Spring 2015 Session
Monday, March 30, 2015:
Students present: Meg, Kira, Justin
Materials Used: Mr. Heinegg's final PPT, Mr. Ambrose's final tips sheet, department long comp promps
Topics Covered: review of strategies, long comp brainstorming
Friday, March 27, 2015
Student present: Justin
Materials Used: Powder
Topics Covered: close reading of text, planning open response, reading for main idea
Wednesday, March 25, 2015:
Students present: Justin, Kira, Meg, Tristan
Post-Test
Monday, March 23, 2015:
One-on-one work with Kira
Wednesday, March 18, 2015:
One-on-one work with Kira (and Meg?)
Monday, March 16, 2015:
Students present: Kira, Tristan
Write open response for passage from last week ("The Tiger's Wife")
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Students in Attendance: Kira, Meaghan, Tyler, Cobee, Debra
Topics Covered: Close reading of a text, main ideas and supporting details, etc.
Materials Used: "The Tiger's Wife"
Monday, March 9, 2015
With Ms. Sanford
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
With Ms. Sanford
Monday, March 2, 2015
Students in Attendance: Kira, Meaghan, Tyler
Topics Covered: Writing solid paragraph open responses
Materials Used: "The Life of a Day" and "There's a Riot at the School"
Download our brainstormed talking points and our completed class open response for The Life of a Day here.
Download our brainstormed talking points and our completed class open response for There's a Riot at the School here.
What's on tap for next Monday:
Open response on "The Life of a Day" and "There's a Riot at the School"
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Students in Attendance: Kira, Tristan, Meaghan, Cobee
Topics Covered: Reading poetry and nonfiction for main idea and supporting details, planning an open response, answering main idea and supporting detail questions, making inferences
Materials Used: "The Life of a Day" (poem) and "There's a Riot at the School" (nonfiction), both from November 2013 MCAS retest
Monday, February 23, 2015
Students in Attendance: Kira
Kira worked with Ms. Sanford on this day.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tyler, Kira, Meaghan
Topics Covered: Reading a nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details, planning an open response
Materials Used: "The Pancake"
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Students in Attendance: Michaela, Kira, Meaghan, Tristan
Topics Covered: Reading poetry, making inferences, comparing two works of literature, creating a graphic organizer to make comparisons between to works
Materials Used: "Amateur Fighter" and "The Boxing Lesson"
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tristan, Meaghan
Topics Covered: Writing an open response using graphic organizer, writing a solid paragraph in response to a prompt, using quotes to support assertions
Materials Used: "Lost City of Z" (download PDF here)
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tristan, Meaghan, Tyler
Topics Covered: Main idea in contemporary poem, main idea and supporting details in contemporary nonfiction, planning out an open response using a graphic organizer
Materials Used: "Negotiations with a Volcano" and "Getting Their Due" (both from March 2010 MCAS retest), English department open response graphic organizer
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tristan, Meaghan, Malik, Karl
Topics Covered: Main idea in nonfiction text (with Ms. Sanford)
Materials Used: "Oranges" by John McPhee from MCAS Retest
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tyler, Tristan, Meaghan, Malik, Karl
Topics Covered: Close reading of text, Characterization, Previewing Multiple Choice and Open Response Questions, Using Open Response Question as a Guide for Reading
Materials Used: "Red Badge of Courage" from 2013 (November) MCAS retest
Download exerpt and questions here.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Students in Attendance: Tyler, Tristan, Meaghan
Topics Covered: Literary devices in poetry, Theme in poetry, How do literary devices contribute meaning to theme, Side-by-side comparison of two works of literature (compare/contrast), Writing open response
Materials Used: "To Daffodils" and "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" from 1999 MCAS exam (8 multiple choice questions, 1 open response)
Download sample open response here.
Archives
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Final Long Composition Strategies Discussion
Today's Prompt:
In many works of literature, a character goes on a journey that changes his or her life.
From a work of literature you have read in or out of school, select a character who goes on a journey that changes his or her life. In a well-developed composition, identify the character, describe how the journey changes the character's life, and explain how the journey relates to the work as a whole.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
"A Retrieved Reformation"
Monday, March 16, 2009
2006 Long Composition
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Today's Agenda
Review Long Composition Brainstorming Process
Understand the topic
Brainstorm ideas
Organize the ideas
Organize your supporting details
Plan your conclusion
Put your plan into action
Begin long composition in class
In literature, as in real life, people often pursue a particular goal. Choose and name a piece of literature that you have read in class or on your own in which someone pursues a goal. Describe the goal and explain whether the character is sucessful in attaining it.
Tonight's Homework
Finish your long composition (pursuing and attaining goals) for next class.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Day 2 of 3 Literary Devices (saved on school comp.)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Today's Agenda
MCAS 2008 ELA Reading Comprehension, Session 1 & 2
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Today's Agenda
MCAS 2008 Long Composition
Tonight's Homework
Prepare for tomorrow's in-class MCAS Reading Comprehension sections.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Today's Agenda
Students take turns going up to the blackboard and sharing their name histories, completed for homework last night.
After each student shares his/her name history, he/she has to answer one icebreaker question, selected at random from a hat. (He/she can pass once, but then must answer the next question.)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Today's Agenda
Review course syllabus.
Complete student survey.
Set personal goals for the upcoming school year.
Introduce name history assignment.
Tonight's Homework
Review the course syllabus with your familiy. Please have a parent or guardian complete the response form.
Write a one-page narrative on the history of your name. What does your name mean? Why was it chosen for you? Does it have any special historical significance for your family? If you could, would you change your name?
Creative & Critical Thinkers
