St. Patrick's Day

Just like the Dominican Republic has a patron saint (and many of it's towns have their own patrons as well), many traditionally Roman Catholic countries have a special saint.

Ireland, an island country in Europe, has Saint Patrick as its patron saint. There are many legends (and rumors!) about Saint Patrick and his day, March 17.

In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated as a public bank holiday - which means there is no work or school! Since the 1990s, it has been a day used to showcase the Irish culture in Ireland and also in the Irish diaspora throughout the world. 

Read more information about Saint Patrick here.

Assignment:
Watch the video about Saint Patrick and read the information in the above link. Decide whether you think that Saint Patrick is a solid choice for the patron saint of Ireland or not. 

Prepare and write a PERSUASIVE paragraph (4-6 sentences) to convince your audience whether Saint Patrick is a good patron or not. You must use at least one FACT from the information found in the video and/or webpage and site your source (like we learned in class).

Publish your paragraph in the comments section below.

Some things to consider.

Watch the following videos. While you're watching, try to listen for the following questions:

How was the first vaccine created?
Why did people think the creator of the vaccine was crazy?

What is community immunity?
How can community immunity prevent the spread of diseases?

Prepare a short response to the questions. You can form a paragraph, following the structure we use in class, that tells a little bit about the history of vaccines and then how vaccines create community immunity. Publish your response in the comment section below. 

Anti-Vaxx

We are investigating the reasons why people choose not to vaccinate their children for our cause and effect essays. In class, we're reading articles and information that explain, mostly, why people in countries other than the United States are not vaccinating their children. However, the "anti-vaxx" movement in the USA is gaining momentum, and has recently come into the media spot light because of an outbreak of measles - a disease that was almost completely eradicated through the use of vaccines.

Watch and listen to the video and find two CAUSES for the anti-vaxx movement in the US and Great Britain. Prepare a short paragraph explaining whether you AGREE or DISAGREE with these reasons for not vaccinating a child.

Publish your response in the comment section below.

Material in WEBSISE

Students, 

Please find the document "COMMA USAGE" in your "materiales en linea" drop box on WEBSISE, print it, and bring it to class. 

IPS Students, you need this document for class on Thursday, March 5.

ILE students, you need this document for class on Monday, March 9.

Week of February 23-27

There will be NO homework on the blog this week as you should be editing and re-writing the final draft of your personal narrative essay.

Please take the time you would normally spend on the blog-based homework and use it to complete your essay.

Thank you!

Personal Narrative Assignment

Over the past three weeks, we've talked in class (and on the blog) about IDENTITY and VALUES.
No blog posts this week - you will write your essay and take an exam.

Assignment:
Write an essay in the personal narrative format/style that addresses one of the following questions:

What does your name mean to you?

What do you value?

What event caused a change in you?

Things to remember:

++For this assignment I am not concerned with how many paragraphs you have - BUT I will be looking closely at the structure of the paragraphs you have and the sentences you use. If you are unsure which punctuation to use to create a complex sentence, MAKE TWO SENTENCES. It is better, at this point, to have choppy sentences that are correct than run-on sentences that are not.

++Please, please, please take advantage of the spell-check on your computer. Microsoft is rarely wrong about misspelled words (and the grammar checker is pretty helpful, too).

++Remember, this is YOUR personal narrative. It belongs to NOBODY else. The more time you spend writing it, the better it will be. Please do not wait until the last minute to complete it. Please do not use your phone to type it out. Beyond the importance of getting a grade for this assignment, you should take PRIDE in your writing, especially because this is YOUR story.

Logistics:

++Your essay needs to be at least 350 and no more than 500 words long. Remember that your paper must be formatted correctly like we discussed in class. (You do NOT need to manually count the number of words, your word processor has a function for that.)

++ You will need to turn in a physical, PRINTED (not hand-written) copy of your essay. You also need to send me a digital copy of the file (professormelaniepucmm@gmail.com)

++I will proof-read your essay and return it to you - the proof-reading checks your grammar (but does not correct it) and gives suggestions for content. You will have exactly one week from the day I return your paper to you to REVISE your essay and turn it back in for a grade.

++When you turn in your FINAL COPY of your essay, I request that you turn in:
           ** Your final, clean copy of the essay

           ** The original proof-read draft (I won't know how much you've worked on the final copy if I can't see the original)
           ** The forms your peer editers filled out, and the original draft that they read

           ** Any graphic organizers, writing prompts or journals that you did IN CLASS as preparation for this essay.

           ** YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF WRITING FROM THIS UNIT. This can be a journal entry, a group writing activity, a homework assignment, anything that you enjoyed writing and think is a good representation of what you've done in class this month.

Check My Grammar

This homework is a little different than other assignments. You will copy and paste the following paragraph into a Word document, find and correct all of the mistakes, and then you will send it to my e-mail, professormelaniepucmm@gmail.com

The mistakes are ONLY in grammatical and structural conventions that we studied in class:
easily confused words, contractions, possessives, capital letters and double-lettered endings.

i sometimes catch myself judgging people I dont no, just because of the first impression they give. in reality, i do not have a clue about there real stories. i especially think people judge teenage girls with Babies to quickly. sure, they may have made a mistake, but the girls' usually know that, and their the ones who have to pay the price. i only experiencced the glares and rude comments for one night, but i thought of all the girls who have to deal with these looks wherever they go. we should all be slowwer to judge these girls, or anyone else, and realize that some things are not as they seam.

(Capital and capitol are often confused words! I had to check to make sure I was using the correct one when creating instructions for this assignment).