daily. due Fri Mar 1

For Friday’s class, read through page 39 of Night.  

As you read, mark spots that help you consider questions posed by Mr. Brown in his post, “Night: basic reading questions,” found at his blog, readingcolors.

agenda. Wed/Thurs Feb 27/8

vocabulary exercise (lesson 7 & The Kite Runner)

To start reading Night, begin with the Preface (vii-xv).  Skipping the Foreward, move straight to the memoir itself (3).

With ten minutes left in today’s reading session, leave one comment on Mr. Brown’s post in his blog, readingcolors.  The post is called “Wiesel’s preface to the new translation.”

CAUTION: Comments from last year’s students remain; be careful to write your own individual response, based on your own response to the reading.  After writing yours, feel free to see what your elders have thought about the preface to Mr. Wiesel’s memoir.

agenda. Tues Feb 26

vocab quiz MOVED TO BLOCK CLASS: KR questions using Lesson 7 words; answer with three to five complete sentences that clearly demonstrate understanding of novel and vocabulary words.

 

TODAY: finish film,The Kite Runner

agenda. Mon Feb 25

Preview homework and Tuesday vocab quiz.

Announce the schedule for reading Night, and the need to start bringing this memoir to class.

Watch more of KR film.

daily. due Mon Feb 25

Be sure to submit your completed KR paragraph to TURNITIN–no later than 8am Monday, Feb. 25.

Make extra sure that this paragraph includes the revised pledge* and acknowledgments of any help you received, however slight.

*I have neither given nor received unacknowledged help on this work.

agenda.Fri Feb 22

REVISE KR PARAGRAPHS

before beginning the revisions:

see Mr. Brown’s demonstration paragraph, “A Wiser Hamlet?”

F block: people need to do complete one or more of these tasks:

submit outline to TURNITIN, submit completed paragraph to TURNITIN, add specific acknowledgment of help before re-submitting complete paragraph

B block: most people need to complete the revised pledge (I have neither given nor received unacknowledged help on this work.)

If you did not have time to receive feedback from a classmate previously, seek that help today; afterwards, revise accordingly and re-submit with acknowledgment of this help.

agenda Wed/Thurs Feb 20/1

warm-ups (in KR notebooks):

3 Lessons of a Wiser Writer: I have learned . . .

compile list of various grammatical structures used to complete the thought

3 Lessons of a Wiser Amir: I have learned . . .

watch more of KR film, through the lens of this question:

What scenes show that Amir (1) needs to learn this lesson or (2) has learned this lesson?

daily. due Tues Feb 19

If you missed class at the end of this past week, for travel or illness or another reason, or if you were in class but have not finished the completed paragraph,  please submit your outline and completed KR Final writing to the designated TURNITIN boxes by Tuesday’s class.  Remember to include the (slightly revised) pledge–on both the outline and the completed paragraph.

As you revise, keep in mind this advice:

1. Use your topic sentence to make a general statement about the lessons that have made Amir wiser.  What do the three lessons have in common?  Into what general category do they all three fit?  Use this general category as a way to describe how Amir has grown wiser.

2. Build the three parts of your paragraph on each other, rather than simply listing them separately.  Think strategically about the order in which you present them.  For example, how does the first lead to or explain the second?  Or, which is least and which is most important?

3. Watch the transitions between parts of the paragraph.  Transitions are the threads that sew the whole paragraph together; they are the seams.  Tie the fabric pieces of your paragraph together tightly enough that they not rip apart, when someone tugs at them lightly.  

agenda. Fri Feb 15

convert your outline to a complete paragraph–i.e., without the template

review a partner’s KR paragraph and revise your own, using the content writing rubric for guidance; be sure to add an acknowledgment of your partner’s help

proofread your complete paragraph, then submit to the new TURNITIN box

As you revise, keep in mind this advice:

1. Use your topic sentence to make a general statement about the lessons that have made Amir wiser.  What do the three lessons have in common?  Into what general category do they all three fit?  Use this general category as a way to describe how Amir has grown wiser.

2. Build the three parts of your paragraph on each other, rather than simply listing them separately.  Think strategically about the order in which you present them.  For example, how does the first lead to or explain the second?  Or, which is least and which is most important?

3. Watch the transitions between parts of the paragraph.  Transitions are the threads that sew the whole paragraph together; they are the seams.  Tie the fabric pieces of your paragraph together tightly enough that they not rip apart, when someone tugs at them lightly.  

 

daily. due Fri Feb 15

If you were in Thursday’s class today and did not finish the Kite Runner writing exercise, please submit it to TURNITIN before tomorrow’s class.  Bring the signed instruction sheet with you. Thank you.

If you missed today’s class–for travel, illness or another reason, watch for an email containing the writing instructions.  I ask that you submit your writing to TURNITIN by next Tuesday’s class, February 19.  Thank you, too.