RESEARCH PAPER TURN-IN

Research papers due tomorrow. Here is how you should turn it in.

1. Put the final paper (with the works cited page) in the RIGHT HAND pocket of a two-pocket folder.

2. Put all notes, outline, and draft in the LEFT HAND pocket.

3. ON TOP of the notes, outlines, etc., put all of your sources (photocopies or printouts) in the LEFT HAND pocket.

4. Be sure to HIGHLIGHT ALL USED MATERIAL!

Yeah!!!! You're finished!!!!!

TIME TO POST!

It's time for required post #3 DUE BY THURSDAY AT 7:40. Please reflect on today's discussion over "Popular Mechanics" and "Soldier's Home."

QUESTIONS
1. Who made you think during today's discussion? What did they say that either changed your reading/interpretation of the stories, OR what did they say that you had not previously considered?

2. What additional comments or observations do you have about the stories?

**AS IN CLASS REFLECTION, PLEASE TRY NOT TO SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT OTHERS HAVE ALREADY POSTED. If someone posts what you also had for reflection, try to add something original or look at a different aspect of the story or discussion. It's ok to agree with what has already been posted, but YOU MUST ADD YOUR OWN ORIGINAL ideas as well.

**ALSO, PLEASE CONSIDER RESPONDING TO THE POSTS OF OTHERS IN YOUR REFLECTION. YOU MAY POST MORE THAN ONCE IF SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING TO WHICH YOU'D LIKE TO RESPOND.

SEMINAR TOMORROW!

We'll begin class tomorrow with a seminar over the short stories "Popular Mechanics" and "Soldier's Home."

Please come to class with at least one full page of annotations/ notes over the stories. You should all plan to participate in the discussion, and it should be clear that you have read the stories.

As you read, pay attention to the following:

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: before each story, your anthology usually includes information about the author and the story itself. This info can be really important in understanding underlying concepts and themes in the writing.

2. TIME PERIOD: often, the year of publication is included at the beginning of the work. Again, this will affect how you read the story.

3. LITERARY DEVICES: what elements of literature are used, and how does it affect the story?

4. QUESTIONS AT THE END: read the questions at the end of the story, and see if they change your ideas or enhance your understanding of the story.

As usual, I will take a grade on the seminar. Please come prepared!!!!

THE HALLOWEEN ANGELS SAY "SIGN UP FOR LITERARY TERMS!"

If you don't sign up for literary terms by Tuesday's class, you will have them assigned to you. Please choose your own on the post below ASAP.

Also, a shout out to Rachel, Sarah, Shawn, and Lauren who are cutting the Act I script. They appeared in my room during enrichment Friday and were hard at work pulling three minutes of text out of 40 minutes of Shakespeare. Way to get going right away on a challenging project. "Hooray for you!" as Meg, my 2-year-old would say.

As for the photo.....we obviously went to a Halloween party this weekend. What are you all planning to be????? Or have you left your trick-or-treating days behind?

SIGN UP NOW if you haven't already....the list of available terms is below.

LITERARY TERMS SIGNUP

It's getting more difficult to figure out what's been taken, so let's continue posting here instead of the previous posting site.

HERE'S WHAT'S LEFT:

plot
setting
allusion
resolution
stream-of-consciousness
character
theme
tone
allegory
ambiguity
colloquialism
convention
denouement
epiphany
narrator
paradox
reversal
suspense

HEROES RULE!

Heroes, you look so fierce in your masks! Great job on winning the first competition by a landslide. You are all good sports.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 20

Think about which act of Hamlet you would like to cut. Also decide with whom you would like to work. On Wednesday, you will need to choose an act and a group.

Act I needs 4 people

Act II needs 3

Act III needs 3

Act IV needs 3

Act V needs 4

Also, Mr. Hughes is coming to class on Wednesday to talk with you about what is involved with the music and set design should you choose not to perform.

We probably need AT LEAST 6 of you to perform (some of the parts are small). Everyone else can choose music or set design. If those choices don't appeal to you, we might be able to come up with something else; for the most part though it's either performing, music, or sets.

This is going to be a VERY neat project that will be seen be a variety of audiences, depending on how we put it together. Also, you will know the play EXTREMELY well by the time we finish, so that's always a good thing. Think about how you'd like to contribute.

Also, please sign up for your literary terms on the post below!

LITERARY TERMS

If you want to stake your claim on your literary terms for presentations, go ahead and post yours here. That way, everyone knows what's been taken.

Ashley has point of view and irony. Everything else is still open.

Where are my poll questions??? I know you all have it in you.

NEW POLL QUESTION (S)

I need some good poll question ideas.

My well of creativity has run dry, metaphorically speaking (see the image above for a visual).

Several of you have said you like the surveys, so here's your chance for input.

Colten already promised to come up with at least one. How about the rest of you???

ON TO GRADING PERIOD #2

(The horse is in honor of Kaity's "This I Believe" essay, offered as a distraction from her bad start to this morning!)

What a strange week this has been.......PSAT, Chinese Acrobats, recording essays, short classes! Well, we made it anyway and got our essays recorded and research drafts turned in, so all is well.

PLEASE COME GET YOUR GRADE SHEETS IF YOU HAVE TIME. I have printed them, and you may want to check yours over to make sure everything looks as you think it should.

On Monday, we WILL TAKE THE HEROES' PICTURE!!! We will do it first thing, so we don't get caught up with something else. Also, we will continue with Shakespeare and begin Hamlet. Think about your groups of 3 or 4 that you'd like to work with for cutting Acts I-V. On Monday, we will also discuss research papers and common problems, etc. PAPERS DUE ON FRIDAY of next week.

Also, you may sign up for literary terms anytime. Email me if you know what you want. First come, first serve.

FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15

Short on time today, so this will be a quick post. Here's what you need for tomorrow:

1. revised outlines

2. complete revised rough draft of research paper, INCLUDING a works cited page (I must have this to make sure you are doing this correctly).

ESSAY RECORDINGS TOMORROW!

I hope you have all practiced reading your essays slowly and clearly for tomorrow's recording. The ICATS are bringing 5 or 6 laptops, so we'll have 5-6 of you recording at a time, while others work in the library on research.

Please bring a flash drive or other such device for saving work. After I go over outlines with you, some of you will want and need to make changes to both your outlines and your drafts.

HEROES....WE'LL TAKE YOUR PHOTO TOMORROW. PLAN TO LOOK HEROIC!

CITING SOURCES

I have added a link to a very helpful page that addresses citations for MLA format (scroll down to "Helpful Links"). The topic that you'll get when you click on it is "in-text citations"; however, if you scroll to the bottom you'll see links to all the MLA Format subjects. As much as I hated to link you to a Purdue site, this one is good. See you tomorrow.

TIME TO POST

It's time for another REQUIRED POST. Please respond to the following questions by TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 by 7:40 A.M.

1. What novel are you reading for the research paper, and who is the author?

2. How interesting and engaging have you found the novel; basically, was it a good choice for you?

3. What are you finding most difficult with your research right now?

4. What can I do to help you?

5. What should you do to better help yourself?

I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A PRODUCTIVE DAY TODAY. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, OR NEED ME TO LOOK AT ANYTHING RESEARCH RELATED, STOP BY TOMORROW WHEN YOU HAVE TIME. WE WILL TALK ABOUT IN-TEXT CITATIONS AND WORKS CITED PAGES ON THURSDAY.

ALSO, WE STILL HAVE SOME "THIS I BELIEVE" ESSAYS TO READ ON THURSDAY!

HEROES, WE NEED TO TAKE YOUR WINNING PHOTO.

OUTLINE

Your typed outline should be a total of 18-22 COMPLETE SENTENCES. You should follow the template of the outline worksheet I gave you in class.

REMEMBER.....EVERYTHING IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. Begin the outline with your thesis statement (as shown on the worksheet), and go from there.

TUESDAY'S CLASS

Ok, guys. Thanks to a plea from Rachel, I will let you turn in the typed outline on Thursday. You should then have a THREE PAGE DRAFT for the following Tuesday, since you are getting extra time.

I am about to leave school to run my children to various lessons and activities, and I won't be back at a computer until after 8 p.m. I will update the blog tonight regarding tomorrow's class.

So, the important thing for you to know is that you WILL be in the library tomorrow during the first half of class. You WILL be expected to spend the class period on research. You WON'T need to turn in the typed outline until Thursday. I hope this is good news to you. If so, you owe Rachel.

More later....

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3

I've gone over and graded thesis statements for all who turned one in on Friday. If you'd like me to go over it with you, stop by when you have time. It will probably make your work time on Tuesday more productive.

NEED FEEDBACK ON YOUR THESIS STATEMENT? STOP BY ROOM 350!

The smiley face is in honor of Alyssa's "This I Believe" essay. It's also for you to look at in case you feel cranky about the research paper. If you keep up with your reading and writing assignments, we will work together on organizing your paper. Just try your best and think positively!!! There will be much more opportunity for guidance on your paper.

This brings me to THESIS STATEMENTS: I am in the process of going through each of your thesis statements, and in some cases going ahead and starting an outline for you as well. I have tried to write enough comments and suggestions to help get you to the next step, especially since I won't see you until Thursday.

Please stop by when you get time to talk about your thesis statement. I have some of them finished now, and I should have all of them finished by Monday. If you don't get a chance to come by the room, I'll leave your graded thesis statement in your mailbox in the back of the room (in the crate labeled "1").

THIS I BELIEVE ESSAYS

Great job on the essays we read today. I can't believe I forgot about the pep assembly!!!!! Sorry to those of you who didn't get to read yours. We'll look forward to hearing from you on Thursday.

I enjoyed all of the essays......I especially loved Lauren's analogy comparing the isolation at the lunch table to the social structure of life.

I also loved Sara F.'s belief statement that everyone is an artist. I don't think of myself that way, but her essay made me start thinking about different areas of my own life that really do require the "artist" in me.

Also, Alyssa's essay about the importance of smiling was about a simple concept, but the essay points out how much good it can do for someone to be the recipient of a smile; it represents so much more than what it seems on the surface. I'm not sure any of us spend as much time smiling as we could or should.

I enjoyed every essay read today. They were all creative and definitely unique. Round 2 on Thursday!

DON'T FORGET TO RESPOND TO THE FIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BLOG IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!! THIS MUST BE DONE BY MONDAY, OCTOBER 6.

HEROES WIN!

Great Job to the fast-posting Heroes! We will have to take a lovely blog photo next week to break up the monotony of research. While the Heroes may not be gregarious talkers, you've proven yourselves to be formidable posters. Good teamwork.

IGUANAS???? WHAT HAPPENED? I KNOW YOU KNEW THE ANSWERS!! In your defense, however, your discussion of the "This I Believe" essays was very insightful. I liked Max's comment about the 16-year-old who managed to include positive historical events to balance out the negative. Also, Tamara's comment connecting the author who believed in poetry to her own experiences was good. As a group, you had a very nice mini-discussion.

As for today's class.....I really enjoyed reading your essay drafts. Your belief statements were all very different and creative. Remember that these are PERSONAL essays, so by definition you are including personal information. Don't completely leave that part out or the essay won't be as effective. Overall, though, nice job on these. I can't wait to hear them on Friday.

PLEASE REVIEW THE GUIDELINES FOR THESE ESSAYS (DOWN A COUPLE OF POSTS).

Keep reading those research novels. We'll talk about sources on Friday.

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET RESPONDED TO THE BLOG POST ASSIGNMENT (SEE LAST WEEK'S POST WITH MY PHOTO), YOU MUST DO THIS BY OCTOBER 6!