Long Live 204!!

Well, school is offically out and you all are freeeee!! I miss you already, but I know you are having a great time sleeping in, hangin' wit' yo peeps ( I love my slang dictionary!) and NOT having to do your blog each week! But, in the interest of keeping our positive 204 vibe alive, I've decided to keep the class of 2009's voice loud and proud here on blogger! So, you can continue to to comment and let me know how you're doing and how your summer is going and whatever else you feel like talking about. Does anyone have summer jobs? If so, do you like it? What was your favorite summer job EVER? How many of you never had a job? Tell me all about it! No grades at stake here, but I would love to hear from all of you!!

It's Not Goodbye; It's See you Later!

Well, for our last blog of the year (long, shaky sigh), you will have two choices.
One, you may go back over any of the questions and read some posts, either yours or someone else's, and comment on one of them. You can either expand or clarify or comepletely change one of your own, or you can remark on another person's. WARNING: If you choose to comment on someone else's post, remember the Golden Rule of 204...RESPECT YOURSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ROOM. It is fine to use your voice to disagree or question someone's thoughts or opinions or ideas; it is most definitely NOT OK to disrespect that person's thoughts or opinions or ideas.
Your second choice is to use that beautiful voice and leave your mark. Talk about your sophomore (or junior) year, the memories you made, the triumphs you experienced, the friends you discovered, the knowledge you gained and your hopes and dreams for junior (or senior) year. This is the last blog, pumpkins! Have fun with it.

PS--Have I told you that you're running out of time for occasional papers??!!

Empowerment through Voice

I was so happy to read that in some of your blog postings last week you talked a lot about having a voice in room 204. You all have a voice; how and when you choose to use it will always be up to you. It is true, louder voices tend to drown out some of the softer ones, that is the nature of human existence; however, those who choose to speak, no matter how loud the volume, can always be heard through the power of words. So, in thinking about voice and power and the power of words, talk a bit about your own. How many voices do you have? Do you constantly capture yourself in one single voice, tone, way of being? Or do you have different voices for different purposes and circumstances? Does using a different voice make you a different person?Don't limit yourself by taking the notion of your "voice" literally. (250-300 words/50 pts)

Almost the End :-(

As painful as this is to say, the fact is, our time together is all too soon drawing to a close. (Yeeesh, that was even harder to write than it is to say out loud!) Throughout these past nine months, you have all taught me so many things, whether they have been through class discussions, OP's, blog posts or even one-on-one conversations. In fact, I daresay each of you have taught me way more than I was able to teach you. I can only hope you got a little something out of it too! :) In any case, this week I would like you to think back on our class and the books we've read and the topics we've talked about and the activities we've done. Think about it all and talk about what you will be taking out of your time in Room 204--what will stick with you? What did you love? What will you miss? What will you always remember? And most of all--what did you learn? Think specifically about that, no matter what it was, whether it was how to use hyperbole or a hypehenated modifier, or what love means or how you spell preposterous or whatever. This doesn't have anything to do with me--you could have learned things in the same way I did--through classmates, friends, OP's (have I told you that you are running out of time to do an occasional paper?) or discussions you had after class. Tell me about it. (300 words/50pts)

Hard Choices

In each book we have all read so far, (and in ones to come, as well) we have come across a character that eventually faces a tough decision in his/her life. We can relate to this particular concept because we have all been there before, in one way or another. Talk a little bit about that. Do you "take the road less traveled by?" (For those of you who have not yet read that poem, it is said to be about coming to a crossroads in your life and deciding which path you want to take.) How do you come to the big decisions in your life? Are you a thinker? A spontaneous decision-maker? A fly-by-the-seat-of-your- pants kind of person? Which method works best for you? What are some of the big decisions/choices you have had to make along this journey of your life so far? How, if at all, have those decisions contributed to making you the person you are today? If you made a bad choice, what happened? What did you learn from it? If you made a good one, what was the reward? (250/300 words/ 40pts)

Looking Backward

As we have gone along our research journey, you have (hopefully) come across some fairly interesting facts, thoughts and information about what life was like a hundred years or so ago. With that thought firmly entrenched (yes, you need to look that word up if you don't know it; dictionary.com, the link at the bottom of your blog page, is extremely helpful for those endeavors) in your mind, try to imagine what your life would be like if you lived in the same time your character did. What would that be like for you? If you could go back to ANY period in time and live your life, what would it be and why? Would you like to go back as a participant or just an observer (like an angel or something like that). What is it about that time period that appeals to you? What do you think your choice says about your personality? Think about it before you answer. (250/300 words/45pts)

"Mirror Mirror on the Wall..."

In constructing my own response to the "Who are you?" blog post, I began to think about a lot of things that can shape a person's identity. As many of you pointed out, people are largely a product of their environment; whether that is good or bad remains to be seen by the person. Many of you also made reference to the fact that parents and upbringing have the greatest impact on who you are, and for the most part, at least at the tender age of 15-17, I would say that is probably accurate. Now, my question(s) for this week sort of hinge on that idea; that is, how other people's perceptions and thoughts about who YOU are actually contribute to what you think of yourself. What is the difference between what "they" (friends, family and/or teachers) think you are, and what you can be? What is the difference between what you think you are (right now in the moment), and what you think you can be? How much do you take other people's perceptions of you into consideration as you form your own self-concept? What I mean is, how important is how others see you in the grand scheme of figuring out who you really are? Definitely a deep-thinking question, I know, but since I know who you are, I know you can do it! (200-250 words/45pts)