READING ACTIVITY

History is full of cases where dreams have been a pathway to creativity and discovery. A striking example is provided by Dr. Otto Loewi, a pharmacologist and winner of a Nobel prize. Loewi had spent years studying the chemical transmission of nerve impulses. A tremendous breakthrough in his research came when he dreamed of an experiment three nights in a row. The first 2 nights he woke up and scribbled the experiment on a pad. But the next morning, he couldn't tell what the notes meant. On the third night, he got up after having the dream. This time, instead of making notes he went straight to his laboratory and performed the crucial experiment. Loewi later said that if the experiment had occurred to him while awake he would have rejected it.

Loewi's experiment gives some insight into using dreams to produce creative solutions. Inhibitions are reduced during dreaming, which may be especially useful in solving problems that require a fresh point of view.

Being able to take advantage of dreams for problem solving is improved if you "set" yourself before retiring. Before you go to bed, try to think intently about a problem you wish to solve. Steep yourself in the problem by stating it clearly and reviewing all relevant information. Then use the suggestions listed in the previous section to catch your dreams. Although this method is not guaranteed to produce a novel solution or a new insight, it is certain to be an adventure. About half of a group of college students using the method for 1 week recalled a dream that helped them solve a personal problem.

Coon, Dennis. 2004. Introduction to Psychology, 10th Edition, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (page 285)

SENTENCE WRITING EXCERCISE

Write ten sentences about any subject—your favorite color, for instance. Keeping your subject matter simple in these sentence writing exercises will make it easier to find your sentence structures later. After you have written your sentences, go back and underline your subjects once and your verbs twice. Use your own paper, and keep all of your sentence writing results in a folder. When you have completed your editing post your paragraph in the comments section of this post and also as a post on your personal Blog.

PARAGRAPH EXERCISE

In the comment section below: Type the subjects in UPPERCASE letters
and type the verbs in lowercase letters

“Al Levis invented the popular snack Slim Jims. Slim Jims are stick-shaped meat snacks. Levis was a high-school dropout but eventually made a fortune from his snack product. Slim Jims originally came in jars full of vinegar. In the 1940s and 50s, bar customers ate Slim Jims with their cocktails. Then Levis’s company offered Slim Jims in individual packages. People ate them on camping trips and at sporting events. Levis sold his invention in the late 1960s but continued his good work. Before his death in March of 2001, Levis donated millions of dollars to worthy causes.”

The least your should know about English Page 68

September 24th-28th 2012

Good Morning,

I am pleased to report that most people did well on the test. Congratulations!

Plans for this week:

As I mentioned in class we will now be moving on to Part 2 of our book and your first assignment is to:

a.) Complete Exercises 1-5 from pages 65-68.
This is due Wednesday September 26th 2012.

b.) You are also to complete blog component which will consist of three posts.

1. Sentence Writing Exercise

2. The Paragraph Exercise

3. The Reading Exercise

Simply post your work as a comment at the bottom of each exercise.

c.) A comprehension exercise will be given as an in class activity at the very start on class. As usual this will be based on the reading activity. This exercise is an excellent opportunity for you to boost your grades so make sure to do your best.

I look forward to an exciting week with you. Prepare.. Prepare.. Prepare!

Test Time :-)

I am so excited about this test later this evening. I am looking forward to some great results. Please be sure to review. (Part 1 of your text; past quizzes and assignments on the following topics.

a. Words commonly misused

b. Parts of speech

c. Contractions and possessives

d. Capitalization

e. Fragments/Sentences/Run on

f. Parallelism

I’ll be in class at 5:00 pm. Come early if you would like to see me.

Do not panic just take your time. You will be fine as long as you have adequately prepared for the test.

Your favorite teacher...

Write a short paragraph (ten to twelve sentences) describing your favorite teacher. Elaborate on the qualities that you feel made him/her your favorite. That teacher may be from any level of your education.

When you are done, go back through the paragraph and BOLD your single-word adjectives and adverbs.

Post your completed paragraph in the comment section below. Please remember to edit prior to posting.

For those who may need a refresher on how to bold click How to bold using Ms Word 2007

Writing component to Reading Activity 3

Reading Activity 3 continued.. After discussing our Reading Activity 3 last week I gave a writing assignment.

You were to write the fourth paragraph to complete the piece.

Please post your paragraph below. Be sure to review your work prior to posting.

Exercise 3 pg 26

The following is Exercise 3 taken from page 26 of your text. Please follow the instructions and post your responses below in the comment box.

“Label the parts of speech above all of the words in the following sentences using the abbreviations n, pro, adj, v, adv, prep, conj, and interj. For clarity’s sake, the sentences here are very brief, and you may ignore the words a, an, and the. Refer back to the definitions and examples of the parts of speech whenever necessary. When in doubt, leave a word unmarked until you check the answers at the back of the book after each set of ten sentences.”

1. Pigeons have a built-in compass in their brains.

2. This compass points them in the right direction as they fly.

3. Recently, pigeon experts in England conducted a study of these birds.

4. The study tracked the flights of certain pigeons for two years.

5. The results were very surprising.

6. Modern pigeons usually ignored their inner compasses.

7. They navigated by other methods instead.

8. The pigeons simply looked down and followed human highways.

9. They remembered roads from previous flights and took the same roads home again.

10. The pigeons even traced the roads’ turns, curves, and roundabouts as they flew.



Source: The Daily Telegraph, February 6, 2004

September 17-21 (TEST)

Happy Independence Day Belize!
This week we will continue working on fragments. I will be returning your papers on the activity that we did on identifying fragments, sentences and run-on sentences. We will then move on to Contractions, Parallel Constriction, Possessives and another Reading Activity.

We have a week full of activities. Please apply yourself and do the practice exercises provided on pages 37-41 and 43-47. Then attempt the Review of contractions and possessives exercise form page 48 of our text, The Least you should know about English, that I have attached below.

REVIEW OF CONTRACTIONS AND POSSESSIVES

Here are two review exercises. First, add the necessary apostrophes to the following sentences. Try to get all the correct answers.

1. Ive never laughed as hard as I did when I saw I Love Lucys chocolate factory episode.

2. The shows storyline is simple but very old-fashioned by todays standards.

3. Lucys husband, Ricky, and Ethels husband, Fred, switch places with their wives.

4. Ricky and Fred cant wait to see what its like to stay home and do all the housework.

5. They think itll be much easier than working to support the family.

6. Lucy and Ethels first step is to visit an employment agency and apply for a job that suits them; they take the employment agents suggestion and start work at a candy factory.

7. After Lucy watches one of the factorys best candy makers in action, Lucy tries to imitate the womans technique of pooling the chocolate, rolling the centers briefly around in it, and ending with a swirl of chocolate on the candies tops.

8. But Lucys candy centers get lost in her pool of chocolate, and she cant find any pieces big enough to deserve a swirl; Ethel hasnt done much better in her area.

9. Eventually, Ethel and Lucy are stationed at the candy wrapping conveyor belt; at first, they do fine, but as its speed increases, they dont know what to do and end up eating as many chocolates as they wrap.

10. Meanwhile, at home, Ricky and Freds experiences havent been any more successful than Lucy and Ethels, and they all decide that its best to switch back again.

Second, add the necessary apostrophes to the following student paragraph.

I consider my friend Alex to be one of the smartest people I know. Alex is a twenty-five-year-old film student at a nearby university. Hes presently in his senior year, but thats still far from the end for Alex. He plans to take full advantage of his universitys resources to learn what he needs before starting his own filmmaking career. He has access to his fellow students talent, his different teachers equipment and experience, and the film schools many contacts. Alex doesnt agree with a lot of the advice he gets from people in the film industry. They try to discourage him sometimes, but he wont let anything distract him from his goal of making great movies. Ive always been impressed by Alexs self-confidence, and its inspired me to believe in myself more than I ever have be

Please note that we will be having a Test on Wednesday. The contents will be all that we have covered to this point. Part 1 of our book. To prepare for your test, please complete the PROGRESS TEST Section that begins on page 54 -60.

Enjoy September 21st 2012.

Be safe and make some time to complete your assignments.

New members Woo Hoo!

I am happy to see we have some new members:-)
However I have not seen any new sentences posted for me to review:-(
Remember to participate, only you can make the class truly interactive.

Reading Activity click Play to listen to this post

Read the following passage taken from Sociology, 4th Edition page 424, then comment on your initial thoughts.

Does it relate to our Belizean society?

State the points you agree with then justify your agreement.

We will discuss the passage further as a class and follow up with a few questions that you will do individually. Be sure you attend class on Wednesday as it is not a holiday and I expect everyone to be present and on time.

_____________________________________________________________ One of the major processes that take place in schools, of course, is that students learn. When they graduate from high school, many can use a computer, write essays with three-part theses, and differentiate equations. In addition to learning specific skills, they also undergo a process of cognitive development wherein their mental skills grow and expand. They learn to think critically, to weigh evidence, to develop independent judgment. The extent to which this development takes place is related to both school and home environments.

An impressive set of studies demonstrates that cognitive development during the school years is enhanced by complex and demanding work without close supervision and by high teacher expectations. Teachers and curricula that furnish this setting produce students who have greater intellectual flexibility and higher achievement test scores. They are also more open to new ideas, less authoritarian, and less prone to blind conformity.

Unfortunately, the availability of these ideal learning conditions varies by students' social class. Studies show that teachers are most demanding when they are of the same social class as their students. The greater the difference between their own social class and that of their pupils, the more rigidly they structure their classrooms and the fewer demands they place on their students. As a result, students learn less when they come from a social class lower than that of their teacher. The social class gap tends to be largest when youngsters are the most disadvantaged, and this process helps to keep them disadvantaged.

Brinkerhoff, David B., White, Lynn K., and Riedmann, Agnes C.1997. Sociology, 4th Edition, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (page 424) ____________________________________________________________

Hint! Hint!

I am considering a make-up comprehension activity!

Don't miss your opportunity to earn a few extra points. Notice: Your comprehension Quiz grades have been posted and can be viewed in Engrade.

Plans for this week!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I see I have some new students who have joined us on the blog. Before we move on to what we have scheduled for this week let us review all that you should have already done. This is to ensure that if you have not completed any aspect yet, that you get a chance to do so.

Word's often confused (set 1)
You should learn the differences between the words in each set and prove understanding by using each word appropriately in a sentence. You are to post your sentences in the comment space provided below each word set.

You are expected to have completed exercise 1-5 by circling the correct word to ensure its proper use in the given sentences.

You are to complete the proofreading exercise on page 12 and identified all the errors of words that were misused in the paragraph.

Word's often confused (set 2)

You should learn the differences between the words in each set and prove understanding by using each word appropriately in a sentence. You are to post your sentences in the comment space provided below each word set.

You are expected to have completed exercise 1-5 by circling the correct word to ensure its proper use in the given sentences.

You are to complete the proofreading exercise on page 22 and identified all the errors of words that were misused in the paragraph.

You were to read "The Eight Parts of Speech" on page 23 and complete the tutorial that was assigned to you in your Engrade account.

Now on to our plans for this week:

Grammar:

You will label the parts of speech of all the words by using: n for a noun

pro for a pronoun

adj for an adjective

v for a verb

adv for an adverb

prep for a preposition

conj for a conjunction and interj for an interjection.

Exercise 1-5 on pages 26-28 and exercise 1-5 on pages 32-43 will be the practical activity for this segment.

Comprehension:

We will use the passage from the last post and discuss the various perspectives expressed.

We will also respond to a few comprehension questions geared to help us further analyze the passage in preparation for the scheduled graded activity.

Composition:
We will write paragraph three to the assigned passage.

I look forward to your continued participation in class.