Friday, March 31

Today we continued to focus on your informative essays about Elizabethan England. You do not need to work on this over the break unless you will need more than 30 minutes of class time upon returning from spring break. After spring break you can anticipate getting 30 minutes of class time to finish your essay and another 30 minutes or so to plan your presentation with your group.

However, you will not get any more in class time to work on your This I Believe essay or presentation, so all of that needs to be finished up and ready to go once spring break is over.

Thursday, March 30

Today we got most of the informational essays about Elizabethan England written. We focused specifically on correctly integrating textual evidence. Below is an example of some of the ways students are incorrectly integrating textual evidence. Your task in class today was to identify and fix those errors. Your homework tonight is to spend 10 minutes on your essay so that we can finish it in class on Friday and begin work on the presentations. Read for 20 minutes and complete your This I Believe projects.

Find and correct the errors regarding textual evidence in this paragraph:

In the Elizabethan Age, England rose to great power. “The reign of Queen Elizabeth (1555-1603) saw England emerge as the leading naval and commercial power of the Western world.” (bardweb.net). During the time of Queen Elizabeth’s rule, England began to expand and explore the greater world. As said by bardweb.net, “Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world” and “Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh sent colonists eastward in search of profit” (bardweb.net). This allowed England in “trade, might, and art” to establish “an envious preeminence” that few nations could match (bardweb.net).

Wednesday, March 29

Today our focus was on a few things. Most importantly, we focused on formulating a clear, concise thesis that is supported by the information you have compiled about your topic. From there we finished up the outlines and then used the outline to help begin your next draft. Spend 10 minutes tonight working on your essay and 20 minutes reading.

Monday, March 28

Today we focused on completing your research on your topic. Everyone should have six facts that you have quoted exactly and then restated in your own words. We also began outlining the essay, focusing on using one of the introduction and conclusion techniques we have studied as well as properly setting up your textual evidence with one of the lead-in techniques we studied. Work on your outline for homework tonight and read for 20 minutes.

Monday, March 27

Today we moved onto a research project about Elizabethan England in preparation for our reading of Romeo and Juliet. Today we choose groups and topics, and began researching your topic. You will need to have a total of six facts from two or three different sources. Once we have finished the research phase, everyone will write an informational essay on their own. Once the essays are complete, you will reconvene with your group and, based on your essays, put together a four-minute presentation about your topic.

Your homework is to read for 20 minutes.

Thursday, March 23

Today we looked at a few more This I Believe essays and signed up for presentation dates, which will begin after spring break. We worked a bit on your essays and on your presentations. Let me know if you have any questions. Your homework is to continue working on your essays and to read for 20 minutes.

Wednesday, March 22

Today we looked at a few more sample "This I Believe" essays and also looked at two student examples of the presentation component (what we're calling a visual essay). We took some time to work on these in class, and will have some time in class on Thursday as well. We have decided that these will be due after Spring Break and that you will present them a little at a time - we'll sign up for dates where two or three people per day present over a three week period or so. In addition to working on your essays, read for 20 minutes tonight.

What To Do If You Want to Improve the Grade of an Assignment

If you earn a low score on a piece of writing and wish to improve it, here is what you should do:

1. Look at your writing and the assignment description, rubric, or comments, and compare it with what you wrote. 

2. Identify some specific areas to improve. 

3. Revise and improve your piece of writing based on the comments, description, or rubric.

4. Print your improved and revised piece.

5. Annotate on the page your improvements and turn this revised, improved, printed, and annotated piece of writing in to me in a "timely fashion."  

Monday, March 20

Today our focus was on NPR's This I Believe project. You got two handouts, both of which can be found on Canvas. One is the This I Believe Project, and the second is the This I Believe Essay Survey. The Survey is due tomorrow at the start of class. The Project is ongoing this week, but if you were absent, you'd better take a look at it and complete Phase 1. This I Believe can be found here: http://thisibelieve.org/

Read for 20 minutes tonight, as well.

Wednesday, March 15

I read somewhere once that we should "beware the Ides of March." If you want to find out what the Ides of March are and why we should beware them, post a comment on today's blog post and I will give you 10 points extra credit on today's participation grade.

Today our focus was on prewriting our essay - determining a thesis or claim based on the articles we annotated, brainstorming three reasons to support the thesis or claim, and then outlining the essay and planning for multiple uses of textual evidence to support the claim.

The next couple of days in class, we will write the essay and then submit it to Canvas. Be sure that you use one of the introduction and conclusion techniques we learned, state your claim clearly with three reasons, support that claim with multiple instances of textual evidence, and introduce a counterclaim at some point in your essay.

Read for 20 minutes each night as well.

Tuesday, March 14

Today, we finished our review of the introduction and conclusion techniques available to writers and then turned our focus the the first major writing assignment for the trimester. We read and annotated some articles about competitive eating. They can be found on Canvas under the Module ELA 9 Mid-Year Benchmark. Finish reading and annotating the articles and read for 20 minutes.

Monday, March 13

Today we reviewed all the various introduction and conclusion techniques available to you as a writer. My hope is that, now that you can define and identify them you can take the next step and begin to use them in your writing. Your homework is to read for 20 minutes tonight.

Friday, March 10

Today we focused on the body paragraph, emphasizing the importance of using two pieces of textual evidence, correctly setting up or leading into that textual evidence, and then providing sufficient commentary on the textual evidence. There is an assignment on Canvas regarding this - please complete your paragraph and submit it by midnight on Sunday. Please also read for 20 minutes over the weekend.

Thursday, March 9

Today we revised the practice intro paragraph that we began yesterday and submitted it to Canvas (see the Introductory Paragraph Review Practice assignment there). If you didn't submit it during class, please do so tonight. We also read Langston Hughes's poem "I, Too." Finally, we began reviewing elements of the body paragraph. Read for 20 minutes tonight.

Wednesday, March 8

Today we read Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," which can be found here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/song-myself-i-ii-vi-lii. We compared it with the poem we read yesterday, Langston Hughes's "Theme for English B" and did a Nearpod lesson you should still be able to complete with the code XCRTO.

We also worked on your versions of "Theme for English (9)B." Please bring a completed copy of your poem on paper to class tomorrow.

We then finished class by completing our review of the Introductory Paragraph. We began writing a practice intro paragraph in response to a prompt you can find on Canvas under "Introductory Paragraph Review Practice" and on the backside of the handout we began yesterday.

Your homework is to read for 20 minutes, complete your poem, and complete the first draft of your intro paragraph. All three things are due for tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 6

Today in class we read Langston Hughes's poem "Theme for English B." You can find it here: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html. We then began writing our own imitative poems, our own "Theme for English 9." Instructions can be found for this on Canvas. It is due Thursday, March 9, on paper.

We then reviewed elements of the introductory paragraph. Complete the first side of the handout for Wednesday's class.

Read for 20 minutes for homework as well.

Thursday, March 2 - Last Day of Trimester 2

English 9A: Today we finished the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird and did some writing and had some discussions on topics such as the words of wisdom found in the text and the quality of the film adaptation. Thanks for a good trimester and good luck to you during your final trimester.

English 9B: Today we concluded our study of Romeo and Juliet by discussing why we read Shakespeare, some of the words of wisdom to be found in the play, and who is ultimately responsible for the death of the two protagonists. We also discussed summer reading for next year, so get started on that. Thanks for a good trimester - good luck to you moving forward.

And don't forget to sign up for Compelling Nonfiction!

Wednesday, March 1

English 9A: Today we nearly finished the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. I will collect the "Words of Wisdom" assignment tomorrow.

English 9B: Today we finished reading Romeo and Juliet. I will collect your marked texts and the "Words of Wisdom" assignment tomorrow.