IT'S TIME FOR FINALS!

The key to life is contribution. What do you do to make the world a better place? What do you do to make sure your voice, and the voices of those close to you, are heard by the rest of the world? What makes you stand apart from the crowd? What is your contribution?

Each of the tasks below gives you an opportunity to contribute. For each, a reward will be given. You may win a writing contest, you may be published, your voice most certainly will be heard.

I hope that you will take each assignment seriously and contribute your most insightful and inspirational thoughts. I look forward to reading what you write.

You may do these assignments in any order. You may work on them at home. They are due by Friday, May 29, 2009.

Part 1: 100 points

• Please write an essay which answers the question: “How Can Parents Partner With My School?” You may type or write your essay. Length is 350 words (roughly a page and a half typed or two pages written). Font size 12-14 point in Times New Roman, double-spaced even if you choose to handwrite rather than type.
• You must include your name, current school, grade, mailing address or e-mail address, and home phone number.
• By writing this essay, you will have the chance to win and iPod or a laptop. Who couldn't use one of those?
• You should email your essay to me at ms.kingsbury@verizon.net if you type it.
  

Part 2: 100 points

• Please contribute a piece of writing on the Panther Pride Page of the National Gallery of Writing. Click here to reach the Gallery. You may submit anything you like - perhaps you want to go through your weekly papers and submit one of those. You will need to create a profile first. Submit your best work, as this will be available for the entire world to see!

Part 3: 100 points
Please choose a topic from the list below and write a short response (300 words). Email your answer to ms.kingsbury@verizon.net. You may do more than one for extra points.

• What nonfiction text that English teachers might not think of would you like to read in English class?
• What positive lessons have you learned from English class about working with other people?
• How has logical thinking helped you out of a difficult situation?

Monday, May 18, 2009

Warm-Up: Please answer the following questions by posting your response in the COMMENTS section below: When you think about your senior year, what has been the most stressful part? What part of senior year has been the easiest? Describe the perfect senior year - what activities would it include? What would not be a part of your perfect senior year?

Today's Activities:
Today you will create a plan of your dream life. Let's escape from reality for a short while (graduation will throw you into the real world soon enough). Please create a DREAM LIFE SLIDESHOW using Google Docs or PowerPoint. You should include the following information:

1. Where do you live?
2. What does your house look like?
3. What do you do to make your money?
4. Who do you live with?
5. What do you wear?
6. What do you drive?
7. What do you eat?
8. Where do you take vacations?
9. Who do you donate $$ to? How do you give back to your community?
10. How do you help the environment?
11. What will your gravestone say?

Please include a title slide with your name and photo. Each question above should have its own slide. For each question, write a full answer and include photos (search Google Images).

It's the final week of classes, so let's have a great time! You will be able to present your DREAM LIFE SLIDESHOW FOR EXTRA CREDIT at the end of the week.

100 points!

Loads of Internships For Your Viewing Pleasure!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Philadelphia Young Playwrights!

National Electronics Museum!

Voice of America!

The White House!

The United Nations!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Warm-Up: Please post your answer to the following questions in the COMMENTS section below: Prom - looking forward to it or big waste of time and $$? What are your thoughts on this year's prom? Who are you going with? What are you wearing? Is it worth all the $$ that you need to put out? Is the prom a privilege or a right?

Today's Classwork:

Below are the assignments for which you will receive a grade this marking period. Please go through each assignment and make sure that you have completed it. If you didn't complete an assignment, please do it TODAY!

1. PowerPoint Presentation Notes: You should still have the notes from your classmates' presentations. Please turn these in. 100 points.

2. Your PowerPoint Presentation: Did you do it? If so, then great. If not, then show me your slideshow, and make sure it is ready to present to Ms. Plappert. YOU CANNOT GRADUATE WITHOUT PRESENTING YOUR POWERPOINT PRESENTATION TO HER! Your in-class presentation is worth 500 points.

3. Warm-ups: Since we got back from Spring Break, we have completed 8 warm-ups on the class website. Have you done all 8? Go back and check. 80 points (10 points for each one).

4. Yearbook Page: We created a on-line yearbook profile page. Did you finish yours? Is it perfect? Go check your page at http://healthyearbookproject.pbwiki.com. 100 points.

5. Teacher Love Letters: Did you write your favorite teachers a letter of gratitude and appreciation? If not, you can post your letters on-line at http://ohsteacherlove.wikispaces.com, or you can handwrite your letters, and seal them in an envelope. 50 points for each - 1 required - do up to 3 letters.

6. Comic Book: Did you create your Senior Year Comic Book? If not, do so through COMIC LIFE, and email your page to ms.kingsbury@verizon.net. 100 points.

7. Kingsbury Technology Survey: Did you complete our on-line tech survey? If not, please go to http://kingbsurytechsurvey.wikispaces.com. 100 points.

8. Letter to the Class of 2013: Did you write your Letter to the Class of 2013? If not, please do so and post it to http://ohs09to13.wikispaces.com. 100 points.

9. Senior Year Timeline: Did you complete and email to ms.kingsbury@verizon.net your Senior Year Timeline created using Inspiration? If not, go to https://sites.google.com/site/english4homepage/ and click on the attachment at the bottom of the page labeled Timeline. 100 points.

10. Extra Credit: Not that you need it, but if you do, there are many extra credit opportunities posted on this website below. Take advantage!

Our last grade will be our final exam, which will consist of essays that you will type and post onto one final website as yet to be determined. Period 2 will take its final on Wednesday, May 27, and Period 3 will take its final on Thursday, May 28. Be prepared to type!

QUESTIONS? ASK!!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Today you will write letters of thanks and appreciation to your favorite teachers (or other grown-up) at OHS.

You can do this in one of two ways:
1. You can write a letter on paper and put it in an envelope which I will then deliver.
2. You can post it on this website: http://ohsteacherlove.wikispaces.com

You will receive 50 points for each letter. You can do up to 3! Make them detailed and substantial.

Ideas to include:
1. Why you are writing this letter.
2. Why this teacher is your favorite.
3. What you learned from this teacher.
4. Your most vivid memory from this teacher's class.
5. One wish you have for this teacher.

Be creative and generous! Teachers need love too!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Warm-Up: Please post your response to this question in the COMMENTS section - How has being a student in the Health Academy impacted your high school career? How did you become a Health Academy student? Would you recommend this Academy to other students? How could the Health Academy be improved? Aim for 5 sentences to answer these questions.

Today's Classwork: Today you will have some FUN and create a comic book story page about your senior year at OHS. Please click on the COMIC LIFE icon on your desktop. You will open up a new COMIC BOOK page. Choose a page template and begin to insert pictures of yourself from the PhotoBooth pictures you took. You do this by clicking on the FINDER box and locating your pictures from the previous weeks. If you do not like any of your pictures, take some more!

Drag the bubbles to create a story/dialogue/monologue. Save the page. Email it to ms.kingsbury@verizon.net as an attachment. Ms. Kingsbury will print these out for you to put in your yearbook. HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE! KEEP IT DECENT - NO CUSS WORDS!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Warm-Up: Please complete the Philadelphia Academies Inc Exit Survey. This is a required part of your graduation requirements (per Ms. Plappert). You will receive 50 points for your work.

Today's Classwork: Your task today is to visit 5 of your classmates' tech survey pages and make a comment. 5 comments = 50 points. More comments = 10 points for each one. Your comment should be one of the following types:

1. I agree with you, because.....
2. I disagree with you, because.....
3. Why do you think that.....
4. What if.....

Click here to go to the Tech Survey page and make your comments in the DISCUSSION section! Click on the pages of your classmates listed on the lefthand side of the page. Read their survey answers, and then add your comment in the DISCUSSION section. Your subject line should be the name of the person you are commenting on, and the message should contain your name (so you can get credit). As this is a public forum, be aware to use complete sentences, proper grammar, and diplomatic language. Please avoid the use of OMG and IDK and all other types of textspeak.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Students will continue to work on their previously assigned projects.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Agenda:
1. Warm-Up: Please post your answer to this question in the COMMENTS section below: Will college be a reality for you in the fall? If so, where? Why have you chosen to go to this school? If not, why not? Will you be working after high school? Will you be taking some time off before you go to school? Aim for a 5 sentence answer to these questions.

2. Technology Survey/Interview: Please click here to complete a technology survey to assist Ms. Kingsbury with her Master's class. This is a wiki just like the ones we have done over the last three weeks with the advice letter and the yearbook page. This assignment is worth 50 points.

3. If you have not already done so, please complete all assignments posted on Monday, April 27, 2009. In total, these assignments are worth 300 points!!

4. PowerPoints - let me know if you need help. At this time, if you have not presented in front of the class, you should go ahead and present to Ms. Plappert. I will give you partial credit once she says that your PowerPoint meets her standards.

3 weeks to go! Hang in there!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Warm-up: There are only 25 days left until finals begin!!! Are you ready to graduate? Have you completed all your senior project requirements? What remains to be done? Are you passing all of your classes? Only a few short weeks remain of your high school career - HOW DO YOU FEEL?

Please post the answer to your warm-up in the COMMENTS section below. Aim for a 5 sentence reply - more is better!

Today's Activities: Please complete ALL projects that we started on Monday, April 27, 2009. Please complete the extra credit opportunities below.

Students will have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week to do PowerPoint Presentations in front of the class if needed. Please let Ms. Kingsbury know via email at ms.kingsbury@verizon.net if you will be presenting next week!