Friday, June 5, 2009

Friday Update

The vast majority of you did an excellent job getting your "Where I'm From" papers printed today. If you did not print yours today you have a zero holding a place for you in my gradebook. :) Fix that.

Many of you still have not read the article about virtual students in online classes or sent me your response. Please read this article about online classes and then enter your responses on this form.

I will be at a meeting Monday and you will have a sub. With the sub you will read a story by Anne Tyler called Teenage Wasteland. For those of you who won't be in class you lucked out because someone put the story on the web. For those of you in class you get to read it in the textbook.

Tuesday is textbook return day. Bring all of your textbooks to class. Clean them up too. If you forget to bring them you will need to return your books on your own time.

See you Tuesday.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Finishing Where I'm From Papers

Good morning,
A little recap. Monday we read "Where I'm From" by Willie Perdomo and did some initial brainstorming towards our own versions. Tuesday I read you some examples from previous students' answers to that question and you spent most of the period drafting. Wednesday you met with your writing groups.

Today I want to give you a little more time to make final adjustments to your Where I'm From papers. Please remember that these will be printed out so you need to make it look good, heading, title, etc. Take off the chart you used for brainstorming and anything else you don't want to print.

When your paper is done (as I suspect many of you already are) there is something else for you to work on. Please read this article about online classes and then enter your responses on this form.

Also I moved the Blog Archive up so you can find it easier. Use it to study for your final.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Where I'm From

Good morning,
In years past I have always read this with my students at the beginning of the year. This year we were busy with the rhetoric of the presidential election and writing our own letters to the next president. But last week I saw many of my former students use this piece as part of their senior portfolios and I want to afford you the same opportunity. It's not online, so I will give you the text in class. It's called, "Where I'm From" by Willie Perdomo.
A quick search shows me many other classes have also connected to this piece. You might be interested in these responses by 6th graders in Florida.

This week you will write your own Where I'm From piece.
  • You can change the title if you like.
  • Make sure to use details about sounds, smells and other people in your piece, i.e. sensory details.
  • Focus on the elements that make where you are from unique.
  • Include positive and negative details.
  • Aim for 500-600 words.
  • Be prepared to share your writing in class.