9/27/12

Hey guys! Good evening, so today was a really chill day. We started with the regular Silent Sustained Reading followed by Writing Workshop and then quickly went over Indra's writing piece before we were let out of class. 

Some few announcements that Mrs. Ortega had for us today, and they are: 

- Ortega would like to create a small competition among the houses. This competition is a book competition. It is to see which house can read the most books. If you would like to have a book talk with her there will be sign-ups on the board on Monday to talk to her about books. 

- Writing Workshop 
       ~ Will happen once a week. 
       ~ This month we will do ww on narratives. Ortega would just like to get to know you a bit better and they type of voice you really have in your writing. 
       ~ She expects us to work on our ww at home at least once a week 
       ~ Once senior project stuff comes our way we will only work on that. For now we are supposed to work on narratives because she doesn't want us to do our college essays in the last minute. 
       ~ WW is due on the last week of October. 
       ~ We will use 1/2 hr of class time to work on our WW. 

That's all for tonight folks. Hope you all had a good day and I will see you all tomorrow. Good night! :D 

9/24/12

Hey guys, sorry about posting really really really late. I haven’t been feeling up to par this week. But I must fulfill my scribing duties nonetheless.

Anyways, we started with the usual silent sustained reading and then we moved on to working in our composition books. Before we got into full writing in our comp books mode she went over a few announcements and they are as follows:

-          Poetry out loud scores were handed out at the end of the class

-          Poetry finalists were going to be announced at the end of class which the finalist came out to be Hannah S. and Joseph G. so a big congratulation to you both!!

-          Literature circles, we are going to continue this concept in this class. All of you can remember that we began this way back in junior year with Mrs. Edwards... It’s been a while, I know. Ortega comes from a different approach than Edwards did. She chooses the lit circle groups by picking our sticks, there are no more than 5 people in a group and no less than 4 people in a group.

-          Remember that this week is kind of messed up because Friday is the ribbon cutting so look at the class blog for additional information, but we will see Ortega on Friday for a while. That same Friday we must have accomplished our very first reading assignment.

-          Wednesday and Thursday are writing workshop days. How it works for her writing workshop is an entry point for nonfiction, college applications/scholarships, helps her get to know who we are and the type of voice that we use and finally the most important thing of all important things…. Don’t go to Edwards for help when it comes to your personal statement because she has her own kids to worry about, just go to Ortega, you have nothing to worry about. Ortega is the coolest, most wonderful, person you can ever imagine. Trust me. She also said that if you do work on your statement to periodically go and talk to her about it so she can help you. Don’t procrastinate and carry on until the last minute… (See what I did there?!?!) Because Ortega will not… WILL NOT take your paper and read it during breaks and or holidays. Unless, she met with you regularly and she only has to take a look at minor things. She doesn’t want to read the entire thing when she could spend time with her family folks so be considerate and get it done ASAP!

-          We will look over at some point in time the current scribe and or last weeks’ scribe Indra writing.

-          The boards in the back need a makeover!! The boards in the back are going to become into marvelous works of art because the building looks depressing/mental ward if you are visually talented or good at following directions then by all means come on down to help her out with fixing up her room.  After school or during lunch. You can receive extra credit or community service hours based on services. She has really cool ideas and is open to any other ideas that you may have.

Alright guys, well that is it for today. Like I said again I am very sorry about not posting this sooner, but its better late than never. Have a goodnight and I will see you all again tomorrow on nerd and jock day at school tomorrow! :D 

9/19/2012

Game Plan

Hey guys its Indra again!

All we did today was present our poetry out loud, good job for those of you who were able to complete the poem and recite it well. Nice try and a pat on the back for those who weren't able to complete it. After the poems we just had a wee bit of time and were able to read SSR for about 10 mins. 

• Present poetry out loud
• SSR (about 10 mins)

9/17/13

Game plan:

Hello Y'ALL this is Indra and I'm the scribe for this week!

So it was a fairly simple Monday, today we welcomed Mrs. Ortega back from her absence last week because of the passing of her grandmother (Prayers and best wishes for her!). Ms. La Russa left a positive message saying we did very well with her. (OF COURSE). Okay so basically what we did was :

• SSR (For roughly about 30min)
• We then updated our Composition books with A#10 writing workshop (of 3 choices A.continue your story of why you love and chose your Sr. topic. B. continue your auto biography of your interests of reading. C. any other topic of your choice) also A#11 "writing feed back " basically a peer review for the writing workshop. 
• POL we then practiced reciting our poem with our partners for bout 10 to 15mins
• And last but not least we started to write our writing workshop. 

Until next time! Oh and the homework is just to practice your poem due on 9/19/13 which is a weds! Remember be clear and concise! AND FIRE AND ICE IS NOW ACCEPTABLE. (not really just kidding don't do it).

9/13/2012

Game Plan:

• SSR
• Poetry Outloud a#8 Scoring Guide
• Practice scoring a video
• Practice with partner
• a#9 Timed Writing (20 minutes), practice ABC's and D's from a#5

So, today was pretty simple. We watched some Poetry Outloud videos from previous years and discussed what the speakers did right and what they did wrong. I thought it was really helpful because I definitely got some tips for when I have to recite my poem. Before watching the videos and practicing the scores, I thought it was great to use hand gestures, but you're actually not supposed to. Whoops..

Aside from Poetry Outloud, we also worked on the timed writing that we briefly went over a couple days ago. The topic for today's timed writing was to explain what led you to chose your senior topic and give a specific example or event. 

REMEMBER:

• Research Check #2  tomorrow
• Bring work out clothes for house competition 

9/12/2012

Today in class we watched an interview of Emma Watson and took notes on interviewing strategies that we should apply to our own interviews and ones that we shouldn't apply.
Apply:

• ask open ended questions
• shake hands and make eye contact
• do  research on the interviewee (background info)
• large variety of topics
• dress appropriately

Don't Apply:

• don't interrupt the interviewee
• don't over power the other person, make sure they also have the opportunity to talk
• don't insult the person (duhhh..)
• don't make the person feel uncomfortable

We also went over a proper introduction for introducing yourself to your interviewee/mentor. Your introduction should include where you're from (maybe some background info on i-Poly), what the senior project is and what your goals for it are, and ask if they can help you find other contacts in the field for more help and advice. 

REMEMBER: 

• poem memorized by the 17-18th
• senior portraits tomorrow (check senior blog for your time) 

Have a great night everyone! (:

9/10/2012

Hey guys! Sorry for the super late post. D: So, here we go, finally... 

Game Plan:

• SSR
• Notebook setup
• Timed Writing ABC's & D's
• Reading Autobiography

For the notebook setup, the assignment number goes on the far left hand margin, then the title in the middle, and the page number on the far right hand side. Skip three to four pages for the table of contents. These are the assignments in the table of contents so far (in order): Class Intro, Mathemagician Notes, This American Life: Black Jack Alternative Notes, Poetry Out Loud: (your poem title here), and Timed Writing ABC's & D's. Put in the handouts into the comp. book by simply folding it in half and then put a piece of tape on the cease line to stick into the book. 

REMEMBER!!

• Blog # 3
• Research Check 2 on Friday
• Senior Portraits on Thursday
• Poetry Out Loud needs to be memorized by September 18th