May 18

Today we highlighted parenthetical citation, or in-text citation. Additional notes were taken on the proper format for bibliography entries.

The rest of the class was spent going over the various deadlines for the local issues paper and the class time that would be devoted to the project. The last few minutes were given to groups to look over their research articles so that everyone could fill out the checklist handout for sources that was given out last Thursday. The checklist will be due this Wednesday, May 20th.

May 15

The soft deadline for the body was today for those that wanted peer responses on their work. The beginning of the class was spent working on our local issues paper. This was followed by group work so that people can organize their resources for the next hard deadline (Wednesday the 20th) when the results are due.

May 14

STAR testing!

Keep working on your Local Issues Paper. Tomorrow the soft deadline for your body paragraphs are due.

May 13

The results section of the Local Issues Paper was the focus for the beginning of the class today. Notes should have been taken in our journals- if absent, please ask your group members for the notes because the results section is due in one week!

Journal Write 15: Respond to the short story by Kurt Vonnegut
http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

The remaining time in class was spent working in groups, organizing information for the soft deadline on Friday (body paragraphs), and the hard deadline next week (results)

May 12

STAR testing!

Have class work ready if the test does not take the full scheduled time.

May 11

Introductions were due today for the local issues paper. The class period was spent looking at other students' work and providing some feedback. To finish off the period time was given so that groups could organize with their groups.

Tomorrow, STAR testing begins

Soft deadline this Friday for the body paragraphs

May 8

The majority of the class time was spent organizing group members and information for the local issues paper. At the end of the period each group turned in a responsibilities list that highlighted areas that need attention, as well as who would be responsible for completing them.

Another journal write to focus everyone on their community...

Journal write 14:

What is the relationship between your ideal community and the actual one you live in?
How does your topic affect your community and how much of an impact do you have on it?

Due Monday:
Introductions and Journals!

May 6

Our focus on writing a precis filled the beginning of class today with some brief comparisons with a summary. Afterwards we moved on to do a journal write. The class was finished with some time for groups to get together and start organizing their efforts for the investigative report.

Journal Write 13 Quote:
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
-George Orwell

May 5

The first half of the class was spent going over various items that appeared in the pressure writes from last week. Afterwards, we began looking at writing a precis. Tomorrow we will continue with the precis.

Pressure Write Prompt:

This semester we have touched on influences: those that affect generations, society, and ourselves. Within the last decade there has been increased attention and discussion on the subject of violence in music, film, and television that children enjoy. Some experts argue that the media is one major reason crime rates are on the rise. They believe the violence that youths hear and see through TV, film, and music leads them to behave in violent ways. On the other side of the issue, people say kids can make their own decisions concerning such influences and filmmakers and musicians must be free to create their art.

In a well organized essay, explain your ideas on the subject and be sure to support your thoughts.

May 4

After a brief account of our weekends we looked at summaries. There was an example of a summary written about the swine flu article we examined as a class. The rest of the time was spent organizing the articles within the various groups and writing summaries.

Tomorrow: Bring opinion articles that relate to the topics. We will be looking at writing a precis. Summaries due as well.