Thursday, November 7, 2013

AGENDA 11/7

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

AGENDA 11/5

Continue working on Of Mice and Men Definition of Friendship Essay
Brainstorming worksheet to help you craft evidence to use in your essay
Thesis generator to help you form the beginning of your introduction
Handout to explain required introduction styles (choose one type of hook for your introduction)
Instruction explaining format for body paragraphs (each body paragraph must have TWO different kinds of specific evidence in it...when using evidence from Of Mice and Men, you must include a specific direct quotation and the page numbers)
PowerPoint to assist with conclusions

HW: Continue to work on your essays--due at the end of this week!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

AGENDA 10/22

Re-Quiz over Grammar: Verbs
Watch Of Mice and Men, parts of film corresponding to Chapters 3-5

HW: Finish reading Chapter 6 and write two questions, either clarifying or discussion questions, for tomorrow's class.

Monday, October 21, 2013

AGENDA 10/21

Read Chapter 5, Of Mice and Men, and complete 3-2-1
3 quotations worth discussing
2 questions (clarifying or discussion)
1 observation of writer's craft

HW: Review for tomorrow's grammar quiz on verbs.

Monday, October 14, 2013

AGENDA 10/14

Vocabulary

Reading Response: How does Slim show his leadership on the ranch at the end of Chapter 3? How does Steinbeck show the power Slim has in this chapter?

HW: Finish reading Ch 3 and complete the reading response before class tomorrow.

Friday, October 11, 2013

AGENDA 10/11

Grammar - Verbs 9.8

Share and complete 3-2-1-1 for the next 10 pages of Chapter 3

HW: Complete 3-2-1-1 for pages 48-58 of Chapter 3. Continue to work on independent reading.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

AGENDA 10/10

SSR - 15 minutes

Reading Response 10/10
Define the word foreshadow or foreshadowing. What event(s) is/are
foreshadowed on pages 26–27? Write your prediction, then list the specific words from the text that support your prediction.

Finish reading Chapter 2 aloud. Model 3-2-1 strategy for reading review:

3: Go back and find 3 quotations worth discussing. Copy them down, with the page numbers.
2: Create 2 text-dependent questions for discussion. These should be questions that would force someone to go back to the text for the answer, but they should also be questions that require some thought and not just a quick answer.  Example questions might be: How do we know that George actually does care about Lennie?  or Why does Steinbeck keep repeating the word "handy" to describe Curley? or What dream do George and Lennie have for the future? or In what ways does the boss seem like a bad man, and why does the swamper describe him as "a pretty nice fella"?
1: Make 1 observation about the author's craft: in a sentence or two, explain a literary device or a stylistic choice that the author makes.  For example, On page 3, Steinbeck uses animal imagery to describe Lennie, saying that he "dabbled his big paw in the water" and was "snorting into the water like a horse" to show that Lennie is a big, almost animal-like guy. He is strong, but also sweet, simple, and gentle.

If time permits, continue to introduce vocabulary and work on completing your vocabulary notebook (check on Monday)

HW: Read Chapter 3, Of Mice and Men, pages 38-48, and complete 3-2-1 for tomorrow's class.  (If your page numbers are different, you'll read to the part where it says, "Candy did not answer. The silence fell on the room again. It came out of the night and invaded the room."

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

AGENDA 10/9

Begin to introduce vocabulary from Of Mice and Men. Complete vocabulary notebook by describing the definition, writing a sentence using the word and showing the word's meaning in context, drawing a picture, and providing a synonym and antonym. Vocabulary notebooks will be checked on Monday.

Here are the definitions if you missed class.

Continue to read aloud Ch 2

HW: Independent reading - 300 pages and book conference complete by 11/6

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

AGENDA 10/8

SSR - 15 minutes (300 pages and a book conference by 11/6)

Reading Response 10/8: Choose your preferred character, Lennie or George. Then, generate a list of f5 words that describe your chosen character. After making the list, select the ONE word that best describes him. Then, explain why in a paragraph, using examples or quotations from the text to support your idea.

Next, complete this sentence: A friend is __________, __________, and ___________. As we read Chapter 2, look for evidence of these qualities, and note the quotations/page numbers.
Begin reading Chapter 2.

HW: Independent reading: complete 300 pages and a book conference by 11/6.

Monday, October 7, 2013

AGENDA 10/7

Response to Reading quickwrite, 10/7:
Can a person be friends with his/her boss? Can competitors be friends? What tensions get in the way when power is involved? What can friends do to overcome those tensions?

Continue reading chapter 1, Of Mice and Men, aloud

HW: 300 pages of independent reading complete by 11/6

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

AGENDA 9/30

Test corrections for grammar quiz on verbs
Venn diagram - characteristics of mice and men

Listen to Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse"
Read through Burns' poem, "To a Mouse," and paraphrase/discuss stanzas

HW: Complete 300 pages of independent reading for Thursday, 10/3 and bring book for quick conference.

Friday, September 27, 2013

AGENDA 9/27

Grammar Quiz over Verbs
Independent reading

HW: Complete 300 pages of independent reading and have a book conference with me before next Thursday!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

AGENDA 9/26

Grammar: Verbs 9.6
Independent reading 15 minutes

HW: Poem packets for "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Identity" due tomorrow. Nothing needs to be typed--handwritten neatly in ink or marker is fine so long as it is "bulletin-board worthy." Rough draft, peer revision, and self-reflection are all due tomorrow along with the final draft. Study for tomorrow's grammar quiz over verbs. Refer to the "Problems with Verbs" sheet and your half-sheets from Grammar Fridays.

Friday, September 20, 2013

AGENDA 9/20

Grammar Practice: Verbs 9.5

Reteach how to brainstorm for "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Identity" poem: start by listing emotions/tone words in front of class, e.g., joyful, frustrated, sad, lonely, nervous, etc. and then think about someone or something in your life that might view you with that tone. For example, "irritated" might describe the view of another driver on the 405 freeway, like the guy in the gray Nissan probably felt toward me when I cut him off this morning. Or "excited" would show my cat's viewpoint when I come home each day, and he's waiting by the door meowing and ready to pounce me because he's so glad I am home.

Begin work on stanzas or continue to revise.

HW: Eight stanzas drafted for Monday. Continue to make progress in independent reading books--I recommend being at page 175 or farther by Monday.  Grammar quiz over verbs (parallelism, verb tense, and subject-verb agreement errors) next Friday.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

AGENDA 9/18

Vocab activity: quickly revise one sentence in your vocabulary notebook to give it more context. Share out 5 responses from the class. Reminder: fixed vocabulary packets due Friday!

Review paraphrases of stanzas from "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Then, examine Stevens' craft in a few of the stanzas together. What choices does he make, what tone does he create, and what literary devices does he use? Find a favorite stanza--what "work" does Stevens put into that stanza in terms of tone, word choice, and literary devices? Share out.

Introduce "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Identity" poem assignment. Students should consider themselves and all of the "roles" they play--how might you be viewed from myriad perspectives?

Each stanza needs to be from a different perspective and convey a clear tone (feeling: e.g., sad, proud, frustrated, mysterious, joyful, etc.).

In addition, your poem (somewhere in the 13 final stanzas) must include these Special Requirements:

  • One stanza needs to include a simile, metaphor, or personification.
  • One stanza needs to include a repeated sound (rhyme, consonance, assonance, or alliteration).
  • One stanza needs to repeat one particular word or phrase to create an effect.
  • One stanza needs to ask questions.
  • One stanza needs to include sensory details (sights, sounds).
  • One stanza needs to include a reference to a famous book, poem, song, movie, fictional character, or real historical person.
HW:  Begin drafting the first two stanzas of your poem, due at the beginning of class tomorrow. Continue to make progress toward 300 pages of independent reading, due 10/3. Revised vocabulary packets due Friday.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

AGENDA 9/17

SSR - independent reading 15 minutes

Continue to work in groups and paraphrase stanzas from Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."

HW: Finish paraphrasing stanzas if not finished in class. Continue to make progress toward 300 pages of independent reading by 10/3.

AGENDA 9/16

Period 4 Only: Introduce TPS-FAST method for analyzing poetry and apply to Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"

Discuss each element of TPS-FAST and model along with the class

Period 6 Only: Library visit for YA author presentation - Sonya Sonyes and Ellen Hopkins

HW: Continue to make progress toward completing 300 pages of independent reading by 10/3

Friday, September 13, 2013

AGENDA 9/13

Grammar Practice: Verbs 9.4

Return vocabulary notebook packets for  the words from The Fault in Our Stars  for revision: check synonyms and antonyms, and make sure that sentences convey the meaning of the word through context. Revise and resubmit before next Friday to earn full credit.

Independent reading (300 pages completed by 10/3!). Track progress on your Reading Record sheet. Some students need to fix #bestbookever Tweets in class today.

Continue to revise The Fault in Our Stars further research paragraph
F - Focus (what is the author's main idea or argument)
A - Author's Name, capitalized and spelled correctly
T - Title or "Title," of the text (short works like articles, essays, and poems go in quotation marks; long works like videos, pieces of art, and books have the title underlined/italicized)
T - Text type (is it an article? video? photograph? poem?)

Here's a picture of the informal notes I wrote in class about this video

Here is my sample paragraph writeup that includes a "FATT Claim" and an MLA-format citation that you can use as a model. NOTE: I used the fake name Joanne Wilson as a student name so as not to confuse you with the MLA format, which requires that the instructor's name appears on the second line.
HW:  Revise and submit  The Fault in Our Stars further research paragraph to Turnitin.com before 6pm on Sunday.  See pages 34 and 35 in Binder Reminder for help with MLA formatting.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

AGENDA 9/10

Silent Sustained Reading - 20 minutes. Get closer to our goal of 300+ pages each grading period (deadline for book conferences: 10/3). Track progress in your Reading Record and refer to the instructions for independent reading as needed.

Review FATT claims:
F - Focus (what is the author's main idea or argument)
A - Author's Name, capitalized and spelled correctly
T - Title or "Title," of the text (short works like articles, essays, and poems go in quotation marks; long works like videos, pieces of art, and books have the title underlined/italicized)
T - Text type (is it an article? video? photograph? poem?)

 and MLA formatting (pages 34 and 35 in Binder Reminder) for The Fault in Our Stars further research paragraph. Final draft will be due electronically to Turnitin.com on Friday.

HW: Study for tomorrow's vocabulary test by reviewing the words from The Fault in Our Stars and completing/reviewing your vocabulary notebook.  As you study, make sure that you know how to spell each word, how the word is pronounced, how to provide synonyms and antonyms, how to construct a sentence that defines the word's meaning in context, and how to illustrate the meaning of the word with a brief picture. Your vocabulary notebook is due tomorrow, right before the quiz.

Monday, September 9, 2013

AGENDA 9/9

New Seats

Vocabulary practice: Review warmup #3 for The Fault in Our Stars vocabulary words. Work on Word Search and warmup #4 for additional practice. Vocabulary quiz on Wednesday!
Review MLA formatting (pages 34 and 35 in Binder Reminder) for The Fault in Our Stars further research paragraph. Final draft will be due electronically to Turnitin.com on Friday.

HW: Study for Wednesday's vocabulary quiz and revise formatting of Further Research paragraph as needed.

Friday, September 6, 2013

AGENDA 9/6

Grammar Practice: Verbs 9.3

Model how to approach The Fault in Our Stars further research paragraph -- view this video on infinities, jot down notes, and transform notes into a paragraph using a "FATT" Claim to open the paragraph:

F - Focus (what is the author's main idea or argument)
A - Author's Name, capitalized and spelled correctly
T - Title or "Title," of the text (short works like articles, essays, and poems go in quotation marks; long works like videos, pieces of art, and books have the title underlined/italicized)
T - Text type (is it an article? video? photograph? poem?)

Here's a picture of the informal notes I wrote in class about this video

Here is my sample paragraph writeup that includes a "FATT Claim" and an MLA-format citation that you can use as a model. NOTE: I used the fake name Joanne Wilson as a student name so as not to confuse you with the MLA format, which requires that the instructor's name appears on the second line.

HW: Continue to study vocabulary words from The Fault in Our Stars using your vocabulary notebook. Quiz will be pushed back to next Wednesday, 9/11. Complete a draft of your further research paragraph (typed) for Monday, like the sample I modeled in class.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

AGENDA 9/4

Tweet revisions: please review the #bestbookever handout and correct any mistakes in formatting. Bring a new revised copy on Friday (or email it to jpust@smmusd.org before class on Friday and I'll print it for you).

Review vocabulary warm-up #1 and vocabulary warm-up #2 for the words from The Fault in Our Stars

Introduce The Fault in Our Stars Further Research Assignment

HW: Revise #bestbookever Tweet if needed. Study for vocabulary test on Monday by reviewing your vocabulary notebook.  As you study, make sure that you know how to spell each word, how the word is pronounced, how to provide synonyms and antonyms, how to construct a sentence that defines the word's meaning in context, and how to illustrate the meaning of the word with a brief picture.  For Friday, visit one or more of the The Fault in Our Stars Further Research Assignment Study Links, take notes, and draft a handwritten paragraph that summarizes the source and includes one specific fact or detail. Please bring your independent reading book that I approved to class every day.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

AGENDA 8/28

Reading quiz over The Fault in Our Stars

Continue to introduce vocabulary words from The Fault in Our Stars and complete vocabulary notebooks for the next six words ("resonance" through "poignant")

Share handwritten draft of #bestbookever assignment with a partner--what could you revise to make it more memorable or concise? Typed rough draft due Tuesday in computer lab--if you work on it at home, make sure to email it to yourself or bring it on a flashdrive to class on Tuesday.

HW: Finish this section of your vocabulary notebook if you didn't finish in class.

Friday, August 23, 2013

AGENDA 8/23

Make nametags
Collect remaining First Day letters
Grammar Practice: Parallelism 9.1
Introduce and model Levels of Questions

HW: Create two questions for each level (I, II, III: Factual, Inductive, and Analytical) for The Fault in Our Stars, and bring both the questions and your books on Monday.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

AGENDA 8/22

Welcome!

Introductions and First Day PPT
Letter to Parents and Parent (Optional) Homework Assignment
Letter to Students
Students: write response & turn in

HW: Bring The Fault in Our Stars tomorrow if you have a copy, and bring your summer free choice book, too, please.