Round 4 of Vocab

 Inexorable - Colloquial - Ingratiate - Egalitarian - Styme - Serendipity - Impetus - Banal 

Colloquial - "(I use 'talk to' here in its colloquial sense of 'type quickly to.')" (Shirky, 225-226)

Egalitarianism - "Charles Lindbergh couldn't bear to let anyone else answer his fan mail, promis­ ing himself he would get around to it eventually (which, of course, he never did). Egalitarianism is possible only in small social systems." (Shirky, 93)

 

AF: Slide Show Example

Here's the link to the slide show I created to show you how to do this project.

Round 3 of Vocabulary

           anomalous - conundrum - utilitarian - misnomer - vehement - tumult - jettison - repertoire


misnomer (Skirky, 83) 
"The catchall label for this material is "user-generated content."  That phrase, though, is something of a misnomer.  When you create a document on your computer, your document fits some generic version of the phrase, but that isn't really what user-generated content refers to."

vehement (Shirky. 112) 
"First, it became much easier to create initial versions of articles. The second effect, which they had not anticipated, was swift and vehement objection from their own advisory board." 

The Birthday Book Project

First of all, these are the groups and their chapter (assigned by random lottery).

The Birthday Book Project

Jan-Jun:  Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirkey

Jul-Dec:  Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson

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Objectives:

• Students will collaborate in groups to create a concise summary of an assigned chapter
• Students will use technology (Google Docs and Slides) to present knowledge and ideas
• Students will take notes in their notebooks when others are presenting
• Students will take responsibility for one aspect of the Slide Show, while working collaboratively on creating the content for the slides
• Groups will present their chapter orally to the class, taking care not to read slides to the class
• Students will reflect on their work and the work of the group in a one-pager

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The GOAL for this assignment is for the class to debrief the assigned summer reading; to demonstrate understanding of the assigned chapter; to build functional working relationships across social boundaries; to achieve mastery of Google Docs and Google Slides; to develop public speaking and presentation skills.  

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STEP ONE:

Logistics:  Create groups of four.  Chapters assigned by lottery.  Share email addresses, assign roles.

STEP TWO:

Each person will re-read assigned chapter to determine main ideas and their significance.  Each person will choose important quotes from the chapter for consideration by the group.  

STEP THREE:

Make an appointment to meet online.  The QC MANAGER will be the one to create the Google Doc, the Google Slide Show, and invite the rest of the group, including Fletcher.  Make sure that everyone has the power to edit the document.

STEP FOUR:

Everyone collaborates on a Google Doc with their ideas and submits quotes.  Although it is possible to track changes on a Google Doc, please take ownership and sign your work.

STEP FIVE:

Create the slides.  Once the Slide Show is complete, step into your assigned role to ensure that the slides are perfect and your presentation meets the requirements.

STEP SIX:  

Each group presents their chapter to the class on the assigned day. From there, each student has two days to submit their one-page reflection of the project and the work.

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DETAILS : the Slides

You are limited to using between 6-8 slides, total.  Slides are NOT intended to carry the content — that is the job of the speaker.  The slides merely focus the audience and illustrate the big, important ideas.  Slide Themes are assigned:  Here Comes Everybody will use “Modern Writer”; Where Good Ideas Come from will use “Tropic”.

Slide	Content	Format
1	Chapter title, with introductory, focusing text	Section title w/ description
2	Main ideas, ie., building the argument, setting the foundation, establishing background information	Title and body
3	Quotation from text to help focus the audience’s understanding (slide position can switch with 4)	Main point
4	Main ideas, ie., building the argument, providing important context, offering examples	Title and body
5	Main ideas, ie., building the argument, providing important context, offering examples	Title and body
6	Quotation from text to sum things up or to set up the next chapter	Main point

DETAILS:  Roles within Groups

Intelligence Czar	Responsible for keeping the presentation focused, accurate and concise - a Big Picture Person
Executive Editor	Responsible for making decisions about how best to use the information collected by the group - a Detail Person
QC Manager	Responsible for ensuring that formatting on slides is consistent; that the look is clean and open; images align with content - a Detail Person
Overseer of Significance	Responsible for the final selection of quotes; the quotes must work to help viewers grasp the content of the chapter - a Big Picture person

Assessment Information and Deadlines

Description	Grading Category	Due	Rubric Used
The shared Google Doc	Participation	Sept 19	Quality of work
The shared Slide Show	Participation	Sept 21 (??)	Quality of work
The notebook (notes)	Participation	Spot check	Quality of work
The oral presentation	Participation	TBD	Rubric TBD
The One-Page reflection	Performance - worth 50 points	2 days after presentation	9-point AP writing rubric

The One-Page Reflection:

This is typed, single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman with an MLA heading and one-inch margins.  I know you think I am kidding, but this must be exactly one page, so fill the page, but go no farther. Focus on those 1-inch margins.  Your finished work should look like a picture in a frame. This is a good exercise in paragraph development (yes! One-pagers should be organized into paragraphs!) and editing.  Pretend you are a journalist with 15-column inches to fill.  

The content of the one-pager should include a discussion of your group, what your role was, and how the project worked out overall.  Look at the objectives and the goals written at the beginning of this assignment sheet; to what degree do you think you met these objectives?  To what degree do you think your group met the goals?  Give your group a grade, and give yourself a grade:  A = Above and beyond; B = Basically fine; C = Could do better; D = Didn’t try; F = Forget about it.  Be sure to include reasons and examples to substantiate your grades.

SEPTEMBER:  

• Sept 13: Handout BB Project
• Sept 14: Groups established
• Sept 15: Chapter lottery
• Sept 19: Shared Google Doc; everyone connected
• Sept 20: Back to School Night
• Sept 21: Google Slides created
• Sept 23: Oral presentations 1 & 2

16 Elements of Style

I know some of us had to turn in notebooks Friday, so if you need to know the 16 Elements of Style in order to study they are:

1) Tone , 2) Attitude, 3) Diction, 4) Language, 5) Figurative Language, 6) Figures of Speech, 7) Detail, 8) Imagery, 9) Point of View, 10) Perspective, 11) Organization, 12) Narrative Structure, 13) Form,  14) Syntax, 15) Sentence Structure, and16) Phrasing. 

How to Decorate the Inside of your Portfolio

Upper Left:  Through words and pictures, show your major life influences. What people have influenced your life the most? What ideas do you find inspiring, compelling, influential? What music, books, quotes, organizations have shaped your life? How?

Upper Right:  Draw or find a picture of yourself that best represents you.  Beneath the picture, write a brief caption that explains its significance.

Bottom Left:  Write a paragraph about your hopes, your dreams, your goals, your desires.  These may be dreams for yourself, your family, your friends, your country or your world.  I'd appreciate it if you wrote seriously about this topic.

Bottom Right:  Make a list of five interesting or little known facts about you.  Be creative.  I want to learn things about you that I don't already know.

Prohibitions:  no glitter.  No feathers.  No cat hair.  Remember, your work will touch the inside of the folder, so be mindful.

Please remember to write your last name prominently on the tab.  :)  Due on Monday.

Why not get started on Round 2 of Vocab

The next eight words will be quizzed on Friday, September 16, and I will be checking for these 8 and your 8 that you choose yourself.

Learning new vocabulary in the context of your reading, and copying the sentences of professional writers while paying attention to how they are putting language together will help you develop and improve your own style.  The English language is an incredibly rich and varied language, so put your mind to work on acquiring and mastering the new vocabulary.  Don't let yourself slip into old bad habits of auto-pilot -- working without thinking.

intrinsic • ubiquitous • ossified • corollary • contentious • permeate • prosaic • aphorism

ADDED 9/11/16:  OK, who contributed these words?  I'll start you out, but those of you who know where to find these words, please post!

intrinsic (Johnson, 71)

But because those ideas were by definition successful ones, it's tempting to attribute their success to intrinsic causes: the sheer brilliance of the idea itself, or the sheer brilliance of the mind that came up with it.

ubiquitous (Shirkey, 13)

A few years ago Evan wouldn't have been able to get the story heard either. Before the Web became ubiquitous, he wouldn't have been able to attract an audience, much less one in the millions, and without the audience he would not have been able to get the police to change the complaint.

Fletcher Vocab FAQ

1.  How are we supposed to find the sentences when we didn't read both books? 

These words were selected by you kids.  I did not assign them.  YOU picked them.  So now, if a word you contributed is on that list, help us by posting the sentence where the word is featured.   Notice Alyssa's comment in the previous post, where she advises exactly where "tautological" could be found.  Except, I'd prefer it if you just went ahead and typed out the sentence, like I did.
Some of you seem a little lost, so I did the first three for you.   But you don't really think I should be doing the vocab words for you, do you? Kids, you need to step up.  We're a community.  Members of a community have responsibilities to one another.

2.  How do we fill in the little chart?  

The first eight words are extrinsic, tautology, jargon, ephemeral, innocuous, ramifications, meritocracy, and erstwhile; these will end up on the chart that we started in class.  But YOU create another chart, and choose eight more words that you selected to study this summer, but that didn't make the cut.  For example, when I was reading Here Comes Everybody, I selected the word "mete."  That didn't make it on our group list, so I'll include it on my personal list.

3.  When is the quiz?

The quiz is this Thursday.

4.  When are the vocab pages due?

The vocab pages are always due on the day of the quiz, so on this Thursday I will check your notebook for 16 words -- the eight "group" words, and the eight "personal" words.

Any more questions?  Pose them in the comments below.