End of Pi...or his beginning?

We are going to hold a formal discussion on the end of Life of Pi using many of the book club questions at the end of my edition of the book. Before we start, please look over the questions we will discuss today, so you have some initial thoughts on this. Then, create a question of your own you want to ask the class -- or -- flag a quote that you think is worthy of finding deeper meaning.

Here are some guidelines written by Mrs. Leclaire for the live blogging:

(1) Please reference by name to whom you are responding. Ex: I agree with Clay's comment about Gatsby's childlike approach to love, but I think we need to give Gatsby more credit because he is the only character in this novel who stays true to his love.

(2) Please use correct punctuation and spelling (as always).

(3) Hit the F5 key to refresh. You will need to do this continually in order to see everyone's comments.

(4) Try to find a balance between listening to the inner circle and having your own blogging discussion on the outer circle. Please don't abandon the inner circle altogether.

WHAT IS A HERO?

Write down the first 3 words that come to your mind when you think of hero. Then, explain how each word fits the heroes you know or admire.

Letting students off the hook with learning?

In the Curriculum Innovation Team meetings (a grant Karl Fisch commandeered that has provided incredicle discussion, technology for our school, and challenges to our own teaching), we've been discussing what constructivism is and how we can empower students to take an active role in their own learning. Too often teachers are at the driver's seat of the classroom giving lectures from yellowed notes, handing out worksheets or copies of the PowerPoint the students are viewing, or doing the song-and-dance routine, trying to entertain our 5-second attention-span students.

As seniors getting ready to leave the grounds you've walked here at Arapahoe, give me your honest, sincere opinion on how to get kids engaged, enthralled with the content, and concerned about what they are learning, instead of just getting the grades and forgetting the info as soon as the test is turned in.

Reminder: I noticed last time, some of you did not write using your best grammar, spelling, or word choices. Please type your thoughts, but before you publish, reread, change, and look of words you think you might have spelled incorrectly. You are publishing to the web where anyone can see your work.

Thank you and as always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I treasure you all!

Welcome to EWL -- 2nd semester

I am thrilled looking back on our discussion with Brave New World, plus your creativity with the presentations. You are all so interesting, bringing in rich conversations, questions, and humor. Thank you for sharing.

I will post questions I would like you to respond to throughout the rest of the semester. I will remind you in class when there is a new post and would love for you to email me if you have a question you would like me to post for the class. Here's my email for suggestions: mdavis@lps.k12.co.us Let our discussions move beyond the classroom walls and into cyberspace!

My first post asks the following questions. Choose 1...or as many as you would like to respond to. Don't forget to read what others post and possibly comment, agree, disagree what others say. Join in on our blog answering:

* What do you like about this class, the discussions, your peer relationships?
* What is a fear you have about college in relation to writing, reading? What about the field in which you would like to pursue? How does writing and reading fit into this career path? Are you prepared? How do you know?
* What has Arapahoe education given you? What is it lacking?
*What do you think about the current system of grades and how do we get around it?

These will get our discussions started; I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
~Mrs. Davis