Spelling & the Bubble Outline Format

To the left are the boards about this week's spelling comprehension activity and the bubble outline format. Both are due on Friday.

Animal Farm Webquest

The Animal Farm Webquest will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 30th. I have attached the Word document that you need to complete and the website with all the links. Remember, the links listed for questions 1-5 are no longer valid; you need to use the links on the Word document.

This activity will not be graded, but instead will be scored 1-4. To receive a 3 I expect you to completely answer each of the questions. To receive a 4 you must show me how you've applied the answers to your own learning. You do not need to answer questions in sentence form; notes that show your understanding of the text are sufficient.

The webquest is for you to build your schema (previous knowledge & experiences) about communism, socialism, and 20th century Russia in order to best understand the allegory found in the novel. We will begin the novel after discussing the webquests.

Webquest website:
http://web1.caryacademy.org/facultywebs/delia_decourcy/7th%20grade%20English/AnimalFarm/AnimalFarmWebquest.htm

Webquest document:

NAME____________________________________________________________

Animal Farm Webquest

An Online Scavenger Hunt

Directions: Please use the suggested links to find answers to each of the questions below. Be sure to paraphrase your answers based on the information you find on the internet. Happy hunting!

For questions #1-5, please refer to the following sites:

http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9429833

http://www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html

1. What was George Orwell’s real name?

2. Where was Orwell born, and where did he live most of his life?

3. Name two other books George Orwell has written.

4. What were Orwells’ political views?

5. In what year was Animal Farm first published, and what war had just ended?

For questions #6-8, refer to the following sites:
http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/faq/commievssoc.html

http://members.tripod.com/~GOPcapitalist/socialistmyth.html#socialism

6. What is socialism?

7. What is communism?

8. What are the common goals/failures of socialism and communism? (hint: utopia means “an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects”)
   
   

For questions #9-15, please use the following webpage and links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/redflag/description.html

9. Who was the Czar (or Tsar) or Russia before the Russian Revolution (and during World War I)?
   
   
10. What became of this Czar and his family?
    
    

11. What happened during the February Revolution of 1917 (first phase of the Russian Revolution)?
    
    

12. What happened during the October Revolution of 1917 (second phase of the Russian Revolution)?

13. Who led the October Revolution?

14. Who were the Bolsheviks?

15. Who was Vladimir Lenin, and what were the major ideas of “Leninism”? (hint: follow the web site’s “Bolshevik” link to the “Lenin” link to the “Leninism” link)

For question # 16, focus on the first and third paragraphs of the following site: http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/napoleon.html

16. Who was Napoleon Bonaparte, and what was his basic personality?

For questions #17-22 use the following site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

17. Who was Josef Stalin, and what kind of ruler was he?

18. What was Stalin’s relationship to Leon Trotsky?

19. Who was Leon Trotsky? Why did he leave Russia?
    
    

20. What was the Great Purge characterized by? Who was punished and how?
    
    

21. Skim through the “personality cult” link--how might Stalin and Napoleon have been similar?

22. List three other totalitarian dictators in past and recent history.

For question #23 use this web site: http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/dec/03.htm

(focus on paragraphs 2 and 3)

23. Why does Lenin (a communist) view religion as a negative influence in the lives of common people?

Please use the following website to answer question #24: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0807827363/104-9310356-9509566?v=glance

24. According to the “product description” for this book, why did Stalin reintroduce religious institutions that had previously been banned in Russia?

Please refer to the following site to answer this last question: http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/sovintro.html

25. What were some reasons Lenin and Stalin used propaganda? Skim over the posters—what are the posters encouraging people to do?

Scratch that problem-solving itch!

Now that we have finished the problem-solving activity using Scratch, I would like some of your opinions on the process. What did you first think when you were given the assignment? How difficult was the program to use? Did it help or hinder you to go through the website first to see what types of programs could exist? Did Ms. Ites' examples (and failures :) ) help you in your own programming?

Please give specific examples and use your first name, last initial. If you have forgotten the access for responses, it is ites.teach@gmail.com with the username teachla68.

Please have all responses in no later than before school Friday, September 26. We will be discussing these responses in class that day.

Flowers for Algernon

Before starting this novella we reviewed several questions the novel posed. After finishing the piece, I would like for you to review those same questions (off to the left). Have your answers changed? What do you think influenced your point of view on these issues? Did the story have any impact on your opinions; why or why not? Did you find new viewpoints based on the individual projects of others or within your own group project? Did these influence your point of view? Why?

Please post your answers as comments to this blog, using only your first name and last initial (for example, Jenny Smith would log in as Jenny S.). You will be expected to comment on the ideas others have posted, but this is done using YOUR ethics and morals; this is not a slam or dis session. Remember this space is considered an extension of the classroom; therefore, all classroom and school rules will apply.

After all posts are made we will discuss as a class the ideas presented and where you think those ideas came from.