English 11 E: Peer Editing, Studying for the test

If you were absent today, luckily you checked this blog so you can be all prepared for tomorrow's test.

Ensure that your notes have definitions, examples, explanations of techniques, themes, and your opinions on the following topics:
19 terms
What is a personal essay? Why choose it over a poem or story or tweet?
What techniques should we watch out for when reading or listening to persuasive arguments?
What are the most effective techniques? Favourite essays etc
Be sure that you have notes on all of the essays as you will be asked 5 questions on topics such as effective introductions, use of humour, indirect or implied thesis statements, use and purpose of incongruity, how to essayists placate hostile audiences etc

Hand in your notes at the end of the period.

If you have not yet had your essay peer edited by at least 3 people. Be sure to do so tomorrow at lunch as you need to submit an edited draft with the good copy on Friday. If you need an extension, you must ask tomorrow. You also get marked on your editing abilities. We discussed the criteria for editing during class today. If you were absent, ask a peer. Use the editing checklist to prepare your good copy.

Let's get these essays published! Your voices should be heard.

FRIDAY'S CLASS: PLEASE BRING A SMALL BIT OF SCRUMPTIOUSNESS TO SHARE. THANKS.

English 10: Complete the Manly Heart paragraph

Be sure to have a provocative thesis that demonstrates an insightful interpretation of Donald's character.

Include:
3 pieces of evidence, cited correctly
3 opinions about the evidence
3 explanations of how the evidence proves your thesis
2 transitions
1 concluding sentence

Use all of the handouts to support your writing.
This piece is a summative assessment so you will not have a chance to re-do it. I want to see what you can do after four months of instruction and several years in school. Yay.

If you run out of time tonight, come use room 321 aka UTOPIA at lunch tomorrow.

Writing 12: Change of plans for some . . . .

Those of you who were absent today may need to switch groups. Don't forget to email your story to your group members.

Gillian, Marc, Marissa, (Be sure to send your story, Gillian)
Jesse, Christina,
  Justin, Antony, Evann (Send stories)
Gurpreet, Shannon, Whitney
  Frankie, Jacqueline, Alyx (Alyx and Frankie, get your stories to J.P.)
Victoria, Brittany, Chesea (Brittany, Vic and Chel. need your story!!)
Joel, Courtney, Erika
Sara, Terra, Aubrey

Your BEST version of your story (double spaced) is due Friday. 

Fiction Workshop Groups: Bring 3 copies . . . .

If you have not yet given a copy of your story to your workshop group, please email a copy to them this evening so they can read it before hand.

Final copies are due Friday. I'll mark them and return them to you and then you can make adjustments before submitting it again in your manuscript. If you are not planning to be here Friday, please email it to me. NO lates accepted. If you need an extension, however, let me know.

Gillian, Marc, Marissa,
Jesse, Christina,
Alyx, Justin, Antony
Gurpreet, Shannon, Whitney
Evann, Frankie, Jacqueline
Victoria, Brittany, Chesea
Joel, Courtney, Erika
Sara, Terra, Aubrey

Those students who left the library early, I have your stories in my room. If you don't get this message in time, email the author for a copy. Please do not arrive without having read the stories you plan to workshop tomorrow. Thanks.

English 11E: You are almost there: Praise to the buns!

Congrats to those students who received the cinnamon bun awards this morning. You are using your time well. You all worked efficiently today so I look forward to seeing the edited drafts tomorrow for our peer editing session. After the session, you'll have time to revise and prepare the essays for submission on Thursday. Thursday is test day:

Open book

Make sure you have titles, authors, notes, themes, key techniques, and examples of key points for each essay or you may find yourself in trouble on Thursday morning. Also, please submit your notes at the end of the class.

English 10: BRING CANS FOR OUR BOX

Wednesday, Dec. 19th is the last day to contribute to our Spartan can drive. If each student brings 6 items, we can donate 6, 000 items to our local food bank. Can you imagine not having enough food for your family? How might you help? Thanks for thinking of others at this time of year.

Today, we added two new words to our vocabulary list: preposterous and to console.

We also checked to ensure we all had the key handouts needed to write a strong, literary paragraph. Check that you have and refer to the following;
1. Literary Must-Haves
2. Incorporating Quotations
3. Persuasive Language (transitions)
4. How to Cite Correctly (You may need this one)

Create a chart and a literary paragraph as a way of analyzing the Hugh Garner story, "A Manly Heart".

Question: In a literary paragraph of 250 to 350 words, discuss the lesson which Donald is not yet able to learn.

Sample Thesis Starter (if you need one)

     In the story, "A Manly Heart," by Hugh Garner, Donald has not yet learned to ___________________________________________________________ because ___________________________________________________________.

Make sure that your thesis answers the question in an insightful manner.
I am looking for the BEST literary paragraph you can muster at this late stage in the semester.

English 11E: Write another 200 words of your essay tonight

We spent the entire period in the computer lab using databases from our library's website. A good one is elibrary and also Different viewpoints. We also created our works cited page using Bibme and remember it must be MLA style.

You must use at least one article as a base from which to write your personal essay. Use the article in several ways:

• as a source to corroborate/defend your opinions
• as a source which you wish to argue against
• as a source from which to educate yourself about the topic 

You must also use several other techniques. Be sure to follow the criteria list and the essay outline. You will have tomorrow's class to work on the essay which is due in draft form Wednesday for peer editing.

Think of someone you can interview or several people you can interview as primary sources make the essay so much more powerful. Use anecdotes from real experience or tell the stories of others.

Remember, your test is on Thursday. Open notebook. Make sure that you have all of the techniques defined. Hand in the notebooks on Thursday.