Monday classwork

For Monday, please be sure to read "Feeling the Heat" article from Upfront Scholastic magazine, 2016.  Track and check your understanding with these objective questions.

Additionally, on Monday, we will be using our class period to create essay plans, and review samples and scoring commentary from the 2013 Q2  (Richard Louv excerpt from Last Child in the Woods) and the 2001 Q2 released samples and scoring commentary  ("Owls" excerpt by Mary Oliver).  You are welcome to review this information on your own. 

We will also be watching these TED talks, if there is time:
Frans Lanting: Photos that give voice to the animal kingdom
Louie Schwartzberg TED talk Nature. Beauty. Gratitude. (feel free to watch any of his TED talks)

You are welcome to watch them as well, so you can use them as sources (if you choose to) on your synthesis essay.

SYNTHESIS ESSAY LINKED ON LEFT SIDE OF BLOG IS DUE ON WEDNESDAY.

Students will also have time for nature unit test corrections, which are due by Friday, 5/5.

Informative nature project

Put together a short, informative piece about an aspect of nature of your choice that you would like to study further.  Your choice for the topic, but see me to lock in your personal topic choice so there is no duplication.
You will be looking to use most, if not all, of the rhetorical modes in your informative presentation.

Steps for this informative project:
1.  First, plan out the various modes and how you will use them to inform your audience about the topic.
2.  Then, decide upon various places you would like to gather research from, which include at least:

• one encyclopedia (print or online) reference
• one scholarly journal reference
• one periodical reference (magazine or newspaper, print or online).

3.  Then, choose the order in which you would like to present your information, examining how various modes might "interact" best with each other in order to bring across your informative intention.  

4.  Finally, begin crafting your presentation, remembering that you are open to using various technology methods to enhance the design of your presentation.  

Learn more about nature and world preservation!

Go to either of these sites and discover ways that you could make a difference for the environment and "nature unit" of the future!
http://www.earthday.org/take-action/
http://www.janegoodall.org/

Work with someone else to create an approach for change and reasoning behind the need for change.  Find at least three additional sources for support:

• one should be an image/video source
• one should be an article chosen from the shared Flipboard email
• one should be a scholarly journal article

Justify your three choices!  Explain, with specific direct references to the source, how it could be used to support perspectives on this issue.  Consider how it might fit various appeals and how it could help to develop one's argument.

Contemporary Connections letter due Monday, 4/24

Time Travel to meet your pre-20^th century author!

Write a letter inviting your pre-20^th century author to meet with you. 

In your letter, express the following:

•      What you appreciate about his/her viewpoints and where or how he/she expressed them
•        Questions you have for him/her about his/her life experiences or written works
•        What you think he/she would have strong opinions about in today’s world

End your letter with a suggestion of a place to meet, carefully considering why this place might be of interest or hold relevance to him/her.  Briefly discuss what you might do there (places to visit, eat, take selfies at!), and anything you want him/her to bring (a memento from their time period, such as a photo, etc.).

This is meant to be a fun, light-hearted, IMAGINATIVE writing piece!  It may be handwritten or typed, and should be proofread for accuracy.