After reading at least two pieces of writing from the website teenink.com, 
respond to the 7 following questions:
1.Summarize the two pieces you read. 
2. What genre was each piece? (fiction, nonfiction etc.)
3. What made you read these pieces?
4. What did you like about each piece?
5. What did you not like about each piece?
6. If the writer was in front of you in a writing response group, what would you say for praise?  What about question? And wish? (for each piece you read)
7. Which piece of your writing are you thinking of
submitting? Why?  What work may need to be done to this piece before it is
ready for submission?

Post your projects below!  Remember you need a FULL explanation of how the song links to the act.  Would be a good idea to write this in a word document first, since weebly does not check for spelling!

Click HERE to watch the ted talk by Amy Cuddy about the power of body lanuage.  Then, respond by answering some questions about what you viewed:
    *What was interesting or new in this video for you? 
* Are you convinced that power poses will work?  Why or why not?
*In everyday life do you normally have a low power pose or a high power pose?  Do these poses change depending on the situation? 
*Do you think you may use the power pose in your own life?  How and why would you use it?
*What do you think of her phrase, "don't fake it until you make it; fake it until you become it." Agree?

Respond to me and a classmate by Friday!  For a response to a classmate think
about how the person you are responding to has extended your own ideas, how they
support your own ideas, or how they may challenge your own
ideas.
Click here to watch Obama's Inauguration speech.  Click
here to get a copy of the text of his speech (to follow along).
After watching/reading the speech respond to it by answering any or all of the following questions:
*What was interesting about the speech?  Give a line or two that you liked.
*What was not interesting or boring about the speech?
*What did you agree with in the speech?  What did you disagree with?
*There were lots of allusions in his speech (a reference to a person, place, event, history), name an allusion you found interesting.  Why did he use this allusion?  Why was it interesting or meaningful to the speech?

Read the article here about the Untied States and our right to free speech. 
The issue of freedom of speech is not a new one; however, it has recently been a major issue across the world as an American made anti-islam video has been blamed for numerous riots and deaths across the middle east.  Recently Washington asked google (who owns youtube) to take the video off of their site, but google refused.  Do you think google should have taken the video down? Or would this go against our 1st amendment right?
In the article Pitts says that freedom of speech in the wrong hands can can cause upset, and that in our world of facebook, youtube and twitter, the 1st amendment right has become even more dangerous as some "shlub in Fort Lauderdale could start a riot in Mogadishu".  Do you agree with this?  Should their be more oversight of what is posted on the internet to stop such problems?  Or is that allowing our government too much control over us?  Do you agree with what Newt Gingrich said, that we should use this episode to teach the muslim world about freedom? 
Comment on anything else you found interesting in the article also.

In her article "Redefining Success and Celebrating the Ordinary,"
Alina Tugend suggests that we currently focus too much on being
special and extraordinary, that we put too much pressure on ourselves and our
children to be the best. 

Read the article (by clicking on the title).  Respond by answering the quest
What is your opinion about the article?  Do you agree or disagree with Tugend?
What happens to our society when we are all striving to extraordinary all the time? 
What might happen to our society if all we strived for was the ordinary?
What is your definition of success? 
How does being extraordinary play into success?

How do traditions factor into your life?  What are some traditions or ways of doing things we have that might seem strange, or even cruel, to those who do not participate? Should cultural practices that appear outdated, unusual, or discriminatory be continued for the sake of tradition?  What are the benefits or risks for continuing and discontinuing traditions?