For those of you who like to tackle projects, here’s a competition about solving environmental issues in your neighborhood.  Looks like a cool opportunity to form a team on work on something meaningful.  Click here for more info.

Third Memoir Peer Assess

November 5, 2009 |  Tagged | Leave a Comment

Do steps 1 and 2 prior to coming to class on Friday.  We will do steps 3 – 5 in class on Friday.

  1. Post your memoir to you blog (use the More line to keep it from taking up your entire page).
  2. Turn your memoir in to my server (period_lastnamefirstinitial_memoir3).  NOTE: YOU CAN NO LONGER LOG IN TO THE STAFF SERVER AS GUEST.
  3. Go to your teammates’ blogs to read their memoirs.
  4. Use the comments feature of the blog to provide feedback to your classmate.  I want you to use PQP as a way to provide feedback: Praise (something you really liked), Question (something you were confused by or are wondering about), Polish (something you would change).
  5. Use this form to assess your classmates’ memoirs according to the scoring rubric.

Alice will soon be here

November 4, 2009 |  Tagged | Leave a Comment

Shorewood’s production of Alice in Wonderland starts November 13th.  Click here for details.

Click here to download the project.  All students will complete the Inferences project.  Additionally, students will complete projects for skills they have yet to meet standard on.  Click here to check your standard progress, the password is the same as it is for checking your grades.

The reading project is due Tuesday, November 24.

Congratulations to the Einstein Cross Country team for a strong finish to the season.

The 7th grade boys took first place, the 8th grade boys took third place, the 7th grade girls took third place, and the 8th grade girls, unfortunately, did not have a fifth runner and therefore did not place. Read more

Movie Behind the Eyelids

November 3, 2009 |  Tagged | Leave a Comment

One of the challenges with memoir is to recreate your memory in such a way that the reader can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste in the same fashion that you experienced it.  To meet this challenge requires that you take time to pre-write in detail all of the sensory images and experiences you can recall.  Additionally, while you need to get more detailed to meet this challenge, you also have to sort which details are relevant and which are not.

For example, if you are writing about visiting your grandmother’s house and the significance of this memory is the connection that these visit provide you to the past, then you might want to focus on details of her house that connect to the past: black and white photos, an heirloom clock, knick-knacks collected over a lifetime.  If the significance, on the other hand, is about the comfort you feel from going there, then you’d want to focus on those details that are comforting: the smell of fresh cookies, the old blanket spread across the couch, the doll that once was your mother’s.

Your challenge this week is to recreate your memory in a way that the reader can see it.  Third memoir is due Friday.

Leads

November 2, 2009 |  Tagged , | 2 Comments

Today we reviewed three types of narrative leads: action, dialogue, and reaction.  Students drafted each type of lead for their third memoir, which is due Friday.  Here are some suggestions about when and how to use these leads with memoir: Read more

Congrats to both the boys and girls for winning their final meet of the regular season against Kellogg and Alderwood.  The boys capped off an undefeated season by scoring an amazing 20 points (the best you can do is 15)!  Championships are Tuesday at the Shoreline Stadium.

Inquiring minds want to know if you have a book in your hand.  Let me know what you are reading by completing this form:

Read more

Peer Review of Second Memoir

October 29, 2009 |  Tagged | Leave a Comment

Do steps 1 and 2 prior to coming to class on Friday.  We will do steps 3 – 5 in class on Friday.

  1. Post your memoir to you blog (use the More line to keep it from taking up your entire page).
  2. Turn your memoir in to my server (period_lastnamefirstinitial_memoir2).  NOTE: YOU CAN NO LONGER LOG IN TO THE STAFF SERVER AS GUEST.
  3. Go to your teammates’ blogs to read their memoirs.
  4. Use the comments feature of the blog to provide feedback to your classmate.  I want you to use PQP as a way to provide feedback: Praise (something you really liked), Question (something you were confused by or are wondering about), Polish (something you would change).
  5. Use this form to assess your classmates’ memoirs according to the scoring rubric.