Don't forget!  Bring all your textbooks on Thursday the 24th or Friday the 25th to your English class, as we will be turning them in to the library at the beginning of class.  You can drop them off in the morning as long and they are in a bag marked with your name.

Study the Argumentative Essay Graphic Organizer and be ready to be able to label the parts of the essay.

 

Test date: Odd - 3/8 Even - 3/9

I will be checking out the novel Hoot to my students today and tomorrow in class.  Each student will be assigned a specific book number and should return that same book number when we are finished with the novel.  Any missing or damaged books will be the responsibility of the student and a replacement book will be expected in that case.  Each week, students will be required to read four chapters and complete the packet of work that includes vocabulary, chapter questions and skill worksheets specific to each chapter.  We will usually read the first of the four chapters in class when time permits, and then the remaining three will be homework.

In class work will revolve around the writing of an argumentative essay and all stages of that process will be done in class except the final draft.

November 22, 2017:  For two blocks, starting today, students will be annotating articles, writing and revising an explanatory essay for the district performance task.  The performance task is a test that the district administers to all students once a semester in order to ensure all students are meeting the writing requirements laid out in the Common Core State Standards.  Students who are absent during the administration of the test are required to make it up and should see me upon returning to school.

Extra Credit - Poetry Contest: Poem needs to be 5 - 20 lines. Should be typed. Give the poem a creative title. Can be a traditional poem (limerick, quatrain, cinquain, sonnet, etc.) or free verse (no rhyme, no rhythm). Can be about something you enjoy, something you hate, something you dream about, worry about, think about. The topic is your choice. Must be appropriate for school. 10 points extra credit. Due 10/13/17

On Friday the 6th and Monday the 9th we will have a test on the Abby Sunderland pieces and comparing news coverage.  We will also start on our Quarter 1 performance task which is a narrative.

We are working in class on an argumentative jigsaw project in which students are debating whether or not children should engage in dangerous, and typically adult oriented activities - flying planes, sailing around the world, climbing Mt. Everest etc...  This argument will then be posted to a blog that each group creates.  Since students are still working in their puzzle groups to formulate arguments and then create their blogs, there will be no homework over the Fall Break.

Today in class 9/22 we worked in our Jigsaw collaborative groups with the Abby Sunderland questions.  Students will finish with that next class, and start developing their arguments for the construction of their blogs.  There will be no homework today or Monday 9/25.

In class, today and tomorrow, we will be working on the Abby Sunderland stories from pages 20-28.  Students will work in expert groups answering one question per group and then they will break into a jigsaw to share their responses with other groups.  Students Missing class, will answer all questions on the assignment.  Odd period students who miss Friday, will need to go to Google Classroom to respond to four of their classmates blogs.

 

For the questions, students should reread the texts on pages 20 and 24 and watch the following video by clicking on the link. See the attached file "Comparing Forms of Media Jigsaw" for the questions.

Test Dates:  Odd - 9/18   Even - 9/19