Voice for the Voiceless Blog

Bringing a Voice to the Voiceless Blog Assignment

“Instead of shouting war cries to the sky they (the Native Americans) were simply milling about, talking low, mourning Marie.  Would they ever come down from Circle Hill, rampage the streets of Bentrock, looking for her killer, taking revenge wherever they could find it?”   (Watson 102).

 

Who will stand up for the innocent?  Who will bring justice to those who have no power to seek justice for themselves?  Who will be the voice for the voiceless?  These were the questions that plagued David’s dream?   These were Gail’s questions to Wesley in Montana 1948.  But these are not just questions  for Wesley.  In our own world, there are people who are powerless to stand up for themselves and who need someone to be their voice to the world.

 

Essential Question:

Who are the powerless, the voiceless, or the oppressed in our world today?  Who are those courageous individuals who are standing up for people who cannot stand up for themselves?  What can we do to make these voices heard?

  

Your Task:

STEP ONE:

 Look through the different issues of Upfront magazine and locate one article that connects to our study of marginalized and voiceless people in society.  Make sure that the article you select features a group of people that are silenced by others and/or are people who are pushed to the edge of society by a dominant social group.   Also you could find an article that celebrates something someone has done to stand up for these people.  Your article should be connected to one of the essential questions above.

 

STEP TWO:

On a Google Doc, do a brief write-up of the article.  Include the following: 

1. Article title
2. Identify which monthly issue of Upfront you found it in
3. Identify the page numbers 
4. Summary paragraph (4-5 sentences):    IN YOUR OWN WORDS, briefly summarize the 5 W’s (what happened, where it happened, when did it occur, who was involved, and the why—this will require a bit more explanation).
   **Note: Many of your classmates will not have read your article, so be sure that you include all of the necessary information so the rest of the class can understand what is mentioned in the article.
    
5. Response paragraph (approx.. 4 sentences):  Discuss the issues in the article, questions that are raised, and your thoughts and insights about the details discussed in the article. When you respond to the article, think about what measures should be taken to help empower these people.

STEP THREE: After you complete your write up, go the class blog, sign in, and post it in the comment box. 


STEP FOUR: When you are sure your post is published, reopen the blog and read about what other people posted.  You should try to reply to 2 or 3 posts by asking questions, sharing your own ideas, or making connections.

 

***After the break, we will use this blog to come up with ideas for your research projects!****

Post Transcendentalism Seminar Blog

Use the Transcendentalism quote packet and ideas you got from our seminar discussion to help you formulate a response to ONE of the ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS for Into the Wild. 

Post your response UNDER the question you are responding to.  You MUST use one of the quotes from the packet to help you develop your response.  You should also use relevant details from Into the Wild to develop ideas and connections.  LENGTH = approx. 150 words.

***Remember to use the pattern of development as you incorporate the quote in your writing!!!

After you post your response, read some of the responses posted by your classmates and reply to 1 or 2 others.  Your reply can be shorter (about 2 or 3 sentences). 

In your reply you can do any of the following:

      *  relate their ideas to another example from the book or the quote packet
      *  offer a different perspective
      *  ask a question about something
      *  talk about connections or insights that came to you after reading the post

Happiness EQ's

                     Happiness Essential Questions

Below you will see the essential questions from our unit.  Think about the articles you read.  What do the different writers and researchers have to say?  How would they answer the questions?  What details/studies/quotes in the articles relate to the questions?

Directions:  Pick those questions that you think are most relevant to the articles you read.  For each article you read, create a post in which you discuss a relevant connection to the questions you picked.  You can include any of the following in your post, but DO NOT SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY SAID:

               1.  You can paraphrase what you think the author would say in response to the question.

               2.  You can connect specific evidence from the article to the question.

               3.  You can connect a specific quote from the article to the question.

               4.  You can connect a specific example from the article to the question.

               5.  You can take what someone else already posted and develop their idea with 

                    another piece of evidence from the article.

               6.  You can respectfully disagree with what someone else already said and use

                    evidence from the article to back up your idea.

Important:  Be sure to identify titles, authors, and researchers (if you are quoting any studies).  Do not just list info., evidence, or quotes from the article.  You must discuss the text details you use and clearly connect them to an answer to the question.  Also, remember this is an academic blog, not a text or a tweet, so use clear, respectful, and formal language, and proofread!


REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX.  REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!

                               The text we create together will be useful to you

                         as you start to come up with ideas for the up-coming paper!



HAPPINESS

What is happiness to you? 

        Time magazine asked its readers to send in images that represent joy.  Check out this collection of the most inspiring and imaginative submissions:

http://nation.time.com/2013/07/10/what-happiness-looks-like-on-instagram/photo/patisdoingthispartdeux-miss_alyssaaa-you-a-fool-for-dis-one/

      The Huffington Post also asked its readers to capture happiness in one photo.  Check out this collection of joyful images:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/international-happiness-day_n_6924648.html

    
       A series called "One Question" on Youtube posed this question to people on the street.  To see their responses, click on the link:

http://designerlessons.org/2012/02/20/esl-lesson-plan-happiness-one-question-generating-discussions/

So, how would you answer this question?  What is happiness to you?  Reply with a post of at least 15 words but no more than 40.  

***Remember to sign into your Google account before posting your comment or your writing will be lost!!!!  Better yet, write your response into a word document beforehand and then copy/paste it into the comment box.:):):)