Spring Break Coming

I looked at the calendar today and noticed that it is only about a month until Spring Break arrives.  I’m looking forward to using the time to get caught up on my writing– and you know… my sanity.

My paper work has just gotten crazy in the past two years.  There are lesson plans, IEPs (Individual Education Plans), 504 plans (for students with medical issues), weekly writing prompts that must be turned in, writing samples that must be turned in, primary sources that must be turned in… and don’t forget that good old stand-by: Attendance, which despite the fact that it is taken on computer has to be replicated on paper to meet Nevada State law, which is stuck in the Dark Ages.

For those of you who haven’t been in school for a while and who may have never seen a lesson plan, here are a couple of mine.

 

Lesson One

U.S. History – 9.1 – Students will describe the annexation of Alaska and Hawaii by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills.

Introduction:  Today we continue our unit on American Imperialism.

Warm Up: Examine the maps on page 651.  According to the two maps, in which area did more fighting take place.  What evidence did you find to support your answer?

Daily Review: Review Beveridge’s speech.

Daily Objectives: See Below.

Student Friendly Objective: Describe expansion of US power overseas at the turn of the twentieth century.

Essential Question: How did the closing of the American Frontier impact U.S. oversees policies?

School-wide vocabulary: consistent, deduce, event, exhibit, prove

Define each of the terms students will encounter (whole class):  annexatiion, sphere’s of influence, Open Door Policy

Concept and Skill Development Application

The teacher will guide the students through a Think/Write/Discuss interactive lecture using the Smartboard.

A. Introductory/Motivational Question: Why do some countries try to rule and control other countries?  Students will write a 2-minute response.

B. After slide three (of five): Clarifying Question: Was American expansion fair to Japan?  Hawaii?  China?  Students will write a short response; sharing some questions aloud.

C. After slide 5: Reflective Question: How does American expansion at the beginning of the twentieth century compare with America’s role in the world today?  Students will write a two minute response.

Guided / Independent Practice

See above.

Homework: None.

Closure: Compare and contrast Beveridge’s imperialism of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Ticket out the door: What was one important issue addressed by reformers of the Progressive Era?  (From the review.)

Long Term Review: Students will review their notebooks, including their two foldable study guides.

Related Standards/Objectives:

  • 9.1 – Students will describe the annexation of Alaska and Hawaii by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [H4]
  • 9.2 – Students will analyze the political and social impact of the Panama Canal by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [H3.[6-8].14]
  • 9.3 – Students will identify Latin American nations that play a significant role in United States foreign policy and examine how we interacted including the Spanish American War by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [C16.[6-8].3, C16.[6-8].4]
  • 9.4 – Students will critique the influence of the media in forming public opinion through yellow journalism by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [C15.[6-8].4]

 

Lesson Two

U.S. History – 9.1 – Students will describe the annexation of Alaska and Hawaii by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills.

Introduction:  Today we complete our unit on American Imperialism.

Warm Up: Read the profile of Jovita Idar on page 660.  Write a summary of what you’ve read and answer the question “Who benefited most of Jovita Ivar’s efforts?  What evidence did you find to support your answer?

Daily Review: Review notes from the interactive lecture.

Daily Objectives: See Below.

Student Friendly Objective: Describe expansion of US power overseas at the turn of the twentieth century.

Essential Question: How did the closing of the American Frontier impact U.S. oversees policies?

School-wide vocabulary: consistent, deduce, event, exhibit, prove

Define each of the terms students will encounter (whole class):  isthmus, anarchy, dollar diplomacy

Concept and Skill Development Application

Students will view “Bring Me the Pictures and I’ll Bring You the War” video clip (10 mins).  They will answer the following study questions from the video: What two newspaper owners were in competition?  Why did Frederick Remington not want to stay in Cuba?  Who were the Rough Riders?

Students will work in groups to find information from their textbooks on the following topics: The Maine, The Rough Riders, The Panama Canal, The Roosevelt Corollary, Dollar Diplomacy, Moral Diplomacy, Francisco Pancho Villa.  Groups will orally present their finding to the class.

Guided / Independent Practice

See above.

Homework: None.

Closure: Summarize the Spanish American War.

Ticket out the door: What is Yellow Journalism.

Long Term Review: Students will review their notebooks, including their two foldable study guides.

Related Standards/Objectives:

  • 9.1 – Students will describe the annexation of Alaska and Hawaii by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [H4]
  • 9.2 – Students will analyze the political and social impact of the Panama Canal by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [H3.[6-8].14]
  • 9.3 – Students will identify Latin American nations that play a significant role in United States foreign policy and examine how we interacted including the Spanish American War by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [C16.[6-8].3, C16.[6-8].4]
  • 9.4 – Students will critique the influence of the media in forming public opinion through yellow journalism by utilizing one of the big 11 social studies skills. [C15.[6-8].4]

 

Indie Book Lounge

Indie Book Lounge has received a facelift.  I thought it was pretty cool before, with nifty little artwork, but it has been redesigned to make it even easier to find interesting books by new and unknown authors.  The books are broken down by genre and you can find many bargain and free books among them.  Check it out here: http://www.indiebooklounge.com.

A New Chair

I went down to Staples this morning and got a new chair.  My old chair just wouldn’t hold me up anymore.  I decided to get a really nice chair in which to sit in front of my really nice computer.  Thankfully it was on sale, but even so, it’s more than I ever paid for a chair before.  It was only an hour or so later that my wife let me know I had no more money.  Go figure.

82 Eridani Update

82 Eridani Journey

I finished chapter seven today and wrote a good portion of chapter eight.  I spent longer on seven than on most of the others.  I think it’s because it was one of the few chapters so far without much in the way of sex or violence.  Chapters five and six both had both.  They’re a lot of fun to write.  Chapter eight has some violence but no sex.  It’s a really fun chapter to write though, because I get to tear one of my characters apart– or at least to have him fall apart.

Most of my favorite characters are the really flawed ones.  The character in chapter five is a person that is so physically and mentally perfect that everyone else hates her.  And her flaw is that she hates herself more than anyone else does, for the same reason.  She hates her own perfection.  The chapter six character is a loving family man on the surface but has a deep and compelling need to kill people.  The chapter seven character is (maybe a little stereotypically) an introverted nerd, who is interested in a woman to the point of obsession.  The chapter eight character was a completely normal, well-balanced guy though– until his perfect world falls apart.  So now, he can be one of my favorite characters too.

Two Steps from Hell – Continued

I mentioned the other day that I had purchased the album SkyWorld from Two Steps from Hell and that I wanted to listen to it while I write 82 Eridani.  Well, I am, and I really like it.  What I would like to do is identify each track with a particular character so that I could play that track while I write that character.  I haven’t done that yet though.  Maybe I will think about it today as I write.

Today is the first day in a while that I’ve reached my daily writing quota.  I kind of feel like I’m setting myself up for failure, because I’m already 200 pages behind for the year.  I hope that I’m able to catch up this summer…. come on Summer!  Come on Summer!  And not just because I want to get caught up on my writing.

I have another problem now too.  As I write this, my chair keeps descending.  I either need to lose weight or get a new chair… guess which one is more likely to happen.

Facebook is a Bummer

I’ve already reduced my time and efforts on Facebook, but I think I’m going to reduce my presence there further.  Facebook is annoying.  They have no problem spamming me with crappy game invitations and using my pictures to sell their ads, but I try to upload more than 10 links to my own page and I get denied the ability to upload for two days, because I’m abusing the feature.

There are a few people that I am glad that I can connect with via Facebook– people I otherwise wouldn’t be able to connect with.  Mostly the messages I see on my “news feed” though are from people I see everyday.  The people I don’t see often that I really would like to send messages to, aren’t on Facebook or don’t use it that much.

The web is always evolving.  I think Facebook has probably reached its peak and has begun its inevitable decline.  Anyone remember MySpace…. AOL…?  I wonder what the next great innovation of telecommunication will be.  Twitter is still on the rise, but I think there is room for something that offers users something new and cool.  I just don’t know what the new and cool is going to be.

I Had a Dream

I had a dream last night.  It was the first dream I’ve had that I remembered in a few months.    I used to remember them all.  Well, despite the fact that my dream starred Lliam Neeson and Charisma Carpenter, I actually think I can use it in 82 Eridani, book 2.  I can’t remember ever using something I came up with in a dream before, though I often use events from my own life.

I’m not going to give too much away, but the dream involved characters named “the rose queen” and “potato soup.”

Two Steps from Hell

As I have mentioned before, I like to listen to instrumental music as I write.  Well, I discovered Two Steps from Hell, a music company that writes a great deal of music that we hear in movie trailers.  They have several albums out, but I just purchased Sky World on iTunes, as it has a science fiction feel and I want to listen to it while I write 82 Eridani.

82 Eridani Starship

Spacecraft

 

As promised, a bigger image of the 82 Eridani Starship.  Sorry it took so long.

Porn and Getting Things Done

I usually visit Smashwords each day to check on sales and see if there is anything new ( I also check Kindle Direct Publishing daily).  Each day when I log on, there are new books on the main screen at Smashwords.  Hundreds of books are published a day there, so that’s no surprise.  What I was noticing was that usualy at least 3 of the 4 books shown are some kind of short porn story erotica.  They are usually between 3000 and 6000 words and sell for between 99 cents and 3 bucks.  I can’t help thinking WTF?  Are people buying this stuff?  You know you can get free erotica all over the net.  And these are barely long enough to be stories.  I’ve got novella’s that took me weeks to write for $1 and books that took me over a year selling for $3!

I’ve written well over 3000 words today… and yesterday and the day before.  I’m in a pretty good groove finally– for the first time really since the holidays.  Of course I have a lot to get done this year.  I have five books on the previews page and I plan to have them all out this year.  I think I can do it too.  At least I can do it if I keep going at close to the pace I’m at now.  I’ve just finished another chapter of Patience is a Virtue.