The Demise of Schoolsville

I'm sure that no one is following this blog anymore, right? If you are, you've noticed that I haven't posted all year. That's because I can do everything here and much, much, more at my school's "in house" site. I decided to post this in case any "one" person might have dropped by to say hello. So say "hello" if read this.

Seniors only Sept. 6: Posting Comments at Schoolsville (in class work 9-6)

Here are some simple directions on posting comments at Schoolsville: 

1. Go to the bottom of the blog post and click on the underscored words that indicate the number of comments (to the left of the mail envelope).

2. Type your comment (or copy and paste your comments from a Word document) in the box that reads "Leave your comment." 

3. Choose an identity by clicking the circle that reads "Name/URL." When you do, a box will open in which you'll leave your first name, a space, the first letter of your last name, followed by a space which will be followed by your section color. For instance I might leave the name "John F blue"(John Fiorelli, blue class) if I were a student in the blue section. 

4. Then click the box to "publish your comment." Your comment will not be immediately posted, but a message at the top of the page should say that "your comment has been saved." I moderate the comments, meaning that I'll check them for their appropriateness before I post them. 

NOTE 1:it's always good practice to compose your comments in a Word document that you can edit (before you copy and paste into the comment box) and then save your responses for printing at the end of the marking period. 

NOTE 2: comments for journal questions should run a minimum of 200 words. Other blog assignments will have different response requirements

NOTE 3: sometimes, you'll be given a blog post specifically for your section color, so you must post your comments there, still indicating your initials and section color.

Let's practice posting RIGHT NOW in class. 

This is NOT a journal assignment. Answer this question in a few sentences: What book (that you read in the last year) did you enjoy the most? Briefly explain why. 

Again, this is just a short practice assignment so that you'll be able to post journal and homework assignments correctly in the future.

Seniors Journal #1: The Common App Essay "Warmup" due Wednesday, Sept. 7

Many of you will have to write an essay as part of your college application process, and some of you, for sure, will have to submit an essay to the Common App organization. Regardless, all of these prompts can inspire effective personal essays that will help tell your "story" to a college admissions counselor. 

NOTE: Much of what follows comes directly from the Common App website

For the Common App, you must choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don’t feel obligated to do so (the Common App organization won’t accept a response shorter than 250 words).

For this blog response at Schoolsville, choose an option and write a response of 200-250 words or more as a "warmup" or first draft of the "real thing." This blog response "warm up" is due Wednesday, Sept. 7

Here are the 2016-2017 Common App Essay Prompts

1. 2016-2017 Essay Prompts
   1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

    2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

   3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

   4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

   5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

    Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. 

Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don’t feel obligated to do so. (The online application won’t accept a response shorter than 250 words.) Visit the archives to read what other students wrote in past years (August 2015, August 2014, August 2013, etc. )

Sophs Journal #1: Your Favorite Work of Art--post before Wednesday, Sept. 7

What is your favorite work of art. 

Please don't limit your definition of art, or your choice, to the "fine" arts, like painting. Please feel free to include the "pop" arts, like music, film, cartoons, or television. 

You might want to use this post as a "warm up" or pre-writing to the final essay that is due Tuesday, September 13. However, you may choose to write about something else for the final essay, too. 

Complete this blog/journal response before Wednesday September 7, so I can post all of your classmates' responses for you to read. 

Remember, in responding to blogs, you should first write your response in a Word document, save it, and then copy and paste it as a comment at Schoolsville. Eventually, I will collect all of your "blog/journal" responses at the end of each marking period as a graded assignment. 

Be more succinct here than you will be in your essay--write a MINIMUM of 200 words (your final essay should be 3-4 typed pages). 

At Schoolsville, you probably want to respond to these questions: 

1. What is your favorite work of art? 

2. Give a brief description or overview of this work.  

3. Why is this work your favorite? How does it make you "think" (appeal to your intellect) and/or "feel" (appeal to your emotions)? Briefly and specifically explain your answers.

To get an idea of how to respond properly to this blog, you may check out the archives for August 2014 and August 2015 and read some of the responses to this blog entry made by the Classes of 2017 and 2018. 

The image that you're viewing is of Jamie Wyeth's Portrait of a Pig( often on display at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA), one of my personal favorite "works of art." I'll tell you a little about my choice in class some day soon. 

Sophs & Seniors: Posting Comments at Schoolsville

Here are some simple directions on posting comments at Schoolsville: 

1. Go to the bottom of the blog post and click on the underscored words that indicate the number of comments (to the left of the mail envelope).

2. Type your comment (or copy and paste your comments from a Word document) in the box that reads "Leave your comment." 

3. Choose an identity by clicking the circle that reads "Name/URL." When you do, a box will open in which you'll leave your first name, a space, the first letter of your last name, followed by a space which will be followed by your section color. For instance I might leave the name "John F blue"(John Fiorelli, blue class) if I were a student in the blue section. 

4. Then click the box to "publish your comment." Your comment will not be immediately posted, but a message at the top of the page should say that "your comment has been saved." I moderate the comments, meaning that I'll check them for their appropriateness before I post them. 

NOTE 1:it's always good practice to compose your comments in a Word document that you can edit (before you copy and paste into the comment box) and then save your responses for printing at the end of the marking period. 

NOTE 2: comments for journal questions should run a minimum of 200 words. Other blog assignments will have different response requirements

NOTE 3: sometimes, you'll be given a blog post specifically for your section color, so you must post your comments there, still indicating your initials and section color.

Let's practice posting RIGHT NOW in class. 

This is NOT a journal assignment. Answer this question in a few sentences What book (that you read in the last year) did you enjoy the most? Briefly explain why. 

Again, this is just a short practice assignment so that you'll be able to post journal and homework assignments correctly in the future.

SOPHS: The Powerful Play Goes On and You May Contribute a Verse (due Friday, May 27)

“That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse ….”

Walt Whitman offered this as a reason why YOU are important to this world, even midst the foolish and the faithless [people]. 

So tell me what “verse” you will contribute to the world, in four to eight sentences OR lines of verse (you DON"T have to rhyme). I suggest that you write in FIRST PERSON. For inspiration, look at the the April 2015 archives to see what last year's tenth graders wrote. But why bother? Be original!

Do not include your name in YOUR VERSE (but of course, indicate who you are, as always, when you post your comment). 

SOPHS: Mark Twain homework due Friday, May 20

Follow this link to read "The Story of the Bad Little Boy," a Mark Twain parody of a Sunday school story.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Sunday School stories were moral tales written for the little boys and girls who learned the difference between right and wrong at their local churches in Sunday School.

These stories always ended with a good dose of poetic justice. The good boys and girls were rewarded; the not-so-good boys and girls were summarily punished, learned the error of their ways, and turned out to be model boys and girls themselves.

Mark Twain pokes fun at these stories in "The Story of the Bad Little Boy."

Assignment

Read the story and then answer these questions in your notebook/IPad. NO NEED to post. 

1. "The Story of the Bad Little Boy" is a parody of the stories in Sunday School books. Define a parody.  

2. What details contribute to the humor of "The Story of the Bad Little Boy"? List at least four. 

3. What storytelling "tricks" does Twain use to make the story entertaining, if not humorous? By tricks, I specifically mean his rhetoric (clever words and phrases, figures of speech, sound devices, or rhetorical structures). List at least four. 

4. How does the penultimate (better look up this word) paragraph contribute to the sarcasm of the story? 

5. For what serious reason did Twain write this story? 

SENIORS (Your final blog): Dead Poet's Society Testament

This is your last writing assignment. Post OR turn in a paper copy (if you would rather not have your response posted for others to read) before Thursday, May 19. This assignment is worth 15 points. 

Each of the prompts requires at least 250 words of response. All of the prompts are inspired by The Dead Poets Society movie.

I am looking forward to reading the last words of wisdom that you'll impart at Schoolsville.
     
I cannot grade you on your opinion. You will be graded on your clarity of expression and your ability to support your opinion using specific ideas and examples. Better yet, refer to some of our readings this semester to defend or support your opinion.

Choose any ONE lower case "letter" to respond to. NOT one in each part. Just any ONE letter.

Part 1 People Can Change (minimum of 250 words)

a. Give me an example of how your opinion about something or someone changed as a result of changing YOUR point of view.
b. For you, what's the most "different" school or extra-curricular activity in which you've participated during your high school career, one that you would have never imagined yourself doing in a few years ago?
c. What person in the Class of 2016 has undergone the most positive change during his or her four years at St. Mark's? You need NOT mention a name.

Part 2 Institutions Can Change (minimum of 250 words)
d. What pages from what text that you had in high school what you like to rip out?
e. What's the most different, yet most powerful/significant high school class (period, activity, etc.) in which you took part?
f. What one thing would you change about St. Mark's to improve the school that would not change the basic educational and philosophical fabric of the school (e.g. in Welton, Charly wanted to admit girls)?
g. How can St. Mark's best discipline its students in order to promote proper behavior?

Part 3 "These are the things we stay alive for " (minimum of 250 words)
h. Words ARE important. What are the nicest words that someone ever said to you? Explain. Please, be able to quote, at least partially, these words.
i. What are the last words to live by that you wrote to yourself in a journal or otherwise?
j. How does your favorite song, band, singer etc. affect you (emotionally or rationally or both) in an important way?