WEEK TWO POST
First of all, excellent work, everyone who blogged for the first week. I’ve made a chart with the names of each one of you who has contacted me regarding summer work. Behind each name are ten spaces, one for each week. For those of you who responded and commented during Week One, there’s a score (and they were very good, btw). For those of you who didn’t, there’s a zero (yikes!). Remember, however, that you get two “passes”; I am only averaging your eight best scores. You might want to post all ten weeks so that you are ensured of a very good grade. You might want to use your passes if you vacation. It's up to you, but remember: combined with your summer reading project score, the final summer reading blogging score will be a significant percentage of your S1 grade. In fact, the blogging is ¾ of your entire summer reading score, with the project comprising the other fourth. So, contact me soon if you haven’t already, and contact me soon if you have any questions about the Week One Feedback.
Here is the remaining summer reading schedule: Week Two, June 30 to July 6; Week Three, July 7 to July 13; Week Four, July 14 to July 20; Week Five, July 21 to July 27; Week Six, July 28 to August 3; Week Seven, August 4 to August 10; Week Eight, August 11 to August 17; Week Nine, August 18 to August 24; and Week Ten August 25 to August 31.
During Weeks 2 & 3, I would still like you to focus your blog responses on Touching Spirit Bear. (I’ve set Week 4 as the time to start Huck Finn. ) During Week 2, I recommend that you read at least as far as up to Chapter 16, in Touching Spirit Bear which is through pp. 134 in my edition.
This week’s blog response (you will respond to this post) must contain a topic that you have researched and applied to the book, and then I would like your opinion on ONE of the two following topics:
(1) At the end of Chapter 15 of Touching Spirit Bear, Garvey says, “We still believe in you and think there’s hope…because of that, we’ve stuck our necks out so far, we feel like two giraffes. Last night we convinced the Circle to release you to our custody.” After everything Cole has done, would you, as a member of that circle, make the same decision? Why or why not? Support your answer with details from the story.
(2) One of the themes of Touching Spirit Bear is “Justice should heal, not punish” (12). Do you agree with this theme? Why or why not? How could or should this principle be applied in mid-Maine?
Happy Fourth of July!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Restorative (Circle) Justice-- please don't send your Week One Response to this post
Hey, Guys! If you're interested in the concept of Circle (more commonly known in today's parlance as) "Restorative" Justice in connection to Touching Spirit Bear and particularly in connection to today's world...go to the downloads page on my website and you can look at a Power Point presentation on the concept. Here's the link: http://msad48.me.k12us.com/evigue/DOWNLOADS%20Page
Sunday, June 24, 2007
First Post Due by June 29--Who WILL be first? Please don't send your Week One Response to this post.
Please post your first response (which should include one researched topic from Touching Spirit Bear) beneath my Friday, June 15, 2007 AT 1:03 PM post entitled Welcome to 2007 Summer Reading for Mrs. Vigue's Honors English 11 . I've heard from many of you (9 or 10 of you), but don't forget that I've also asked you to email me at evigue@msad48.org to let me know what your blogger name is combined with the requested information about yourself. Please use that opportunity to tell me a little about you, your interests AND about the sorts of things you like to read and write. It would be a nice time to ask me any questions you might have for me, and you could also tell me if you already know an American author you might like to spend your 11th grade year researching.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
URGENT (But, don't respond to this post)
FOLLOW THIS LINK TO MY WEBPAGE. When you get to my webpage, please click on the Downloads button on the left hand menu to see your blogging rubric and blogging instructions.
http://msad48.me.k12us.com/evigue
BE SURE to scroll past the rubric for final blogging instructions.
http://msad48.me.k12us.com/evigue
BE SURE to scroll past the rubric for final blogging instructions.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Hello! You're doing great! (but don't respond to this post)
Hi, guys! You're starting to send me your personal introductions and usernames, but make sure your chosen passwords work before you confirm them with me--otherwise, very nice! Thanks to those of you who already are introducing yourselves as I requested, and you've also raised some good questions. Here are some answers for the benefit of everyone involved: (1) for the first week--which technically does not start until the 22nd, let's try ONE post from Touching Spirit Bear on one researched topic (see my example), and please post at least TWICE in response to the posts of others in your class. (2) Please respond to my blog; use your google username from Grade 10 to sign into blogger if you wish. I am very much looking forward to working with you guys!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Welcome to 2007 Summer Reading for Mrs. Vigue's Honors English 11
Hello, and Welcome, Honors 11 Students to our Summer Reading Blog!
The first thing I would like you to do for me, is to send your blogger username to me at evigue@msad48.org. Please use that opportunity to tell me a little about you, your interests AND about the sorts of things you like to read and write. It would be a nice time to ask me any questions you might have for me, and you could also tell me if you already know an American author you might like to spend your 11th grade year researching. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our first book, Touching Spirit Bear, is meant to set the tone for the rest of the readings and for the year. Here’s how:
As you read the first two chapters of Touching Spirit Bear, I am going to ask you to take note of items, places or concepts that might be unfamiliar to you. Examples might be: Circle Justice; traumatic brain injury; Ketchikan, Alaska; the Tlinglit tribe; First Nation; birds of coastal Alaska; at.oow; typical policies for a juvenile detention center; a list of what one would need for a year long camping trip; Kermode (Spirit) Bears; totem poles; tips for dealing with rage
Choose two or three of these unfamiliar items and look them up.
Log onto our blog, share your information with the class, and, here’s the key…APPLY it to the book.
This will start to turn us into a community of readers who are pooling our knowledge to build greater understanding of the book and the world around us.
___________________________________________________________________
Here’s what a sample blog from you might look like:
I thought I would get us started by researching the at.oow. It’s obviously going to be an important symbol in the story. In our story, the at.oow given to Cole by Garvey is a blanket, but, apparently an at.oow is not always a blanket. One site I looked at run by Tlinglits from Sitka, Alsaka, defined the at.oow as “clan regalia… owned by the clan or house group.” Regalia means an item that shows your affiliations, such as costumes native to your ethnic group. It could also be a family crest, passed down through the years. I was wondering why the author chose to make this at.oow a blanket. Is it because blankets suggest warmth and comfort? I don’t think this particular at.oow is going to provide much of that for Cole in the pages to come, since he’s already tried to burn it, but that might change, if his attitude changes. Here’s what I found out about the importance of an at.oow to Tlinglit culture. The following picture is not labeled as an at.oow, but it is from a reliable source, and seems to be similar to what is described in the book: http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/croads/tlingit.html One site I looked at said that at.oow “can refer to land or sacred sites, celestial bodies such as the moon and sun, names, stories, songs, spirits and crests” (Worl). Own the moon? Wow! It then said, “The ownership of a clan's at.oow is validated through ceremonies most often referred to as "potlatches” (Worl). So, one way or the other, this gift from Garvey was more meaningful (to give away an heirloom so precious to his tribe) than Cole, or us, as readers might expect.) Another thing that I read about was that many at.oows were taken away by white people and placed in museums for their protection, but, today there is a movement to return these precious items to the people to whom they belong.
Works Cited:
Brady, Isabella. "Our Culture." Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi: A House for the People of Sitka. 2000.
Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center. 15 Jun 2000
.
Worl, Rosita. "Introduction to the Tlingit Culture and Repatriation." 1899-2001 Harriman Expedition
Retraced: A Century of Change. 2001. PBS. 15 Jun 2007
http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/worl.html.
The first thing I would like you to do for me, is to send your blogger username to me at evigue@msad48.org. Please use that opportunity to tell me a little about you, your interests AND about the sorts of things you like to read and write. It would be a nice time to ask me any questions you might have for me, and you could also tell me if you already know an American author you might like to spend your 11th grade year researching. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our first book, Touching Spirit Bear, is meant to set the tone for the rest of the readings and for the year. Here’s how:
As you read the first two chapters of Touching Spirit Bear, I am going to ask you to take note of items, places or concepts that might be unfamiliar to you. Examples might be: Circle Justice; traumatic brain injury; Ketchikan, Alaska; the Tlinglit tribe; First Nation; birds of coastal Alaska; at.oow; typical policies for a juvenile detention center; a list of what one would need for a year long camping trip; Kermode (Spirit) Bears; totem poles; tips for dealing with rage
Choose two or three of these unfamiliar items and look them up.
Log onto our blog, share your information with the class, and, here’s the key…APPLY it to the book.
This will start to turn us into a community of readers who are pooling our knowledge to build greater understanding of the book and the world around us.
___________________________________________________________________
Here’s what a sample blog from you might look like:
I thought I would get us started by researching the at.oow. It’s obviously going to be an important symbol in the story. In our story, the at.oow given to Cole by Garvey is a blanket, but, apparently an at.oow is not always a blanket. One site I looked at run by Tlinglits from Sitka, Alsaka, defined the at.oow as “clan regalia… owned by the clan or house group.” Regalia means an item that shows your affiliations, such as costumes native to your ethnic group. It could also be a family crest, passed down through the years. I was wondering why the author chose to make this at.oow a blanket. Is it because blankets suggest warmth and comfort? I don’t think this particular at.oow is going to provide much of that for Cole in the pages to come, since he’s already tried to burn it, but that might change, if his attitude changes. Here’s what I found out about the importance of an at.oow to Tlinglit culture. The following picture is not labeled as an at.oow, but it is from a reliable source, and seems to be similar to what is described in the book: http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/croads/tlingit.html One site I looked at said that at.oow “can refer to land or sacred sites, celestial bodies such as the moon and sun, names, stories, songs, spirits and crests” (Worl). Own the moon? Wow! It then said, “The ownership of a clan's at.oow is validated through ceremonies most often referred to as "potlatches” (Worl). So, one way or the other, this gift from Garvey was more meaningful (to give away an heirloom so precious to his tribe) than Cole, or us, as readers might expect.) Another thing that I read about was that many at.oows were taken away by white people and placed in museums for their protection, but, today there is a movement to return these precious items to the people to whom they belong.
Works Cited:
Brady, Isabella. "Our Culture." Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi: A House for the People of Sitka. 2000.
Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center. 15 Jun 2000
Worl, Rosita. "Introduction to the Tlingit Culture and Repatriation." 1899-2001 Harriman Expedition
Retraced: A Century of Change. 2001. PBS. 15 Jun 2007
http://www.pbs.org/harriman/explog/lectures/worl.html.
______________________________________________________________
Now, a relatively short lecture from me, Mrs. Vigue, (in my most serious tone) to you, my incoming class of Honors students. Did you see how I cited the at.oow information? A lot of people plagiarize “innocently.” No, wait, they don’t plagiarize innocently. Any time you write something that appears to be from you, but really is coming uncredited from another source, even if it’s your Mom, it’s plagiarism. Not kidding, there’s a way to cite an interview with your Mom in MLA format. When you do your research, you should just get in the habit of citing any and all sources you use, and, yes, if you haven’t already, you should get used to doing it in MLA format. I bet you’re thinking, “What’s wrong with just putting the URLs of the sites in there? Maybe she’ll ignore it if I alphabetize them.” Mmmm, well, what’s wrong with that is that for now and years to come, you’ll be writing papers that require you to use MLA format. Time for a famous teacher cliché, a cliché that should be delivered in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice (well, if I had one): Shut up, guys. You’ll thank me someday, guys. However, I’ll make it easy for you. I use a site called Son of Citation Machine. http://citationmachine.net/ Use it. It’s stronger than EasyBib, too, a site with which you may already be familiar. Who, us? Take the time to look at the website thoroughly and cough up as much of the required data as is available. Yes, I am prone to checking such things. Alright, lecture over. PS Look out for Wikipedia. It is NOT always reliable. However, it’s an okay place to start, and it can point you to stronger sites or at least give you an idea of some KEYWORDS you could put into Google.
Your first response, to the first two chapters of Touching Spirit Bear, will be due by June 29. I can’t WAIT to hear from you. Feel free to post sooner if you wish. I know at least one of you has already started the reading! I don’t THINK most of my blog posts will be this long, but I don’t PROMISE anything. Have fun!
Now, a relatively short lecture from me, Mrs. Vigue, (in my most serious tone) to you, my incoming class of Honors students. Did you see how I cited the at.oow information? A lot of people plagiarize “innocently.” No, wait, they don’t plagiarize innocently. Any time you write something that appears to be from you, but really is coming uncredited from another source, even if it’s your Mom, it’s plagiarism. Not kidding, there’s a way to cite an interview with your Mom in MLA format. When you do your research, you should just get in the habit of citing any and all sources you use, and, yes, if you haven’t already, you should get used to doing it in MLA format. I bet you’re thinking, “What’s wrong with just putting the URLs of the sites in there? Maybe she’ll ignore it if I alphabetize them.” Mmmm, well, what’s wrong with that is that for now and years to come, you’ll be writing papers that require you to use MLA format. Time for a famous teacher cliché, a cliché that should be delivered in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice (well, if I had one): Shut up, guys. You’ll thank me someday, guys. However, I’ll make it easy for you. I use a site called Son of Citation Machine. http://citationmachine.net/ Use it. It’s stronger than EasyBib, too, a site with which you may already be familiar. Who, us? Take the time to look at the website thoroughly and cough up as much of the required data as is available. Yes, I am prone to checking such things. Alright, lecture over. PS Look out for Wikipedia. It is NOT always reliable. However, it’s an okay place to start, and it can point you to stronger sites or at least give you an idea of some KEYWORDS you could put into Google.
Your first response, to the first two chapters of Touching Spirit Bear, will be due by June 29. I can’t WAIT to hear from you. Feel free to post sooner if you wish. I know at least one of you has already started the reading! I don’t THINK most of my blog posts will be this long, but I don’t PROMISE anything. Have fun!
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