Blog Post #4

Your last blog post of the Independent Reading Unit threatens to be the most creative, should you accept the challenge.  Your job is to make a word cloud that represents some of the main ideas, themes and (in some cases) characters of your book.  Pick out important quotes, or just make a list and use it.  However, the more text you have, the more visually appealing your word cloud will be.  Visit www.tagxedo.com to begin inserting your text into their framework.  Click on “Create” at the top of the page.  You’ll be allowed to upload text or do a web search to find appropriate text.  The site lets you change the font of the word cloud, the layout, the theme and the orientation.  It also allows you to save the image, which you’ll do so that you can attach it to your final blog post.  Once you’ve successfully saved your word cloud and attached it to your blog, spend a bit of time explaining your creation of the word cloud below it.  What words stand out and why, in your opinion?  What is missing that might be a major piece of the book?  Describe what you see and its importance in the paragraph.

           
This is just bascially a summary of the book with out giving too much away, some of the bigger words our the players names and in smaller letters I beleive that it also describes what the town of Odessa is like.
I believe that there is not very much missing in the the football wordcloud. If I wanted to give the book away I would have thrown in the words "big,game,loss. Overall I believe that it came out quite nicely. When I look at it, it feels like it just summarized the first half of the book to me. I could have also thrown in that Midland Lee and Permain were rivals. It also stand out to me that my word cloud is in the shape of a football; I have really enjoyed doing this project and reading this outstanding novel.

 

Blog Post #3

1.  By now you’ve encountered some of the most telling, important or poignant points of the book.  Do your best to quote those points (or parts of them) in a blog post.  You might consider following the format we’ve talked about in regards to body paragraphs of essays – that is, context, quote, citation, and commentary.  Shoot for three quality quotes and explanations of major events, important moments/character descriptions, or repeated themes/theses.  Explanations may include your personal opinion and,,, reaction to how you interpreted the given section.

 2.  Find another classmates’ blog and respond/react to something they’ve done so far – a question, a picture, a quote.  Then, in your blog, introduce what you’re asked to do here and copy and paste your response into your this blog post from their blog. (It is easier to grade them this way, thanks for your understanding.)

1- Quote summary:
Odessa is primarily based around football; it's their everything. “Those lights become an addiction if you live in a place like Odessa, the Friday Night fix.” (pg. xiv); this addiction happens to a select few of players at our high school and basically to none of our fans, unfortunatly. Football seems to be just a sport in Carbondale but that's not right. It shouldn't be that way! Football NEEDS to be a way of living. It is definately undermined.

Racism has always been at problem in this town, and no one refers to blacks other than n******s on the other side of town, they don't believe in mojo magic, which "like everything else in Odessa has never been extended across the railroad tracks" (pg.102). The tracks somewhat act like a race town divider, this is no wonder why Odessa is Permian's biggest rival. They think of Permian as a bunch of n*ggers but as this book goes to show, they are much better than that.

Old railroad

With the losses Permain had in the 88' season, their chances of making it to the playoff were slim, there was a three way tie so it all came down to a coin toss. "If the nickel came up tails, Permian was out of the playoffs, and the chorus of complaints and criticism against him would only intensify to the point that it might become unbearable for his family to remain in town. If it came up heads, it simply meant that three men would have to line up in a row and make jackasses of themselves once again in front of live television cameras." (pg.258). The coin toss was aired at 1 a.m. Resulting in heads, which sent Permian and Midland Lee into the playoffs.


Coin Toss


2- I commented on Jalen Jackson's blog:
Brandon Rishel said...

How would your personal outlook on life change if you played football in Odessa?

December 2, 2012 6:21 PM

 
 

Blog Post #2

1.  Briefly update your blog followers on what you’ve been reading in your IRU book recently.  This could focus on a few different passages or importance, or one major piece of the book.

   2.  We’ve been told that a picture is worth a thousand words.  How about ten thousand words for this blog post, then?  Find ten pictures that highlight important themes, characters, events or conflicts of the book thus far.  Upload them to your blog with a brief – limit this to a sentence or so – explanation in the form of a caption.  Try to avoid simply posting book covers, instead look for symbols that would go along with a point of importance in the book thus far.  Try to limit your images to those dealing with events in the first 2/5 or so of the book.

 

Up to the 2/5 margin of the book "Friday Nights Lights", I wouldn't say that there is too much to breifly explain to you guys...

The town of Odessa is historically explained with all of its "booms and busts" but more-less focuses in on the busts part of it all and how this has overall made the town more dependent in living through the Permian Panther football team. Ratliff Stadium can actually hold 19,302 people, which is readily exceeded. The town determines on one of the star players, James "Boobie" Miles to lead them through their wins, especially the one with their rivals, "Midland Lee Rebels". However their mojo (<--team spirt) is shot down when Boobie faces an injury during a pre-season scrimmage which forces him to sit the bench and let the light shine in on Don Billingsly, great football player but like his father, Charlie Billingsly, a party-harder.

Picture Summary:

Odessa and Midland (Lee Rebels [Rivals]) location on a map of Texas.

Aerial view of Ratliff Stadium which could roughly seat just under 20,000 fans.

Odessa "MOJO" which is basically a battle cry/school spirt.

James "Boobie" Miles #35 Runningback                     

 Don Billingsly #26 One of Odessa's starlight players

1988 Permian Panthers Team Picture

Another Photo of Don Billingsly but this time running the ball.

An injuried Boobie Miles on the sidelines at a Permian Game.

Gary Gaines - Permian High School Head Coach

Mike Winchell 1988 Starting Quarterback

Blog Post #1

To get reacquainted with blogging, I’ll ask that you do something of the following for your first blog post of the second quarter.

 

            Discuss/describe the project we’re working on (the IRUnit).  (Hint: Here’s a place to include some media…)

   Incorporate five questions you’ve developed while reading the book so far.  I’d limit my questions to those found in the first 50 pages or so.  These should be higher level questions.  While Level One questions would work, they may be hard for others to answer without having the text in front of them.  Instead, try to ask Level Two and Three questions that seek to understand a pattern in the text or major issues the text tries to develop. 

Keep in mind that quotes from the text are your friend… J

 
In Mid October we were given a select variety of books to pick reading, we went during ARP (8:00am - 8:25am) to grab our books. I choose (obviously) Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. We had a specific amount of time to read the books with suggested bookmarks by Mr. Dunn. As we progess through our books, we are given blog prompts to write about and follow. IRU Blog opener

            As the second quarter begins, we will take the opportunity to delve back into the world of blogging.  While there will be some specific prompts you will need to address in your online writing, I would encourage you to also use your blog as an opportunity to share your work with others – both in our classroom community and outside.  We’ll discuss how (and perhaps why) as we move along.  Keep in mind the following checklist as we use our blogs this quarter to discuss and interpret your Independent Reading Unit books and accomplish other writing tasks.

Book Cover

5 Questions-

What town & state are the Permian Panthers in?

What team is the Panther's rival?

How is their team so good when their players are small?

How do the minority Permian players deal with rasicm?

What challenges in Boobie Miles' life has he had to overcome?