Vocabulary Review and Checking Your Planning Boxes

Hi Folks,

So, I hope you enjoyed your lovely, long weekend.  Along with grading, I saw the holiday rock band, Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

Today in class, I checked that you had a final draft copy of at least 6 planning boxes, two for each of the three camera angles we talked about.  Many of you did a great job!  I wanted to collect them, but I figured you needed them for your final draft.

TWO DUE DATES YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO:

Vocabulary Quiz is this Friday (11/18).

Visual presentations are due the Monday you get back from Thanksgiving break (11/28).  

Now, before you go "ah, that's plenty of time...I don't have to worry about that for a while," recognize that that assumption is FALSE!  Filming this short thing usually takes students over 1 hour, and then another 2 hours to edit the video!  If you only do 30 minutes a night of English homework on school nights, that means that this project alone, would require 6 nights! .... AND you ONLY have 7 school nights to do this before it is due, and don't forget all the holiday hooplah that takes up so much of our time during this year!  SO GET CRACKING!

The rest of class was spent using a Charades/Pictionary-type game.  Many of you had difficulty with "ameliorate".

Homework:  Study vocab, work on visual presentation.

And now, a little something TSO to take the edge off - if you haven't seen this yet, it's awesome:

Camera Angles and Passing in Your Instructive Essays

Hi Folks,

Today you passed in your MLA-formatted final drafts of your instructional essays.  You also grabbed some planning sheets to start thinking like a director.  This will help you pay close attention to the visual presentation of your projects.

There are three different camera angles that we will be considering for our project.

Medium Shots (MS): This is a "medium" distance away, showing about the torso up of the presenter, along with all related materials and objects.

Cut-Ins (CI):  This is about a step closer, focusing on the object presented, and able to fit the hands of the presenter in the frame as well.

Close-Up (CU):  This is another step closer, meant to show a detail of the object OR the expression on the presenter's face.


To see what other camera angles there are out there, check out this link.

Homework:  You need to have a final draft of six planning boxes (that means your drawings need to be in ink), two planning boxes for each of the three camera angles that we are using.

Rough Draft of Instructional Essays

Today we'll start with a little vocabulary instruction, going over the new word list.  Quiz will be on Friday the 18th.

Secondly, we will peer-edit each other's rough drafts of the instructional essays.

Homework:  Final drafts of the instructional essays are due, TYPED and in MLA format by the beginning of class on Wednesday.

Block Day: Brainstorming your Instructional Essay Ideas

For the block days, we discussed what makes a good idea for this project according to what is outlined on the handout (a copy of the handout is in a prior post).  Then we brainstormed what we are planning to do (see the brainstorm lists for each class in other posts).

We ended this session with more examples of instructional videos and evaluated them.  Please feel free to suggest further ones to me if you come across any cool ones!

Homework (due Friday):  You must write a proposal to me, your boss.  If your proposal isn't a great one, I will reject it, and make you rewrite it, or choose a different project.  It must be a full 8-10 sentence paragraph that tells me why you are choosing your topic, what makes it a great thing to teach to eighth-graders, and how you plan to execute your tutorial.  I want to know exactly how you plan to go about teaching us this thing.

Period 8's Brainstorm List

How to do the freestyle stroke in swimming...
How to do a flip...
How to survive the first night in Minecraft...
How to do a skate board trick...
How to take/save a soccer penalty kick...
How to play "The Office Theme Song" on piano...
How to build the world record air plane...
How to do Jacob's Ladder from Cat's Cradle...
How to do a braided bun...
How to make a Samurai hat out of paper...
How to roof a back-handed hockey shot...
How to make a decorative cake...
How to make a glass bead...
How to do a rainbow...
How to do an ice skating trick (Waltz Jump)...
How to make a banana surprise...
How to successfully bird watch...
How to get to round 20 on Black Ops Zombies...
How to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch...
How to throw a spiral football and catch it...
How to do a 360 Y Y no scope silent shot in Modern Warfare 2...
How to shoot a lacrosse ball in multiple ways...
How to do soccer moves to get around a defender...

Seventh-Period's Brainstorm List

How to play the game "World of Warcraft," levels 1-5
How to do a form tackle
How to play "One" by Metallica on electric guitar
How to do a back-flip
How to take a wrist shot (hockey)
How to make cake pops
How to shoot a rubber band "like a boss"
How to do a "four move kill"in chess
How to make paper airplanes (must be boss-ish)
Guided tour of Exeter High School
How to do a BMX bike trick
How to make fancy cookies
How to make an origami crane
How to build a lean-to
How to make double-chocolate cookies
How to make apple pie from scratch
How to make fried rice
How to make chocolate-chip pancakes
How to bandage an injury
How to play "We're Not Gonna Take It" on electric guitar

How to Beat Someone in Chess in Four Easy Moves

Period 3 Brainstorm List

Here is the list that period three came up with...

How to play "Happy Birthday" on the clarinet...
How to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...
How to do a guillotine wrestling move...
How to cut down a tree...
How to make home made play-dough...
How to fold an animal out of a towel...
A guided tour of the guillatine (in france, near the louvre)...
How to throw a "cut" fastball...
How to do soccer moves...
How to fold a dollar into a heart...
How to play "Jingle Bells" on the piano..
How to do two different patterns of tie-dye
How to run a "reverse" football play
How to make a duck tape wallet...
How to play "Good Life By: One Republic" on the acoustic guitar...
How to ski (need mountain and snow)...
How to "Juke" or avoid a tackle...
How to make a paper ninja star...
How to take care of a farm (more specific...one or two animals, crops)...
How to take proper care of a baby ball python...
How to do a pool trick called "Home Run" or a Billiards "Baseball Shot"...
How to make home made ice cream...
Mr. Stowell's Idea...
How to make home made bread...

Period 1 Brainstorm List

Here is the list that period 1 came up with. 

Folding napkin animals...make sure there are enough steps
Field Hockey moves
Football plays and moves
Video Game Code modifications
How to properly feed a snake...do not bring it in to school
Folding unique paper airplanes
How to properly fasten an Irish dance step wig
How to do a drum progression
How to make a paper crane
Figure skating move - difficult to teach, you need ice
How to prepare for hiking - get more specific...prepare for a certain hike, or a particular mountain, or how to pack a backpack
How to make a spiral keychain from string
How to fold notes in a square
How to fix a boat motor
How to cover a book with a paper bag
Teach us a TAYLOR SWIFT song on guitar
How to make a backyard ice rink ... make sure you have your parents' permission
How to properly throw a football
How to make a family recipe of Italian ravioli ... you will need to cite your mother
How to do nail decals ... be specific and make sure you have enough interest
Rainbow cupcakes ... plan out how you can do this live in class.

How to Play "Seven Nation Army" on Guitar

This is one of my favorite songs.

I haven't found many great tutorials on it... but this one is the best. Some criticisms: No closeups. The terms "fret" and "power chord" are not defined. Plus, we never see his face.

How to Ollie a Skateboard

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-ollie-on-a-skateboard

Below is one in which the directions are plainly set out.


Here is one by Tony Hawk, considered by many to be the "grandfather" of skateboarding.

Period 4's Brainstorm list

Here is the list of brainstorm topics we developed for fourth period.

~how to make a cootie catcher--too many people already know
~how to make an origami lotus
~how to draw something -- not specific enough
~how to surf--break it down & be specific:  You must be able to teach someone who doesn't know anything about it, and doesn't have a natural "gift" for it.
~how to do a french manicure -- is there enough interest?
~how to play a board game that not many people are familiar with
~how to make cake decorations ex: fondant rose
~How to be a good first baseman
~how to run a specific football play
~how to prepare for golf -- needs to be more teachable & specific
~how to do specific basketball shots or plays
~how to play "Hot Cross Buns" on the saxophone
~how to tape a hockey stick -- not enough steps, teach us other hockey moves?
~how to make snow globe
~how to throw different kinds of pitches
~how/why people make paper cranes
~how to make the family marinara sauce -- make sure 10 steps
~how to filet a fish
~how to put shooting strings on a lacrosse stick
~how to build and launch a compressed air water bottle rocket
~how to make whoopee pies
~how to get an "A" in class--needs to focus this..an"A" in specific skill like vocabulary quiz, or essay
~how to ride a unicycle

A really cool site for how-to's

Instructables.com is a website devoted to how-to projects...check it out!

How-to Rubric and Explanation

Hi Kids,

Here is an electronic copy of the unit instructions and rubric.

Tomorrow we'll be brainstorming a list of what are some good topics.

Tonight's Homework:  Brainstorm a list of 5 possible things you can do for your "guided tour" or "how-to" instructional writing project.  Make sure you write at least one sentence each explaining what it is.  Secondly, pick your favorite, and write an additional three sentences minimum explaining why that is the best choice.

How-To Videos - Examples

Hi class, I hope you all enjoyed your snow day!  I think we should take off every Monday!  Anyways, here we are again, at the beginning of a new quarter....and a new unit!  We are beginning the Instructional Writing unit!!

Today we gave an overview of the unit, and watched some YouTube "how-to" videos.  Find the links below:

• How to fold a shirt in under two seconds
• How to make an origami boomerang (poorly done)
• How to make an origami boomerang (well done) .... look below!

Introduction to "How-To" Instructional writing and creation of videos or PowerPoint presentations

Hi Kids,

Today in class, we went over the handout for instructional writing.  Afterward, I showed you examples of the "Instructional Essay" and the "Planning Boxes" that you will need before you create either a PowerPoint presentation (challenge or super-challenge), or a video (extreme challenge).  Then, the rest of class was spent in drafting the instructional steps for the thing you plan to teach. 

Please see the page on the upper-right corner of this blog which has some additional resources.

Homework:
        Due tomorrow (beginning of class):  Write a rough draft for at least ten steps of the thing you plan to teach.
       Due Friday (by the end of class): 

•         at least 10 planning boxes
•         a TYPED rough draft of your "Instructional Essay" with a conclusion, list of materials, and introduction paragraph
•       your second kidblog.org posting....which you've known about for over a week.  Many of you have already done this - hooray for you!