March 15

Senstina

Today, we moved on to a little poetry analysis. We started by introducing an new graphic organizer to use when ever we are reading a new poem. It is called the TP-CASTT for Poetry Analysis.

This form can be used with any type of poem. Our poem today is a Sestina, so we covered the basic definition of the poetic form, Sestina.

Today was a practice or run through of how to use the TP-CASTT and look a cold-read of a poem. We covered the answers to each part of the TP-CASTT for “Sestina” by Elizabeth Bishop in class today. Students were instructed to write their answers in the reading logs as they will be graded when the folders are collected on Friday.

Tomorrow, students will be given a different poem and ask to repeat the process for a different type of poem.

March 14

Day 2 Questions 1 – 7

Today we answered questions 1 – 7 concerning our cold read yesterday of the first chapter of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

The first six questions were reading comprehension questions over the text and included four of the Part A / Part B type questions we talked about yesterday. The last question was a writing prompt.

7. Write a narrative in which you describe the next scene that might take place in  “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Maintain the same point of view, mood/tone, and pacing of the original story. Be sure to observe the conventions of standard English. Your narrative should have an introduction, presentation and examination of the conflict, and a clear resolution.

We discussed the importance of understanding what the prompt is asking for. A narrative is a short story. Basically, students are being asked to write the next chapter of the story. We talked about what it means to maintain the point of view, mood / tone , and pacing.

Students who needed or wanted more time to do their very best work on the assignment worked during class today and took it home as a homework assignment.

March 13

Starting the 4th Grading Period

Can you believe it? Today is the first day of the final grading period for this school year. That means that we are 3/4 of the way finished with this school year.

We continued our unit on Magical Realism with our first Cold-Read Task. Today we read and annotated the first chapter of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Annotation:

Students were reminded that annotation is an active reading strategy that helps readers interact with the text as they are reading it. Annotation is a way to engage your mind in the activity of reading and thinking about what you are reading for better understanding. Along with noting and then looking up any unknown words, annotation includes identifying patterns, literary devices, ask questions, make predictions, or note anything else that may be significant in the text. Annotation is not simply underlining or highlighting test with no meaningful purpose.

The Day 2 handout was also provided in class today. The purpose of this is to give any student who thinks it may take extra time to complete the questions tomorrow in class a chance to work ahead as both Day 1 and Day 2 handouts will be collected for grading at the end of tomorrow’s class period.

It was explained that the questions are examples of the type of questions that are often asked on standardize testing. The questions have a part A and a part B.  Credit can only be earned on the part B portion of the question if the part A part of the question is answered correctly. The idea behind this type of test question is that the correct answer to part A should lead the student to being able to identify evidence or reasoning for the part B portion of the question. This tests the connection or reasoning of ideas and logic.

March 10

What a Great Job

We accomplished a great deal this week. We tackled a really complex writing prompt over a complex text and did it in a four day time period. We had the highest overall completion and turn in rate of any assignment yet this year, and the grades were strong too. What a way to end the third grading period. Everyone deserves a nice weekend break.

See you all next week.

March 9

Revision and Edit Day

Now that you have used the steps listed on yesterday blog to make suggestions on another student’s essay, you might want to go through the same process on your own essay. Today you will use the full class period to revise and then edit your own essay.

  1. Open a new Google doc in Google Drive.
  2. Set your formatting to Times New Roman 12 point double spaced font and 1 inch margins on all sides.
  3. Type your four line heading as corrected on your timed essay.
  4. Type your revised essay paying close attention to the peer suggestions provided.
  5. Add your Works Cited page as the final page of your essay.

You will need to add a properly formatted Works Cited page to your essay. Here is the exact MLA formation for your Works Cited page.

Type the words      Works Cited     in the center of the top line of the last page of your essay.

Double space once and go to the left side alignment to begin your entry. It should look just like this:

Works Cited

Kafka, Franz. “The Metamorphosis.” Project Gutenberg,www.gutenberg.org/

ebooks/6818.

 

Your final essay will be turned in through Turnitin.

When finished, turn your essay in through Turnitin.

March 8

Peer Review of Timed Essay

Today we will do Peer Reviews of yesterday’s timed essays. You have been given the essay of another student with the name removed. Put your name in the upper right hand corner of the essay you are reviewing. The goal is to help you develop your own writing skills through seeing how another student responded, as well as helping that other student revise their timed essay.

We are going to work today to determine what makes a quality essay. Let’s start by reviewing the scoring rubric. This is what I am going to use to score your essays.

  1.  Now that we understand how your essay will be graded, look at the essay you have been given. Read the first paragraph carefully. Ask your self the following questions about the thesis and then highlight or underline the thesis or main claim on the essay you are reviewing.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

  • Is there a thesis?
  • Is it located at the end of the introduction?
  • Does it introduce the main ideas of the essay?

2. Great, now let’s move on to the body paragraphs. Ask your self the following questions about each body paragraph, and write a one-sentence summary next to each body paragraph. Then determine how the ideas of the body paragraph are connected to the main claim of the essay. You should then write a brief summary next to the thesis statement describing the organization and connection between various ideas of the essay.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

  • Does each body paragraph have a main idea?
  • Do the body paragraphs support the thesis?

3. Next you will evaluate the evidence provided in the body paragraphs. Read the following questions and then underneath each of the summary sentences you wrote for each body paragraph, list the evidence used. Remember that the quotations, paraphrased information, or key details found directly in the text may all be used as evidence to support the claim.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

  • Is there evidence from the text used to support the ideas in the paragraph?
  • Are there direct quotes or key details from the text?
  • Is the evidence relevant?
  • Is the reasoning logical?4. You are now ready to review the sentence structure and offer suggestions on how the writer can increase the complexity by adding more phrases and clauses and using parallel structure. Review the following questions and write suggestions directly on the essay you are reviewing.Guiding Questions and Prompts:
    • How can the writer combine sentences or add phrases and clauses to increase the complexity of the writing?
    • Are there sections that would benefit from a parallel structure?

5. After asking yourself the following questions, circle strong vocabulary words in the text and note any unnecessary repetitions.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

  • Do any words stand out as particularly powerful?
  • Are any words repeated enough times to be monotonous?

6. Finally, you will edit the essay for spelling mistakes and use of proper punctuation. Ask yourself the following questions.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

  • Are there any spelling mistakes?
  • Are there any errors in punctuation?

Turn your reviewed essay back into Mrs. Scales so that she can provide your feedback to the student for the revision process we will be doing tomorrow.

 

March 7

WRITING DAY

Today was a great day of writing in room 402 at WHS!!! With the exception of 3rd period each class finished their timed essays today. Third period was cut short due to a convocation starting much earlier than originally planned, so those students will finish their essay’s tomorrow.

Remember your heading should look like:

Kim Smith                                   Your Name

Mrs. Scales                                  Teacher’s Name

English 9 – Period 3                   Class Information

7 March 2017                               Date in MLA format

Introduction

  1. Your first paragraph should begin with a hook that draws the reader’s attention to your paper.
  2. You must identify the title and author of the text you are writing about. In this case that means writing The Metamorphosis in italics or underlined if being hand written and stating that it was written by Franz Kafka.
  3. Your first paragraph should end with your thesis statement.

Body paragraphs

  1. A topic sentence for each body paragraph. That is like a mini-thesis statement that supports the real thesis statement, and controls the direction of the essay.
  2. Support for topic sentences that are properly cited with the page # it came from. This would look like (42).
  3. Transitions to and from the previous and next paragraph.

Conclusion

  1. Clearly wraps up the paper
  2. Returns to, but does not simply repeat the thesis
  3. Tells the reader’s what you want them to take away from the paper

The Rubric being used for this assignment has five parts. You should read the descriptors for each level of all five parts and pay special attention to the differences represented by the bolded world.

UNDERSTANDING (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is outstanding. Writing demonstrates full comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through ample textual evidence.

Good 15 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is strong. Writing demonstrates comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Mostly accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through adequate textual evidence.

Average 10 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is acceptable. Writing demonstrates limited comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Minimally accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through limited textual evidence.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is below grade-level expectations. Writing demonstrates weak comprehension of explicit ideas and no comprehension of inferential ideas indicated by grade-level reading standard. Very weak analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through faulty textual evidence.

Unacceptable 0 pts

Shows no comprehension of ideas indicated by grade-level reading standards. Inaccurate or no analysis and reasoning is demonstrated with little or no textual evidence.

IDEAS (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a complete thesis with precise claim(s). Body paragraphs have defined topic sentences that all support the thesis.

Good 15 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a thesis with claim(s). Body paragraphs have defined topic sentences that support the thesis.

Average 10 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a thesis attempt with a an attempt at a claim(s). Body paragraphs support the thesis.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Does not fully addresses the prompt or introduces a weak thesis. No claim(s) expressed. Body paragraphs do not adequately support the thesis.

Unacceptable 0 pts

No thesis statement.

ORGANIZATION (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Development is even and organized to make important connections and distinctions with relevant support. Language creates cohesion and clarifies relationship among ideas. Formal and objective style and tone consistently demonstrates awareness of purpose and audience.

Good 15 pts

Development is organized with some support and cohesion. Language creates cohesion and links ideas. Style and tone demonstrates awareness of purpose and audience.

Average 10 pts

Development and support are minimal. Language links ideas. Style and tone demonstrates limited awareness of purpose and audience.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Lacks organization, or is undeveloped, and provides little support. Or Language and style develop no awareness of purpose or audience.

Unacceptable 0 pts

Lacks organization, is undeveloped, and does not provide support. Language and style develop no awareness of purpose or audience.

CONVENTIONS (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Full command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Few minor errors do not interfere with the meaning of the text.

Good 15 pts

Command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. May have minor errors that occasionally interfere with overall meaning or readability.

Average 10 pts

Some command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Several minor errors that interfere with overall meaning or readability.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Limited command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Errors often interfere with overall meaning or readability.

Unacceptable 0 pts

No command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Frequent and varied errors often interfere with overall meaning or readability.

MLA (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading correct. Two or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate a strong grade-level command of MLA format.

Good 15 pts

Proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading mostly correct. One or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate an adequate grade-level command of MLA format.

Average 10 pts

Mostly proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading mostly correct. One or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate an understanding of grade-level MLA format requirements.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Errors in proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Missing any part of the four line heading, improper or missing in-tex citations and multiple errors on the Works Cited page indicate a weak understanding of grade-level MLA format requirements.

Unacceptable 0 pts

Multiple errors or missing MLA requirements.

March 6

Timed Essay Writing Day

Tomorrow, you will have the entire class to write your essay. You can either start with a hand written copy or a Google doc.

Make sure that you use the thesis statement you created today in class.

Remember your heading should look like:

Kim Smith                                   Your Name

Mrs. Scales                                  Teacher’s Name

English 9 – Period 3                   Class Information

7 March 2017                               Date in MLA format

 

Introduction

  1. Your first paragraph should begin with a hook that draws the reader’s attention to your paper.
  2. You must identify the title and author of the text you are writing about. In this case that means writing The Metamorphosis in italics or underlined if being hand written and stating that it was written by Franz Kafka.
  3. Your first paragraph should end with your thesis statement.

Body paragraphs

  1. A topic sentence for each body paragraph. That is like a mini-thesis statement that supports the real thesis statement, and controls the direction of the essay.
  2. Support for topic sentences that are properly cited with the page # it came from. This would look like (42).
  3. Transitions to and from the previous and next paragraph.

Conclusion

  1. Clearly wraps up the paper
  2. Returns to, but does not simply repeat the thesis
  3. Tells the reader’s what you want them to take away from the paper

 

The Rubric being used for this assignment has five parts. You should read the descriptors for each level of all five parts and pay special attention to the differences represented by the bolded world.

UNDERSTANDING (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is outstanding. Writing demonstrates full comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through ample textual evidence.

Good 15 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is strong. Writing demonstrates comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Mostly accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through adequate textual evidence.

Average 10 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is acceptable. Writing demonstrates limited comprehension of ideas both explicit and inferential indicated by grade-level reading standard. Minimally accurate analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through limited textual evidence.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Reading and Understanding of text is below grade-level expectations. Writing demonstrates weak comprehension of explicit ideas and no comprehension of inferential ideas indicated by grade-level reading standard. Very weak analysis and reasoning is demonstrated through faulty textual evidence.

Unacceptable 0 pts

Shows no comprehension of ideas indicated by grade-level reading standards. Inaccurate or no analysis and reasoning is demonstrated with little or no textual evidence.

IDEAS (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a complete thesis with precise claim(s). Body paragraphs have defined topic sentences that all support the thesis.

Good 15 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a thesis with claim(s). Body paragraphs have defined topic sentences that support the thesis.

Average 10 pts

Addresses the prompt and introduces a thesis attempt with a an attempt at a claim(s). Body paragraphs support the thesis.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Does not fully addresses the prompt or introduces a weak thesis. No claim(s) expressed. Body paragraphs do not adequately support the thesis.

Unacceptable 0 pts

No thesis statement.

ORGANIZATION (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Development is even and organized to make important connections and distinctions with relevant support. Language creates cohesion and clarifies relationship among ideas. Formal and objective style and tone consistently demonstrates awareness of purpose and audience.

Good 15 pts

Development is organized with some support and cohesion. Language creates cohesion and links ideas. Style and tone demonstrates awareness of purpose and audience.

Average 10 pts

Development and support are minimal. Language links ideas. Style and tone demonstrates limited awareness of purpose and audience.

Needs Improvement 5 pts

Lacks organization, or is undeveloped, and provides little support. Or Language and style develop no awareness of purpose or audience.

Unacceptable 0 pts

Lacks organization, is undeveloped, and does not provide support. Language and style develop no awareness of purpose or audience.

CONVENTIONS (20%)

Outstanding 20 pts

Full command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Few minor errors do not interfere with the meaning of the text.

Good 15 pts

Command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. May have minor errors that occasionally interfere with overall meaning or readability.

Average 10 pts

Some command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Several minor errors that interfere with overall meaning or readability.

Limited command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Errors often interfere with overall meaning or readability.

No command of conventions indicated by grade-level standards. Frequent and varied errors often interfere with overall meaning or readability.

MLA (20%)

Proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading correct. Two or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate a strong grade-level command of MLA format.

Proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading mostly correct. One or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate an adequate grade-level command of MLA format.

Mostly proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Four line heading mostly correct. One or more in-text citations correctly used, and a properly formatted Works Cited page all demonstrate an understanding of grade-level MLA format requirements.

Errors in proper Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced font with indented paragraphing. Missing any part of the four line heading, improper or missing in-tex citations and multiple errors on the Works Cited page indicate a weak understanding of grade-level MLA format requirements.

Multiple errors or missing MLA requirements.