough money for food.
19.       reveal – To tell, show, uncover.  The angry stare revealed the character’s hatred of her stepmother.
20.       structure – The organization of an essay.  The writer used the main idea and then details as her essay’s structure.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Greek and Latin Roots

Remember these?  Here's a refresher quiz on some of the most important word-parts to commit to memory.  You can figure out dozens of often difficult or technical words when you memorize these roots.  Take this test often if you know what's good for you:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDlScnlYV3NKT1FGYzIyY3BoVko3NWc6MQ&ifq

Parts of a Paragraph

When you read or write a paragraph, it is important to notice or include the main idea.  A good writer usually makes it clear what the main idea is, but not always.  When trying to figure out the main idea, ask yourself, "What is the biggest idea in this paragraph."  A lot of students mistake the details for the main idea.  One way to decide whether an idea is a detail or the main idea is to compare it to another idea.  Usually the main idea sounds better when it is read first, and the detail sounds better coming after.

Another thing you need to be able to do is to decide what the purpose an author had in mind for writing something. There are three primary purposes for writing:  to entertain, to inform, and to persuade.  Stories and narratives are usually written to entertain.  Newspaper and magazine articles, non-fiction books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and textbooks are usually written to inform.  Editorials, letters to the editor of a newspaper, opinion pieces, and persuasive essays (obviously) are usually written to persuade.

Try your skills at figuring out main idea, purpose, transition and origin by linking to this online quiz:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHlFbzMySGV6R0xNOV9lVF9pT0VMTWc6MQ&ifq

STAR Released Questions Quiz #1

Open the following link to take the quiz.

https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?hl=en&hl=en&formkey=dFdVTl9JU2ZETXZzR3h3S1IwZUtZTFE6MQ#gid=0