Oct 31 - Happy Halloween

Classwork

Today we finished up our Odyssey Research Project Presentations and dove into major notes on creating proper Works Cited and Bibliography Pages.  Many students are still making major formatting errors, so most of today focused on setting up the Works Cited page.  See below for today's powerpoint.

Homework

1. Due Monday - Read The Odyssey books 1-2 (pgs 1-38)
2. Due Monday - Complete Books 1-2 Comprehension Check Worksheet
3. Due Wednesday - Revised Individual and Group Works Cited pages (make sure to staple your first draft behind your final draft)
4. Study Unit 5 Vocabulary - Test next Friday!

Resources to Use When Reading The Odyssey

1. Odyssey Terms and Characters List
2. Map of Character Relationships from the Odyssey

Today's powerpoint

October 29 & 30

Classwork

Today we continued our presentations on different topics related to the Ancient Greek world.

Homework

1. Collaboration and Participation Evaluations due 10/31.  Use the Collaboration Rubric to score your group members.
2. Study Unit 5 Vocabulary (use my flash cards on quizlet.com to help)
3. Bring your copies of The Odyssey to class on 10/31....there will probably be a materials check and a sweet reward for prepared students.

Collaboration and Participation Evaluations

Collaboration Rubric

October 28

Classwork

Today was DAY 1 of our Odyssey Research Project Presentations!  We're off to a great start and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's presentations.

Homework

1. Annotated Source due tomorrow, 10/29 (You can either add annotations to the source you submitted and got back from me OR begin again with a new one).  Sources MUST be at least 2 pages long.
2. Study Unit 5 Vocabulary Works - Try Quizlet!
3. Rehearse your presentation

October 27

Classwork

Today in class we focused on the purpose of annotating a text and what high quality annotations look like.  We started out looking at an example from a student, then I modeled how I annotate while students replicated my annotations in their texts, and for homework students finished annotating the text we worked on together in class.  To view today's powerpoint click here, or scroll to the bottom of this post.

Homework

1. Finish annotating the article titled, "Exploring Expository Writing"
2. Complete the worksheet that goes along with the article titled, "Exploring Expository Writing"
3. Practice your presentations
4. Study your Unit 5 Vocabulary Words

Annotation PowerPoint

October 23

Classwork

Today many of my classes got a visit from the most amazing librarian - Regina Townsend, from the Forest Park Public Library.  Regina, is an Illinois Library Association Young Adult Librarian of the Year Award Winner.  She shared sooooooo much information about the amazing things going on in the Young Adults Department at the Forest Park Library.  Including (but not limited to) the clubs and events listed below.  Want to know more?  Check out www.teenterritory.org or fppl.org.

• Physics Tutoring and Help every Tuesday and Thursday
• Service Club meets every Tuesday
• Young Women's Council - next meeting on November 13
• Recently Returned (Guys' book club) meets last Monday of each Month
• Writer's Group meets every Wednesday
• Humans vs. Zombies on Halloween, October 31 starting at 6pm

We also took notes on MLA citations for Works Cited pages and created some of our own citations by hand.  We also got another handout with information about how to create citations, called "MLA Citation Style Guide Sheets."  You can also check out today's powerpoint at the bottom of this post!

Homework

1. Complete the "Practice Creating Source Cards for Books and Online Sources" Worksheet. Due tomorrow.
2. Create a HANDWRITTEN works cited page using the sources from the worksheet. Due tomorrow.
3. Study for tomorrow's vocabulary test
4. Visual Aid for presentation due MONDAY
5. Group Works Cited page due MONDAY

Today's Powerpoint Presentation

MLA Citation Style Guide Sheets

Wednesday, October 22

Classwork

Today we worked on our unit 4 vocabulary words and on our presentations.  Today was the last day that we will have the laptops in class to work on our Odyssey Research Project Presentations.

Homework

1. Vocabulary Worksheet due tomorrow 10/23
2. Study for Friday's Unit 4 Vocab Test
3. Work on your Odyssey Research Project
4. Visual Aid for Presentation due Monday, 10/27
5. Works Cited for Group Presentation due Monday 10/27
6. Presentations on 10/28 and 10/29

October 21 Classwork and Homework

Classwork

Today we reviewed the vocabulary work done in class with the substitute yesterday and worked in our presentation groups.  Once in our presentation groups, our goal was to accomplish the following:

1. Share contact information with each other
2. Decide what you are going to teach the class about your topic (select 3-5 sub-topics)
3. Assign group roles (who is presenting what, who is taking lead for powerpoint/visual aid, who is keeping track of time, who is checking in with everyone, etc...)
4. Decide what kind of visual aid you will use (if you are going to use a powerpoint, try using google docs or prezi which multiple users can edit online)
5. Identify Areas of further research
6. Begin working on presentation, further research, and visual aid

Homework

1. Study Unit 4 Vocabulary for Friday's Test
2. Work on your presentation
3. If you did not turn in your INDIVIDUAL works cited page today, turn in late so you can get project credit for it.  It is not eligible for homework points anymore.
4. If you did not turn in a source that you read AND annotated, turn in late so you can get project credit for it.  It is not eligible for homework points anymore.

Important Dates

Friday, October 24 - Unit 4 Vocabulary Test

Monday, October 27 - Visual Aid and Works Cited for presentations due

Tuesday, October 28 - Presentation Day 1

Wednesday, October 29 - Presentation Day 2

How to Annotate a Text/ Annotating Tips

October 20 Classwork and Homework

Classwork

I was out sick today, so classes did not go to the LRC to work on their projects.  Instead you worked on Unit 4 Antonyms and Completing the Sentence on pgs 57-58 of our Vocabulary Workshop books.  Students were required to turn this work into the sub before class ended.  After working on Unit 4 Vocabulary, students got into their research groups and were told to do the following:

• Share what each of you found out about their topic during your independent research time.
• Begin to plan out their presentation.  
• Make an outline covering the information that will be shared in the presentation as well indicating who is in charge of each part of the presentation.  
• Share their contact information with each other
• Plan out when, where, and how they will continue their work on this project.

Homework

Students were supposed to turn in their Bibliography/Works Cited page and an annotated source today.  Since I was absent, you have an extra day to work on this.  

1. Your Bibliography/Works Cited page and an annotated source are due Tuesday.
2. Study for Friday's Vocabulary Test
3. Work on your Research Project Presentation

Unit 4 Antonyms and Completing the Sentence on pgs 57-58

October 17 Classwork and Homework

Classwork

We were in the LRC focusing on doing our own, independent, individual research related to our assigned topic for the Odyssey Research Project.  We received and went over the following handouts: Odyssey Research Project Calendar, MLA Citation Guide, Homework Due Monday.

Homework Due Monday

1.     Annotated source – Print out one of the sources you found.  Read it and annotate it.  I will collect it on Monday and return it to you on Tuesday.

2.     Individual Bibliography/Works Cited – This must be TYPED and follow all MLAguidelines.  You MUST have a total of 5 sources.  One of your sources must be a print source.

a.     If you are using electronic sources you must include the source’s url (web site address) in the citation.  Use the following (taken from the Purdue Owl website) as an example for how your web citations should look:

For instructors or editors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access. <url>.

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

Odyssey Research Project Calendar

Annotation Tips

October 16 Classwork and Homework

Today was a shortened day and I only taught 2 of my 5 classes.  No additional homework was given.  We focused on creating MLA style citations and went over the Odyssey Research Project Calendar.  See the power point below for more information.

October 15 Classwork and Homework

Classwork

Today we were in the LRC learning about creating Works Cited and Bibliography Pages.  We also had a quick tutorial on using databases in our research.  Students found out their groups and topics for our Odyssey Research Project.  Scroll to the bottom of this post for the 5 handouts that we got today: Group Assignments, MLA FAQs, Saving a Document to Your ID#, Easy Bib for Works Cited, LRC Bookmark.

Homework

Study Unit 4 Vocabulary Words - Test next Friday, October 24.

Continue researching your topic for your Odyssey Research Project.

Odyssey Research Project Group Assignments

MLA FAQs

Saving a Document to Your ID#


Easy Bib for Works Cited

LRC Bookmark
Odyssey Research Project Overview

Homer's World Article from week of October 6, 2014

Homer's World

Homer's World Questions

October 14 Classwork and Homework

Classwork

Today we got our copies of The Odyssey from the book room,  started learning Unit 4 vocabulary words, and took an open homework quiz.  We also learned about a new research project that we are starting tomorrow - The Odyssey Research Project.

Homework

Finish recording the parts of speech and definitions for Unit 4 vocabulary words.  Due tomorrow.  You can use my Quizet Flash Cards to help you out with this homework.

Unit 4 Vocabulary Words Worksheet

The Odyssey Research Project

Notes from and Homework Assigned on October 6

In Class Notes

Click here to view a PDF of today's notes or you can view the prezi, by clicking here.

Homework

Completed vocabulary and Odyssey worksheets due tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7.

Important Dates

• October 9 - Midterm Day 1
• October 10 - Midterm Day 2 and end of Quarter 1
• October 13 - No School - Columbus Day!

Midterm Information

The midterm will include the following:

• Units 1-3 Vocabulary
• Grammar- comma usage, especially commas in a series
• Grammar- end punctuation.  Can you determine where and what kind of end punctuation is needed based on the clues in a text?
• House on Mango Street
• If you read the book and paid attention in class, you will be fine.
• Read Passage with multiple choice questions
• Short, constructed responses about the reading passage.

Today's Notes

Vocabulary Worksheet

Odyssey Worksheet

Homework Assigned on October 3, 2014

Homework

1. Final Draft of Narrative Essay due Monday, Oct. 6

Important Dates

• October 6 - Narrative Essay Due
• October 10 - 1st Quarter Ends & Midterm

Tips to Help you Earn an A on your Narrative Essay

***Scroll down to see each of these documents***

• Review/re-read the Narrative Essay Assignment
• Ask your parents or a friend to read your essay and grade it with the 6 Point Writing Rubric (which I'll use to grade your essay) or one of the Peer Editing Forms
• Read the "Traits of Effective Writing" and go over your essay to figure out if you exhibit all the traits.
• Make sure that it following MLA formatting guidelines...need help on this?  Check out https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Traits of Effective Writing

Narrative Essay Assignment

6 Point Writing Rubric

Peer Editing Worksheets

MLA Guidelines for All Written Work

Homework Assigned Oct 2

Homework

1. Study for our Unit 3 Vocabulary Test
2. Read "Traits of Effective Writing"

Important Dates

• October 3 - Unit 3 Vocabulary Test
• October 6 - Narrative Essay Due
• October 10 - 1st Quarter Ends & Midterm

Tips to Help you Earn an A on your Narrative Essay

***Scroll down to see each of these documents***

• Review/re-read the Narrative Essay Assignment
• Ask your parents or a friend to read your essay and grade it with the 6 Point Writing Rubric (which I'll use to grade your essay) or one of the Peer Editing Forms
• Read the "Traits of Effective Writing" and go over your essay to figure out if you exhibit all the traits.
• Make sure that it following MLA formatting guidelines...need help on this?  Check out https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Traits of Effective Writing

Narrative Essay Assignment

6 Point Writing Rubric

Peer Editing Worksheets

MLA Guidelines for All Written Work

Homework Assigned on 10/1

Homework

1. Narrative Essay Second Draft is due tomorrow - 10/2.  It needs to be typed, 2.5-3 pages long, and follow all formatting guidelines.
2. Vocabulary in Context Worksheet is due tomorrow.
3. Study for Friday's vocabulary test on Unit 3 words.

Important Dates

• October 2 - Second Draft Due
• October 3 - Unit 3 Vocabulary Test
• October 6 - Final Draft Due

Vocabulary in Context Worksheet

Narrative Essay Assignment