Mrs. Casement's Blog

      Welcome to our Portfolio Exhibit.  Please read our blogs.  You will enjoy the students’ ideas.

    Please contribute to our blog.  We would love to read your comments.

     Sign your blog with your initials or your first name and last initial. The email is fakeemail@fakeemail.com 

     THANK YOU!!     Have a wonderful summer.

     You will be SOPHOMORES in two weeks.  Congratulations!

     Your blogs have been wonderful all year.  Great thinking! THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO blogs made me reflect on the novel in new ways. Your PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THE WORLD blogs were insightful.  Remember the lessons we learned from these people as you continue your journey.  These ideas will help you meet your goals.  Be tenacious.  Be courageous.  Be creative.  You will be successful.

     Bonus Blog

     Write to the incoming Minerva Deland eighth graders.  Tell them three things they need to know to be successful Freshmen.  Tell them three things they need to know to be a successful English students.  Tell them one thing you wish you knew before you started at MD.

     Write to me.  Tell me three things you enjoyed about English class this year.  Tell me two things that could be improved for next year.  State your favorite unit and one reason why it was your favorite.  Tell one thing you learned that will help you in years to come.

     Good luck at FHS.  I will miss you next year.  Come visit if you are at MD.   Have a terrific summer.  Read a book.  Enjoy English 10.

     Remember to sign your blog with your first name and last initial and period number.  e-mail is fakeemail@fakeemail.com

     Alexander Dumas’ THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO is considered a classic. 

• Analyze why you think it deserves the classic label? 
• Share three life lessons you learned from reading this novel. 
• Explain three things you enjoyed about the novel and one thing you disliked.
• What did the novel make you think about that you had not considered previously?
• According to Dumas what makes life worth living?  Do you agree?

     Be thorough.  Your writing should reflect your year’s learning.  This blog post is 200 points.  It is due June 4

     I enjoyed reading THE COUNT with you.  Now, I look forward to reading your responses!

     Congratulations!  Expert projects!  Professional speeches! 

     All classes -

     Your work on the unit was impressive.  The projects were interesting to read and your speeches were informative. 

     Now, let’s reflect on the unit of study we have experienced.  Please think and synthesize your learning with the learning of your classmates.

• What advice would the person you studied give to you today?
• Did you like/enjoy/admire the person you studied?  Share your ideas.
• Besides your person, whom did you find of interest?  Explain your reasons.
• Were  the qualities of the person you studied the same qualities of the people others presented in class?  What were the similar qualities?  Any unique qualities?  How does one acquire these qualities? 
• From the People Who Changed the World presented in your class, what common characteristics surprised you?  Why do these characteristics build people who change the world?
• Have you noted “Words Are Powerful” in your reading or listening about these people?  Give specifics and your reflections.
• What is the one element you believe is necessary to be a “World Changer”?
• Synthesize your learning!  Decide what is the overall knowledge you take away from the unit and then share it with us.

     I learned you have grown and become high school students.  You are all better students in February than you were in September.  Think about how you will continue to become educated people who will create a better world for youselves and others.  It’s EXCITING!!! 

     Remember to sign your blog with your first name, last initial and period number.  The email is fakeemail@fakeemail.com.  (I will remember to look in spam this time!)

     This blog is long and will be 200 points.  It is due on or before Monday,March l.  

     Thank you — I enjoyed the unit too.  Mrs. Casement

All Classes,

     Happy New Year – 2010!  I hope you had a wonderful break.  

      Now we will begin our new year’s work

Let’s synthesize our learning.

      Before Thanksgiving we read GREAT EXPECTATIONS.  What is one life lesson Dickens showed in his novel that could apply to  Emmanuel, the subject of  the documentary EMMANUEL’S GIFT? 

     What is one life lesson we learned from Emmanuel’s life as shown in the documentary?  State one thing that surprised you about Emmanuel or life in his country, Ghana.  Many people live with disabilities.  What was Emmanuel’s message about the disabled?  What is his message about changing our world?

     You are reading a book about a Person Who Changed the World.  Who is your person?  What has  surprised you about this person?  What is similar about your person and Emmanuel?  What are the person’s “great expectations”?

     Remember to sign your entry with your first name, last initial and period number. 

ie:  SusanC 3,4,6,7,9 

     This entry is due Monday, January 11 and is 100 points.

      Welcome Class of 2013! Mrs. Casement’s Freshmen English classes will communicate on this blog site. A blog is a personal online journal that is intended for others to read.  This online journal will show the reflections and comments of the writers (bloggers).  We will have an exciting online discussion of our literature and all the elements of our classes. In fact, we will be a “community of learners” as we explore our theme that Words Are Powerful.

     Readers and writers, please be respectful of each other. Bloggers, remember to use school appropriate language at all times. You have wonderful ideas. Please communicate using the standards of good English.

     Internet saftey is a real concern for all users. Therefore, all students will sign their blogs with their first name, last initial and period number. For example Susan C9 would be appropriate.

     Enjoy our blogs for English 9!

     Blog One

      As you think about your future, what life lesson did John Steinbeck show you?  Name two other life lessons the novella conveyed. 

     Do you remember any powerful words that Steinbeck used? Please share those with us.

     We will continue our reading with another character who is unhappy and depressed because he wants extreme wealth and a character who has extreme wealth but is unhappy and depressed.  Can you project what will happen?  Can you think of a movie or another book that had two similar characters?  What happened in those stories?  Do you think Steinbeck has a theme that could be applied? 

     Other comments?

     Your blog will be 50 points (approximately 20 minutes of writing).  It is due Oct. 20.

     Remember your post will not be published immediately.  Be patient.  It’s fun to see the posts appear.

Blog One:

     What are your plans for your future?  What advice would Will Tweedy give you about your future?  What life lessons from COLD SASSY TREE can you apply to your own life?  According to Olive Ann Burns what makes life worth living?  Do you agree? 

     Also, what are you thinking as you write your family story?  Have you learned anything new?  Can you understand how Olive Ann Burns wanted to know as much as she could about her family history?

     Have you noted powerful words in the novel or in the family story you have learned?  Please share.

     We are about to begin another novel with a character on a journey.  His initial goal is to be like his role model but soon he desires great wealth.  We did not discuss Olive Ann Burns opinion of the desire for wealth.  What do you think her advice would be?  What movies have you seen about the influence of great wealth on a person?  What was the result?

     Other comments?

     This post will be 50 points (approximately 20 minutes of writing).  Your post is due October 20.

     Remember posts will not show at once.  Be patient – it’s fun to see the posts appear.