Mon. Students continued preparations for Of Mice and Men trials. Lawyers met with same today to brainstorm witness lists and questions.
Of Mice and Men test will be Friday.
Tuesday: First Of Mice and Men trials!
Wed: Trials continue...
Thurs: Trials continue...Of Mice and Men postponed to Monday.
Fri: Trials almost completed.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Week 10: 10/19-23
Mond. Whole book quiz on Of Mice and Men.
Tues. Class discussed patterns in the book, most notably those relating to "hands".
Wed. Of Mice and Men trial preparation has begun. Students were assigned to characters and to positions. The positions are as follows:
Curley a)should be charged with a crime, b) should not be charged with a crime.
George a) is a good friend, b) is not a good friend.
Lennie a) is responsible for the death of Curley's wife, b)is not responsible for her death.
Students must scour the book in search of evidence supporting their position. 10 "pieces of evidence" are required, and should be written down. Evidence should be a minimum of one sentence.
Also, OMM quizzes were returned, an OMM test was announced for next Friday (10/30), and draft #2 of the Autobiographical writing assignment is due on Friday, 10/23 along with draft #1.
Thurs. Students prepared for Of Mice and Men trials by searching for evidence in the book which supports their position. Evidence must also include 50 words of comment, which details how the evidence is supportive.
Friday: After submitting a draft of the Autobiographical Narrative assignment, students continued to prepare for Of Mice and Men trials by collecting evidence, preparing comments, witness lists, or questions.
Tues. Class discussed patterns in the book, most notably those relating to "hands".
Wed. Of Mice and Men trial preparation has begun. Students were assigned to characters and to positions. The positions are as follows:
Curley a)should be charged with a crime, b) should not be charged with a crime.
George a) is a good friend, b) is not a good friend.
Lennie a) is responsible for the death of Curley's wife, b)is not responsible for her death.
Students must scour the book in search of evidence supporting their position. 10 "pieces of evidence" are required, and should be written down. Evidence should be a minimum of one sentence.
Also, OMM quizzes were returned, an OMM test was announced for next Friday (10/30), and draft #2 of the Autobiographical writing assignment is due on Friday, 10/23 along with draft #1.
Thurs. Students prepared for Of Mice and Men trials by searching for evidence in the book which supports their position. Evidence must also include 50 words of comment, which details how the evidence is supportive.
Friday: After submitting a draft of the Autobiographical Narrative assignment, students continued to prepare for Of Mice and Men trials by collecting evidence, preparing comments, witness lists, or questions.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Week 9: 10/12-16
Mon. Notes were given on John Steinbeck's life. Students need to read through page 65 of Of Mice and Men by Wednesday, and should finish reading the whole book by next Monday (10/19). Expect a quiz!
Tues. Students received one handout on Word Choice and another handout on Sentence Fluency. We discussed these handouts quite a bit; students studied their drafts of the Autobiographical Narrative assignment and marked them up so they have ideas on how to improve them. The improved, second draft will be due next Wednesday.
Also, everyone was supposed to read Of Mice and Men through page 65 for today, and the book needs to be finished by Monday. Expect a quiz!
Tuesday and Wednesday we've been discussing the autobiographical narrative assignment.
Thursday: Class studied a story that appeared in a newspaper. Students examined sentence structures present throughout the article. This is an example of the "Journalistic Style," and its merits and shortcomings were discussed.
Students then received a two-sided handout containing the vocabulary from Of Mice and Men, and a poem. There will be a quiz in the next couple of weeks on the vocab.
Also, students received a poem titled " To a Mouse". A line in the poem matches the title of the current novel we're studying; students thus should answer the questions and be prepared to discuss this on Friday.
Finally, students received the second of three handouts on 6 Traits of Effective Writing. This handout covered Ideas and Organization.
Friday: Class reviewed chapters 1 and 2 in Of Mice and Men, and started working on questions from chapter 3. Additionally, the class's attention was drawn to the "hands" motif which appears most notably in the fourth chapter.
Assignment: All 3 classes are to revise their Autobiographical Narratives, with particular attention paid to verb choices and adjective choice (i.e. beware of
"nickel words.")
Tues. Students received one handout on Word Choice and another handout on Sentence Fluency. We discussed these handouts quite a bit; students studied their drafts of the Autobiographical Narrative assignment and marked them up so they have ideas on how to improve them. The improved, second draft will be due next Wednesday.
Also, everyone was supposed to read Of Mice and Men through page 65 for today, and the book needs to be finished by Monday. Expect a quiz!
Tuesday and Wednesday we've been discussing the autobiographical narrative assignment.
Thursday: Class studied a story that appeared in a newspaper. Students examined sentence structures present throughout the article. This is an example of the "Journalistic Style," and its merits and shortcomings were discussed.
Students then received a two-sided handout containing the vocabulary from Of Mice and Men, and a poem. There will be a quiz in the next couple of weeks on the vocab.
Also, students received a poem titled " To a Mouse". A line in the poem matches the title of the current novel we're studying; students thus should answer the questions and be prepared to discuss this on Friday.
Finally, students received the second of three handouts on 6 Traits of Effective Writing. This handout covered Ideas and Organization.
Friday: Class reviewed chapters 1 and 2 in Of Mice and Men, and started working on questions from chapter 3. Additionally, the class's attention was drawn to the "hands" motif which appears most notably in the fourth chapter.
Assignment: All 3 classes are to revise their Autobiographical Narratives, with particular attention paid to verb choices and adjective choice (i.e. beware of
"nickel words.")
Monday, October 5, 2009
Week 8: 10/5-10/9
Mon. Class copied Greek roots #25-36 and discussed sample words. Students then reviewed their Autobiographical Narrative papers, circling weak verbs, which were defined and explained in class. Finally, the class started reading Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men.
HW: Students should start their outside reading and should use edublogger to record comments on their reading.
Tues. Class read and discussed Chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men.After reading, class discussed traits of George, Lennie, and their relationship. Opinions of character traits varied, so students also produced evidence from chapter 1 supporting their beliefs.
Wed. Class continued discussion from Tuesday, plus 2 aspects of Steinbeck's style were added: his use of animals and his use of symbols. Today's focus especially zeroed in on Steinbeck's use of "dog" imagery and language to portray Lennie.
Thurs. Class examined central symbols in chapter one, including the path, water, and fire. Students drew a "plot graph" representing George's rising anger in chapter one, and correlated it to the fire imagery within the chapter.
Fri. Students took "9th Grade ELA Benchmark One," an interim assessment from the FSUSD office of Assessment and Accountability.
HW: Students should start their outside reading and should use edublogger to record comments on their reading.
Tues. Class read and discussed Chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men.After reading, class discussed traits of George, Lennie, and their relationship. Opinions of character traits varied, so students also produced evidence from chapter 1 supporting their beliefs.
Wed. Class continued discussion from Tuesday, plus 2 aspects of Steinbeck's style were added: his use of animals and his use of symbols. Today's focus especially zeroed in on Steinbeck's use of "dog" imagery and language to portray Lennie.
Thurs. Class examined central symbols in chapter one, including the path, water, and fire. Students drew a "plot graph" representing George's rising anger in chapter one, and correlated it to the fire imagery within the chapter.
Fri. Students took "9th Grade ELA Benchmark One," an interim assessment from the FSUSD office of Assessment and Accountability.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Autobiographical Writing Assignment
First draft due Monday, Oct. 5.
Paper should be 750 words (max), typed and double spaced.
First draft will receive points but won't be graded.
First draft will be peer edited on Monday in class.
Structure:
Introduction
*Focuses on "key word," which leads in to your story.
Don't write about yourself in this intro.
125-150 words.
Body
* "what happened"
*400-500 words
Conclusion
* What you learned or why it matters
*125-150 words
Paper should be 750 words (max), typed and double spaced.
First draft will receive points but won't be graded.
First draft will be peer edited on Monday in class.
Structure:
Introduction
*Focuses on "key word," which leads in to your story.
Don't write about yourself in this intro.
125-150 words.
Body
* "what happened"
*400-500 words
Conclusion
* What you learned or why it matters
*125-150 words
Week 7: 9/27-10/2
Mon: Quiz will be Thursday on vocab from "The Sniper," "The Necklace," "The Interlopers," and 24 Greek roots. Greek roots 13-24 were reviewed in class today.
Additionally, outside reading choices are to be brought in on Friday.
Tues: Autobiographical writing assignment was given. Class reviewed pp. 66-70 in Holt Anthology. There is a separate post which deals with the assignment. Also, class copied 2 quotes from "The Sniper" which they felt "mattered," and wrote explanations.
Wednesday: Theme was defined; Students were introduced to "how to write theme statements"; Class compared American attitudes toward war with Liam O'Flaherty's attitude toward war; some classes wrote conclusions to the story "The Sniper"; Finally, all classes checked out Of Mice and Men from the bookroom.
Thursday: Vocab Quiz #3 today. After, students practiced writing introductory paragraphs for their autobiographical narrative papers. From the point of view of the protagonist in "The Sniper," students wrote the introduction focusing on a key word.
Friday: Students brought outside reading choices for check-in. Also, we discussed and practiced the 6 English verb tenses. (Holt Handbook, pp. 160 exs. 4 and 5)
Additionally, outside reading choices are to be brought in on Friday.
Tues: Autobiographical writing assignment was given. Class reviewed pp. 66-70 in Holt Anthology. There is a separate post which deals with the assignment. Also, class copied 2 quotes from "The Sniper" which they felt "mattered," and wrote explanations.
Wednesday: Theme was defined; Students were introduced to "how to write theme statements"; Class compared American attitudes toward war with Liam O'Flaherty's attitude toward war; some classes wrote conclusions to the story "The Sniper"; Finally, all classes checked out Of Mice and Men from the bookroom.
Thursday: Vocab Quiz #3 today. After, students practiced writing introductory paragraphs for their autobiographical narrative papers. From the point of view of the protagonist in "The Sniper," students wrote the introduction focusing on a key word.
Friday: Students brought outside reading choices for check-in. Also, we discussed and practiced the 6 English verb tenses. (Holt Handbook, pp. 160 exs. 4 and 5)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Week 6: 9/21-25
Mon.Students studied 12 Greek roots and came up with sample words and definitions for each root.
Tues. Students reviewed challenging vocabulary from the story "The Necklace," then read the story. Page 170, #1,2,3, and 6 were assigned, as well as pg. 171, Comparing Synonmyms.
Also, the "Someone wants...but...so..." formula was discussed, along with 3rd person limited narration.
Wed.
Thurs. Students attended an assembly.
Friday: class discussed quotes: Get the words right, quote for a reason, blend the quotes into your thoughts. Assignment: choose an outside reading book and bring to class next Friday. the book should be fiction. After, class listened to "Regretting What I Said..." by Christine Lavin, wrote paragraphs on it, then "passed the paper" to peers, thereby seeing examples and giving feedback.
Tues. Students reviewed challenging vocabulary from the story "The Necklace," then read the story. Page 170, #1,2,3, and 6 were assigned, as well as pg. 171, Comparing Synonmyms.
Also, the "Someone wants...but...so..." formula was discussed, along with 3rd person limited narration.
Wed.
Thurs. Students attended an assembly.
Friday: class discussed quotes: Get the words right, quote for a reason, blend the quotes into your thoughts. Assignment: choose an outside reading book and bring to class next Friday. the book should be fiction. After, class listened to "Regretting What I Said..." by Christine Lavin, wrote paragraphs on it, then "passed the paper" to peers, thereby seeing examples and giving feedback.
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