Weekly Agenda: November 30-December 3

Tuesday, December 1
In-class:
Writing Biographical Narratives from Interviews: Examples
Group Work: Share interview results and ideas for how to present them
In-class drafting time: Narrative Essay #2
HW: Complete first drafts for Thursday

Thursday, December 3
In-class:
Peer Workshop: Narrative Essay #2
Revision and Optional Teacher Conferencing time
HW: Complete a typed Final Draft for Tuesday, 12/8

Weekly Agenda: November 30-December 3

Tuesday, December 1
In-class:
First Drafts DUE
Genre Fiction Workshop
Revision time and optional teacher conferencing
HW: Complete typed final drafts for Thursday

Thursday, December 3
In-class:
Final Draft DUE
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction (slide show w/ slide notes)
- forms
- purposes & possibilities
- examples
Read “The Zero-Moment Point” (excerpt from The Perfect Storm – handout)
- discuss purpose, strengths, and weaknesses of the form
HW: Read “Snapshot of a Dog” (handout); in ½ page or more, explain what this short example of literary memoir reveals about the dog, and what it reveals about the writer. Why do you believe James Thurber chose to write this essay?

Weekly Agenda: November 23-25, 2009

Monday, November 23
In-class:
Trade character and setting sketches
Discuss story rubric
In-class work time: Synopsis
HW: none, unless you need to finish the synopsis

Wednesday, November 25
In-class:
Peer review of synopsis by genre
- look for fiction elements
- look for genre conventions (are 3-4 represented well)
- feedback for drafting
In-class writing time: first draft
HW: Complete first draft for next week’s Writing Workshop

Have a safe, relaxing Thanksgiving Break!

Weekly Agenda: November 23-25, 2009

Monday, November 23
In-class:
Personal Narrative First Drafts DUE
Peer Review Workshop
In-class revision time/ teacher conferencing
HW: Complete typed final drafts for Wednesday

Wednesday, November 25
In-class:
Personal Narrative Essay #1 DUE
Mini-lesson: Choosing details that count, cutting details that don’t
Introduction to Narrative Essay #2: Biography
- choose a person to interview
- write out general interview questions to get information
- planning specific interview questions to focus on a subject
Biography practice: Student interviews
HW: Collect on needed information for writing a biographical narrative; be ready to write first draft on

Have a safe, relaxing Thanksgiving Break!

Weekly Agenda: November 16-20, 2009

Tuesday, November 17
Trade journals with partner, share feedback (based on conventions of fantasy)
Volunteers share their writing
Collect journals
Introduction to Mystery Writing Conventions – Focus: Cozy mysteries
Read “The Adventure of the Crooked Man” (handout)
- Discuss conventions
HW: Finish reading & writing about “Crooked Man” if you did not finish in class

Thursday, November 19
Discuss homework reading
Plotting a mystery: Planning the end and planting the evidence
- outline evidence in “The Adventure of the Crooked Man”
Journal prompt: Creating an amateur detective: Person & Place
Introduction to Story Assignment #2
Genre Sign-up
Review conventions of your chosen genre
In-class writing time: Setting, atmosphere and character development
HW: Be sure to have your setting and protagonist outlined and ready to go for next week. We will have a peer review of synopses by genre on 11/23.

Weekly Agenda: November 16-20, 2009

Tuesday, November 17
Vocabulary Quiz
Trade personal narrative scenes, offer feedback (thinking about scene elements)
Mini-lesson: Punctuating dialogue
- lesson
- examples
- handout → turn in
In-class writing time
HW: Work on first draft of personal narrative essay #1

Thursday, November 19
Mini-lesson: Choosing strong verbs, adverbs and adjectives
In-class writing time
HW: Complete first draft of essay #1 for peer workshop on 11/23

Weekly Agenda: November 9-13, 2009

Monday, November 9
Introduction to Conventions of Fantasy & Speculative Fiction
Partner Work:
Read and discuss excerpts from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (handout)
- determine purpose and message for each vignette
- highlight use of conventions for each
- summarize setting & locate vivid and/or sensory description
Share/discuss
HW: Read “The Dome” (handout). Write a ½ page discussing fantasy conventions used, whether obvious or subtle. What in this story seems fantastic (in other words, stretches or defies believability, and asks us to suspend our disbelief)? What moral or message does the writer seem to be getting at through the spin on our world that he creates?

Thursday, November 12
Discuss homework reading and story conventions
Read and discuss prologue from “Sabriel” (handout)
- plot, characters and setting – how does the writer hint at bigger things?
- fantasy conventions?
- emerging themes or ideas?
Journal Prompt: As we have seen, fantasy hinges on creating settings (or entire worlds) that are different than our own or that include elements that could not possibly exist in our own reality. These worlds can defy our laws and scientific explanations through the use of magic and mysticism. The worlds can be whimsical, serious, or downright dark. Using the conventions we’ve discussed, build a fantasy setting that you might want to use for the unit fiction project. Remember to include vivid and specific details, and choose those details wisely so that, like Nix, you are able to hint at a deeper world through a relatively short description.
HW: Complete journal assignment for Tuesday, 11/17

Weekly Agenda: November 9-13, 2009

Monday, November 9
New Vocabulary
Read excerpt of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (pp. 481-487) aloud
Respond to post-reading questions #2-4 → turn in today
Read Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (p.488-489)
- on the same sheet as your post-reading questions, answer post-reading question #6
HW: none, unless you still need to complete any of today’s work

Thursday, November 12
Introduction to writing scenes (showing vs. telling)
- scene-building elements
- scenes in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
- turning scenes into descriptions
- creating scenes out of descriptions (demonstrated using student essay #2)
- practice prompts: turning a narrative into a scene

• write
• trade
• share

HW: Due 11/17: Select an event or memory from your brainstormed list. Instead of summing it up (telling), turn it into a scene (showing). Use the methods for scene-building that we’ve discussed today. Your scene should be 1 page long (no shorter or longer). Be prepared to share it next week.

Also: The vocabulary quiz is Tuesday, 11/17. Remember to review your words!