Blog Assignment 12-4-13: Victorian England Research

Now that you have done some research on Victorian England (the setting of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol") I would like you to publish your compare/contrast paragraph to your E/LA blog! You will have 2 paragraphs for this blog- set up as follows:

1st paragraph:
Because your blog post would seem random, use the first paragraph of your post to tell some of the following:

• We will be reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
• Class assignment= research the setting of the story (Victorian time England)
• A couple of informational facts that might help lead to the discussions in your paragraph
• State the "prompt" you were given to write about
• Tell the audience that the following paragraph are your thoughts:

2nd paragraph
Type up your paragraph.....Remember, the rough draft in your INB is just that- a ROUGH draft. Correct any mistakes that were made or grammatical/spelling problems. Also, make yourself sound intelligent. If you need to reword something, by all means, do that!

Best of luck young authors!
~Mrs. Martin....aka, best teacher ever! lol :) j/k

DIRECTIONS: "3 Careers I Am Interested In"

I really enjoyed reading some of your posts this past week on education around the world! I know you guys are only in 7th grade, but this week I want you to research 3 careers that you might enjoy pursuing after you graduate high school or college....So, on Upad Lite, take notes FOR EACH CAREER about the following things:
a. Research about the career: The different tasks you would be doing throughout the job
b. Does the career require any sort of education?
c. How much money you would make in that career?
d. WHY (specifically) would you be interested in that career choice?

This assignment is a 250 word minimum. Be sure to break up your careers into different paragraphs. DO NOT JUST LIST ANSWERS!!!! I want you to take your research and put your ideas into cohesive paragraphs :)

Can't wait till next Friday, the 22nd of November (due date), to read what you guys will write!

....this message will self destruct in 15 seconds.

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Just kidding.......but I always thought a career as a 007 agent would be pretty cool!

10-25-13 This week's BLOG assignment- SHOULD EDUCATION BE FREE???

Hope everyone is enjoying the Edgar Allan Poe Study we are doing in class! This week, I was going to have you Blog about something interesting you learned, but I have changed my mind after a conversation I had with Mrs. Wolfertz this morning. We were talking about educational systems around the world. She was reading some blogs from students in South Korea, Finland, France, etc and (even though in broken English) was surprised to read how the STUDENTS in these countries think the United Stated has a bad education system!...once again, STUDENTS from other countries are saying this- not the rulers, presidents and dictators! Many of them even said they think it is stupid that everyone HAS To go to school and that it should be a PRIVELEDGE for those who try hard and WANT to learn!

So here is you BLOG assignment for the week:

1.Go to the internet and do some research on different educational systems around the world. Some countries I would suggest would be-
-Finland
-Pakistan
-China
-Australia
-India
-Canada
-South Korea
-Russia
-Turkey
-Denmark
-Saudi Arabia
-any countries you would like to learn more about with their educational system.

2. Jot some notes down in Upad Lite. If you have not used this program yet, play around with it till you are able to take notes using it...there are various templates and I do not care which template you use. Some things to take notes on are:
a.. -Are teachers paid well in those countries? How much?
b. -Are teachers RESPECTED in those countries?
c. -is education FREE to all children?
d. -if it is not free, who gets to go to school? Who doesn't?
e. -Does the President/Dictator/Ruler of the country decide on what is taught in school? Or is it LOCAL government? OR does it vary from teacher to teacher?
f. -Do the people of the country VALUE their educational system? Is it appreciated?


3. Your BLOG topic is:

"Compare/Contrast the educational system in the United States with educational systems from other countries."

Refer to at least 3 other countries in your BLOG post. Your post should also be a minimum of 400 words. Use www.writersdrive.com to count your words!

Your first BLOG post

     Your first blog posting should be at least 100 words all about YOU!!! All Blog posts should be written using FORMAL language. This means paragraphs indented, capital letters at the beginning of sentences, and punctuation at the end of sentences.
     Blogging is new to most everyone in the class, so please do not come to me and say "I don't know how to do it!" The truth is, neither did I, but I took the time to play around with it and figure it out! There will be times in life where you have to do this. If it has not already happened to you, let this be a learning experience. There will not always be someone there to bail you out- sometimes, you just have to figure things out on your own, and it will take time.
     Therefore, get your GMAIL created according to the directions in my first blog. Then create your English Blog using the direction as well. Lastly, choose a template and write your first post. This is "do-able." You just have to WANT TO DO IT! My daddy always said "Where there is a will, there is a way." With that, I am passing down his wisdom!
     Happy Bloggin!
     Xoxo, Mrs. Martin

Create your BLOG!!!

DIRECTIONS to set up YOUR blog

Blog Site: http://www.blogger.com/home

Mrs. Martin’s site: http://mrsmartinsclassroomblog.blogspot.com/ (Contains weekly Directions)

1. CREATE a gMail to use:

• You will create a GMAIL email using this format: lmslastnamefirstinitial### 
• Your password should be: citrus####### <- "citrus" then your student ID
• ***For the email, you must set your birthday to 1990
• Your password for the GMAIL account should be your student ID number

2. CREATE your Blog site using the above GMAIL..... log in to the blogger.com site

• Your Blog Site username will be: Firstname Lastname
• Your Blog name should be Firstname Lastname's English Blog
• Your Blog site web address should be the SAME AS your username.

You may play around with the graphics....however,  DO NOT UPLOAD pictures to this site unless your teacher tells you to for an assignment!!!!

You may only play with the graphics that are available from the site.

Afterschool detention will be assigned for disobeying this rule!