College Essay Tips & Resources

The College Board has useful section on Essay Skills for the college admissions essay. Included are a section on how to choose a topic and tips on writing the essay itself.

Samples of successful essays can be found at quintcareers.com/ and at
college-admission-essay.com

The Common Application essay prompts are at http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/a/common-application-essay-prompts.htm 

Bad topics for your college essay are graciously provided for you at:
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/tp/bad-essay-topics.htm

A list, "Top Ten Common College Admissions Mistakes," is at
www.college-admission-essay.com/collegeadmissionessaymistakes.html

An extensive list of college admissions essay topics is at:
http://www.eduers.com/University/College_Admission_Essay_Topics.html

True fact: You can pay more than $1000.00 to have a professional essay editing service such as EssayEdge help you with your essay. (Or you can just ask me and get help for free).

The College Board suggests you compete the following as part of your brainstorming process:

• Discover Your Strengths: Do a little research about yourself: ask parents, friends, and teachers what your strengths are.
• Create a Self-Outline: Now, next to each trait, list five or six pieces of evidence from your life—things you've been or done—that prove your point.
• Find Patterns and Connections: Look for patterns in the material you've brainstormed. Group similar ideas and events together. For example, does your passion for numbers show up in your performance in the state math competition and your summer job at the computer store? Was basketball about sports or about friendships? When else have you stuck with the hard work to be with people who matter to you?

Freedom of Speech Project Resources

Written Report:

Freedom of Speech Project Rubric

Sample Paragraphs, sections 1 and 2 -- Freedom of Speech Project

Sample Paragraphs, section 2

Sample Paragraphs , Section 6 (Language Use & Your Issue) 

Sample Annotated Bibliography

Interview:

Interview Guidelines & Suggestions

Interview Transcription Guidelines (courtesy of Oregon State University)

Sample Interview Transcript

Why Interview (compares different types of interviews according to purpose)

Resources for Freedom of Speech Research

Issues & Controversies on File
http://online.infobaselearning.com/

ProCon.org
http://www.procon.org/

Debate.org
http://www.debate.org/ (use the search bar and key words for your topic)

Allsides.com
http://www.allsides.com/

Opposing Views
http://www.opposingviews.com/

Advertising
https://www.truthinadvertising.org/cost-winning/

Freedom of Speech
https://www.aclu.org/free-speech

News articles about these issues also mention the types of people who are most involved in the issue and why those people believe what they do about the topic.

Google News Search:
https://news.google.com/

ProQuest News Search:
via Marvel -- scroll 2/3 down the list of links and click "ProQuest Newspapers"

Google Blog Search:
http://www.google.com/blogsearch

The Seven Big "Don'ts of Writing Survey Questions:
http://www.slideshare.net

Euphemisms, Loaded words, and Double-speak

A euphemism is a word or phrase used in place of another word or phrase.  Often euphemisms are used in order to mislead, to confuse, or to neutralize the reaction of an audience.  An example of an euphemism is to call a used car a "pre-owned vehicle." 

Loaded words are words used to engage the emotions of the reader or listener.  These are words that have strong connotations.  Some loaded words (especially the ones with positive connotations) are also euphemisms.  When Maine legislators who oppose the "estate tax" started calling it the "death tax," they were using loaded words.

Double-speak is another term for ambiguous language that is intended to deceive of confuse.  Double-speak involves the use of words or phrases such as "War is peace" or "genuine imitation leather."   Double-speak is the use of words in an attempt to make something untrue, true.

Campaign Bumper Stickers

Your challenge is to create a campaign bumper sticker that communicates who you are, what you believe, and why people should vote for you -- all within the space of less than 0.5 square foot and using fewer than a dozen words.

Resources to Review as a Class:
Campaign Sticker & Critique Rubric
Sample Stickers with Brief Critiques (slideshow)
Typography Basics
What Color Communicates (Quick reference chart)
Sample Critique


Additional Resources:
Color as Symbol
How Color Communicates Meaning
Color Symbolism
DaFont.com
10 Awesomely Dorky Facts About Fonts 
MakeStickers.com

Tips for Creating Your Campaign Sticker:
1. Use the Drawing Program on Libre Office
2. On Libre Office Draw, Go to "Format," select "Page," and then change your document width to 9 inches and your document height to 3.5 inches.
3. Set your background color.
4. Add text and images.  (Images can be from clipart or can be located on Google images and pasted to your sticker from your clipboard.)

Intro. to Language & Power

Norman Rockwell, "Freedom of Speech"

 Prompt:  Why is this man standing?  What is going on?

What attitude do the other people seem to have toward him?

How is he different from them?  Are there places in the world

where this kind of scene could not take place?

"The Somebody" Resources

Can the presence of graffiti be a sign of a healthy society?  (Essential Question)

"The Somebody" (full text of the short story online)

"Graffiti Psychology:  Why Vandals Strike" (article) [Google drive version of article]


"Can Graffiti Be Good for Cities?"  (article) [Google Drive version of article]

"Art Crime:  Graffiti Wars"   [Google Drive version of article]

"The Pyschology of Graffiti--from Gang Signs to Street Art"  (article)

"Why Graffiti?" (article)

"Graffiti:  from Destructive to Constructive" (short history of graffiti plus blurbs on several famous graffiti artists)


Additional Resources:
The Somebody / Graffiti Essay Rubric
Using Quotes in an EssayPunctuating Quotations -- from LEO
The Somebody / Graffiti Essay Mind Map
"The Somebody" Notes from Newclassroom.com
Daniel Lewis James on Wikipedia.com
"The Somebody" Lesson Plan on Teachers.net

Welcome to Senior English

This blog is a home base for Senior English.  Visiting this page often can help you be successful.

Please bookmark this page on your laptop browser.

Reasons to visit this blog include:

• to complete class assignments
• for links for research and reading
• to get caught up in case you are behind or absent
• if you are confused and need more information
• if you want to challenge yourself and complete an honors assignment
• if you missed a class and want to make sure you are on the right track
• if you are interested in something we discussed in class and want to learn more

Future Project Ideas

Guidelines and a rubric for your future project are here.
A slideshow that illustrates how to organize your project is here.

Ideally, the format you choose for your future project will tell something about your interests and your overall future view.  Think imagination will be important?  Make sure your format is imaginative.  Think the future will be hi-tech?  Make sure your format isn't "old-school."  Here are some ideas and formats to consider:

• Use Inklewriter to write an interactive (choose your own adventure) story online
• Storybird is a place to write an illustrated children's story online. In the olds days . . .  Now we . . .  MyStoryEditor allows you to write your own story and add photographs.
• CartoonCamera allows you to take photos and then make cartoons out of them.  These could then be used as the basis for a slideshow.
• Prezi is a website that helps create dynamic and professional-looking presentations / slideshows. 
• MindMeister is similar to Prezi -- some people may like it even more.
• The Haikudeck website allows you to quickly create a visually stunning slideshow that will make your old LibreOffice slideshow look so retro.   Plus it has a built in image search feature that provides you with copyright free images.
• Want to get even more creative and keep things moving?  Powtoon helps your create animated slideshows and presentations.
• Use Flashissue or Lucidpress to create an online newsletter / newspaper of the future.
• Storyworth is a app that helps you create an oral history project involving responses from family members or others.

Macklemore, "Ten Thousand Hours"

Lyrics to the song are here.

Will you step up and give ten thousand hours to something?  If so, what will that something be?   What role will that something play in your future?

Links to the Future

New:  
World Economic Forum, Future of Government
10 Mindblowingly Futuristic Technologies . . . 
What Will Human Cultures Look Like in 100 Years
The Surprising Jobs You'll be doing by 2030
Inspired Minds -- Careers of 2030
Homes of the Future

Information on future climate & more from Big Facts.  (The Big Facts project is led by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS is a strategic partnership of CGIAR and Future Earth, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). CCAFS brings together the world’s best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science and Earth System science, to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and tradeoffs between climate change, agriculture and food security.)

Society and Culture in the Future -- What's Next / Top Trends

What's Next -- Society & Culture

newsoffuture.com Future News for Year 2020 and Beyond

futureforall.org/ A Layperson's View of Future Technology and Society

globalfuturist.com Harnessing the Power of Innovation

thefutureofourworld.ytmnd.com The Future of Our World

wfs.org World Future Society

Fw:Thinking Videos on The Future of Money, Future Fuels, Future Time, and more

10 TED Talks on Predicting the Future

TED talks about the Future

New:  Sources focusing on our energy future:

http://wgbhnews.org/post/power-people

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/14/212020224/the-grid-of-the-future-could-be-brought-to-you-by-you

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90042092

A template and sample outline for an essay response is at:
http://wirthyenglish.blogspot.com/2011/06/sample-outline-for-future-essay.html

Future Articles #1 & #2

An article about the future 100 years from now is here.

A second article on immortality and the "singularity" is here

Biography Project Handouts

A Google Drive folder of handouts and information sheets for the biography project is at:
https://drive.google.com/a/rsu20.org/folderview?id=0B9bbnt4AFVJtOU05V1FLLWlheDA&usp=sharing

You read these documents online, print them out, or make copies that you save within your own Google Drive folders.  

Extending, Revising, & Polishing Genre Pieces

I've spent time reading over your draft genre pieces. Here are some general suggestions that will help strengthen your pieces:

1. Develop your headings and titles. A fully developed heading may be 2 - 3 sentences or more. A title is generally short -- but make the most of it. "Waris Dirie" or "Waris Dirie -- One Determined Woman" The 2nd title is stronger, yet it still doesn't "cost" that much. Agree?

2. Among your 5 pieces, include at least 3 pieces about specific events or moments in your biography. General pieces that give an overview of a person and that person's accomplishments can be useful, but don't stop there.

 3. Aim for at least one piece from the point of view of a "contemporary" of your subject -- someone who knew your subject and had a relationship of some kind with him or her. That person undoubtedly had an opinion on your subject and a way of voicing that opinion.

Write a 5-minute Poem to Kick Start Your Week

Use this site to create your own list poem based on your biography:

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/listpoem.htm

Notes:

• A list poem may appear random but it is not
• The poem should end with something surprising, insightful, or important.  One way to do this is to move from the literal to the figurative (see example poem below).
• Once you have made your initial list, consider re-arranging the order of the items.  Also consider adding more detail.  Use precise and concrete language as much as possible.  Provide your reader with a clear image of what you see.

Sample below:

________________________________________________

What’s in the canoe
a sharpened axe with a battered wooden handle
a weathered tent green with mold
a bag of pea flour
a plug of tobacco
three long poles with metal boots
four damp wool blankets
a refusal to turn back
a lot of heart 

--based on the book Great Heart:  History of a Labrador Adventure