AOW- The Poe Museum

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Edgar Allan Poe
Photo via
http://commons.wikimedia.org/

I'm putting a twist on your "Article of The Week" today.  Instead of reading an article I'm asking you to review a website.

1. Visit the site for the Poe Museum.
2. Navigate around the site and see what you find.
3. Write a two paragraph response in your writer's notebook.  The first paragraph should be about what you found on the site and the second paragraph will be your opinion.  I'm giving you some sentence stems below to help you out.
4. TIP: You can include LINKS to the parts of the site you are writing about IN your review!

Paragraph 1 (Possible sentence ideas)
I recently visited  (name of site) to learn more about....
The main purpose of the site seems to be...
__________ was the most interesting part because...
The organization of the site made it easy/hard to find....
Don't miss...

Paragraph 2  (More possible sentence ideas) 
This site would be useful to...
I thought the site would be better if...
Another improvement I would make...
I would use this site again if...
The material presented seemed factual/suspicious because...

Writing about a character with evidence

Read

Today:
A bit of writing in your Writer's Notebook:
Using the evidence you found yesterday write a paragraph about Montresor. I'm adding a frame below you can use or make up your own.

In _____________________ by _______________ one of the characters is _______________ He/She is very ___________________. As the story says "_________________".  This shows that ________________________________________________. Another important piece of evidence is "_________________________________________" This means that ________________________. The reader can also tell that the character wants to _______________________________ because it says, "______________________________________".  In other words, _____________________________. As a result of these characteristics one can conclude that __________ (character) is ________________ and _____________________. 

Update: (In case you missed a day)

Tuesday you read Cask of Amontillado with a prediction journal. 

Wednesday we looked very closely at just section one of Cask of Amontillado using these questions. 

Welcome to Second Semester

We READ,

Today we will be doing another run at a Probable Passage activity.

You will work with your numbered groups.
There are plastic pages on your desks with the word lists and markers.

You must have your GIST statement in your WRITER'S NOTEBOOK before the end of the period.

First Semester Finals

Good morning,

Today we take our first semester final.

I will be giving you the link to the final in class.

Writing about "The Possibility of Evil"

Happy Tuesday,

We read.

Last week you finished reading "The Possibility of Evil".
Today we are going to write about it.
Our goal is a paragraph in your writer's notebook about the theme of the story and how the author reveals the theme.
I have a guide that may help us and you can view it here.

Are your book reviews done?  Have you submitted them? Link to submit

AOW and Catch Up

Sorry I have to be at a meeting again today. You have a lot to do anyway. 

1. Start with 10 minutes of reading.
2. Read your Article of the Week and write about it in your Writer’s Notebook.
3. 70% of you have at least one or two more book reviews to write on Goodreads. Hint: Write on a Google Doc and copy/paste your review into Goodreads for best results. Reviews are due 1/22.
4. If both your reviews are done please submit the links early here.
5. Many of you have things to finish for your AOWs before I grade your writer's notebooks again next week.
6. If you have all of that covered you can read more.
7. You can use this link to access your study guide for the final.

Continue reading for evidence

Sorry I have to be at a meeting today. You have a lot to do anyway.

1. Start with 10 minutes of reading.
2. Finish the document you started yesterday about "The Possibility of Evil" Hint: check your shared with me section in Google Docs. Read the rest of the story. Follow the directions on your organizer.
3. 70% of you have at least one or two more book reviews to write on Goodreads. Hint: Write on a Google Doc and copy/paste your review into Goodreads for best results. Reviews are due 1/22.
4. Many of you have things to finish for your AOW before I grade your writer's notebooks again next week.
5. If you have all of that covered you can read more.

Reading for evidence

Thanks for taking the independent reading survey yesterday. Thought you might like to see part of the results.

Looks like 22% of you are in good shape for book reviews and the other 78% have some work to do.

Today we will be reading "The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson.
While we read you will need the reading organizer.  It should already be shared with you in Google Docs. You each have your own copy already. Let me know ASAP if you can't find yours.

Reading, and reading and prep for more reading

Add caption

Only six school days until first semester finals!

That means only six school days until your book reviews are due.

FILL OUT THIS FORM about your progress.

Today we will prepare for a short story we will read tomorrow.
You will need a copy of this document for our probable passage activity.  This is the SAME doc. If you can't copy the one above use this one.

We will be using this list of words. 

50 Years in the Future

Happy Friday!

I have a very cool AOW for you this week. It is about the future, sort of. 

In 1964 a writer named Isaac Asimov made some predictions about what our lives would be like in 2014.  I think you'll enjoy it. 

Poetry Jigsaw

Photo by: Jen Roberts

We begin with books as always.

Today you will be getting more practice SIFTing poems with a small group. Use the links below to help you.

You can make a copy of the SIFT organizer that you already have in your drive or get a blank copy here. 

Poems for Groups
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6

• Complete the organizer ALL the way through writing the paragraph at the bottom.
• You can have one shared organizer for your group or you can each make your own.
• Tomorrow you will present this poem to a different group. Be prepared to explain your analysis. 

SIFT-ing Poetry

Welcome back,

Lets read, be sure you have a book.

We are going to look at some techniques for reading poetry this week.

1. Read this poem A Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur. Read it a few times until you are comfortable with the literal meaning of the poem.

2. Let's look at this prezi about poetry analysis together.

3. Use this document to organize your thinking about the poem. It is view only, make a copy for yourself to edit.
4. Be sure to complete the paragraph at the end of the doc AND paste it into your writer's notebook.