Treasure Chest of Thoughts

Because my students challenged me (without even realizing it), I have once again visited with my friend the Internet to research why they would have been told one should not begin a sentence with the word because.  To my surprise, my research resulted in several links on this topic, some supporting the claim that a sentence should not begin with the word because.

My favorite site, though, on this topic?  Yes, my favorite was definitely the one that quoted Emily Dickinson:

Sometimes, however, because is perfectly appropriate as the opening word of a sentence, as in the beginning of one of Emily Dickinson’s best-known poems: “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me.” In fact, sentences beginning with because are quite common in written English. (English Forums, 2009)

The main argument on most sites for not starting a sentence with because is that they contend (and rightfully so) that because is a conjunction….but so is every other subordinating conjunction (see here for a list of these conjunctions).  Subordinating conjunctions introduce adverb clauses; they do not serve the same function as a coordinating (better known as the FAN BOYS in my classroom) or correlative conjunction.

This discussion arose yesterday when I began a sentence about my new duck friend Olivia Noel with because.  Several students noted they “had been taught” this.  Well, I did not ask who taught them this; I just corrected the mistake.

I am hoping that they were taught the correct use of because…but that all they remembered from that lesson is number one (listed below).

1. Because I like you = a fragment; therefore, this clause is dependent/subordinate and should not “stand” alone.
2. Because I like you, I want you to understand why starting a sentence with because is perfectly okay…as long as you have an independent clause attached for it to modify.

Now, I am wondering…will my students know why I sometimes italicized because and did not at other times?  Another mini-lesson…yes, that will take care of that explanation also.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing my family and myself to live in such a country as ours.

Please watch over our servicemen, their families, and those families and friends who lost loved ones on this date just a few short years ago.

Please grant a special blessing to my friend Frank Vaughn who posted this comment on Facebook this morning from his post in Iraq:

Frank Vaughn Sept. 11 is why I do what I do. Never, EVER forget. Please.

Oh, what a gentle reminder.  May I never forget.  Amen.

Over the last couple of days, I introduced the Ducks Galore project to my students, and, honestly, one would have thought Christmas had arrived when watching the excitement with which the kiddos searched through that box of little yellow duckies in their endeavors to find their very own new friend!  Truly fun to watch!

Tomorrow, the students begin introducing their peers and myself to their newly created duck personas.  Let’s just see what paths their imaginations take us down!

You may recall my introducing you to my duck:  her name is Olivia Noel (yes, she is pictured at right); she has transforming powers.  By day she “saves” fifth grade girls from the advances of fifth grade boys who want a girlfriend when her true powers are manifested in the form of Hollywood (a character I created last fall based on the antics of my then fourth grade daughter and for the sci-fi multi-genre project that my Pre-AP students create).  Her powers lie within the  red “holly” beams aimed at said boys, thus, ensuring their need for friendship only, thereby, relieving this mother of the necessity of literally personifying the acronym for MOM (Mean Ol’ Mom) when I seriously (okay, only with just a tad of seriousness embedded) tell my daughter upon her asking for the umpteenth time,  “You may have a boyfriend when you turn forty!”

I am fairly certain that my students are literally laughing at my “shocked and appalled” attitude regarding my…could it be?…old-fashioned ideas about “going out.”    It certainly makes for a few moments of comic relief within the classroom!

Let’s not tell them that I received my first kiss (on the forehead, of course, and quite to my surprise, I might add!) in the sixth grade by a peer while working our Haunted House during the annual Fall Festival…yes, that should just remain our little secret!

Here’s the assignment:  link your created masthead for our online newspaper to Cafe Newspaper (our class Wikispace).  After several failed attempts, though, by one student to get her links to post and after another student’s link kept duplicating a peer’s link, I had to choose an alternative route.  I switched to Google.

The students were great, realizing their role as “guinea pigs,” as we work together to engage in online collaboration. 

My frustration?  I did not have this problem with my pbworks student Think Tank.  Since I did not have a such an account for this class (ah, but we do now!), I steered us to Google and created and shared a Presentation with the students to which they pasted a copy of their .jpeg’s…and immediately heard this comment, “This is cool how we can see each other’s masthead so quickly.”  Okay, now we are are collaborating.

Next step:  I emailed each a Google form on which to submit their vote for The Spirit of the Pioneer’s masthead for 2009-2010.  Within minutes, I announced the winner:  Carol’s Creation!

Now the beauty of this lesson described herein is that this process in Google took us less than twenty minutes.  The delay?  I typed in an email or two incorrectly! Now that I have them entered, even that process should move more quickly.

Now in all fairness to WikiSpaces, some of this might be that I am just much more familiar with pbworks.  I would not go so far as to say that I have mastered (not even close!) pbworks, but while some features may be more pleasing to the eye (yes, I like their themes!) in WikiSpaces, having frustrated students is not my goal.  Yes, at this point in a 1:1 classroom, student success is of much more importance.

I am not sure what I could have done up front to prevent the problems we had, for it took several students linking to encounter this problem. Maybe it really was not a problem.  Maybe it was a good lesson in problem-solving for myself and my students?

If I could go back to that class, I would slow down the clock (for it was a Friday afternoon with only about 25 minutes of class left) and have them help me brainstorm what to do, but due to time, their lack of use of the tech tools at this point in the school year, and my frustration with this not working like I really thought it would, that climb up Bloom’s Ladder did not occur.  The good news, though?  Such an incident (how weird is calling a frustrating moment ”good news”!) will occur again, and next time, we will simply take the time.  We will climb that ladder.

Yes, we will take the time to collaborate.

Thanks to one of Dana Huff’s blog posts via my Google Reader and her comments via Twitter and Facebook, I learned about Mr. Carl’s (at Stainless Steel Droppings) fourth annual R.I.P. Challenge (aka R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge), which consists of various levels of competition, depending upon the amount of time one can commit to this read-along.

Below are two bloggers committing to the challenge; also listed within these posts are their chosen R.I.P literature.

1. Much Madness is Divine ~ one of English teacher Dana Huff’s blogs
2. Stephanie’s Written Word

Interestingly, the creative source for this challenge was Charlie Brown.  Yes, the Charlie Brown from Peanuts.  Remember…(it’s okay if you don’t remember…I didn’t!)  Charlie Brown began his stories with “It was a dark and stormy night…”

I like a good challenge.  Here are the four novels I am contemplating reading for this challenge, which runs from September 1-October 31:

1. The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl 
2. The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Is this a stretch to include this novel in this challenge?)
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
4. Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast

My whole Pre-AP English 10 class could enter this challenge as they will be reading H.G. Well’s The Time Machine or The Invisible Man…interesting!

I may change this list once I peruse my book shelves for more titles, but, as for now, let the cool nights arrive with opened windows that let in the sounds that provide the backdrop for such eerie, suspenseful works of scary literary art!

Until Thursday afternoon, I had spent very little time in our teacher copy room.  At that point, I wasted a lot of paper.  Just couldn’t be helped.  Because my daughter had a heart check-up,  I had to miss on Friday; therefore, my students did not have access to their mini laptop computers, which, by the way, have been a HUGE success. 

Never let it be thought that students cannot learn a new task very quickly.  They are quick to enter the classroom, remove their very own mini from the cart, log-on, have it ready at “half-mast,” and are waiting for their first instruction. 

The only complaint I have heard so far is that the keyboards are too small.  At which point, I ask them to hold both hands out from their chest area, palms facing toward each other, and then request that they move their thumbs, symbolizing their use of their cell phones.  They cannot repress the grins, for all know that the mini laptop keyboard is much larger than the true mini keyboard they have already mastered!

The only deviants so far have been two boys sitting right beside each other chatting within their Google emails.  Quickly got a “sorry” when I quietly reminded them that the use of a mini remains a privilege and that to loose the privilege of the mini would certainly result in this class being both less fun and more work when they had to complete the day’s work the “old” way.

In the eight days we have been in school, I have utilized our class blogs more than ever…daily, as a matter of fact.  This, I am modeling, partially, after seeing Siegmund’s English Weblog , where each post begins with state standards; this I really like!  Also really wonderful examples of detailed posts.

Another change has been my increased use of Google Documents, where I have created several forms for my students to complete; am finalizing the “Digital Fingerprint” form this weekend, a form where the students will share their logins/passwords to accounts created for our class.  I request this information for two reasons:

1. to help protect them from Internet stalkers (and others) who might leave inappropriate comments.  Should I find it I want to be able to log-in and delete.  (Some call this efficacy.)
2. to provide log-ins/passwords to those who forget, which by the way has already happened once.
3. Last year, I kept that information in one of my many three-ring binders.  This year, this data goes in a Google form, which I can access immediately from any computer that I am using.  Very cool!

So far, the tools we are creating accounts for include…

1. Google/Blogger
2. Penzu
3. GoodReads
4. Delicious

In addition, each student will have “writer” rights to his/her class’s wikispace page.

What other accounts do you think are a necessity in a (nearly) paperless classroom? 

Now, as I discussed with one of my peers who is also a part of our Classroom Redesign, if we only had a week off from school to plan for these paperless lessons!  Just another reason for promoting the concept of a year-round school…more breaks between sessions to allow for teacher-planning on a need-to-create basis!

Just created my first form in Google Docs.  Just think…that is one stack of papers I will not have to bring home and grade!

Yes!  I am hooked.

Now…back to creating lesson plans online!

Both of the above post headings fit this commentary…we are three days into school, and we (my students and myself) are both noting how fast the class periods go.  Why?  School is just cooler this year in room 16!

REASONS School is COOLER:

1. First, the rooms are literally cooler and quieter thanks to the new air conditioning units installed this summer.  They are so quiet…very awesome.  All of a sudden, we notice the room is getting almost cold (yes, need to ask them to reset the defaults by a few degrees, for the system itself is also digital…nice of them to select a system that, of course, blends in with our new classroom redesign!) 
2. Blue. Mini. Laptops.  YES!  Got them in my room on Tuesday afternoon and managed to get enough of them imaged to use with my newspaper class on the first day of school…and then with all my English classes on Thursday and Friday. Way cool!  Of course, the students love having a computer…literally…in their hands.  I love being able to send them to Mrs. G’s Info Page…and going to work…or is it play?!  Fewer papers to hand out…with just a click of a button (or two), the students and I were already at work…again! (I really am missing my LCD projector…my presentations would be much more effective with it.)
3. Comfy chairs.  New colors.  Yes, we call it classroom redesign.  I found it a little humorous that the students looked at the “comfy” chairs but would not sit in them until I said, “Of course, you may…that’s what they are for!”  What surprised me, though, was that many of them still chose the desks.  Not sure about that reason for that choice yet…will observe (ah, action research) and write more about that later.  If they like these desks now, just wait until our new ones finally get here in a week or so…yes, way cool!
4. Lighting.  The new lights have a softer hue, which those of us who wear contacts really appreciate!  I also have several lamps in my room (bought bulbs of too low a wattage yesterday…going back to Wal-Mart to invest in more so that we can switch to that type of lighting when viewing movies, videos, podcasts, and such.

In every class, either a student(s) or I would comment, after glancing at the clock (usually the one on the wall…not the one in the lower right corner ~ isn’t that interesting?) that “this class went by so fast.”  I like it like that!

I. Love. My. Room.  And so do my former students, many of whom commented as they stopped by to visit and check out the new design, “Why couldn’t this have happened last year?”    That’s right, those of you reading this, already know the answer to that one:  that’s just the nature of  change.

ROOM 16 TO GET COOLER STILL!  My room is about 70% completed.  Hopefully, my built-in unit for the journalism computers will arrive on Monday (would look really cool for Open House on Monday night!).  Bookcases, shelves, desks, more artwork…and more tech tools!…still all on the to-do list for Room 16.

Pictures to be posted soon…or within a few days, I will have our photo-a-day blog (CAFE:  In Pictures) for our Classroom Redesign ready for your viewing pleasure…or just stop by and visit us!

My daughter Holly loves to draw, paint…she’s definitely right-brain dominant!

Over the weekend, we spent some time being artsy.  She just loved painting with me…we had some great girl time.  At one point, she stated, “Mom, I just love painting.  I can imaginate.  Create anything I want.”

I suppose with one is creating original works of art that one has the right to create the words to express that moment.

Imaginate.  Works for me!

I just completed reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch who dreamed of becoming (and did scale that brick wall, as he referred to challenges in his life) an Imagineer at Disney.  This is how I see my Holly when she is being creative…she is an Imagineer of sorts.

The painting here is a one-of-a-kind original…and my very first attempt at such a project.  Well…to be honest…there are about three attempts layered below the final outcome.  Had a few false starts!

Probably could have purchased a much cheaper portrait:  canvas, paints, hours of time…but I wanted this painting to take into my newly redesigned classroom this fall to use as an example of “it’s okay to step outside your box and try something new.”  The box, in this case, being their current writing style.

See the duck?  The duck is for a new project I am creating.  Please check here if interested in learning more about this project and meeting Olivia Noel (yes, that’s the duck’s name!).

What have you done lately to step outside your box?  Please share…I really want to hear about it!

I have read some really good reads this summer!  Please visit my book review blog if interested in what I have to say about the following literary works (listed in order that I read them):

• Breaking Dawn
• The Good Earth
• The Lovely Bones
• Escape
• Marked
• The Hunger Games
• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Soon-to-be-posted…four  more reviews (it seems that I read more than I write!):

• Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom
• The Last Lecture
• A Whole New Mind
• Shelf Life:  Stories by the Book

What have you read good lately?