Blog Posts Due Friday!

A friendly reminder HERE

Film Forum - Spellbound

Bloggingheads videos are due on Wednesday.  We'll be watching them in class.  Be sure to look here for details on how you'll be graded and what you need to do to submit your video to me.

In celebration of the conclusion of our spelling quizzes, we're going to watch Spellbound this week.  Choose any two of the following questions to answer. Post your completed answers on your blog by Friday.

1. Choose one subject (person). Describe how winning the spelling bee is important to that subject.
2. Do homonyms get you down?  Pick some that you commonly mix up, and come up with a creative way to remember how to tell them apart in the future.
3. Write down five words that you did not know how to spell until seeing them in Spellbound.
4. Do you have something in your life like the National Spelling Bee? Describe some of the pressure you feel.
5. Should we still have spelling bees? Why? Why not?

Bloggingheads - Day 2

Take a look at the blog post from Tuesday for more details on the steps you need to follow for your Bloggingheads recordings.  Also, bloggingheads.tv has plenty of arguments for you to watch and consider.

Before class on Monday, you need to upload your recorded argument to this Dropbox folder.  Your file name should contain your block number, title and both bloggers' names (example - block8_deathpenalty_ferrebee).

Lastly, you will be graded on the following criteria, so please be aware of what you need to accomplish if you want to earn an advanced score on this summative assignment:

Rhetorical Techniques (40%)
Speaker uses all rhetorical techniques at least once in a persuasive and effective way.  Evidence provided for ethos and logos is accurate and comes from a reliable source.  The presenter excels in using the following argumentative order ethos > logos > pathos.

Rhetorical Issue (30%)
Speakers argument maintains a single rhetorical issue throughout and uses it accurately (forensic, demonstrative, or deliberative).  The selected rhetorical issue fits the topic.

Register/Public Speaking (30%)
Speaker excels in using informal register throughout.
Conversation flows naturally and does not sound scripted.  Speaker speaks clearly and confidently.  Speaker uses good eye contact while speaking and listening.  He or she also allows silence instead of filler words (um, ehhh, ugghh, like) to distract the audience.  The listener maintains focus on the listener.

Let the Bloggingheads Arguments Begin!

Looking ahead to next week, you'll need to complete the steps below for your Bloggingheads Argument Project with your partner.

STEP 1: First, choose your topic and the mode of rhetoric (forensic, demonstrative, or deliberative) with your partner.
STEP 2: Using your mode of rhetoric, start preparing individually for the argument by developing your three points (ethos>logos>pathos)
STEP 3: Rehearse and record your conversation by sitting together in front of a webcam and recording your conversation or by trying the Bloggingheads method of recording a Skype call in split-screen using one of the following programs:
http://www.pamela.biz/en/ 
http://www.evaer.com/index.htm

We'll watch (and I'll grade your arguments) next Wednesday and Friday.

Next Tuesday...

Spelling/vocab quiz on "u" and "v" words and the following roots:

vac	empty	vacation, vacuum, vacuous, vacant
ven, vent	come, go	intervene, convene, contravene, event, convenient, adventure
vert	turn	introvert, irreversible, vertigo, vertex, vertical

Spelling/Vocab Quiz Friday

Look over your "t" words and the following vocabulary roots:

ten, tent	hold	tentative, tenable, tenuous
terr	earth	subterranean, terrain, terrestrial, disinter
theo	god, deity	theology, polytheism, atheist, monotheism

Google Doc Reflection Time

GO SEE DON JUAN THIS WED., THURS., OR FRI. AND EARN A READING BLOG PASS FOR A FUTURE HW ASSIGNMENT!  ON THE BACK OF YOUR TICKET STUB WRITE DOWN THE DATE OF THE PERFORMANCE YOU ATTENDED, SIGN IT, AND TURN IT IN TO ME.
_________________

For Wednesday, you need to write a two-paragraph reflection on the (+) and (-) found at the top of your rubric.  For each paragraph, use textual evidence from your op-ed.

__________________ AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR OP-ED GRADES

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING TASKS:

1. Write your reflection on your Google Doc (see description above).
2. If pathos, logos, or ethos were one of your (-) challenges, you need to demonstrate that you understand how to use these techniques in your Google Doc reflection by revising and typing new persuasive op-ed sections into your Doc.
3. If informal register was one of your (-) challenges, you need to rewrite one of your paragraphs in your Google Doc to demonstrate that you understand how to shift your register for different audiences.
4. Complete your revisions below your reflection and bring your essay to our opportunity period conference.

Sample revisions (to be typed in your Google Doc) –

Original Logos- Second hand smoke kills 50,000 Colombians each year.

Revision - Governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens.  50,000 Colombians died of lung cancer as a result of second hand smoking last year.  Therefore, the Colombian government has a responsibility to ban smoking in public places.     

Circled Issue – You where dead.

Revision – You were dead.