Persuasive Blogging

Hello Bloggers,

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Only one day left until the weekend, and only one week until March Break. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely ready for a week off! Fun in the sun, here I come!

However, we do still have lots of school time left before the break. As many of you know, Ms. Pollock and I had the opportunity to attend the IDEAS conference in Kingston last week, and to present a workshop all about blogging and ways it can be used in the classroom. Many teachers left with our blog URLs in hand, so I suspect that our blogs may be playing hosts to some new guests! Now, blogging can definitely be an intimidating thing, as you know. Remember some of the challenges we had when we got started? Well, we definitely don't want to let things like that scare anyone away from blogging, which brings me to your new assignment.

Since we are studying persuasive writing in class, I've decided to also do a little persuasive writing on our blogs. Your assignment is to write an open letter to any teacher who might happen across your blog, and to explain to them why they should use blogging with their classes. In your open letter, you should have:

-A salutation (be creative with your salutation)

-An introduction paragraph that introduces who you are, tells a little bit about yourself (no personal details, please), and presents your thesis.

-A body paragraph that presents your three arguments, as well as the details and evidence that supports your arguments

-A concluding paragraph that restates your thesis and thanks your reader for viewing your blog

-A closing and signature

As with any writing assignment, you will be expected to use the writing process. Good writing always goes through many steps before it is published, so think about your blog post as it's very own publication!

Veterans' Week 2010

Good morning, Bloggers.

As many of you know, next week is Veterans' Week. It is the week of Remembrance Day, and a week that is dedicated to remembering all those men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country. It is important to remember that at any given time, there are hundreds, if not thousands of Canadian men and women over seas serving as part of the Canadian military in protective and peacekeeping missions.

In class, we will be reading the Canada Remembers Times which will help us understand the role our Canadian military has played throughout the world. We will also be filling out and sending "Postcards for Peace," which are postcards produced by Veterans' Affairs Canada. You will have the opportunity to send your postcard to a Canadian Forces member currently serving in one of many locations around the world. However, I know some of you might want to do more than send just one post card. Because of this, I thought I'd post a link where you can go and post a public message to the troops. In your message, you can let them know how much you appreciate what they do for Canada and the people of the world, send other kind messages, and well wishes.  I know it might seem like it won't make a difference, but I know for a fact that our troops do read these messages and do appreciate the kindness and appreciation of the Canadian public.

This is not a mandatory activity--it's completely up to you.