thINK

Assignment Overview
 * read a variety of types of text (images, essays, films, articles, poems, stories, cartoons, and multimedia productions);
 * improve your familiarity with how to use the web and its resources;
 * reinforce and extend your knowledge of how to write paragraphs that are focused, organized, and developed using specific examples and details;
 * write about a subject of interest to you and your audience that demonstrates your ability to read a variety of texts with insight;
 * write with an emphasis on clarity and correctness.

Step One: Decide what you will read.
The Shelf is a place to go for reading ideas. Atop the page, you'll find a link to Daily OpEd (editorials and opinion pieces) and BookGlutton (read and discuss books online). You'll also find links to essays and speeches, short stories, classics, and a ton of other interesting material to sink your teeth into. You can, of course, embrace a paper book or print magazine or newspaper: you don't have to read online.

Step Two: Actively Read the text you choose.
I say "text" because you might choose an image, a web-based documentary, a painting, a poem, or a video essay. Before you begin, jot down some questions about the text you chose, questions that will help you read it better. If you are not sure how to take your reading to the next step, reference Jim Burke's //Reading Tools and Tips //  at the bottom of the right column.  **To read is to think. Your journal is the place for you to ink your thinking ** :


 * Ask questions;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Make connections: to other texts, to current events or BIG ideas, to personal experiences;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Infer ideas about a character, a theme, a literary element (symbolism, metaphor...);
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Notice the author's style--the way he uses words and strings together sentences or organizes his ideas;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Agree or disagree with the author.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Draw inferences from details in the text and how those details compare or contrast with other details.

<span style="color: #d13d3d; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Step Three: Write a one page blog post that:

 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">is roughly 250 words;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">names the text (and links to it if it's online) that inspired the post;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">establishes a clear thesis in your opening paragraph;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">organizes itself into paragraphs, each with a main idea that relates to and builds on your thesis;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">includes examples and specific details from the text you read;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">includes a title that helps clarify or even extend the idea of your entry (It should not be anything like, "Journal Entry #1," or "Soccer.");
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Is tagged (label) thINK;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">shows you know how to properly format titles
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Quotation marks: poems, articles, stories, essays, songs
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Italics: books, CDs, movies, magazines, newspapers;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">is revised, showing you've carefully crafted the entry with strong words and a variety of mature sentences;
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">is proofread.

<span style="color: #d13d3d; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sample Entries

 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Reading Journal Format.docx]
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">On Cartoons and Mankind
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; url(http: //www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">Death of Innocence // (about the book //Gone//)
 * //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; url(http: //www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">Off Key? // (about videos of musician, Lang Lang)
 * [|Politicians Can Shove It]
 * //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; url(http: //www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">Tolerance is Love // (about intolerance of those who are different)

<span style="color: #d13d3d; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 25px;">Step Four: Share Blog Post Link
=[|Rubric]=
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">On the discussion tab of this wiki page, add the link to your blog posts by replying to the appropriate post. You must be logged in to post a reply. **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Make certain you are logged in as yourself **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> (not someone else)! Be sure to copy and paste the link to the particular blog post (not just to the front page of your blog) so that we can all find it will one click. Test your link after posting to make certain it works.