Hill’s Write Stuff

**All students went to high school information meetings during connections today and we will start registration on Wednesday.  This is a great time to talk about plans with your family – do you think Honors Literature and Composition or Regular Literature and Composition is the best place for you? Where will you be happiest and most successful??   I have had the students fill out an index card stating their preferences and reasons; I will start conferencing with them tomorrow and we will look at work samples and discuss their progress at the same time. Please let me know if you have any questions about classes for next year!

The students worked on sentence structure activities in groups today.

They recieved a Poetry Think-Tac-Toe assignment sheet that gives them options for three projects to demonstrate their understanding of poetry (except the GREAT news is that they’ve already completed the middle square! YAY!) They must go through the center square and choose a tic-tac-toe pattern of activities to complete.  (Please see the Poetry Think-Tac-Toe page on the left for more information and due dates).  The students will have some time to work on these assignments in class.  They may plan their work in their writer’s notebooks, but the final product should be typed to turn in.

Here is what we are working on currently: Reading poetry and analyzing its elements and then creating our poetry as well! EQ: What’s the secret to reaching people with words?

Writer’s Notebooks (of course!) – due 2/4 A and 2/5 B

Tree Poetry – write a poem about “your tree” from the trail.  Create an extended metaphor that compares your tree to something else (a wise old grandfather – happiness – etc)  and write about it. Be sure to use the poetic devices we have been learning.   due 2/4A and 2/5B

Self Portrait Poetry Assignment – you found a poem that reflects an important part of who you are or what you’ve experienced. Now complete the following assignment:

1) Write a paragraph that explains how this poem relates to you.  Be sure to use specific details and examples from the poem and your own life as support.

2) Create an original poem that has the same theme as the poem you brought in.  For example, if the poem you brought in is about making choices wisely, then you should write your own poem about that.  If you want to write a true poem that tells a certain experience you’ve had, you can, but you don’t have to.  Be sure to incorporate the poetic devices we are studying.  due 2/8 A and 2/9 B

Poetry Terms -  Create a graphic organizer that discusses the definition, effect on the reader (why we use it), and examples FROM POEMS of the 25 terms I gave you.  See previous blog posting for the handout if you need it.  due 2/9 B and 2/10 A

**I know this looks like a lot, but remember that you have PLENTY of class time to work on all of these assignments! Use your time wisely!

In order to write poetry, we need to read poetry…

In order to read poetry, we need to be able to talk about poetry with a common language… so today starts the poetry terms assignment.  Perhaps not the most exciting assignment ever, but an important one because it exposes you to the language of poetry and to many different poems in the process.

The students received a list of 25 poetry terms AND a NEW TEXTBOOK!! This is a great textbook because they can actually WRITE IN IT!! They need to create a graphic organizer to define the terms, explain how/why a writer uses it (effect on the reader), and give examples from the published poems in the book (and some terms require that they create their own examples as well). Here is a copy of the handout in case you lost yours:  Poetry Terms Assignment97-2003 See due dates page for due dates.

Don’t forget about self-portrait poems and writer’s notebooks this week!   I also updated the Current Writing Contests Page – there is an essay and poetry writing contest as well as a Media Festival where students submit videos and slideshows…could be a great way for you to get recognized and published! (and at least gives you some ideas for your writer’s notebooks…!)

“I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree…”  The start of this poem has been the inspiration for “adopting” a tree and writing about it.  We had a beautiful day outside today to work on creating a poem about a tree on the Maverick Trail.  The students are writing extended metaphor poems where their tree is compared to something else; I’ve been impressed at their ideas so far!

HW: “Self-Portrait” Poem – FIND (not write!) a poem that is a good representation of you, an experience you’ve had, or a situation you’ve dealt with.  You may use famous, published poets (see examples below) or you may find any poem on the internet.  NO SONG LYRICS (this time!) Just make sure that you bring a copy of the poem with the title, author, and source (the book or web address).  Be ready to write about how the poem relates to you (but we will complete that part in class).  This is due next week – 2/2 A  and 2/3 B. 

Poets you might be interested in:

Alfred Lord Tennyson,  Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Ogden Nash, Naomi Shihab Nye, Pat Mora, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, E.E. Cummings, Gary Soto, T.S. Eliot, Maya Angelou…so many more…the media center has great books, too, if you want to check something out!

The kids got outside of their literature books and outside of the classroom to experience some real life poetry.  They are working on an assignment where they had to find a tree, describe the tree, and eventually will create an extended metaphor poem where they compare their tree to something/someone else.  We will, of course, look at some examples to guide them and inpsire them along the way.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

This week is conference week!

Writer’s Notebooks are due next week – see the due dates page

That’s right – next Wednesday is your time to shine…THE 8th GRADE WRITING TEST! We have been busy reviewing strategies to use as support, memorizing an outline that works for both expository and persuasive writing, and taking deep breaths as we realize that YOU ARE READY! Use that great voice and perspective that you have, and you’ll be just fine!

HW: Be prepared for a quiz on Thurs (A) and Fri (B).  You’ll need to produce the outline for essays and list the strategies for hooks and supporting details.  Here is the information (just in case…)

OUTLINE:

I. INTRO

A. Hook   B. Context   C. Thesis

II. BODY PARAGRAPHS (3-4 of them)

A. Hook   B. Topic Sentence   C. Supporting Details

III. CONCLUSION

A. Summarize main points   B. SO WHAT???  C. Bring it back to Purpose

***Also, see my google calendar for DUE DATES for WRITER’S NOTEBOOKS!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful holiday and start to your new year! I promised you that there would be the opportunity to earn some bonus points, and a couple students let me know that my blog didn’t post (sorry to JUST check my email – I was enjoying break, too!) So here’s the deal: I have added several writing prompts to essay scorer (the Effects of Technology one that we did before does NOT count – you have to do new ones). For each score of 6 that you earn, you will get one bonus point. You can prewrite in your Writer’s Notebook, but you can’t research or use any online resources. (You may also print out your essay and put it in your Writer’s Notebook). After you have completed the essay and submitted it for scoring, send me an email so that I can check your scores and keep track of your bonus points. Good luck! (Clearly, this is good practice for that big writing test on January 21st…)
**I’ll accept these entries through the week – by Sunday night
The link to essay scorer is www.essayscorer.com/ph/ga/mcclure Your login and password are your lunch number. Let me know if you have questions!
See you Tuesday!

We’ve had our first day of presentations, and I’ve been so impressed! Excellent work!
**Don’t forget that your Writer’s Notebooks and Reading requirement assignments are due on Thursday (A day) and Friday (B day). **The bookmarks on uploaded on the reading requirement page

Have a great night – only three more days!

Keep working on those presentations – and if you need to come in early, I am available tomorrow morning and Friday morning at 8:00. We can also have early morning sessions on Monday and Tuesday of next week if needed.

Presentations due Mon (B Day) and Tues (A Day)

Writer’s Notebooks and Reading Requirement due Thursday (A Day) and Friday (B Day)…unless you turn them in EARLY for MAVERICK MONEY!!!

Speaking of MAVERICK MONEY….I’ve put a new page in the list on my blogs – it’s purpose is to give you some Reading practice – and you get MAVERICK MONEY for proving that you’ve done it…see if you can find it! The first person to show me a correct answer tomorrow gets a $5 Maverick Money…

Expository essays for the Lessons From the Past project are due next class (Tues 12/8 for B day) and (Wed 12/9) for A day.   You are graded on the expository standard – Meets, Does Not Meet, or Exceeds for each element/part. You have a copy of the standard in your binder, but here it is again just in case: ELA 8W2-Exp-filled in 97-2003

Your vocab test is also next class – a written test on the words I have given you (9 randomly chosen) and then I will walk around and chose 1 word of yours to do verbally.