Vocab.Week.13.

You know the drill. Do FIVE images. :)

revere -
vertigo -
punitive -
slander -
squander -
panache -
forlorn -
quell -
concision -
libel -
defamation -
misdirection -

READ ME...

I hope you all have a great weekend - I will be enjoying myself in Boston as the Red Sox devour the dreaded Yankees. :)

Your only homework for the weekend is to make sure your Hall of Icons project is finished to showcase and present on Monday.

Also, I want you all to brainstorm for your nonprofits. Feel free to comment below on what genre you want to work on. Use this information to help you determine who is in the nonprofit, etc.

Also, we will have vocabulary for the week, as well as current events.

Don't roll your eyes at me Maryross.

I will miss you all!

Elika :)

Hall of Icons...

What a great week!! I loved the constant energy in the classroom - and I truly enjoyed the laughs...

So now that we are done with the actual painting of your icons, I want to have you do the writing aspect. Consider questions, such as:

1. How did the social movement start? What caused it?
   
2. Why was it created?
   
3. Who were some key players? (popular and more unknown)
   
4. How was it popularized?
5. Why was it significant? What did it do?

Consider the "who, what, where, when, why" while doing this part...Also, make sure you check the directions I originally gave you.

Have everything finished for this project TODAY!

I am so proud of all of you!!!

All my love,
Elika :)

Reminders

College Day:

1. Permission slips due
2. Dress Professionally
3. You MUST go to internship on time
1. If you are taking public transportation FROM there, make sure you have mapquested beforehand, so you do not get lost!!!
   

For more information: nacacnet.org


Internship:

Your DP must be updated by next Monday, April 14th...It must include the following:

1. A link to your internship
2. Site name - description of work/mission
3. Link to mentor interview
   
4. Link to project proposal/summary of their site/project
5. Picture of you from your internship

April - Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Friends,

Many people don't know that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Well if ya don't know, now ya know!!

Current statistics are that an American is raped every 2 minutes. In case you don't feel like doing the math that's 30 every hour, 720 every day, and 262,800 every year.

Worldwide the numbers are 1 in 3 girls under the age of 18 and 1 in 4 boys under the age of 18. For adults it's 1 in 3 women and 1 in 10 men.

How many of these survivors do you know? How many of these survivors are our own loved ones? How many of us are survivors of sexual assault ourselves?

Stop the violence! Spread the knowledge!

The good news is that there has been a 35% increase in rapes reported to the police. Let's keep this trend going! Let's support our fellow community members by creating safe spaces for people to share their experiences, by educating ourselves on the facts about rape, and by sharing this information with our loved ones and the generations to come.

Check out these links and educate yourself!

http://www.ncjrs.gov/notices/ovw/saam/

http://www.sa.psu.edu/UHS/sexassault/assault.cfm

http://www.rainn.org/

And a helpful site for anyone going through (or about to go through) legalities:

http://criminal.findlaw.com/?DCMP=KWC-G-PUBLIC

2008 Goldman Sachs Foundation Youth Prize for Excellence in International Education

Asia Society and The Goldman Sachs Foundation are pleased to announce the 2008 Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education. Up to five winners will be selected to receive up to $10,000 each as well as an all-expense paid trip to New York City in November 2008 to receive their prize.

The 2008 competition asks students to create an in-depth written essay or multimedia feature examining a social or economic issue that has relevance to them in a global context. In the essay category, students will compare and contrast how the issue affects their community and a community abroad, as well as create recommendations for what lessons the two communities could learn from each other. In the multimedia category, students will explore how a global problem or challenge affects their life as an individual, as a member of their local community, and/or as a global citizen.

Please visit http://askasia.org/students/gsfprizes.html for the contest questions, eligibility rules, guidelines and helpful hints, and submission instructions. The deadline for applications for the Youth Prizes is Thursday, June 12, 2008.

The 2007 winners of The Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Elementary/Middle Schools, High Schools, States, and Media/Technology Organizations have just been announced! Please visit http://www.internationaled.org/prizes/ for more information about the 2007 winners and for the announcement of the 2008 cycle of prizes in early autumn.

Sincerely,

The Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes Team

Days of Grace

I should preface this poem by explaining that this man, an extraordinary poet and no poet at all, died of Lou Gherig’s disease. It is a painfully debilitating, brutal disease that leaves nothing intact except one’s mind: it never affects the cognitive, emotional, or spiritual in us. Which, honestly, can seem like more of a curse than less. This is D.H. Bleything’s poem, given to the students of Death and Dying - a class that pairs medical students with patients who know they will be dying soon and volunteer to help doctors communicate the coming of death to patients well - students whom he would not live to meet. Though he never had a chance to meet with these students, he was able to pass on these perfect, perfect words.

Days of Grace

My days of grace played out quickly.

Not grace, but splinters driven into the skin.

My prayers have dried up.

I have lost my music.

Not music the husks of prayers.

_______________________________________

The sun must always set. For Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and early pioneer of virtual reality, it is setting soon. Colleges and Universities across the nation have featured “Last Lecture” series, where professors are asked to give a lecture as if they knew it were to be their last lecture before they died. What would they say? What wisdom would they pass on to their students?

So, what I’d like to ask you to do today, most excellent students, is related to these things.

I would like you to begin working on a creative performance piece that will be due in class on Monday. I say “performance piece” even though I’m considering this a writing exercise, because I don’t want to limit you. You could do a lecture, you could do spoken word, but there’s a written component to it (whether it’s the script, the poem, etc.). I’d like you to work on your own for this one as it is a very personal piece of work.

The prompt is this:

You have only a limited time left to live. You are somehow able to leave a message behind, to pass on some final thoughts. What is your message?

Maybe you are working on the space shuttle and a deadly series of incoming solar flares is detected. You are able to send 3 minutes of video footage to earth before it hits.

Maybe control of a nuclear missile silo in Russia has been compromised, and one is headed towards Southern California. Maybe you are a part of the last stand, along with every other red Fruit Loop, against the continuing tyranny of the neighboring Cheerio nation. And, knowing the coming battle will be your last, set down some words on paper for your children to know their father by and, perhaps, to help them live a proud life.

It is creative in that you set the context of the scene. The why, and how, and how soon...As well as sending the message.

Here’s the rule - or the headfake, to use Randy’s language - no matter how silly, or how funny your context may be, the heart of your message must be earnest and sincere. If you really did know you were going to die, and you really did have a chance to say something meaningful to those you loved and offer some piece of advice… well, what would it be? So, whatever you decide to say, and however you decide to say it, be earnest at heart.