October Agendas
English Language Arts 2009
October 1, 2009
• CW:
Hand in Independent Reading Journal
Daily Edit-Apostrophe
Freewrite #4
Introduction to figurative language and
the elements of style
• My Name/group readings/share out
• What are the features of the vignette
genre?
October 1, 2009
• HW:
Read for twenty minutes and record on
bookmark. Make sure to get your
bookmark initialed.
• Work on your Post-Its, which a due a
week from yesterday
• My Name assignment due Monday
Freewrite #4
• Please take out a piece of paper, and either
a pen or pencil. Label the paper with your
name, the date and Freewrite #4
• What is the personal significance of your
given name (first, middle and last)? Does
your name mean different things to you,
your family and your friends? What are your
nicknames? What do nicknames mean to
you and those who call you those names?
So what is figurative language
anyways…
• Figurative language or speech contains
images.
• The writer or speaker describes
something through the use of unusual
comparisons, for effect, interest, and to
make things clearer.
• The result of using this technique is the
creation of interesting images.
Examples…
• He has a temper that is like a volcano.
• Her skin was as cold as ice.
• Their faces were as white as snow.
• He ran as fast as the wind.
• The teacher’s lesson was as clear as mud.
• Watching the movie was like watching
paint dry.
Examples
• My hair is wild, it never stays straight.
• “It is the smell when she makes room for
you on her side of the bed still warm with
her skin.”
• The rain. At first, the rain came in the
morning. The rain. The rain didn’t stop.
The rain kept coming, and then some.
The rain.
October 2, 2009
• CW:
Daily Edit-Common mistakes in our
writing
Share out My Name freewrites
Reading in class: “Hairs”
HW:
My Name assignment due Monday
Reading, recording and Post Its
October 5, 2009
• CW:
Daily Edit: Ellipses
Read Aloud: Hairs/identify elements of style
Hairs Writing Assignment
Read Aloud: Laughter
• HW:
Read and record on bookmark. Bookmark
and Post-Its due Wednesday. Punctuation
quiz on Thursday.
Reminder
• If you haven’t turned in your first bookmark
or your independent reading journal, turn
in these assignments as soon as possible
• Remember that each day an assignment is
late, ten percent is taken off the grade.
• If you have been sick, it is your
responsibility to come talk to me, and
access your missing work. All assignments,
class work and homework are posted on the
class website.
How can we use “Hairs” as a
model for our own writing?
• Write a vignette about your own life, and
discuss an important physical trait and
how it reveals something about the
person who possesses it and your
relationship to him or her.
• You can discuss a trait that all of you
share, or one that makes a particular
family member-or you-stand out from the
others because it is different.
Sentence Starters
• Everyone in my family has different:
• Laughs
• Smiles
• Elbows
• Feet
• Eyes
• eyebrows
Incorporating the Elements of
Style
• Yesterday we began to review the
elements of style and figurative
language.
• Use AT LEAST TWO DEVICES in your
vignette
• Remember to use the features of the
vignette genre to guide your writing
process
Ms. Freese’s Example
• Everyone in my family has different smiles. My smile
is big, and punctuated with dimples. It is a Cheshire
cat smile, sneaky and suspicious. My sister Susan’s
smile is small and curved like a rose. My sister never
shows her teeth when she smiles. My sister has
stubborn teeth, that even braces couldn’t fix.
My mom has a wide smile like a straight line. When
she smiles her eyes get as big as saucers. My dad’s
smile is like mine. When my dad smiles he shows his
two front teeth that are as white as a polished pearl.
My dad’s smile is like a mirror of my own.
My smile is part of me. It gives away how I am
feeling. Everyone in my family has different smiles,
but often when we are smiling, my family is together.
October 6, 2009
• CW:
• Daily Edit Commas/Post-It procedure for
quiz
• Freewrite #5
• Reading in class: “Laughter”
• HW:
Reading and recording. Bookmark and Post-
Its due tomorrow. Punctuation Quiz
Thursday.
Freewrite #5
• Write your name, the date
October 6, 2009), and Freewrite
#5 on a piece of paper. You will
have ten minutes to write a
response to the prompt.
Freewrite #5
• What roles do our community and
neighborhood play in shaping who we
become?
• Where does our sense of identity come
from? Does our sense of identity come
from our family?
• Why or why not?
“Laughter”
• What elements of style does Sandra
Cisneros use in “Laughter?”
• Similie (like a pile of dishes breaking)
• Sensory details
• Fat popsicle lips (sensory details)
October 7, 2009
• CW:
Hand in bookmark to appropriate bin. Make sure
to staple your Post-Its to the bookmark before
handing it in.
Daily Edit-Punctuation Review for quiz tomorrow
Make Post-It for quiz
Freewrite #6 (if time)
Reading in class: “Boys and Girls” (if time)
• HW:
Start bookmark #3, due a week from today and
Post-Its. Study for quiz tomorrow. Review your
Daily Edit notes.
October 12, 2009
• CW
Check in-making up the punctuation quiz,
missing work and bookmarks
Freewrite #6
• Reading in class: Boys and Girls
• Four Corners debate
• HW
reading and recording on bookmarks and
two Post-its due Wednesday October 14th,
2009
Important Upcoming Dates
• Bookmark due dates:
October 7
October 14
October 21
October 28
• Figurative Language Test October 27th
• Identity Vignette Portfolio October 28th
• Binder check October 30th
Freewrite # 6
• Should parents/guardians raise their
teenage girls in the same way that they
raise their teenage boys? Why or why
not? What rules should be the same for
boys and girls, which should be
different?
• Do you have siblings or relatives that are
treated differently than you because of
gender?
Four Corners
• In “Boys and Girls” Esperenza writes,
“the boys and girls live in separate
worlds. The boys in their universe and
we in ours.”
• Do you agree with her? Do you think that
boys and girls are treated differently? If
so, how?
October 13, 2009
• CW:
• Write name on test prep book in marker on
the front cover
• Context Clues presentation
• Read Aloud “Two Spiders”
• Author’s Purpose presentation
• Real Aloud “Slugging It Out” p.32-33
• HW:
Bookmark AND two Post-Its due tomorrow
at the beginning of class
October 14, 2009
• CW:
Hand in bookmark and TWO Post-Its.
Make sure they are stapled together.
• Bookmark/Post-It process review
• Elements of style flash cards
• Reading in Class: “Four Skinny Trees”
• Writing in class: Friendship Vignette
HW: Begin bookmark #4, bookmark and
two Post-Its due October 21st!
What do the trees symbolize?
The Trees symbolize…
• Esperanza makes the symbolism of the four trees
explicit for her audience in this vignette. The
trees symbolize strength. They are living, and
growing, despite their location in a place where
they do not naturally belong. Like the trees,
Esperanza is, figuratively speaking, stuck in
concrete-the urban asphalt of her Mango Street
neighborhood. Like the trees, she has been
putting down "ferocious roots" in this place, roots
that will enable her to grow and even, ultimately,
to leave Mango Street without leaving it entirely
behind
In Four Skinny Trees…
• Esperanza describes the four skinny trees
outside her window. The trees, she says, are
the only ones who understand her, and she
is the only one who understands them. Like
her, they have been put on Mango Street
where they don’t belong. The trees are
skinny but strong, with deep roots, and they
talk to Esperanza while she sleeps. When
she feels weak, she gains strength by
looking at the trees.
In Four Skinny Trees…
• Esperanza compares herself to the trees
outside her house. She thinks that both
she and the trees do not belong in the
barrio, but are stuck there anyway. Both
she and they have secret strength and
anger. The trees teach her not to forget
her reason for being. They inspire her
because they have grown despite the
concrete that tries to keep them in the
ground.
Writing Assignment
In “Four Skinny Trees” Esperenza compares
herself to the trees outside her window. She feels
connected to the trees, and they provide her with
strength and support, much like a friend.
Esperenza chooses four trees to represent how
she feels about friendship. Choose an object that
represents you and your friends. What does that
object symbolize? How does it describe your
relationship?
Use at least TWO elements of style in your
vignette.
Friendship Adjectives
• Loyal
• Supportive
• Similar (personalities)
• Different (I learn from my friends/they
teach me new things)
• Humor
• Friends remind us what is important
• Friends inspire us
Three Swings
• They are the only ones that understand
me. I am the only one who understands
them. Three swings on a playground
moving forward and then moving back
with the motto: the skies the limit, and the
personality that goes with the flow. Three
swings on a playground that aren’t
occupied. Three swings waiting for their
lives to begin.
Ms. Freese’s Example
• Their strength is their secret. Three
swings strung together on metal that is
planted deep into the earth. They
withstand the storms, the rainy days, and
live for the sunny days where the sky is
as blue as a promise of what’s to come.
Three swings whose laughter rings like
bells, and whose eyes shine with
possibility. Three swinging swings.
Ms. Freese’s Example
• When I feel like my feet are too
grounded. When I feel like I haven’t
stopped to appreciate the patterns in
puddles of rain, I look to the swings.
When there is nothing left to look at, and
I feel lost, I find a swing and sit on it. I lift
my feet off the ground, close my eyes
and picture that two swings are
surrounding me, holding me up as I fly.
October 15, 2009
• Classwork grade given today. Today you
can earn up to fifteen points based on
how productive you are in class.
• I am looking to see that you are writing
quietly, and that you complete the
assignment to the best of your ability.
October 15, 2009
• CW:
In class writing: Friendship Vignette
Hand out Vignette Portfolio Assignment
HW:
Reading for twenty minutes, recording on
bookmark, and Post-Its due Oct 21st!
October 16, 2009
• CW:
Reading in Class: A House of My Own
Writing in Class: Your Future Vignette
• HW:
Reading and Recording on bookmark/Post-
Its due October 21st
YOU MUST COME TO CLASS WITH THREE
COMPLETE VIGNETTES THAT YOU CAN
PEER EDIT AND WORKSHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your Future Photograph Writing
Assignment
• Imagine that you are looking at a
photograph of who you will become in the
future. What does that photograph look like?
What do you look like? What are you doing
in the photograph? What is the setting? Is
anyone else in the photograph with you?
Write a vignette about what your future
photograph would look using both the
elements of style and the features of the
vignette genre.
My Future Photograph Ms. Freese
• Not a cubicle. Not a desk. Not a skyscraper. Not a
phone on my ear. A classroom all of my own.
With large bay windows that let the sunlight in
each Morning. A classroom all of my own that I
have taught in for years. My pile of papers
stacked against the wall like a possibility. My
student work hanging like awards. Shiny blue
ribbons and whispers of success. This is a future
photograph of me. Not a cubicle. Not a desk. Not
a skyscraper. Not a phone on my ear.
Only a classroom as loud as a wind tunnels roar,
a space for me to work in, clean as an unmarked
board. This is a future photograph of me.
October 19
• CW:
Get out three completed vignettes
Peer editing workshop
Elements of Style flashcards
Independent writing time
• HW:
Reading and recording
• Five vignettes (rough draft) is due
October 21st!
Peer Editing Workshop
• Directions:
Swap vignettes, and quietly read your partner’s
vignettes.
• Fill out the peer editing handout. Make comments
both on the handout and on your partner’s paper.
• After you have finished, return the vignettes to your
partner.
• Swap feedback sheets. Read over your partner’s
feedback. Discuss any questions you have, as well as
the vignettes in general.
• Store your feedback handout in the writing section
of your notebook.
October 20, 2009
• CW:
• Assigned Seats
• You Tube video: Six Word Memoirs
What will your six word title be?
• Revision strategies handout/revising
• Elements of Style flash card study
• HW:
• All vignettes must be ready to type
tomorrow. Reading and Recording-
Bookmark #4 and Post-Its due TOMORROW!
Reminders
• If you haven’t made up or re-taken the
punctuation quiz, please see me to set up a
time either during break, 2nd lunch, or
before school this week.
• Important Upcoming Dates Next Week:
Tuesday Elements of Style Test
Wednesday Vignette Portfolio due
Friday Binder check
• Tomorrow we begin typing our portfolios.
Make sure that you bring your flash drive to
class.
Vignette Portfolios
• How will you be graded?
• Final Draft 30 points (Due October 28)
• Revision Strategies Handout 5 points
• Peer Evaluation Handout 5 points
• Rough Draft 10 points (Due October 21)
Vignette Portfolios
• As you revise, ask yourself…
• Do my vignettes focus on a moment, idea, or
aspect of my identity?
• Do I include the elements of style
(personification, similies, metaphors, alliteration,
sensory details, repetition?)
• Do I follow the features of the vignette genre?
• Am I checking my punctuation and spelling?
• Do I have 5 vignettes?
Directions:
• 1) Read the feedback you received
• 2) Create four specific goals that you can
complete to edit your work.
• 3) Go through each of your vignettes, and make
changes. Mark up the page. Revise!
• 4) When you are finished, if you don’t have five
vignettes, write quietly.
• 5) If you are finished with your rough draft, then
study your elements of style flash cards.
• 6) Six word title for portfolio Title: In six words
sums up how you identify yourself right now.
October 21, 2009
• CW:
Sit in assigned seat
Get out bookmark and staple it to Post-It
handout, and turn in to appropriate bin. Pick up
a new Post-It handout.
Get out your rough draft (five vignettes). Rough
draft check
• Computer distribution
• Typing
• HW:
Start new bookmark and new Post-Its
Typing Directions
• 1) Cover Page
• Could you even imagine…could you?
Perfection is still B minus work.
• Absolutely nothing is better than basketball.
• I am dancing on the inside.
-Name
-Date
-Title (six words)
-Class Period
2) Table of Contents
-Titles of each vignette and page number
Titles
• Six words is nowhere near enough.
• The color orange makes me happy.
Typing Directions
• Indent paragraphs
• Use 12 point font, Times New Roman
• Type each vignette on a separate page
• Remember to spell check!
• Remember to save your work on both the
server AND on your flashdrive
October 22, 2009
• CW:
Typing vignettes (try to finish all vignettes, table
of contents, and cover page).
When finished study Figurative Language Flash
Cards for you test!
• HW:
Start bookmark #5, due October 28th and Post-
Its.
If you didn’t finish typing your vignettes during
class then you need to type them at home or
after school.
October 26, 2009
• CW:
Review for test tomorrow
• HW:
Read and record on bookmark #5, study
for TEST TOMORROW!!!!!
Reminders
• Your identity vignette portfolios are due
by Wednesday, October 28, 2009. You can
turn them in early.
• Make sure that when you turn it in you
include:
final draft, revision strategies handout,
and peer evaluation.
Reminders
• Binder check this Friday!!
• Make sure that you organize your binder,
and go through the binder check
checklist to get your binder ready.
• You can have your binder checked
before Friday, if you are ready.
Friday
• This Friday, please go to the library for
class. Sam has prepared a Halloween
research activity for us!
October 27, 2009
• CW:
Test Today!
• There is no talking during the test. You
have the entire class period. Good luck!
• HW:
Read and Record. Vignette Identity
Portfolio due tomorrow at the beginning
of class and bookmark Five due.
Directions
• Please take your time on the test.
• Please read all the directions carefully.
• You have the entire class period.
• If you finish before the end of class, first
check your work.
• Then, get out your independent reading
book and read.
• You can use a computer (desktop) to work
on identity vignettes
October 28, 2009
• CW:
Hand in bookmark AND Post-It Handout. Make
sure that you staple them together.
Pick up a new set of bookmarks AND a new Post-
It handout
Publishing Party/Sharing
Hand in identity vignette portfolio (Make sure to
include both revision strategy handouts)
• HW:
None, take a day off!
Readings
• Lisa
• Sarah
• Liam
• Bailey
• Daniel
• Taylor M.
Publishing Celebration
• Directions
• 1. Turn in your bookmark and your Post-It handout.
Make sure that you staple or paper clip them
together.
• Keep your portfolio with you. You will turn it in at the
end of class.
• When given permission, get up and get a snack.
Don’t take too much.
• Once seated, we will have volunteers share their
vignettes.
• At the end of class we will clean up, throw out all
trash and you will turn in your portfolio. Make sure
you include both revision handouts!
October 29, 2009
• CW:
Daily Edit-Correcting punctuation errors
Binder Check Preparation
Introduction to Unit Two
The Outsiders book trailer
• HW:
Binder check tomorrow.
Begin your bookmark and Post-It
handout due on November 4, 2009.
Reminders
• Binder check tomorrow. Make sure that
your binder is organized and that it
contains everything on the checklist.
• Class in the library tomorrow. It is up to
you to find time to drop your binder off.
Common Mistakes in our
Writing…still Common
• Write the following sentences in your
notes and correct any errors.
• Its wonderful to feel liked and
appreciated by someone whose
important to you.
• I’m sure that maya angelous
autobiographical story is about a young
girl whose name is marguerite.
Correct these sentences…
• because alfonsos brother had lent him a
bike, alfonso gone on his first date
afterall
• many writers base there storys on things
that happenn to them in real live
Correct these sentences…
• as charlies wellth increased he learn
some hard lesson about people.
• the factory worker’s werent awear of
pauls operation.
• Its true that math wasn’t one of his
favorite subject
Correct these sentences…
• Our guide lead my sister and I to the
town where edna st vincent millay is
born.
• neither english or spanish are hard it its
your native tongue.
Correct these sentences…
• The childrens sioux Great-Grandpa feel
that theres a rite time for everything
October 30, 2009
• CW:
Research Halloween themed activity.
Class meets in library.
• HW:
Bookmark and Post-It Handout due
Wednesday.