February 26 & 27

February 26
I wasn't here but there was a quiz on terms and then the sheet on the Duchess should have been handed in. After that, you were given the poem "Identity" and asked to finish the questions. Not many of these came in so hand them in on Friday.

February 27
The counsellors turned up again and used most of the period for course planning. I did hand out interim reports and some people got the work they neede to do etc. Please get the Identity sheet and any NHI work done for Monday.

February 25

Today was almost completely occupied by course planning. Remember to bring your forms back. There will be a quiz tomorrow on poetry terms, list 7 and 4.

February 24

Today we listened to Chris de Burgh's The Painter and then held a kind of a mock trial to determin if he was guilty of his wife's murder or not. We had a couple of unbiased judges come in and listen to the arguments and they agreed that he was guilty. After this, we just got started on The Duchess when the bell went. Please have all your terms definitions done for tomorrow. I also collected some "reports" on Porphyria's lover today and I need several comparisons between the poems Attack and Anthem for a Doomed Youth and War (from the Venns). There will be quiz on Thursday on poetry terms list #4 and 7.

February 23

Today we started off watching a short video called "Playing for Change". Then I handed out some poetry terms lists and the red books. People were also asked to get someone to give them some feedback on their reports that they wrote on "Porphyria's lover" . We discussed connotation and denotation and I said that you must consider both your purpose and your audience when you are writing something. Now, normally, you would probably be writing your police reports in an unbiased way but I would like you to be as biased as possible. Check the words you have used and use the thesaurus and see if you can make if very clear which outcome you favour for the murderer in the poem. We will be having a quiz on the terms on Thursday so please finish those via the redbook pages on my website or any decent online glossary. Have your reports done for tomorrow.

Here's the video

February 19

Today we went over the chart from Porphyria's Lover. You must take the information from this chart and write a 2 paragraph "report" as if you are a police officer or a psychologist. Use the dramatic monologue as if it were a confession. Use PEE model in your paragraph. I will be looking particularly for this. Due Monday. Have a nice weekend.

February 18

Today we few, we happy few explored Browning's poem Porphyria's Lover. You have to read the poem and fill in the chart on the back of the sheet. Do this for tomorrow. No quiz, sorry.

February 17

Today we had the course planning assembly and then came back and went over the PEE model for writing a paragraph/essay. Tomorrow we will use this method to write a paragraph based on the Venn you made about the poems and story. Bring your Venn.

February 16

We started by reminding ourselves how to behave in an airport. After this, partners got together to work on their VENN diagrams comparing the poems Attack and Anthem for A Doomed Youth. We started to put this up on the smart board when the bell rang. Tomorrow, we will finish the comparison of the poems to the story. No Homework.

February 13

Today we paid homage to Michael Jackson who is apparently quite ill. After this, there was some time to finish reading War and do questions 3 and 5. Next we watched a couple of short videos about Paschendael in WWI. Finally, everyone has to work with a partner and choose 1 of the 2 poems to read and answer the questions. The questions are to be done for Monday. On Monday, you will share the answers to the questions and create a Venn diagram that compares the poems to each other and to the story War in terms of the experiences of war that each presents. Have a great weekend.
You can watch the videos again, here.

February 12

Today we had a little quiz on grammar and sentence structure and marked it. After this we heard some examples of the social worker reports you were supposed to write for homework last night. After this, I asked people to read the story 'War' by Luigi Pirandello. We have something to do with this tomorrow. If you were away or want to finish the story, use this link to read it online.
http://www.eslbee.com/short_stories/ss_war.htm

February 11

Today we discussed the answers to the questions to "Long Distance" in small groups and then put the general consensus on the smart board. It, however, not being very smart has problems reading our handwriting. I will attempt to correct the answers and then post them on my website. Your homework is to write a report from the point of view of a social worker and you must decide whether or not the old man is fit to live alone or should be moved. All your evidence should come from the poem. The assignment is written out on the bottom of the poem sheet I gave out in class.

Please remember that there will be a little quiz on sentences and parts of speech tomorrow.

Finally, also remember that you need to get the Check My Mark slip signed and a parent's email address if there is not one on there.

See you tomorrow.

February 6, 9 & 10

February 6
We went over subject and predicate and tried a few online things that did not work.

February 9
I wasn't here but what you were supposed to do was review sentences types, some parts of speech and do a writing prompt about sentences. Then you had to highlight the writing prompt in 3 different colours to indicate simple, compound and complex sentences.

February 10
The writing prompts should have been handed in. Then we went over sentence types and constructions again. Next we discussed the purpose of certain kinds of sentences and fragments in modern writing and looked at 2 examples from children's stories and finally we started work on a poem called "Long Distance". Please read the poem and do the questions for tomorrow. We will work in groups to discuss the answers, so please have yours ready.

Quiz on Thursday will be about parts of speech and sentence constructions.

February 5

Today we did a quiz on sentence structure and marked it. If you were away, you will need to come in next Thursday at lunch or one day after school to do it. After this, we did another sheet about subjects and predicates; this one you had to figure out the order of the words to make a correct sentence. No Homework.

February 4

Today we went over Subject and Predicate and then reviewed independent clauses. We played a game with the boys against the girls trying to identify the number of independent clauses in the sentences. The boys looked like they had lost but rallied to tie in the end. We did not have time to find a suitable tie breaker. The last part of the period was spend doing Subject and Predicate review sheets. We will go over this quickly tomorrow before the quiz. The quiz is on sentence structure.

Bonus: Try this for a bonus: Send me a screenshot or print out the winning page.

Subject and Predicate
http://www.quia.com/rr/213141.html

This should be easy.
Complete or Incomplete Sentences
http://www.quia.com/ba/248221.html

February 3

Today we went over the worksheets from yesterday on run-on sentences and fragments. We did a little online review of this material. If you want further practice, go to: http://www.chompchomp.com/
and try some of the other exercises until you get really good!! Also, if you had a bonus point sheet to give me today, please give it to me tomorrow. I had some computer issues this morning so I got quite distracted. I'll be happy to give you the point tomorrow. No homework tonight.

PS Please get your computer permission forms done by Friday if you have not already done so.

For a bonus point, leave a comment (polite, please) on this post.

February 2

Today, I went over the course outline and my webpage. Then we looked at a powerpoint on
run-on sentences. Next we did a little quiz identifying run-ons and fragments. Finally, we did a worksheet where you have to fix the run on sentences. Remember, you can only use the (period/capital) fix 2 times. For the other 4 questions you need to try the semi-colon or conjunction fix. Please have this done for tomorrow. Also get you computer permission form signed and returned to the library by Friday.

Bonus: Send me a screenshot of your $1,000,000. If you can't do the screenshot, print out the page.

Differentiating Sentences, Run-ons, and Fragments
http://www.quia.com/rr/243116.html