Hi Susan,
  Handed back their essays from last week and reviewed areas of concern such as staying on topic, consistent use of either past or present tense, difference between looser and loser, transitions from paragraph to paragraph and refraining from using the word " hate."
 Sydney read from " The Help" and they did their journal response to that, since I forgot to do it last week.
 Also, today we focussed on writing dialogue, and they are all writing a little scene for me, due at the end of class, incorporating dialogue.
 They have all been told that they are working on their memoirs in the computer lab.