Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wednesday, 4/15, and Thursday, 4/16

AP
Wednesday

Writing Workshop (Mango Essay)
  • We reviewed our writing rubrics.
  • We reviewed our outlines.
  • We typed a first draft of our essays.
  • We got a blue peer conference sheet, listened to expectations for the peer conference, then traded with a person we trust to do a thorough, thoughtful peer conference.

Homework
  • Read pages 23-37, "The Art of Summarizing", from They Say/I Say.
  • Highlight and annotate.
  • Talke back to the text in at least five places.  (due Thursday)
Thursday

Housekeeping
  • Turn in your annotated homework chapter.
  • Sign up if you're a "for-sure" for one of the AP Exam practice sessions.

Reflection
  • I talked about a few things I want everyone to keep in mind for the next twenty-two days, things that will create a strong, positive, non-energy-sucking atmosphere every day in here during second block.
  • I talked about what we're doing the next twenty-two days, after I handed out the yellow packet.  People asked questions about some items, so we talked a bit about literary movements, what the finals would be like, what we'd do on the last day, etc.
Poetry
  • We talked briefly about what we know about poetry.
  • I read two poems:  "The Student" by Billy Collins, and "Mrs. Darwin", by Carol Ann Duffy.  I mentioned that, even though we talk about lots of characteristics of poetry, we don't want to try to put each poem in a restrictive box.

Poetry Group Work
  • We self-assigned ourselves to one of four groups to explicate a poem.  On page four in the yellow packet, questions abound about situation, structure, language, and musical devices.  Each of the four groups read and discussed what their element was all about, then explicated "Lines Written in Early Spring", by William Wordsworth, on page 5.  Each group will present tomorrow as a way of showing what questions we can ask ourselves when we explicate a poem.

Writing Workshop
  • Some people typed their SECOND draft of the Mango essay.
  • Some people typed their FIRST draft of the Mango essay.
  • Tomorrow, we'll have about twenty minutes for either typing or conferencing, whichever you need to do.

Homework
  • Let your paper sit tonight, unless you're behind schedule (no first draft completed; no conference completed).
  • Read the Introduction chapter of They Say/I Say, pages 1-13.
  • Highlight and annotate the chapter.
  • Talk back to the chapter in at least five places.
MODERN PROSE
Wednesday and Thursday

  • You guys have been doing a turbo-good job reading, keeping your reading records updated, doing your book reports, and keeping track of your reading on your daily reading logs.  Keep up the great work!
EARTHBOOK
Wednesday
  • We read and selected almost all block, and we are close to finishing the reading.
  • Art Committee selected most of the rest of the art.
  • We talked about the staff page.
  • Layout met to sort.
  • Quote people looked for quotes.

Thursday
  • Art people went to the Public Library to finalize art selections.
  • Layout people went to Sid's to look again at paper--can we make a decision on paper color?
  • Quote people looked up quotes.
  • We read aloud and selected for about thirty minutes.


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