Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Today, we finished fixing a mistake on the exam we wrote yesterday, marked the exam, and then I introduced the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. We talked about prejudice, point of view, the importance of setting in the story, what autobiographical means, and the racial/economic situation in Alabama during the 1930s. You are to have chapter one read by tomorrow so we can discuss it.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Today, you wrote your poetry unit exam. You also signed out the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This will be your holiday reading.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Today, we discussed the poetry unit exam you will write tomorrow. Here are some of the specifics I mentioned that you need to know:
Any terms, rhyme schemes, or rhyme patterns found in your "Everything You Need to Know About Poetry... " booklet.
The steps on how to actively read a poem in a NON TEST SITUATION:
what do do the first time (examine title, count stanzas and lines, do end rhyme scheme, highlight punctuation and read)
what to do the second time (highlight unfamiliar words, look up meanings and put them on the page, highlight figurative language)
what to do the third time (paraphrase passages, summarize the work at the bottom, determine who the speaker is from the evidence presented in the poem)

You will also be asked to outline the seven sentence introductory paragraph as you have had it presented to you in class. These notes are present in earlier blogs, but I will list them in an abridged form for you here
Sentence 1: Attention getter
Sentence 2: explain how attention getter ties to topic
Sentence 3: Introduction of text (author, genre, overview)
Sentence 4: summary of text as it pertains to one of your main points
Sentence 5: Summary of text as it pertains to another one of your main points
Sentence 6: Summary of text as it pertains to another one of your main points
Sentence 7: Thesis

This test will have three poems that you will have to read actively (but with your eye on the clock so you can fit this in!)

March 23, 2012

Today, we finished watching the presentations. I then had the students pull out literary assignment 2. We went over a number of the statements looking for literary devices. Their homework is to finish this off, locating literary devices in the sentences we didn't hit on. In addiiton to this, I explained what apostrophe means in the FIGURATIVE sense (to talk to someing that is not there like it is). One of the students brought up the example of getting yelled at by a parent, having them leave the room and then talking as if they were still there (telling them what you REALLY want to say). This is indeed an example of apostrophe (apostrophize, apostrophizing).

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Today, we started to watch the student presentations of their poetry/lyric analysis. This will take two days to complete.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Today, you worked on your poetry analysis presentation. We will start to see them tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Today, those who came worked on their poetry analysis assignment. We will change the presentation dates to Thursday and Friday. The rest of the dates will stay the same.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Today, you were given the whole class time to work on your poetry analysis assignment which you will have to present on March 21 and 22. I will be giving you tomorrow to work on it also. The goal is to have it done in rough fashion today so we can reveiw it tomorrow to ensure you have everything for your presentation. The following are dates you should know and they are finalized (so, if you are missing days, you'll know what you missed). We will review terms on Friday, discussing those sentences I gave you at the start to figure out what literary devices are present. We will go through another poetry reading and discuss how to best answer multiple choice questions on Monday, so you are better prepared for this type of exam. Then, on Tuesday, you will write your Poetry reading Comprehension Multiple choice exam and then take out the novel To Kill a Mockingbird as it will be the novel we will do for your novel study.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Today, we reviewed poetry analysis. You then formed your groups for your major assignment, chose your lyrics and told me, found the lyrics, and then properly formatted them and printed them out. You then started to create a biography of the band/writer or teh lyrics so you can share it with us as part of your presentation. For Monday, be sure to bring in poster paper so you can lay your poem out and start your poetry analysis.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Today, I handed out your major assignment for this unit and discussed it. I then gave a lecture on how to read a poem, using the poem "Did I Miss Anything?" as the basis for the exemplar students created. Students MUST HAVE their four highlighters for this unit as all will indeed be used and are needed.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Today, I gave a more formal introduction to the poetry unit. We discussed the purpose of poetry as well as the history. You then paired up and began work on a worksheet in which you had to identify various figurative devices (I didn't expect this to be complete today, nor is it homework. We will return to it later. In fact, if you save it in your portfolio it will be easily accessible).

Monday, March 12, 2012

Today, I introduced the poetry unit. You were given a handout entitled "The Least You should know about poetry" and one entitled "Introduction to Poetry." You are to answer the questions on this latter sheet using the booklet as an aid.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Today, you wrote out your essay. This was due at the end of class and should be marked by the end of next week. We will start the poetry unit on Monday.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Today, you wrote your outline for your short story unit exam critical/analytical essay. This is NOT a take home essay. The outline was to be done IN CLASS today and the essay must be written IN CLASS tomorrow. If you were absent today, you will still have to write the essay in class tomorrow (unless a parent called in for you and the absense was recorded as "excused" prior to class, of course).

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Today, you wrote your short story unit comprehension exam.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Today (Block 4) we discussed capitalization, which was one of the areas of concern to appear on your essays. We then did an exercise to hopefully assist you in understanding the rules better.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Today, we discussed some of the problems you are having with essay writing. I have pasted the notes below. As an overview, the unit exam (comprehension multiple choice) has been moved to Wednesday, and the in-class essay (which is normally a secured, one day exam) has been extended to two days (Thursday and Friday) but must be done in class (it is NOT a take home).

Essay Concerns
· Titles must be about the topic NOT the story.
o “The Little Business Man” Essay (WRONG)
o The Importance of Quick Thinking (RIGHT)
· The introductory paragraph must have an attention getter about topic NOT story.
· The paper MUST BE double-spaced!
· Papers MUST Be written on one side only
· Must be written in dark blue or black ink (NOT PENCIL!)
· Indent new paragraphs, except the first one
· Make sure you put quotation marks around every reference to the short story
· When you use a name (ie: Sam Carter), Use the full name on first reference, then only the last name thereafter (except if mentioned in the conclusion).
· When writing out numbers, they are to be spelled out up to and including ninety-nine.
o Eg: Luke, a 12-year- old boy (WRONG)
o Luke, a twelve-year-old boy (CORRECT)
· Avoid using “You” in an essay!!!!!!!! (it can turn the reader off if not used correctly).
· …Change the "you" to "one" or use "him/he or her/she" to vary the pronouns. Or, if personal, use “I” (see Fit to Print Pages 188-189 & 199-202)
· Be sure to refer to the pronoun of a person as “who” not “that” or “which”
· An exclamation mark is for an extreme emotion (excitement!!!!). Avoid using it in an essay because, well, most of what you have to say is NOT that exciting (yes, I jest… sort of).
· Do not use “In my opinion”, or “I believe” in your essay. You can cut these words out and the sentence will still work.
o Eg: In my opinion, homework should be outlawed. (WRONG)
o Homework should be outlawed. (CORRECT)
· We need to work on capitals and comma usage

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Today, you marked the answers for "The Possibility of Evil." Any time left over was for studying your terminology.
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