Eng. 9 Block 4 - Reading Schedule

Hi folks,
You need to read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time up to page 155 (revised) just to the end of section 192 for Wednesday, May 7.   We will be having another Plot quiz!  In this section, mysteries will be solved, secrets will be revealed!

We will be finishing reading the novel for Wednesday, May 14.  At that time we will have a plot quiz and an in-class literary paragraph. We will talk more about this closer to the time.

Enjoy your weekend and enjoy your readings!

Eng. 9 Block 4 Descriptive paragraphs

Today we read an excerpt of Steinbeck's descriptive writing from Of Mice and Men (see below) to discuss  really strong descriptive writing that hints at greater depth, provides surprising connections, and vivid imagery.

For Monday:

• submit 2 rough drafts of descriptive paragraphs 
• Par. 1 - describe a busy place, for example an airport, circus, sporting event, etc.  or something of your choice.
• Par. 2 - us an image to inspire a paragraph.
• If you got peer feedback, submit the peer feedback form.
• 1 Good Copy of an edited, powerful, shocking, and risky descriptive essay!

Descriptive Paragraph

You are going to write and submit a powerful and vivid descriptive paragraph. Push yourself to be surprising; take risks. Use the elements of your poetry writing in prose and paragraph structure. Think about this as part of a short story: the story will not be the focus, but a strong descriptive paragraph will evoke feelings, themes, character, events etc. without telling them outright. Remember, show; don't tell.

For example, imagine writing about a kitchen owned by a 94 year old lady who just lost her husband of 70 years, whom she had actually come to hate, but you describe only the kitchen without mentioning death or the husband. How would you show this?

This must be typed and printed and at least 200-250 words (keep going if you feel it needs to!)

Your peer feedback will also be handed in with each author's paragraph and included in your mark, so be sure to provide useful and relevant feedback for your peer.

Criteria	Out of
Style: - Makes new and surprising connections in order to describe (no cliches) - Shows, not tells	10
Content: - Vivid imagery of the senses (sights, smells, sounds, tastes, feelings/textures) - Is clear and understandable - Depth: provides hints of a story behind the description	10
Structure: - Uses correct paragraph structure, sentence structure, grammar, and spelling - Is edited for mistakes	5
Peer Feedback: - provides your peer with useful and relevant feedback	5

DUE Monday, May 5th

Descriptive Writing Sample

Excerpt from John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, 1937

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees- willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter's flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool. On the sandy bank under the trees the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening, and the damp flats are covered with the night tracks of 'coons, and with the spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and with the split-wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark.

There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water. In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sycamore there is an ash pile made by many fires; the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it.

Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray sculptured stones. And

then from the direction of the state highway came the sound of footsteps on crisp sycamore leaves. The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover. A stilted heron labored up into the air and pounded down river. For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool.

English 9: Mouse meat . . .

Today we sampled some delicious souris!

We reviewed how to respond to a quote and we wrote a response to a quote.

This weekend read chapters 13 and 14. You have 22 pages to read. If you feel that you will be busy next week, you could easily finish reading the novel this weekend.

Continue to post-it note the passages which elucidate our topic:

Myths and Facts About Wolves

We will be starting our quote log next week and the essay, the week after next.

You can get ahead by choosing your quotes and starting your responses.

We also did vocab. words today. Keep studying your words.

Ap Lit: Poem Practice and Workshop . . . Study!

If you were absent today, you need to complete a poem essay. Ask for a copy when you return.

We worked in groups to workshop our prose essays.

This weekend, finish your multiple choice test. One answer at a time.

Also, study your vocabulary, literary terms, study your notes on all the novels and plays you have read (including the comedy) and study our poetry and short story unit notes, as well as your poetry era notes.

Next week we will practice poetry on Monday, prose on Tuesday, and the open-ended essay on Wednesday. You will be ready.

la la la

Have a good weekend.

Eng. 9 Block 4

Today we talked about descriptive writing, looking at an example from the Curious... and from another author.  We practised writing our own descriptive paragraphs.

Rough copy of descriptive paragraph number 1 is due tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be doing another paragraph.

On Monday, you will need to submit your best paragraph for marks.

English 9, period 3: Never Cry Wolf

Today: I collected the USSR response forms for April. If you did not hand it in and made no arrangement for an extension, you will have to take a 0 on this assignment.

Next: We added vocab words, 52, and 53

Quiz: on chapters 8 and 9

Read: chapters 10 and 11 carefully. Be sure to use post-it notes to mark passages that you think will be useful when you write your essay on the myths and realities of wolves and Mowat's experience in the north.

Friday: I will be giving you two quotations. You will need to write a 100 word response for each. Marks awarded for your ability to discuss the tone and symbolic content of the quote and to make connections to other parts of the novel. You will be allowed to use your text for this assignment. Re-read the criteria sheet for the Pigman quotation log and the samples for ideas. 

AP Lit: Writing a prose piece in 40 minutes . . . Review . . .

New vocabulary: anomie, peremptory, eponymous, titular,

I returned the section 3 mock essays. They were really well done and I enjoyed reading your interpretations of the question. Be confident. You are ready for this exam.

TODAY:

We read our essays and made notes and offered suggestions to our peers. If you were absent, be sure to read at least two essays by your peers. Make notes of their strengths. Style you want to imitate. Quotes you want to memorize.

Next, I handed out an annotated version of the Death of a Salesman prose passage test we did on Monday and a copy of a student sample essay. Study both sheets as you prepare for the exam.

Next, we read a new prose passage from the 2013 exam and annotated it for 15 minutes. We did not start writing the essay until we had done a number of things:

• annotated the question
• looked for literary techniques
• created a 3 column chart to prepare our ideas and examples
• created a TICK chart to be sure not to overlook key themes
• written and re-written a thesis

It is amazing how long 15 minutes is when you are truly focused on the TEXT and not on your fear of TIME or on your dread of a poor mark. FOCUS.

You need a plan for this exam. 

Over the next four days, we will be finalizing our plans. This is not a time to MISS class.

 If you missed today, my wish for you is that you could have been here.

Next: We wrote the essay response to the passage in 25 minutes.

Focus on what you can do to prepare not on wishing the exam or your life was different. ha ha ha

By changing the focus, you change your perception, and the exam suddenly becomes a way for you to get first year university credit and save a thousand dollars and demonstrate your competency, which is way above the global average.

Yeeee haaaaaa

Tonight: Review the elements of the Petrarchan sonnet and read some good examples in your text book so that you will be prepared to write a poetry essay during class tomorrow. I will return your poetry essays tomorrow and your prose essays on Monday.