This is a bit different from the assignment sheet I've given you. For this week's blog all I want is for you to create your argument as to whether this year's summer assignment was effective. Remember, as always, to post two replies (which challenge or offer more support) to other people's comments.
You can discuss any part of the assignment, from the textbook to the blog to the requirements and due-dates.
Good luck and enjoy the rest of your summer!
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22 comments:
Hey Mr. Holt! I hope your summer is going well. I;m glad to see that the blog is actually working with this class. How many students do you have? Hopefully more than three.
Cecilia Bulzomi
If it weren't my teacher asking me this question my automatic answer would be that I hated the summer assignment. When I really think about it though I enjoyed the summer assignment. I liked being able to see how the class was going to be when we get there. The book wasn't the best but it did help me some. When you think about it we could have had it way worse, like reading a whole long boring book and writing a report on it. So in reality we really had it easy.
Cortney Berry
8/8/2008 Assignment
I thought that the blogs for a summer assignment were a good idea. In order to stay in the class you had to read the book to follow the assignments, and by breaking it into weekly increments the reading was not overwhelming. I also enjoyed the exchange of ideas with my classmates. The definitions were time consuming and tedious, but I can see the importance of knowing each term.
I've really enjoyed this year’s summer assignment. Reading a chapter a week wasn’t too much at the beginning and plus, any A.P. book that isn’t the A.P. World History book feels like light reading. I liked the blog because it was a simple enough way to do assignments and it was helpful to read other peoples views and interpretations of the work we had to do. Weekly due dates were not hard to keep up with and I feel like it was a good amount of work for a summer assignment because it wasn’t overwhelming and at the same time gave little room for procrastination. I did find this summer assignment effective and it was my favortie so far.
Danny Holland
8/8/08 Assignment
I thought that the blog, in general, was a good idea because it gave everyone in the class a chance to voice their opinion on activities with the opportunity to be criticized by either classmates or the teacher. The homework was broken down into bearable pieces so that no one felt like they were being overwhelmed with an incredible amount of summer homework.
Even though I am not completely finished with the summer assignment, I believe that by having the blog, I was able to keep from waiting until the last minute to complete the entire assignment.
Sometimes, however, I felt pressured into just skipping certain readings in the textbook in order to answer the questions. I'm not sure how that problem could be resolved, though.
Brittany Murphy
08/08/08 Assignment
I thought the blog was a really good idea for a summer assignment. I definately liked breaking each blog posting down by the week, that way I didn't get overwhelmed. I also liked how the blog showed how even though everyone had the same assignment, the was a lot of varying answers and opinions for many of the assignments.
Danny,
I know what you mean by feeling tempted to skip some of the reading and just move onto the questions. In the book, it seemed like each chapter would start out with new information and then just keep repeating itself over and over and over again throughout the rest of the chapter.
Courtney,
I agree with you I disliked the flashcards most out of the whole assignment but over al it was a great exercise for the up coming school year.
Danny,
I think most of us wanted to skip over parts in the book and probly did at times but readin the book was going to teach us the most about this class so we all just had to do it. That was a good thing to mention.
Greg Baugher
"The last Blog!"
I thought this was a really good format for a summer assignment. It really helped me space things out, so I didn't end up doing everything at once. I also thought the blog was great for sharing our ideas and opinions about the assignments and the activities.
This format was more interactive than simply defining words, or writing summaries of what I've read. I thought that helped me stay focused, because every assignment was different, so it didn't become boring.
Overall, I thought this was a very effective way to introduce us to the course and the things we'll be learning this year.
Cortney Berry
Reply to Everyone
I know that we are supposed to respond to two posts, but since we all basically said the same thing, I thought that I would just reply to all of you at one time. I really enjoyed the interactions that we had on the blog, and I think that the class will be fun. We seem to all agree that it was easier to break the assignment down into weekly posts, rather than have to do one big project for the summer. I really enjoyed this assignment. Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Cortney Berry
Jenny Wheeler
8/8/08 Assignment
Summer homework is never a fun thing to do, but making it a weekly blog made it a lot better. I like that you gave us weekly due dates, that way I didnt wait til the last week of summer to do all of it at once. Also, because we got to voice our opinions on most assignments, we got to see the views of our classmates. And even though the book was a lot to read in one chapter, it really helped the information to sink in. Overall, I enjoyed this summer assignment.
Cortney
I agree with you about the definitions. They are very time consuming, but the helped me to understand each word a lot better.
Greg
I agree with you that this was a good way to introduce us into the new year. I also agree with you that because each assignment was different, the homework never got boring.
Cortney,
I also think that this class will be alot of fun once school starts.
Just judging on the amount of people that have kept up with the blog, it doesn't seem like our class size will be very large, but I still think that it will be a cool class. =]
Cortney,
Even though I have only started doing the definitions, it has helped me understand the language that will be used in this class. Just writing things down on paper (in this case flashcards) really helps me memorize. I also agree that it's time-consuming, but it is definitely worth it.
Brittany,
I like the opinions that I receive from other people reading my homework as well. It really shows you how people have different views on certain situations. I don't know about you, but I actually enjoy voicing my opinion, even if it is different from everyone else's.
Danny,
I agree with everything you said. I am not fully done with the definitions yet either (i assumed you meant those when you said you weren't fully finished.) But I didn't feel like I was pressured into skipping parts of the reading.
Greg,
I agreed with you when you said it is easy to stay focused. I also felt that because of the weekly due dates it was easy to keep my mind on each assignment which was, for the most part, a little different each week.
-Steph
Danny,
I know how you felt with the reading. I would try and read the chapter, but then I felt like the chapter kept repeating itself, and I would answer the questions. I don't really know how that can be solved either; the student just has to be motivated to read the whole chapter.
I'm glad to hear that you liked the blog. Of course, those of you that are left have positive things to say about it. I wonder what the others would have to say about it?
As more and more college classes implement online classrooms or forums, I think this is a great experience for you. When I was in college and grad school the first time around, one rarely needed a computer for anything other than word processing.
When I went back to grad school to get an advanced certificate in educational leadership, EVERY class had an online component. My wife teaches online and hybrid classes at Germanna. The ability to post and respond will serve you well.
Moreso, the ability to stick with something and do it even though it isn't easy (to do or find a computer), is really the thing you should be most proud of.
Great work! I loved reading your posts and look forward to a great year of AP (that actually may have boys in it!).
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