Collecting Quotes

Good morning,

We will read at the bell.

On Tuesday I briefly introduced you to your next writing process prompt.   ESSAY PROMPT

To support your writing process you will need lots of evidence from the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Gandhi and King.  Today we will work on gathering that evidence.  You will all contribute quotes and commentary about them and you will all be able to use the results of today to help you write your essay.

Use THIS FORM to get started.

Starting to think satirically

Good morning,

Today you will first tell me (in writing, on that piece of paper I just gave you) what you think you want to write your own satirical essay about.

I will share my topic with you and together we will generate some reasons to support my point.  The hard part is finding reasons that seem to support your point, but are actually funny or ironic. I'll give you some time to work on your own reasons and even start a draft of your essay.

HOMEWORK: Bring in at least a paragraph of your essay, on paper or in your EJ is fine. 

Narrative Writing

Good morning,

Homework: You have a draft of your narrative due tomorrow (Thursday). It should have your whole story, beginning, middle, and end.

Today we spent a few minutes on dramatic irony.  I asked you to think about which one of your characters (or several) won't know something. What won't they know and why does that matter?  Most of you told me you had that covered. (Because you are awesome like that.)

Then I showed you the video below about Show Not Tell. Watch it again and look for the places where you say what your character is feeling. Try to make it more "showy".


Third, I noticed several of you are having trouble with tense. Most narrative is written in the past tense. Don't jump to the present tense. For example: I woke up and am walking to the bathroom.  This does not make sense. It should say: I woke up and walked to the bathroom.

That was a lot of writing lessons in one day, but you can do it. Work on those drafts!
Oh, also, we are having a dramatic irony workshop. I can't tell you when. I'm pretty sure everyone else already knows.  :)

Speed Planning for Narrative

Good morning,

Hint: Click on this picture to see it larger.

Effective authors use a variety of techniques to build toward a particular tone and outcome and create a progression of events.  You have been taught a lot about narrative before. It is time to take it to the next level. Today you will be speed planning, characters, conflicts and plot. Get ready.

HOMEWORK: Keep working on your plot elements and start on your draft. 

Papers Please

Good morning,

Your nature writing papers are due today.  You have some work to do about that.
You'll need to mark the rubric for your paper.
You also need to write a reflection about your paper in your English Journal. Answer these questions:

1. What do you like best about this paper?
2. What did you learn from writing this paper?
3. What will you do differently the next time you have a paper like this to write?
4. What do you feel you need to do to improve as a writer?

When your reflection is done I have some interesting things to check out.
 Do you know about what happened yesterday at UC Berkley?
Have you heard or read about events in northern Africa? This CNN page explains it country by country.
Think about how these events connect to our readings on Civil Disobedience.

Walden

No examination of American writings about nature would be complete without looking at Thoreau's most famous work Walden. Today we will read and listen to some excerpts.  You will need your English Journal open as well as a tab for the text. Between sections of the text I will give you two minutes to quick write as much as you can about your impressions of what we just read.

If you are waiting for others to be ready to begin visit the map at the bottom of the blog and find the marker for Walden Pond. Zoom in and switch to satilite view to see the place Thoreau was writing about.

Writing about "Self Reliance"

So we spent two days reading and "discussing" Emerson in groups. Today you are on your own. You will probably need to open your copy of Self Reliance in Google docs, but do not use the chat window today. (I'll be watching.)

Open in docs:

• Your English Journal
• Your copy of Self Reliance (Do not open the chat window. Yes, I am repeating myself.)

Then do all six below. Work quickly, but be sure to explain your choices well.

1. Choose your favorite line from Self Reliance. Paste it into your EJ and write about what it means and why it is your favorite.
2. Chose a line from Self Reliance that you would quote while arguing with someone. Paste it into your EJ and write about what it means and why you would use it.
3. Choose a line from Self Reliance that you think people should pay attention to today. Paste it into your EJ and write about what it means and why people should pay attention to it today.
4. Choose a line from Self Reliance that you think is the most poetic. Paste it into your EJ and write about what it means and why you think it is poetic.
5. Choose a line from Self Reliance that you disagree with. Paste it into your EJ and write about what it means and why you disagree.
6. Explain in your own words what Emerson's point is in his essay. What are his big ideas? What is his advice to people?

Thesis statement practice

Recently, looking at your drafts I found we have an unexpected problem. Similar to the great run-on sentence crisis we had with our Orgins stories, we now have a crisis of Thesis Statements. Despite all the talk I hear from 9th grade teachers about teaching thesis statement, you, my students, still do not know what they are, how to create them or what to do with them. (There is plenty of evidence for this in your drafts.)

Today in class we looked at 11 statements.  I asked you to respond to each one by writing, "This is/is not a thesis statement because." All of the statements I showed you came from your drafts. At the end we reviewed them and then you wrote your own thesis statement.

Going Public

Many of you are ready to publish your Origin Story to the web. Today I'll show you how to do that in Google Docs.  I highly recommend you take your last name OFF your story BEFORE you publish it.

AFTER you publish your story THEN you can visit this form to publish it to the web. The form will fill up a spread sheet and I will publish the spread sheet shortly.

Read published stories here.

New Writing Project

Good afternoon.
 A late in the day post because it's been that kind of day. As you know you have a new writing assignment to write an origins story modeled on the Native American tales we have read. You NEED a complete draft by Wednesday!

There are a few things you may need to catch up on as well:

1. Finish reading The World on The Turtle's Back. You should have a summary of this in your English Journal.
2. You also should have read The Song of The Sky Loom (page 34) and answer the three questions at the bottom of the page. (This was homework. It should be on paper.)
3. You should have read Fox and Coyote and Whale as well as Coyote and Buffalo.

"I know your wife" -Gatsby

Good morning,
    Today we read almost all of the rest of chapter 6. Your homework is explained on the homework page (link on the right). Here are the slides we were writing from today. Don't forget to visit Our Awesome Class Forum (link above) and post a comment about Daisy's choice.

Nature Writing Drafting

Good morning,
  I'm sorry I can't be with you today, but I know you understand why I need to talk to the sophomores. 

1. Work on your Nature Assignment draft.
2. If your draft has a COMMENT on it from me then you know I got it!
3. If you DO NOT have a comment from me then get your document shared with me.
4. Draft grade happens Monday! (Your draft will get a grade on Monday. Get it done.)

To: Ms. B and Ms. S. Have every student present show you their Nature Assignment in GD on their computer. If the document does NOT have a comment from me at the top make sure that student shares their doc with me today. One student shared his doc with me as a viewer. He should fix that.

Next week:
Monday = Articulation (visits with counselors for everyone)
Tuesday = EAP test.
Wednesday = Writing Groups
Thursday = Polishing final drafts (probably)
Friday = Nature Papers due (let the grading begin)

Enjoy this lovely picture I took of seals in La Jolla.

Gatsby Project Writing Groups

Good morning,
I hope your draft is ready to share. I only have five projects shared with me so far, but I know that many more of you have a draft and just haven't shared it yet. Please share your paper with me and the other members of your writing group ASAP. For those of you who are new to our class please review the chart up front that says "Writing Group Procedure". (I'm working on an online version of that to link to as well.) New people should also see me for your group assignment.

Today you need to:

1. Get in your groups and share your papers in GD.
2. Follow the writing group procedures chart for each paper. (If someone does not follow the procedure that should affect their grade today.)
3. If someone does not have a draft they need to talk (yes talk) to the group about what they are planning to do in detail. Bug them.
4. On a piece of paper (yes paper) write the names of all students present in your group today, the grade your group thinks they deserve for their draft (1-10) and the things your group thinks that student needs to work on before your next group meeting on Thursday.