Thursday, October 25, 2007

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT!!

With only two weeks left in the marking period, some people are working hard and kicking tush in English, but some are falling behind. Only 12 people blogged last week!! Come for extra help. . . .do the extra credits. . . .You can almost CHOOSE your own grade in this class!!

Thank you to those who gave me good ideas for the blogs this week. The three topics came from the comments you guys made last week. Nice!! No need to comment on this posting. . .The topics for this week are below and are: Fads & Trends, Current Events, and School Rules.

Fads and Trends

The town of Hillsboro could not help but join Reverend Brown's bandwagon to crucify Bert Cates as an "evil-utionist." What is it about human nature that makes people join in, sometimes blindly, to current fads and fashions. Who are the trendsetters and who are the trendfollowers? Which are YOU? Is it ok or harmless to follow SOME trends? Which? When does it become dangerous?

Current Events

It is so much easier for us to find out about current events today than it was in the 1920's of Hillsboro. Hornbeck's news articles could only be read outside of the city limits of Baltimore when "clippers" clipped the articles and sent them to Drummond, Brady, etc. What recent news event or events are "clipworthy" enough for you, personally, to stay tuned to the daily articles about them? What are your opinions about this event/issue? What makes you keep "tuning in" to articles, broadcasts, and interviews related to the event?

School Rules and Regulations

The Constitution was written to meet the needs of our country at the time of its very birth. Then later, amendments were written in order to meet the needs of a changing world--voting, prohibition, etc. What rule or regulation in the student handbook could use an "amendment"? Rewrite the rule in the way that you feel it should be worded, and write why you think your wording is better and would be more successful. If you merely rant or complain about a school rule rather than offering a solution with reasonable support, then you are no better than those single-minded townspeople of Hillsboro! :-)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Defense and the Prosecution

Every person, guilty or innocent, has the right to a fair trial. Why is this one of the rights we are afforded as American citizens? Any comments about defending the guilty? Or even prosecuting the innocent? There have been many cases of wrongful imprisonment, especially with the technological advances and new DNA evidence. Make any comments you have on these or other opinions you have about our American justice system.

Small Town America

The authors created the town of Hillsboro to be representative of any small town in the midwestern U.S. in the 1920's. Think about NJ's Chester and Mendham today. In what ways are our little towns actually very similar to Hillsboro? In what ways are our little towns very different from Hillsboro? Write your responses and add any comments you have also.

Blogging Ideas??

Now that we are finished the persuasive unit, our Do Now's will be geared toward the texts that we are reading; however, you all have such great ideas for discussion questions, we should put one or two on the blog each week in addition to the questions I add. What would be some good discussion topics for the blog? Give several in the comments, or give one and give your comments to your own question. Or do a combination!