Friday 23rd November

This is the last blog for the year. You have 1 week to make sure that you are up to date with your blogging before assessment closes.

In 2 weeks time you will be sitting for exams. It is about now that they start to become serious and register as important in your life.

Exams should not be scary or particularly stressful as long as your prepare adequately.

I would like you to surf a little on the net today and find a reputable site about preparing for exams.

I would like you to identify 3 key suggestions that you find on that site as to what you can do to prepare for exams.

Explain those 3 points in your blog and why they are important.

At the end of your post I would like you to put a link to the site that you visited and explain in a sentence why you decided that it was a reputable source for locating this material.

Friday 2nd November

Hi guys!

This week I would like you to consider why boys generally find books in the fantasy and science fiction genres more appealling than other genres.

Consider some reasons for this (at least 3).
Consider whether this relates to you.
Consider whether this relates to other male readers that you know (friends, family etc).

What is your favourite genre and why?

Don't forget to respond to someone's post from last week and upload yours if you forgot to over the weekend. :o)

Friday 26th October

This will be our final reflection on poetry. Please consider your response carefully.

Poetry has been around for a long time and is still a very popular form of literature. Please consider the following points. You may respond to them as individual points or as a general response.

Why do you think poetry has remained popular over centuries and many generations?

What are the most popular forms of poetry in today's society?

What role do you think poetry has to play in our lives?

What is it about poetry that appeals to people?

What sort of poetry do you enjoy most (either to read or to write)?

Think of a poem that you know about. What is it called? Who wrote it? What type of poem is it? What is it about this poem that makes it relevant and memorable to you?

Friday 19th October

Welcome back to term 4. Please remember that the blogging tasks will be a part of your semester 2 grade, so make sure that you put effort into both your posts and the comments that you make on other people's blogs.

This week we have looked at some poetry and we will continue with that work next week. Today I would like you to focus your blog post on the quotation at the top of page 6 of your handouts. This is a quote from the movie Dead Poet's society.

1) What do you think this quotation means and what makes you think that?

2) Do you agree (totally, partly, just a little, not at all) with the statement that is made? What reasoning do you have for your answer?

You collected for homework, two examples of poetry from your everyday life.

1) What are these examples?

2) What is the purpose of them being written as poetry and not as prose?

Friday 14th September

Hi all,

It has been a few weeks, but lets get back into some blogging!

Some information to start. Your mark for blogging will not be a part of your term 3 report but will keep adding up to produce a mark for the semester report. So keep making a good effort with both your posts and your comments to others.

Today you will watch a YouTube clip all about the impact of technology on our society and some predictors for the world that you will be living and working in.

I would like you to think about this clip and respond personally to it. You may consider some of the points below:

• How did the clip make you feel? Why?
• Were there any facts that you found particularly interesting?
• Was there any information that you don't think is corect?
• Was there anything stated that you disagree with? Why?
• What does it make you think about with regard to your own life?

Good luck!
Have a good weekend.

Friday 31 August

Begin by making a response to someone's blog on books vs movies.

Today's blog post
Last night Andrew Johns faced the media and admitted that he had used ecstasy regularly over the past 10 years. This week Channel 7 ran a story about footballers and their issues with drugs based on stolen medical records. Recreational drugs are obviously as wide spread amongst sporting clubs as they are the general community.

How do you feel about elite sports people using recreational drugs?
Is it ever acceptable? Why/why not?
Should elite sports people be drug tested for recreational drugs?
Should there be particular penalties for elite sports people using recreational drugs, and if so, what would be appropriate?

Be nice to the relief teacher and have a good weekend. Don't forget to be nice to your dad on Sunday!

Friday 17th August

Task 1 for today is to comment on someone's blog from last week.

Task 2 is to write a post for your blog.
The topic for your post today is book vs movie.
I want you to discuss your opinion as to whether books are better than the movie they are based on or visa versa. You need to respond with some examples from your own experience to back up your arguement. You should aim for 2-3 properly structured paragraphs.

Friday 10 August

Today you need to start by writing a comment on someone's blog from week 1. Remember to make this an authentic comment discussing something that they have written. Find a blog that inspires you to comment.

For today's task I would like you to write a post that is much more like a normal blog post where you are writing about something that interests you. You will need to choose something to write about and then put forward your own thoughts on the topic.

I would like you to write 2 or 3 paragraphs of reasonable length.

You may choose any topic but some ideas are:
The Chinese limiting cars by one third for the 2008 Olympics.
Akermanis' comments in the newpapers this week.
The forty hour fammine.
The Murray River.
Global Warming.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Update of blog addresses

http://www.bazcat.blogspot.com/
http://www.stefdog10.blogspot.com/
http://www.tom-a-dogga-toast.blogspot.com/
http://www.stefdog15.blogspot.com/
http://www.toddysblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.steph-rat-loves-the-bat.blogspot.com/
http://www.steffdoga.blogspot.com/
http://www.montialwayspartieshard.blogspot.com/
http://www.james02.blogspot.com/
http://www.stephrat13.blogspot.com/
http://www.hendogaz.blogspot.com/
http://www.stefdog19.blogspot.com/
http://www.steffratdoggadogga.blogspot.com/
http://www.sherlockhomies.blogspot.com/
http://www.butter-chicken.blogspot.com/
http://www.steffdog1.blogspot.com/
http://www.stefdog12.blogspot.com/

Friday 27th July

Hi all and welcome back to term 3!

I know that some of you are not impressed at the idea of doing blogs again this term and I believe that is because some of you thought it would be easy marks and discovered late last term that it wasn't. I really enjoyed reading your blogs last term and I think that it is a great way to get you responding to ideas, answering questions and publishing your writing for an audience.

There are several things that you can all do to improve your marks in the blogging tasks:
1. Create your responses as properly formed sentences and paragraphs (unless otherwise stated).
2. Answer all parts of the question.
3. Think about what you are writing.
4. Make a response to someone elses blog every week.
5. Respond to a blog that has made you think so that you have something worthy to say. Just telling them they did a good blog does not achieve the objective.

Everyone's writing has improved over first semester and your blogs have often been a good way to see that development. I hope that you will continue to put effort into your blogs and use this opportunity to do some different activities and have genuine feedback from your peers.

I will also endevour to give you feedback and marks on your tasks more frequently this term so that you know how you are going.

And now for today's task...
You were all asked to read a novel over the holidays. Pretend that you work for a publishing company. Someone has sent you a manuscript and you think it is worthy of being printed. You need to convince the chief publisher that it is a worthy book that will sell. Use the novel you read over the break as the manuscript you are writing about (ie pretend that it hasen't been published yet).

Paragraph 1
A little about the book

Paragraph 2
The audience it will appeal to and why

Paragraph 3
Argue your case for the book. What makes it so good? Why do you think it will sell? You might include information here about the author, especially if they have had other popular books.

This is just like a debate in that even if you didn't think the book was that great you have to pretend that you did and you have to be convincing.

Friday 29th June

Today is your last day for the term because next week you are out for Peak Adventure. If you are not doing Peak Adventure you need to do the alternative task.

The general theories behind doing Peak Adventure are to take responsibility for yourself (ie feeding yourself etc), to learn some new skills, to experience a different environment and be aware of your impact on it, to challenge yourself or extend yourself beyond your comfort level and ultimately, to have fun.

I want you to think particularly about the part where you will be challenged and respond to the following questions in well structured sentence and paraphraph form.

1. What Peak Adventure activity are you doing next week?
2. Why did you choose that activity?
3. What do you think you will find most challenging about the particular activity that you are doing?
4. What do you think you will find most challenging about the trip, not including the activity?
5. What do you think will be the best part about Peak Adventure?
6. Why do you think it is important to challenge yourself and work beyond your own comfort zone?

Alternative task

1. If you were able to go on Peak Adventure, which activity would you choose and why?
2. What will you be doing next week instead?
3. What is something that you might do over the next three weeks that would help you to practice some of the independent living skills that the other boys will experience on Peak Adventure?
4. What is something that you might do over the next three weeks that would challenge you and require you to work beyond your comfort level?
5. Why do you think it is important to challenge yourself and work beyond your own comfort zone?

Congratulations

I wanted to take the opportunity to let you all know how much I have enjoyed reading your blog post this term

I know that some of you are disappointed in the marks that you recieved for this assessment piece, but you need to keep in mind that it was a combination of all your posts and comments that contributed to the grade. For many of you this form of writing was a new experience and your marks increased through the term the more you practiced. Some of you need to acknowledge that some of your posts were rushed and were really your best effort.

I particualarly enjoyed reading the blogs where people had really thought about the task and recorded some original ideas. The whole purpose of this task is to a) get you writing and b) get you thinking.

I believe that now you all know how this works, you know that both the posts and the comments are important and you know that I am looking for evidence of some decent thinking, that during next term you will be able to easily earn fantastic marks for the blogging task.

Friday 15th June

This week we began looking at poet and playwrite, William Shakespeare. I want to to reflect on your exposure to Shakespeare up until this point. You need to reflect based on what you knew before the lesson on Thursday. Write your response based on the points below.

Have you read any poetry of Shakespeare's?
Have you seen any Shakespearean plays?
Have you read any play of Shakewpeare's?
Have you seen any modern versions of Shakespeare's work, such as the movie 'Ten things I hate about you'?
What do you know about Shakespeare's work?
Mr S is putting on Macbeth next term. Would you be interested in being a part of this play?

Research question:
Why is it bad luck to mention the play Macbeth?

Friday 8th June

For today's blog entry I would like you to go to the following link and read some of the blog that you find there: http://booksandboys.blogspot.com/

Check out the various posts that you find there. You may read as much as you like but you need only respond to one entry. If you would like to leave a comment on this blog you may, but please be respectful and only leave something that is insightful for the author or other readers.

You need to comment on the following things in your blog entry for today:

1. Why do you think the author has started this blog?
2. There is a slogan at the top of the blog that says "readers are the leaders others follow"; what do you think this means?
3. Who do you think would be interested in reading this blog?
4. Which entry did you read?
5. What was it about?
6. Was there a fact/opinion/piece of information that you found particularly interesting? Why?
7. Did you feel inclined to post a comment? Why?

Friday 1st June

I want you to think about how you go about finding a book to read. I would like you to discuss the techniques that you regularly use, whether it be using the catalogue, browsing the shelves, reviews in the newspaper etc. You will probably use a variety of methods. Why do you go about it the way that you do?

I would then like you to think about whether or not these srategies are successful for you. How do you judge whether or not they are successful. If you find that you are using a strategy that is not successful, why do you persist with it?

Consider the book that you are reading now. How and why did you choose it? Are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it to others, and if so how would you go about this to target the right audience?

Friday 25th May

You have all started reading a new novel of your own choice in the last couple of weeks. I would like you to reflect on the role of character in that novel. In a well structured couple of paragraphs I would like you to address the following points with regard to the protagonist in your story:

Paragraph 1
Name, age, physical description of your character
Their life within the story (who are they, who do they associate with, what are the issues they face?)
Whether they are the narrator or they are being narrated

Paragraph 2
Why has the author created this character? (why that gender, age, place in family etc)

Paragraph 3
If the protagonist was the opposite gender to what they have been written as, how would the stroy be different and why?

Friday 18th May

Yesterday you did a reading comprehension where you looked at two different texts, one diary entry and one blog post. Today I would like you to reflect on the differences between the two forms of writing and the purposes they have.

Write your response as a well formed paragraph, reflecting on the following things.

A diary is traditionally a personal reflection of one's life, generally not shared with other people. Similar content is recorded in a blog but it is hosted online and therefore able to be read by millions of people. In fact, many people pose questions and stimulate discussions on their blog.

1. Why do you think people would choose to have a blog instead of a diary?

2. How do you think the form of a blog differs from a diary - what would you do differently?

3. See if you can find a blog that someone is writing (not from our calss) and reflect on it. Who is writing it? Why do they write it? Do they have a community of readers (check the comments)? How regularly do they update it?

Friday 11th May

The whole idea of a blog is to write about the things you think about in a forum that is shared with a global community. A blog should portray a little bit of you and your personality in it and it should be entertaining for others to read, but not be silly, and perhaps raise some questions or discusion points that others may feel a desire to respond to. The last thing your blog should ever be is boring. You must try to find a writing style that suits you and portays a personality that you would like others to know.

Today you have two tasks, firstly you must respond to someone elses blog. There is no need to choose your best friend as you will need to respond to a different person's blog each week. The hyperlinks to all of the blogs are below.

http://www.bazcat.blogspot.com
http://www.stefdog10.blogspot.com
http://www.tom-a-dogga-toast.blogspot.com
http://www.stefdog15.blogspot.com
http://www.toddysblog.blogspot.com
http://www.steffdoga.blogspot.com
http://www.yummymummytoast.blogspot.com
http://www.james02.blogspot.com
http://www.yiros35.blogspot.com
http://www.stephrat13.blogspot.com
http://www.james413.blogspot.com
http://www.hendogaz.blogspot.com
http://www.stefdog19.blogspot.com
http://www.steffratdoggadogga.blogspot.com
http://www.sherlockhomies.blogspot.com
http://www.butter-chicken.blogspot.com
http://www.steffdog1.blogspot.com
http://www.stefdog12.blogspot.com

Please check the link to your own site first to make sure it is working.

Your second task is to respond to the two short stories you read recently.

Paragraph 1
Title, author and series of the first book.
Short description of the book.

Paragraph 2
Title, author and series of the second book.
Short description of the book.

Paragraph 3
What did you like about each book?

Paragraph 4
What could have been improved about each book?

Paragraphy 5
You probably mostly read novels. How did you feel about reading some short stories, were they as good as a novel, why, why not? Would you select from the short stories collection again, why, why not?

Entry one

For your first blog entry I would like you to write about yourself as a reader. You need to include aspects such as how you feel about reading, why you feel that way, some of your significant reading memories, the reading culture in your family, the genres you like/do not like to read and some of your favourite books.

I will put an entry here that will be an example of what I am looking for from you.

I love reading! It is one of my favourite past times and I never have as much time to read as I would like to. When I was at school I spent hours every day reading, and got a good way through the school and public library fiction collections. I regard myself as a slow reader because whenever I am reading with other people they can get a lot further than I can in a period of time. My favourite time of day to read is before I go to bed and this is also my favourite place to read. Spending a day in my pjs when it is cold and raining, reading a feel good, trashy novel is a favourite too though.

I remember I have always loved reading. As a toddler and pre-schooler the golden books were my favourite. My mum can still recite one story by heart because I made her read it so many times. We always had a lot of books at home when we were growing up, it was one treat we were regularly allowed when we went shopping. I also remember teaching my brother to read when I was 7, my first experience as an English teacher.

I always have at least one book on the go, but more often 2, 3 or even 4. My favourite types of books are those about people, they can be fiction or biographical. I mostly read adolescent fiction because I try to read a good number of the novels I buy for the library. I really enjoy more adult books but I don't find a lot of time to read them. I do also enjoy reading journal articles about teaching and libraries, but that isn't really for fun.

I always read a book before I see the movie; if I see the movie first I won't read the book, I do not like to know the ending. For the same reason I generally only ever read a book once. I have so many favourite books that it is difficult to name just a couple. Although I don't generally enjoy a lot of fantasy, I am looking forward to reading the seventh Harry Potter when it is released in July.

The book that I am reading at the moment is the new book by Christobel Mattingly, called Battle Order 204. It is a non-fiction book based on the experiences of her husband, David, as a pilot in world war two. Both David and Christobel were teachers for many years at this school and the book was officially launced here late last term.

Your blog

This term you are all going to create a reading blog. A blog is an online journal. You will create your own blog but you will also be expected to respond to the blogs of other students in the class. You must complete all of the compusory entries and you may do extra if you wish.

There are a few rules that you need to abide by.

• You must use only first names or nicknames of people ie yourself and other boys; you may refer to me as Miss C. There must not be any surnames - authors don't count.
• No other identifying personal details such as school information, adresses etc may be used at any time.
• No offensive language may be used at any time, this includes swearing, racist and sexist remarks.

Good luck and I look forward to reading your blogs!