ECs!!

Students who stayed after with me, worked hard, and finished up their 100 words got five points EXTRA CREDIT!

Congrats Trai, Celina C, Destine D, Arianna G. Kaylin C, and Yasmin!!

100 Words

That's it, kids. You only get one hundred words to write your story! Breed Reads The Lost Hero has been curiously inhabited by your favorite superhero and you are telling what happened! How does your new character change the plot, the interaction, the sequence of events in the story of The Lost Hero?

You are writing the story from your point of view - that makes it First Person, using "I" or "me" or "we" and "us" to tell your story. You only have 100 words total to tell the entire thing from beginning to end. How will you do it?

You can, just be selective about the words that you use. Go back and count and then see where you can change parts to make it quicker, tell your story faster and see how close you can come down to 100!

I have included a Wiki page so that you may refer to it for tidbits on The Lost Hero, but remember 100 words only. Due tomorrow, for your test grade for Summer Reading!

Good luck, Heroes!
Mrs. P
The Lost Hero Wiki Page

READERCON 2014!

Rep your favorite hero on Monday!!!

Have the courage to put on the CAPE!!

I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

What will I be?!!!

Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It.

Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It:

This week we are looking at the same techniques those 6, 5, and 4 scores on the Long Write MCAS to effectively STEAL them from those writers and use them in our class practice. These techniques include the Magic Threes, Specific Details, Figurative Language, Expanded Moments, and Full Circle Endings. 

Here are some videos that may help you out from a teacher who posted these as assignments online!

Magic Threes

Specific Details for Effect

Expanded Moment

Full Circle Ending

These techniques take a regular, organized piece of writing and amps it up - not only making the writing better and more cohesive, but also more enjoyable to read. 

No one, not even teachers, want to read a boring, lifeless paper. Your personalities shine - let them shine through your writing as well! Tell your truth through every piece you write!

Remind App

So I found this new app that allows parents and students to receive text messages without worrying about numbers or data being exchanged. I'm excited to show this with Admin and see what they think! https://www.remind.com/join/mrsphelane

First drafts don't have to be perfect!

Don't forget this!

I want you to remember that REAL writers do not have to set up their first drafts with margins, or make x's between the lines. First drafts are messy; they have crossed out lines, and words written in spaces with lines and arrows pointing them. But remember, first drafts are just the beginning, and no one is perfect in the beginning. First drafts only need to be written!

You guys have done very well in creating your long write prompts, but in order for you to up your score, you will need to brainstorm, write, edit, fix, and rewrite your essays in TWO hours. That is going to take some practice.

I have loved reading your first drafts this week, and I think you will learn a lot from looking at the students's samples - bring out your inner Gordon Ramsey/Simon Cowell critic - and then looking at how you can improve the work you've already done.

Welcome to Long Write!

I don't think you will feel welcome once you get the prompt though. Unfortunately, this MCAS is called "Long Write" for a reason. You have to create at least a five paragraph essay on a topic about your feelings, or opinions, on something and back it up with stories or evidence that prove your point, all while maintaining a style, developing a voice, and telling a good story. Think you have a handle on it?

I hope so!

This week, we are focusing on getting you calibrated. That means, having you approach the task of writing a Long Write composition, then showing you examples of advanced, proficient, needs improvement, and warning pieces and seeing where your attempt fits in. From their, your teachers are going to show you some strategies on what makes some of the advanced and proficient papers work well, and ask you what you would like to learn how to do. Then we are going to have you try to fix your Long Write to incorporate these strategies into your own writing.

We want you to kick some MCAS!

We will be looking at the 2013 prompt:

People’s character traits define who they are and can help them throughout their lives. These character traits could include honesty, bravery, loyalty, compassion, determination, or creativity.In a well-developed composition, select one character trait you believe is very important in life and explain why that trait is so important.

DESE Samples from 2013 MCAS ELA 7 Long Write

The standards are as follows:
Reporting Category: Composition
Topic: 19 - Writing
Topic: 20 - Consideration of Audience and Purpose
Topic: 21 - Revising
Topic: 22 - Standard English Conventions
Standard: ELA.K-12.W.1.02 - Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. [Note: These broad types of writing include many subgenres. See Appendix A for definitions of key writing types.]

Standard: ELA.K-12.W.2.04 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Standard: ELA.K-12.W.2.05 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

One of the first things we'll be learning about each other.

 This is a poster that I like to print out for you. It shows the different ways that people can be smart. Yes, people are smart in different ways. Einstein once said, or at least, the internet tells me he said it, "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Is Einstein really talking about a fish? What the heck is he talking about?

The theme of one of my favorite poems is the similarities and differences between us. In Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B," Hughes' narrator talks through his poem. To whom do you think he is talking to? Why do you think he wants to make those connections, as well as those distinctions, from that person? If you were to write a poem like this to me, what would you want to make as your connection to me, and what would you like for me to know?

THEME FOR ENGLISH B

By Langston Hughes

The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple? 
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. 
I went to school there, then Durham, then here 
to this college on the hill above Harlem. 
I am the only colored student in my class. 
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem 
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, 
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, 
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator 
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
This is my page for English B.
1951