Day 16

We continue to try and understand the inner workings of Lord of the Flies. Make sure you have read through chapter 6 by Friday. If you are doing Post Its, make sure they are completed on Friday as I will not give points for Post Its past Friday.

For this evening, ponder the following and answer the questions:

"When we take revenge against another, we lose some of our innocence."

PATRICE REDD VECCHIONE

What does the quote mean? Give me examples in your life or in world history where this may be true. What is the problem if we do not rally against this type of thinking?

Day 15

Thanks for your attention today with vocab and grammar. Make sure you study and are capable of using the words in a sentence. I will be in my room on Thursday after school for anyone who wants to go over skills for studying for vocab and grammar quizzes.

For this evening, we will look at current events. Again, make sure you pick an event that is not entertainment or sports based unless you can some how attach them to something relevant going on in our world. Give a brief explanation of the event and how it directly effect you, your community and your world.

You must Cite your source. NO CITE, NO POINTS and try and remember to do it in your original blog.

Day 14

Sorry I forgot to post the vocab last week. Obviously, we will be going over it tomorrow so you will all get the words then.

For today, I want you to pick any character in the novel but not the one you are using for your book project. As the character, I want you to give your assessment of the island and the adventure thus far. Talk about how the other characters are impacting you positively or negatively and whether or not you think you can make it until you are finally rescued or even if you are not rescued. What traits do you have that impact your last answer.

This may take more than 7 sentences to answer completely.

Day 13

Please respond to the following quote:

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.
--John D. MacDonald (1916-1986)

Day 12

The following quote was made in chapter 2:

"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'"
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 2

Please state who made the quote and to whom. Then discuss why the speaker felt the need for rules and for obeying rules. What is your opinion of this quote? Do we need rules? Why? Describe a world without rules and how you think you would function within this world.

Day 11

Today we read the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and discussed the concept of evil.

Explain in your opinion whether or not the society of the lottery was an evil society. Furthermore, discuss this concept of evil being born in you or thrust upon you. Pick an evil person real or fictional and discuss which of these is true for them and why. Finally, connect this idea of evil to the following quote:

"It is bitter to lose a friend to evil, before one loses him to death."
Mary Renault

Day 10

Good job with vocab and grammar today. Please, please study for both quizzes this week. Remember, there are many points assigned to these quizzes and you should not allow them to bring your grade down.

For this evening, we will look at current events. Again, make sure you pick an event that is not entertainment or sports based unless you can some how attach them to something relevant going on in our world. Give a brief explanation of the event and how it directly effect you, your community and your world.

You must Cite your source. NO CITE, NO POINTS

Day 9

Today we began reading Lord of the Flies which was written after World War 2. In this evenings blog, explain how writers are influenced by their times to write certain types of novels. Why is this important to history? Also, reflect on the following quote and tie it into the idea of historical based fiction:

"Society has always seemed to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice."
George Orwell

Day 8

Remember that your individual research is due on Tuesday. We will not have any more lab time for this portion of the assignment. Next weeks vocab is at the end of the blog.

You have discussed Hamarrabi's Code in World History and some have read it in my class as well. He talks quite a bit about the idea of consequences and really lives to a certain degree with the idea of an eye for an eye. Think about the idea of the death penalty. What are the pro's and con's of this idea in today's society as compared to back in the day? What is your personal opinion on the death penalty and why do you feel this way? Are you more like Hamarrabi or more liberal based on today's world?

Vocab words for next week:

1. alacrity
2. analogous
3. apathy
4. arbitrary
5. avatar
6. baneful
7. beguile
8. beleaguer
9. bolster
10. boreal

Day 7

Good job continuing to work on the project. Dont worry about a due date as of now.
Today will be the first of an occasional free blog. This is an opportunity to talk about anything that you want to talk about. Make sure that even though it is open ended, you must have a topic sentence and conclusion sentence.

Day 6

We continue to look at the idea of survival and what it takes not only to survive but then to begin again. Please relate the following quote to the idea of survival and how it connects to your life:

"Civility is not something that automatically happens. Civil societies come about because people want them to."
Jimmy Bise Jr

Day 5

Since we really did not have a discussion today, we are going to begin do our weekly current event. The way this works is that you find a topic that is current based on a newspaper, magazine or online news source. You need to explain your current event and then discuss how this event connects to you and your community. Last, you must cite your source from the current event. Events cannot be entertainment or sports related unless you can show how they have a true connection to the greater community.

Day 4

Imagine a local disaster where you have a choice between trying to help everyone survive at the risk of everyone dying in any case or saving yourself at the expense of the others. Talk about what the disaster might be and what you would do. Which rules or laws wouldn't matter as much any more? Or, conversely, which of them might be more important than ever? Would your views change under different circumstances? Give an example of a circumstance where this might be true.

Day 3

I hope your project is near completion. I was truly happy on the use of time in the lab over the last couple of days. Here are the words for next week:

1. abject
2. abscond
3. abstemious
4. abstinence
5. acquiesce
6. acrimonious
7. acumen
8. affectation
9. affluence
10. aficionado

Also, please respond tell me how you view your first week in school. Based on your first week, what are your goals for this school year. These goals do not have to be just academic but could be social or job related.

Have a great weekend.

Day 2

In relation to the song 100 Years think about the following quote and respond to what you think it means and how it relates to you:

"The question is not whether we will die, but how will we live."
Joan Borysenko

Day 1

Here we go. Today, we listened to Five for Fighting's 100 Years. Think about and re-read the words for the song. What is the message that the group is trying to get across in the song? How does this message impact your daily life both socially and academically? Based on this song, how do you create your goals for this coming school year and what are those goals?