We edited dog drafts today and received some tips on what needs to be done to take the dog draft (a rough rough draft) to a rough draft. I'm currently eyeing Monday as the day to submit the final copies. Keep working on those papers every night.
Tomorrow is the day. You'll be making some decisions that will effect your next four to six weeks. I'll fill you in when we visit the IMC. I'm putting the finishing touches on some hand-outs tonight. Can't wait to see where this will take us.
What questions should you be asking when reading nonfiction? These questions are different from the ones you ask when reading fiction. Be thinking of possible responses. We'll be falling back on these questions a lot.
See you soon.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Standard 11-11-2013
The paper is due tomorrow. Be sure you have it typed and double spaced and looking good. Have your peer edit sheet and your drafts too. If you have the instruction sheet with the rubric on back, that would also be helpful.
Here is a review of the questions I asked today.
1) Do you have the right heading?
4) Do you transition to the claim?
5) Is the claim clear?
6) Do you mention the title and author in the introduction?
8) Do you start your second paragraph with a topic sentence?
9) Do you give enough story background so that your ideas are clear? This refers to CONTEXT!
10) Do you present the information in logical order?
11) Is what you are discussing directly related to your claim?
12) Do you use quotes?
13) Do you explain the quotes?
14) Do you close the paragraph by referring back to the claim?
15) Do you use a transitional topic sentence to start paragraph three?
16) Do you repeat the ideas listed above in questions 9-14 for paragraph three? paragraph four?
17) Do you have a closing paragraph?
18) Do you restate the claim and connect your ideas to the claim through a brief summary of the paper?
19) Do you close with a BANG!?
Here is a review of the questions I asked today.
1) Do you have the right heading?
Name
Date
Period
Type
of Paper
2)
Do you have a creative title?
3)
Do you have an effective hook?
4) Do you transition to the claim?
5) Is the claim clear?
6) Do you mention the title and author in the introduction?
7)
Is
the title underlined or italicized?
Is
the author's name spelled correctly?
8) Do you start your second paragraph with a topic sentence?
9) Do you give enough story background so that your ideas are clear? This refers to CONTEXT!
10) Do you present the information in logical order?
11) Is what you are discussing directly related to your claim?
12) Do you use quotes?
Are
they cited?
Are
they cited correctly?
13) Do you explain the quotes?
Every
one of them?
Are
they explained well?
14) Do you close the paragraph by referring back to the claim?
15) Do you use a transitional topic sentence to start paragraph three?
Does
it connect and build upon what was already said in paragraph two?
Does
it relate back to the claim?
16) Do you repeat the ideas listed above in questions 9-14 for paragraph three? paragraph four?
Do
you handle both tier one and tier two?
17) Do you have a closing paragraph?
18) Do you restate the claim and connect your ideas to the claim through a brief summary of the paper?
19) Do you close with a BANG!?
20)
If you can answer yes to all of these questions, then you should feel
good and be ready to hand your paper in to me tomorrow.
Be
sure you have a clean final copy with you and all the drafts you have
written.
We start something new tomorrow.
See you soon.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Standard 11-06-2013
Just a reminder tonight. The entire draft of the paper should be typed and in class tomorrow. We will be working on them and editing them tomorrow. the more prepared you are tomorrow, the better off you will be going into the next three days. I will be gone Friday (in Indianapolis at a conference) and will lie to see the final copies of the papers by next Tuesday.
See you soon.
See you soon.
Honors 11-06-2013
Make sure you are spending at least 30 minutes working on your paper tonight. Identify your three discussion points, find your support, practice embedding those links. By 6th hour we figured out the best way to link the exact quote (beginning and ending) that you need. Here are the steps.
Enter www.tubechop.com in your search bar.
Search for Animal Farm.
Click on the 1954 cartoon version.
Enter the start time and the end time for your clip.
Where it says " (optional) write something about your selection" identify your clip.
Click on "chop it"
Copy the address in the Link box.
Now go to your Google document, highlight the word or phrase you plan on making the link.
Click on the chain symbol in the top tool bar.
Paste the address from the Link box into the space provided.
You should be good to go.
Bring your headphones and any questions to class tomorrow.
See you soon.
Enter www.tubechop.com in your search bar.
Search for Animal Farm.
Click on the 1954 cartoon version.
Enter the start time and the end time for your clip.
Where it says " (optional) write something about your selection" identify your clip.
Click on "chop it"
Copy the address in the Link box.
Now go to your Google document, highlight the word or phrase you plan on making the link.
Click on the chain symbol in the top tool bar.
Paste the address from the Link box into the space provided.
You should be good to go.
Bring your headphones and any questions to class tomorrow.
See you soon.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Standard 11-05-2013
We worked on the papers a bit more today. You should come to class tomorrow with the claim and most of the body paragraphs typed up. We'll be think about adding the introduction and the conclusion paragraphs tomorrow in class.
Make sure you are developing the tier one aspects of the paper before developing tier two.
Topic One : Show how Sameness is developed and then explain how it benefits the Community.
Topic Two: Show how pain is used or avoided in the Community and then discuss whether it is hypocritical.
Topic Three: Show three ways Jonas has changed and then explain why those changes are significant.
Topic Four: Show what is right and wrong with the Community and then come to a conclusion on the quest for perfection.
Topic Five: Show how parents can raise their children better by loving them (or show how they would do a worse job by loving them) by sharing experiences from the book and your own life.
Proofread your ideas aloud too. Too many times I've read sentences that just don't make sense. You can identify precise and vivid sentences. Now write them.
See you soon.
Make sure you are developing the tier one aspects of the paper before developing tier two.
Topic One : Show how Sameness is developed and then explain how it benefits the Community.
Topic Two: Show how pain is used or avoided in the Community and then discuss whether it is hypocritical.
Topic Three: Show three ways Jonas has changed and then explain why those changes are significant.
Topic Four: Show what is right and wrong with the Community and then come to a conclusion on the quest for perfection.
Topic Five: Show how parents can raise their children better by loving them (or show how they would do a worse job by loving them) by sharing experiences from the book and your own life.
Proofread your ideas aloud too. Too many times I've read sentences that just don't make sense. You can identify precise and vivid sentences. Now write them.
See you soon.
Honors 11-05-2013
We are in the writing lab tomorrow to work on our Animal Farm papers. The prepared student will come with a list of potential discussion topics narrowed down to the top three or four. Less time will be spent sifting through all your notes that way.
Once there I will spend some time going over the link instructions. I'll walk you through the steps and you should be good to go by the time I'm done. It's pretty easy.
I'd also like to spend some time going over the rubric before making a final copy and passing it out to everyone.
You'll be typing on Google docs. Make sure you know your log in information.
See you soon.
Once there I will spend some time going over the link instructions. I'll walk you through the steps and you should be good to go by the time I'm done. It's pretty easy.
I'd also like to spend some time going over the rubric before making a final copy and passing it out to everyone.
You'll be typing on Google docs. Make sure you know your log in information.
See you soon.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Standard 11-04-2013
I have some grading to do tonight, so I will be making this one quick.
We looked at claims today and I think we all realized that there was some significant work that needed to be done yet. Make sure you have strong claims by tomorrow.
You should also be working on fixing body paragraph number one and adding body paragraph number two. All of this should be typed.
We will be going to the IMC tomorrow to look for books and do some writing. Be prepared.
We'll probably spend a few minutes on Acuity in Tool Time tomorrow too. Remember I was gone last Thursday at an Acuity meeting. I want to share with you what I discovered.
Have those paragraphs typed and in class tomorrow!
See you soon.
We looked at claims today and I think we all realized that there was some significant work that needed to be done yet. Make sure you have strong claims by tomorrow.
You should also be working on fixing body paragraph number one and adding body paragraph number two. All of this should be typed.
We will be going to the IMC tomorrow to look for books and do some writing. Be prepared.
We'll probably spend a few minutes on Acuity in Tool Time tomorrow too. Remember I was gone last Thursday at an Acuity meeting. I want to share with you what I discovered.
Have those paragraphs typed and in class tomorrow!
See you soon.
Honors 11-04-2013
Just a quick one today so I can get back to assessing those timed writings.
We watched the rest of the film (period two has ten minutes left) and you have the instructions for the paper in your hands. you can ask your questions tomorrow, and then we will get writing. Look for a rubric in your future. The Google doc link idea is going to be a good one. I'll demonstrate how to do it--probably tomorrow--and you can practice at home and let me know what difficulties you have. We'll adjust accordingly.
Speaking of links, here is a link to the Animal Farm film. You'll definitely need this to write the analysis.
We are going to the IMC tomorrow. I had something big planned for you, but I think I'm going to hold off for one more week so I can work out some kinks.
I have a cool quote from Karl Marx I found (with the help of Mrs. Burnette) too. I want to see each of you tie it in to Animal Farm.
I was off last Thursday in an Acuity meeting to see what areas we struggled with and now need to focus on. Surprisingly, all five classes struggled with the same three areas. I'll show you tomorrow.
Finally, as a reminder, I'm off this Friday to find out what I can about gifted children. Do you feel gifted? You should.
See you soon.
We watched the rest of the film (period two has ten minutes left) and you have the instructions for the paper in your hands. you can ask your questions tomorrow, and then we will get writing. Look for a rubric in your future. The Google doc link idea is going to be a good one. I'll demonstrate how to do it--probably tomorrow--and you can practice at home and let me know what difficulties you have. We'll adjust accordingly.
Speaking of links, here is a link to the Animal Farm film. You'll definitely need this to write the analysis.
We are going to the IMC tomorrow. I had something big planned for you, but I think I'm going to hold off for one more week so I can work out some kinks.
I have a cool quote from Karl Marx I found (with the help of Mrs. Burnette) too. I want to see each of you tie it in to Animal Farm.
I was off last Thursday in an Acuity meeting to see what areas we struggled with and now need to focus on. Surprisingly, all five classes struggled with the same three areas. I'll show you tomorrow.
Finally, as a reminder, I'm off this Friday to find out what I can about gifted children. Do you feel gifted? You should.
See you soon.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Standard 11-03-2013
I know I enjoyed that extra hour of sleep this weekend. How about you? I love falling back.
That means I'm that much more ready to work on these Giver papers we are writing. It also means you all had an extra hour to perfect your claims and first body paragraphs. We'll be grouping ourselves by topic and doing some serious reading, analysis, and discussion about where we are so far. We will also have a bit of writing time and an author's chair for class discussion. This is one of the first assessments of quarter two. Let's get off to a good start. First thing: BE SURE YOU HAVE THE CLAIM AND THE FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH TYPED AND IN YOUR POSSESSION!
We'll do a little Tool Time and then transition into the papers.
See you soon.
That means I'm that much more ready to work on these Giver papers we are writing. It also means you all had an extra hour to perfect your claims and first body paragraphs. We'll be grouping ourselves by topic and doing some serious reading, analysis, and discussion about where we are so far. We will also have a bit of writing time and an author's chair for class discussion. This is one of the first assessments of quarter two. Let's get off to a good start. First thing: BE SURE YOU HAVE THE CLAIM AND THE FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH TYPED AND IN YOUR POSSESSION!
We'll do a little Tool Time and then transition into the papers.
See you soon.
Honors 11-03-2013
Just watched a powerful documentary about Terry Fox this weekend. He was a young man who lost his right leg to cancer but didn't let that beat him; instead, he decided to run across Canada on one leg raising both money and awareness. I had never forgotten him because of the role he played in my running career way back in 1981, so when I saw this documentary was available on Netflix courtesy of ESPN's 30 for 30, I quickly logged in. Yet as I was watching it, I was thinking about how we could use this video in our nonfiction unit this quarter (Every time I watch anything I'm always wondering if we can use it in class somewhere---ahhh...the life of a teacher). We will be going to the IMC on Tuesday. We will be looking for nonfiction books to read on our own outside of class. Between now and then, I'll be studying the standards and trying to see if there is a way to bring all of this together: documentaries, books and nonfiction.
I've been assessing the timed writings over the weekend. There were several impressive submissions from period one. Renee Yaseen's writing stands out as one strong example. In order to gain insight into who the men were, she went beyond just summarizing the book and the poem in the authors' words to characterizing the men based on what she knows about them through their writings and our discussions. Great results. These have been fun and interesting to read; however, they are taking longer than expected. Please be patient as I work my way through them.
We will be watching the end of the Animal Farm film tomorrow. You had a start last Thursday with Mr. Alfrey. Based on what he told me, you also had some decent discussions (period six especially) about how the film and book coincide and how the film also takes some liberties with the presentation. It's those liberties that we will be interested in once our viewing is done. I know you are all aware that we will be writing a paper on this topic. If you've taken good notes--and continue to take good notes--you should do well. You'll want to go beyond merely saying, "Look, that's different." Instead, you'll want to say, "Look, that's different and this is how it affects the story and this is why the director made the decision to change it." We'll talk more about it in class, but prepare yourself well.
Guess what. I won't be here Friday. I'm going to the National Association of Gifted Children (that's you) conference in Indianapolis. For three days (Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday) I'll be finding new ways to challenge and stimulate you with rigorous and standard based curriculum. Sound fascinating? I know I'm looking forward to it. Ask me about it next Monday.
See you soon.
I've been assessing the timed writings over the weekend. There were several impressive submissions from period one. Renee Yaseen's writing stands out as one strong example. In order to gain insight into who the men were, she went beyond just summarizing the book and the poem in the authors' words to characterizing the men based on what she knows about them through their writings and our discussions. Great results. These have been fun and interesting to read; however, they are taking longer than expected. Please be patient as I work my way through them.
We will be watching the end of the Animal Farm film tomorrow. You had a start last Thursday with Mr. Alfrey. Based on what he told me, you also had some decent discussions (period six especially) about how the film and book coincide and how the film also takes some liberties with the presentation. It's those liberties that we will be interested in once our viewing is done. I know you are all aware that we will be writing a paper on this topic. If you've taken good notes--and continue to take good notes--you should do well. You'll want to go beyond merely saying, "Look, that's different." Instead, you'll want to say, "Look, that's different and this is how it affects the story and this is why the director made the decision to change it." We'll talk more about it in class, but prepare yourself well.
Guess what. I won't be here Friday. I'm going to the National Association of Gifted Children (that's you) conference in Indianapolis. For three days (Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday) I'll be finding new ways to challenge and stimulate you with rigorous and standard based curriculum. Sound fascinating? I know I'm looking forward to it. Ask me about it next Monday.
See you soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)