Standard 09-09-2013

The PPP typed, double-spaced, final copy should be handed in tomorrow.  No excuses.  If you need to come in early to type, then I expect to see you either before school or during lunch.  No printing once class begins.

We'll continue to look at the poem "The Forecast" together.  Here's a question to ponder: do you see a connection to 'The Pedestrian"?  I hope so!

"Old Glory" has been on the schedule several times.  Tomorrow, we find out what it's all about.

See you soon.

Honors 09-09-13

Just finished reading an article in Sports Illustrated.  Guess what I saw.  Cohesive Writing!  It's everywhere!

Remember, your task is to find two examples from any source possible and bring those examples in to school by Wednesday.  You'll be doing something with one of them after Wednesday, so choose wisely.

We started breaking down "The Forecast" in class today.  Some groups are effectively writing down their entire process from how they approached the poem initially to the questions they generated to the discussions they have had.  Then, and only then, are they proceeding to the three questions I want you all to answer.  This will show me the process they used to find meaning in the poem and gain understanding of the deeper issues.  Just answering the three questions won't do that.  I want you to think about how to attack an unfamiliar poem or piece of writing because that is what I will be asking you to do often this year.

Good news?  I guess this is good news for you.  I've decided to switch the due date of the reading of The Giver and the three responses to Thursday, September 19.  My absence on the three days preceding the 19th convinced me that it would be better to hold off.  I want to be there for the discussions that will be coming.  It'll also give me a chance to toss in an extra short story or two.  Let's see, you've had the non fiction utopian article, two poems, The Giver, and now a few short stories.  Your first one..."Harrison Bergeron".  Coming to you tomorrow.

Do you like to laugh?  I just watched one of the stupidest/funniest videos in a while.  Check it out if you have a chance.  I know it doesn't have anything to do with language arts...it's just, well, check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.  

See you tomorrow.

Standard 09-08-2013

We ran out of time last Friday for typing our papers in class.  Hopefully, you should be coming to class with the finished typed version that you worked on over the weekend.  I know some of you were unable to use Google Docs for a variety of reasons, so hopefully, you typed the papers on your home computers and printed them off so you will have them in class.  We'll edit them using our rubrics and then decide our next step.  Regardless, you will all turn them in no later than Tuesday.

Our combining sentence quiz did not go well.  Sure some of you scored perfect 6s but there were also a slew of 0s.  Many of you will need to review with me and then retake this quiz.  We'll talk more about it in class tomorrow, but be ready to come in early or see me during lunch.

We have a poem "Forecast"and a short story "Old Glory" that we'll be looking at this week.  You'll be reading them actively, discussing them and, yes, writing about them.  They are both good and I want to see how you relate them to "The Pedestrian".

See you soon.

Honors 09-07-2013

Ah...Saturday morning, a time of freedom and opportunity.  Or an opportunity to use your free time to read The Giver!   September 16 is when it needs to be read by.  As long as you pace yourself, that time table should not be a problem.  Remember to be actively reading (text-coding) as you go through the book.  Remember my tips as well: give each chapter a title; write a word atop each page for a quick reference as to what that page is about.  Both of these will make finding the information you need later a lot easier.

In addition to reading, you know you need to produce three one-page reaction papers over the next ten days.  I posted a few quick tips on Thursday's blog, but I'll offer a bit more info now.  A reaction is not a book report.  It is not a summary.  It is an attempt on your part to connect with and make meaning out of your reading.  You see, the goal is not for you to write about the story.  The goal is for you to write about what you think about the story .  What it means to you.  What you get out of the story.  What the story makes you think of.  What the story makes you feel.  You will interact with the text in a meaningful way.  Get it?  

Now, nobody is saying that this is going to be easy.  Making meaning is hard work.  Yet one of the goals of this course is to make you a more conscious reader--one who actively reads, thinks and reflects on the words on the pages.  That’s where reaction writing comes in.  You will read The Giver, and you will write three reactions to it.  

These reactions will be formal papers where you find connections with or have reactions to the story and write about them. You’ll offer an introduction which always includes the title of your book and the author’s full name.  A claim, which is usually the final sentence of the first paragraph, is also a must.  That claim will identify the single idea the reaction paper will be focusing on.  You’ll follow that with a body paragraph or paragraphs of well-developed thoughts with supportive quotes.  Those quotes, which will be cited correctly, must be present.  You’ll then complete the paper with a conclusion that sums up and effectively closes the paper.  

“But Mr. O’Malley, where do I find these connections of which you speak?  Where do I begin?”  

Fortunately, I anticipated those queries.  Below you will find some prompts to consider as you attempt to make meaning.  Obviously, these can be used anytime you write a reaction this year, so you’ll want to hold on to this paper tightly.  

Think of...

what the author did well

what the author did not do well

what you noticed

what stands out

what surprised/startled/shocked you

what it reminded you of

what you understood

what you didn't understand

what themes might be taking shape

what you loved/relished/enjoyed

what you hated/loathed/reviled

what made you happy/sad/angry

what you could relate to

what you wondered

what you would have done inside the text

In addition you could consider the following ideas:

*what do you like about the protagonist/antagonist?

*what feelings, ideas, traits, experiences or goals do you share with the protagonist or    

          the antagonist?         

    *what message is the author trying to get across?

*what do you think about the author’s writing style?

This should give you something to think about for a little while.  

Here's a reminder on how to cite those quotes which each one of your reactions should have.

It was obvious Jonas started to become aware that his community was not what he had always thought it was when he looked at the piece of fruit and thought, "the apple had changed" (Lowry 24).  

Hopefully this will help you write some good reactions.

One final thing today.  Our semi-colon paragraph quizzes were not nearly as strong as I thought they would be.  Several people still used capital letters after the semi-colon.  Several people did not combine two independent clauses with the semi-colon.  While there were plenty of perfect scores, there were also plenty that demonstrated to me that they need more work with the semi-colons.  Keep using them in your writing and you will become more aware of the correct ways and the best times to use them.  In addition, check out these links to a couple semi-colon practice websites.  Practice makes perfect.

See you soon.

Honors 09-05-2013

We just beat the buzzer for The Giver.  Almost ran out of time again.  Block scheduling, where are you?

Well you do finally have the book in your hands.  You have 11 days (two weekends) to read the book and type up three one page reactions to what you are reading.  You decide when and how much you want to read, but be sure you are text coding as you read.  We will be returning to the book often, and you'll want key lines/ideas/points/examples/support clearly identified so that it will be easy to find.  One more time:

MARK UP THE TEXT!

As for those reaction papers, I will be discussing the expectations tomorrow in class.  Here are some quick general pointers.  Each one should:

     1) Have an introduction

     2) Make a claim

     3) Be focused on a single idea

     4) Be supported by evidence from the text (quotes)

     5) Include cited quotes

     6) Be well developed and fleshed out

     7) Have a concluding paragraph

     8) Be kept to a single page

Since it is only one page, a single idea is all you need.  Since you are only writing about a single idea, you should be able to flesh it out to fill the page.  More coming tomorrow.

Good work on the agreement errors today.  Obviously, we aren't masters yet, but, at this point, just being aware of the issue is enough.  As the year progresses it will become more ingrained and you will be the experts you long to be.

Here's another sampling:

I let all my friends read my paper during lunch to give me their personal opinion.   

Tell me the error and I'll sign your Archer card tomorrow.

I have a short story and a poem option for tomorrow.  I'm leaning towards the poem because we could probably handle it in a single class.  That way we can start the short story on Monday.  

What's a Bergeron?

See you soon.

Standard 09-05-2013

Here is the checklist for the Bradbury paragraphs you need to be correcting and perfecting tonight.

CHECKLIST FOR “THE PEDESTRIAN” PARAGRAPHS

1) Uses Ray Bradbury's full name

2) Mentions the title in quotation marks in the first sentence

3) Opens the paragraph with a claim about technologies negative impact on society

4) Transitions to the first item of support

5) Uses a cited quote for support

6) Offers an explanation on how the quote supports the claim

7) Transitions to the next idea

8) Repeat 5 and 6

9) Transitions to the third idea

10) Repeat 5 and 6

11) Offers a closing sentence

This is the general format you should follow for your paragraph; however, you have some options.  While you do need the transitions and the quotes and the explanations, how you present them is up to you.  How much depth will you offer?  How much detail?  How creatively will you transition or explain your ideas?  There's a lot of room for individuality in this writing.   

Tonight you should revise your paper to include the changes we discussed during class today.  Come with as polished a paper as you can.  Tomorrow we have the lab reserved for typing.  We will probably go and type up a draft of the paper.  Will it be the final one?  We'll see.  

We covered three ways to combine sentences today.  I am seriously considering giving you two sentences tomorrow to combine using the techniques we discussed today.  Here's a refresher:

      1) David is going to Michigan to cheer on the maize and blue.  

      2)The Wolverines will be black and blue after being battered by the blue and gold.

Combine the sentences using a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

Combine the sentences using a semi-colon.

Combine the sentences using a semi-colon and a conjunctive adverb.  

Be ready.

See you soon.

Standard 09-04-2013

Well, well, well.  I guess we see that we aren't taking advantage of the blog the way we should.  The quiz questions were right here last night.  If only you'd checked...

Intense class today.  You had to have some good conversations to move forward.  Some of you were more successful than others, but by the end of the class, progress had been made by all.  Tonight you'll be writing a paragraph in your language arts notebooks on the purpose of "The Pedestrian".  Through your discussions with your peers you discovered the support you need and hammered out the explanations to be sure the quotes support your claim.  We'll be examining those tomorrow before moving on to stronger/final drafts.

Remember, you should be starting the paragraph off with a claim like the one below:

In "The Pedestrian" Ray Bradbury set out to show that technological advancements can have a negative impact on society.

--OR--

Ray Bradbury clearly shows the negative impact technology can have on society in his short story "The Pedestrian".

Play with it a bit.  Come up with an original way to state your claim.  After that, you'll need to support the claim with cited, quoted evidence from the text and then clearly, thoroughly explain how the quote supports your claim.  You'll do that a minimum of three times.  Good papers will be easy to identify.

Write well tonight.

See you soon.

Honors 09-04-2013

Welcome back to the best male-written 8th grade language arts blog at Discovery Middle School!  Glad you cared enough to return.

One more day.  Less than 24 hours.  That's how long you have to wait for the new book you'll be receiving from me.  Okay, it's no secret that the title of the book is The Giver.   It's written by Lois Lowry (she's a woman) and is an accessible yet thought-provoking read.  You'll be asked to read it on your own over about a ten day period.  That comes out to about 16 pages a day.  Not too bad.  You'll also have a few writing assignments to be turned in during that time.  We'll also be studying a few short stories to use with it during those ten days.  There will be a lot coming your way over the next few weeks.  Hope you're ready.  It's going to be a wild ride.

I hope to return your Writer's Autobiographies tomorrow, but they might have to wait until Friday.  In the meantime, I'll be using them to focus on another area of concern: agreement errors.  This is when you have errors in subject-verb agreement or with pronouns and their antecedents.  Here's an example from one of your papers:

Good authors write about their life.

Do you see what's wrong here?  "Authors" is plural.  "Their" is plural.  "Life" is singular.  All the authors don't share one life.  They all have their own lives.  The correct way to write this sentence is as follows:

Good authors write about their lives.

We'll talk about this more tomorrow during Tool Time.

Another thing I noticed in your papers is the proliferation of the word "you" or "your".  Don't use the second person in your formal writing.  Consider anything you write for me to be formal.

One last thing about I gleaned from your papers is your preference for starting your leads off with questions.  Don't do that.  In fact, I challenge you to avoid that throughout the rest of the year.  Don't open with a question.  Make a statement instead.  

Fine start to the "Utopia" poem discussions.  I loved hearing what you had to say as I moved from table to table.  Good, rich discussion.  I enjoyed seeing you find meaning and generate understanding as you discussed the poem.  Tomorrow we'll share our thoughts and conclusions before moving on to The Giver.  Don't worry, our utopia article and our utopia poem all relate to the novel and the other things that will be soon coming your way.

Enough for today.  Tell me the two things--other than agreement errors--I took from your papers, and I'll sign your Archer card tomorrow.

See you soon.

The clock is ticking on The Giver...

Standard 09-03-2013

I told you I would tell you all about the quiz tomorrow if you read the blog.  Here it is.

The five questions will be as follows:

1) Name the eight main parts of speech.
2) Tell me what goes on both sides of a semi-colon.
3) What part of speech comes after a semi-colon but before the comma?
4) Define an independent clause.
5) Where does the introductory clause go in a sentence?

It pays to read the blog.  100% if you did.

We tried to figure out what Bradbury's purpose was in his story "The Pedestrian".  That was a little difficult.  We had some reasonable ideas from all the groups, but they were usually pretty safe guesses and very surface oriented.  Bradbury, like most authors, wants to challenge his readers to look deeper.  That's what I want you to do too.  Now we decided on a couple possible topics.  In period three they looked like this:

Option#1:  Bradbury's purpose was to explain that futuristic technology can not only be a distraction but can be dangerous if used incorrectly.

Option #2: Bradbury's purpose was to show that technology can have a negative impact on society.

Both of those ideas are similar. Your job tomorrow will be to select one of those options and explain/support/find evidence for why you feel it is the best answer.

In period four they looked like this:

Option#1: Bradbury's purpose was to show that electronics are absorbing us.

Option #2: Bradbury's purpose was to show that "something" is taking over our lives.

Both of these ideas are also similar.  They are also more vague and not as strong as the ideas from period three; although, they have a similar idea running through them.  You will also need to make some choices, period four, and then back up those decisions with evidence/support/quotes from the text.

"Old Glory" is on its way.  I'll sign the Archer card of whoever comes up to me and tells me what Old Glory is a nickname for.

See you soon.

Honors 9-03-2013

Late night after the cross country meet.  We didn't fair too well in the meet, but I know language arts class will generate some much better results tomorrow.

As you know, I hinted at a semi-colon paragraph quiz tomorrow.  I still think that's a good idea.  I'll have you write a paragraph on a topic of your choice--no, I'll give you the topic tomorrow.  You will need to include at least three properly used semi-colons.  You'll need to exhibit some variety.  To get a perfect score, you'll need to make sure the entire paragraph is written correctly: no run-ons, no fragments, and no other obvious errors.  You'll have six minutes to write it.  Let's have this worth...7 points.

Big things tomorrow include our discussion of the poem "Utopia" by Wislawa Szymborska.  Period six got a look at it already, but periods one and two will set their eyes on it for the first time tomorrow.  Lots to do with that piece.

You will also be receiving your very own, brand new copy of The Giver by Lois Lowry.  Great book.  A ton to talk about their.  You'll be reading it on your own.  More details on that one tomorrow.  Do you know what symbolism is?  You better!  Ask me if you don't.

Do you know anyone named Harrison?  You will soon.

I'll sign the Archer card of anyone who tells me the word I misspelled in this blog.  (No it's not Szymborska's name).

See you tomorrow.