Time flies...

...and it certainly is a challenge to keep up with school work, YES for PREP work, things to do at home, homework, making time for family and friends an fun! I know!! In the coming week or two, we need to be certain that ALL assignments that have been missed are turned in. This will boost everyone's grades. In addition to grades, however, our writing skills will improve!

It is SO important...remember that word "imperative" (?)...well, it IS imperative that everyone turns in every single assignment! To help you, we will be doing a bit more in-class work. In the meantime, let's talk about your quizzes this week.

For English/Literature, we are reading the short story "The Quickening" and re-reading the short story "Thank You, M'am." Your quiz will be in essay format and you will have a good chunk of time to work on it. To prepare, you should pay attention to who the main characters are in both “Thank You, M’am” and “The Quickening” AND how each character is alike and different. You have your quiz review sheet that was handed out on Saturday that provides you with a good review of what a great essay should contain and how it should be formatted. The good thing is that you know this essay will be on comparison/contrast of the characters of each story. To help you be prepared, you may want to put together a little brainstorming chart listing each character and how they are similar to the other characters and how they are different.

For Writing, you will have a quiz that focuses on what we have covered in class so far:
· Forms of Poetry
· Sound Devices of Poetry
· The Writing Process
· Persuasive/Argumentative Essays
· Introductions
· Conclusions
This list is also on your assignment sheet from this week. You should refer to your class notes in order to prepare. In addition, your Literature textbook has some great tips that you can review too on poetry, the writing process and essays.

Remember that I will not be in class this weekend -- I will miss it!! :-( But, you will have some homework to turn in to me still! I will pick your work up from the office during the week. Here is a list of what you need to turn in:

• Any assignment you are missing! (You will still be graded according to full credit) (Writing and English)
• Persuasion & Catchy Conclusions Assignment Sheet (Writing)
• Your next draft of the YES for PREP writing contest essay (typed, saved on your flash drive) (Writing)
• A Striking Start & Planned Out Draft Assignment Sheet (if you haven't turned it in already) -- with the writing assignments (Writing)
• Your first full drat of the YES for PREP writing contest essay (remember, this was your draft from last week that you kept to work off of for your next draft) (Writing)
• “Sharing Some Thoughts” Assignment Sheet (English)

If you have any questions for me over the weekend or during the week, please email me! I will post next week's summary of work later this weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!

Keeping on Track

Well, I know you are just as busy as me. However, I must apologize for the tardiness of my updating our site! Don't some days just go by and you don't know what happened to them? Well, I've had one of those weeks. So, let me start by posting what our homework was for the week (that is due today):

In English/Lit. we needed to finish our one-page essay on the difference between the world Dante is experiencing in "The Inferno" and that described in the poem "New World." We started this in class. Then, we were to read "For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties" by Alice Walker and answer the Literary Analysis questions (1-6) and Reading Strategy questions (7-8) on page 885 in the textbook.

Now, remember we're getting a new textbook today in English/Lit. We will be working out of it today. I have skimmed through the book and am preparing our syllabus through December based on this and the fact that we still need to complete reading Dante's Inferno. I will have this ready for us next week so we know where we are headed and what homework is due when, etc.

In Writing last week, we discussed the writing process in full. We also discussed the YES for PREP writing contest, which we will all participate in. If you recall, you have the chance of winning $200!! PLUS, I will help you with the writing process as we move through each step and this will be one of your papers I will grade you on and that you will put in your writing portfolio. Talk about taking care of business, right?! So, for homework this week, you were to decide on the book you would write about in the essay and then complete the questions listed on the "Discussion Checklist." That's it! Today, we are going to move forward in the writing process.

Now, going back to our letters to the editor. I have discussed with you that I will always have an "assignment sheet" for you each week. This keeps us all on track of what we are to be accomplishing AND it provides me with a place to assess your work. I did not receive one assignment sheet back with your letters to the editor, which means I can't grade your work. I have certainly reviewed the letters and made comments, but it will be yet another week until you receive them back. So, be certain to always turn in your assignments with your assignment sheets. When I return them, I will have filled in your rubric chart so that you understand how I have graded your work.

Okay, so that catches us up! I know you won't see this until after classes today, so let me know your thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc. Everyone keeps saying they'll post some comments! Let's do it! This site is for all of us. We can talk about the work we're doing, news in our community, news at YES for PREP, whatever you feel like...

Homework For This Week & Continued Plans...

Greetings Writing & Literature Team!

Let me first thank you for making this month be a great start to the year! You have been challenged with the classic poetry of Dante's Inferno and have shown great interest in it and have made class discussions not only interesting, but also exciting at times. In writing, you have read some deep articles about issues that mean a lot to you and next week we will send in our letters to the Editors of these newspapers. This being said, remember your homework for next week is as follows:

WRITING: Complete your letter to the Editor (remember to bring your assignment sheet to class so you can be graded on this assignment).

ENGLISH/LIT: Read Cantos VIII-XI and do a Reader Response using the 6th format (6 bulletpoints down) on the "Guide to Reader Responses" handout.

Now, as we discussed, I was going to post the Syllabus for each class. However, as we gathered may happen, our English/Literature plan will be changing. We will continue to read Dante, but we are going to incorporate other poetry, short stories, etc. into our studies. Therefore, I should have a final schedule for us this coming Saturday (or next at the latest). I thank you for your patience...know that we continue to move along nicely and this semester will be a great success for us!!

Finally, TeacherEase has been updated and the grades for the first two Reader Responses are posted. We'll start getting into the bigger assignments now, so be sure to continue the great work!!!

...and we're off!

All right! We are off to an enthusiastic start! Today in Writing class we discussed a prewriting activity guide, the "Discussion Checklist." We can use this list of questions before (and even during and after) we are working on a paper, essay, or even formal letter. Speaking of letters...we are writing one to a newspaper editor this week and next. We each chose an article that had a topic or issue that interested us. We could feel positive or negative toward the topic or issue or, possibly, simply disagreed or agreed with a statement the author made. Having picked an article from a variety of sources, including The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, The Oakland Press, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and a variety of online newspapers, we researched how exactly we could contact the editor of each. For homework, we are to brainstorm and write down the main ideas and key points (can be in an outline format or a bullet point format, etc.) we want to include in our letter. Next week we will be formatting those thoughts into a formal letter and sending it off.

Our first Literature class on Dante's The Inferno was off to quite the start as well! We had great questions regarding the text ranging from questions about symbolism to the characters to, simply, "what's going to happen in the end." I was very pleased to learn that several of us read the notes in the back of the book and some even read the foreward. Great ideas to gain a better understanding! Since we got off to a late start in class, we were unable to complete our "Cantos Charts" this week. This means we have a LOT of work to do next week. We will discuss Cantos IV-VII (pgs. 27-59), then complete the Cantos Charts for I-VII. Don't forget -- as we are reading, we need to work on our Reader Reponses too (this is done at home). As we delve into this classic piece of literature, the Reader Reponse is important and can be used as a guide during our class discussion.

I will update TeacherEase with the Reader Response assignment turned in today and post the homework for next week in there soon. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to email me! Have a great week!!

Welcome to Class!

It's that always returning "back to school" time and our first day at YES for Prep went great! After introducing ourselves in Writing class, we held a class discussion on the topics that would be imperative to study the first half of the year. The class ended with an in-class writing of an essay about "what your most important value is."

The two YES groups then came together for Literature class where we read and analyzed Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." We discussed our first reading assignment (book), which is the classic poem The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. At home this week, we need to be reading Cantos I, II and III and drafting a "Reader Response" to this first part of the book to prepare for class on September 16th.

I am hopeful this class blog for both the Writing and Literature classes will prove helpful in keeping in touch and also become a sounding board for us all to provide feedback, suggestions, ideas, etc.