Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Semester Exams

Dear Students,

Preparing for a test based on today’s curriculum is not anything like preparing for a test when your parents were your age.  Today, it is more like preparing for an athletic event.  The skills you are learning and practicing in class every single day are habits of mind – critical reading and thinking, making inferences, and literary analysis. 

To prepare as an athlete, you must attend practice faithfully, participate fully, listen to your coaches, and keep your head in the game.  Preparing for a reading or writing test is no different.  If you have attended every practice and fully participated in your training, you will be prepared for your exams.  If you have missed too much practice, have not participated fully, or have not been focused on instruction, a review sheet will do you just about as much good as reading a guide on dribbling the night before a big soccer game. 

If you would like extra practice before the semester exams, try using the question stems I have provided to create your own questions based on the poems we have been studying. 

Have a great week, and a very Merry Christmas,

Ms. Poulter

Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9 - December 13

By the end of this week you should have the following in your Writer's Notebook - (not google, but your journal).  This will be an EASY major grade, so please make sure you have everything you need!

11/22 Four lines from a poem about poetry + what the author believes about poetry based on these lines
12/2   1 metaphor from "Introduction to Poetry" + explanation of why author makes this comparison
12/3   Your own "Litany"
12/4   A metaphor for any song lyric or poem + The metaphor in line _____ of the poem/song ________ is            used to ____________________________________________________________________.
12/6   Copy any poem from the poetry folder into your notebook and write about what you notice OR write           an imitation of this poem.
12/9   Your own Pantoum
12/11 A rhyming or syllabic poem

Be sure you also put your version of 13 Ways in Google Docs and share it with me.  This assignment will be a separate (minor) grade.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Poetry Question Stems


  • How are ____ and ____ similar?
  • Which line from the poem best expresses ___?
  • The metaphor in line ____ is used to ____
  • The poet uses a simile in line ___ to ___
  • Dividing the poem into stanzas allows the poet to ___
  • The ___ is important to the poem because it represents ___
  • The poet likely intends for the last two lines to ____
  • Based on stanza ____ the reader can conclude ____
  • Which lines from the poems express a lesson that the speaker learns?
  • In the poem, the speaker's mood changes from ___ to ___
  • Both the author of ____ and the speaker in the poem would most likely agree that ___
  • Read the lines from the poem- Which sentence from the passage express the same idea as the lines from the poem?

Monday, December 2, 2013

After reading the similes below, complete the unfinished ones.  Try for something unexpected.

The baled wheat scattered
everywhere like missing coffins
                                                     ~Carolyn Forche

Loneliness spreading
fast like a gas fire
                                     ~Frances Mayes

A gull is locked like a ghost in the blue attic of heaven
                                                                       ~Charles Wright

tired as....
hot as....
waves unfurled like...
after the shelling, the town looked as if...
disgusting as...
the child trembled like...
the airplane rose like a...
black as...
he entered the room like...

Now write three negative similes

It wasn't like...




Tuesday, November 19, 2013

November 18 - November 22

What you miss if you miss this week --


  • We will complete our study of The House on Mango Street
  • We will take some quizzes over the novel
  • We will complete "Esperanza's Open Mind"
  • We will write a letter home - At the end of the novel Esperanza says, "One day I’ll pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango…Friends and neighbors will say, What happened to that Esperanza…They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the one’s I left behind" (110). Pretend that you are Esperanza and write a letter to one of the characters on Mango Street that you "left behind." Discuss some of your memories of Mango Street, particularly the one’s that had a significant impact on how you view yourself and your community. Describe what you are doing now, and how your life on Mango Street prepared you for it. You should also include how you plan to "come back" for the others and how you intend to help them. (1-2 pages).
  • We will create a writer's notebook and begin our poetry unit (See photo below for Poems about Poetry notebook assignment)

PLEASE NOTE - Due to the high number of failures on the most recent common assessment, we will complete mandatory test corrections in class on Wednesday for a square root curve.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

November 12 - November 15

COMMON ASSESSMENT ON FRIDAY!!!

What you miss if you miss this week -

  • PreAP will be comparing and contrasting the articles about housing that you read last week Comparing Two or More Texts
  • All classes will read "Why We Crave Horror Movies" by Stephen King
  • PreAP classes will be writing a Rhetorical Precis
  • 6th and 7th period will be summarizing the text, analyzing evidence and creating a poster

Monday, November 4, 2013

November 4 - November 8

What you miss if you miss this week -

  • We will continue reading The House on Mango Street
  • We will compare a fictional text with an expository text Comparing Two or More Texts
  • We will practice inference and supporting detail 
  • We will distinguish factual claims from opinions and commonplace assertions
  • Figurative Language Test on Friday (make sure you know how to determine "what is being compared to what and why").

Charting the Text Table

Monday, October 28, 2013

October 28 - November 1

Don't forget -

  • Hairs Modeling Assignment is due on Wednesday
  • PreAP Book Test Essay is due next Monday
What you miss if you miss this week -
  • We will continue reading The House on Mango Street
  • We will begin analyzing Cisneros' use of figurative language
PreAP Essay Questions -

Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how the author portrays the protagonist and his/her relationships in the novel.  

OR
Choose a character from your novel who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice.  Then write a well developed essay in which you analyze he character's understanding of justice, the degree to which the character's search for justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the novel as a whole.

Monday, October 21, 2013

October 21 - October 25

What you miss if you miss this week -

  • PreAP - Be sure you are finishing your independent reading assignment.  Your essay test will be next Monday.  Look under the assignments tab to find the review information.
  • Our common assessment scores were less than stellar.  We will be working on mandatory test corrections on Monday for a square root curve.
  • We will begin reading House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
  • We will complete a writing assignment modeled after one of the chapters in the novel.
  • We will begin looking for expository texts for some paired reading assignments.  You get to pick your own! 
http://padlet.com/wall/2ndidentity

4th Period Identity

5th Period Identity

6th Period Identity

7th Period Identity



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

October 14-18

What you miss if you miss this week -

  • We will read our short stories to each other, offer editing advice, then grade each other using the rubric provided.  You will have until Friday to make corrections and changes to your story.
  • Readistep testing is on Wednesday
  • We will review for our first common assessment on Thursday
  • On Friday we will take our first common assessment

Imaginative Story Rubric

Monday, October 7, 2013

October 7 - October 11

What you miss if you miss this week -
  • We will analyze and practice using plot patterns
  • We will read "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan and use it as a model for writing
  • We will learn to understand what a paragraph REALLY is and how to organize our writing
  • We will practice showing instead of telling
  • We will analyze great leads
"Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan

Copy and paste this version into a new google doc for annotation..

Objective
Write an imaginative story that -
  • sustains reader interest
  • uses an appropriate organizational strategy
  • uses a variety of strategies to enhance style and tone
  • includes well paced action and an engaging story line
  • develops interesting characters
  • creates a believable setting using sensory detail

Sunday, September 29, 2013

September 30 - October 4

Fortune Cookie

What you will miss if you miss this week --


  • We will complete our compare and contrast projects
  • We will review point-of-view
  • We will begin generating ideas and plots for our own short stories
Objective:
analyze different forms of point of view, including limited versus omniscient, subjective versus objective.
 Padlets for 6th Period

Characterization

Conflict

Theme

Padlets for 7th Period

Characterization

Conflict

Theme

Sunday, September 22, 2013

September 23 - September 27

What you miss if you miss this week:



  • We will analyze indirect characterization and use of figurative language.
  • We will read "Abuela Invents the Zero" as well as some other stories related by theme.
  • We will compare and contrast the stories we have read using what we have learned so far.


 "He came down out of the high, flat region in the evening by bus, with two small overnight bags full of maps, sun lotions and medicines."

"A Distant Episode" by Paul Bowles 

“She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”  

J.D. Salinger, A Girl I Knew

Characterization Sentence Stems -

In the short story ____________________, _____________________ shows ___________________
                           Title                                    Character                                      character trait
when she ___________________________ .
                action

Readers can infer that __________________________ is ________________________  from 
                                  Character                                          trait
____________________________________. 
description/details

"The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind. Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. He was sitting on the edge of his chair at the table, bent over the orange sports section of the Journal. 'Now look here, Bailey,' she said, 'see here, read this,' and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. 'Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did.'"    ~Flannery O'Connor "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
 

Objectives
  • analyze how the central characters' qualities influence the theme of a fictional work and resolution of the central conflict.[8.6B]
  • analyze literary works that share similar themes across cultures.[8.3A]
  • make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.[8.RCD]


Sunday, September 15, 2013

September 16 - September 20

What you will miss if you miss this week -

Oops!  We are behind!  We need to -

  • Review Theme and identify theme in our reading
  • Create our Kiosk Presentations (major grade)
  • Choose new reading selections
  • Review characterization and identify and analyze indirect characterization in our reading
This week we will be calling home about missing assignments and GCS referrals will be made.  Please make sure you come to tutorials the day after any absence.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

September 8 - September 13

What you will miss if you miss this week -


  • We will use Cornell Notes to review Conflict and Theme.
  • We will read "The Lake" by Ray Bradbury and identify themes and conflict.
  • We will identify themes and conflict in our independent reading selections.
  • We will work in groups to create a Kiosk Presentation.
Don't forget Open House is Thursday, September 12, at 5:30 pm!!  If you cannot be there with your parent(s) please be sure to give them your ID number so they will be able to participate.


Questions for 9/11
1.  What is the conflict, and is it internal or external?  (Be sure to describe both sides.)
2.  How is the conflict resolved?
3.  How do the qualities of the main character lead to the resolution?



Question stems for conflict/plot



The reader can conclude that when the character **** that the character is ****



Read these sentences --  These sentences show that the character --



The author included paragraph *** in order to



What effect does the character's behavior have on the resolution



Which sentence best explains why...



Which event triggers the main problem in the story?



Which statement best expresses the main conflict in the story?





 


Friday, September 6, 2013

Fiction Quotes

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Mark Twain 

It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.
Mark Twain

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.
Oscar Wilde

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.
Jim Rohn

Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.
Francis Bacon

Fiction is the truth inside the lie.
Stephen King

Truth is always strange, stranger than fiction.
Lord Byron

Fiction is such a world of freedom, it's wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.
Alice Walker

Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Often the attachment is scarcely perceptible.
Virginia Woolf

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.
Paul Theroux
     


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Padlet Links for 9/4

2nd Period Padlet

4th Period Padlet

5th Period Padlet

6th Period Padlet

7th Period Padlet

6th Period's Poem

Hump day snack

so much depends
upon

the delicious spicy
food

covered with hot
sauce

beside the cold
drink

                   
                             

5th Period's Poem

Joel's Bad Day

so much depends
upon

a pink fluffy
football

dropped by butterfinger
joel

on the painted

hashmark.

4th Period's Poem

The Tractor

so much depends
upon 

a john deere
tractor

sprinkled with acid
rain

beneath the grey
sky.


2nd Period's Poem

THE FLAMING BOAT

so much depends
upon

a flaming blue
boat

sparkled with red
diamonds

above the misty
sea


Saturday, August 31, 2013

September 3 - September 6

Hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend!

What you will miss if you miss this week -

  • I will give you the information you need to check on your own grades
  • I will teach you how to earn extra credit in my class since we did not get to it last week
  • We will complete our first reflective journal entry 
  • We will begin our short fiction unit
  • Library orientation on Friday




Saturday, August 17, 2013

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! Aug 26-Aug 30

It is so nice to meet you!  This is where you will find plans for the upcoming week, helpful links for assignments and projects, directions for earning extra credit and many other important items.

What you will miss if you miss this week -
  • Computer assignments
  • Online notebook set up (see Assignments section)
  • Edmodo Tutorials
  • Learning Style Inventory
  • Assessment Portfolio 


Sunday, May 5, 2013

May 6 - May 10

I hope you are enjoying your novel study so far!

What you will miss if you miss this week:

Reading Workshop

ELA -    Continue reading Monster.  Keep recording the evidence you find in your juror's journal. You will use these notes to participate in an online discussion this week.

PreAP - Continue reading Secret Life of Bees.  You will use sticky notes to annotate your text and support your ideas in a table discussion.

Writing Workshop

All Levels - We will use some interesting prompts to create compound and complex sentences in an interactive online environment.

IMPORTANT**
I will continue to post grades for Research Projects and Timed Writings, so please keep your eye on Skyward.  If you have any questions about grading, please see the rubrics I have posted.  Come to tutorials if you would like to discuss ways to improve your grade.


Sunday, April 21, 2013

April 22-26

RESEARCH PROJECT DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 26!!

Please remember that 1-2 class days this week will be used for testing.

Below is a timeline showing class time spent on this project:

Thursday, April 4 - Choose and author and five questions to guide you in the research process

Friday, April 5 - Copy and paste Citation organizer into your notebook and begin gathering your 10 required images.  Use your research questions to guide your search for images

Monday, April 8 - Gather the rest of your images.  Be sure to document all findings in citation organizer

Tuesday, April 9 - Learn to use an online citation machine

Wednesday, April 10 - Create a works cited page with first entry

Thursday, April 11 - Gather two direct quotes.  Document in your citation organizer

Friday, April 12 - Review paraphrase.  Create two paraphrased passages for your project.  Document in your citation organizer.

Monday, April 15 - Learn to write an embedded quote.

Tuesday, April 16 - Write two embedded quotes to use in your research project.  Document in your citation organizer

Wednesday, April 17- Monday, April 22 - Assemble Scrapbook using all the information gathered above.

Tuesday, April 23 - Add remaining sources to your works cited list and add any remaining in-text citations

Friday, April 26 - Complete and turn in project

Thursday, April 11, 2013

April 15-19

Last week you should have completed:

1.  Documenting sources for 10 images (in your citation organizer)
2.  A works cited document with at least one source entered
     (complete on Word and then upload to  Google)
3.  Documenting two direct quotes ( in your citation organizer)
4.  Documenting two paraphrased passages (also in your citation organizer)

This week we will:

Learn how to write embedded quotes
          (You will need at least two for your project)
Begin putting together your scrapbook

Please bring any supplies you intend to use no later than Wednesday.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

April 8-12

I am so excited about your research projects!  You are off to a great start!

You should have already completed:


  • Research Plan
  • Documenting Sources for at least 5 images you wish to include in your project

This week we will:

  • Learn to use citationmachine.net  (You will thank me for this one when you are in college!)
  • Learn to properly cite images, direct quotes, paraphrase and embedded quotes in MLA style
Don't forget to keep up with everything you find in your Internet Citation Organizer!  This takes the place of note cards.


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Week 27

Poetry/Drama Common Assessment on Tuesday

We should finish Arsenic and Old Lace this week!

I postponed grading of poetry folders until next week. PLEASE get your folders ready!

Friday, February 1, 2013

February 4 - February 8

What you miss if you miss this week -

Monday - Common Assessment over Persuasion/Argumentation/Rhetoric unit

Tuesday we will begin our poetry unit!  I can't wait!

Monday, January 28, 2013

January 28-February 1

What you miss if you miss this week:

Monday and Tuesday we will be benchmark testing. If you are absent, you will be required to complete testing during your elective periods.

Wednesday we will practice identifying loaded language.

Thursday you will begin presenting your fabulous PSAs!  Can't wait to see them!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

January 21-25

Meet my amazing student teacher, Ms. Backus!






Have fun writing, editing, and filming your PSA!

Friday, January 11, 2013

January 14-January 18

This week you will begin an exciting group project!  First we will learn about logical fallacies, and analyze an argument in a Ted talk.  Look forward to Wednesday when you will be finding more out about your project!