Today in class, all students received an order form for freshman class t-shirts that they can order at lunch if they want to.
1A
1. Freewrite.
2. Intro to essay writing. We reviewed the format of an essay and discussed how to plan one.
3. Diagnostic writing quiz. Students wrote a three- to five-paragraph essay responding to a prompt about goals. This will count as a quiz grade and help me see where students are at in terms of their writing.
3. Imagery notes (and song). Students learned the jingle-bells imagery song for their notes on L3: Imagery. Students then labeled imagery in a short passage.
HW: None.
2AB
1. Freewrite.
2. Theme writing. We reviewed the themes students submitted on Friday. Three were written on the board; students then chose one theme statement and argued in their notebooks how it could be proven using And Then There Were None.
3. Theme in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. We shifted to thinking about Haroun. Students came up with one theme topic with their partner and we all shared with the class in a whip-around. Then, partners chose one of three words written on the board to come up with a theme statement that they texted in to PollEverywhere. Look at our answers here! Some are better than others, but we discussed the differences between strong themes and weak ones. This also gives you an idea of what BYOT looks like in the classroom — mostly productive and interesting, with a few blips here and there.
4. Essay format. We discussed the elements of a strong persuasive essay, which students will be writing tomorrow.
HW: Bring Haroun and And Then There Were None to use on your in-class essay tomorrow.
4A
1. Freewrite!
2. Theme review. We looked again at L1 and worked up a theme statement for And Then There Were None using L2.
3. Essay structure. We briefly discussed the elements of a strong essay before students took their diagnostic writing quiz.
4. Diagnostic writing quiz. Students wrote an in-class essay with the use of their summer reading books, L2, and their summer assignment annotations. Some of the annotations are graded now but some are not; all students will received graded annotations on Wednesday. We will keep them in the classroom in our writing folder. Any student who would like to check out their writing folder to bring home and show parents may.
HW: None.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 