05.15.07

Cores 1-4:

1. What are Digital Ex-Patriots?
2. Discussion Trading on Wikis: Pick a partner to discuss your wiki project with and ask them to ask you one thoughtful question about your ideas that no one else has asked so far (you may do this in person or on the discussion page).
3. Work on your Wiki with a specific goal in mind.

Core 2:

1. Focus on Debates.

Core 4:

1. Focus on Revision.

05.14.07

Core 1:

1. What can I help you with in order to get your Utopia finished?
2. Work on your Utopias with a specific goal in mind.

Core 2:

1. After the end: The Belief Files, Discussion and Movement.
2. Work on your -Isms with a specific goal in mind.

Core 3:

1. Our First International Hit!
2. What is the My Meaning question that has gotten you to think the most so far? Why?
3. Work on your Meaning, knowing that you will finish at least one section today.

Core 4:

1. This Week: Revision of utopias.
   •  Imagery
   • Writer’s Intention vs. Reader’s Impression
   • A few case study volunteers
2. Work on your Utopia through revision and new writing. If you are finished, please come see me for the next steps.

05.11.07

Cores 1-4:

1. You’re Famous, again.

Core 1:

1. Work on your Utopias for a specific purpose as a substitute Tech Tuesday. I will come around and conference with you to check on your progress.
2. Take a second look at The Persuaders.

Core 2:

1. Reflect upon MAP data: Justify your MAP score based upon what you did/learned this year or based upon the test itself.
2. Work on your -Isms for a specific purpose.

Core 3:

1. Check out some My Meaning goings on.
2. Work on your Meaning with a specific purpose.

Core 4:

1.  Reflect upon MAP data: Justify your MAP score based upon what you did/learned this year or based upon the test itself.
2. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose.

05.10.07

Cores 1-4:

1. Explore Safety vs. Panic

Core 1:

1. Plan A: Work on your Utopias for a specific purpose as a substitute Tech Tuesday. I will come around and conference with you to check on your progress.
2. Plan B: Watch The Persuaders and compare/contrast the tactics of advertising to the propaganda of Animal.

Core 2:

1. We will go over MAP results tomorrow, but thank you for trying as hard as you did on the test even thought you can smell summer vacation coming.
2. Analyze the following Movement page excerpt:

What my ism represents.
My ism is who I am, and how I live my life. I based my beliefs on my personal experiences and encounters. All of my core beliefs are the cores of myself, because I am my beliefs. Without them I would be nothing more than a face that stood for another number in the population. My ism stands for the right to think for yourself intuitively, and knowing your place in society. Andrewism is structure. It is all about the game of life, and how to win it.

When contemplating how I would transform my ism into an official movement, I came to realize that the only way to do that would be to let people know what it’s all about. I have to get my ideas out to the rest of the public through some means of communication. The act of expanding into new minds I thought was so much like the advertisement, and as hard as I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any other ways to do it except advertise. I have to showcase my ism so that people will learn about it, and become interested in believing the same things I believe. That is the thing that creates a movement, advertisement. Beliefs are no different than products when it comes down to the very concept. How are you going to sell your ism? That to me is what everything is. Controlling the populations interests into a profitable form. But in this case there is no profit, just dedication. You are now just trying to make people dedicated to believing in what you think is best for the world.!
Is that really what a movement is? I think that is so shallow, because all we are doing with this project is really trying to do what millions of people do every day, which is sell. I believe that beliefs should be self centered, because they are what you are. Why do you want to make more copies of your thought in other people’s minds? Original thought is perfect, and letting it out to be transformed is suicide for something so good.

So what am I trying to say in this long paragraph? I want to let everyone know that I don’t want them to have the same thoughts as me by believing what I believe. I have no expectations for growing my ism into anything more than this wikispace, and I am fine with the knowledge that nobody will ever stand for the same thing that I stand for, because I don’t want to advertise my ism. I just think that framing your beliefs so they look more applicable to the minds of the public is shallow, and cheap. But it is the only way. If people want to come and look at my ism specifically thats fine, but I’m not going to try and make them believe it. They can make that decision by themselves. Believing something shouldn’t be based off of a commercial or advertisement. Rather, beliefs should be found by an individual and without any persuasion, decided upon with serious consideration for all that follows.

• Is this more or less persuasive than an “advertisement” would be?
• What is the difference between advertising a belief and a product?
• Do you advertise for your beliefs every day?

Work on your -Ism for a specific purpose, and don’t forget your movement page.

Core 3:

1. Listen to the first Meaningful Gcast Interview.
2. How are you answering the questions that is meaningful to you?
3. Work on your Meaning with a specific goal in mind.

Core 4:

1. We will go over MAP results tomorrow, but thank you for trying as hard as you did on the test even thought you can smell summer vacation coming.
2. What are real life failed Utopias? Why did they fail?
3. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose (not failing as a perfect vision of society).

05.09.07

Core 1:

1. Write-On: What do you think that the little pigs are learning from napoleon? Do you think that education can be dangerous?
2. Finish Animal Farm and look for what Animalism transforms into.
3. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose.

Core 2:

1. Go to room 105 for MAP testing and bring an AR book.

Core 3:

1. Tutorial on embedding spresent and other interactive items.
2. Reflect upon Meaning Statements
3. Work on your Meaning for specific purposes.

Core 4:

1. Go to room 105 for MAP testing and bring an AR book.

05.08.07

Cores 1-4:

We have used the Weekly Authentic model of writing throughout this year based upon the assumption that one paragraph of authentic writing would be enough of a challenge for most of you every week, but ever since we started working on wikis, you have started writing paragraphs, answering questions, and posting discussions as if it were nothing. You are writing more now than at any other time this year (and we only have 3 and half weeks left)!

With that in mind, I have decided that merely telling me that you have done an authentic paragraph on delicious isn’t very descriptive. At this point, it makes me look like the gatekeeper, giving you a step that isn’t really related to your project. So, instead, what I would like you to do is to put a discussion post on the newly created Progress page telling me (and everyone else) what you have gotten done (this week, or in the entire project) and what your next couple of steps are. This will allow others to benefit from all of the things you have done, and start conversations with people who are struggling with the same things.This page can also be used to discuss elements of the project and get ideas. Each of you must post at least once this week and once next week. This will take the place of your Weekly Authentic grade, but each of the weeks 7-15 still apply to this quarter, so make sure you have a blog post or edit on delicious for those weeks.

Now, if you choose to blog on Tuesdays (or throughout the week), which I highly recommend as a way of getting out “non-project” ideas, you can submit those to delicious for weeks that you forgot about, or you can continue to submit them without week tags so that others can read all of the amazing writing you are doing.

1.  Work on your Wikis with a specific goal.
2. Follow the directions on the Progress page in order to get credit for your Weekly Authentic grade this week.

05.07.07

Core 1:

1. Discuss-On: Who is in charge of keeping a vision (animalism) intact throughout the implementation of the vision?
2. Read the rest of the Chapter and look for signs of the perversion of animalism.
3. Work on Utopias for a specific purpose.

Core 2:

1. Discuss-On: How do you question someone’s beliefs without coming off sounding like a jerk?
2.  Brainstorm discussion questions for -Isms.
3. Ask at least three deep discussion questions, and follow up with at least one this week.
4. Work on your -Ism for a specific purpose.

Core 3:

1. Exploring the possibilities of My Meaning.
2. Avoiding Easy Answers to Complex Questions.
   1. Expectations
   2. Enchancements
3. Work on your Meaning with specific purpose.

Core 4:

1. The beginnings of Wallingford’s Utopias.
2. What advice would you give to the Wallingford kids upon starting their utopias.
   • Put your suggestions on their discussion page.
3. Work on your Utopia for specific goals.

05.04.07

Cores 1-4:

Yesterday, I was at a conference called The Classrooms of Distinction Interactive Forum, but I was able to find no one that was doing what you are doing in the classroom. They had all of these techno-gadgets (tablet computers, sophisticated software, classroom management software, etc.), and yet they couldn’t show me the kind of learning that I have seen this year. Whenever I brought up your various projects, they were amazed. But I kept thinking to myself, why aren’t you here to tell them in person. They would go crazy over some of the stuff you were doing, so I invited a few of them to come visit our classroom. At least one is going to take me up on the offer. He is a professor at the University of Colorado, and he was enthralled by what you are doing. I have a feeling that this is going to happen more and more as you become recognized for being unique and amazing. I hope you are okay with that.

Core 1:

1.  Write-on: What does it mean when you have broken someone’s spirit?
2. Read the next Chapter of Animal Farm and look for how Napoleon is breaking the spirits of the other animals.
3. Work on your Utopias with specific purpose.

Core 2:

1. Write-on: What is the one thing that makes your belief system unique? What makes it Your -Ism?

2. Can you use this to convince people that your ideas are right?

3. Work on your -Ism (and hopefully your movement page) for specific purposes.

Core 3:

1. Start looking at My Meaning Possibilities.
2. Group A: Continue to read to find Johnny’s final words.
3. Group B: Continue to work on your Meaning by enhancing some of your answers.
4. Podcast Discussion Question:
   • The book has always been called a coming-of-age novel. How does Ponyboy come of age?

Core 4:

1. Write-On: Is human nature taken into account in your utopia? How?
2. Work on your utopias for a specific purpose.

05.02.07

Cores 1-4:

1.  AR Update and Partner Points Passes.
   • All books are in by May 11
   • No tests after May 11
   • I will still accept book talks, book reviews, and blog posts until May 25.
   • Modified AR Point Requirements:
     • 21 Points for an A
     •  Lowest setting for your own B level is 11.5
2. All Personal Curriculum Due by May 28.

Core 1:

1. First rate discussion and collaboration.
2. Discuss-on: How easy is it for you to become someone you don’t like?
3. Read to the end of the chapter in Animal Farm looking for signs of Napoleon becoming something that he would never have imagined at the beginning.

Core 2:

1. Real Movement Ideas
   • Fleshing out a convention of ideas?
2. Highlighting an -Ism
   • Unnamed -Ism
3. Work on your Ism with a specific purpose.

Core 3:

1. Group A: Read and Discuss the Rumble.
2. Group B: Start working on a question that interests you, think about slideshare and spresent.
3. Podcast Discussion Question:
   • The book has always been called a coming-of-age novel. How does Ponyboy come of age?

Core 4:

1.  First rate discussion and collaboration.
2. Reflection Question: What is the hardest section to flesh out within your utopia and why?
3. Work on your Utopia for specific purposes.

05.01.07

Before Core Time:

1. Flesh out icom4students.
   • Start discussions, ask questions, create new pages that you want to talk or think about, figure something out that you want to collaborate on, etc.
2. Blog about your FutureMe.
3. Work on either your Utopias or My Meaning or Learnerblogs.

Cores 1, 2, and 4:

1. Help Mr. Wilkoff name his podcast.
2. Work on your wiki projects and submit an edit to delicious for Sem2_Week15 or Blog about your FutureMe e-mail.

Core 3:

1. The Art of Time-Suckage:
   • What is Time Suckage?
   • Why are we drawn to it?
   • How do we combat it?
2. Options:
   • Work on your Meaning wiki page and submit an edit to delicious for Sem2_Week15.
   • Blog about The Outsiders and submit it to delicious for Sem2_Week15.