Independent Project Brainstorm

What is your first idea or ideas for your own independent portfolio project? Take a few minutes and share your ideas on the blog by adding a comment to this post. After you have added yours wait a few minutes and reload the comment window. Leave a second comment with your thoughts or questions about someone else's project.

When you leave your comments, be sure to leave type your first name at the bottom of the message.

Printed Essays

Juniors,

Today you will receive a rubric for your project essay. If you would like me to print out the final draft of your essay for portfolio today in class please email the word file as LASTNAME_PRINT.doc (fernandez_print.doc). I will print out the final draft and whatever drafts you sent me so far to show revision.

Alternatively, during portfolio you may also show your blog on a computer to show the process you took to start developing your project and your project essay. In addition to posting your thesis questions, thesis statement, essay type, and final draft on your blog, you could also post your first draft and revisions. That way you can have the entire project online! If you would like me to post your rubric online, please send me an email requesting that today. I can send you a link to the document.

Seniors,

You will get your rubrics back tomorrow for the project essays. Please make sure you have posted your essays online and completed the self-assessment as a comment on your essay post.
In preparation for your role as a critical friend in portfolio on Friday, please find 5 new habits of mind on the web that are different from ours (PANIC). Provide a brief summary of each habit your discover and if they are similar to any of our habits of mind.

Project Essay Rubric

Your essays will be graded this week based on a rubric that I have posted online. Please read over the rubric and give yourself a grade in each of the categories and a holistic grade. Then, post the most recent or final draft of your essay on your blog. After you have posted the essay provide a self-assessment based on the rubric as a comment below the essay in the following format:

• P - 4,3,2,1
• A- 4,3,2,1
• N-4,3,2,1
• I-4,3,2,1,
• C-4,3,2,1,
• Holistic Grade (Average) - 4,3,2,1,

When you have finished posting your essay and providing a self-assessment you may finish working on your your Project Essay cover assignment. If you would like the cover printed in color for portfolio (or just to have in color) email me the file as a JPEG at mr.powhida@gmail.com Remember, you must SAVE FOR WEB in Photoshop and make sure you select JPEG as the file format. Attach the image and send the file to me by the end of class tomorrow. Also, juniors, if you would like your essay printed, I will print you latest revision or whatever you send me by tomorrow at the end of class.

Photoshop Essay Cover

To wrap up the essay project I would like you to continue exploring Photoshop by developing an 8.5" x 11" visual essay cover. The theme and content of your essay should provide the direction for you to design something interesting for the cover. You are free to use any of the techniques we explored before, and I will show you some other options and techniques that you can use, but the collage should incorporate the following elements:

• A colorful, layered background using painting, textures, patterns, or gradients.
• The title of your essay
  
• Your name
• The class name
• A minimum of three images but as many as you can creatively incorporate
• A minimum of two different filter effects
• One layer effect

The essay cover design is due next week on the 16th along with any final revisions or drafts of the essay. The essay cover is a great idea to show imagination for your portfolio, but you need to have a competent essay as well. Please do not begin your essay cover until you have submitted a revised essay complete with MLA format including a heading, header, in-text citations, and a works cited page.

Essays and MLA citations

Many of your essays are almost complete but only one person cited a source in their essay for where they got the information for their essay. Borrowing some one else's ideas or words is perfectly fine in writing if you give the author credit. If you put someone else's ideas in your own words it's called paraphrasing and you don't need to use quotes, but you must give the author credit.

Some studies have shown that teens have problems that can cause them to do bad in school (wikipedia).

Then in your works cited page at the end of the document you need to list the website or URL where you got your information from. The MLA style guide on electronic sources by Purdue University can show you how to cite a web site correctly.

"Teen Issues."wikipedia.com. 25 May 2007. 3 Jan. 2008 <http://www.wikipedia.com/teenissues>

If you use more than one entry of a site like wikipedia, cite the article title in the parenthetical quotation, ie (Teen Issues)

If you want to use the text directly from a website, you must put it in quotes.

"Studies reveal that teens face a host of complex, emotional issues that can increase stress and lead to negative performance in school work" (Teen Issues).

Please go back through your essays and cite the sources where you got your information. Try and be a thorough as possible. If there are any sentences that are not paraphrased, put them in quotes. There is absolutely no point in plagiarizing someone else's writing, and it can result in failure, suspension, and even expulsion from classes in college. It is very easy to tell when your writing isn't in your own words. It is also very easy to search for text from your essays and find the original source.

Final drafts of the essays are due for grading this Friday the 11th. Papers must include a works cited page at the end of the document. Please refer to the MLA style guide for the basic format of a works cited page The link at the top of the page also explains how to cite the websites where you got your information.