I'm sure we all had fun organizing our student-led conference information. You are now mostly prepared to enlighten your parents next week on how you are progressing in your eighth grade year. I'm looking forward to meeting them all.
We finished our book group discussions today, but our work with the books is far from over. Be sure to bring them tomorrow in case we have time to delve into your book group assignment!
Tomorrow's focus will be mostly on the paper. You should all have a rough draft-a clean, updated version of the dog draft you brought in on Monday. Check out yesterday's blog for intro tips and look below for a sample body paragraph on a discussion of mood in "Jazz Fantasia".
Remember, this is the last sentence from my introduction (also known as my claim).
As a matter of fact, the poem "Jazz Fantasia" by Carl Sandburg and the painting "Ultimate Times Square" by Tony Shi share the same energetic mood and a theme that reveals there is magic in the chaos.
Now here is my first body paragraph.
From the opening line of his celebration of jazz music, Sandburg gets our blood pumping by exhorting us to "drum on [our} drums, batter on [our] banjoes" (Sandburg 1). The pulsating sound of the percussion exudes energy and soon we are "slinging [our] knuckles on the bottom of the happy tin pans" (Sandburg 4). As readers, we are filled with a buoyant zest for life. There's a bounce to our step, yet Sandburg isn't finished. He ratchets up the intensity by adding a "racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop" (Sandburg 9). Soon there's a "fight on the top of a stairway" (Sandburg 11). Car chases? Fights? The energy is over the top! But just when it seems we can take no more, Sandburg decides to "Can the rough stuff" (Sandburg 14) allowing us to catch our breath from the energetic escapade he just took us on.
See how I offer multiple quotes from throughout the entire poem to support my topic sentence. I don't just list the quotes but talk about them as well. That is what I want you to do.
Now here's my transitional topic sentence for the next paragraph.
Tony Shi's painting somehow seems to capture that exact same energy.
Do your best tonight. We'll take a close look at what you have tomorrow.
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