Monday, 1/4/2010

Happy New Year, People!  And Welcome Back!

MODERN PROSE

• I conferenced with over half the class about how they're doing on their reading.
• I put in make-up reading as needed.
• I conferenced with several people about their books.
• We read for about seventy minutes.

AP

Saying Good-Bye to Mango Street

• We talked about motifs, themes, and the difference between them.
• I explained the requirements for the timed writing.
• We had twenty-five minutes to type, print, and turn in our outlines.

Peer Conferencing

• People handed in their two-page typed drafts of the Graduation Essays.
• I scanned them, made a brief comment or two, then handed them back.
• We partnered up for a peer conference (directions on neon green handout), and we took about twenty-five minutes to thoughtfully complete that.

Time

• The last ten minutes we spent talking about time.  
• I handed out the requirements for the time free write (due tomorrow).  Write/Type for between one and two pages.
• This is preparation for starting William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, which we'll start reading tomorrow.

CREATIVE WRITING

Housekeeping

• I had people pass back a bunch of papers.
• Taylor handed out the new/last textbook section on REVISION.

Revision

• I went over page what we're going the next five days, as outlined on page 79.
• We talked about what revision actually is.  We spent time practicing the four ways to revise--add, subtract, substitute, transpose (p. 80).  We shared our answers, and we discussed them.
• I handed out the Revision and Portfolio Thinking sheet.  I explained it, and I waited as people completed it.  We talked a lot about how to tell if something needs revision, or if it might just need editing.  We also shared some portfolio ideas.
• To show people the process they're about to go through, I had people look at Nick's poem on page 91--the first draft.  Then we compared it to his second, REVISED draft on page 89.  We talked about what changes Nick had made.  I pointed out that this was what everyone was about to do--take the first draft of a poem, and revise it to a second draft.

Workshop

• We had thirty minutes to work.

Homework

• Two second drafts--revised substantially--of the poems are due tomorrow when you walk in.