Stinging Scorpion: Expectations

Individual students will:

Keep up with the reading schedule to enhance and support our learning community through regular round table conversations and content quizzes.

Round Table Conversations: in order to ensure that blog entries are not on the same content, and are thoughtful and insightful, groups will meet to discuss each topic.

Conversations may be recorded with your laptop, orchestrated using VoiceThread, or recorded in some other fashion that will allow you to document, post, and refer back to your conversations.
Requirements for posted conversations are ongoing so please stay tuned for details.

Create blog entries that will demonstrate unique ideas, thoughtful connections, prompts, questions, discoveries etc.

Blog Posts: each individual group member is responsible for writing one post per topic. Entries should be 300-400 words and demonstrate academic excellence.

Characterization

Literary Connections to Other Texts

Real World Issues

Connections to Political Systems

Connections to Economic Systems

Conflict

Setting

Film Study

Freebie

Use Twitter to share their observations, ideas, wonderings and more outside of round-table conversations (at least 1/day)

Tweets: all group members will be expected to tweet regularly under their group's hashtag to contribute thought provoking ideas, questions, and the like outside of round table conversations.

Comment an average of 3 times per week on other student-group blogs, other than their own, over the duration of the inquiry

Provide thoughtful, well-written reactions that will invite others to leave comments (or even inspire blog entries of their own)

Contribute at least 1 comment on each of the other student-group blogs from your pod during the project's duration (a record in your personal Google Doc would help to organize this)

Use and reference the Internet appropriately (in MLA format) — including the content / value of all entries, links, comments, and behind-the-scenes administration of the web site itself

Submit a final response detailing what they have learned through this project, and how they personally enhanced and supported their learning community.

‘Editors’ will:

Each student in the group will be required to be the 'editor' for one week during the project
Maintain the team’s blog during the length of one week
Monitor the group's Twitter feed so it is not being abused
Support individual requests re: the publication of their entries, the validity of their content, and any wishes they have re: the actual web site itself
Collaborate with Mrs. Waite & Ms. Groeller re: the publication of all links and comments, and any troubleshooting that may be neccesary
Encourage team members to maintain regular participation
Keep an accurate team Google Docs record (i.e a spreadsheet) of all team members’ contributions to-date

Teams will:

Successfully create a blog that demonstrates insight and analysis re: House of the Scorpion
Create a unique name and look for the blog by the end of the project (without it becoming a distraction in terms of the quality / analysis of content that is published)
Use at least 2 web collaboration tools (beyond the blog and Google Docs) to demonstrate a unique way to share knowledge / discoveries
Use class time in an appropriate manner at all times
Present to the class on 2 occasions what has been ‘learned’ and what has been ‘created’: 1) sometime during the process and 2) on the final submission day

Mrs. Waite & Ms. Groeller will:

Create a working web site to house the project (the one that you are at now)
Create a manageable reading calendar
Create a classroom / work environment that will allow students to successfully work as teams and complete the overall project
Provide behind-the-scenes technology support (and advice)
Share the student-groups’ work / projects with professional educators and related colleagues

Stinging Scorpion