Your Personal Bucket List

Hi Everyone!

  A "bucket list" is a term used to catalogue all the things you want to do before you die.  It first came in prominence in the 2007 movie of the same name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  I have seen "bucket list" apps, questionnaires on Facebook, emails, and greeting cards.  Like most people, I have somet things I most definitely plan to do before I die and some I think about, but can't be sure I'll ever accomplish.  Katrina Lester suggested that we do our own bucket lists for a blog and it seems like a good time to do it so, here are the requirements:

• Your list must be formatted like a list (note how these requirements are in list format?)
• Your list must contain at least fifteen things that anyone can accomplish in their lifetime
• Your list must contain at least ten things that would be difficult, but not impossible to accomplish
• Your list must be believable
• Your final item may be something that is entirely improbable, impossible, but you would still like to try
• Your list must be spell checked and grammar checked.  *I am no longer going easy on you if you can't be bothered to do this.  If you have misspellings or are still not capitalizing your name, the pronoun "I", and other items like that, you will not receive a passing grade for this blog.
• You must sign your blog.  If you don't, you will receive a grade of zero.

Have fun with this one!  It is due by 3PM on Friday, February 15.  I know we don't have school then, but it is still the deadline.

For your response to a peer, due by 3PM on Friday, February 22, please comment specifically on at least five items on a peer's bucket list.  Again, spelling, grammar, and signing your name can make or break you on this one.

Ms. Mott

Goal Setting... Again

Welcome back Everyone!

  We've had a little time off for writing and I know you're all busy with you projects for My Jim, so this is an easy blog this week that will hopefully get you on track to sail through the end of the school year.  By Friday, I want each of you to make a "To-Do List" that is a bit more meaningful than the one pictured above.  Please set three realistic, achievable goals for yourself for the second semester.  Along with each goal, I'd like you to provide at least two concrete steps you will take to achieve that goal.  I don't have a specific word count, what I'm looking for here is for your goals to be meaningful, well-written, and achievable.  For your final paragraph, please write how you will evaluate your success at the end of the school year.  I will do this assignment so you have a basic template to follow.

For next week's response to a peer, provide feedback to a peer about their plan.  A response like, "Great goals, Ms. Mott, I hope you can do it!" just won't cut it.  You have to either comment on the methods your peer has chosen to achieve their goal, the goal itself, maybe provide some other steps they can take to achieve it.  Make it meaningful.  Many of you are not happy with your first semester grades in English; a lot of that has to do with skipping, or submitting poorly written blogs.  I know you can all do a better job.

Good Luck!  Ms. Mott

New Blog for a New Year Due 1/11/13 by 3 PM

As the new year begins, it seems like a good time to consider the wisdom of one of the first teachers many of us, including me, had.  Dr. Seuss was a man who wrote his first book, And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street, at a time when children's books were seen as, "...antiseptic and boring" with the children in them, "...unnaturally clean".  Seuss had established a reputation for his writing and illustrations in advertising and in short articles in some magazines, but Mulberry Street set him up as a children's writer for the remainder of his career.  His first "big book deal" came from Houghton Mifflen and Random House publishers who gave him a contract to write a children's book that would introduce 220 vocabulary words that young children should know.  That led to, The Cat in the Hat, the very first Dr. Seuss book that I remember reading by myself and the first that my children read alone as well.

Okay.. history lesson over.  What I've included here for this blog is a list of eight "life lessons" learned from Dr. Seuss.  What you'll need to do for this week's blog is take one of the life lessons, read the interpretation of it provided, and then relate it in some way to your own life, your goals for the future (maybe relate it to a New Year's resolution, if you made one) and describe why this particular life lesson is meaningful to you.  I need at least 300 words for this one and you have to be careful with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and paragraphing.  As always, please be sure to sign your blog.  This is due Friday, January 11, 2013 no later than 3PM.  I won't even be looking at these until after the break, but anyone who wants to write it early should feel free to do so.

8 Must Read Success Lessons from Dr. Seuss:

1. Be Who You Are

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

If you can’t be yourself with your friends, then they’re not your friends, or at least they’re not very good ones.  The sign that someone is a good friend is how comfortable you are with them.  If you can be who you are, and say how you feel, then hang with those folks, they’ll surely keep it “real.”

2. Trouble Your Troubles

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

When troubles show up, you have to show up bigger.  Don’t let troubles trouble you; you trouble your troubles by showing up with a “big bat!”  But not literally….  You show up with a “big bat” by showing up with big courage, big faith, and big determination, if you do, you will trouble your troubles….

3. You Decide

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.  And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

How simple, yet how profound!  You decide where you go, only you.  You are only limited by your ability to believe in the impossible.

4. It’s Up To You

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

No one is going to rescue you, they’re not.  You have to dig yourself out of the ditch.  You have to care enough; you have to be motivated enough, to change things.  It’s up to you.

Things only change, when someone cares an awful lot.

5. Think

“You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.”

My greatest discoveries have come from sitting alone in a quiet room.  Dr. Suess said, “Think left, and think right, and think low, and think high. Oh, the things you can think up, if only you try!”  What can you think up?  Just try.

6. The More You Know

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn the more places you’ll go.”

Reading expands your mind to the possibilities; once your mind has been expanded it can never go back to its original shape.  Commit to expand your mind, commit to know more.  The more you know, the more places you will go!

7. Your Mountain Is Waiting

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.

So… get on your way.”

Everyday you’re presented with a mountain.  You can climb the mountain, or you can play in the valley.  If you climb more than you play, you will truly be on your way.

8. You Are You

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

No one can be you, youer than you!  That’s good news all by itself….

Good Luck!

  Ms. Mott

Your assignment for this week is an odd one; you are to read the following diatribe on the English language and come up with at least three other examples that could be added to it.  That means no repetition of anything that is posted before you get around to doing it.  If you read this and five classmates have responded, you can't use the same examples either from my post or from any of your classmates.  The good news is, your examples will be very short and sweet this week.  Making me laugh is always a good thing!

This one is due the 14th by 3PM and will be your last blog of the year.  No response to a peer is necessary for this one.  Good luck!

Ms. Mott

No wonder we all struggle so much with the English language. 

This took a lot of work to put together! 
 1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
 2) The farm was used to produce produce.

 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

 4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
 7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

 10) I did not object to the object.
 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

 13) They were too close to the door to close it.

 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

 18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..

 19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

 20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?    Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

 And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

 If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

 How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

 English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

 PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

 You lovers of the English language might enjoy this ..

 There's  a two-letter word that has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
 It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?  At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it  UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
 We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP  a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock  UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning.People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UPexcuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special. A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

 We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of  UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takesUP almost 1/4th of the page and can add  UP to about thirty definitions. If you areUP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will takeUP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP  with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearingUP.When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP .When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

 One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP,so........it is time to shut UP! 

The person I am going to talk about is one of the guys in my class. He is six foot and one inch, he has blue eyes light brown hair. He loves basketball, he is the number one player on the team, but is to scared to dunk it. He can make threes and jumpers like a boss. He misses layups from time to time. His favorite brand is Nike he always has something on with a Nike symbol. He also has an obsession with Dom Mazetti, in his spare time he is on youtube looking him up. Which leads me to the next thing about him he lives by the motto Y.O.L.O and hes about it everyday. In case you don't know what Y.O.L.O means it mean you only live once. I don't know how he lives by it but he says it at least once a day so he must be doing it. He also  likes the philosophy F.I.S.H. He has an older brother named Nate, they look a lot alike. He may live, eat, and breathe basketball but he also plays football and baseball.

Characterization - due November 30th at 3PM

Okay Gang, here we go.......

For this blog, you are to describe a classmate or teacher using both direct and indirect characterization. You should not name the person you are describing, and please don't hurt anyone's feelings! You should write a thorough description of this person; if you're not sure about direct/indirect characterization, please be sure to see one of us well before the due date and we will help you.  This blog should be at least 300 words long.

For your response to another's writing, guess who that person is describing and provide at least one additional character trait of that person in no fewer than 150 words.

Good Luck!
Ms. Mott

Your Choice, Within Reason

Hey Gang,
 
For this week's blog, I'd like you to each think about the music you like best.  Think about the style of music, an artist you like, consider whether it's the beat of the music you like most or the lyrics.  When you've settled on a favorite song, I'd like you to find a YouTube video of that song and post the link to it in  your blog response.  Posting a link is easy; click on the blue "Link" button on the toolbar, paste your link in the box, and click "done".

Once you have posted the link to your song, you need to write a MEANINGFUL paragraph about why you like this type of music the most.  This is the last blog of the marking period; I tried to make it an easy one for each of you.  There are a couple of rules you MUST follow or you are GUARANTEED to receive a ZERO for your post.. here they are:
   1.  Do NOT post a link to a video that depicts any group in hateful manner; I don't want to see any videos of abuse or videos that present abusive, hateful messages.  If that is your musical style of choice, I would recommend for this blog that you find a nice Broadway show tune that you can substitute instead.
  2.  While I don't like or use a lot of "foul" language myself, I do understand that there are tons of songs out there that are loaded with language that is considered inappropriate for school.  I don't mind a little bit, but please keep in mind the words that you KNOW will make me crazy.  If you have questions about a particular song or lyric, see me before you post.  I will remove objectionable videos and your grade will upset you.
  3. For your paragraph, please NAME the SONG and the ARTIST, tell us why you chose that song, and discuss either the song or genre in terms of your personal preferences.  If you have a personal story that goes along with your song and you're willing to share it, please do.  That makes it more interesting to read and more meaningful as well.  Sometime early next week, I'll do this blog myself so you'll have an idea of what I'm looking for if you're confused.

This one is due by 3:00 on November 9th.  Good luck and come see me early if you have any problems or questions!

Ms. Mott