Digital Portfolio: English (CORE)This is where I will place all of my online produced content for English class. I have English 2nd Period. Many of my friends are in my Core class.
As of late May 2013, we are done with our SVG packets, but we continue working in English. Right now, we are creating a board game project that ties in what we learned in both History and English this year. I have to use my knowledge of pronouns, conjunctions, and interjections for this project. |
Projects
"The Fall of Rome"
Click to enlarge image
The objective of this project was to retell and explain, in a narrative poem form, how exactly the Roman Empire fell. It wrapped up our unit on ancient Rome. It was formatted as free-write narrative poetry. It had to be between 8 and 10 lines and had to use either rhyme or refrain. I chose to rhyme my entire poem. This was one of the first projects we did in English using both Google Docs and Microsoft Word. The picture on the left is my rough draft; the printed final has a border and clipart.
I think incorporating different styles of storytelling such as poetry to learn information is an effective teaching method as opposed to being told to absorb information from a textbook. The rhymes would stick in our head and it was sequenced so that we could remember what order the important events in Rome's fall were.
One of the most fun things about this project was that it wasn't only an English assignment. It tied in with History, too. I like this about Core class; we can focus equally on both subjects at the same time.
As I stated before, we used Google Docs and Microsoft Word to complete this assignment. We learned how to properly format Google and Microsoft Word documents so that they met certain Computech standards. In our final drafts, we put in clipart and boarders to make the project more showy. Honestly, I think it was a great way to begin a technology-centered year.
I think incorporating different styles of storytelling such as poetry to learn information is an effective teaching method as opposed to being told to absorb information from a textbook. The rhymes would stick in our head and it was sequenced so that we could remember what order the important events in Rome's fall were.
One of the most fun things about this project was that it wasn't only an English assignment. It tied in with History, too. I like this about Core class; we can focus equally on both subjects at the same time.
As I stated before, we used Google Docs and Microsoft Word to complete this assignment. We learned how to properly format Google and Microsoft Word documents so that they met certain Computech standards. In our final drafts, we put in clipart and boarders to make the project more showy. Honestly, I think it was a great way to begin a technology-centered year.
The Big Wave Haiku Illustration
Click to enlarge
The objective of this project was to explain in detail the plot flow and climax of a short novel we were reading in Core. The novel was called The Big Wave and the author's name is Pearl S. Buck. We read this book just in time to finish up our History unit on Japan. The story is about two boys living near a beach in Japan a few hundred years ago. We had to plot out important action and climaxes in the story through haikus and illustrations that went along with them as well as write a paragraph about the central theme in the story.
The use of haiku tied very cleverly into the story's Japanese setting and our focus on Japan in that class at the time. This project was cross-curricular, meaning that it was completed or used for more than one class. We read The Big Wave and wrote our haikus and theme paragraphs in Core class but the actual circular flow chart was completed in Computers class. It taught us how Google Drawing works and we became more familiar with it through this project.
As I mentioned above, the assignment was particularly valuable for cross-curricular connections between Computers and Core, but this was also another combination of English and History. The book was about Japan and the Japanese people as well as their lifestyles, but we wrote poetry as well as a long theme paragraph for it. It counted for grades in both subjects if I'm correct and we were also scored in Computers for our chart. This was a nice way to tie the Core standards together with the ones for Computers.
This was the first time we used Google Drawing for any project. We watched videos and took notes beforehand but it was a bit confusing to use it hands-on at first. The way we used elements and being able to manipulate text and images reminded me of when we were learning about Microsoft PowerPoint and Publisher. I used some of my previous knowledge about graphic-creating programs to learn how to use Google Drawing fluidly.
The use of haiku tied very cleverly into the story's Japanese setting and our focus on Japan in that class at the time. This project was cross-curricular, meaning that it was completed or used for more than one class. We read The Big Wave and wrote our haikus and theme paragraphs in Core class but the actual circular flow chart was completed in Computers class. It taught us how Google Drawing works and we became more familiar with it through this project.
As I mentioned above, the assignment was particularly valuable for cross-curricular connections between Computers and Core, but this was also another combination of English and History. The book was about Japan and the Japanese people as well as their lifestyles, but we wrote poetry as well as a long theme paragraph for it. It counted for grades in both subjects if I'm correct and we were also scored in Computers for our chart. This was a nice way to tie the Core standards together with the ones for Computers.
This was the first time we used Google Drawing for any project. We watched videos and took notes beforehand but it was a bit confusing to use it hands-on at first. The way we used elements and being able to manipulate text and images reminded me of when we were learning about Microsoft PowerPoint and Publisher. I used some of my previous knowledge about graphic-creating programs to learn how to use Google Drawing fluidly.
Crispin Project
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In the third quarter in my Core class, we decided to read a book to tie in with our History unit on the Middle Ages. The book was written by Avi and is called Crispin: the Cross of Lead. The book tells the story of a peasant boy who lives in fourteenth-century feudal England. He has lived in a village with his mother for all of his life. When he's thirteen, his mother suddenly dies, and his world is turned upside down. Along the road, the boy discovers a lot of things about the world and even himself. The book took us more than a month to finish! Once we were done with it, we had an assignment -- to create a two-part project that reflected our understanding of a certain element of the novel. We were to create a visual part and a written part. My project was a poster that demonstrated the protagonist's evolution throughout the novel, and his transformation from a poor, nameless little boy to someone with a purpose.
I ended up getting 100% on this project using a self-assessment sheet as well as having it graded by my Core teacher. My poster was modeled off of an evolutionary demonstrative poster, which are usually used to show our species' transformation from small, monkey-like primates to man. However, I used the template to demonstrate the main character's gradual changes in appearance and emotions. I also included little blurbs of information. I think the self-assessment helped a lot with making my grade so high. I like having experience with them, and I hope we can use self-assessing rubrics in the future.
Believe it or not, I used elements of other classes besides Core in creating my poster! Namely, Computers and Science are the ones I borrowed from. In Science this year, we learned about evolution and used diagrams like the one I modeled my Crispin project after. The self-assessment rubric portion called back to my Computers class, where we have used rubrics like the one I graded myself with in this for scoring projects in the past. Unlike in Computers, however, I didn't get peer feedback for my project. My student interaction was not part of my final grade for this.
I created the poster's text section in Google Docs. Another thing that rang Computers bells for me about this project was that. I would have definitely gotten a lower score on this if I'd still used Google Docs if it were not for the lessons we learned about it at the beginning of the year. In that way, Computers class helped my grade for the Crispin final project in more ways than one would immediately see!
I ended up getting 100% on this project using a self-assessment sheet as well as having it graded by my Core teacher. My poster was modeled off of an evolutionary demonstrative poster, which are usually used to show our species' transformation from small, monkey-like primates to man. However, I used the template to demonstrate the main character's gradual changes in appearance and emotions. I also included little blurbs of information. I think the self-assessment helped a lot with making my grade so high. I like having experience with them, and I hope we can use self-assessing rubrics in the future.
Believe it or not, I used elements of other classes besides Core in creating my poster! Namely, Computers and Science are the ones I borrowed from. In Science this year, we learned about evolution and used diagrams like the one I modeled my Crispin project after. The self-assessment rubric portion called back to my Computers class, where we have used rubrics like the one I graded myself with in this for scoring projects in the past. Unlike in Computers, however, I didn't get peer feedback for my project. My student interaction was not part of my final grade for this.
I created the poster's text section in Google Docs. Another thing that rang Computers bells for me about this project was that. I would have definitely gotten a lower score on this if I'd still used Google Docs if it were not for the lessons we learned about it at the beginning of the year. In that way, Computers class helped my grade for the Crispin final project in more ways than one would immediately see!
Book Blogging
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All year long in English class, we've been keeping track of what books we read through a lot of ways. These include Reading Counts quizzes, reading logs, and what I'm explaining here - book blogging! Our book blogs are not projects and they are not actual blogs, per se, but rather continuous logs of what material we are reading and investing ourselves in. On Tuesday and Thursday of just about every week we're at school, we write in our own documents about the plot and development of whatever book we're reading.
We book blog, I think, to help us score higher on our Reading Counts quizzes. This is also why we write summaries in our reading logs. So far, doing this has helped me a lot. A good strategy for achieving a high score on a Reading Counts quiz for any given book would be to refer back to your book blog and read your entries.
Something that the book blog reminds me of is our actual blogs in Computers. It's sort of like one of our daily blog entries combined with certain aspects of a book report. It's also sort of like a diary, only it's academic, if you know what I mean.
For my book blogs, I use Google Docs, which is also something I picked up in Computers class. I like that it automatically saves our work and has a lot of cool features like Microsoft Word and Weebly do. It has helped me learn how to use Google Docs and Google Drive through the year in addition to what I have learned and am learning in Computers.
We book blog, I think, to help us score higher on our Reading Counts quizzes. This is also why we write summaries in our reading logs. So far, doing this has helped me a lot. A good strategy for achieving a high score on a Reading Counts quiz for any given book would be to refer back to your book blog and read your entries.
Something that the book blog reminds me of is our actual blogs in Computers. It's sort of like one of our daily blog entries combined with certain aspects of a book report. It's also sort of like a diary, only it's academic, if you know what I mean.
For my book blogs, I use Google Docs, which is also something I picked up in Computers class. I like that it automatically saves our work and has a lot of cool features like Microsoft Word and Weebly do. It has helped me learn how to use Google Docs and Google Drive through the year in addition to what I have learned and am learning in Computers.