Video Due on Tuesday

Here's another post of the Video Rubric.  Due Tuesday.  If you have any questions, send me an email: david.duez@humble.k12.tx.us

Rubric Video Project Video

AHS Eagles 17 - IKE 11

AHS 17 - IKE 11! 
BEAT KINGWOOD and we are district champs next week.









AHS Pep Rally

Glad to hear AHS is winning tonight. Watched the Pep Rally here
Go Eagles!

Agenda: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009


Quote of the Day:  "What we do in life echoes through eternity."  - Roman General Maximus from the movie Gladiator (pictured to the left, played by Russell Crowe)

Learning Targets:
* Explain the role of the Roman Army and Roman Soldier and how this military machine helped to expand Roman territory.
* Understand the 3 Punic Wars, their impact, and how their outcome helped to shape Rome's future

Agenda:
1.  Pass back the project essays.  Discuss them and the Video that is due on Tuesday.  Also practice vocabulary from the chapter.  I will hand out an old Vocab Quiz for practice.  [There is no vocab quiz this time, just a test that is mostly vocab next week.]
2.  Video & Discussion = "The Roman Soldier" 
3.  The 3 Punic Wars - Notes

Roman Influence on the Modern World


5th period today brainstomred the many ways that the Roman World has influenced the modern world.


I snapped a picture of the board and uploaded it here.  Can you think of any other ways?


Can you see Roman forms in these very local and national symbols shown below?

Agenda: Wed/Thu 10/28 and 10/29

Quote of the Day: "Time the devourer of everything." - Ovid, Roman Poet (pictured to the right source)

Learning Targets:
* Why was Rome successful?
* What was the impact of geography on the development of the Roman Republic and Empire?
* How was the government of Rome organized?


Agenda:
1) Roman Empire Chapter Video - "The Roman World" (10 min) Students will take notes on the video.
2) Chapter 5 Section 1 Notes - "Impact of Geography on Rome" and the "Roman Republic" Students will be able to answer the question - "Why Was Rome Successful?"
3)  CNN Student News if time permits

Celebrating Aidan's 5th Birthday @ Chuy's on 59 in Humble. On to ToysRUs!

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Chapter 5 Roman Empire Part I - Notes

Chapter 5 Roman Empire Part I                                                                                                                                                

CNN Student News - Tue, 27, 0ct, 2009

Today's warmup was CNN Student News. Students were to take notes over the 10 min broadcast and then write 2 summary sentences for 2 separate news stories.

Agenda: Tuesdsay, October 27, 2009


Quote of the Day:  (From the movie - "Gladiator")
Commodus: Yes...the greatness of Rome. And what is that?
Lucilla: It's an idea. Greatness...greatness is a vision.
Commodus: Exactly, a vision. Do you not see, Lucilla? I will give the people a vision and they will love me for it. They will soon be tired of the sermonizing of a few, dry, old men. I will give them the greatest vision of their lives. 
Learning Targets:

  • Explain how the geography of Italy, The Mediterranean Area, and Rome led to the development of early Rome.  The narrow Italian peninsula was an important crossroads, and farmland was plentiful. Rome itself was strategically situated inland on hills along the Tiber River.
  • Explain how new technological advancements help the spread of the Roman culture and control of the Mediterranean world. 
  • In the late sixth century the Romans overthrew the Etruscan kings based north of Rome and established a republic. Wealthy patrician landowners in the Roman Senate dominated the early republic.
Agenda:
1.  CNN Student News (15 min) - We'll watch today's episode of CNN Student News and write 2x2's.  Two sentence to summarize two different stories.  Then we will discuss briefly.
2.  Mr. Duez's reflections on yesterday's Philosophical Chairs Discussion - "Where would you rather life - Athens or Sparta?"
3.  We will introduce Chapter 5 "The Roman Empire" and begin notes.
Mr. Duez will pass out the Targets for Chapter 5 Roman Empire.


Video Project VIDEO Rubric

Here is the video project VIDEO rubric. We handed in the essay today, but the video is not due until next Tuesday, November 3rd. I already handed this out in class, but just in case anyone has misplaced it, here it is:
Rubric Video Project Video

Targets Chapter 5 "Roman Empire"


Questions from Chapter 5: (due on October 2nd)
This Roman Chapter will be divided into two tests. 
The first test will be on Wednesday, November 4th and Thursday, November 5th
This test will mostly focus on Vocabulary, the impact of Geography on Rome, and development of the Roman government.
(The end of this six week's period is Friday, November 6th)
Reminder that the Video for the Video Project is due on Tuesday, November 3rd.Chapter 5 Targets "Roman Empire"                                                                                                                                            

Agenda: Monday, October 26, 2009

Quote of the Day:  "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire

 Agenda:  
1.  Turn in Video Project Essay.  (-10 points each day it is late)
2.  How to:  "Philosophical Chairs" 
5 Main Rules:
1)  Only spend "1 minute" in the hot seat or undecided portion of the room.

2)  Repeat or Rephrase a "2nd time" what the last person said before you begin.

3)  Wait "3 Seconds" when the last person speaks to be sure they are finished.

4)  You must wait "4 Passes" to speak again.  In other words, you would wait until a person on your side speaks before you can speak again.

5)  MOVE - Move your "5" toes and get up to show support for something that was said that you agree with.
 Tomorrow we will being studying Rome - Chapter 5

Agenda: Friday, October 23, 2009

Today we look at the Battle of Thermoopylae  ("The Hot Gates") was very significant in the course of World History.  


We will watch the video "The Last Stand of the 300 Spartans" in class and take notes.  The notes will be used as help in our Philosophical Chairs on Monday in class.  The question will be the same as what we had on the test:  "Where would you rather live - Athens or Sparta?"


The 300 Greek Spartans that make their stand there have been remembered throughout history.  An example of the type of sacrifice is the Battle of the Alamo.  Both ancient and modern writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the power of a patriotic army of freemen defending native soil. The performance of the defenders at the battle of Thermopylae is also used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain as force multipliers and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds (source. 


Below is the first of 10 videos from Youtube that you can use if you were absent to catch up on what you missed on Friday.  




See the next 9 videos here:
The Last Stand of the 300 Spartans on Youtube

Agenda: Wed/Thu October 20, 2009 and October 21, 2009

Quote of the Day: "A true friend is one soul in two bodies." - Aristotle


Today is our test on Chapter 4 - Ancient Greece.


Agenda:
1.  Review quickly for the test
2.  Take the Ch. 4 Test
3.  Explain expectations for Philosophical Chairs.  Introduce the concept, the 5 rules, and how the debate/discussion is played.  We will do PChairs on Monday for the question:
"Where would you rather life?  Athens or Sparta?"


More info here on Philosophical Chairs


On Friday the class will watch a video on the 300 Spartans that fought Persian.  This is a little taste of what you will see.  It is not from the actual video, but something similar.  This one is created by using actual video game footage.  Very interesting stuff:


Alexander the Great Video


Chapter 4 - Alexander the Great from Mr. Duez on Vimeo.
Video tribute to Alexander the Great.

Be Like Ben. RIP Benjamin A. Slaver

More on the life of Benjamin A. Slaver here:  Clearwater Site profile of Ben
More information on Ben's Clearwater Initiative here:  http://www.clearwaterinitiative.org/




More on Clearwater Initiative:

Agenda: Tuesday, Oct. 20th, 2009

Quote of the Day:  "The unexamined life is NOT worth living."  - Socrates

Learning Targets:
*  Understand the importance and roles of the Ancient Greece philosophers and educators and their impact on life today.
*  Develop a thesis for the question:  "Where would you rather live?  Athens or Sparta?"
*  Appreciate the brilliance and dominance of the life of Alexander the Great.  Determine the impact of the spread of Hellenistic ideas to the eastern world.

Agenda:
1.  Develop thesis to the essay question for the test:  "Where would you rather live?  Athens or Sparta?"  (Remember to include culture, education, military, government, standard of living and your personal preferences.  Also keep in mind that this question is essentially a compare/contrast question where you are choosing one side or the other.  There is no 'right side' to choose.  The best answer is the one that is supported best by the facts and information surrounding the two city-states)
2.  Notes - Philosophy and Education - Part III (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Thucydides, etc.)
3.  Alexander the Great - video by Mr. Duez (10 minutes).  Take notes and understand the contributions of Alexander to the spread of Greek ideas world wide.

TEST NEXT TIME.
Project Essay is due on Monday, Oct. 26th.
Mr. Duez will be out of class next time.  We will watch the Real Story of the 300 Spartans.

Alexander the Great Video

Link to Vimeo.com Video:  "Alexander the Great" by Mr. Duez

Agenda: Monday, October 19, 2009

Quote of the Day: "One man with courage is a majority." - Andrew Jackson 

Learning Targets:
* Students will determine how Athenian Democracy developed after a period of Tyranny in Athens.
* Students will see the importance of Gods and architecture while studying Athens in class.  The Parthenon and the festival of the Panathenian will be explained.
* Students will compare and contrast the role of women in Sparta and Athens

Agenda:
1.  Reminder of the due date next Monday for the essay portion of the Video Project.  We will see a video describing how to format their paper in MLA.  We will also see a satrical video clip about plagerism that will highlight what a student should do when writing a research paper.
YouTube.com Video:  Your Writing Not Someone Else's  
2.  Notes on Athenian Democracy.
3.  Tomorrow we'll discuss the Educators and Philosophers of Greece and we'll also discover the legend of Alexander the Great.

Test is on Wed/Thu.
Essay for project due next Monday
Video due on November 3rd

Agenda: Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

Quote of the Day: "One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy." -- E.B. White

Learning Targets:
* Compare and Contrast Sparta and Athens
* Determine the differences between the roles of men and women in Sparta and Athens

Agenda:
1. Quiz
2. Sparta and Athens - Notes.
3. "Where would you rather live - Sparta or Athens?"

Test is next Wed/Thu
Project paper is due next Monday, October 26th
Project video is due November 3rd

Chapter 4 Ancient Greece - Part III Notes

Chapter 4 Ancient Greece Part 3

TEST Change

I have said that the test is Tuesday. I have made an "executive decision" that the test should now be Wednesday/Thursday. We are just not as ready in all the classes and I do not want to cut Greece short.

So, on Monday we'll discuss "Athenian Democracy" (notes are at the end of section 2). On Tuesday we'll finish up the third section of the notes which is about "Greek Philosophers and Education" and we'll ask discuss Alexander the Great.

The essay question to focus on is:
"Where would you rather live? Athens or Sparta?"

The essay should be 3 paragraphs. There needs to be an underlined thesis statement. We will work on this on Monday/Tuesday during class.

Notes for Chapter 4 Ancient Greece - Part II

Chapter 4 Ancient Greece Part 2

Agenda: Wed/Thu 10/14 and 10/15 2009

Quote of the Day: "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." -- Jim Stovall

Learning Targets:
*Compare and Contrast life in Athens and Sparta
*Understand the role of women in both Athens and Sparta

Agenda:
1. New Seats
2. Eagle and Pigeon Awards
3. Vocab for the Greek City-State
4. Notes for 2nd part of Chapter - Sparta and Athens

We looked at Sparta today and we'll discover Athens on Friday.
Friday is also the vocabulary quiz.
Tuesday is the test.
On Monday we'll discuss Philosophers and Alexander the Great

Notes - Chapter 4 Ancient Greece Part 1

Chapter 4 Ancient Greece Part 1

Agenda: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009

Quote of the Day: "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. "
— Pericles

Learning Targets:
*Compare and contrast the early greek civilizations of the Minoans and Mycenaeans.
*Understand the functions of early Greek city-states
*Compare and contrast Athens and Sparta.

Agenda:
1. My thoughts on our "Edmodo Experiment" from last week. Check out my power point about how we set it up and how it went: Edmodo Experiment
2. Notes on Greece - Early Civs (Minoans & Mycenaeans), Setup of a City-State, and Athens and Sparta.
3. If time, discuss the due dates for project, homework, quiz, test.

Due Dates:
Today - Homework Chapter 4 Ancient Greece
Friday - Quiz Chapter 4
Next Tuesday - Test Chapter 4
FINAL ESSAY for project due on Monday October 26nd
FINAL VIDEO for project due on Tuesday November 3rd

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

What do you think of this surprising development?
Proud that an American has won the award. But, hope it only leads to more peace.

Agenda: TGIF October 09, 2009

Quote of the Day:  "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but rather what is woven into the lives others."  - Pericles

Learning Targets:
* Students will learn cooperative text analysis through text based discussion - Socratic Seminar
* Students will determine the message and meaning of Pericles Funeral Oration.
* What does it mean to be Athenian?

Agenda:
1.  Get Rough Draft Essays for the project back.  Discuss that you can reassess to 100.  The MLA formatting needs a LOT of work.  Please come to Mr. Duez if you need help. (5 min total)
2.  Expectations for Socratic Seminar:
You will be assessed as follows:
50% on the Annotation and Questions written on the Funeral Oration text.
50% on the Notes on a separate sheet of paper and your reflection at the end. 
I will collect both the packet and separate sheet at the end of the period.
3.  Socratic Seminar on "Funeral Oration" with Edmodo.com.  Students will be placed into 6 groups and then 1 facilitator/captain of each group will have a laptop that is logged into Edmodo.com.  As you discuss the text, add questions and comments through Edmodo and reply and help other groups through the laptop.
4.  Debrief on Funeral Oration and Edmodo.  Collect Annotations, Questions and Reflections at the door.

FINAL ESSAY for project due on Monday October 22nd
FINAL VIDEO for project due on Tuesday November 3rd

Animoto Contest Winners

This is pretty cool.  Animoto.com held a contest for best videos.  These were the winners:
animoto.com Contest Winners

The skydive and college life are my favorites.  What are yours?

Did you learn any tricks from what they created?

DrPic.com - Image Editor on the Web


There are others of these, but I came across DrPic.com today in 5th period when Irena astutely asked if there are any programs on our computers that can edit images. DrPic.com does it through the web browser. Very cool.

You can do all of these things (shown to the right): resize, crop, rotate, add text, add frames, etc.  Very cool and pretty easy to use.

If you have a very dark image, you can increase the brightness.  Or vice versa, you could darken a very light image.

Check it out here at:  DrPic.com

What do you think?  Anyone using this for the video project?

8 Years Ago - We began war... we are still in Afghanistan

Many forget, we are still a nation at war. This story by Ann Curry reminds us all of the sacrifice.

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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tips for Friday's Socratic Seminar w/Edmodo

Some tips for Friday's Socratic Seminar.

Reminder: Socratic Seminar w/Edmodo for Friday.

TO DO: Read the text, underline, circle, highlight things you think are important or that you do not understand. Write at least one question on the handout for class on Friday.

I will be choosing captains (facilitators) to lead the groups based on your questions and annotation of the text.

Link to the text: Pericles - Funeral Oration

Looking forward to seeing how it goes on Friday.

Some things to consider:
Listen actively.
Build on what others say.
Expose/suspend your assumptions.
Do not step on other’s talk. Silences and pauses are OK.
Emphasize clarification, amplification, and implications of ideas.
Converse directly with each other, not through the facilitator.
Let the conversation flow without raising hands, as much as possible.
Make references to the text and encourage others to do the same.
Watch your air time for how often you speak and how much you say when you speak.
Question 1—Agreement: Which parts of the text do we agree with in terms of our work?
Question 2—Aspiration: Which parts of the text do we aspire to or want to work toward?
Question 3—Alignment: What is the current reality, and what is the gap between where we are and our aspirations?”
Question 4—Adjustments: What needs to be done for us to succeed?

Debrief (5 Minutes). When everyone has spoken, the facilitator closes the discussion about the text and poses the following questions for open discussion:
· What did we learn?
· What new insights did we gain as result of this protocol?
· What worked well?
· Did we follow the protocol? If not, why?
· How could the process be improved?

Agenda: Wed. and Thu. 10-6 and 10-7, 2009.

Quote of the Day: "I'm not young enough to know everything." - Sir James Matthew Barrie

Learning Targets:
* The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.
* support a point of view on a social studies issue or event;
* The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.
* transfer information from one medium to another, including written to visual and statistical to written or visual, using computer software as appropriate.

Agenda:
1. Warmup - Video from last year. (5 min)
2. Discuss strategies for good Socratic Seminar on Friday. Come prepared having read, annotated the text and have a question about Pericles Funeral Oration. (5 min)
3. Time to work in groups on the laptops for the video project. Mr. Duez will show tips and tricks on how to create videos in Animoto, Moviemaker, and Photostory.

Using MLA Format - "How do I Cite a Website?"

For your research paper in the Video Project, you must have at least 5 sources in MLA Format.

But, how do I cite websites?

If you quote fewer than 200 words from any source you are within the rules of "fair use" and do not have to ask permission of the work's author/editor to cite them in a scholarly paper. But you do still have to cite the source in a works cited page.

Use KnightCite or EasyBib to help, but the Works Cited page should look like this:
Name of site owner, author or editor. Title of Web Site, Date of latest posting, if available. Online.
Internet. Name of organization sponsoring Web site. Access or printout date .
For example, an article from the New York Times website:
Gentelman, Jeffery. "Rwandan Fugitive Is Captured in Uganda ." NYTimes.com New York Times, Oct. 2209. Web. 6 Oct. 2009 .

If you are missing any information from the website and can not find it, you can leave it blank. Please provide as much information as possible. But, you should also be considering whether the source is a reliable one if you can not find an author name. Does that maybe require you to head to the library and find a book that can help?

You need to have both the reference in your paper AND the Works Cited Page.

When you refer to an idea in a paper, even if it is not a direct quotation, you should reference the person from whom you got the idea.

To do that you would need to put in parenthesis the name of the author (or if the name of the author is unclear the name of the website) at the end of the sentence you wrote:
Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
Then in your Works Cited page you will have an entry with Burke's name listed where the reader can check to see what source you used.

Good luck! Please come to me during class or tutoring for help. I can also be reached through email. Don't claim ignorance on this. Having a paper without sources is cheating! And you will need to redo the paper before you receive a grade from me. I will not tolerate it. If you try that in college you may be expelled from school. It is a very serious offense. But, I am hear to teach you to do it the right way. When you get to AP, Dual Credit or College you will have the skills needed to succeed.

For more information see the You Tube video below:

Using You Tube Downloader


Many students have asked how to download youtube videos, convert them to the right format and then insert them into Windows Movie Maker.

Here is an easy to use solution:
Youtubedownload.altervista.org

The program is called "Youtubedownloader." I have used it and it works. AND IT'S FREE. As Mr. Duez always says, "If it's free it's for me... if it's free... I'll take 3!"

Also, here are some tutorials online to help with Photostory:
Lots of video tutorial and how to for Photostory

Photostory Tutorial: Introduction

Here are a few for Windows Movie Maker:
Getting Started with Movie Maker from Microsoft

Free Windows Movie Maker Tutorial

How to with moviemaker - lots of video examples

Have fun. I can't wait to see what you guys create!

Pericles Funeral Oration & the "Edmodo Experiment"

In class on Friday we will do a Socratic Seminar with small groups discussing the following text from Pericles Funeral Oration.

As you read and prepare for the class on Friday, keep APPARTS in mind:
AP PARTS Document Analysis
Author
Who created the document/gave the speech/created the piece of art?
Does he or she have a certain viewpoint that affects the meaning?
Place and Time
Where and when was the document created?
Does the place and time affect the meaning of the document?
Prior Knowledge
What information is helpful to know when approaching the document?
Audience
For whom was the document created?
Reason
Why was it created? Importance of the time and place?
The Main Idea
What is the Main Idea (or thesis) behind the document?
Significance
Why is this document/speech/art important?
Also be sure to underline, highlight, circle and annotate the text. Come to class with at least one question to discuss in your group for Friday.

Pericles Funeral Oration
On Friday we'll be using the social networking software for Teachers and Students called Edmodo:
What is Edmodo?

A private microblogging platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files, events and assignments.
During the socratic seminar we will have one student in each small group that will post ideas, questions, and remarks to Edmodo. All the other laptops in the class will also have accounts that are on the site. They will also have a person that is posting to the site. All groups will be able to read those questions and comments.

Mr. Duez hopes that this is a fun and interesting way to drive small group discussion. We will find out Friday during our "Edmodo Experiment!"

Agenda: Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Quote of the Day: "Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful." - Ammond

Learning Targets:
* The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.
* support a point of view on a social studies issue or event;
* The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.
* transfer information from one medium to another, including written to visual and statistical to written or visual, using computer software as appropriate.

Agenda:
1. Students will receive the handout: Pericles Funeral Oration. Read it. Annotate the text. Come prepared for class on Friday with questions regarding the reading. We will do a Socratic Seminar discussion with laptops and the website: Edmodo.com for Friday.
2. We will discuss the video "Athens Subway" from yesterday.
3. Time on the laptops to research the project. We will focus on the video portion today and Wed/Thu
4. Hand in rough drafts for research paper for Video Project:
A. At least 1 page Rough Draft itself is worth 60 points
B. Thesis Underlined is 20 points
C. At least 5 sources in MLA format is 20 points
On Wed/Thu we will look at how to do a Socratic Seminar, Get a checklist for the video in the Video Project, Mr. Duez will show tips and tricks on how to create the videos, and have time to research in class on the laptops. It will be our last day of research in class on the project.

Agenda: Friday, Oct. 2, 2009

Good luck to all our sports teams this weekend! I'll be at the Volleyball game tonight as Cristina's guest. Very honored to be there on Teacher's Night. Go Eagles!

Quote of the day: “The most valuable of all talents... that of never using two words where one will do.” -- Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

Learning Targets:
* Understand the impact of Geography on Greece.
* The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.
* support a point of view on a social studies issue or event;
* The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.
* transfer information from one medium to another, including written to visual and statistical to written or visual, using computer software as appropriate.

Agenda:
1. Get the Essay Rubric and discuss what is due on Tuesday - Essay, thesis, and sources - Rough Draft.
2. Rest of the period on the laptops doing research for your project.
3. Exit Ticket - Give me your groups Thesis statement at the door.

Have a great weekend. Keep working on Chapter 4 Greece and your project. We'll focus on the video part of the project on Tuesday and Wed/Thu next week. Twitter Socratic Seminar on Friday.