We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 31, 2014

Focus: How can we improve our vocabularies and our reading skills?

1. Warming up: A few minutes to review SAT List 11 and ask any last minute questions

2. Testing your SAT prowess with the List 11 quiz

3. Reading your brand new memoir

4. Sending your future self a little note about your memoir using thelittlememory.com

HW:
1. Spend 30 minutes with your memoir this weekend.

2. For MONDAY: Using the No Fear Shakespeare version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (which you can access on the class website or by clicking HERE), read Act 1, scene 1, lines 1-212.

In your "Thou Doest Thine Homework" document, please make a list of all characters you meet in Act 1, scene 1, and, as specifically as possible, tell what each character wants. Support each response with a quotation from the play (in the original Shakespearean). This will be worth 20 points in the Growth category because, yes, it's that important.

3. Go Broncos.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 30, 2014

Focus: What inferences can we make about A Midsummer Night's Dream to build context? In other words, what do you think this play is about?

3rd hour: During announcements, please post on today's blog one association you have with the word "midsummer" and one association you have with the word "dream."  For example, I associate the word "midsummer" with taking vacations and spending endless hours with friends.

1. Warming up: Tossing lines from Act 1, scene 1

Before we toss...

• Who has a card with a word you don't know?
• Who has a card with words you can't pronounce?
• Practice saying your line.

After we toss...

• Type in "Ye Ole Daily Log" as many lines as you can remember.
• What can we infer about what's happening in this scene?
• Where does the scene occur?
• Who is involved?
• What are some of the conflicts?

2. Exploring the cast of characters and making inferences about their hierarchy of power (with a partner)

3. Starting to read Act, scene 1 as a class and bringing spacial order to the lovers' complex relationships with a graphic organizer

4. Wrapping up: Looking back to your associations with "midsummer" and "dream," as well as your notes in "Ye Ole Daily Log," make one complex inference about the play by completing this statement: I think A Midsummer Night's Dream is about ____________, but it also seems to be about ____________.

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Using the No Fear Shakespeare version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (which you can access on the class website or by clicking HERE), read Act 1, scene 1, lines 1-212.

In your "Thou Doest Thine Homework" document, please make a list of all characters you meet in Act 1, scene 1, and, as specifically as possible, tell what each character wants. Support each response with a quotation from the play (in the original Shakespearean). This will be worth 20 points in the Growth category because, yes, it's that important.

2. SAT List 11 vocabulary quiz on Friday; bring your memoir independent reading book to class.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 29, 2014

PLC: Shortened Class

Focus: How can we get comfortable with Shakespeare?

3rd hour: During announcements, please post on today's blog the following two items:

• When it comes to Shakespeare, what do you find the most challenging/frustrating?
• What's one thing that's worked well in your past classes that have studied Shakespeare?

1. Warming up: One quick round of Scattegories and passing notes using vocabulary

2. "Translating" your notes into Shakespearean

3. Setting up your Midsummer Google folders and sharing them with me: kleclaire@lps.k12.co.us

Include your LAST NAME and the word "Midsummer" in your folder name.  For a gold star, make it sound Shakespearean.

Start two documents inside that folder:

a. "Ye Ole Daily Log": This is where you'll record all in-class work.
b. "Thou Doest Thine Homework": This is where you'll put all of your homework for this unit.
c. Make sure these two documents are inside your folder, and that this folder is shared with me.

4. Distributing the books and judging them by their covers

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Using the No Fear Shakespeare version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (which you can access on the class website or by clicking HERE), read Act 1, scene 1, lines 1-212.

In your "Thou Doest Thine Homework" document, please make a list of all characters you meet in Act 1, scene 1, and, as specifically as possible, tell what each character wants. Support each response with a quotation from the play (in the original Shakespearean). This will be worth 20 points in the Growth category because, yes, it's that important.

2. SAT List 11 vocabulary quiz on Friday; bring your memoir independent reading book to class.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 28, 2014

Focus: What can we learn by listening to others' memoirs?

3rd hour: During announcements, please mark on your final drafts the piece that you plan to share with the class. In the margins, write down why you have chosen this portion.  If you're going to read the entire memoir, please note that at the top.

1. Warming up: Establishing the rules of the reading

• We listen.
• We show respect.
• We're okay with being a little vulnerable.
• We snap.

2. Setting up the order of readings

3. Sharing our memoirs with the class

4. Reflecting on how it went (if time allows) and turning in your final drafts

HW:
1. SAT List 11 flashcards due tomorrow.

2. If you'd like to purchase the No Fear version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, start bringing it to class tomorrow (there is also a free online version linked to the class website, but it does have ads).

3. This Friday you will take your first SAT vocabulary quiz on List 11; bring your memoir independent reading book to class as well.

4. Optional: Consider submitting your memoir to the Muse.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 27, 2014

Focus: What final edits does my memoir need?

1. Warming up with "The Power of Vulnerability"

Before you watch...

Define the following in your own words:

• Vulnerability
• Courage
• Shame

As you watch...

How does the speaker identify/define the three words above?

After you watch...

What does this have to do with memoir writing and tomorrow's reading?

2. Cleaning up the little details

• Does your memoir have an MLA heading?
• Does it have an original title?
• Does it have page numbers?
• Is it in 12 point font (or smaller)?
• Is it double spaced?

3. Enjoying a quick lesson on sentence variety, then peer or self editing using the rubric

4. Revising (for the final time) based on the rubric, my feedback, and today's edits

HW:

1. Final draft due tomorrow; be sure to print your final copy BEFORE class.

2. SAT List 11 flashcards due Wednesday.

3. Bring a copy of your memoir independent reading book to class on Friday.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 24, 2014

Winter Assembly: Shortened Class

Focus: How can I strengthen the language in my memoir?

1. Warming up with a little new SAT vocabulary: Scattegories

2. Attacking boring verbs

Imagine this: Jack walked into a room.  Only "walked" is kind of a boring word, so let's get more specific. Replace the word "walked" with a synonym that conveys an emotion.

a. Example: Anger: Jack stormed into the room.

b. Sadness

c. Exhaustion

d. Fear

e. Joy


Now try it with this sentence: Ms. Leclaire said to sit down. Replace the word "said" using the above list of emotions.

Now try it in your own writing: Where do you use boring or vague verbs that you could replace with a word that conveys emotion and meaning?


3.  Getting at the metaphor: Trying out figurative language

4. Wrapping up: Please type at the top of your rough draft what you most like feedback on (pick one or two specific aspects of your memoir)

HW:
1. Final drafts of memoirs are due Tuesday; please print a hard copy with an MLA heading and page numbers before class.

2. SAT List 11 flashcards are due Wednesday.

3. Bring your memoir independent reading books to class on Friday.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 23, 2014

Focus: Where do I need to speed up the pace in my memoir?

1. Warming up: A mini lesson brought to you by the opening clip from Up

As you watch...

• Find at least 10 details/images that reveal something about Ellie and Carl's relationship

• Next to each detail/image, explain what specific aspect of their relationship it reveals. 

After you watch...

• The clip itself is less than five minutes long, but about how much time did it capture?

• What techniques did the film use to capture their relationship?

• Imagine that instead of showing these clips, a voice-over simply explained, "Ellie and Carl married young and revamped an old house. They wanted to have children, but when they found out they couldn't, they made plans to travel. They never fulfilled those plans, and Ellie eventually grew ill and passed away." What do we lose when someone tells us this story instead of showing it?

• A take-away: Speeding up doesn't just mean summarizing what happened. It means selecting a few key details that show us what happened without taking pages and pages to explore an event that's not central to your story.

2. Exploring pacing in a sample Sherman Alexie memoir

3. Figuring out pacing in your story:

• Are there places where you need to speed up? Look for places that are the least related to your turning point.  If they don't have much to do with your turning point but are merely informational, you can probably speed up.

• Are there places where you could replace a general summary with a few concrete details instead?
• An example:
• Summarizing: I went from one class to another. It was just a normal school day.
• 
  
• Revised: It's 7:21 am. My day starts off with my favorite class, English 10, and then I move through Algebra II, to World Geography, where I forgot my homework for the third time in a row, and then finally to lunch at Chipotle. 

4. Glimpsing the rubric (it's a work in progress), offering feedback on the rubric itself, and using the rubric to edit and revise your essay or your partner's

HW:
1. Continue editing your essay for sensory imagery, slowed down moments, structure, showing (not telling), and sped up moments.

2. Acquire the memoir you're going to read by next Friday, January 31.

3. The FINAL DRAFT of your memoir is now due next Tuesday, January 28.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 22, 2014

Focus: How can I strengthen my memoir through workshop?

Please turn in your signed memoir proposal.

1. Warm-up: Showing vs. telling

• Mini lesson: Translating idea to image, abstract to concrete

• Practicing with showing vs. telling

• Putting it into practice with your own writing: Find a place where you tell an emotion (i.e. "I was really scared") and translate it into an image to show us that emotion instead.

2. Workshop #1: Explaining the rules of workshop and editing each other's drafts (or your own)

3. Revising your draft based on today's workshop

HW:
Continue editing your draft; draft #2 due at the beginning of class tomorrow. Here are the requirements:

• At least three pages in length
• Strong imagery using all five senses
• Slowed-down moments
• Elements of plot structure (exposition, rising action, turning point, falling action, resolution)
• Showing not telling

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 21, 2014

Focus: How I turn my jumbled writing into something that resembles a story?

1. Warm-up: Slowing down a moment

2. Browsing sample memoirs for slowed-down moments and sensory imagery

• Where does the author slow down to describe a moment?

• How does the author slow down (what techniques does he or she use)?

• Why did the author pick those moments to slow down? What makes these slowed-down moments work?

3. Thinking about the structure of your memoir

Exposition: Description/action/information that sets up background for your story, such as characters, time, and place

Rising action: Events that lead up to your story's turning point

Climax / turning point: The most important moment of the whole story...the moment that causes a change in the narrator

Falling action / resolution: The events after the turning point and the story's conclusion.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw5NFlXPmTw3SW5WSnJUcll0LUk/edit?usp=sharing


Central conflict:  Sam vs. _________________

4. Sorting out the structure in your story (see graphic organizer)

Tips:

• Use sensory imagery (all five senses) to slow down significant moments.

• The turning point of your story should be a slowed-down moment, but it doesn't have to be the only one.

• Think about where your story is weak right now in terms of structure, and add to that part.  For example, if you don't have much rising action because your story jumps to the turning point, then think about what thoughts, events, etc. lead to the turning point and include those. Build the tension and conflict!

HW:
1. Signed memoir proposal due tomorrow; click HERE for the proposal form.

2. Finish the structure graphic organizer for your story if you did not finish in class; then, edit your draft to establish some structure (use the worksheet as a guide).

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 17, 2014

Focus: How do I develop my memoir?

1. Finding a memoir to read...

Try clicking HERE for ideas.

Or, try clicking HERE if you'd like to read a memoir that's really popular right now.

Or, try clicking HERE if you'd like to read memoirs geared towards teenagers.

Or, try clicking HERE for memoirs geared towards guys.

Or, try clicking HERE for memoirs geared towards the ladies.


2. Warm-up: Using your five sentences to explore a few different photographic places

3. Revising your writing: Get together with your one o'clock partner.
Your peer editing task:

• Color code the imagery in your partner's writing.  Choose one color for sight, one for sound, one for taste, one for smell, and one for touch.  

• Suggest places in your partner's writing where he or she could add imagery of a different sense (not just sight).

4. Editing your own writing (if you have three good pages that incorporate sensory imagery by the end of class, you get the weekend off from writing.)

HW:

1. By Tuesday, you need three edited pages TOTAL of writing that incorporate sensory imagery (preferably using all five senses).

2. Decide on what memoir you'd like to read by Wednesday; this is when your signed proposal is due.

Please click HERE for the proposal (you'll need to print this on your own, please).

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 16, 2014

Focus: How can we create a three-dimensional universe in our memoir writing?

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

YOUR FIRST DRAFT IS DUE AT THE END OF CLASS TODAY.

MS. LECLAIRE WILL BE  GRADING YOU BASED ON EFFORT AND PROGRESS MADE IN THE TIME FRAME OF CLASS TODAY (25 points in the Growth category).

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR ROUGH DRAFT IS SHARED WITH ME. IF YOUR ROUGH DRAFT IS NOT SHARED WITH ME, YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO.

My e-mail address: kleclaire@lps.k12.co.us

Also, 1st and 3rd hours need to post their premise (the one-sentence summary of your memoir) on the class blog.  See yesterday's class blog for examples from 6th hour.

1. Warm-up: Experiencing your five senses in action with a little clip (Mrs. Makovsky: click HERE)

a. First, you're going to LISTEN to the clip without watching it.  Just by listening, gather as much information as you can.  In your warm-ups document, type responses to the following:

• Where is this scene taking place?  
• What noises let you know where this place is?
• What series of events unfold?
• How many characters can you hear?
• What can you infer about each character based on what they say?

b. Then, you're going to WATCH the clip without the sound.  Just by watching, add onto the information you typed above while listening to the clip.

c. Follow-up conversation:
What did you learn from watching the clip that you didn't get just from listening to it?
Which provoked a stronger sense of scene for you--sound, or vision?

d. The big idea:
Think about how much more powerful this would be if you could feel the vibrations of the airplane, smell that weird sterile smell of airplanes, taste what the characters were drinking and eating, etc.

Most writers use only their sense of sight when they start writing.  This is like watching the clip without sound; it offers the reader a two-dimensional picture, rather than a three-dimensional universe.  When you write and revise, strive to incorporate all five senses.  Strive to create a complete universe.

2. Editing your own writing and continuing to draft: Based on today's lesson, make edits to your writing to incorporate all five senses. Continue working hard on your draft until the end of class.  Add at least one more page by tomorrow.

HW:
1. Finish editing your draft to incorporate your five senses.

2. Add at least one more page to your draft so that you walk in tomorrow with two to three typed, double-spaced pages.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 15, 2014

Focus: How can I start to put this draft together?

1. Warm-up for 1st and 3rd hours: Finish reading Sedaris' story with the following questions in mind:

a. What do you think makes this story work? In other words, what did you like and why?
b. How does the narrator subtly change throughout the story, and what instigates these changes?

1. Warm-up for 6th hour:

• Use any of the following topics to inspire a good ten minutes of writing:
• Your first day of kindergarten
• Learning to ride your bike
• Learning to drive a car
• Getting into trouble at school
• A time in which your friend was mean to you
• Getting punished by your parents
• The first time you asked someone out
• The first time someone asked you out
• The first time you got dumped
• The first time you dumped someone
• The first time you had to perform something in front of a crowd

2. Writing your premise:

a. Please read over the examples together and then compose your own (feel free to compose a few if you're not yet sure what to write about).
b. Publish your premise on today's blog.

3.  Starting that first draft...

a. Read back over the memoir overview to remind yourself of the purpose of this writing.
b. Read over your object writing, your random autobiography, any other warm-ups we have done in class to figure out what event (or series of small events) you'd like to write about.
c. Just start writing!  Silence that overactive, self-editing critic.  You'll have plenty of time for critiquing later.
d. Remember the two rules:

• It must be quiet.
• You must use the entire time to write.  Just write.

HW:
Finish at least the first two pages of your draft (typed, double spaced). This is a must.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 14, 2014

Focus: Which story am I going to tell for my memoir?

Please turn in your signed class policies and your LWG books.

1. Warm-up: Looking over the Random Autobiography lines posted on yesterday's blog (you'll see ones from all three classes).

FIRST...

• Please comment on five different people's lines.
• Always, always be respectful of each other's writing (we're not critiquing, just commenting and questioning).
• The more specific your comment is, the better.

THEN....

• Use any of the following topics to inspire a good ten minutes of writing:
• Your first day of kindergarten
• Learning to ride your bike
• Learning to drive a car
• Getting into trouble at school
• A time in which your friend was mean to you
• Getting punished by your parents
• The first time you asked someone out
• The first time someone asked you out
• The first time you got dumped
• The first time you dumped someone
• The first time you had to perform something in front of a crowd

2. Setting up your "Clock Peer Editors"

3. Reading a sample short memoir together (by David Sedaris), with two questions in mind:

Which parts of this story grab you and why?
How does the narrator subtly change throughout the story? What brings about these changes?

4. Viewing yourself as a character:

Pretend that you see yourself walking into a room.  What's your first impression of yourself? What stands out about you? Think about what you're wearing, the way you carry yourself, the way you talk to other people, etc.

Optional: Extend this exercise by changing the "room" you are entering. How does this change your impression?


HW: 
1. Finish the exercise above if we did not finish it (or even get to it) today.

2. Walk in tomorrow with a strong idea about which "moment of change" you want to write about.  You will be asked to compose a premise for it, to chart out your plotline, and to start writing.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 13, 2014

Focus: Which parts of your life might be worth writing about?

Sharing your weirdest poem ever? Any takers?

1. Telling stories about your object (small groups); writing about your object using 25 prompts

2. Overviewing the purpose and details of the memoir unit

3. Writing your random autobiography: Click HERE for ideas on how to start and examples.

4. Sharing your writing on a voluntary basis

HW:
1. Finish your random autobiography if you did not finish in class.  Pick any 3-5 lines from your random autobiography and publish them on today's blog. They can be consecutive lines or separate lines.

2. Reread the overview of the memoir unit and highlight any parts of your random autobiography and your object writing (in other words, any of the writing you did today in class) that might work for this assignment.  In other words, which moments described in your poem might be developed into a longer writing about a moment of change?

3. Signed class policies due tomorrow at the beginning of class.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 10, 2014

Shortened class today

Focus: What are we up to second semester?

1. Welcoming you back and moving forward

2. Overviewing the syllabus and class policies for second semester

3. Exploring the memoir unit and trying out our first prompt: Telling Lies

P.S. If you have your school copy of A Long Way Gone, please turn it in today (de-sticky noted).

HW:
1. On Monday, bring in an object of particular meaning from your childhood.
2. Signed class policies are due on Tuesday.
3. Monday is the last day to turn in A Long Way Gone before I issue fines. Please take out your sticky notes prior to turning it in.

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 8, 2014

Focus: Do you remember that school is a fun, safe place?

1. Optional:  Finishing your stories...and the rest of the letter is up to you.  If' you'd like a grade, please take some time with it and indicate at the very top that you are doing this for a grade.

2. Enjoying school, Sam-style

HW:
1. Take care of yourself.
2. E-mail me if there's anything strange about your grades.
3. Turn in your school copy of A Long Way Gone (de-annotated).

We're English 10 Nerds and Loving It: January 7, 2014

Focus: So what happens now?

From our Fall 2013 Class Policies:

What is the purpose of English 10?

In this class we read, write, and expand our ways of thinking.  We ask good questions.  We write and write, and then we write some more.  We examine heroism and villainy in the world around us, and we explore our own heroic journeys (yes—we get to be heroes, too).

1. Welcoming you back and explaining what's going to happen in English 10 this week

• You are NOT expected to complete or present your projects on cultures of violence.

• You will be given full credit for all preparation work completed before December 13th; this will be a 100% in the Mastery category. This is half of the green rubric given out during the last week of class.

• During the finals periods Wednesday and Thursday, you will be asked to compose a letter about healing (details will be given out at the end of class) and to share at least part of it. This will form the other half of your final exam grade and will be entered in the Mastery category.

• You are expected to be here for both the MWF final and the TR final; in other words, you will come to class both Wednesday and Thursday.

• Friday will be the first day of second semester.

2. Collecting your contact information:

1st Hour: Please click HERE.

3rd Hour: Please click HERE.

6th Hour: Please click HERE.

3. Sharing my letter with you and inviting you to compose your own

Some thoughts...

• Tell your story.
• What are some of the things that you're having to deal with right now?
• What is it going to take for you personally to heal from this? What about your friends? Our school as a whole?
• What will you have to let go of?
• What will you have to hold onto?
• Can you make any connections to the healing aspect of your project on a culture of violence?

HW:
1. Take care of yourself and each other.
2. Check over your grades and e-mail me ASAP if anything looks weird.
3. Bring your A Long Way Gone books to class tomorrow to turn in.