Happy Holidays!

We have spent this last week of December working on poem writing and poem analysis.  On Monday, students read a poem titled, "The Chimney Sweeper," and they were asked to "put their thinking on the page."  We then discussed each stanza together.  On Wednesday, we will consider the poetic devices used by William Blake in the poem, and we will learn about line and stanza breaks when writing our own poems.

Over the break, students should be thinking about the poetry project, and which song they might like to select to analyze.  Please email me over the break if you would like to check the appropriateness of your song: msbarsky@yahoo.ca.

I hope you all have a safe and restful break.  I look forward to working with you again in 2013.

Guess what I forgot to do?

I forgot to post the paragraph we wrote together.  Sorry.

I will post it this weekend.  I promise.

Enjoy your weekend!  Keep working on those protest poems!  (Remember?  The one about the invisible worker, or silenced voice, or morally reprehensible job).

Theme Statements and Paragraph Writing

We spent the first part of today's class reviewing the final stanza of the poem, "As in the Beginning."  A major focal point of this discussion was the strategies you can use to help yourself make sense of a poem.  Remember to consider line length, stanza breaks, punctuation, poetic devices and word choice (among other things!) as you read.

After we read through the poem together, we worked to develop a theme statement.  We discussed the importance of creating a theme statement which addresses the entirety of the poem: one that is neither too specific nor too broad.  For this poem, we agreed that the following sentence accurately captures the theme:  Many companies believe that financial compensation is sufficient pay back for a workplace injury; however, there is truly no paying back the loss experienced by an individual and his/her family.  We acknowledged that many lines and phrases from this poem would support this theme statement.

To conclude the class, students wrote a paragraph on the theme of the poem, demonstrating their current ability to write a formal, academic paragraph.  The information I get about strengths and areas for further improvement will guide the direction of future lessons.

"As in the Beginning"

After completing a pre-reading activity called, "What's In, What's Out," students were asked to make a prediction about the poem.

We then read the poem together, and students selected three words/phrases/lines that resonated with them, and they "GOSSIP"ed about these lines.  We discussed which lines stood out for us, and why.

We then began to analyze the poem as a class, and Ms. Barsky is sharing strategies for understanding poetry.  

Introduction to Poetry

After clarifying Term One assignments and updating work portfolios, we dove into our poetry unit.

We began with a reading of "The Sneetches" by Dr. Suess.  I pointed out that we can learn a lot from a guy like Dr. Suess....  Poetry can be fun.  It allows us to play with and manipulate language.  It doesn't follow many rules.  And, it can convey important messages about social injustices.

Our poetry unit will be centered on this theme of social justice.  Yesterday, students spent time in small groups, reading three poems and recording their impressions of them.  We will finish off with poem three next class, and then students will submit their thinking to me.

Organizing Text and Organizing Portfolios

Last class we went over a few things.  After going through a self-assessment sheet together, we moved on to looking at the use of commas for standard conjunctions.  Remember FANBOYS?

FANBOYS is when you combine two sentences together using a comma and a conjunction like for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

For example, I went to the park, and I bought a popsicle.

Remember that this construction requires two complete sentences with subject, object, and verb.  Handouts will be given out next class for your binder.

We then attempted to organize the chunks of text that the students will be reading for next class.  Students were told that they should pay attention to how the text is blocked in their learning log, and comment on what sort of effect this creates.

For next class, please read "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried".  For those of you who haven't already, please complete your narrative package in order to hand in to me.

The narrative package consists of a self assessment rubric, a peer-editing sheet, a narrative worksheet, a rough draft, and a final draft.

A copy of the self-assessment sheet can be found below.  See you in class!

Self-Assessment Rubric: Narrative Package

Please give yourself a score out of 5, and provide some justification as to why you gave yourself this score.

Criteria	Score (out of 5)	Justification
Through your narrative package, can you easily track the learning that you have done? Have you included all parts – worksheet, peer-editing sheet, rough draft, and final?
Have you followed the suggestions that were given to you by your peers? If you have not, explain your reasoning.
How much thought and effort have you put into writing your narrative?
How is the overall quality of the work? Think about grammar and spelling errors, the form and ordering of the narrative, and the stylistic presence of the piece.

Any final remarks:

Peer Editing/Terry Fox

We had a short class today, but many important announcements!

Students are required to bring in their edited narrative to class this coming Tuesday to hand in.  With it, attach your rough draft, your narrative worksheet, and your peer editing worksheet.

So Tuesday = narrative package.
- rough draft
- good copy
- narrative worksheet
- peer editing worksheet

Get someone to peer edit you wrok over the weekend if you didn't bring in your work today.  Make sure to have the person focus on the criteria that is set out on the sheet.

This is super important, so make sure you compile all of the parts.  We will be moving onto a new topic next class :)

Also, the 'three things' slip should be returned to me by Tuesday.  This is important so that we can participate in this activity as a class.

Please copy and paste the following info if you are missing either the narrative worksheet or the peer editing sheet.

Peer Editing Worksheet

Name of Editor:                                                         

Name of Author:                                                        

Believable Criteria

Criteria	Comments
How believable is the narrative?  Write any suggestions as to how the author could make the narrative more believable.
How interesting is the narrative?  Write any suggestions as to how the author could spice up their narrative.
How is the overall quality of the work?  Think about grammar and spelling errors, the form and ordering of the narrative, and the stylistic presence of the piece.

Additional Comments:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Writing a Believable Narrative

Step 1: Think of an instance in your life that is memorable.  It can be a happy event, a sad event, an exciting event, or any other thing that stands out in your memory.  If you can't think of anything, make something up!  Just make sure that you can visualize what happened.

Record what the event is:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Step 2: Share your memorable event with a partner.  Between the two of you, Brainstorm ideas of how you can make your event more exciting.

Brainstorm:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Step 3: Go back to the criteria that you created for believable narratives.  Make sure that your list of alterations (step 2: brainstorm) coincides with your criteria.  Make any necessary adjustments.

Adjusted Brainstorm:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Step 4: Once you've altered the contents of your event, share your story with a new partner.  Have them focus on how believable your story is, and ask them for any input.

Record new partner's input:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Step 5: With all adjustments made and on a separate piece of paper, please write your memorable event.  Make sure to balance making your narrative both exciting and believable.  Once complete, hand in your story and this worksheet.  Minimum 300 words.

See you Tuesday!

Writing a Memoir

Today we looked at how introductions set the tone for the rest of the story before starting to write our own.  To start off, partners were challenged to match different novel introductions with the appropriate text (title, author, and genre were given).  We then went through the answers, highlighting a couple of different ways that these sentences reveal future content.  Specifically, we talked about tone, style, description, and specific word choice.

Students then worked with their new partners in order to develop their narrative before writing.  They had a series of steps to go through before they could do the written portion, including brain-storming ways to make the story more exciting and believable.  The rest of the time was spent working on their memoirs.

Students are expected to come to the next class with their completed memoirs in order to do a peer-editing workshop.

The decision has been passed!  We will be working on lit circles next, not poetry.

Believable Storytelling

We started the class off with an activity designed to tests students ability to make stories up based off of different scenarios that they received.  Students were challenged to convince the person next to them that their story was true.

We then went through "The Harvest" and underlined passages that seemed less believable than others.  After going through the text together, we decided, as a class, upon what tipped us off to what was believable criteria.  Once again, we worked with our learning log to show the progression of our ideas.

The class was told to expect to work on writing a narrative next class

Telling Tall Tales

Miss Van D went over last day's writing assignment and clarified for students what is expected.  She has asked that students have this assignment prepared for Monday.  Please see her if any further clarification is needed.

Then, students were asked to create two lies and a truth to share with a partner, in anticipation of a lesson on memoir and narrative.  After Miss Van D shared her lies and truth, students shared with a partner.  Miss Van D then read aloud a narrative written by her grandmother, and asked students to try to discern whether it was truthful or not. 

Students can expect a follow-up lesson on memoir and narrative, on Monday.

Meet Miss Van D!

Miss Van Doorninck took over teaching the class today - welcome Miss Van D!  She began class with an overview of her expectations, and then gave the class a "pop quiz"... all questions were about her. 

After a lively round of People Bingo, students listened to Miss Van D read a short story aloud, called "A Friend of Mine."  They were then asked to spend some time analyzing the character in the story, specifically to make a list of traits, supported by evidence from the story.

Remember that Monday is a Day One!  Remember, also, to bring me your "All About Me" assignment!

Show me your story!

Today, students completed a narrative writing sample, so that I can see what you already know and are able to do with narrative writing.  Your piece will serve as a formative assessment tool for me, in that it will show me where your strengths are and which areas need more improvement.  Your writing sample will not be marked; however, I will provide you with some descriptive feedback, so that you know what you should continue doing and what you should consider changing/adding for next time.

Please remember to finish up and bring your "All About Me" assignments!

Welcome Back!

Today, the class spent time answering questions about what it means to be part of the Cariboo Hill community, in order to provide staff with authentic feedback for their Pro-D Day discussions.

Then, I distributed the course outline, which gives an overview of all that students can expect this year. 

Finally, students were given time to work on their "About Me" assignments, and I have asked that those be handed in to me next week, on either Tuesday or Thursday.  Again, my intent is to learn more about your interests and hobbies.