Thanksgiving Break

Dear students:
I want you to enjoy the Thanksgiving break with your friends and family.  Therefore, there is no Reading Plus due this week.  I also am not collecting SAT/ACT Questions this week.

When we come back next week it is back to business, however.
December 3rd -- Progress Reports come out (Those of you with D's or F's I will speak to individually.)
I should also have PERT scores back next week to share with those of you who took the tests.
I will be individually sitting down with those of you who turned in your compare/contrast essays to review it with you and give you feedback on your writing.  This will take about a week to complete everyone.

While I am reviewing essays you will be working on a partner activity reading Francis Bacon essays and completing an assignment with your assigned essay.

Remember that Community Service hours are due by December 20th and I need to see your proof of your hours by 12/20!
*You can bring in pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House -- for every 50 tabs you earn 1 hour of community service
**A Toy Drive will begin next week and for every new, unwrapped toy you bring in you will earn 1 hour of community service

Sonnets of Thanks

With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it would be interesting to have you write your own sonnets using the theme of thanks to guide your writing.  I know many people think that sonnets are just based on love, but that is not necessarily the case.

We will be reviewing the two basic types of sonnet forms in the textbook (pg 303) and then using one of these forms you will create your own sonnet.

Sonnets will be due TYPED on Monday, November 25 (Periods 2,4,6) and November 26 (Periods 1,3,5)

Compare/Contrast Essay Rubric

Here is the breakdown of how I will grade you on your essay:

Rough Draft -- The students rough draft demonstrates they have developed their thoughts thoroughly by making changes, corrections, etc. before continuing to their final draft.

Peer Edit -- The student exchanged their essay with a classmate and the student answered the questions based on their rough draft.

Final Draft -- The student takes their rough draft and peer edit suggestions in order to type their final draft.  The final draft has few or no mispelled words, grammar errors, or typos.  The student addresses all of the areas from the peer edit questions.  The student demonstrates a clear progression of ideas that are logically organized to completely compare/contrast their topic.  The final draft is typed, double-spaced, and printed at home.

Everything is due by Thursday, November 21 (Periods 2,4,6) and Friday, November 22 (Periods 1,3,5)!

Quote Assignment 2

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”  ~Jim Rohn

Assignment:

Write a scenario where this quote would apply.  Explain through the scenario what this quote means.

Due next class TYPED -- November 20 (Periods 1,3,5) and November 21 (Periods 2,4,6)

Peer Edit Questions for Compare/Contrast Essay

1.Do they use an attention grabber?  What is it?

2.Does the essay have a clear thesis (main idea sentence in the introduction paragraph)?  What is it?

3.What two things are being compared?

4.What areas are being compared?

5.Do they have at least 3 quotes to support their ideas?

6.Are transitional words used to identify points of comparison and contrast?  What are they?

7.Does the conclusion paragraph connect to their introduction paragraph?  How?

8.Could the writer add or take anything out of their essay?  Explain.

Quote Assignment

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

Aldous Huxley

Assignment:

Write a scenario where this quote would apply.  Explain through the scenario what this quote means.

Due next class typed -- November 14 (Periods 1,3,5 and November 15 (Periods 2,4,6)

No more excuses

To all my students (Periods 1-6):

We have started the second nine weeks and the excuses stop here.
From now on, if you do not complete an assignment on time and were not excused absent your grade is going in as a 0.
As far as Reading Plus is concerned, if you do not complete your Reading Plus for the week you will only have the following week to make it up.  No Reading Plus make-ups will be allowed at the end of the nine weeks.
I need to prepare you for the real world and by giving you second, third and sometimes even fourth chances I am hurting you, not helping you.

Potential Fieldtrip Opportunity

I have been tentatively approved to take 80 of my students on a fieldtrip to see the play Antony and Cleopatra on January 28th, 2014.
However, the only way this is going to be possible is if I can get 5 chaperones.  They can not be teachers from our school, security guards or secretaries.  That means I need parents or family members that are at least 21 years old and have a volunteer number.
If you have a parent or family member that can volunteer to help us out that day please let me know as soon as possible.
They need to make sure they have a volunteer number which they can sign-up through the dadeschools website at http://community.dadeschools.net/!svp/school-vol.asp

I need to know before we go on the holiday break in December if I have enough volunteers.