"Of Mice and Men" vocabulary exercise

• With your partner, select two words that you feel are both new to you.
• Submit the word within its context.
• Submit your own definition of the word after looking it up.
• Use the word in your own sentence and submit. 

Example:

"From outside came the clang of horseshoes on the playing peg and the shouts of men, playing, encouraging, jeering."

Jeering- to shout or mock in a demeaning manner

The crowd was very rude as they were yelling and jeering the talent show contestants off the stage.

Submit both vocabulary words with all three criteria to this blog. Due Wed 2/1.

1st Semester Student-Parent Portfolio Post

IMPORTANT NOTE ON CHANGE IN PORTFOLIO POST: This response is to be placed in your own blog, as a reply to your initial comment on your portfolio.

Post a short reflection about your portfolio on your own blog. This reflection can be the "conclusion" to your portfolio, with an invitation to your parents/guardians to reply. Their reply must include responses to following questions. You may copy paste the questions into your blog if you like.

1. What piece of writing did you like best in my portfolio and why? 
2. What did you like about my portfolio and sharing and what would you like to see me improve on?
3. Which of the writing traits (ideas, organization, voice, word choice) do you feel was most successful for me?
4. Which of the traits of writing would you like me to improve on in the coming semester?

Be sure to let your parents/guardians know that this post serves two purposes

• It is an opportunity for them to comment on your learning and 
• It is part of my assessment of your attainment of General Learning Outcome #5, "Effective Communicator." Your sharing of the portfolio should enable your parents/guardians to reflect and respond to the four questions above.

Roots and Recipes Brainstorm

This assignment has two parts: 1)YOUR post and 2) your COMMENTS to two of your team members 

On YOUR OWN BLOG, create a post that answers the following questions for your essay. 

1. What food will you be describing? 
2. What are some special memories it has for you? 
3. What are some sensory details that will help bring the food “to life” for your readers? 
4. Who will you be interviewing about your food?

Once you have posted, find your TWO of your teammates' blogs and COMMENT on their Roots and Recipes posts. [This is the "two gives and two gets" requirement for all major writing.] 

Double check to be sure your comment actually appears. You need to have logged in and you need to type in the random letters in order to have your comment saved and posted. You must post to get credit. 

COMMENTS ON TEAM MEMBERS POST ARE DUE TUESDAY 8/14

Blog Commenting Practice

Just about all of the major writing assignments you will do in this class will go through the critique process on your blog. Your classmates and your teacher will comment on your posted draft to help your finished essay attain the standards of effective writing. This is your chance to practice critiquing to prepare for the Roots and Recipes essay. 

Sample Paragraphs from a Roots and Recipes Essay: 
Gingerbread cookies are a wonderful part of my family's Christmas celebrations. The amazing smell of this delicious treat, the spicy aroma of ginger and cinnamon and cloves, always awakens fond memories of holidays past. 
The kitchen was my favorite place to be, to watch all the ingredients and the making of those cookies! I eventually progressed from just watching, to baking the gingerbread. Even though it takes much time and effort, it is something I enjoy because of the satisfaction of turning out a perfect batch. 
As children we looked forward to the baking of those special delights but even more to decorating the houses we would make with the gingerbread. It was so much fun to place the different kinds of candy onto our houses. All the cousins and aunties and uncles and grandma and grandpa would get together after dinner on Christmas Eve to decorate their houses. There was much laughter as people tried to out do each other in their creations! 
Now, the gingerbread making has been taken over by the younger generation, and the decorating is shared with boyfriends and girlfriends and newlyweds! It is truly a family tradition. 

Commentary Process 
You will discuss and post as a team. Be sure to include each member's name so that all can get credit. 

1. Start by reviewing the rubric, so that you know what is expected in this essay. 
2. Begin your commentary with the positive elements of the piece, but be specific!There is nothing worse, or more insincere than a comment like "I loved your essay!" Instead, you can comment on
   
   • Specific details that helped you visualize what was happening, good sensory detail, for example. 
   • Details that brought out the writer's voice, that gave authenticity to the experience. For example, IF I had shared the detail about my nephew Jesse, who loved to populate his gingerbread houses with soldiers and dismembered snowmen, THAT would have been strong voice. 
   • Good organization: you could see the time sequence or spatial sequence clearly. 
3. Then, get into ideas for improvement. Here, it is most helpful if you can express your comments as questions. Thus, instead of saying, "You need more specific detail" you can ask the question, "Can you describe the kitchen utensils used to make these cookies?" 
4. Again, go back to the rubric for your comments. DO NOT JUST REPEAT STUFF FROM THE RUBRIC. Instead, ask questions that will help guide the writer to attain those standards. 

Good luck :) I will comment on and assess all of your team critiques so that you will have a better idea of how to do this on your own.