I notice that quite a few people are having trouble using capital letters consistently and correctly. If you are keen, try this quiz on facebook and see how well you understand this.
If you do this quiz, please post your score here as a comment. I’d be interested to see how you go.
With lots of students off at work experience, we only have about ten new articles this week. Pop over and have a look.
Some quick tips for reading any text aloud.
1. Make sure you know how to say every word. If you don’t try sounding it out and see if it sounds like a word you do know. Or just ask someone else, they might know.
2. Respect the punctuation. Stop at a full stop, pause at a comma and remember that inverted commas mean someone else is speaking.
3. Read it out loud to yourself at least three times before you try it in front of people. Reading it in your head is no substitute for this practice.
4. Try to sound like you are enjoying yourself or find the material interesting. This makes it much more interesting to listen to.
In a comment Danielle suggested that I create somewhere for former students to talk to each other and to me. So I have put the discussion forum in place for this very purpose and also for current students to work together or ask me questions. It takes a few seconds to join and it would be nice to see people using it.
This link is for the teachers who attended the Blogging for Teachers session last night. It is a good place to go for answers when you are wondering how your new WordPress blog works and how to get the most out of it.
What is a blog?
The word blog is short for web log and it is just an online diary. Although this word doesn’t appear in many dictionaries many people use blogs to share a vital information and daily trivia with their friends and family.
It’s not just idle teenagers and middle aged nerds using blogs. Companies, newspapers and educators all use them as well to build and strengthen relationships.
Blogging is not difficult. You just add new content and the software looks after pretty much everything else.
Read the rest of this entry »
This is just an example of how easily an image can be included in your blog entry. For some people including images really brings the whole page to life.
I notice that some of you are frustrated in your research for your volcano assignments.
While there is heaps of information on the internet there is also heaps of information in your average library and in our school library. Look in the 551.21 section and you’ll find all kinds of photos, diagrams and information.
STAFF in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been editing Wikipedia to remove details that are potentially damaging to the Government.
Government caught Wiki-watching – National – theage.com.au
There are people who will swear that you should never go near Wikipedia because anything created by that many people must be wrong. As students will know I think it’s a really valuable first (but not last) point of research. If you want the a few pages of well written summary information it’s a wonderful resource, just don’t completely believe anything you read from one source much and certainly if the source is not primary (by which I mean someone there at the scene or responsible for the original research).
All the same it’s powerful stuff and people do use it to inform themselves which is why governments and corporations take an interest in what it says there and make changes to put themselves in the best light. I know I’d be tempted.
I was looking around for information about the development of democracy in Australia when I found this terrific site. It’s a bit dry but packed with information about key documents, especially legislation, which formed Australian political history. Better still in many cases it has images of the original documents and PDFs of their text.
Please remember that your 1920s assignment needs a proper bibliography. Lots of you throw away marks every time because you don’t do this. If you are unsure please read the guide and see how to do it properly.
If you run into a word you don’t know on the internet here are a couple of quick tips that you might find useful.
Type “define” and the word you want into google. For instance define bellicose
Another quick place to check is an online dictionary.
I am writing these tips with the 1920s VCE History assignment in mind but I hope they might be generally useful.
1. Start in the actual library.
There is still a wealth of information in books that is not found on the internet and it is often better written and more reliable. Check the school library, check your local library. If you don’t find much then ask a librarian; they really know the information there and will can help you find things in places you had not even thought to look.
2. Do a newspaper search
Check the newspaper files are school. Most websites for newspapers have a search function so use this.
3. Check Wikipedia
You shouldn’t believe every single word is there but it’s an excellent place to get a general idea and information to drive your research.
4. Google it.
Do a google search for your topic. Follow the first 10 or 20 likely links and build up a list of resources before you spend too much time on one.
Stawell Historical Society – 150 Years of Gold Mining in Victoria.
Culture and Recreation – The Australian Gold Rush.
Museum Victoria – Gold!
Wikipedia – Victorian Gold Rush
Sovereign Hill – Research notes
SBS – Gold
Visit Victoria – Gold Rush history
Eureka on trial
Pretty soon in English we will be studying mental illness and especially depression. With this in mind I found these good facts sheets from the Australian organisation Beyond Blue.
beyondblue: the national depression initiative – beyondblue Fact Sheets
