Fresh English: Writing Assignment Begins

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Writing Assignment Begins

Goal: Beginning a draft of your response to James McBride.

Agenda:
Read
Explain writing assignment
Begin drafting
Collect Homework

Writing Assignment:

We have been reading and analyzing James McBride's Hip Hop Planet; now it is time to write about it more formally.
I've sent you a document to write your assignment. Look for it in your "Shared with Me" section in Google Drive.
The assignment has two parts. The directions below are only for the first part. We will work more on the second part tomorrow.

ASSIGNMENT: SUMMARIZING AND RESPONDING IN A LETTER TO JAMES MCBRIDE

Now that you have considered the topic of hip hop and its global influence, you will write a summary and response in the format of a letter.

Your task is to compose a letter to James McBride with the purpose of letting him know what you think about the claims he makes about the importance and power of hip hop in his essay.

The first portion of the letter will be a summary where you show McBride that you understand the main points of his essay. The second portion of your letter will be a thoughtful and formal response to his ideas.

Yesterday you made great progress on your rhetorical precis. You can use the precis as the opening paragraph of your letter to Mr. McBride. If your precis is already in great shape you should add to it as the directions above suggest.

Reminders:
Final draft of your response to McBride is due Tuesday 1/19/16.
You will "call it in" on Wednesday 1/20/16. (Please don't call on before Wednesday.)
Keep reading. Two NEW book reviews due 1/21/16.
English Journals due 1/22.

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Gradebook Explained

My grade book is on Power School for you to view. There are some things you need to know.

If you have a blank score or missing score that is not bad. Often scores are left blank when I do not grade an assignment right away. Sometimes blanks mean a student was absent for an in class experience. The point is do not panic about blank or missing scores.

Zeros however, are a real problem. Students get zeros when they do not turn in an assignment that they should have done. Zeros usually appear after I have asked the student several times to get the work finished. Students can sometimes undo a zero by turning in the work late. Some assignments can be regraded. See the button at the top of the blog to request a re-grade.

Often I do not enter many assignments until the end of the grading period when projects we have been working on for a few weeks become due. I try to enter progress grades every few weeks into the "progress category." Note that the progress category is only 10% of the total grade. Low scores on progress grades indicates that a student needs to improve their work before the final project is due.

Grade categories are weighted as follows:

50% Writing & Speaking (Essays, some in class assessments, and speaking assignments.)

40% Reading & Listening (Book reviews and reading progress and some listening assessments.)

10% Progress (writing draft grades, turning in required paperwork, some formative assessments)

Student grades are based on meeting grade level standard proficiencies. This is not a points or numbers game. There is no extra credit, but there may be additional opportunities to show proficiency.

I hope this will resolve some confusion. Of course if you have questions about grades please e-mail me.

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Thursday, January 14, 2016

Writing Assignment Begins

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