Blogging

I'm sorry some of you have had troubles setting up a blog and keeping up with the blogging assignments. Obviously, if you are having troubles, you're probably not going to read this blog, but...I have certainly enjoyed reading your blogs. A much more enjoyable way to grade and respond to reading journals. If you haven't started following any of your classmates, try it! You need two more comments!

Spell-Check

There is a wonderful spell-check tool in the tool bar at the top of the writer. USE it!! And pay attention to subject-verb agreement. In writing, it is never ok to say, "I seen..." That's my grammar mini-lesson/rant for today. You'll get more of that in bell ringers to come. I know you're super excited about it! ha.

Video post

Shelby Dilmore has a video bar on a special post she created for The Piano Lesson...a fun clip from the 1995 film. Watch it!

A Separate Peace first three chapters

I'm loving reading your blogs! I will never go back to pen-and-paper reading logs!

So here's my favorite part of chapter one: "So the more things remain the same, the more they change after all--plus c'est la meme chose, plus ca change. Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even death by violence. Changed, I headed back through the mud. I was drenched; anybody could see it was time to come in out of the rain." I think these sentences set up the theme for the whole book.

Chapter three ends on Gene's life-long regret, maybe. The fact that he didn't return Phineas's sentiment--he didn't say, "Yeah, you're my best friend, too." I like that last sentence: "Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth." I'm not sure if he's saying that what he felt for Finny was stronger than friendship--a brotherhood of sorts. But that's what if feels like.

The Slacker Kid

Okay, so my blog is going to have nothing to do with A Separate Peace right now. My blog is a bit of a grievance I have with a certain type of student. The Slacker Kid. The one who really is a good kid that I would probably really like if I got to know him/her, but he/she is so busy being lazy in the back of the class that my first impression is rather soured. The kid who turns in his/her essay, bell work, blog, etc. two to three days maybe weeks after it's due. You know who you are. So here's a little analogy as to why I don't like your lazy behavior: when you turn in that late piece for me to grade, it's like when you throw a dirty fork in the sink right after your mom finished washing the last dish from tonight's supper. It's like when she's finally finished folding last week's laundry, only to discover this week's load is an insurmountable hill. DON'T TURN IN WORK LATE!!!

Welcome to blogging

Hello, freshmen! I hope you gain valuable experience in posting your reading responses via a weblog. Good luck, and happy blogging!