Unit Of Inquiry Topic- Some Questions To Ask Yourself

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I hope that you are all starting to think about some topics that interest you for our Unit of Inquiry. We will not actually be choosing topics until next week, but here are some questions that I want you to ask yourselves when you are brainstorming ideas:

Question #1:  Will this hold my attention and interest for 8-10 weeks?

Please remember that this topic will be the basis for all of your work and research until the end of the term, and you will be doing much of the research and work on your own. Therefore, it is very important that you choose a topic that really interests you, and that you will keep wanting to learn more about If you think that you are only "kind of" interested in your topic, you may want to continue brainstorming!

Question #2:  Is my topic something that will require me to do a lot of work outside of class/school? If it is, am I organized enough to handle that?

Please be honest with yourself about this, as it is very important to your project. If you want to learn about different ways to make pizza, you will not be able to make pizza during class time.  You would be able to do the research and gather ideas during class, but much of your practice and learning would take place at home. If you are not a student who usually handles doing things on your own and meeting deadlines, you may want to choose another topic that will be more manageable during school hours.

Question #3:  Is this something that I will be able to learn in 8-10 weeks?

This is HUGELY important when you are choosing your topic! If you decide that you want to learn everything there is to know about the history of Indonesia, or how to play your favorite song on the guitar (and before starting the unit, you have NO IDEA how to play the guitar), this will most likely not be done in the short amount of time that we have, at least not without spending a lot of time outside of class on it.  Now, 8-10 weeks may seem like a looooooong time to a student, but considering that classes only meet 3 times a week for one hour, it is actually not much time.  Please keep this in mind.

Question #4:  Do you have what you will need in order to learn about your topic?

 I don't think that I need to tell you that if you decide that you want to learn how to play a basic song on the piano, but you don't HAVE a piano, or know anyone who has a piano that you can use, this may not be the best topic for you. Please make sure that you have REGULAR access to the things that you will need in order to complete your unit project.

Question #5: Is this topic something that I will be able to understand?

 I may decide that I am very interested in learning about Quantum Physics, but unless I have a strong science background and know a lot of scientific vocabulary, this would probably be extremely difficult for me to do. You will want to make sure that you have the following things in order to be able to successfully learn about your topic: the language skills to understand it, some background knowledge (if necessary), and the skills to be able to learn it.

                                  Good luck and have fun! 

Welcome To Our Unit Of Inquiry!

Welcome back, everyone! I hope that you all had restful holidays, and that you are all refreshed and ready for our FINAL UNIT OF THE YEAR! I know that we are all excited to start this one...right?

Well, our next (and final) unit is going to be different than the other units that we've done this year. In this unit, YOU will decide what you are going to learn about! Yes, that's right- YOU! Are you excited yet?

The question that we are going to work on during this unit is: How do I express my learning?

UOI

Before we get started, though, here is a survey that I want all of you to take:

Take your time answering these questions, and many of your answers will help to guide you through the unit.

Good luck and have fun!

Parts Of Speech Final Assessment!

For this final assessment, you will take all four of the parts of speech projects that you have made (along with the reflections that you did for them) and put them into one blog post. Please make sure to separate them into categories.

Your finished blog post should look like this:

Parts Of Speech Final Assessment

Nouns:

(Your video reflection should go here)

Adjectives:

Verbs:

A Day In My Life, Part 1: Present Tense Verbs

A Day In My Life, Part 2: Past Tense Verbs

(Your second verb video project should go here)

Adverbs:

(Your written reflection should go here)


***Note: If there are projects that you do not still have saved on your computer, you can still move them to this post by going into the "Edit HTML" section of your original project post, copying the HTML code, and pasting it into this new post where ever it needs to go.***

Teach Us About Sentences!

Want to know what to do for your final project about sentence structure? Watch this and find out:

                                
 Post your final project on your blog with the same title and labels as this post.
                             
                                            Work hard, good luck, and have fun!

Final Project- What I've Learned About Grammar

OK, guys, it is time to show me what you've learned! To do this portion of the final project, you will need to go back to the writing sample that you all did at the start of the unit. You will then edit it, film the editing process, and explain the changes that you made and why.

In order to complete this project, you will need to do the following things:

1.) Look at your original writing sample and take a screen shot (apple + shift + 4) of it.

2.) COPY AND PASTE your writing into a new document ( DO NOT edit your writing in your blog post!) and edit it for the following things:

* Sentence Structure = Make sure all sentences have a subject, predicate, and complete thought. Fix   any sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

* Parts of speech = Make sure that all verb tenses are correct, that all subjects and verbs agree, and edit or add adjectives and adverbs to make your writing more interesting.

   *Important: You MUST make at least 10 changes to your writing!*

ALSO: As you make each change, you will use Sequence to record yourself making your changes. You can choose to do this with or without sound, as it can often be difficult to type and talk at the same time.

3.) Take a screen shot of your new, edited piece.

4.) Import your Sequence movie clips into iMovie and start a new project called "Editing For Grammar".

              Include:  An introduction scene
                             Your completed movie of editing your writing piece
                              An ending scene
* Important: If you did not record yourself talking to explain your changes in your Sequence movie, you MUST now record yourself on iMovie explaining your changes as you watch it. You must explain the changes you made, as well as WHY you made them.*

5.) Create a new blog post called, "What I've Learned About Grammar". Your post MUST include the following three things:

          1.) The screen shot of your original writing piece in your blog post.
          2.) The screen shot of your new, edited writing piece.
          3.) The iMovie that you made showing you editing your writing.

                                                          For a visual of this, look below:


Here is my original writing piece:

Here is my edited writing sample:

Here is my iMovie explaining my editing process:

Good luck, and PLEASE come and see me for help if you get stuck or are unsure of what to do.

Let's Make An Adverbs Movie!

Check out this sample movie that I made to help you explain our new adverbs project! I used a site called Dvolver to create this 3-scene movie.

And now you'll create one, too!

Students will pair up and write a script that teaches viewers about adverbs (what they are, what they modify, and some examples). They will then go to Dvolver and turn their script into a short movie, complete with voice over and music.  Not sure how to do this: Follow the steps below:

1.) Find your partner and write a 3-scene script about adverbs (what they are, what they do, and a few examples). Each scene can be 6 lines long. Please make your sentences somewhat short.

2.) Go to Dvolver and start making a movie. You do not need to sign up to create a movie.

3.) When you have finished your movie, you will need to EMAIL IT TO YOURSELF, then open it and use Sequence to take a screen shot video of it. Please come and ask me for help with this step if you don't know how to do this! (Note: Sequence is an application on your Mac)

4.) When your Sequence movie is completed, drag it into iMovie and do the following things:

A.) Record yourself and your partner speaking the lines in each scene.
B.) Choose music to put in the background (iLife sound effects)
C.) Put in transitions in between the scenes. If you can, edit out the scene transitions in the Dvolver movie.
D.) Record a video introduction with you and your partner explaining what adverbs are and what they do. Then, give an introduction to your movie (who are the characters? What are they doing? What are they going to teach us?).
E.) Send to iTunes

5.) Post your video in a blog post with the same title and labels as this post.

6.) Include in your post a WRITTEN reflection that includes the following information:

  - What did you do to make this movie?
  - What have you learned about adverbs?
  - How did making this movie help you to learn about adverbs?
  - Did you enjoy this project? Why or why not?
  - If you worked with a partner, do you think that you shared the work and responsibility well? Were  you a "good partner"? Explain this answer.

                             Good luck and have fun!

Reading Comprehension Acitivity- "An Earthquake Rocks New Zealand"