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.