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Month: January 2019

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General Information

Today is the last day of our first semester! I've loved getting to know your students and watching them grow through the first half of the year, and I'm excited about what the next few months will bring. At this point, I have finished grading all assignments that have been turned in that will count toward semester 1 grades. Students can turn missing work today or email it to me tomorrow. If your student believes they have turned in an assignment that has not been entered into the gradebook, they can check the "no name" pile or come talk to me. Thanks for a great first semester!

L. A. 8

Eighth graders are still working through Romeo and Juliet. We are almost done with Act 2, which puts us close to halfway through the text. This week, we did some writing and acting. Students wrote dialogue that they imagined would've happened between Juliet and her Nurse the night after she met Romeo. Then, they acted it out in pairs. We had some very creative sketches! We've also continued to review figurative language in the play and work on our school-wide goal of improving our understanding of complex texts.

Contemporary Lit.

This week, we learned how to write concluding paragraphs for our Literary Analysis Essays. Essays were due Tuesday night. Wednesday, we started our new unit: Rhetorical Analysis. Students will be looking at the different ways authors create persuasive arguments in multi-modal formats. First, we are analyzing commercials, using an Observe and Interpret protocol. Later, we will be analyzing the rhetorical strategies that brands use in social media, politicians use in political advertisements, and orators use in famous speeches throughout history. The unit is very quick and acts mainly as an introduction to rhetorical analysis, as they will continue to work on this skill more in-depth next year.

Writing Lab.

Students finished their Free Verse Poem this week, and we are now working on writing Persuasive Essays. Students are asked to think of an argument that is relevant to the subject of the "Gift of Gratitude" Scrapbook. They can write about why people should be friends with their best friend; why their fathers are the best cooks; or more objective topics, like why family dinners are important for bonding. No matter what topic students choose, they will be using the MELCon format to write a 5-paragraph essay.

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L. A. 8

We continue with Romeo and Juliet by diving into Act 2. This Act includes the famous balcony scene! This week, we've talked about motifs and imagery. Students made "text message" conversations between two of the characters in the play using modern language. We've also continued our practice of tackling complex texts with our Main Idea Paragraphs. We've switched from finding the main idea and then supporting it with details to finding the details and then using those to generate a main idea.

Contemporary Lit.

We've had a lot of work time this week and made great progress into our Macbeth essays. Students have packets that have helped them create thesis statements and main idea claims for their three body paragraphs. These packets are an outline of the entire essay, as well as containing the prompt, rubric, and places where we recorded textual evidence. The essays need to be five paragraphs long. We discussed how to cite textual evidence with context and reasoning (linking it back to the thesis statement). We also learned how to write introductory paragraphs that include an attention-getter, quick summary of the play, and thesis statement. Essays are due on January 15th.

Writing Lab.

After wrapping up our Personal Essays, we are quickly working our way through an Original Free Verse Poem. Free verse poems do not have a rhyme scheme or specified structure, which gives students a lot of freedom to express themselves rather than play with style. Students still need to include figurative language in their poems, but are not constrained to a particular type of poem. These poems should connect to the subject of their "Gift of Gratitude" Scrapbook, but can be about any topic: a specific memory, lessons learned from the loved one, descriptions of the person, etc.

General Information

Our guidance counselor, Mr. Wong, came to each class this Wednesday to discuss class options for the 2019-20 year. Students were given course catalogs and sheets to sign up for classes. They are required to have 8 credits (7 + study hall, if desired). Classes marked with an "R" are required, while the ones marked with an "E" are electives.

Incoming Freshman have a choice of three Language Arts classes, while next year's Juniors have a few more options. These classes range in difficulty and independent working levels. If you or your student has questions regarding which English class they should take next year, please feel free to contact me. Mr. Cole and Ms. Haig can also answer questions about classes they are currently teaching or plan to teach next year.

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L.A. 8

We're starting off the new year with a group art project! Students have divided into two "families" - Capulets and Montagues. They made family crests using symbols to represent their personalities. I am encouraging the families to be competitive, modeling some of the animosity between the two families in Romeo and Juliet. Families will be awarded points based on good behavior and other attributes, and maybe there will be a prize for the winning family!

We are also starting on Act 2 of Romeo and Juliet. This includes the famous Balcony Scene. Along with working on Shakespeare's language, we will also be discussing theme, motifs, symbols, and imagery.

Contemporary Lit.

We finished reading Macbeth before the holiday break, and now we are wrapping up our unit with a Literary Analysis Essay. Students will pick between four themes (Power, Ambition, Appearances & Reality, and Fate & Free Will) and write about how that theme works in the play. The essay will be due on January 15th. Students will have plenty of work time in class and have been provided with an outline packet that will guide them through the process.

Writing Lab.

Students are finishing up their Narrative Essays this week. We will be doing peer edits today, then completing the final drafts. Narrative Essays are not formal essays - they are stories about students' lives that they write into a more formal, polished piece. Narrative Essays include all of the traditional plot points - exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. However, in this case, students must write a true story that happened to them.