Monday, January 31st

Today you took Vocabulary 13 Unit Test.

Next you received a packet that will be helpful for you in writing your Optimist Speech.  After the test you were to brief yourself on the material by highlighting notes or writing notes in the margin.  We will be completing exercises and going over the material more extensively this week.

You also turned in your personal narrative (both final/rubric and rough drafts) along with your personal narrative exercises.

Tonight:
Start thinking of your Optimist Speech and what you will write about.  You must use this statement as the first statement in your essay: "If I were Leader of the Free World, the first issue I would address would be...".

The speech/essay must last at least 4 min., but not exceed 5 min.

There can be no personal references that gives away your identity, the identity of your parents, school, community, etc.

HAPPY FRIDAY 1-28

Today in class you had three responsibilities:

1. Edit a friend's personal narrative and make sure at least one friend edited  yours.  You had the entire hour to ask questions/receive advice from me as well.
2. Finish the personal narrative exercises.  The last assignment you had to work on today: page 237 Act. A #1-7 and Act B #1-7
3. Study for your Vocab Unit 13 Test. (The test is on MONDAY!)

TURNING YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE IN MONDAY:

1. Staple your paper rubric to the top of your final draft.
2. In another pile, staple your handwritten draft on top of your typed draft with editor signature and proofreading marks.  The handwritten portion is what you wrote out in class when I gave you time to write.  If you were absent, please note this on top of  your typed rough draft so I do not reduce your score.

TURNING YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE EXERCISES IN MONDAY:
Staple the exercise rubric on top of the exercises.  Please be orderly with your work.  Head each exercise with the appropriate page number and Activity letter (the same information that is listed on the rubric).  This will prevent confusion and will enable you to receive the best grade possible. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! 

Thursday, January 27th

Today I handed out a rubric for the Personal Narrative exercises you will hand in Monday.  This rubric included the assignment I will be giving in class on Friday if you are going to be absent.  In addition to that assignment we will also be peer editing in class tomorrow.  If you are absent, you will need to have at least one person sign your draft.  I will be collecting the handwritten draft, the typed draft with signature, and the final draft on Monday.

Homework For Tonight:
Page 241 Act C #1-7, page 242 Act D #1-10, page 243 Act E #1-7

For those of you going to Tree Tops, on Monday I will expect you to have:

• Handwritten rough draft of your personal narrative
• Typed rough draft with at least one editor's signature and editing marks
• Final draft of the personal narrative
• All completed personal narrative exercises as outlined on the rubric with the rubric stapled to the top

ON MONDAY YOU WILL HAVE YOUR VOCABULARY TEST.  

PLEASE BE SURE TO STUDY!

Wednesday, January 26th

Today we corrected the rest of the vocabulary unit.  Your test has been moved to Monday.

Next I gave students the opportunity to discuss essay intro rewrites from yesterday's in class.  We only had one student who shared work.  My hope is that more of you share; remember you do have class participation as part of your grade!

I gave you the remainder of the hour to write out your rough draft.  I also handed out the rubric.

HOMEWORK:

• Your typed rough draft is due on Friday for peer editing session.
• Rough draft must: 
• be 380-450 wds (no more, no less)
• be typed, double spaced
• be properly formatted with MLA heading, including a working title
• Your vocabulary test for unit 13 has been moved to Monday

LOOKING AHEAD:

• Your final draft of your personal narrative is due on Monday

Tuesday, January 25th

Today we corrected last night's homework.  A few of you were courageous enough to share some of your paragraphs!  Kudos to you; your class participation grade will be stellar for this marking period!


Homework:

• Finish the in-class paragraph if you didn't have time
• Vocab Unit 13 Parts 4-6 (test Friday)
• Hand write the introduction to your personal narrative (DO NOT WRITE ANY MORE THAN THAT!)

Monday, January 24th

Today you took a punctuation test. 

Following the test you were to read page 236 and take notes on Varied Sentences.  After reading, you were assigned to complete page 238 Activity C #1 (follow the directions and rewrite the new paragraph).

You also need to complete Vocabulary Unit 13 Parts 1-3

Friday, January 19th

Today you took your Vocabulary Unit 12 Test. 

Following the test you were given a short assignment: Activity A.  Choose one topic and write an introduction.  Your introduction should be short (3-5 sentences) and LURES the audience in. 

In addition you will write a time line for YOUR personal narrative (NOT the one from Activity A, but the one YOU are going to end up turning in after it is polished).  Choose a topic that you know well and have a strong emotional connection with!

Your punctuation test in Monday.  I will be looking at Activity A and your time line to make sure you have completed it as well!

Thursday, January 19th

Today we began by discussing the 5 main parts of a successful Personal Narrative.  Next we continued our discussion of last night's homework (Activity B and C).

Classwork and Homework:
Rewrite the two short paragraphs in Activity D for cohesiveness.  Also, read page 228 and take notes on Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.

Study for your Vocabulary Unit 12 test!  It's tomorrow!
Punctuation Test is Monday!

Wednesday, January 19th

Today we corrected Vocabulary parts 1-3 for Unit 12.

Next we reviewed the 5 parts of a personal narrative and a few titles we did not cover yesterday, debating whether they are good or bad. 

HOMEWORK:

1. Activity B in the Personal Narrative packet\
2. Vocabulary Parts 4-6 (TEST FRIDAY)

*the Punctuation test has been moved to MONDAY :) (You are welcome :)

Tuesday, January 18 WELCOME BACK!

Today we corrected 10.1 to 10.5 for a master grade on Punctuation.  You will have a Punctuation Test on Thursday.

Next we opened our unit on Personal Narratives.  Today we discussed the 5 main parts that will make a successful Personal Narrative from page 224 and 225 of the packet.  You took notes as we all read aloud in class.  In addition, we Activity A aloud, covering what titles would make good personal narratives and which ones would not.  You were all much more vocal today!  Again, I appreciate those who participated!

Homework:
Vocab Unit 12 Parts 1-3


Looking Ahead:
Wed: MASS, Correct Vocab (HWK: Parts 4-6), Continue with Personal Narratives
Thurs: Correct Vocab 4-6 (Test Friday), Punctuation TEST
Friday: Vocab Unit 12 Test, Continue with Personal Narratives

FRIDAY! January 7

Today we accomplished the following tasks:

1. Corrected Vocab Parts 4-6
2. Looked at a draft of the "Inspired by the Sunrise" poem from yesterday.  We discussed the feedback I received from a friend and how to "comb through" a poem to drop dead/overused words.
3. Discussed what your final draft will look like (see below)
4. You work-shopped your poem with others and had an opportunity to speak with me if you desired

HOMEWORK:

• CREATE A FINAL POEM: 
• MUST BE: typed, 10-12 size font, at least 70 words, have a title
• the first thing on the page will be the title, then the body of your work (poem), last will be a BY: (by line) and then WORDS: (with the word count)
• Bring ALL drafts along with your final publishable piece
• STUDY FOR UNIT 10 VOCAB TEST----IT WILL BE MONDAY!

Thursday, January 5

Today we accomplished the following tasks:

1. Corrected Vocab Unit 10 Parts 1-3
2. Colleged the Anderson/Descriptive Writing Reflection assignment from last night
3. Discussed descriptive poetry
1. Took a look at two examples
4. Began drafting

Homework:

• Devise a rough draft of your poem.  Can be either written or typed.  Must be 70 words, evoke at least 1 sense in a concentrated fashion or touch upon many senses (your choice!)   You may add decorative pieces to the page as long as your poem remains the center of attention.  You must have a title.
• Finish Vocab Unit 10 Parts 4-6.  Your vocabulary test for Unit 10 will be Monday.  See the Sadlier Vocabulary Practice Link to the right side of the blog if you want addition practice/exercises.

January 5, 2011

WELCOME BACK!

Today we had a chance to discuss your thoughts on Anderson's novel Chains.  A few of you came up with some excellent comments. If you did not participate today, please try to in the future.  

• She is highly descriptive but she doesn't overdo it.  She describes just enough to make you feel as though you are apart of the scene and connected with the characters---R.J.
• Although she was very descriptive, she sometimes left you with a very short sentence that really made you think!  M.S.
• I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.  A.D.

Your assignment over break was to highlight, dog-ear, or somehow section off 2 scenes you thought were highly descriptive.  I showed you an example of a student's extra credit work including a brief summary of the scene, quoting 5 highly descriptive sentences from that scene, the senses that were evoked because of the vivid descriptive, causing emotions to be evoked.

You used the remaining class time to take a look at your personal scene and do the same reflection process.

HOMEWORK:

• Make sure to finish the reflection sheet and have it ready to hand in first thing tomorrow.
• Complete Vocab Unit 10 Parts 1-3 (Definitions, completing the sentences, and synonyms) for tomorrow's class.  We will be correcting these sections and moving on to the next 3 tomorrow.