10/24/12

 So today in Ortega's wonderful classroom, we focused mainly on several different aspects of literary work.

- SSR

- Listened to a podcast of Grammar Girl and then had an intense talk about the significance of it all.
  We then took notes on the podcast as it was streaming and got these four pillars of grammatical
   wisdom:  

1.When proofreading, read your work backwards. (Sentence by Sentence.)

2. Read your work out loud.

3. Proofread a printed version.

4. Give time for the work to sink in. and then approach it with a fresh perspective.

**Remember that tomorrow is the Literature Discussion. We will also be reviewing Zhailah Graza's paper tomorrow! ** 

10/22/12

I apologize for the lateness in this post! Anyways, Hi everyone! Ivy here, sorry about the rocky start to this week of blogging but I promise it will smooth sailing from here on out! Back to the point: in class on Monday, we had several things to do.

1 - We opened with SSR as usual.

2 - We talked about the specifications of a Talk Show as an option for the LC presentations as an option. Our examples were: Jay Leno, Wendy Williams, and Jerry Springer. 

3 - Our Membership Grid question for the day was: "What was the worst present you've ever received?"

4 - Then we had our Discussion on our Literature Circle Books once again. Only two more LC discussions left!

****REMEMBER: Tomorrow is the last day for reviewing personal narratives so bring your revised draft to class tomorrow!!**** 

10/19/12

• SSR
• LC Discussions 
• Share Out 

Before LC Discussions we did a Membership Grid topic which had three parts :

1. Are you a picky eater or an adventurous eater?
2. What is the most daring food you've eaten?
3. Why are you a picky and/or adventurous eater?

10/15/12

Hiiiii West House ;p 'tis Zhailah Graza here & I am your designated blogger for this wonderful week. I hope you all had an awesome weekend and just a reminder! Movie night is on Wednesday in the MPR ! The chosen film is Sixth Sense; starts at 4 ends at 6. Hope to see you all there! ^_^ 

Game Plan: 

• SSR
• Song Parody 
• LC Discussion 
• Share Out 

    So I think of all of us can agree that we have now got "I Want It That Way" as well as "eBay" stuck in our heads. In class we learned how to make a song parody; rhythm patterns etc.

    We filled out the LC membership grid. Today's topic was, "If you could go back in time and change your name, what would you change it to and why?" 

10/11/12

Game Plan:

• SSR
• LC Discussion
• Class Share Out

Today in class, after we completed SSR, we turned to our groups and discussed who our favorite teacher was in elementary school. After, we swiftly changed our conversation to our literature circle books where we discussed the events that had occurred since our last discussion. Since it was four core rotation today, we did not get to do the class share out.

10/10/12

Game Plan:

• SSR
• Writing Workshop
• Share Out

Today in class we spent twenty blissfully quiet minutes reading our SSR book. Next, we were given the opportunity to work on our writing workshop pieces for about a majority of the class. We were also informed that we would have to submit our rough draft to turnitin.com by Saturday night, and review one of our peer's paper by Sunday night. Next we heard Angel Diaz's writing workshop piece, which was a heart warming piece about overcoming struggles, and how they shaped who he is today. Many people gave feedback that was hopefully helpful to the expansion and improvement of his piece.

10/8/12

Hello West House! It's Angel Campos and I will be your scribe for the week (:

To start off:

The Game Plan

• SSR
• Mini: Textual Evidence
• LC Discussions
• Class Share Out

We started off the day just like any other with approximately twenty minutes of silent reading of the book of our choosing. Mrs. Ortega then proceeded to teach us about the importance of using textual evidence to solidify the claims we make about characters in our readings. We learned this through a reading of the Three Little Pigs, and all the people chosen as speakers made hilarious voices to accommodate their characters, especially Indra's Asian wolf. (x After, we wrote down some conclusions we came to about the characters in the story, and pointed out particular pieces or actions that backed up our claims, thus using textual evidence. Next, we turned to our literature circle groups and avidly discussed the past events in our books, and answered our group members questions. This, however took up a lot of time and we were not able to get to the Class Share Out.

That's all for today & I hope everyone has a goodnight (:

10/04/12

West House brethren-
Day Two under the Unit of Oppression. It is now verboten to use "quiz-like" questions in Literature Circle discussions. All questions must aid one's understanding of the book under penalty of NC. Paraphrasing has also been forbidden-all must mark and read aloud passages they find desirable. The regime finds it necessary for the workers to make connections from the book to their lives and to analyze the writer's craft. All discussions must include at least 4 to 8 of the described tactics. Moral is surprisingly high.

I hope you all had fun in your Literature Circles. Friendly reminder from the mouthpiece of the Unit of Oppression-if you haven't already, you need to condense two of you planned discussions into one.

Thank you for listening to my snark this week.

Give us us free!
Hannah

10/03/12

Greetings, class,
Today was Writing Workshop day. As usual we were treated to one of our classmates' pieces to read and review. Today it was mine-thank you all for your helpful comments! I very much appreciate it.
In any event, I am at a loss on what to snark about today. So here are some links to help you with writing your piece.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2010/09/15/10-tips-for-writing-the-college-application-essay
http://www.iss.k12.nc.us/writing/personal.htm
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/College_Admissions_Essays_Samples_Critiques_and_Writing_Tips.htm
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/10/25/7-perfect-college-essays.html

Good night and good luck,
Hannah (escaped Ahmadinejad!)

10/01/12

Monday, Oct. 1
I write this on a cell phone, so be gentle with  me. Monday was the dawn of the age of oppression-more specifically, the unit of oppression, although that is far less intimidating. On a somber note first, recall the allegorical tale pf the Holocaust we were told. Just because something seems like it doesn't affect you now doesn't mean it won't in the future.
On a lighter note, we discussed our weekends, which are usually a good indicator of whether or not you live in an oppressive country (hint-we do not. If we did, that conversation would have sounded more like this; "Well, I stood in the latke ration line for 7 hours. Then I had to go praise at the Arc of the Supreme Ubermensch. When I got home to my meager Guinea pig farm my family was dead from lack of latkes and they had taken my last viable Guinea pig.")
Then we discussed our books. If you were in my group you were treated to a fascinating discussion on the history of Iran from Shah to Ayatollah/Ahmadinejad, or "Ahmadinetollah" for short if you're into that.
Remember you need to combine some discussions.
Open the pod bay doors!
Hannah (currently running from Ahmadinejad)