ENGLISH 7

No spelling pretest.  Unit 24 is a review of Units 19-23.
New mugshot handed out. If absent, get yours from the back.

Call of the Wild. Met briefly with groups to get new lit circle assignment for Chapters 3 and 4.
We will finish work on Chapter 2 and begin on Chapter 3 on Wednesday. For homework, make sure to finish your assignment and read Chapter and 4.

STAR writing test practice.

o Read the prompt carefully.

o Use complete sentences and proper grammar and punctuation.

o Remember: one main point each paragraph.

o Support it or illustrate it with examples. Three is a good number.

o Connect your paragraphs together with transition or linking words.

o Conclude. Make an interesting end, tying up everything you have said.

HW: Weds: Planner check; read chapters 3 and 4 Call of the Wild. Work on your Lit Circle job. Be prepared!

     Thurs: Mugshots

     Fri: Spelling exercises, Unit 24, pgs. 112-115. Proofread by writing the word correctly spelled.  Test, all 50 words from Units 19-23

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ENGLISH 8

Returned the three essays: personal oasis, movie, compare/contrast

Overall: Everyone is improving. You are getting the structure down. You are more natural at writing. Congratulations. The personal oases were very inspired. There were some good movie essays, but still a bit too much summary and not enough of a persuasive review. Compare/contrast: if you felt strongly, had a better essay. The even better ones were when you took a stand.
Characteristics of the more successful papers: .You read the prompt and sometimes rewrote it. You had words from the prompt in your thesis statement. You had a thesis statement in the first paragraph, a plan or map, if  you will, of where the rest of the essay would go. And you followed through on that. You used transitions. Each paragraph had a main point that you made through your topic sentence. In short, you had an internal structure and organization that made your work easy to read and understand. 
Recurring problems: not proofreading and careless spelling errors, especially ones that could have been caught with a spell check; misspelled no excuses words; missing end punctuation; run-on and rambling sentences; ignoring peer edits.

Other work on Tuesday: Women’s novel project. Workday.

Are your interviews done? If so, are they transcribed, ready to begin your essay?

You should brainstorm your essay and do a rough draft, at the very least. You can have it peer-edited on Wednesday.

HW: Weds: Interviews due to be checked. Make sure you have work with you to do.

Fri: Women’s Novel Final project due, with all 10 DEJs-- the eight you completed and checked in, as well as two more; your interview; essay; assignment sheet and self-evaluation.