MBA

Who Am I?
MBA
Major Blog Assignment
Value: 10 marks!

One of the themes the Sec 1’s were to study this year is identity. Do you know who you are? Have the literature and the assignments you were given contributed to a better understanding of self? This assignment will attempt to answer that question.

Just as the example I gave in class of Capote peeling back the layers of the onion to reveal the characters of the two murderers “In Cold Blood,” I want you to discuss who you are—your character and what you believe in. The study of philosophy will contribute to an understanding of self as well, but until we have delved deeper into “The Little Prince,” students will have to use their analytical skills learned in poetry. How well can you transfer these skills to a study of self?

Your task is to find a song that represents who you are. You then must do an analysis of the lyrics showing how they reveal your character or an important aspect of who you are and what you believe in. For this part of the assignment, you will have to use all your poetry skills. And while the task is the same for each student, everyone’s response will be different because it will come from “self.”

After you have analyzed the song, you must respond to it. Please go back to your learning style and incorporate this into your response. By individualizing your responses according to your learning style, this is in fact another display of self or who you are.

You should use your imagination for this part of the MBA. If you are visual it could be a collage response, if you are musical it could be added verses to the lyrics, or a written response in poem form. Just be sure that your response reflects who you are!

Who is the best person to judge if you have been accurate in your assessment of self—your parents. Please have either your mother or father respond in a line or two (they are welcome to write more) judging if they think their son has captured who he is.

There will be another response, this time from a peer. The person listed numerically after each student will judge their peer’s work. Number 34 will read number 1’s MBA and respond. The criteria for judging will consist of:
1) Effort. Did the student make a concentrated effort to find a song that represented him?
2) Analysis. Was the analysis strong, accurate, insightful and did it reflect the writer’s personality?
3) Response. Was there a thoughtful response to the song that incorporated the student’s learning style and again reflected his personality?
4) Overall. Now combine all these factors and holistically give your peer a mark out of 10. Please write a minimum of a 100 word critique on your classmate’s MBA.

These are the criteria I will use to judge each assignment. I will take into account the written critique, the mark they gave to the classmate and how thoughtful and accurate their remarks were. I will also look at parental responses. This will form a major portion of your final blog mark. A final grade out of 10 will be assigned.

Timeframe: All students must have their assignment finished by Friday. Critiques should be done by Friday evening or Saturday at the latest. I will be reading blogs this weekend and assigning final grades.

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2005/apr/03/in_cold_blood_a_legacy_in_photos/

E-Learning--A Teacher's Perspective

Everybody keeps asking for student feedback and reflections on E-Learning. Hey, how about teacher feedback? Even though nobody asked, it's never stopped me from expressing an opinion.
I'll be right up front--I'm not a big E-Learning fan. Concepts that I could teach in minutes took entire lessons. My feedback was restricted to brief written responses that in many instances seemed inadequate. I wanted to discuss student writing, seek clarification, have them defend their answers, see peer responses, initiate real-time group discussions. That's why I entered the profession, to engage in real learning, not virtual learning. Oh yes, did I mention eye strain from staring at a video screen for up to eight hours? Many students did!
Okay, now that I've had my whine, I will admit this: I was impressed with student responses to online lessons. And I understand how important E-Learning is especially when pandemics surface, it's just that if I had my choice, I'd rather be part of the real classroom with live students!
In the meantime, get ready for more of the same. H1N1 is proliferating and all teachers are to start preparing for round 2 of E-Learning. Let the fun continue....

Slumdog Millionaire

Originally published as Q&A, Danny Boyle directed Slumdog Millionaire, and won the Best Picture oscar.
How did an Indian boy from the slums of Mumbai win one billion rupees on a gameshow? Thought to have cheated, the police decide to "interrogate" him. In the novel a female attorney rescues him before he can be tortured. In the movie he isn't as lucky.
The movie follows the novel structurally. The biggest difference is that Ram Mohammad Thomas' love interest is almost non-existent in the book but omnipresent in the movie. His flashbacks revealing how he serendipitously came to learn every answer growing up in India, differ radically from novel to screen: but both entertain equally!
Swarup even manages some thought-provoking questions. When Ram is treated to a night out by four affluent American college students, he debates the relationship between poverty and desire.
And I wonder what it feels like to have no desires left because you ... smothered them with money even before they are born. Is an existence without desire very desirable? And is the poverty of desire better than rank poverty itself?
After reading Slumdog Millionaire, you might be surprised how you answer that question.


http://class1a1.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

The Mercurial Tom

Serial novel #2.
This one is easy, but with a twist. We have our title. Students have to compose one 55 word Micro Fiction and incorporate the main character’s name “tom.” This can come in any guise! For example he could be named Tom, or incorporated in a word such as tomcat, tomfoolery, tomboy, found buried inside a word such as atom or atomic, or perhaps used as an acronym…”He belonged to the secret society Terrorists On Missions”or maybe it’s the first word from each line..








Forgotten
The boy didn’t know his name. Couldn’t remember a thing.
On the offchance, he approached a stranger.
Mystery shrouded the whole situation.
Perhaps he was worrying for nothing..
Probably a simple explanation.
“Of course I know you, Son. Your name’s Amnesia.
Or then again, is it Alzheimer? Come to think of it, I’m not sure myself.”
Deckard

Micro Fiction

Princess
Where does she go? The streets?
Out till all hours. Me pacing the floor. Midnight.
My beautiful baby, where are you? So young.
Finally a sound.
I open the back door. No restraint, my voice betrays me: “Where have you been?”
She looks down. Remains standing on the back carpet. Ashamed.
Her only response.
“Woof.”
Deckard







Infinity
The yearbook picture didn't do her justice.
She had infinite beauty: golden-blond hair; flawless skin; perfect teeth; statuesque.
Descended from royalty?
He sat with her in the IT lab.
The instructor said, "Right click on the screen."
He removed her scrawled handwriting with a Kleenex.
Infinite beauty, yes. Infinite intellect, no.
Deckard

Review: Village By the Sea

The dawn of a new repertoire company has emerged at Hwa Chong. This daring, and may I say eclectic group of Sec 1P4 boys transformed a simple classroom into a breathtaking landscape that made Slumdog Millionaire look like a child's production. The adaptation of Village By the Sea was at times daring yet sublime, extravagant yet subdued: this multi-faceted production captured the essence of the novel and brought it to the stage in ways that left this reviewer searching for words.
How a group of Sec 1 boys, or perhaps classically trained stage actors would be the more apt description, transformed a simple classroom into the slums of India and eventually the mean streets of Bombay still boggles the mind. The props were magical and this reviewer could taste the sea salt when the ocean storms struck and was transported to Bombay inhaling the heady mixture of cardoman, cinnamon and joss sticks.
Just as realistic was watching the lead not assume the role of Hari, but inhabit the role where at times it seemed the young man was actually speaking Tamil! Forget Pacino, Brando and DiCaprio, there's a new talent on the horizon and he deserves to be watched. Intently!
Vangelis, one of the most respected artists who scored such hits as BladeRunner, would have been moved by the musical score that pervaded the entire production and carried it at times from whimsical, to threatening, to hypnotic but never intrusively. Word on the street is that Andrew Lloyd Weber is interested in this brash, young talent.
Narration has often been the bane of stage and screen productions. Not this time. The narrator moved the story along effortlessly until he literally disappeared and audience members were engrossed in the cutting and incisive dialogue.
The three-camera filming that took place during the production can mean only one thing: there will be a screen adaptation. And with three cameras, it could be slated for Imax. Let me just say that after witnessing this production, I don't think a five-story screen will provide a large enough backdrop to encompass what these young men have accomplished.
Hats off, bravo, encore and just one word of warning--look out Slumdog Millionaire, there's a new academy award production worthy of Best Picture in 2010.

Temporary Blog for 1A1

1) Please read the short story by Somerset Maugham "The Verger." This is for Monday, May 18th.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6785439/The-Verger-W

2) Please define the following three words:

atheist

agnostic

devout
Quote: Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible. Stansislaw Lem

3) Next week, May 18 - 22 we will be studying micro fiction.

4) Now that you have a rough draft of "Animal Farm" chapters 6 - 10 on the topic of Napoleon's "rise" to power (2 main examples from each chapter), please write an introduction and conclusion to your essay. The full essay must be finished by Monday, May 25th. Finished and typed essays are due in 10 days!

Your essay's length is a maximum 400 words. Use the P.E.E. formula of Point/Evidence/Explain. Use the best two examples of Napoleon's tyranny from each chapter and very succinctly, construct your essay.

Confessions of a Chai Junkie

I was hooked the moment I tasted my first glass of chai--Indian sweet tea. Stall operators throughout India begin their morning by brewing the most intoxicating mixture of cardomom, fennel, anise, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to bring sleepy residents to life. Done properly, it's a pure assault on the senses with every taste bud rioting and saying thank you. I became so enamored with chai that I convinced my wife I had to buy a motorcycle. My excuse: to use it to get to work. The real reason: to expand my range in search of the perfect glass of chai.

And expand my range I did. No tea stall was safe in a city of 8.5 million inhabitants as my quest continued for the ultimate brew. I was relentless and left no chai seller untasted, but like most compulsives, that elusive perfect elixir was always in the next neighborhood or over the next hill.

It was through a pure serendipitous act that I happened upon my liquid nirvana. Pondicherry is a small French town two hours drive from Chennai. I needed a fix after my hectic two-wheeled journey when I happened upon the tea stall operator by chance. Instinctively I knew I was in for something special when I saw his throw. That's the distance he throws the finished chai from a full to an empty glass. This fusion process is critical to oxygenate and mix the spices. He held the full glass above his head and with a an uncanny ability tossed the complete contents into the bottom glass at his waist. Not a drop was spilled. When he handed me the finished product a perfectly-formed head sat atop the chai. I took one sip, wiped the foam from my upper lip, pulled out my notepad and wrote two words: Mission Accomplished.

My Reading Habits

My reading history is varied, to say the least. As I discussed in class, the first book that really inspired me and my reading was Ernest Thompson Seton's "Biography of a Grizzly." I was a P5 student at the time and for the next few years read animal stories almost exclusively.

As I matured, attended college, got married and entered the teaching profession, my reading habits changed. Before choosing my major at university I read literature, sociology and psychology. Reading the classics followed at college.

As I began my teaching career at the elementary level, I was interested in stimulating students to write and fostering creativity. When I moved to junior high school, I read hundreds of adolescent novels. After finally advancing to high school and teaching English, it allowed me to return to the classics.

I introduced the new journalism to my English classes. Capote and Wolfe both took factual events like the murder in Kansas of the Clutter family (In Cold Blood)and the space program in the United States (The Right Stuff) and wrote about them in fictional, novel format. New journalism is still taught in my school division.

My reading today is more eclectic than ever. I read in no particular order: sports books (depending on whether I am into golf, tennis, cycling, etc); novels made into movies; best sellers; mystery; travel; humor and ultimately anything that grabs my attention.

My motto: If you are reading for pleasure and you aren't enjoying the book, put it away. There's just too much good literature and too many great reading choices to struggle with something that isn't satisfying.

Want to see a few of the books I've read? Check out my electronic bookshelf at weread.com site.

http://weread.com/profile/Rodger/3AE114D7-C205-48E7-BCEA-0447E74B2A9A?refuid=3AE114D7-C205-48E7-BCEA-0447E74B2A9A&src=&auri=

Want to find out your learning style? Please go to http://tinyurl.com/32ge4g

Readers for Life

Dear Sec 1 Parents:

As some parents were not able to attend the Parents’ Symposium on January 16th and may not be aware, we are implementing our Readers for Life program with all the Sec 1 students at Hwa Chong Institution.

If you were at the presentation, then you already know that parents are the most important factor in determining whether their children are readers. The school would like to work with you to ensure the success of our reading program and the ultimate benefits gained from this lifetime pursuit.

As a parent, your role would be simple. We would look for your support in the area of discussing your reading habits as an adolescent, how your reading has changed over the years, favorite genres, authors or books you would like to share with your son. There will be a formal interview in which your son will be tasked with speaking to a parent and determining which book they read as an adolescent that either influenced them in life or perhaps still resonates with them today. If you really feel strongly about a certain title and would like to address the class, consider this an open invitation.

The other way you can show support is by taking a genuine interest in what your son is reading. As teachers we will provide modeling, books, various other reading materials, and motivation. All we ask is that you keep reading in the forefront at the home as well. This can also be accomplished by visiting your son’s blog in which he will link to weread.com. Take the time to browse his electronic bookshelf and engage him in his reading choices.

And finally, we are planning a mid-year book sale. Book ownership is a hallmark of this program and we would like the opportunity to renew and refresh reading materials. If you would like to donate books, expertise or a helping hand in the library, we would love your participation and I know it would mean a great deal to the students as well.

Thank you for participating in our Readers for Life program. Individually we can impact your sons’ reading; together, we hold the key to developing lifetime readers.

Yours truly,
Rodger Spelmer, Language Consultant
We are trying to establish parental involvement by listing some areas parents might want to volunteer in. If you would please check off an area of interest, it would be most helpful in our delegating of assistance.

1) The book sale______

2) A book talk or presentation______

3) Assisting with a book club______

4) Donating books to the book sale­­­______

5) I support the Readers for Life program but can’t make a commitment at this time_____


Signed:_________________________________________________________


Student name and number:______________________________________( )

REM...Rapid Eye Movement

The morning is black as I walk downhill from my condo to the bus stop. A group of itinerant workers, mainly Indian, have been sleeping on the sidewalk. They patiently await daylight to continue their painting of all condos within our development. I hear hushed voices, and see the flash of a match as morning cigarettes are lit. A thin plastic sheet is all that has separated them from their concrete mattress. Their situations are startling compared to mine: I sleep in a king-size bed made up of sheets with thread counts in the hundreds. I'm not sure what a thread count is, but my wife assures me their silk-like feel will guarantee nightly bliss. As I proceed, I replay my teaching duties that conspired to keep me awake: blogging, booking computer labs, peer editing, book checks, parental consent forms, sharing sessions and administrivia. I am about to cross the street and catch my bus when one final sound grabs my attention, a low, sepulchral laugh. One of the workers has lit a cigarette and I identify him by the glowing tip of his cigarette, a fine laser beam piercing the darkness. At that instant I am struck by the strangest question: I wonder who got the better night's sleep?