Even though you don't have to school today, in the spirit of Halloween I thought I would post one of my favorite Halloween stories here for your enjoyment. What are your favorite Halloween stories? Please post them here! 
Per your requests on your unit feedback cards from Monday, and also to familiarize you with the rubric I will be using to assess your writing, our block days this week were spent doing an activity with various student models of persuasive writing concerning various issues. Click on the links below to view these examples. Each example was placed in a "station," and everyone traveled to each station around the room, read the example, and evaluated each for the quality of argument, effective (or non-effective) use of persuasive strategies, and also scored each piece with your Six Traits rubric. Each article response was recorded on an index card and turned in at the end of the period. This was a graded activity, so if you were absent you must see me as soon as possible to make up this assignment. The remainder of the period was spent watching some video clips from Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. Michael Moore is a very controversial filmmaker and also not shy about his political views. We briefly discussed how our individual experience, background, and belief systems can powerfully influence how we are persuaded and also how we attempt to persuade others. As we watched the clips, I asked you to consider what persuasive strategies Moore uses in his film and whether or not they are effective. How might two people with opposing political views view this film? Also, take note of where he appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos. Next week if we have time, we will view the "other side" of Moore's argument - the film that was made in response to Fahrenheit 9/11. 
Block days this week were spent beginning our first Writer's Workshop. First of all, I must say that I was incredibly impressed with your diligent work and participation as well as the detailed feedback that you gave your peers. You all did a fantastic job. If you were absent, please see me ASAP so we can figure out a make-up assignment since the workshop is a substantial part of your grade for this unit. Please view the Writer's Workshop PowerPoint for important guidelines. You will be picking up where you left off on Monday. 
Today, as a warm up, you wrote me a mid-unit "check in" that addressed the following questions: What troubles, concerns, weaknesses, or questions do you have about your writing? What do you feel you need to work on? What do you think are your strengths as a writer? What is working and not working for you so far in this unit? These little pieces of feedback will help me (and hopefully you too) during our conferences next week when I meet with you all individually. Next, we went over the rubrics again that were handed out on Monday (scroll down to Monday's post and download copies there if you need them). To further familiarize you with the Six Traits rubric, we read a student example of a personal narrative, got into small groups and scored the piece using the rubric. Afterwards, we discussed our results, explained why groups scored it the way they did, and also examined some of the discrepancies in the scoring (for example, one group might have given the essay a "2" for Ideas and Content, and another might have given it a score of "4"). We talked about why that was, and what the writer could have done differently in the piece to improve scores in any of the traits. You will be doing a self assessment on two of your pieces in which you will be scoring yourself with this rubric, so make sure to be familiar with it! REMEMBER, BLOCK DAYS THIS WEEK ARE WRITING WORKSHOP. BRING IN YOUR DRAFTS AND BE READY TO PARTICIPATE!
Today, our editorial of the day was "Columbine: Who's Fault is it?" by Marilyn Manson (yes, the famous and sometimes creepy shock rocker). This was written in 1999 in the months after the Columbine High School shootings. Since this is the "oldest" piece of writing we've read so far in this unit, to give you a bit of background we first watched a short video clip about the Columbine tragedy and discussed the filmmaker's persuasive strategies in conveying information about it. Marilyn Manson was considered somewhat of a scapegoat for the shootings, and was the target of criticism and censorship attempts by several organizations and parent groups that believed his music played a role in influencing Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris to carry out such a violent act. His editorial, published in Rolling Stone magazine, is his response to this criticism. We read and discussed this article for it's quality of argument, his tone, and his widespread use of the three appeals (logos, ethos, pathos), and recorded our responses on the board in columns. We will be doing more with this article on Tuesday, so please hang on to your copy. You can also download it by clicking the link below. For homework, continue collecting information and start writing your rough draft of your own editorial! Also, make sure you have turned in your article activity from last week...those are graded. 
Today, after a grammar warm up on punctuation (click here to view), we went over the schedule for the next few weeks regarding work time, writer's workshop, drafting, and when your writing porfolios are due. I handed out the rubric for the unit as a whole (download these by clicking the link below) as well as a copy of the Six Traits Writing Rubric, which is what I will be using to grade your final drafts. Below are copies of these rubrics as well as the assignment sheet with relevant due dates, etc. Next, we created "Six Room Image Poems" to help stir up some more ideas. The material from this activity can be turned into a poem or another piece of writing. 
Well, sometimes life happens and Ms.Alvarez isn't able to update the blog in a timely manner for a few days, resulting in what I am now calling "The Lost Week." Last week was a bit difficult on everyone due to the fact that I missed two days unexpectedly, and a giant kerfuffle ensued. (I love that word. I will always try to make an excuse to use it!) So, in an effort to keep you all updated and caught up despite the "missing" posts from last week, I am going to list very brief outlines of each day with links to all of the material that we covered in class last week. Please see me if you were absent. 
After our warm up today, we spent the entire class period doing some in class writing I like to call "Smelly Writing." The class was split into eight groups. Each group was given a small tupperware container that contained a specific ingredient. Each person had to smell what was inside and write for five minutes on that particular smell (did it remind you of a memory attached to that smell? What do you imagine when you smell this? etc.). After five minutes, the groups passed containers so that each group had a new smell to write about. We did this eight times. The small containers had the following ingredients: grass, dried leaves, sunblock, cinnamon, italian seasoning, honey, dirt, and peanut butter. After we were finished, some people shared some of their writing, and we discussed how the senses (such as smell) can influence our writing and inspire us. Next week, we will be sifting through all of our writing from this last week and begin composing and working on drafts of our three portfolio pieces. On Monday, I will be checking you warm ups, so don't forget to get caught up if need be. Have a great weekend!
We spent our block days this week finishing up the article we read earlier in the week, "A Bullet's Impact" by Mitch Albom. We continued with that discussion in class, went over Albom's use of story and other strategies he uses to persuade his audience. We then read the commentary "Proof We've Failed to Teach What Children Should Know" by Leonard Pitts, Jr., discussed it and then compared it to our first piece. We talked about voice, purpose, audience, and also We talked about what makes these pieces persuasive, what they are trying to convey to their audience, and outlined thier pros and cons on the board. We also began reading our third mentor text, "A Deadly Decision," which we will continue with on Friday. Click the link below to download a copy. No homework tonight if you have finished reading this - if you didn't finish in class you must have it read by tomorrow. 
Block days this week were spent doing a lot of writing! After our warm up, we got into groups of three. I handed everyone a photograph of a person (magazine cut-outs). For ten minutes, we wrote about the person in our individual photographs, imagining who they are, what they are like, where they are, where they are going, what's on their mind, etc. We experimented with point of view, as well. After ten minutes, we switched photos with someone in our group, wrote on that photo for ten minutes, and so on until each person had written about three different photographs. Afterwards, you discussed your writing with your group and compared writings that were done on the same photo to see how they were similar or different. Brave volunteers shared some of thier writing with the class, and I was very impressed with what many of you had written! Well done. We also spent some time discussing "the heartbeat" in a piece of writing, and you went through and located the heartbeat in some of your own writing as well as some of the writing models we have been looking at. Hopefully by the end of this week you will have some material to work with when you begin drafting your three creative writing pieces for your portfolios! No homework tonight, although I would recommend you start jotting down some ideas for your writing that you would like to explore...
Today we spent a good deal of time finishing up Mitch Albom's "A Bullet's Impact" and discussing it. We evaluated his persuasive strategies as well as his use of story to persuade his reader. We picked out effective lines, his use of impactful language and word choice, his use of repetition and specific imagery and detail. We also filled out a graphic organizer that helps you break down the writer's purpose, audience, and strategy. Click the link below to download the organizer, and to get a copy of the article there is a link on yesterday's post (scroll down). We will be referring to both in the future and using the organizer for more articles. 
Today for a warm up, we spent five minutes writing a piece of dialogue (between you and someone else, between two characters, between a group of people, between inanimate objects, etc.) and some people shared theirs. We then discussed the question "Why do we write?" and listed your suggestions on the board. We concluded that people write to cope with thier lives and issues, they write to tell a story, to communicate, to inform, to entertain, and to express themselves, among other various reasons. We also discussed the importance of a "so what?" in your writing and writing with purpose, and how anything can be writable as long as you have a purpose, message, or idea that you want to convey to your reader. As an example of this, we read the short essay "Big Boy" by David Sedaris, one of my favorite writers. We discussed the purpose of this piece and tried to figure out what his theme and message to the reader was. We had a lot of giggles over this one. Click the link below to read this essay if you were absent, and see if you can pick out the theme or the "so what?" of this piece. I also want all of you to begin thinking about some ideas you'd like to write about for your writing portfolios! 
Today we reviewed and finished the Power Point that we did on Friday and reviewed Aristotle's Three Appeals of Persuasion (logos, ethos, and pathos, or Reason, Character, and Emotion). Make sure you have taken notes on these as we will be referring to them often. Please review the Power Point below. We will be exploring persuasion in its various forms in this unit, but will mainly be focusing on writing, namely editorial and commentary. 
Today we worked on our "Stones in the River" activity. This activity is designed to help you get some ideas for writing your three pieces for your creative writing portfolios. We will be working on these some more this week to make up for the fact that we had to breeze through this. If you would like to view my Stones in the River, click the link below. Next, we practiced the use of voice in our writing. We discussed how voice in writing is essentially the writer's fingerprint; it is unique and all your own, and you want your readers to be engaged in your topic through your voice. We completed three quickwrites (1. Write about something or someone who makes you really mad 2. Write about someone or something that needs your comfort 3. Write about something that you want very badly) in our Writer's Notebooks. If you were absent, write for four minutes for each prompt in your notebook. We will be doing more with these later on in the week. Tomorrow, we will be going over David Sedaris' hilarious essay "Big Boy" and analyzing it in terms of voice and purpose. 
Today we finished up the Power Point that we started on block day, followed by a brief discussion of persuasive strategies and the various ways these strategies are employed. We looked at some advertisements and excerpts from recent speeches by the presidential candidates, and also talked about other examples of persuasive strategies from daily life. Do you have any other examples you can think of or have seen recently? Post them here. No homework this weekend. Next week we will be focusing mainly on persuasion in writing - mainly editorials and commentaries on various issues. You will be writing your own editorial/commentary during this unit, so be prepared to pick apart
Today we shared our assessments in class. I was very impressed! Many of you really came through on this one and turned in some fantastic work. Well done. I will do my best to have them graded and back to you by the end of the week next week. After the presentations, you wrote me unit reflections which will give me some valuable feedback on this unit and give me some ideas for next year...This weekend, please dig around your house and find some sort of notebook (spiral, composition, journal, whatever you want) that will serve as your "Writer's Notebook" for the next few weeks. Also, take some time this weekend to jot down some ideas, feelings, random thoughts, something you see or hear that interests you in your notebook. You can take inspiration from anywhere! We will be fully diving into our new writing unit on Monday, so be sure to come prepared! Have a great weekend!
This week our block days were spent turning in our books, writing unit reflections for me (What worked for you in this unit? What did not work for you? What would you recommend I change in the future, what should remain the same? What activities or assignments did you like the best and the least? Etc. etc.) We also spent some time discussing and beginning our next unit on persuasion. Before we dive into our next novel, we will spending about three or four weeks analyzing and interpreting persuasive strategies in writing, speaking, and the media, and also evaluating the arguments being made by our presidential candidates leading up the election. We will be doing a lot of writing in this unit, so be prepared! View the PowerPoint below. We will continue with this on Friday since we only got through the persuasive scenarios part and did not get through the whole thing. 
Our block days this week were spent in the computer lab working on our assessments. Remember, your assessments are due this Friday, TOMORROW (no exceptions)! Please email with any questions or issues no later than 9pm tonight. I have posted some materials that may be helpful to you, so be sure to check those out. Scroll down to "Assessment Info" and see the links that are contained in that post. 
Today was an easy going day, seeing as how you've just finished your assessments and your Banned Book Week activities. We finished watching Rebel Without a Cause in class, followed by a brief discussion. This week we will begin a new, four-week unit on the power of persuasion - both in writing and in the media. We will be examining a variety of essays, editorials, commentaries, and letters for their persuasive qualities, and also writing some of our own. We will also be looking at advertisements, commercials, debates, and campaign ads and publications so we can evaluate thier effectiveness, and then apply what we've learned into addressing various social issues. There is no homework tonight, please come to class on block day ready to officially wrap up Catcher in the Rye. We will have a brief discussion about the novel, read an article, and turn in our books.
Today we spent some time freewriting to prepare for our creative writing unit, which begins on Friday. The topic for today was writing about the weirdest dream you've ever had. The great thing about weird dreams is that it can not only trigger other memories, but they can give you some great material to work with in your writing. We shared some of them, had a few laughs, and then briefly went over the assessment for Lord of the Flies. Remember, those of you who opted to take the standard test will do so on block day (Wed. for Per.3, Thurs. for Period 2). Scroll down to the "Assessment Info" post to find the short stories for the compare/contrast essay, the test study guide, the peer response sheets, and some student examples. We also discussed allegory some more today. As you know by now, Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel and Golding has specific ideas and "lessons" he hopes to convey to the reader through his use of symbolism and allusion. We read Dr.Seuss' The Sneetches, which is a great example of allegory, followed by a discussion. View the entire book via power point below, and answer the questions on the last slide. Also, view the literary criticism of the book by Katie Littleton Sanders and the symbols chart. Remember, your assessments are due no later than this Friday, October 10th. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Reminder: Your assessments are due TODAY! No exceptions!! 
Today we repeated the Anticipation activity that we completed just before we started the novel. The class responded to nine anticipation questions by standing on sides of the room that were assigned "agree" or "disagree." After we were done, we compared the results to the results from the first time around, and discussed the possible reasons for this (for example, did some of you opinions change as a result of reading the novel?) We then spent the rest of the period going over the assessement for this unit, which is due this Friday. Download assessment sheet below. You will have block day to work on this, but please don't put this off, as it is due on Friday and no later. If you opt to take the standard test, you must let me know by Tuesday so that I can give you a study guide, and the test will be taken during block day this week. 
Today was spent in the library continuing our work with banned books in celebration of Banned Books Week. As a group, we discussed our findings from the Webquest and research that each of you completed on various banned books (see PowerPoint below). The awesome Mrs. Williams spent some time with each class discussing some controversial books, why and how they are banned, who should/should not have the right to censor materials, when censorship might be appropriate, and also how someone would go about challenging a piece of literature in our school district. We looked at the Adams12 district policy regarding the challenging and banning of materials, and looked at the forms that parents or groups would have to fill out if they wanted to challenge a book in this district. The rest of the period was spent collecting information and developing arguments for and against keeping Catcher in the Rye in schools. On Monday, we will revisit these materials and information that you have collected and have a debate. Half of the class will play the role of "angry parents" that are seeking to get Catcher in the Rye removed from the curriculum. The other half of the class will represent those who are in support of defending Catcher. You need to evaluate BOTH sides of the argument since you don't know which side you will be representing. If you were absent, view the power point and download the forms below. Read through everything, and fill out the first two pages of the district challenge forms as if you were a parent protesting Catcher in the Rye. On a separate sheet of paper, jot down the various points that the opposing side might argue (in other words, what arguments might you make to ensure that Catcher in the Rye remains accessible as part of the curriculum?). 
Happy Friday! And happy Homecoming! What a week it has been, whew. From Barack Obama's visit on Monday, to all of the homecoming festivities (Powder Puff football, the Penny Wars, Pie in the Eye and dress up days) AND the assembly this week AND the football game tonight, AND the dance this Saturday, all of you should take a well deserved break this weekend and relax on Sunday. 
In recognition of National Banned Book Week, which is Sept.27-Oct.4, we will be taking some time on block day and this Friday to learn some more about banned books, censorship, the case for intellectual freedom, why books are banned, and the administrative and legal processes that are taken to ban books. We will be doing some research, exploring some banned books, facilitating some small group discussion and then going to the library on Friday to have a debate. Block days will be spent doing some research and completing a webquest (you will also have a bit of time to work on your assessments in class if you stay on task and manage your time well). 
To "celebrate" our completion of the novel and the rock star participation from all of you for this unit, our block days this week will be spent watching the 1963 film Lord of the Flies. This is a pretty decent adaptation of the novel and is much better than the more recent, 1990 version of the film. But remember, and I will drive this into your head until you accept it as truth, NO MOVIE ADAPTATION IS EVER AS GOOD AS THE BOOK! =) 
