Why do books burn? Or rather, why burn books?

Recently, as I was perusing Twitter, I stumbled upon a cool video posted to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's web page. I thought it was appropriate for both my English II students (recently having completed their Holocaust unit) and my (1984-studying) British Lit kids. Take a look!

3rd time's a charm—Communication class sells their inventions yet again!

Once again, Communication class students took over assembly this last Friday to present their inventions they created and to sell them to TAPA students! If you missed them, take a look at them here:

Jass	Judy
Joyce	Antoine
Jason Y.

If you haven't had the chance to vote for the students yet, there's still time! Go for it!

Satire: How to get the world to pay attention to you.

Originally posted 2/13/12.

From an actual New York Times Op-Ed piece:

There are dozens of initiatives President Obama could undertake to strengthen our economic security. Here is one: He should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the $1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015 ….


Today, America has little strategic interest in Taiwan, which is gradually integrating with China economically by investing in and forming joint ventures with mainland Chinese firms. The island’s absorption into mainland China is inevitable ….


There will be “China hawks” who denounce any deal on Taiwan as American capitulation, but their fear of a Red China menacing Asia is anachronistic. Portraying the United States as a democratic Athens threatened by China’s autocratic Sparta makes for sensational imagery, but nothing could be further from reality.

Question: How do you feel about this? Does it matter if the United States is there to help "protect" Taiwan? Does Taiwan need protecting? What's so bad about China "taking care"of Taiwan, anyways?

---

Ok, so I realize that asking those types of questions in Taipei is grounds for dismissal, if not a punch in the head. However, please believe me when I say I'm not in favor of Beijing—I'm quoting some interesting satire written about a current event.

A satire is a literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices, abuses, stupidity, and/or any other fault or imperfection. Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the person or thing satirized. Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something, using wit and clever wording—and sometimes makes outrageous assertions or claims. The main purpose of a satire is to spur readers to remedy the problem under discussion. The main weapon of the satirist is verbal irony, a figure of speech in which words are used to ridicule a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the opposite of what the words say.

(via Cummings Study Guides) 

One of the true masters of satire is my buddy, Stephen Colbert. Here, he makes a convincing argument that the best way to take care of endangered animals is to put them on a plate.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

WOW.

Today for class, we're going to read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," the satire from which all satire seems to have generated. As you read, please understand that this is all done tongue-in-cheek, and that Swift is really representing the Irish Catholics, not the English Protestants.

After this, the assignment will be for you to write your own modest proposal essay. Now, the rules of this are:

• You must pick a real/major political/social issue in the world (e.g. drugs, murder, the environment).
• Paragraph 1—Introduction. Focuses on the actual problems of your issue (e.g. Why it's so bad, how bad it is, how there's been no solution to it)
• Paragraph 2 [short paragraph]—"I now will humbly propose my solution..." You give your idea of how to fix the problem. It may be a real solution, but it'd be more interesting if you gave us a crazy, ironic-flavored solution to the problem. Tell us that this will take care of your issue in 3 ways.
• Paragraph 3—Way #1
• Paragraph 4—Way #2
• Paragraph 5—"Disarming." Here, you acknowledge why people might have a problem with your solution, but then you attack their attack. Brilliant.
• Paragraph 6—Conclusion. Make us feel happy about why your possibly idiotic reason is the only reason out there. 

Have a first draft by next class!

Future SA officers face the fear with Assembly campaign speeches

Today. at Assembly, students who've declared an interest in running for next year's Student Association (SA) presented persuasive speeches, imploring their peers to vote for them. I'm proud to have taught 5 of 6 of them in my past Communications classes, and they did me proud! Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

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President	Jessica C.
Executive VP	Rachel
Social VP	Robert	Betty
Treasurer	Jessica L.
Comm Director	Antoine

Take a side and persuade me you're right!

Originally posted 11/30/11.

Which of these persuasive speech topics interests you? Today for class,

Pick	3	of the following topics
Write	x2	paragraphs (1 for, 1 against) for each
Total of	6	paragraphs.

Post the six paragraphs to your blog.

Posted with Blogsy

Missed the Lunch with Communications Class series? Enjoy them at your own leisure.

This week, Communications Class did its second third fourth fifth (!) ever Lunch with Communications Class speeches, presenting 8 different Demonstration speeches by 8 different speakers. In case you didn't get a chance to check out these awesome speeches, here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

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Jass	Enoch
Antoine	Judy
Jason	Joyce
Annika	Ivy

Shakespeare in 140 characters: Brit Lit students tweet "Twelfth Night" (Part II)

In preparation for a play they will be performing for TAPA, British Lit students have been working hard on learning the intricacies of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", through reading and re-reading the text, filing out worksheets for their lovable teacher, and, most recently, tweeting the entire play to the entire world. By popular demand, here is another selection of the amazing tweets done by them.

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The Characters

#Viola

#twelfthnight #Viola, twin sis of Sebastian, lands a job as servant 4 the loveofherlife, Duke. Catches the eye of Olivia, marries Duke.

— Gabriel Chen (@gabrielofchen) February 23, 2013

#twelfthnight #Viola aka Cesa, twin bro Seba, work 4 Duke, Oli loves HIM, end up marrying w/ Duke in the end when she reveals herself

— Calvin Lee(@calvinrolex_lee) February 20, 2013

Viola drowns then works for Orsino as Cesario & falls in love with him. Finally, they get together & she finds her bro. #twelfthnight #viola

— Christine Liao (@1113Liao) February 25, 2013

#Cesario

#Cesario is #Orsino's new love messenger to #Olivia, but (s)he feels bad because (s)he loves #Orsino. #A1S4 #twelfthnight

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 19, 2013

#Orsino

#Orisno #twelfthnight A nobleman. He loves Olivia.He finds his true love for man from the young Cesario. He married with Viola at the end.

— Mandy Wang (@MandyWang14) February 24, 2013

#Orsino : the count of Illyria, loved #Olivia. Send pp to woo #Oliviafor him. #twelfthnight

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 20, 2013

#Orsino's acting depressed and lovesick because #Olivia promises she won't show her face for 7years, yea, sure. #A1S1 #twelfthnight

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 19, 2013

#Olivia

#twelfthnight #Olivia the beautiful and rich orphan. Everyone loves her but she loves Viola/ Cesario. End up married Sebastian.

— Grace Y (@GraceYCL) February 25, 2013

#twelfthnight #Olivia is a pretty woman mourning for his dead bro for 7 years, until she sees Cesario and fall in love with him.

— Sally Wu (@sally1111880) February 24, 2013

#Olivia: an orphan just lost her bro. Everyone love her but she love #Cesario. Married w/ #Sebastian. #twelfthnight

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 20, 2013

#TobyBelch

#TobyBelch, drunk dude, uncle of #Olivia, friend w/ #AndrewAguecheek, play tricks on #Mavolio w/ #Maria. Ends up marry #Maria. #12night

— Emily Lee (@emilywego) February 19, 2013

Uncle of Oliva, friend of Andrew, always drunk, having the idea of trick Malvolio. At the end get with Maria. #TobyBelch #twelfthnight

— Kelly.C (@1038Kelly) February 28, 2013

#twelfthnight #Toby is #Olivia's uncle living together and loves to drink and fool around late in night as well as get together with #Maria

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 24, 2013

#Maria

#Maria #twelfthnight Olivia's waiting gentlewoman who imitates Olivia's handwriting and writes a love letter to Mavolio for a joke.

— Mandy Wang (@MandyWang14) February 24, 2013

#Maria a server of Olivia. She pretended Olivia to write a love letter to Malvolio n makes him think Olivia loves him. #Twelfthnight

— Joyce Chen (@joycecyay) February 24, 2013

#Maria :gentlewoman of #Olivia, later turn to be #Toby's side and trick #Malvolio. Married with #Toby at the end. #twelfthnight

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 20, 2013

#Feste

#Feste, also #SirTopas,the fool but the smart 1.Works 4 #Olivia & #Orsino. Willing to do anything for 💰. End up w/ nothing.#twelfthnight

— Emily Lee (@emilywego) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #Feste is a clown who's doing his job by making people laugh. He moves between Olivia and Orsino in the play.

— Sally Wu (@sally1111880) February 24, 2013

#Feste acts funny&stupid, but he's really the only one who knows what's going on. A wise fool. #twelfthnight

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 19, 2013

#Sebastian

#Twelfthnight #SebastianA guy who was parted from his sister and rescued by #Antonio. He got married accidentally with #Olvia.

— Sian Ho (@ho_sian) February 25, 2013

#Sebastian #twelfthnight Viola's twin brither. Rescued by Antonio. Suddenly marry with Olivia and find her sister at the same time.

— Minnie Wu (@1161Wu) February 24, 2013

#Sebastian is Viola's "dead" twin bro, and attracts ALL THE PEOPLE! #Antonio has a mancrush for him & Sebbo marries #Olivia. #twelfthnight

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 19, 2013

#AndrewAguecheek

A foolish knight madly in love with Olivia. Writes words down from Cesario in order to woo Olivia. #Twelfthnight #AndrewAgucheek

— Janelle Jia Yi Lo (@JBlaueRosa) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight CS #Andrew is a friend of Toby and he is crazy about Olivia but he doesn't have any chance to win her and he is an idiot

— Patrick (@patrickwu9) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #Andrew #Agucheek is a stupid rich guy who's Toby's good friend, <3 Oli but got rejected. challeng w/ Seba & Cesa plan by Toby

— Calvin Lee(@calvinrolex_lee) February 20, 2013

#Malvolio

#Mavolio, strict man that every1 hates, tricked by #Maria & #TobyBelch that #Olivia has a crush on him.End up as a crazy man. #twelfthnight

— Emily Lee (@emilywego) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #Malvolio is Olis steward (butler) got fool by MariaToby&Andre's LoveLetterPlan, falls in <3 crazily wth Oli, but got rejected

— Calvin Lee(@calvinrolex_lee) February 20, 2013

#Malvolio gave the ring back to #Ceasario. #Ceasario found out Viola liked her, bcuz she didn't give her ring.#twelfthnight #a2s2

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 19, 2013

#Antonio

#twelfthnight#Antoniois a guy who loves Sebastian, give his wallet to him to impress him. He is a criminal

— Hsiang cheng Wang(@mbai0910) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #Antonio rescues Sebastian and becomes "best friends" with him and loves him but is the enemy of #Duke and is arrested later

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 24, 2013

A sea captain and friend to Sebastian. Wanted by Duke Orsino. Unrequited love maybe. #Twelfthnight #Antonio

— Janelle Jia Yi Lo (@JBlaueRosa) February 24, 2013

Shakespeare in 140 characters: Brit Lit students tweet "Twelfth Night" (Part I)

In preparation for a play they will be performing for TAPA, British Lit students have been working hard on learning the intricacies of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", through reading and re-reading the text, filing out worksheets for their lovable teacher, and, most recently, tweeting the entire play to the entire world. Here is a selection of the amazing tweets done by them.

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The Play

Act I, Scene 1 (#a1s1)

#twelfthnight #A1S1 Viola and the sea captain had a conversation.Viola wanted to have a job, the captain suggested her as Orsino's eunuch.

— Belle Chen (@belle1994228) February 18, 2013

Duke is in love with Olivia; but she doesn't, because she's mourning for her dead brother for 7 years. #twelfthnight #A1S1

— Sally Wu (@sally1111880) February 18, 2013

Act I, Scene 2 (#a1s2)

Viola was in a shipwreck and was wash on shore of Illyria. She then dressed up as a male to work for Duke Orsino. #twelfthnight #a1s2

— Janelle Jia Yi Lo (@JBlaueRosa) February 19, 2013

#twelfthnight #A1S2 Viola hopes her brother has not drowned, after the captain comforts her, she wants to serve Olivia.

— Minnie Wu (@1161Wu) February 19, 2013

Act I, Scene 3 (#a1s3)

#twelfthnight #A1S3 Drunk Sir Toby B. comes back home at the midnight. He encourages Sir Andrew, who visits him, to chase his niece Olivia.

— TaKaKo(@takako_45) February 19, 2013

#A1S3 #twelfthnight Sir Toby introducted Sir Andrew to Maria. Sir Toby encourages Sir Andrew to court Olivia. Andrew shows his dance skill.

— Mandy Wang (@MandyWang14) February 19, 2013

Act I, Scene 4 (#a1s4)

Csario(Viola)became the fav of Orsino. Orsino sent Csario to bring love mail to Olivia.Csario fall in love with Orsino. #twelfthnight #a1s4

— Kelly.C (@1038Kelly) February 20, 2013

#twelfthnight #a1s4 #Viola become #Cesario to find Duke.Duke told Cesario he is the only man know his soul so Duke ask Cesario to get Olvia.

— Patrick (@patrickwu9) February 19, 2013

#A1S4#twelfthnight #DukeOrsino and #Viola became friends and Duke asked Viola to woo #Olvia for him.

— Sian Ho (@ho_sian) February 19, 2013

Act I, Scene 5 (#a1s5)

Feste calls Olivia a fool of being sad 'cause of her bro's death. Then she meets Cesario and falls in love with him. #twelfthnight #a1s5

— Christine Liao (@1113Liao) February 20, 2013

Feste cheers Olivia up,Malvolio calls Feste stupid,Cesario demands Olivia's attention&Olivia falls in❤& sends him a 💍. #A1S5 #twelfthnight

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 20, 2013

Act II, Scene 1 (#a2s1)

Viola's brother, Sebastian, was rescued by Antonio. Sebastian searches for Viola. Antonio follows even he refused. #twelfthnight #act2scene1

— Anderson Huang (@Andersonhamyc) February 24, 2013

Sebastian is leaving, Antonio wants to go together but it's dangerous, but later he still follows Sebastian #Twelfthnight #a2s1

— Joyce Chen (@joycecyay) February 19, 2013

Act II, Scene 2 (#a2s2)

#twelfthnight #a2s2 #Cesario finds out #Olivia has crash on him/her. While this happen, Viola/Cesario is actually fall in love with #Orsino.

— Patrick (@patrickwu9) February 19, 2013

#twelfthnight #A2S2 By Olivia's command, Malvolio gives Viola a ring. Later, Viola realized that Olivia likes her.

— Sally Wu (@sally1111880) February 19, 2013

Act II, Scene 3 (#a2s3)

#A2S3 #Twelfthnight#Toby #Andrew and #Maria decided write a love letter to fool #Malvolio into doing stupid things to impress #Olivia.

— Sian Ho (@ho_sian) February 19, 2013

#twelfthnight #a2s3 #Toby drunk at Olivia's house dancin nd singin with #Fool #Maria and #Andrew they brought up a plan to mess up Malvolio

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 19, 2013

Act II, Scene 4 (#a2s4)

Orsino says he can c Cesario is in❤. C admits it & says he's in❤with sum1 like Or. Feste comes to sing a sad song. #twelfthnight #A2S4

— Kristiana (@kriktonite23) February 20, 2013

#twelfthnight #A2S4 Orsino calls the fool to sing a song for him. Then Orsino tells Mr. Viola how much he loves Olivia.

— TaKaKo(@takako_45) February 19, 2013

Act II, Scene 5 (#a2s5)

#twelfthnight #A2S5 Toby Fab Andr left le fake letter on le ground, Malvo saw it & think Oliva's in love w/ him & tells him 2 b mean to them

— Calvin Lee(@calvinrolex_lee) February 20, 2013

#twelfthnight #a2s5 they played a joke on #Malvolio, he thought he got a love letter from Olivia and tried to propose his love to #Olivia

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 19, 2013

Act III, Scene 1 (#a3s1)

#twelfthnight #A3S1Viola meets da clown at Olivia's place, den meets w/ Olivia again 2 send da <3 message from Duke.O woos V but V rejects

— Vivi Li (@1118Viv) February 21, 2013

Olivia declares her love to cesario.#Twelfthnight #a3s1

— Tiffany Yang (@ting_0616) February 19, 2013

Act III, Scene 2 (#a3s2)

#twelfthnight #A3S2Andrew knows Olivia<3Viola,Fabian n Toby convinces him 2 fight w/ Viola.Maria tells dem 2 see Malvolio actin like a fool

— Vivi Li (@1118Viv) February 21, 2013

#A3S2#Andrew tries to leave because he heard what #Olivia said to #Cesario. Then #SirToby persuade him to stay.they go to see #Malvolio .

— Sian Ho (@ho_sian) February 25, 2013

Act III, Scene 3 (#a3s3)

#twelfthnight#A3S3 Antonio is in danger, so he told Sebastian where to meet again and give his purse to him to buy stuff.

— Minnie Wu (@1161Wu) February 24, 2013

#Antonio caught up with #Sebastian and gave him the purse, bcuz it is dangerous if he is in Illyria. #twelfthnight #a3s3

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 20, 2013

Act III, Scene 4 (#a#s4)

Malvolio acts weirdly to Olivia & locked in a room. Andrew & Cesario are forced to sword-fight then stopped by Antonio. #twelfthnight #a3s4

— Christine Liao (@1113Liao) February 25, 2013

#twelfthnight #A3S4 Malvolio was acting like a weirdo. Andrew wanted to fight with Cesario. Antonio entered and mistaken C as Sebastian.

— Belle Chen (@belle1994228) February 23, 2013

Act IV, Scene 1 (#a4s1)

#twelfthnight #A4S1 Olivia saw Toby fighting with Cesario (actually Seb) and stopped them. She asked Seb to marry her and Seb was confused.

— Belle Chen (@belle1994228) February 23, 2013

#twelfthnight #A4S1 Oli send Fool to see Cesa, Fool saw Seba & thoght is Cesa, & Andre punch Seba Seba punch bac, Oli stop them & fall in <3

— Calvin Lee(@calvinrolex_lee) February 20, 2013

Pp think #Cesario is a jerk & turn the anger to #Sebastian made #Olivia mad. #Olivia propose to #Sebastian. #twelfthnight #a4s1

— Amy C ♥ -Yu- (@AmyChen0711) February 20, 2013

Act IV, Scene 2 (#a4s2)

#twelfthnight #A4S2Clown dresses up like pastor Topas n see Malvo who's jailed.Malvo asks clown2help him write a letter to Oliv n he agrees

— Vivi Li (@1118Viv) February 21, 2013

#twelfthnight #A4S2 Malvolio is locked in a dark room by the people who mocked him. He begs Feste to help him, but he is joke with him too.

— Minnie Wu (@1161Wu) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #a4s2 #Marvolio locked in a small dark chamber and Fool, Toby and Maria are fooling with him and he begged Fool to let him out

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 21, 2013

Act IV, Scene 3 (#a4s3)

#twelfthnight#A4S3Olivia tells how much she loves Sebastian, when she thought he is Cesario, and they get married

— Hsiang cheng Wang(@mbai0910) February 24, 2013

#twelfthnight #A4S3 Sebastian wonders if everything is real, n den Olivia begs him to marry her n he says yes

— Vivi Li (@1118Viv) February 21, 2013

#A4S3 #twelfthnight Olivia wants to marry Sebastian who she thinks is Cesario. He happily agrees, then they go off to get marry.

— Mandy Wang (@MandyWang14) February 23, 2013

Act V, Scene 1 (#a5s1)

#twelfthnight #a5s1 Sebastian meets her sister Viola and Orsino turns out to know Olivia married Sebastian so he returns to being with Viola

— Aleena Hsu (@here4aleena) February 25, 2013

Olivia told Orsino that she's married to Cesario but Viola disclaimed and Olivia was shocked n thought be betrayed #Twlefthnight #a5s1

— Joyce Chen (@joycecyay) February 27, 2013

Malvolio finally realized that the letter was not written by Olivia and he left madly and abruptly #Twelfthnight #a5s1

— Joyce Chen (@joycecyay) February 27, 2013

#twelfthnight #A5S1 Malvolio is released from his prison,realizes he was tricked by Maria+gang,swears revenge, all live happily ever after~

— Gabriel Chen (@gabrielofchen) February 25, 2013

"If you want him, you don't get him,"Orsino."I'll die, so you guys can be together," #Cesario."But we're married!"Olivia.#twelfthnight #A5S1

— Emily Lee (@emilywego) February 24, 2013

Duke went to Olivia's house & heard that she got married with Cesario. He was mad & Antonio came out to blame Cesario #twelfthnight #A5S1

— Grace Y (@GraceYCL) February 24, 2013

The best and worst parts of Spiritual Week of Emphasis

Best:

Worst:

From directions to demos: Writing in-depth instructions

Originally posted 1/30/12.

Communication Students: Here's your assignment we talked about today. You are to write specific ingredients, steps, and any alternatives or further customizations for each section. Again, remember—you need every single step and incredibly specific ingredients. No slacking—I'll be grading hard!

Ingredients:

• Sliced bread (2 pieces)
• Peanut butter (2 tablespoons)
• Jelly (1.5 tablespoons)
• Butter Knife (for putting PB onto bread)
• Spoon (for putting Jelly onto bread)

Steps:

1. Put peanut butter onto bread piece #1. Using the knife, smear 2 tablespoons of peanut butter onto one side of the bread. It's best to make sure that it's spread evenly across one side. When you are done, put that piece of bread aside.
2. Put jelly onto bread piece #2. Take a spoon full of jelly (approximately 1 to 1.5 tablespoons) and smear it onto one side of the bread. Again, make sure the jelly is spread evenly.
3. Put 'em together. Pick  up the peanut butter piece and put it, PB-side down, on top of the jelly piece (jelly-side up). At this point, I'd recommend you cut the sandwich in half to make it easier to eat.
4. Enjoy. Goes great with a tall, cold glass of milk.

Alternatives:

• Creamy or crunchy? Either type of peanut butter will work, and either type are delicious.
• Don't like jelly? Use honey or marshmallow fluff instead. 
• Toasting the bread is awesome because the warm bread will melt the peanut butter, but the jelly will stay pretty cool.
• Awesome people cut the bread diagonally; lame-os cut the sandwich in half from a square to two rectangles.
• Secret Webb Family Recipe: use three pieces of bread to make a double sandwich. (1) Smother two pieces of bread with jelly. (2) Fry the third piece of in a little bit of butter until it's really hot. (3) Cover both sides of the hot bread with peanut butter. (4) Arrange the sandwich as:
  
  • cold/regular bread
  • jelly
  • peanut butter (which is starting to melt)
  • hot, gooey bread
  • peanut butter (which is starting to melt)
  • jelly
  • cold/regular bread

Ok, so that's what I'm expecting. Seems a lot more in-depth than just "TEACH-AH, JUST PUT IT TOGETHA!" Now YOU make a blog post, just like I did, with all the information for your speech.

What are you going to present? Check out these Demo topics, Comm students!

Today in class, I asked Communications students to look over the following list of Demonstration speech topics and pick 5 that they would be the most interested in presenting.

Select 5 possible speech ideas you'd be interested in presenting and blog them (one short paragraph each). Of the 5 you select, only three of them may be from my list here, so make your own ideas! Go.

DEATH TO PPT. / Haiku Deck's superior, / and you'll see how.

I hate Powerpoints. They're ugly, they're redundant, and they're crippling to speakers. You could be the greatest speaker in the world, and when a Powerpoint appears behind you, you'll find a way to sneak peeks at the hideous monstrosity and be directed by its rigid bullet-infested format. That's the #1 reason I've not had Communications class students use presentation software as a part of their speeches—chances are, if they do, they'll simply read the main points off the screen and turn their minds off.

That's why I immediately fell in love with Haiku Deck—it's an iPad app that forces you to take all that bland, basic information and translate into its key points. With Hauku Deck, you're limited to how much information you can put on a slide, so a long, bullet-infested slide turns into a short phrase. It also features stunning images and really cool fonts, and it's super quick to put together a deck. Basically, it's the best presentation software I've seen for the iPad.

British Lit students will be using this on Monday and Tuesday to create a characteristics presentation, so take a peek at my sample (that took me <60 seconds to make) to figure out what I'm looking for.

British Lit: Who is Akira Kurosawa?

Originally posted 11/27/11.

In case you're interested in 1) how Mr. Webb spent his break, and 2) what's happening next in British Lit class, take a peek at this awesome-sauce movie trailer.



Any thoughts?

Got any plans for Spring Break? Join us in the Mediterranean for Study Tour!

Mr. Timothy and I announced it on Friday, but if you're interested in visiting a couple of cool place on, say, March 28th—April 9th, consider joining us on our study tour to Turkey & Greece! We're going to see some pretty amazing things, have a lot of fun, learn a lot of cool stuff, and eat some delicious food! Take a lot at the presentation, show it to your folks, and start begging!

Is MacBeth a psychopath? British Lit will soon find out...

British Lit students know that they'll have 3 essays assigned to them this semester, but we've only done one up to this point. The assignment that they'll have over Thanksgiving break will be to work on their second one, going over what we've covered in MacBeth. But the question, though, is what exactly should we do the essay over?

In reading this play this semester, it's become more and more apparent that there's something... strange going on in MacBeth's mind, and that we would be smart to explore exactly what is happening. As a hint, the assignment will focus on analyzing if the titular character is a psychopath. Question, though—do you know what a psychopath is? I've got 3 things for you to do:

1. Watch these 3 videos:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Read these articles:
   Wikipedia's entry on Psychopathy
   
   The Psychopath: The Mask of Sanity
   What "Psychopath" Means (Scientific American)
   The List of Psychopathy Symptoms: Hervey Cleckley and Robert Hare
   ‘The Psychopath Test,’ by Jon Ronson - Review - NYTimes.com
   
   
3. Take these tests:
   Self-Assessment on Psychopathy / Narcissistic Personality Disorder
   A psychopathy test on my shared Evernote

Once you've gone over all this, you should be more prepared for when I give you the specifics of the assignment later this/next week. Thanks!

About those Communications Invention speeches... Who won?

I never had the chance to announce the winners of your votes for the best Communication speeches done for assembly a few weeks ago. The results:

• Which presentation was the best? Belteshazzar (Jessica L.)
  
• Which speech was the most persuasive? Profunacklace (Jessica G.)
  
• Which product would you most want to purchase? iBowlholder (James)
  

Congrats to all the speakers for excellent jobs!

All hugged out—Kudos to 11 heroes for a great day!

I hope everyone had fun for out final field trip day of the semester! My group of all-stars gave out free hugs to people wandering around the 101 area. Check out our 30-second highlight reel!



Thanks to Grace C., Patrick W., Mason, Martha, Jason Y., Michelle, Megan, Thomas, Roy, Marina, and Karrie for a really fun day! And look below for even more pictures!

More Communication class inventions, please!

Once again, Communication class students took over assembly this last Friday to present their inventions they created and to sell them to TAPA students! If you missed them, take a look at them here:

Jessica L.	Gabriella
James (Part 1)	James (Part 2)
Lillian	Jessica G.

If you haven't had the chance to vote for the students yet, there's still time! Go for it!

In honor of a new TAPA family member...

EXTRA CREDIT! Post a comment of:

• Your specific birthday (Month/Date/Year + Time).
• Your dimensions (Weight + length).
• How long your mom was in labor with you.

First 3 who respond on my blog get EC.

Go.

Tweet, tweet, tweet... If not yet, you soon will be.

A couple of classes have either begun using or will begin using Twitter as an educational tool. I've used Twitter for a long time myself (Follow me here, @EvilMrWebb), but I'm only now getting into the idea of students to use it to express themselves mid-class.

Been on Twitter for a long time (@webby37), but it's about time I have a "smart" account. TAKE THAT, LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM.
— Chris Webb (@EvilMrWebb) October 18, 2012

The easiest way to explain it is that tweeting is essentially a text message you send to the entire world. There are different ways to talk to different people or different groups of people, but, in a nutshell, it's a public text message conversation. You're not supposed to be able to say everything you want; part of the game is being forced to say what you want to in less characters (140 to be exact). As you tweet more, you'll find yourself thinking in 140-character blasts, and in no time, you'll be a master at this social network.

So, before I require it from you, get over to Twitter and sign up for an account to figure out what this is all about!