Monday, March 17

Today's Learning Target: 
By the end of the day you will be able to write an argument that supports your claim (CCSS W.1)

We are writing an S.A.T. essay on the following prompt: 
Assignment: Should people who are more fortunate than others have more of a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and specific examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
        See the supplemental information for that prompt at: SAT Essay #1

As you write, be sure to do the following:
1. Be sure that you understand the question and that you are answering it. In this case, you have to discuss the idea of fortunate people being more responsible (or not) than average people.
2. Think of a specific angle before you start.
3. Come up with a very specific example to discuss. Sometimes you'll think of the example first and then decide what your angle/thesis is
4. Take a stand. Yes or no, basically. Keep your intro very short and then jump right into your example. In most cases, this means that you will start telling the story from your example (history, lit., your life)
5. Develop your idea by discussing what your example has to say about the prompt.
6. Don't let your essay be ordinary. .
C work is "Common"
B work is "Beyond common" 
A work is "Above beyond"

HOMEWORK:

You will need to finish The Bean Trees on your own over Spring Break (those two words are magic to my ears!)
I will give you about 20 minutes of time per period to work on study guides, but most of the work will need to be done at home. All of the study guides are here on the blog, so you can print them at home or simply look them up (even on a Smart Phone) and answer the questions.
Study guide 7-9 due tomorrow (Tuesday)
Study guide 10-13 due Thursday
Study guide 14-17 due Tuesday, April 1, the day after spring break

Today:
1. Write a fun group story.
2. Vocabulary for Tuesday, April 1    Vocabulary To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 1-3

“Everything you're sure is right can be wrong in another place. ” 
This I Believe essay:

Here are the official guidelines listed by National Public Radio and a link that allows you to actually submit your essay. Any of you may submit one of your own, if you'd like!

NPR This I Believe Guidelines

Here's a link that helps you find essays that have been written for This I Believe. They are arranged thematically. This I Believe essays (20,000 of them)

You need to be working on study guides at home. 1,2; 3,4; 5,6, 7-9 are all being entered today and tomorrow and you could end out with F's if  you don't do them.
Links to study guides:
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 1, 2
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 3, 4
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 5, 6
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 7-9
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 10-13

Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 14-17

If you weren't here when we wrote the SAT essay, here it is:
SAT Writing Test, Prompt #2 for March 8, 2014

Vocabulary for Friday
Work on Study Guides

March 13, 2014

PUT FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, DATE, PERIOD, AND TITLE ON ALL PAPERS!!!!!
Starting today, I will subtract 2 points for missing any of these things.
It's especially important to have YOUR LAST NAME, DATE, and PERIOD.

}:-[

Note: just in case you don't remember, here's how the hall pass work:

This I Believe--National Public Radio
Take notes on
When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things--Jody Williams

If you weren't here when we wrote the SAT essay, here it is:
SAT Writing Test, Prompt #2 for March 8, 2014

Vocabulary for Friday
Work on Study Guides

You need to be working on study guides at home. 1,2; 3,4; 5,6, 7-9 are all being entered today and tomorrow and you could end out with F's if  you don't do them.
Links to study guides:
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 1, 2
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 3, 4
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 5, 6
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 7-9
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 10-13
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 14-17

March 12, 2013

PUT FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, DATE, PERIOD, AND TITLE ON ALL PAPERS!!!!!
Starting today, I will subtract 2 points for missing any of these things.
It's especially important to have YOUR LAST NAME, DATE, and PERIOD.

}:-[

This I Believe--National Public Radio
Take notes on
When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things--Jody Williams

If you weren't here when we wrote the SAT essay, here it is:
SAT Writing Test, Prompt #2 for March 8, 2014

Vocabulary for Friday
Work on Study Guides

You need to be working on study guides at home. 1,2; 3,4; 5,6, 7-9 are all being entered today and tomorrow and you could end out with F's if  you don't do them.
Links to study guides:
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 1, 2
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 3, 4
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 5, 6
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 7-9
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 10-13
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 14-17

March 11

PUT FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, DATE, PERIOD, AND TITLE ON ALL PAPERS!!!!!
Starting today, I will subtract 2 points for missing any of these things.
It's especially important to have YOUR LAST NAME, DATE, and PERIOD.

}:-[

You need to be working on study guides at home. 1,2; 3,4; 5,6, 7-9 are all being entered today and tomorrow and you could end out with F's if  you don't do them.
Links to study guides:
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 1, 2
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 3, 4
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 5, 6
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 7-9
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 10-13
Bean Trees Study Guide for chapters 14-17

"There is More to This Life Than My Life" 3/4/14

Read "There is More to This Life Than My Life"
Take notes on it.
Beautiful nature photos
     Proxy Falls

Work on study guides. Today I'll be giving points for study guides covering chapters 1-4
Go over vocabulary for this week.
legitimate
befuddles
cicada
instill
quetzal
endeavor
catharsis
temperate
gist
legume
rhizobia

The Bean Trees Vocabulary--words  "legitimate" to "rhizobia". Quiz Friday
Sparknotes Summary of The Bean Trees . This is very helpful.

The Power of Love

HOMEWORK: Finish chapter 11 before class on Monday. You have to finish the novel next weekend.

The Bean Trees Vocabulary--words  "perturbed" to "tomatillos". Quiz today
Sparknotes Summary of The Bean Trees . This is very helpful.

Work on study guides. 

When we have 25 minutes left, we will do a creative writing piece.

The short, short story genre.
Here's Hemingway's story: "For sale: baby shoes. Never worn."
Now, write your own short, short story. Remember, it needs a beginning, and middle, and an end and must have a controlling idea. Keep in mind that fiction deals with life themes, such as loss, redemption, the quest for knowledge, etc.
Here are some examples: Short, Short Stories

Creative Writing for las
Narrative essay due Thursday, March 13
Assignment: Write a "This I Believe" essay from the perspective of one of the characters in The Bean Trees. 

Length: 3 typed, double-spaced pages
More info concerning the assignment to come later. We will finish the book by Monday, 
March 10, so you'll know all of the thoughts of Taylor and her friends and relatives by then and be able to write from their perspective. I'll be giving you a number of example essays over the next few days and I think that you'll start to see some themes in them that relate to the characters in The Bean Trees.  You will write your essay on one of these themes, or on another theme appropriate
Example essays
--Taken from This I Believe series on National Public Radio (known as NPR)
     Be Cool to the Pizza Dude--Sarah Adams
                   online text

          Notes: the four principles behind coolness to the pizza dude.
     Remembering All the Boys--Elvia Bautista
online text

           Notes: why Elvia wants to remember the boys.
     The Power of Love to Transform and to Heal--Jackie Lantry
online text      When Children Are Wanted--Margaret Sanger
online text      Everything Potent is Dangerous--Wallace Stegner
online text      In Giving I Connect With Others--Isabelle Allende
          Online Text



Draw a line under the notes you took on "The Power of Love" and then . . .
Write a paragraph telling us about a time in your own life when you have seen the power of love transform someone. You don't have to write about yourself. Feel free to tell about someone you observed or heard about. If you're having a hard time thinking of what to write, think in terms of someone's day getting better simply because someone showed that they care.