I hope you and your families are all well, and you are keeping busy during our new, more socially distant lifestyles.
I want to give you an update on ELA. From now on, all ELA work for this class will be posted in the school folders, linked to via the email sent to you from Hampshire Regional's administration.
As always, if you have questions with any ELA-related work, please email me with those concerns. I have posted office hours when you will be able to contact me directly for help. Just email me, provide me with a phone number, and I'll call you, or, if you'd like, I'll send you an email with a Zoom mtg. link and we can meet that way.
This work isn't going to be the most challenging work we've done this year, but people will have questions, and I want to make sure you know that I'm here to help with answering those questions.
Take care, Mr. Ritt
3/26/20
If you haven't yet begun writing a journal documenting your everyday life during this unprecedented time in American history, please get started today! Read over the 3/17 entry below for an introduction to the basic expectation for journal writing. This journal assignment is currently labeled as enrichment work.
Be sure to keep up with, complete and submit the school-assigned work to your Advisory teacher. This work must be submitted according to the due dates provided by administration.
3/25/20
Update: Please complete the school-assigned writing prompts as they are written. If you have been writing a journal instead of those school prompts, based on the option I posted here, those will be counted for credit by the teachers assessing your required work, but from this point onward, please complete the school-assigned writing prompts.
I strongly encourage you to continue to write in a journal documenting this unique period in history, but it can no longer count as your required, school-assigned work. Sorry for any inconvenience.
3/19/20
Hello everyone. I thought I'd check in, say hi, and offer up an enrichment activity to keep your brain functioning in a positive and productive manner.
Bear with me here, as I've said some of this in class already, but about ten years ago I took a class that focused on inquiry-based learning using primary source documents. It sounds fancy, but it was really just a chance to play history detective. We'd be given a document, and then we'd have to figure out what it said, what it was , and why all that mattered. I thought it was great to be able to start with nothing -- no idea of what you were looking at, and then piece together clues, follow leads, and eventually, figure out some new story I never knew existed.
It is through my research for this class that I came upon the "To the Citizens of Northampton" document. We, unfortunately, were pulled out of school just as we were digging into the story behind this document, and I thought it might be interesting for you to have the opportunity to continue this inquiry. Here's a few steps to follow so you can experience some of what I hoped to share with you in class.
1. Finish reading the "To the Citizens of Northampton" document. Take your time. Think about what's being said and what it would mean to the people who were publishing it and reading it. Remember -- it was published in October of 1850 in the Northampton Courier.
2. Take a look at the three videos I have provided on my Links page. They all do a great job of helping place our document into its historical context.
3. Now, ask yourself, what was the purpose of this announcement? Who signed it? What does the "recently enacted " law require of all American citizens? What does it say about the people who had this announcement published? What does it say about the people of Northampton?
4. If we were in class, we would have done the following creative writing activity. Please, feel free to engage in this activity at home, if you would like: -Closely read "To the Citizens of Northampton," the "Basil Dorsey Reading" found on the Documents page of this website, and the related videos on the Links page. -Note key details from each document/source. -Using your synthesis skills, take those key details and imagine what actually happened. Imagine how those "undersigned fugitives from Southern Slavery" felt after handing their announcement to the person at the newspaper. Imagine what they said to their families, their friends, and other community members in the days leading up to the meeting. Knowing what was at stake, imagine how they felt. Finally, imagine what happened that "Wednesday eve, the 23d inst., at 6 1/2 o'clock" at the "Town Hall." -Focusing on the first "undersigned fugitive," Basil Dorsey, provide a first-person account of the days and minutes leading up to this fateful meeting. Use the details from the documents and the videos to give authenticity and insight. Write in the form of a journal entry written by Basil Dorsey himself. The purpose of this is to get lost in another world, living and feeling what others lived and felt. Please, stick with the details provided in the primary and secondary sources provided. This is no time to imagine aliens from space entering the narrative. Be creative, but remain in the realm of what is probable and likely to have happened.
5. After having created your own account of Basil Dorsey's experience leading up to the meeting, I imagine you're interested in what actually happened at the meeting. Well, you'll have to wait. In a future posting, I will publish the Northampton Courier's account of the meeting.
Keep busy everyone! Stay sharp! Wash your hands, stay home and six feet apart.
3/17/20
Welcome to day two of our COVID-19 social distancing effort. I'm still wrapping my head around what we're heading into at this point, but, as you know, I'm a firm believer in keeping busy and maintaining some structure in order to stay sharp. One of the ways Hampshire Regional is working to keep you all sharp is by providing "school-issued assignments, directions and templates" at the link below.
After reading through the Learning Expectations, you will quickly notice two of the daily assignments are quite language-artsy. The Reading Log is a great opportunity to explore something new, even for you self-professed "non-readers" out there. Often our daily routine becomes an obstacle that gets in the way of the simple act of settling down with a good book and reading. Well, our daily routines are gone for the foreseeable future, so time to find a good book and log your reading. I'm off to find a new book as soon as I'm done with this post.
The other Learning Expectation that I want you to think about before you get started is the Daily Writing Prompt. The school has provided some very engaging prompts, but if you would like to try something slightly different, I think it will be ok. Here's what I'm thinking: Since we're heading into our unit on primary sources and eventually the life and legacy of teenage writer, Anne Frank, perhaps if your writing took the form of a journal entry we could all get even more out of this unfortunate situation of ours. Take a look at the link below, and read some of Anne Frank's diary entries. There's a bunch of great information and perspective provided in the book flap and the forward, which I strongly encourage you to read, but it's the journal style that I want you to pay particular attention to. Anne writes in her own thirteen-year-old voice, introducing herself, providing specific details about what she sees, what she hears, what she does, and, most importantly what she thinks and feels about it all. She lived in a turbulent time -- a time of uncertainty -- and as a result of her writing, she created an historical record that we still value to this day. So, I encourage you to use this time and this school-issued assignment to create your own primary source -- your own historical record -- in the form of a dated journal, documenting your experiences in these unprecedented times.
Feel free to type or handwrite -- either way is fine. If you feel like sharing it with me via Google Doc, that would be nice too. As time goes on, maintaining a connection with each other will become even more important.
If you feel more comfortable sticking with the school-assigned writing prompts, then please, follow those prompts. I just wanted to offer you an option.
As we are in only the second day of this ever-evolving situation, please, understand that plans are subject to change.
Please take these social distancing measures seriously, and take care of yourself and those around you.
3/16/20
Hi everyone, and welcome to our new normal. Three weeks at home (at least) with no social gatherings, no school, no travel, no concerts, no movies, no going out to eat . . . unreal. This is my first pandemic, so I'm still figuring things out too. So far, social distancing hasn't been too difficult, as I generally require a bit of it to balance out a normal school week. This weekend I spent my time working in the yard and riding my bike in the woods to keep me busy and happy. I hope you too have kept yourself busy and happy -- and healthy. Over the next few weeks, when the weather is nice, go outside! A new (actually, old) phenomenon has taken over my neighborhood -- people walking around, riding bikes, and talking (six feet apart, though!) to each other. Most of us are not quarantined at this point, so make sure to get out and stay active. It may be your only option for social interaction besides staring at your phones (you know my thoughts on those insidious contraptions, so I'll spare you -- no I won't -- get off your phone! It's a vampire sucking your brain!).
Besides enjoying some extra time outside, you'll still have a lot of free time indoors, so I've put together some interesting things for you to do to keep your mind active, your skills sharp, and prepare you for our return, whenever that may be. Take a look below.
-Due to Mrs. Smidy's recent email regarding forthcoming guidance from the state regarding curriculum and instruction, I will hold off on posting any work at this time, so go outside and enjoy the sunshine! Tomorrow's going to be gross, so we'll deal with school stuff then.
3/13/20
Today we finished reading through the primary source document we'll reference as "To the Citizens of Northampton," determining the author's purpose. We also watched a short video about the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 to provide additional context.
Homework: Write a idea-by-idea, sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph version of the document entirely in your own words. Don't just use their sentence structure and play Madlib, replacing words. Read a chunk, then process its meaning and key details, then write it out in your own words.
3/11&12/20
Today students took a post-test for our grammar and diagramming unit, and most found they have significantly improved their understanding and ability.
Next we moved on to our new unit focused on strategies for approaching primary source documents. Students were presented with a handout introducing this unique form of nonfiction as well as their first document. The first strategy employed to take on a primary source is to clarify understanding of the vocabulary.
Homework: On the document starting with the first words, "To the citizens of Northampton," students should locate and underline all words they do not have the ability to fully understand and define. After this, in the space to the right of the document students are to then define these words using very short definitions or by using appropriate synonyms. Please be aware of the word's context when selecting a definition or synonym. No long definitions and no definitions you do not understand. Have this completed for our next class.
3/9/20
Today we took a practice test, showing students exactly what both sections of the test will look like.
Homework: Study for the test! Use the resources on my Links page to supplement your preparation. Bring your one-sided "cheat sheet" to class for tomorrow's test.
3/4&5/20
Today we wrapped up our scripted presentations of diagrams. After that students paired up and shared their diagramming work (either odds or evens), discussing, correcting, and asking questions about their diagrams.
Announcement: Grammar and Diagramming Test 3/10
Homework: Finish the odds/evens, making sure you have completed all 10 diagrams on the Last Chance Diagram Practice handout.
3/3&4/20
Today students presented their diagrams, reading from their scripts, identifying all the elements of grammar and how they relate to each other.
Students also received a new diagram handout titled Last Chance Diagram Practice. Half the class was assigned evens, while the other half of class were assigned odds. Please have those 5 diagrams ready for our next class, and make sure you are ready to explain the logic and grammar that guided your work.
3/2/20
Today students received their Diagramming Quiz #1 back. After discussing those quizzes, students worked on previous diagrams, writing out scripts, explaining how all the parts of a sentence work together. Here's an example:
Sentence: Yesterday the pizza in the school cafeteria looked good.
Script: -Because this is a declarative sentence I did not change anything about its order. -Next, I looked for and circled the prepositional phrase "in the school cafeteria," which I'll deal with later. -After reading over this sentence, thinking about what it means, I understand it's basically a sentence about how the pizza was good the other day at school. So, that makes the subject "pizza" and the verb "looked," which must be a linking verb because pizza can't see things and "looked" can be replaced by a form of the verb "to be" and it still makes sense. -I placed the line that sits on the horizontal main line and angles back to the subject after the verb to show "good" is linked by "looked" to the subject "pizza." -Now it's modifier time, so I wrote "the" on a slanty line down from "pizza" because it answers which pizza -- the pizza. -"Yesterday" tells us when the pizza looked good, so it belongs on a slanty line under "looks," showing it's an adverb. -Finally, there's the prepositional phrase, "in the school cafe." This phrase could function adverbially and tell us where the pizza looks good, but I think it actually functions as an adjective describing what kind of pizza, which is why I have that phrase under pizza on a hockey goalie stick-shaped line with the preposition "in" on the angled line and its object "cafeteria" on the horizontal line with "the" and "school" working as modifiers of cafeteria, answering the adjective question which one.
Homework: Write out one script for one diagram we've already done (that way you know the diagram is correct). Use your Step-by-Step, Packet, and the model above to guide your work. Be ready to present the sentence tomorrow in class. Have the sentence, the diagram and the script neatly written, so that it can be understood by classmates. You should have two scripts for two sentence/diagrams -- one started in class and one for homework. This is a measure of your use of the required resources, so make sure to use those resources as you work and show specific evidence within your work.
2/28/20
Today students had an opportunity to ask whatever diagramming question they chose to ask in preparation for our quiz, and then we took our first diagramming quiz.
Homework: Select three unique sentences from either your Pep Talk or Diagramming Adverbs lists, and prepare to fully and verbally explain those 3 diagrams, representing one declarative, one interrogative and one imperative sentence. You are expected to be able to apply all related terms and explain in detail how the parts of the sentence work together. Practice at home, so you're ready in class on Monday!
2/27/20
Today we took our Grammar Terms Quiz and worked on the issued Diagramming Pep Talk homework.
Homework: Complete the Pep Talk diagrams and prepare for tomorrow's quiz.
2/26/20
Today students prepared for tomorrow's grammar terms quiz, and they checked their work on the Diagramming Adverbs handout.
Homework: Study for Thursday's terms quiz, and continue preparing for Friday's first diagramming quiz. Be sure to use all of the available resources (Step-by-Step, Terms, the Packet, completed diagramming homework, and the tutorial we used to start the unit).
2/24&25/20
Today students were presented with Thursday's quiz (available on Documents page of this website), so there will be no surprises. On Friday students will have their first diagramming quiz, so they should prepare for that as well.
Homework: Create flashcards for Thursday's terms quiz.
February Break
Hope everyone has enjoyed their time off from school. When we return we will continue with our grammar unit. After taking a practice quiz before break, students should have a better idea of the fundamentals of grammar that need to be internalized and understood. Expect a quiz over these basics on the Wed of the week we get back.
Student should be wrapping up their englishgrammar101.com activities at this point in the unit. This work will help with everything we're doing in class, diagramming homework and our upcoming quizzes and tests. As I have said many times, get working on this work asap. Putting it off will only make things more difficult, if not impossible (which we don't want).
2/14 &24/20
Today we took a practice quiz over parts of speech definitions and diagramming. This is a preview of two quizzes scheduled for Thursday and Friday of the week of our return from break.
Homework: Finish #6-10 of Diagramming Adverbs handout. Finish up englishgrammar101.com
2/11/20
Today was a busy one. We checked in and went over our first set of sentence diagrams from the Sentence Types handout. After that, students were introduced to prepositional phrases and how they can be used as different parts of speech, as well as how they are represented in a diagram. Then students were issued the new set of sentences to be diagrammed, focusing on sensory verbs/action vs. linking.
This was a lot of material, but all of it is clearly supported in your Step-by-Step, Grammar Terms, and you diagramming packet. You must use these documents to guide you. There is no guessing in diagramming and grammar. It's the math of language. Follow the process and the information provided and YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL!
Homework: Complete the Sensory Verbs diagrams worksheet, writing out your diagrams clearly on a blank sheet of loose-leaf paper.
2/10/20
Today we started class by going over the Sentence Types worksheet, practicing using the Step-by-Step and talking the talk of diagramming and grammar. During the second half of class students registered with our online grammar program, englishgrammar101.com. This program provides tutorials and examples followed by practice exercises to train students to recognize the various parts of speech. The link can be found on the Links page of this website.
For any students who missed class on the day we registered for englishgrammar101.com, here's a quick step-by-step.
1. Go to the link to englishgrammar101.com on my Links page. 2. Click in the upper right hand corner that says "Student Registration." 3. In the Registration Code box, write: "ritt-period_" filling in the blank after the word "period" with your period number (write a 3, 4, 5 or 6). 4. After that, you should just have to type in your name and a password that you create. Please follow their instructions, and copy down your password! Also, your username is likely going to be written in lowercase -- fist initial followed by last name. I don't need an email account typed in. 5. Do the assigned activities. DON'T FORGET TO PRESS "SUBMIT" AFTER YOU COMPLETE EACH ACTIVITY!!!!!! If you don't, you won't get credit.
Good luck! If you have problems, let me know specifically where things fall apart, and I'll guide you from there. Please, don't inform me of your individual issues or problems with this platform next week. Let me know NOW, so I can help you sooner than later.
Homework: Start working on your englishgrammar101.com activities. They will take a great deal of time if you try to do them all at once (or twice), but if you chip away at them over time, they won't be too bad. The sooner you get started on these, the more help they will be as we develop our understanding of grammar and the 8 parts of speech. After I have a chance to conference with Ms. O'shea, I will provide an official due date, but count on the work being complete when you return from Feb. break. Please, try to earn at least a 95% on each activity. This will help you to determine why the answers are what they are.
2/6&7/20
Today we finished going over our online diagramming tutorial, and then students were issued a variety of documents. These very important documents will support our learning in this unit. The first is the Diagramming Step-by-Step and the other is the Grammar Terms handout. Keep these resources and expect to use them every day on nearly every activity. Another handout was also provided, which offers students examples that focus on particular sentence configurations.
Studying grammar is as systematic as math, so follow the process and you will be successful. Ignore the process and you will likely not succeed.
During the second half of class students began working on their Sentence Types homework.
Homework: Complete the Diagramming Sentence Types homework, using the Step-by-Step document and the Terms handout to guide you. Reviewing the interactive tutorial will help as well. Unless you have considerable experience with this content, you will not be successful if you choose not to use these resources, therefore, please, use the resources. Due next class.
2/4/20
Today we began our Grammar and Diagramming Unit! This is an opportunity to think about language and our writing in a new and different way. Diagramming sentences is simply the method by which we express this new way of looking at sentence construction and the components of our language.
We started off taking a pretest, which most everyone struggled with. When you take the posttest in a few weeks, you'll find that you will have learned a great deal.
We followed an interactive diagramming tutorial (which can be found on my website's Links page under Written Communication Tutorials, then click on the square labeled Sentence Diagramming) that provided students with an introduction to the fundamentals of sentence diagramming. We'll finish this tutorial in our next class.
Homework: Sorry. None. :(
1/29/20
Test date change: Due to recent absences and scheduling due to our recent field trip , the test is no longer scheduled for Thurs and Friday of this week. Instead the test will take place Friday the 31st (literary terms and short stories) and Monday Feb 3rd (formal essay writing).
1/27,28&29/20
Due to our field trip and dropped classes, this class has been spread out over a few different days. We went over the Study Guide and the Practice Test to get students ready for Thursday's and Friday's midyear test. Here are some specifics that should be helpful:
-Students need to know the definitions of all the literary terms listed on the handout, but they should make sure to do more than simply memorize the terms. Students should be able to also apply those terms to the stories that use them. I'd recommend making a flashcard or Quizlet or something along those lines where the term is on one side, then a definition and a quoted example (from one or more of our stories) is on the other side.
-For the test, students will be required to read excerpts from the stories and identify the author and title, remembering that all author names and titles are proper nouns and must be capitalized. Short story titles must also be surrounded by "quotation marks." Points will be deducted if authors and titles are not capitalized and titles are not quoted. This, like many other things on this test, is not new content, but it still requires thought and attention to detail.
-Students must study the ideas and information on their Basic Essay Template and Required Formal Essay Elements handouts. These have been the foundation of all of our formal essay writing this year. I would recommend looking at the model theme essay from the beginning of the year (on the Documents page of this website) to see h0w these essay basics are applied in a short piece of formal writing.
*Use the Practice Tests to guide you! Take your time. Here are the answers, so you can be sure you're on the right track. Don't just take the Practice Test and be done with it. Think about what is being asked of you. Think of why the answers are correct and others are not correct. Use these questions to create your own. Use your resources to anticipate what might be on the test.
Practice Test Answer Key:
Identification of Literary Elements, Authors and Titles
Excerpt 1 "Raymond's Run" Toni Cade Bambara Exposition, Characterization
Excerpt 2 "The Tell-Tale Heart" Edgar Allan Poe Repetition, Suspense
Excerpt 3 "Flowers for Algernon" Daniel Keyes First person, Allusion
Required Formal Essay Elements
1. E 2.B.
Formal Writing Conventions
1. A, B, C, D 2. B, C 3. E 4. A 5. B, C
Other terms, essay elements and formal writing conventions not included in the Practice Test will be included on the Midyear test. Study hard! Good luck!
1/23/20
Today students had time to finish their Literary Elements: Examples and Rationale worksheet. In our next class, students need to be prepared to present their work, showing how they deliberately followed the instructions and the example provided, expressing how the author purposefully used these literary elements to achieve a specified purpose.
Towards the end of class, students were issued a Study Guide and Practice Tests for our upcoming midyear exam scheduled for next Thursday the 30th and next Friday the 31st. You are welcome to look at the Practice Tests, but please hold off on doing this work. We will go over these in class next week.
Homework: -Finish the Examples and Rationale worksheet, preparing to present your work in class tomorrow. Make sure you have made very deliberate efforts to follow all instructions. Please, use the example provided to guide your work. -Get started on your preparation for next week's midyear exam. Students will have to present proof of their study efforts in the form of study artifacts (flashcards, examples, Quizlets, etc.)
1/22/20
Today we read Ray Bradbury's sci-fi classic, "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed." Students were also introduced to the expectations of our new worksheet where students are required to find meaningful examples of the author's use of various literary elements. Don't just pick any old example of a metaphor or personification or whatever. Select examples that present a clear effort to accomplish something that contributes to the author's purpose. Use the instructions and the sample provided to guide your work.
Homework: Complete at least four of the eight elements on the worksheet. Tomorrow you will finish the other four.
1/14&15/20
Today we went over our vocabulary words for the "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" quiz, clarifying usage of the words in example sentences.
Homework: Study for Friday's vocabulary quiz.
1/13/20
Today we began our new short story, "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" by Ray Bradbury, focusing on the first page and the heavy use of literary elements.
Homework: Finish the "Page-One Literary Element Search" for our next-next class. Our next class will focus on vocab, so have this worksheet ready for the next-next one. *If you missed class on Monday due to the Advisory activity, please know that you are still responsible for the work, so stop by and pick up a handout. The story is available on my website for take-home access.
1/10/20
Today students read posts and responses from their classmates and from other classes, looking for student writing that present eye-opening ideas and take-aways that display the continued relevance of this ancient story.
Homework: Continue vocab issued in the previous class.
1/9/20
Over the last couple of days students participated in our first Digital Discussion. In order to make sure students learn something new and valuable while also earning the grade they desire, I reviewed the posted process and expectations for this assignment in class today. Please, ask me if you have any questions regarding this process or the assignment's expectations. During the last two-thirds of class, students had the opportunity to revise their posts and responses (by deleting and reposting) in order to improve their contributions to our discussion.
Students were also issued a new vocabulary list for our upcoming short story, Ray Bradbury's "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed."
Here are the class codes: 3 - e7fxsdu 4 - sb2vwm3 5 - ff4qps5 6 - acjj2tl
Homework: -Please, finish any incomplete work or revise your Original Post and responses, if necessary. Use the expectations provided to guide your work. As stated in class, this assignment will be worth between 45 and 75 points. Sorry I can't give you an exact number. I need to do some math and talk to Ms. O'shea first. -For each of the 20 vocabulary words on the list create flashcards that include the word on one side and on the other side the part of speech, definition, and an example sentence that shows the word's meaning. Due Tues 1/14 for period 3. Due Wed. 1/15 for periods 4, 5, and 6. Quiz will be Friday 1/17.
1/3&6/20
Today in class we discussed the connections between "FfA" and its allusion to Genesis 3, and then we went on to address present-day, historical, and personal examples of how these stories reflect themes and conflicts that continue to hold relevance in our world today. Below is a list of of those themes and conflicts:
-Humans playing God without a full understanding of consequences -Growing up from childhood to adulthood and the loss of innocence that results -The costs and benefits of technology/knowledge/progress Here's a link to an interesting article I just found "Civilized to Death" -The consequences of desire (for knowledge, power, control . . .) -Science vs. faith in God/a higher power
Please spend some time with your friends and family discussing how these present-day, historical and personal issues reflected in Genesis and "FfA" remain relevant to us all today. Creation stories try to explain the unexplainable and seek to show a person how to live within their culture. These stories are designed to make you think about and engage with what you know about yourself and your place in your world and perhaps go on to question both your thinking and your world.
Heavy stuff, right?
The digital discussion format we will use for this activity will allow students to compose their ideas, share them, and work collaboratively to develop a deeper and more enduring understanding of these timeless issues. This format will also allow students to respond to each other's ideas, evidence, and arguments, both agreeing and disagreeing.
Each student will be given access to their class's Google Classroom page. There, students will post an Original Post in response to our essential question, focusing on one of the Five aforementioned themes and conflicts. After posting their Original Post, students will write no less than two responses to the postings and responses of their peers.
Below is an overview of the basic work requirements:
1. Compose and publish an Original Post (focusing on one of the five themes and conflicts) expressing an answer to the following essential question:
What new understandings and timeless issues does this allusion add to “Flowers for Algernon?
Your answer to this question should function as your thesis statement, so be specific and make sure your thesis passes the so-what? test, or else you won't have anything to say about your own thesis. You will be expected to use short textual evidence from "FfA" and Genesis 3 while using paraphrased and anecdotal evidence for your present-day, historical or personal examples.
This Original Post should be structured like a short essay or a "chunky paragraph," which is basically a one-page paragraph with most all of the components of a complete essay. Most students have started with an "intro paragraph" that basically is their thesis statement, and then they write 2 to 3 body paragraphs. Make sure the most developed paragraph is your paragraph on how the allusion connects with historic, present-day or personal issues. It is crucial that this paragraph be filled with lots of evidence and original thinking, as this is the paragraph that will allow you to prove your thesis statement.
Be sure to plan for your Original Post using one of the two prewriting plans provided.
2. Respond to at least one Original Post written by a fellow classmate by focusing in on an idea or aspect of their argument. Either agree and further their point or respectfully disagree with their point, providing a counter argument based on specific evidence and logical argument. Each response should follow the same format as our paragraph structure: claim, evidence, analysis of evidence and connections supporting that claim. Remember, as with all discussions, students are expected to address the specific ideas and evidence presented by their peers as a starting point for their own response, making sure the discussion thread has clear and logical continuity. Please, press the reply arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the students' postings that you wish to comment on and then start the response by addressing the student by name, that way they know you are addressing their ideas.
3. Respond to at least one response written by your peers. These responses should follow the same protocol as your response to an Original Post (see above).
There is a rubric posted along with all of the graphic organizers on the Documents page of this website.
Homework: Prepare your Original Post using either the Original Post Outline or the Original Post Graphic Organizer. Remember, this Original Post is basically a short essay, so prepare for it in the same manner. The Outline and Organizer are prewriting plans that are required for this activity. Please, bring a completed and useful prewriting plan to our digital discussion during our double blocks on Tuesday (periods 4 and 5) or Wednesday (3 and 6). You will also have one period on Thursday to complete and further your work.
1/2/20
Happy New Year! and welcome back to school!
Today we refreshed our memories regarding "FfA" and the author's allusion to the Bible's Genesis Chapter 3. I have posted notes reflecting our discussion from before break to provide you with notes to use as you move forward.
Homework: Complete the first side of the handout titled "FfA and its Allusion to Genesis 3," and be ready to write about another theme or issue on the other side of the handout at the beginning of our next class. This work will prepare you for our threaded discussion assessment scheduled for next week. In this activity students will post their thoughts on Google Classroom, stating what new understandings and timeless issues the allusion brings to Keyes's story.
12/18/19
Today (or last class) we finished reading "FfA," and then I introduced students to Genesis chapter 3, which was alluded to in the "FfA."
Homework: Closely read Genesis chapter 3, annotating it as you read. You should have a minimum of 30 active reading notes on your copy of the chapter, recording your interaction with the text. Here's a quick review of the types of things you should note: -Clarify and explain the use of vocabulary -Ask questions that might help you to better understand the text or explore ideas that are presented by the text. -Summarize key details. -Make connections to our world. Make connections within the text. Make connections with "FfA." -Note interesting ideas and issues that the text bring up in your mind.
Remember, an author alludes to something to make a point. Elsewhere in this story, the author alludes to works of literature to illustrate parallels. Consider how these two story's reflect similar themes, feelings, consequences, etc.
Have these 30 notes ready to guide us as we explore why Daniel Keyes uses this allusion in our next class
12/12&13/19
Today we discussed the parallels between Robinson Crusoe and Charlie Gordon's experience to better understand how author's use allusions. During the rest of the period we continued to read "FfA," making our way to the May 15 entry.
Homework: Students were issued a two-page homework assignment to complete for Tuesday. One side focuses on how Charlie Gordon's character changes due to his surgery while the other side focuses on irony. Make sure you provide 3 unique examples of irony.
12/11/19
Today we continued to read "FfA" in class. In response to an allusion made by the author to the well-known novel Robinson Crusoe, students were introduced to the literary element allusion and how it is used by authors to enhance their storytelling.
Homework: Complete the Allusion Parallel Practice worksheet and be ready to discuss your work in class tomorrow.
12/9/19
"Flowers for Algernon" vocab quiz tomorrow! Study, study, study!
12/6/19
Today students received back their graded "Raymond's Run" essays. If you would like to revise and resubmit, please see me so we can talk about what needs to be done. These conferences are required unless other arrangements have been worked out.
Homework: Finish vocab homework for Monday and study for the quiz on Tuesday. This quiz will come along sooner than you think, so get going now!
12/4&5/19
Today we started reading a new short story titled "Flowers for Algernon," written by Daniel Keyes.
Homework: Start working on the vocabulary homework for this list of 20 words. The homework is due Monday the 9th and the quiz is on Tuesday the 10th, so get working now, so you have time to familiarize and internalize not just the words' meanings but how those words are used in various contexts.
11/27/19
After a period and a half of in-class essay writing, students printed out and submitted their Tell-Tale Single Effect formative essays, making sure to staple their graphic organizer/essay plan to the back of their draft.
Homework: None over the Thanksgiving holiday
11/25/19
Today we had a discussion focused on determining the author's purpose/single effect of "The Tell-Tale Heart." Students took notes as we discussed, and I wrote ideas and evidence on the board. Using today's notes along with their Close Reading answers and two other recent homework assignments, students should fill in the issued graphic organizer in preparation for tomorrow's essay.
Homework: Prepare for the in-class essay scheduled for class Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Your prewriting graphic organizer will be crucial to your success. Please, be sure to put a complete and thoughtful effort into this writing plan. Without a plan that makes good sense and is clearly organized and thought out, you cannot reach your full potential on this assessment. Make the investment!
11/21&22/19
Today students continued to work in small groups answering the issued Close Reading Questions. These questions should be completed for homework if they are not finished in class today. Students were issued two additional questions focusing on important literary elements that were omitted from Poe's story.
Students were provided a handout laying out the expectations for an in-class, formative writing assessment scheduled for Tues and Wed of next week. All the work we are currently doing will help to prepare for this writing assessment.
Homework: Complete Close Reading Questions and Omission Questions for our next class.
11/20&21/19
Today students worked in small groups and then reported out, working collectively to translate Poe's 19th century language to simple 21st century language. In the last part of class, students kept working with their groups answering the first Close Reading questions (on the back of the 3 Examples and 3 Explanations handout).
Homework: Answer at least 3 CloseReading questions for our next class. Please, write your answers on a separate sheet of loose-leaf paper in complete sentences that use details from the text to support your answer.
11/19&20/19
Today we graded our TTH vocab quiz. After that, we discussed the characteristics of primary source documents, contrasting them with a secondary source. This was done in preparation for our reading of Edgar Allan Poe's famous essay, "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale," a nonfiction, primary source. Because this one-page reading is written at a very high level, we used active reading strategies to take on this complex text. While I read the text out loud, students underlined all words they did not fully understand. I then provided short definitions for students to write on their texts, helping them to clarify their understanding. We then translated the first few sentences into our own words as a model for tonight's homework.
Homework: Translate "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale" into your own words, writing your version of Poe's sentences in the lines between his. Try reading the text out loud. It's often much easier to understand complex writing when it is read out loud. This is a challenge. Don't freak out. Just give it your best shot!
1/18/19
Today we (finally) read "The Tell-Tale Heart." After reading the story, students wrote a short, informal response focusing on what makes this an effective example of psychological horror (or why is this story so creepy?). The subsequent discussion where students shared their observations and thoughts will be helpful as students work on their homework tonight, as students will basically do the same thing we did in class but on a worksheet.
Homework: Complete the 3 Examples and 3 Explanations worksheet for our next class.
11/14/19
Today students submitted their "RR" essays, but before that they reflected on their writing process via a Rose - Bud - Thorn activity. After sharing out, classes either continued vocabulary study or began watching a documentary introducing students to writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Homework: Study for vocabulary quiz tomorrow! Be ready to match definitions and fill in the blank for all 20 words.
11/12&13/19
Today we discussed definitions and example sentences for our list of 20 vocabulary words for our upcoming short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe.
Announcement: Due to Monday's holiday, after school help has been rescheduled for Thursday 11/14
Homework: -"RR" essays are due in class tomorrow. Make sure you have at least one (more would be better)completed and typed draft with extensive, handwritten revision marks showing close attention to the revision and editing process using the Template and Essay Elements handouts. For on-time credit, students must have a printed final draft with at least one previous draft with revision and editing marks. Late essays will earn a 10% deduction in points. -Study for Friday's vocabulary quiz.
11/6-8/19
These last few days students have had the opportunity to work on their "RR" essays in class on the school's laptops. I have tried to meet with as many students as possible, providing feedback. Most of the feedback I've provided has been in the form of concrete aspects of the Template and Required Formal Essay Elements documents that students have been issued. This tells me that if students look for these aspects in their writing, they should be able to find and correct these them on their own and significantly improve their papers.
Students were also issued a new vocabulary list for our upcoming short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe.
Homework: -In the form of flashcards write the vocabulary word on one side and on the other, write the part of speech, the issued definition, and an example sentence clearly showing the word's meaning in a meaningful and complete context. You may write this on a piece of paper instead of flashcards, but that technique tends to provide less-impressive results. -Typed, final drafts of "RR" essays due Thursday the 14th. Make sure you have at least one (more would be better)completed and typed draft with extensive, handwritten revision marks showing close attention to the revision and editing process using the Template and Essay Elements handouts.
11/5/19
Today students looked at two model paragraphs that closely adhered to the Basic Essay Template, one an introduction and the other a concluding paragraph. While the syntax of these model paragraphs was sophisticated, the purpose of the activity was for students to see how both paragraphs followed all requirements of the Template. Please feel free to use these models to guide your writing tonight. The models can be found on The Documents page of this website.
Homework: Write an intro and concluding paragraph tonight, completing your "RR" essay's first draft. Tomorrow will be the last day of in-class writing. After that, students will need to do the remainder of their writing on their own time.
Home
11/4/19
Today students received a brief lesson on the need to tie each sentence in a paragraph to the sentence that follows it, making for a cohesive paragraph with logical links between each sentence's language and ideas.
Homework: Finish drafting your second and third body paragraphs. Be ready to draft your intro paragraphs and concluding paragraphs tomorrow.
Helpful Tip: Some students have struggled with the expectations for their Body Paragraph Outlines, which must be filled in before beginning the drafting/writing of body paragraphs. On the Documents page of this website, there are two examples illustrating model Body Paragraph Outlines. Please, use these to guide your work.
11/1/19
Today most students continued to plan their "RR" essays using their Body Paragraph Outlines. Some students moved on and began writing/typing their their first drafts, starting with the 1st body paragraph.
Homework: Write your first body paragraph using your Body Paragraph Outline as your guide (due Monday). As instructed, your thesis statement should reflect a solution or resolution to a problem or conflict in the story. In order for this essay to make sense, please organize your essay so that the first body paragraph expresses this problem/conflict, the second body paragraph expresses the turning point in this conflict, and the last body paragraph expresses the solution or resolution of this problem, tying back to the author's purpose/theme.
10/30&31/19
Today we reviewed the expectations for a thesis statement, making sure our thesis statements express what the author is doing as a writer, not just what happened in the story.
As I checked students' thesis statements, they began to search for evidence in the text of the story. Once students received approval for their thesis, they began to plan their essay's body paragraphs on the issued Analytical Body Paragraph Outline, which is an organizer that allows students to lay out a plan for each body paragraph before they begin writing it.
Helpful hint: Plan on writing at least 3 body paragraphs -- one focusing on the beginning of the story where the problem is presented, one focusing on the climax where the story reaches its turning point, and one focusing on the resolution where the problem is resolved and the author presents the message/purpose she intends to express.
Homework: Prepare for your upcoming essay's 3 body paragraphs by filling in the Analytical Body Paragraph Outline. Be sure to be detailed and specific in your evidence and analysis. The more you invest in this stage of the process, the easier the essay will be to write. I understand that you may have some Halloween plans (I do), so if you don't get all your paragraphs planned, you can work on it in class tomorrow. It will set you one day behind as far as writing is concerned, but it will definitely be worth your while to put in a solid effort on the prewriting. You have been given enough outline sheets for 4 paragraphs, so you'll have a back-up copy in case you need another.
10/29 & 30/19
Today we graded our clauses and sentence types quiz.
Next, students shared their ideas focused on the author's purpose of "RR" in the form of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences.
After that students were introduced to the expectations for a good thesis statement. Here they are below: A good thesis statement. . . -Addresses all aspects of the prompt -Is specific -Expresses a logical relationship between ideas/information -Passes the so-what? test
Homework: Construct 4 possible thesis statement. One in a simple sentence, one in a compound sentence, one in a complex sentence and one in a compound-complex. In our next class we'll discuss which sentence type works best and why.
After that
10/28 & 29/19
Today we processed the ideas brought forth in our formal discussion last Friday, pulling out themes and ideas expressed through the author's storytelling. Below are some of the big ideas our discussion led us to. - Being true to one's self does not have to mean distancing one's self from others - Empathy as a means of breaking barriers and making connections - Focus on abilities over disabilities - Focus on similarities over differences - Respect for others as a means to greater happiness
Homework: Complete the worksheet titled "Using Sentence Types to Develop New Ideas" as instructed for our next class.
10/25/19
Today we conducted a formal discussion in which we sought to determine the author's purpose of Toni Cade Bambara's short story, "Raymond's Run."
10/23/19
Today we shared our work on the More Sentence Structure worksheet in preparation for Thursday's quiz. During the remainder of class students had time to work on their "Raymond's Run" reading questions.
Homework: -Study for tomorrow's quiz over independent and dependent clauses and the sentence types constructed using those clauses. -Bring your completed answers to the "RR" reading questions to class on Thurs.
10/21 &22/19
Today Outsiders essays were passed back. Students read their essay with my comments in the context of their own writing. Please, hang onto these papers! Never throw away your writing. You will need all previous drafts if you wish to resubmit your essay for a new grade. Speaking of that, any student who wants to improve their essay and potentially improve their grade should see me to speak about what they will do to improve their paper. Just fixing the things I marked is not going to be enough. I will often mark an error once or twice, but then not mark every single time the error repeats itself. That is your job. Look at my feedback and fix the issue throughout your paper. If students resubmit an essay without fixing any of the specific issues I noted on the graded draft I will stop grading the resubmitted essay and the original grade will stand. Resubmitting a paper takes up considerable time, and if I'm going to reread your paper, it needs to be clear that the issues I noted have been addressed.
During the second half of class we read our new short story, "Raymond's Run." I passed out 10 reading questions that need to be answered as instructed by Thurs.
Homework: -Answer all RR reading questions for Thursday. -Complete the More Sentence Structure worksheet for Wed. -Prepare/study for a 30 point quiz on Thursday where you'll have to identify simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences and the parts of those sentence types. If you can walk the walk and talk the talk of independent and dependent clauses and how they work to create the four sentence types, you should be all set. This is going to take time and practice, so use your Resource Sheets and start preparing now.
10/16/19
Today we went over the Sentence Structure Practice worksheet students had completed for homework. After that, we looked at student examples of "Charles" paragraphs, determining the extent to which student writers followed the Basic Essay Template and the Required Formal Essay Elements in their paragraphs.
Homework: Study for a 6-point quiz over the following content. Since we've been working on independent/dependent clauses and the four sentence types for more than a week, students should be in pretty good shape for this quiz, but I highly recommend studying using flashcards or some other method to make sure you know these terms. Next week we'll have a higher-value quiz over these definitions as well as the application of this basic grammar knowledge.
Be ready to define these terms as they are defined below in our next class.
Independent Clause: A group of words including a subject and a verb that agree and express a complete thought. Dependent Clause: A group of words including a subject and verb that agree but do not express a complete thought due to the presence of a subordinator Simple Sentence: One independent clause Compound Sentence: Two independent clauses joined by a comma and a conjunction Complex Sentence: One independent and one dependent clause Compound-Complex: Two independent clauses joined by a comma and a conjunction including a dependent clause
10/11/19
Yesterday we reviewed the expectations set for this analytical paragraph assignment.
Today we started off class with a little pop quiz covering the four most basic elements of an analytical paragraph. Most students found that they did not score as well as they would have liked. Our instruction and activities since the start of the year have focused on these elements (see Basic Essay Template), and it is necessary that students internalize these expectations. This quiz grade will not be factored into students' grades, but should serve as a wake-up call. We will not have any tests throughout the first half of the year in ELA. Student writing is the test. Expression of these fundamentals is necessary and required for all students to succeed.
During the second half of the class I projected students' paragraphs on the board and I provided direct feedback regarding the successes and opportunities for improvement. While I only made it to through about 3 paragraphs per class (we'll continue on Wed), there was only one student in all 4 classes who wrote an effective paragraph that met all the expectations on the Template. I asked her how she was able to do it. She said she followed the Template's expectations. It's that simple.
Homework: Complete the Sentence Structure Practice handout for our next class, making sure to follow the directions. Please, be ready to talk about your answers.
10/8&9/19
Today we practiced crafting simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences focusing the author's use of literary elements in "Charles." We did this through playing a game where groups crafted sentences, earning points for being the first to write a properly crafted sentence on the assigned topic.
Homework: Bring your handwritten paragraph draft to class. In our next class we'll use our new understandings of connecting the language and ideas of your topic sentence to your paragraph's analysis along with our new understandings of the four sentence types to improve our "Charles" paragraphs. Final, printed drafts of these paragraphs are due in class on Friday for an in-class activity where students will receive instant feedback on their paragraph writing.
10/7&8/19
Today we looked at two ways of improving our paragraph writing. The first way was by identifying the key words and phrases in our topic sentences, so we can be certain to tie back to those specific words in our paragraph's analysis. Tying back to the topic sentence's words creates a tight weave of ideas and keeps the paragraph in focus.
The other technique we introduced in order to improve our paragraph writing was by developing our understanding of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. Understanding these different sentence types will allow students to craft more dynamic and varied sentences with greater purpose, improving the quality and expression of ideas within their essays.
Homework: Finish the Clauses and Basic Sentence Types Processing Sheet for our next class.
10/3/19
Today we used our Evidence Analysis Organizers to begin our discussion centered around determining the author's purpose of Shirley Jackson's short story, "Charles." To further our investigation into the author's purpose, we reread the story. After that we worked towards articulating claims asserting the author's purpose. Below are four claims that will be used as topic sentences answering the following essential question: What is the author's purpose and how does SJ use foreshadowing/characterization/situational irony/first person, unreliable narrator (pick one) to accomplish that purpose?
Students were given a handout detailing the expectations for this assignment titled "Charles Analytical Paragraph Expectations."
Homework: Use the Paragraph Elements listed on the left column of this document and plan out your paragraph on the back of this handout. Write your topic sent, the context for your evidence, significance, meaning and connections to the topic sent. For students who feel two pieces of evidence would benefit their paragraph, please repeat this process a second time. Below are the four topic sentences students may choose from. Students may use their own topic sentences, but there's a risk that yours may not work, so (smarter not harder) I'd stick with one of these.
Example Claims:
-In her short story, “Charles,” author Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing to allow the reader to see clues missed by parents who refuse to acknowledge the bad behavior of their own child. -Shirley Jackson’s use of situational irony in her short story, “Charles,” highlights the humor and surprise experienced by parents who choose to ignore their own child’s bad behavior. -In her short story, “Charles,” author Shirley Jackson’s characterization of Laurie’s mother shows the denial parents can have when confronted with the truth. -Through her use of an unreliable, first-person narrator, Shirley Jackson allows a reader to experience the denial and surprise of a parent unwilling to accept the truth of her child’s bad behavior.
What's next? In class Friday (Mon. for period 6) students will use their prewriting plans (tonight's homework) to draft a handwritten paragraph responding to the prompt. After that we'll introduce the way in which deliberate use of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences can help to improve the quality of your writing. After that lesson, we'll type these paragraphs out and evaluate them in class.
10/2/19
Today students took the "Charles" vocab quiz, and afterward they continued to work on their Evidence Analysis Organizer.
Homework: Finish the EAO for class tomorrow. Be sure to apply each of the literary elements listed at the top, remembering that characterization has five separate components (thoughts, words, actions, appearance and effect on others). The Context box should include "on-the-line" understanding, while the Connection box needs to contain "between-the-lines" understanding, illustrating specific and original ideas as to how and why the author uses this literary element in the given quote.
10/1/19
Today we looked at a model, worked together and worked independently on our Evidence Analysis Organizer, on which students practiced analyzing quotes from the short story "Charles." We got started in class, but don't worry, you don't have to finish it for homework. We'll take care of it after our vocab quiz.
Homework: Study for vocab. Use your homework, use the definitions and part of speech handout, use the story to see how the words are used, and use the internet to find other examples of the words' usages. Tomorrow's quiz will be worth 40 points, almost doubling our current points for the quarter. Essay grades will come in in another couple weeks (they take a long time to grade), but they'll have an even bigger impact as they are worth 100 points.
9/27&30/19
Today we discussed each of our 20 vocabulary words from "Charles" in preparation for the quiz on Wednesday the 2nd of October. Students were expected to fix their example sentences and write new ones based on the sentences shared in class.
Homework: Continue to study for Wed's quiz.
9/26&27/19
Today we read Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles," which can be found on the Links page of this website. After reading students reflected via a freewrite, which we then shared and discussed.
Homework: Keep working on vocab. I'll check it in for homework credit in our next class and we'll go over each word so you understand what these words mean and how they work in sentences.
9/25&26/19
Today students were presented with the first vocabulary list from our first short story, "Charles," by Shirley Jackson. For each word on the list, students must complete the following in preparation for our quiz next week:
word ( part of speech) Definition provided on handout - Example sentence using the word in context showing the w0rd's meaning.
word ( part of speech) Definition provided on handout - Example sentence using the word in context showing the w0rd's meaning.
This assignment can be done in the form of flashcards or simply writing this out on a piece of notebook paper. Be sure to leave a space between words and indent all parts except the word (see example above).
Homework: Write the word, part of speech, definition provided and create an original example sentence showing the word's meaning for all 20 words on the list. Due: Friday 27th for period 3, Monday the 30th for 4, 5, & 6 Quiz: Wed. October 2 (matching definitions and fill in the blank story where students must use the word's context to determine the correct blank)
9/23/19
Today students submitted their Outsiders essay, but before that, we conducted a Rose-Bud-Thorn reflection, providing me with feedback into how this first essay experience went.
Homework: None. :( Don't forget to bring your lunch for tomorrow's field trip!
9/20/19
Today we looked at a model essay, noting how the essay closely followed both the issued Template and the Required Formal Essay Element. While students continued to revise and edit their essays, I checked to see the progress made by students, comparing their summer 1st drafts with their current drafts.
The model essay shown in class is available on the Documents page of this website.
Homework: Continue revising and editing your theme or internal conflict essays, using the two handouts to guide your process. Be sure to handwrite all of these revision and editing marks on your drafts. Students must submit at least one previous draft with extensive revision and editing marks that directly address the requirements found on the Template and Essay Elements handouts in order to submit a final draft. No essays will be accepted without this handwritten proof of the revision and editing process. Due Monday: final draft of Outsiders essay and all drafts with handwritten revision marks.
9/18&19/19
Today students were presented with a resource to help them with integrating quotations into their essay. This document can be found on the Documents page of this website. Please, use it as you write and revise this and future essays.
During the remainder of class I checked in students' thesis statements and their corresponding topic sentences to verify students had a viable "backbone" to their essay. Students whose thesis and topic sentences met expectations were given the go-ahead to begin drafting or revising their essay (depending on the situation).
Homework: Students should write out a new draft of their essay due on Friday. In class Friday I'll look at your summer essay and your new draft, side-by-side, to assess your progress and understanding. Be sure to print out and make hand-written revision marks on each draft of your essay to provide proof of process. Do not just make corrections on your Google doc. Print out a draft, use the writing documents to guide your revision work, marking up the draft with handwritten marks, and then update your typed drafts implementing those handwritten revision and editing marks.
****No final drafts will be accepted without a least one draft with comprehensive handwritten revision marks, illustrating the student's attention to the revision and editing process.
9/17&18/19
Today students were presented with another document titled Required Formal Essay Elements, which will serve as a checklist as you write and revise all 8th grade essays.
We then looked reviewed the Outsiders summer writing prompts to make sure everyone is writing essays that meet the requirements of the prompt and the instructions. This is a big deal! If you're not following the instructions and the prompt, no matter what you do or how hard you work, you will not be successful, so be sure to use the prompt and the instructions to guide your work.
Homework: To make sure all students are headed in the right direction, everyone is required to do the following for both the internal conflict and the theme essays: Write a thesis statement for the essay and write a topic sentence for each of the three body paragraphs. This may mean that you have to write these sentences differently than how you wrote them this summer. That's ok. We have begun the revision process, so expect your essay to go through significant changes as it improves and begins to meet our 8th grade expectations.
Once I've looked at your thesis statements and related topic sentences, I'll give you my thoughts on which essay you should revise, and then you can begin the revision process. Good luck!
9/16&17/19
Today students were introduced to our Basic Essay Template, which will serve as a model for nearly all of our 8th grade formal writing assignments.
Homework: Look at both of your summer essays in relation to the Basic Essay Template. On one side of a piece of notebook paper focus on the theme paper and on the other focus on the internal conflict paper. Create a two-column format on each side of the page, one side of the column note where your summer writing met the expectations on the Template and in the other column note where your summer essay did not meet the Template's expectations. In the end, you should have a clearer understanding of where your summer essays meet our 8th grade expectations and where they don't. This should help you to determine which of the two essays should be chosen for revision and submission.
Throughout the week we'll continue to roll out our 8th grade formal writing expectations while revising one of the two summer essays. A paper copy of a revised draft is due in class Friday and a final copy will be submitted for a formal writing grade on Monday the 23rd.
9/13/19
On Friday we conducted a post-discussion reflection, and students also shared what they know about formal essay writing. On Monday we'll compare what students know about formal essay writing with our 8th grade writing expectations. We'll then look at our summer writing assignments and determine how well those essays meet our new expectations.
Homework: None. Have a great weekend! Just be ready with your summer writing on Monday.
9/12/19
Today we had a very successful formal discussion/Socratic seminar in each class.
Homework: Please, bring your summer writing assignment to class tomorrow. Other than that, there's no new homework. :(
9/11/19
Today we accomplished quite a lot.
In periods 4-6 we presented our Tableaus of important Outsiders scenes, discussing the elements of the scenes and their significance to the novel.
In all classes we conducted freewrites where students wrote abut what they thought the author's purpose of The Outsiders is. After that we took students' ideas about the author's purpose and expressed them succinctly in the form of theme statements, (noun -- preposition -- noun) for example, the struggle with identity, the loss of innocence, or the consequences of loss.
This formal discussion will be worth 20 points. A rubric is provided on the Documents page of this website.
Homework: Write out a page of notes supporting one or more of the themes collected today in class, noting several page numbers and examples. This page of notes will work along with the previous two homework assignments to support students in our formal discussion tomorrow where we'll work to determine and support what students' feel is the author's purpose of The Outsiders.
9/9&10/19
Today we continued to dig into The Outsiders, focusing on finding meaningful excerpts (quotes) from the story, analyzing them by reading "on the lines," "between the lines," and "beyond the lines." Digging into the novel and analyzing it on these three levels of understanding is preparation for a formal discussion we will have midweek, where students will share their ideas about the novel and the evidence from the text that helped to form those ideas.
The remainder of class was spent in small groups preparing our Tableau activity where students establish a scene depicting an important moment in the story. A tableau is a posed scene -- like a photo or freeze-frame -- that includes characters in expressive positions using gestures and facial expressions to tell how that moment fits into the larger story. A sketch of the setting/background is necessary to tie the tableau together. Please, have your background sketch and a plan for your tableau presentation ready for class tomorrow. We'll present these scenes and then move on to our formal discussion. A copy of the Tableau handout can be found on the Documents page of this website.
Homework: Find three of the most important moments in The Outsiders (try to find one at the beginning , middle and end-ish) and then give three specific reasons why each moment was so important to the novel. Expect to make specific connections, expressing specific details from the story. This work should fill one side of one piece of loose-leaf lined paper. This assignment is further preparation for students so are prepared for our upcoming formal discussion. Due next class.
9/6&9/19
Today in class we took our Six-Word Memoirs and copied them onto our puffy clouds to decorate our Matterhorn bulletin board. After that we corrected our Outsiders reading quiz. We also introduced the three levels of understanding: on the line, between the lines and beyond the lines. A handout was provided to illustrate these levels of understanding and the types of questions that will help us discover these new understandings.
Homework: Find two meaningful and important quotations from The Outsiders and write them on the Discussion Prep handout (one on each side) in the blank that says "Evidence." Then, analyze/break down the quote at each of the three levels of understanding, writing down details and ideas represented within the quote. For "On the Lines" analysis focus on basic background information. For "Between the Lines" focus on how the quote connects with conflicts, characters, points of view, motivations, etc. For 'Beyond the Lines" look at what larger meaning the quote could have for our world. Think about what the author is trying to express about how people act, why they act that way, and what she's saying about how people should act. Also consider themes that might be expressed through this quote.
PERIOD 3!!!! I explained the above homework assignment incorrectly in class. Please, disregard/ignore what I told you in class, and instead follow the directions above and on the sheets I gave you on Friday. Sorry about the mix-up.
9/5/19
Today we continued to discuss the revision process used to produce effective Six-Word Memoirs. I have added a Revision Process page to the Six-Word Memoir Step-by-Step handout. You can find this on the Documents page of this website. Please, use it to guide your work.
Homework: -Continue to revise your memoir. Bring a final copy to class tomorrow. We will copy them onto a puffy cloud-shaped piece of paper to decorate our Matterhorn board. Your process matters. Please make sure you have evidence of your work and your revision process written on paper to submit with your cloud/final draft.
9/4/19
Today in ELA we took a quick reading comprehension quiz over The Outsiders.
After that, students were introduced to the Six-word Memoir, which tells a someone's story in only six words. To practice, we followed the step-by-step process, creating an ultra-short story for one of the characters from The Outsiders, which took a full page of notes, freewriting, revising and editing. Students should follow this process tonight as they create their own Six-word Memoir telling their own story.
Homework: Using the Six-word Memoir Step-by-Step document, which can be found on the Documents page of this website, follow the pre-writing, writing, revision and editing process. After going through this process, you should have a Six-word Memoir telling your story. Please, bring the one full page of notes and finished memoir to our next class.
9/3/19
Welcome to our class website! I hope you had a great first day of school. This is where I post a re-cap of today's class along with any homework assignments for the next day.
Today in ELA . . . - We wrote a Freewrite focused on what it means to be an outsider and an insider and discussed the ideas that grew out of our writing. - We copied down the homework.
Homework:
- Be ready for a reading comprehension quiz over The Outsiders. Don't freak out. If you read the book and understood it, you should do fine. - Since you've closely read my website's posting, remember this for extra credit bonus points on tomorrow's quiz: My sister had a goldfish, and she named it Sodapop, because he was a very handsome fish.
Welcome to 8th grade ELA on Team Matterhorn!!!
I hope you have had a great summer and are getting excited about the start of the school year.
To be ready for ELA you will need to complete the Outsiders summer reading and writing assignments. You can find this packet on the Documents page of this website. Please, read the instructions very closely and do your best to follow those instructions as you complete the work. This work will be the focus of our class for the first few weeks; therefore, close, active reading of the text and writing focused on the stated expectations will be the best way to insure a strong start to 8th grade ELA. Enjoy! The Outsiders is a wonderful book. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Please, bring your copy of The Outsiders to class the first day and expect to bring it to class for the next few weeks.
(And remember, the word Soc is short for Social, so it's pronounced Sosch -- not Sock!)
6/12/19
Since submitting our Anne Frank Portfolio projects, we've been working on poetry. Tomorrow students will present their mimicry projects, which was modeled in class today.
Students have also been preparing for the final. Readings have been issued in class and a summary of what will be on the final has been posted on the Documents page of this website.
Homework: Finish you mimicry project and study for the final.
5/24/19
Yesterday I checked in first drafts for each student (I was pulled from period 6, so those students should have shared their drafts with me. If you haven't, then do, please). I've also uploaded a few helpful documents to the Documents page of this website. Please use these docs as you revise (Revision Checklist), create your Table of Contents (Template), cite your sources using parenthetical citations, and create your Works Cited page (Works Cited Resource Sheet).
Over the weekend students should finish their first drafts if they have not yet done so. After having completed this draft, students should print it out and use the Revision Checklist to guide their revision process (remember -- this checklist has a backside that must be addressed as well). Handwritten revision marks covering all required formal essay elements must be addressed on this draft in your handwriting on a printed-out copy of your first draft. No final drafts will be accepted without a draft (1st or 2nd) with handwritten revision marks, illustrating adherence to our writing process and the formal essay elements.
Some students need to address past work, while others are ready to move forward. If you are ready to move forward, begin to fix your current draft using your handwritten marks. Begin adding in parenthetical citations and begin constructing your Works Cited page (see the issued handout). Keep working on your Glossary of Terminologies and Vocabulary, making sure to use these words that reflect your new learning in your essay.
I have also uploaded a document that contains links to potential present-day resources and topics. Feel free to use these links as a starting point for this research.
Keep writing! Next week we'll look at some copies of complete projects, so students understand what it'll all look like in the end. Only about 3 school days left to work on this project, so your efforts at home are going to make all the difference.
5/17/19
After another week in the computer lab, students should be well on their way into drafting their essays. Keep writing over the weekend and continue to keep up with about a half an hour of writing or research every night.
Homework: As posted on the due date calendar on the portfolio project page, complete first drafts (intro, minimum of three body paragraphs and conclusion) due Thursday 5/23.
5/12/19
As students have been provided a calendar of due dates on the Portfolio Project page, there have been no updates on this page, but as we move from research to writing, I thought a few updates would be helpful.
On Friday we moved into the computer lab where students were presented with a graphic organizer on which they should organize their essay's evidence and argument in support of their thesis statement. I began the process of checking thesis statements on Friday and will continue through next week. The expectations for this task and all others can be found on the project page of this website.
As students begin to organize their evidence and argument in support of their thesis, they should be searching for present-day sources that illustrate their thesis statement's relevancy to today and other points in history. Please, discuss the issues reflected in your thesis with parents and peers. Writing is much easier if you've talked through these ideas prior to putting them on paper.
Homework: -Craft a thesis statement, making sure it is framed as a solution to the problem inherent in your essential question. Make sure the language in your thesis is very specific. Broad generalizations are very difficult (or impossible) to prove. -Organize your essay paragraph by paragraph. If the organizer you were provided is insufficient, feel free to use whatever organizer suits your writing style, but all students must put together a plan before they begin writing their paragraphs. -Continue to search for present-day sources that illustrate the timelessness of the issues addressed in your thesis. -Refer to the Anne Frank Portfolio Project page of this website for clarification all aspects of this project. If you have any questions after having done so, please, email me and I will be happy to clarify.
4/29/19
Today while we continued to read The Diary of Anne Frank in class, I checked in with students on their research progress, looking for two annotated text-based primary sources, one annotated primary source artifact ( a visual item like a photo or poster) and two annotated secondary sources.
Homework: Prepare for research Source Check #2 on Wed. 5/8. That day you'll be required to have 5 (or more) annotated text-based primary sources, 5 (or more) annotated secondary sources, and two ( or more) annotated artifacts. You should also be close to an answer to your EQ, as a working thesis is due on Friday 5/10.
4/26/19
This week in English class, students have been reading the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank. Outside of class, students have been working on choosing their Essential Question and have started their research for their Portfolio Project. Students were issued a manila folder containing multiple handouts. Of particular interest is the Anne Frank Unit Calendar that outlines significant due dates, the first of which is fast-approaching on Monday:
Homework: Essential Question Selection and Source Check #1: Monday, April 29th. Students should have filled out their Essential Question handout and should have annotated, printed-out hard copies of 2 primary sources, 2 secondary sources, and 1 artifact relevant to their EQ. Students should have five analysis sheets completed (one for each source).
Parents: If your student seems to be behind already or wants to get ahead, I would encourage them to join me after school on Monday.
4/24/19
Today we began reading The Diary of Anne Frank, a drama (play) based on her diary, The Diary of a Young Girl. We'll be reading this aloud in class over the course of the next two weeks. Students' job outside of class is to determine which essential question they would like to answer through their research and then begin that research. Students should plan on allotting about 30 minutes per day to this research. If you skip a day -- no worries -- just double your work the next day. The most important thing is that you are keeping up.
We also graded our Holocaust Web quiz and passed out Analysis Sheets that will be used to process information relevant to answering your EQ. We also passed out a Research Log on which students will record the sources they have collected.
So, get started researching! You only have 4 or 5 nights to prepare for your first due date on Monday 4/29.
-For this check in, students should have decided on their essential question and begun to research, searching their sources for understandings that will lead them to an answer to this EQ. You'll be required to have printed out and annotated 2 primary source docs, two secondary source docs, and one artifact along with an Analysis Sheet for each.
4/22/19
Today we took a quiz assessing students' active reading notes, covering the first 34 pages of Anne Frank's diary. After that we began to introduce the Anne Frank Portfolio Project.
Homework: Read over the Anne Frank Portfolio Project page on this website and summarize the requirements and key elements of the project, writing it all out on a full single-spaced page. Use bullet points, numbers and headings to lay out the project in an organized manner. When you come in to class tomorrow, you should be able to use this homework to report to the class what needs to be done to properly complete this project. After filling a page summarizing the project, write out 3 questions you still have about this project.
4/11/19
Today students were presented with the first 34 pages of The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank and were given examples and instructions as to the the expectations for active reading. After that we went over the answers to the 11 Holocaust Web Questions.
Homework:
-Study for tomorrow's quiz using your answers and your notes taken in class.
-Actively read the 1st 34 pages (the whole packet I gave you) of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, writing notes on each page, noting key details, summarizing sections, clarifying unknown vocabulary, looking up historical references. . . A quiz over your reading notes will be given the day we get back from break. Strong detailed notes = good quiz score. The quiz will be open-note and is designed to measure the quality of your notes, not your ability to read the text on the day of the quiz.
4/8/19
We have begun our unit on The Diary of Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Students will be in the computer lab for the first half of the week answering a series of question on the historical context for this unit. Here's a link to the webpage that connects you with the readings: The Holocaust: A Learning Site For Students
Homework: -Make sure your 11 questions are answered and written out by Thursday. -Watch this video before class on Thursday (I recommend you watch the video as soon as possible, as it is very helpful at tying together the ideas and information addressed in the questions. The Path to Nazi Genocide Video Link WARNING: Between minutes 29:30 and 30:10 there is film depicting an execution of civilians by SS troops. It is old, grainy film, taken at a distance, but it is intense. Please, avoid this part of the video if you feel this imagery is not appropriate for you. Also, starting at minute 34:30 there begins a series of images taken by the Allied military forces who liberated the Nazi death camps. These images are also intense, depicting the tragic consequences of starvation and malicious neglect; however, these images are not violent.
4/1/19
Today we continued our MCAS prep training, reading "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" (p. 55) and "Echoes of Shiloh" (p. 61) from our textbook. Students must answer the 6 questions on page 61 and then respond in a one-page essay to the following prompt:
-Why does Bradbury and Foote use sensory imagery in their writings on Shiloh? What does it add to their work? Use specific examples from both texts to support your response.
In class today most students finished the questions. If you didn't finish the questions, finish them for homework. We'll complete the essay response in our next class, and we'll check in all of the recent MCAS-prep homework and classwork from the last week or so.
3/29/19
Today we read two poems and wrote an MCAS-style response in class focusing on two poems. If you didn't compete the one-page essay response, complete it for our next class.
3/26/19
Today students were issued a reading on "undersigned fugitive," Basil Dorsey. After reviewing the elements of narrative writing, students were provided a writing prompt and were assigned to write a narrative response based on the MCAS-style prompt issued to them.
Homework: Finish your narrative told from the perspective of Basil Dorsey, following the instructions provided on the handout.
3/25/19
Today we finished up our close reading of the primary source document referred to as "To the Citizens of Northampton," and we began reading a short piece of secondary nonfiction focused on the life of "undersigned fugitive" Basil Dorsey.
Homework: Read the Basil Dorsey bio and the prompt below, and then bullet-point 10 details from "To the Citizens. . . " and 10 details "Basil Dorsey that will help you to respond to the prompt during our in-class writing activity. The Basil Dorsey reading and prompt can be found on the Documents page of this website.
3/22/19
Having taken our diagramming and grammar test yesterday, we have moved forward with a short mini-unit on primary source documents. Today we began reading one particular document published in the Northampton Courier in 1850. Using primary source reading strategies, we read over this document, working to determine the authors' purpose. To answer some of the questions students had in regards to the document, we watched two short videos in class. Please, refer to those videos as you work on the questions.
Homework: Answer the Guided Reading Questions on a separate sheet of paper for our next class.
3/18/19
Last Thursday students took their diagramming quiz, and today they received it back, and we discussed the right (and wrong) way to diagram those three sentences.
Homework: -Continue working on englishgrammar101.com every night. ALL activities are to be competed by Wednesday of this week for full credit. -Prepare for Thursday's test. Each student will be allowed to bring a "cheat sheet" to class for the test. That "cheat sheet" can include anything, as long as it fits on oneside of one 8.5x11" piece of paper. No other papers will be allowed to be used while taking Thursday's test. The quality of your "cheat sheet" entirely depends on your efforts to prepare for this assessment.
3/13/19
All week we've been diagramming sentences, and many student have been having their "ah-ha!" moments where things are starting to make sense. This happens when students have put in time training on englishgrammar101.com, following the Step-by-Step, and using resources, like previously completed diagrams.
Homework: Study for tomorrow's diagramming quiz. You will be given one declarative, interrogative and imperative sentence which you will have to diagram. This is a 30-point quiz, and you may use any notes or documents you wish to use. Students will be limited to a single notecard on next week's test, though. Good luck! and don't forget to use the resources on this website's Links page to help with your quiz preparation.
3/8/19
Today we continued to express our understanding of the 8 parts of speech and grammar through sentence diagrams.
Heads-up: On Monday, students who scored below an 80% on their 8 parts of speech quiz will have a chance to retake the quiz.
Heads-up: We'll have a quiz over everything covered so far this unit on Thursday of this week. Use the resources on the Links page to help you prepare.
3/6/19
Today we graded our 8 parts of speech quiz. Students earning an 18/22 or above will not have to retake the quiz, but all students scoring below that should be ready for a chance to retake it on Monday the 11th in class. This quiz will have a 10% point deduction for the final score, so to get a respectable grade, students are going to have to aim high.
Homework: Continue englishgrammar101.com activities, and those needing to retake the quiz should begin preparing for that.
3/5/19
Today we continued to work on diagramming the 8 parts of speech.
Homework: Continue to complete englishgrammar101.com lessons, activities and quizzes. All are due 3/20, so keep up a steady pace! If you haven't started, you are behind and time is going to be very tight in the near future.
3/1/19
Today students worked in small groups, discussing the Diagramming Sensory Verbs handout. Groups presented diagrams, talking their way through the process as they displayed their diagrams to the class.
Homework: Continue working on the englishgrammar101.com activities and lessons.
2/28/19
Today students signed up for their englishgrammar101.com accounts. This is an online grammar program that lessons and exercises for students to learn, review and practice 2/27/29
Today we took our 8 Parts of Speech quiz and continued to introduce and practice new elements of grammar and diagramming.
Homework: Finish the Sentence Types worksheet and do the first five diagrams on the Sensory Verbs diagramming handout for next class.
2/15&25/19
Today student were introduced to our grammar unit via a sentence diagramming tutorial, which can be linked to via my Links page.
Homework: Prepare for Wednesday's 8 parts of speech quiz. The quiz will not be matching or anything where the definitions are there for you. You must commit these definitions and all of their individual components to memory. There will be no partial credit.
2/14/19
Today (and tomorrow for period 5) we finally wrapped up our Mid-Year tests, and we began moving on to our next unit by taking a pretest over the 8 parts of speech and sentence diagramming.
Homework: Create flashcards in preparation for a quiz over the definitions of the 8 parts of speech on the Wednesday after we return from break (2/27). That means that you'll have to do some flashcarding/Quizletting while you relax next week!
You will have to memorize the information below, so begin training yourself now!
8 Parts of Speech: Defined____________________________________________________________ Noun:a word that represents a person, place, thing or idea
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun
Adjective: a word that modifies a noun or pronoun, -Answers: Which one? What kind? How much? How many?
Verb: word(s) expressing an action or a state of being -Actionverbs represent actions -Linking verbs connect the sentence's subject with an adjective ornoun in predicate. -Helping verbs work with a main verb to create a verb phrase.
Adverb: a word that modifies a verb, adjective or adverb -Answers How? Where? When? To what extent/why?
Preposition: word(s) that expresses a relationship between words -Always exists in a phrase, starting with the preposition and ending with its object
Conjunction: word(s) used to connect words, phrases and clauses
Interjection: words that express emotion or draw attention -Never grammatically connected to other words in the sentence
2/8/19
Today we are taking the first half of the ELA mid-year test, covering literary element definitions and identification.
On Monday students will take the second half of the test, covering formal essay writing.
Homework: Continue to prepare for Monday's test. Please bring your study artifacts to class. You will submit these with your test. If you have made a Quizlet, please email me the link.
2/4-6/19
This week we will look at sample questions covering each section of the test. This will allow you to see exactly how the test is set up and exactly what skills and understandings will be assessed.
2/1/19
Today students were issued 4 Short Story Review Sheets. Each one allows students to note the key elements of each short story (minus "DTW and G-E" because we just did this stuff this week).
Homework: Continue to work on your SS Review Sheets and your other midterm review artifacts in preparation for the midterm next Thurs and Friday.
1/31/19
Today we continued our discussion of "DTW and G-E," focusing on the story's climax as a means to understanding the story's theme. We also looked at how other literary elements were used by Bradbury to support the development of this theme.
Homework: Students should begin to create their midterm review artifacts (flashcards, Quizlets, review sheets expressing information and concepts from our many handouts on the subjects covered on the midterm handout. I'll check in students' progress on these artifacts on Monday, and artifacts will be submitted with the midterms next week. -ELA midterm 2/7 and 2/8.
1/29/19
Today students took their vocabulary quiz for "DTW and G-E" and had time to work on their Examples and Rationale worksheet. Students were also issued the review sheet for the upcoming Short Story, Literary Elements and Essay Elements Mid-term test, which will take place on 2/7 and 8.
Homework: Have your Examples and Rationale worksheet completed and ready to share in class tomorrow.
1/25&28/19
Today we finished the story and began working on a worksheet focused on explaining how the author uses literary elements in this story.
Homework: -Prepare for the "DTW & G-E" vocabulary test on Tuesday. -Finish the Examples and Rationale worksheet for Wednesday.
1/23&24/19
Today I checked in the first 10 literary elements from page one, and we read most of "DTW & G-E" in class.
Homework: Finish the other 10 literary elements for the worksheet.
1/22&23/19
Today we finished going over our new vocabulary list and reviewed a list of 20 literary devices used on the 1st page of our next short story.
Homework: Identify examples and prove the presences of the literary devices used on page one of "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed." Do the first ten terms for homework, and we'll do the remaining ten in class tomorrow.
1/17/19
Today students received the vocabulary list for our unit's final short story, "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" by Ray Bradbury.
Homework: Create flash cards for each word, writing the word on one side and the definition, part of speech and an example sentence that purposefully shows the meaning of the word in a fully developed context. There will be copies of the story in class for you to see how the words are used in context. Please, do not take these stories out of the classroom.
Homework: Flashcards due Tuesday, 1/22
1/16/19
Today students had their last day to work on their allusion papers. The papers are due tomorrow and will be submitted to Mr. Butler as I will be out of school. In order for papers to be submitted they must have all of the following in this order: Top -- Final draft -- 1st (or any additional drafts) draft with hand-written revision marks Bottom -- Prewriting paragraph organizers for each paragraph
Homework: Allusion essays due.
1/15/19
Today I checked in students' completed first drafts, and we used a checklist to guide the revision and editing process. After going over the revision checklist, students had the rest of the period to use the checklist to guide their hand-written revision notes.
Homework: -Tonight go through each word and each line of your paper using the checklist as well as the other writing documents we've used this year, placing hand-written revision marks on your draft that specifically reference the requirements. -Be ready to work on your final draft in class tomorrow. This is your last day, and tomorrow night is your last night. -A final draft is due in class on Thursday 1/17. You must have all of the following items to submit your paper for on-time credit: Paragraph organization plans, first draft with hand-written revision marks, and a final draft.
1/11/19
Today we continued to write our allusion essays, focusing on concluding paragraphs.
Homework: Keep writing ! A printed-out, completed first draft is due on Tuesday. We will have a revision, editing and proofreading activity, so be ready!
1/9/19
Today students continued to write and plan out their body paragraphs.
Homework: Finish planning and write out your second body paragraph. If you'll need a third, continue to plan for and work on writing that paragraph.
1/8/19
Today students were issued a body paragraph organizer, and we went over it, noting the key elements to this essay's body paragraphs. The remainder of class time was spent conferencing with students and working on intro and body paragraphs.
Homework: Finish planning and write out your 1st body paragraph. Make sure you plan your 1st body with an idea of what you'll need to say in your other body paragraphs. Be ready to plan and write your second (and if necessary third) body paragraph tomorrow.
1/7/19
Today we discussed the key elements of an introduction paragraph, and students worked on thesis statements and their plan for their introduction.
Homework: Using your intro graphic organizer, write out a first draft of your intro paragraph at home tonight. Type (preferably) or handwrite.
1/4/19
Today we had a discussion in which we sought to figure out the themes developed in "FFA" and paralleled through the allusion to Genesis 3.
Here are some of the notes focusing on themes we put up on the board. Feel free to use these ideas as you work on your homework.
-loss of innocence -duality in life (love/hate, happiness/sadness, life/death. . . ) -consequences of desire, progress, technology, knowledge, growing up. . .
Should Charlie have gotten the surgery? Should Adam have eaten from the tree? Is ignorance really bliss?
Homework: Answer our EQ: What is the author's purpose (theme) of "FFA" and how does the author's use of the Genesis allusion help in expressing that theme?
-Write a potential thesis statement (remember all the elements that go into a good thesis statement!). -Collect evidence from both stories to support your thesis.
1/2&3/19
Today we reviewed some of the connections/parallels between "FFA" and Genesis 3, and then students spent the remainder of class hunting for examples, placing them on their Genesis Allusion handout.
Homework: Complete the Genesis Allusions handout, making sure to fill in all the boxes, including the last one that requires students to synthesize their work in order to express the purpose behind the author's use of this allusion to the oldest story in the Bible.
12/20&21/18
Today we read Genesis 3, which was alluded to in FFA. Our goal is to determine why the author decided to do this.
Homework: Have a safe, restful and happy holiday!
12/19/18
Today we finished reading "Flowers for Algernon"
Homework: Write 10 specific positive outcomes and 10 specific negative outcomes due to Charlie's intelligence-tripling surgery.
12/17/18
Today we read "FFA" in class.
Homework: Prepare for tomorrow's vocab. quiz.
12/13/18
Today we discussed our vocabulary list for "Flowers for Algernon," preparing for the upcoming quiz on 12/18.
Homework: Thesis statements for T-T H due tomorrow (today for period 3).
12/10/18
Today students were issued a rubric that details how their T-T H thesis statement will be graded. We also looked at the "formula" or components needed to have a complete and effective thesis for this assignment. I've included that "formula" below.
literary element + single effect + relevance/so-what?
I also posted a few sentence frames students can use to structure their thesis statements. Please, see me if you need any further explanation or resources.
Homework: Keep drafting your thesis statement. It will take many drafts to complete this one sentence. When you submit your final draft of this thesis statement, you will also turn in all of the previous drafts of this sentence, illustrating your writing, revision and editing process. This is a 40-point assignment (just for one sentence!), so make sure you pay close attention to the details, using the resources that you've been provided. It will be due on Thursday the 13th for period 3 and due Friday the 14th for 4-6. You have time, but pleas come see me if you have questions or require some clarification.
Long-term homework:
- Flashcards due on 12/12 (periods 3 and 4) and 12/13 (periods 5 and 6) - "Flowers for Algernon" Vocabulary quiz 12/18 all classes
12/7/18
Today students were presented with a handout on what goes in to a good thesis statement, and then students looked at some of their own sentences, evaluating their strengths and their opportunities for improvement.
Homework: Get started on making your flashcards for our upcoming short story, "Flowers for Algernon."
12/6/18
Today we had a formal discussion focused on determining Poe's single effect in "The T-T H" and how he uses certain literary elements to achieve that effect.
Homework: Write out three unique answers to our essential question for this story (What's the single effect and how does Poe use literary elements to achieve it".
12/3 & 4/18
Today we began to discuss the notes and answers from our recently competed activity worksheets, digging deeper into "The Tell-Tale Heart" with the end goal of determining the author's purpose and the literary elements used to achieve that purpose. Poe reference the author's purpose in short stories as the "single effect." Students were issued a one-page version of a much longer essay written by Poe explaining this principle that guided his writing.
Homework: Actively read over the handout titled "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale," identifying all vocabulary words you do not know well. Please, draw a box around these unfamiliar words and write a brief definition and/or a few well-chosen synonyms in the margins or empty lines of the story. We will have an open-note quiz over these words on Wednesday.
11/30/18
Today students worked on the issued Evidence Analysis Organizer for "The Tell-Tale Heart," focusing on how key literary elements contributed to Poe's storytelling. Our goal is to try to figure out Poe's single effect, which we'll work on next week where students will apply this week's work to a formal discussion.
Homework: Complete the Evidence Analysis Organizer for our next class.
11/29/18
Today students worked on Close Reading questions for "The Tell-Tale Heart" in preparation for a discussion we'll have focused on determining Poe's "single effect" for this short story.
Homework: Finish answering the close reading questions you were issued in class today.
11/28/18
Today students took their Tell-Tale vocab quizzes during most of the period, but those students who finished early had time to begin working on the issued Synthesis Worksheet for "The Tell-Tale Heart."
Homework: Fill out the first side (the side with the Response to Reading and Literary Elements Definitions) of the Synthesis Worksheet. Make sure to use complete sentences and specific details from the story to support your thoughts.
11/19/18
Today students reflected on their writing process using a Rose - Bud - Thorn activity, and then they shared out with the class. Any remaining class time was spent going over vocabulary for ur upcoming short story.
Homework: Study for "The Tell-Tale Heart" vocabulary quiz on 11/27.
11/15/18
Today students were provided with the vocabulary list for our upcoming short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe.
The remainder of the period was spent putting the finishing touches on the "Raymond's Run" 1-paragraph, 1-page essays.
Homework: -A final printed draft of the RR essay is due Friday. Along with their final drafts, students must submit a draft with handwritten revision and editing marks showing detailed evaluations and corrections tied to the issued checklist and Required Formal Essay Elements. Without these handwritten revisions, I will not accept a final draft. -Tell-Tale vocab flashcards due on 11/19 (periods 3, 4 & 5) and 11/20 (period 6), and the quiz is scheduled for 11/27. On one side of the flashcard write the word, and on the other side write the part of speech, the definition provided, and at least one original example sentence showing the meaning of the word in a well-developed context.
11/14/18
Today we went through the issued essay checklist, sharing examples of student work and evaluating the extent to which students met or did not meet the expectations of a formal essay.
Homework: Continue to mark up your printed draft, evaluating it line-by-line and word-by-word, following the prompts on the checklist and the bullets on the Required Formal Essay Elements handout.
Homework: Vocabulary from "The Tell-Tale Heart" is due Monday 11/19 for periods 3, 4, and 5 and due on Tuesday 11/20 for period 6. Get started ASAP!
Heads up: Tomorrow students will have one last day to finish their writing in class. Be sure to bring the draft you've been working on today! It's going to be crucial to this last step. Those hand-written revision marks are also required in order to submit a final draft on Friday. If school happens to be cancelled for inclement weather, the essay will be due the next school day, regardless if your class meets. Time will be afforded during Homeroom or Advisory to accommodate students whose class does not meet.
11/13/18
Today students had the whole period available to them to write their 1-page, single paragraph essays.
Homework: Continue writing, revising and editing. Bring your current draft to class printed out on paper for an activity tomorrow. If your printer at home is broken (like mine), be sure to run down to the library immediately upon entry into the building. You will not receive on-time credit if you do not have a printed copy at the very start of class.
11/9/18
Today in class students had an opportunity to write their one-paragraph, one-page, "Raymond's Run" essay. This short essay utilizes nearly all of the elements of essay writing we've learned so far this year and will be worth 100 points.
Homework: Continue to revise and edit your RR essay. Please, be certain to use the Basic Essay Template and the Required Formal Essay Elements hand out to guide your process.
Heads-up: A copy of this essay printed on paper is due Wednesday 11/14. The final draft is due Friday 11/16.
11/7/18
Today I provided feedback, making sure students had evidence that would effectively support their chosen claims. After students received approval, they began writing their one-page, single-paragraph mini-essays on "Raymond's Run."
Homework: Write a first draft supporting your RR claim, making sure to use your prewriting plan as well as the Template and Required Formal Essay Elements to guide your work.
11/6/18
Today students shared the themes that they are going to write about in their upcoming essay in response to the following essential questions: What is the author's purpose/theme and how does she use characterization to communicate that theme. (Be sure to reference the value and relevance of that theme within your thesis).
After going over the qualities of a good thesis ( responds to the prompt, is specific, passes the so-what test. . .), students selected or created their own, and then they began to search for useful evidence.
Below are a list of potential claims/thesis statements that students are welcome to use.
1. Toni Cade Bambara characterizes Squeaky as an individual unafraid to forge her own identity in a world seeking to label her. 2. Toni Cade Bambara’s dynamic character, Squeaky, illustrates that happiness can be found not only through respect for one’s self, but through respect for others. 3. Toni Cade Bambara characterizes Squeaky as an individual who learns that a focus on similarities instead of differences can open the world to new and unforeseen opportunities. 4. Toni Cade Bambara’s creation of the dynamic character, Squeaky, shows her reader that being true to one’s self requires both strength and empathy. 5. Toni Cade Bambara’s characterization of Squeaky illustrates that a person must seek to better understand others in order to better understand themselves.
Homework: Fill in the front and back of the Evidence Analysis prewriting handout. Be sure to find evidence that illustrates the change that the protagonist goes through. This means that you'll either have to paraphrase details or provide quoted evidence from both the first part of the story as well as the later part of the story, after the climax.
Be ready to write your paragraph in our next class.
11/5/18
Today we conducted a discussion designed to identify the various themes developed in the short story, "Raymond's Run."
Homework: Fill out the worksheet titled, "Passing the So-What Test." This activity is designed for students to explore the relevance of their chosen theme both in and outside of the story.
11/2/18
Today students were presented with questions to guide their rereading of "Raymond's Run," and then we reread the story aloud. Following the rereading, students briefly reflected on the the story in a freewrite, and then we began a discussion focused on the end goal of determining the story's themes.
Homework: Complete a full-page, handwritten freewrite reflecting on details from the text and how those details might shed light on the story's themes.
10/29&30/18
Today we corrected the worksheet titled More Sentence Structure Practice, focusing on identifying the four sentence types and the independent and dependent clauses used as building blocks for those sentence types.
During the second half of class students were assigned to focus on either the story's exposition, rising action, climax or falling action/resolution. Students were assigned to summarize that step of the plot line by writing sentences expressing the key details of that step. In two simple, two compound, two complex and two compound-complex sentences, make sure you've covered all the key details representing the conflicts, characters, setting, etc. . .
Homework: Complete the "RR" Sentence Variety Practice for our next class.
10/26/18
Today students read Toni Cade Bambara's short story, "Raymond's Run." While reading students answered reading questions.
Homework: Complete the "RR" reading questions.
10/25/18
Today students received their graded Outsiders essays. After reading over the essay along with my comments, students wrote out writing goals and reflected on their progress over the last two months.
Homework: Finish writing out goals. Please keep these goals in your binder so that we can reference them in the future.
Students wishing to further revise, edit and rewrite their Outsiders essays for a new grade must set up a time to conference with me outside of school. I am available Mondays after school and then on other days by appointment. Be prepared to discuss your paper and your revision plans in detail.
10/24/18
Today students reflected on the ways in which they improved their "Charles" paragraphs using varied sentence structures and the Basic Essay Template.
Homework: Complete the More Sentence Structure Practice worksheet for next class.
10/23/18
Today students shared their efforts to combine sentences, constructing complex, compound and compound-complex sentences. Students also showed off how they used complex sentences in their "Charles" paragraphs.
Homework: No new homework, but many students still have not identified or added in simple, complex and compound sentences to their paragraphs.
10/19&22/18
Today students continued to develop their skills relating to their use of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences.
Homework: Finish your combining sentences worksheet.
10/18&19/18
Today we went over our Sentence Structure worksheets, where students were able to display their understanding of how to identify simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences.
Homework: Apply your work on the Sentence Variety handout to your "Charles" paragraph, handwriting in the margins and between lines new sentences. Please, make sure you have or have added in at least two complex sentences, one compound, one simple, if you're ready -- one compound-complex.
10/17&18/18
In class on Wed and Thursday students worked on developing their understandings of simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences
Homework: Complete Sentence Structure Practice worksheet and Sentence Variety worksheet. The Sentence Variety worksheet should be completed using your "Charles" paragraphs.
10/15/18
Today we reviewed the Basic Essay Template in preparation for tomorrow's quiz. We also introduced independent and dependent clauses. We'll continue focusing on this in the coming days in order to begin to vary our sentence structure.
Homework: Study for tomorrow's Basic Essay Template quiz. Students were given a double-sided blank template. Please use the blanks as a means of preparing for tomorrow's quiz. The quiz will be 30 points (same as a vocab. quiz).
10/12/18
Today we discussed our paragraphs, focusing on topic sentences, evidence, and the logic used to connect the evidence to the topic sentence in order to support the claim.
Homework: Revise your paragraphs and bring a printed-out, final draft to class Monday. Also, prepare for a quiz over the Basic Essay Template.
10/10&11/18
Today students decided which claim/evidence combinations developed on their Evidence Analysis Worksheets is the best, and they began to take the quotes, details and ideas from the worksheet and write out a paragraph.
Homework: Finish the paragraph you began in class, and have a draft of that paragraph ready for our next class.
10/5&10/18
Today students looked at their own Evidence Analysis Worksheets on the projector, assessing whether or not they met the basic expectations for evidence analysis.
Homework: Fill out both sides of the new Evidence Analysis Worksheet issued in class today, selecting a new claim - quote combination that makes logical sense. Please, choose from the quotes on the Evidence Analysis Organizer, and choose from the claims from the homework entry below.
10/4/18
Today we looked for patterns in our analysis of the short story, "Charles," and we used our understandings of those patterns to create some claims representing the author's purpose. Below are four claims that represent an author's purpose, focusing on her use of each of the four literary elements:
Example Claims
In her short story, “Charles,” author Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing to allow the reader to see clues missed by parents who refuse to acknowledge the bad behavior of their own child.
Shirley Jackson’s use of situational irony in her short story, “Charles,” highlights the humor and surprise experienced by parents who choose to ignore their own child’s bad behavior.
Shirley Jackson’s characterization of Laurie’s mother in her short story, “Charles,” illustrates a parent overcome by denial and unable to see her role in her child’s bad behavior.
Through her use of an unreliable, first-person narrator, Shirley Jackson is able to allow a reader to experience the denial and surprise experienced by a parent unwilling to accept the truth behind her child’s bad behavior.
During the second half of class we filled out an Evidence Analysis Worksheet where we broke down our evidence in order to support one of the claims.
Homework: Chose another claim from the above list (not the one we did in class) and, using detailed notes and well-crafted sentences, fill in the other side of the Evidence Analysis Worksheet.
10/3/18
Today we took our first vocabulary quiz! Very exciting. We also worked together on the issued Evidence Analysis Organizer, completing one of the ten entries required for tomorrow's homework.
Homework: Complete ten entries on the Evidence Analysis Organizer.
10/1/18
Today we went over our list of vocabulary words from the short story, "Charles."
Homework: Study for next Wednesday's vocabulary quiz. You'll have a section where you'll need to match the word with its definition and then there'll be a second half where you have to fit the 20 words into a story, filling in blanks. This half requires you to not only understand what the words mean, but how they are used in a sentence. The only way to be ready is to know those definitions and practice using the words in sentences. This will be a 40 point quiz, which will have a significant impact on your grade. Essays will take a few weeks to grade, but that's a 100-point assessment, which will have even more of an impact.
9/28/18
Today we re-read "Charles," looking for and recording details related to the following literary elements: plot, characterization, 1st person, unreliable narrator, situational irony, and foreshadowing. The goal of our close reading is to develop an understanding of the author's purpose.
Homework: Continue to fill in the Close Reading Notes handout, filling in all available space with short quotes, paraphrased details and analysis of the story and the author's use of literary elements. Due Monday.
Vocabulary flashcards homework is also due Monday. Be ready for Wednesday's quiz by studying over the weekend! 9/26-27/18
Today was a busy day in class. First students were introduced to our new list of 20 vocabulary words from our new short story. I'll review below in the Homework section how to do the vocab homework. Next, we corrected our literary terms pre-quiz, introduced literary elements we'll apply to our study of our first short story, "Charles," by Shirley Jackson, then we read that first short story, and students wrote free-write responses to the story.
Homework: On flashcards, write the vocab word on one side, and on the other side, write the part of speech, definition (see the handout provided) and an example sentence that purposefully shows the word's meaning in a well-developed context.
Vocab homework due Monday. Vocab quiz will be on Wednesday.
9/24/18
Today students submitted their Outsiders essays and reflected on their writing process by doing a Rose-Bud-Thorn reflection activity. We also had a short pop quiz where students filled in a blank essay template with their own memory of the template using their essays to guide their work. Hopefully students can see how they used this required document in their writing.
Homework: No new homework. :(
9/21/18
Today in class students continued to write revision and editing marks on their typed drafts, focusing on more specific aspects of the expectations stated on the issued essay documents. For example, students shouldn't just write, "fix topic sentence." They should actually fix the topic sentence right there on the draft, writing an appropriate topic sentence between the lines or in the margin.
Homework: Apply all revision and editing marks to a final draft to be submitted Monday. This draft should be no less than a page and a half and no more than two pages in length. Please submit a final typed copy, a typed copy with hand-written revision and editing marks, and all previous drafts and notes.
Be sure to read your work as you write. It is crucial to hear your work out loud. Even better -- give the Required Formal Essay Elements handout to a friend or family member and explain those requirements and then read your work to them, so they can hear whether you are meeting those requirements or not.
Good luck! I'm looking forward to reading your first official 8th grade essay!
9/20/18
Today I checked in students' typed drafts, and they began making revision marks directly on those typed drafts. I also revised and edited a few students' papers on the projector to show how the process is done.
Hand-written revision notes on a typed draft will be a required step in our writing process. Taking this step and going from computer screen back to paper and pencil works the brain in a new way that opens the mind up and allows the writer to see their work with new eyes.
Homework: On your printed drafts, closely read your work, marking it up line by line. Use the specific requirements found on the Template and Required Formal Essay Elements handouts to focus your work. Using these documents is not a suggestion. It is a requirement. I will use these documents as the basis for grading these essays, so you might as well mark them up before I do! Your future essay grade thanks you for doing so.
9/18&19/18
Today in class we worked on concluding paragraphs, and students tried their hands at writing one. A concluding paragraph should: -Tie together the big ideas from each body paragraph to your thesis. -Identify the problem that your essay has explored. -Provide a solution, leaving the reader with a new understanding based on the evidence and argument you've provided in your essay. Be sure to use the issued document as you do this work.
Homework: Show up to class on Thursday with a typed, printed and completed draft of your Outsiders essay. This is your first essay for this class. It may not be perfect, but if you follow the Basic Essay Template and the Required Formal Essay Elements handouts, you should do fine.
9/17/18
Today in class students reflected on improvements they have made thus far and things that still need to be improved on their Outsiders papers. The remainder of class was reserved for students to work on their writing and seek out help from me.
Homework: Continue revising and editing your Outsiders essay, spending at least a half an hour writing. If you have more reading to do because you are behind, then you will have more time that must be spent on ELA tonight. Don't forget! You must use the Basic Essay Template and the Required Formal Essay Elements handouts to guide your writing. These handouts cover the elements I will specifically look for when I grade these papers, so following these requirements as you write only makes sense. I know making sense is not always an 8th grader's strong suit, but maybe just give it a try. Who knows, it might just work!
Heads Up: A completed and printed hard copy of a final draft must be ready to submit in class on Thursday.
9/14/18
Today in class students were issued a new document titled, Required Formal Essay Elements. This document itemizes all the elements that should be included in the essays we write in 8th grade.
Also in class, students were issued a Simple Reverse Outline. A reverse outline is a worksheet that requires students to look at the key elements they have already included in their essays, determining if those elements meet the basic expectations we've learned so far this year. This reverse outline is simple in that it only deals with topic sentences and does not address evidence and analysis.
Homework: Finish filling out your Simple Reverse Outline worksheet. If your work on the reverse outline helps you to realize your topic sentences need fixing, then fix those topic sentences! After that, use the Required Formal Essay Elements to guide your continued revision and editing process. This essay should be between 1.5 and 2 pages when it's finished. We'll have about two more days to write in class next week, so keep writing over the weekend!
9/13/18
Today in ELA we backed up a bit and examined the Outsiders prompts that were issued this summer, looking to see how students can often determine an essay's paragraph organization by examining the expectations of prompt. In the two prompts, students were asked to note how the internal conflict evolved and the theme developed, focusing on examples from the beginning, middle and ending of the novel. Students were then able to determine that they should have at least three body paragraphs, each focusing on the important developments occurring roughly at the beginning, middle and ending of the book. Some students need to further revise their work to meet the prompt's requirements, but that's ok. We have time to fix this kind of thing.
Homework: Finish writing all body paragraphs by class on Friday. They don't have to be perfect. Just a revised draft that meets the Template's expectations. Take a look at the red link below. It illustrates how our model essay exhibits the Templates' elements.
Good luck!
9/12/18
Today we looked at a model essay that follows the Basic Essay Template issued yesterday. Students identified how the model exhibited the qualities of an 8th-grade-level essay.
Homework: Revise your Outsiders essay, focusing on a second body paragraph. Be absolutely certain to follow the template as you proceed.
Today in class students were issued their Basic Essay Template, a document that provides the fundamental components necessary to write effective essays in 8th grade. After going over the document, students were asked to select one of their two summer essays to revise and submit. Our first step in the revision process is summarized below in the homework posting.
Homework: 1. Select either your internal conflict or your theme essay to revise. Choose whichever draft is most interesting to you and represents your best ideas. During our revision and editing process we'll fix up whatever needs fixing. 2. Read over your chosen draft, assessing your writing, looking to see if you have met any of the expectations shown on the Template. Note the way you specifically did or did not meet the Template's expectations in the margins of your summer draft. 3. Write an introductory paragraph that meets the expectations of the Template. You may keep some of what you wrote this summer and just improve it, or you may have to ditch it all and start over. That's your call. Either way -- you need to show up tomorrow with a intro that follows all the requirements of the Template. 4. Write a first body paragraph that meets the expectations of the Template. You may keep some of what you wrote this summer and just improve it, or you may have to ditch it all and start over. That's your call. Either way -- you need to show up tomorrow with a a first body paragraph that follows all the requirements of the Template.
Type it out if you can! The final draft will have to be submitted as a typed document.
9/6-7/18
Today we worked through our first Socratic Discussion, and it was an impressive success. While we still need to work on our use of formal transitions, students did a good job of interacting with each other, making assertions, and supporting those claims with textual evidence. These skills will be very useful after we introduce our writing process and begin to revise our Outsiders papers next week.
Homework: Using specific and detailed language, please fill out the Post-Discussion Reflection handout issued in class. Be sure to complete this homework (due next class) as soon as possible, while the ideas and experiences from our discussion are still fresh in your head.
9/5-6/18
Today students submitted their final drafts of their Six-Word Memoir, and then they corrected their Outsiders comprehension quiz. After that we continued to prepare for our upcoming Socratic Discussion by going over discussion norms as well as sentence frames that will help to structure our discussions.
Homework: To prepare for our upcoming discussion, students were assigned to complete a two-sided Discussion Prep worksheet. The expectation is that students are to find two of the most meaningful excerpts/quotes from the novel and then express the significance of those quotes by reading first "on the line," then "between the lines," and then ultimately, "beyond the lines."
9/4/18
Today we continued to discuss the revision process used to produce effective Six-Word Memoirs. After that, students were issued a handout covering the three levels of understanding (reading on the line, between the lines, and beyond the lines). On the handout were examples illustrating the way in which questions can be constructed to draw out understandings about the text at each of the three levels.
Here's what one of our classes created when we collaboratively worked to write questions on each of the three levels:
On-the-line Understanding: Who are the two groups of people in this novel?
Between-the-line Understanding: What are the conflicts between the Socs and Greasers?
Beyond-the-line Understanding: What does SE Hinton want her readers to understand about the differences that divide groups of people?
Homework: -Write three questions you want answered about The Outsiders, representing each of the three levels of understanding (9 questions total) in preparation for a discussion we'll have in our next class. -After going through our full revision process, neatly write the final draft of your Six-Word Memoir on the piece of white paper issued in class in black marker in the shape of a puffy cloud (just like the example I showed you in class on Tuesday). Be ready to say a few words about your memoir and your writing process.
Heads Up! Bring your Outsiders books to class every day from now on.
8/31/18
Today we took a reading comprehension quiz over The Outsiders. After that we focused on revising and editing our Six-Word Memoirs by manipulating and improving the punctuation, diction, capitalization, use of action verbs, figurative language, sounds devices, and word order.
Homework: Use all available space on the Six-Word Memoir Revision sheet, filling it with new words, ideas, phrasings, punctuation, and sentence structures to illustrate your revision progress. Due Tuesday.
8/30/18
You made it through day one of 8th grade ELA!
Today in ELA . . . - We introduced ourselves. - I introduced students to our class website. - We were introduced to Six-Word Memoirs. Here's a link: Six-Word Memoir Website
Homework: - Write out ten Six-Word Memoirs. These are just drafts. Try to cover a variety of aspects of yourself. We'll revise and and edit these, eventually selecting one to post on our back bulletin board. - Be ready for a reading comprehension quiz over The Outsiders. Don't freak out. If you read the book and understood it, you should do fine. - Since you've closely read my website's posting, remember this for extra credit bonus on tomorrow's quiz: My sister had a goldfish named Sodapop, because he was very handsome.
Welcome to 8th grade language arts!
For the first day of school, please make sure you have read The Outsiders and completed the required writing assignment issued to you by your 7th grade teacher or the guidance office over the summer.
I have posted a digital copy of the packet on the top of the Documents page of this website for your convenience.
I am looking forward to meeting you on the first day of school! Until then, enjoy your summer!