English 11

Friday Once we completed the HP challenge the grade 8s had thrown down, We went into a second competition and I quizzed the four teams in the room on short story terms. Great team names btw. Next, we took a look at a non-fiction article about empathy. Before reading I asked you to predict a question that the article might answer. During reading you were to label problems that the article presented "P" and solutions presented with an "S". When the article was read, you were to write out three quotes that you had selected because they related to "Rock Bottom", "The Larder" or "Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit." In addition, you were to explain what the connection between the two texts was. Thursday Ms. Gautier was in to  speak about course selection during class today. After she left, we reviewed the "answers" to the embedding quotes exercise. Next, we returned to the Superman story and I asked that everyone review...

Friday We started the class with a rousing game of Chiffre Chance in order to practice some of the short story terms. Afterwards there was time to work on the theme paragraphs for Rock Bottom or The Larder. Thursday After silent reading, we reviewed the "give-aways" that can help identify the theme in a text. For practice, we returned to Rock Bottom and wrote pair theme statements and shared them. I was impressed that people avoided cliches and remembered not to use story specific details. Next, we did a quick refresher on the three types of irony: verbal, situational and dramatic. Finally, we began the theme paragraph for either the story The Larder or Rock Bottom. For the paragraph you must discuss what you think the theme is and support that with a discussion of any 3 of the theme give-aways. For example, you might choose to discuss irony, the goals of the main character(s) and the conclusion. This paragraph should feature P.E.E. organization and embedded quotes. The ru...

Friday We took a look at the short story The Larder today. We began by categorizing some phrases from the story and then predicted what the conflict of the story might be. As I read the story, you were to collect ammunition for Story Wars. I was very impressed, not only with the quality of the points made in the story war, but also I was impressed by the level of insight shown about the big ideas presented in the story. Unfortunately we ran out of time to complete the story war; we will complete it next week. Thursday After I shared a few brain details that I learned yesterday on the field trip, we returned to the story Rock Bottom. I was VERY impressed with the quality of responses that the groups came up with for the questions; they sounded thoughtful and insightful. Once we finished the questions we did a quick empathy activity where I showed you a photograph to see how it made you feel. Next, we did our first in-class timed write where I asked you to step into the shoes, so ...