September 27, 2012

Terrible Things

• an allegory about the holocaust in a children's story format

Lit. Circles Discussion
Debrief (Looking Ahead)

• I believe this was where she had us do assignment #16 which was Lit. Circle Prep for Discussion 2. She suggested using notes or using the old roles from Frake's lit circles.

No SSR

Reminders and Announcements:

1. Library Card due October 1
2. Don't read your lit book on 1st or 3 rd rotation for SSR. It's only acceptable on 2nd rotation.

Well that's all for this week which brings a close to my scribing duties. Have a wonderful year and good luck on the Senior Project!

September 26, 2012

SSR
Writing Workshop*
Writing feedback**

*Just before we bagan writing workshop, Ortage read something called "Shitty First Drafts". It was about how no writer writes a good first draf. Overall, perfection takes time. Do word vomit first and then refine it.

** We used Darlene's peice for commendations and recommendations.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Lit. Circle reading is due tomorrow.
2. You cannot use Lit. Circle book for SSR House Competion.

Septmeber 24, 2012

SSR
Announcements:

• We'll be working on class bulletin so bring baby pictures tomorrow if you want one posted.
• Interview questions due next Mon. (Blog 6)
• Writing workshop is Wed. You need to have your prompt chosen by then
• Ortega needs helpers to decorate her walls; community service hours or extra credit will be offered.

Terrible Things

• We weren't able to get to this because Nick kept torturing stuffed animals.

Lit. Circle

• Chose books
• Went over calendar dates that will be used for discussion
• 9/27
• 10/1
• 10/4
• 10/8
• 10/11
• 10/15
• 10/18
• 10/22
• 10/25
• 11/1

September 21, 2012

Today, all we did was highlight and margin note research articles. At the end of the block, we turned in our articles and updated working bibliography. Don't forget to have your LA County Library card by October 1st to receive full credit! It was great being your scribe for the week. Have a great rest of the year North House!

September 20, 2012

 This is what the schedule looked like for today:

• SSR
• A#12: LA County Library Resources
• A#13: Government Quickwrite
• Literary Circle Book Introductions 

A#12: LA County Library Resources (entered into comp. book)

Today we were assigned to purchase an LA County Library card. The reason why LA County Library is better is because they have an endless amount of quality research available. There are multiple locations of these particular libraries. Including Diamond Bar, West Covina, and Claremont. If you don't have a card, bring you parents if you are under 18 years of age. Make sure to sign up for a pin number and to give your email to receive updates on upcoming book deadlines and books on hold. If you already have a card, make sure you still remember your pin number and update your email address if your card has been idle for a while now. You should have your card by October 1st to receive an E. Your grade will lower one full grade for every week it is late. You have two weekends to deem a library card.

A#13: Government Quickwrite (entered into comp. book as well)

In our journals, we had to address the questions: What would it take to fight your own government? How would you fight? 

This was a very heavy question. During a class discussion about what we had written, we all pretty much agreed that we would like to believe that we would perform this heroic act and fight against our government. Although in reality, it is very scary to most of us and we would probably end up dodging the entire idea altogether unless it dragged us out of our houses or held our best friend hostage. We also came to the conclusion that one person couldn't change anything. It would take a large mass of people to pull this type of thing off. Which is true once you really think about it.

Literary Circle Book Introductions 

-In the Time of the Butterflies

-George Orwell 1984

-V for Vendetta

-Persepolis

*We will be picking our literature books on Monday, Sept. 24th through some sort of lottery process. Best luck to you all!

September 18, 2012

Today we got right into Poetry Out Loud recitations. No SSR for the day. And nobody picked “Fire and Ice”! Everyone got up there and gave it their all. I have to say that the presentations were very enjoyable despite the thick air. We got through it as a class and applauded for everyone who went up there even if they weren’t able to finish their poem. “Something is better than nothing.” I also noticed that everyone included some sort of voice, physical appearance, articulation, and dramatic appropriateness to their poem. Even the quieter people in the class. Overall, everyone put in effort and took a stab at it. Good job today!

September 17, 2012.

-->

Hey North House! This is Darlene Dela Rosa and I am the blogger for this week. Here’s what the schedule looked like today, Sept. 17.

·      SSR

·      POL Rehearsal

·      Workshop

POL Rehearsal

We were given 15 minutes to practice our poems with a partner. We were told to tell our partners if they have spinach in their teeth. What I mean by that is basically laying out the truth with their performance. If it was perfect then we were allowed to say so. If it wasn’t, then we had to tell them what they needed to work on. Whether it was their voice and articulation or dramatic appropriateness, we had to be blunt. This exercise was designed to help your partner improve their grade tomorrow.

Workshop

At 8:45, we began our timed writing/writing workshop. We were given 30 minutes to write a personal narrative based on a topic of our choice. We wrote our piece in our composition books as A#10 Writing Workshop.

After our time was up, Austin was chosen to get feedback from the class regarding her essay. This feedback was also logged in our composition books as A#11 Writing Feedback. Some feedback the class came up with include:

·      Bobbie said that the rhetorical questions and sarcasm added character to her essay.

·      Emma said that variation of sentence length lacked and would enhance her essay. She also said that she had a good usage of vocabulary. There were big words in the essay, but the message that Austin was trying to convey came across without confusing her readers.

·      Mrs. Ortega described that Austin’s voice was very evident in her essay. In other words, her essay had voice.

REMINDER: Tomorrow is the official Poetry Out Loud recitation, which will be held during 2^nd block in Ortega’s room. “Fire and Ice” is strictly prohibited if you haven’t caught that already.  Make sure to bring a printed copy of your chosen poem to receive full credit tomorrow. This will make it easier to check your accuracy, which counts for 8 points of your overall Poetry Out Loud grade.

Fourth Rotation 9/14

Today La Rousa was still filling in for Ortega.
Today we basically went over our research in class and La Rousa came around to check it off. We also had our Working Bibliography papers checked. Nothing much today.

Some exciting news for our house... We WON against South house!! Congrats on our first house win!

Third Rotation 9/13

Last rotation Ortega had informed us that she would be missing the rest of the week because her grandma had passed away.
In her place was Ms. La Rousa.

Today's AGENDA
-SSR
As usual.
-POL A#8 Scoring Guide
The score guide was an outline of the categories where the contestants are scored. We looked over it and saw where the deductions in their scores come from so that we could practice.
-Practice Scoring a Video
We watched 2 videos of past winners of Poetry Out Loud. We had to score their performance as if we were the judges of the competition.
-Practice with a Partner
Whoever you sit next to in class is your partner. You had to practice your poetry out loud poem and apply the rubric for how it will be scored in an actual competition.
-A#9 Timed Writing
During assignment #9 we were supposed to apply the ABC's and D's lesson she had taught us last rotation. Like last time we had 20 minutes to write about how we ended up with our senior topics.

Don''t forget to bring you research tomorrow and a printed and revised version of your working bibliography with added summaries.

Second Rotation 9/11

AGENDA
-SSR
Nothing new.
-Talk Show Interview
This was actually a very entertaining interview with Emma Watson and David Letterman to give us an exaple of what to do and what not to do in an interview. Keep in mind we are not David Letterman.
-Bad Interview Example
We never actually watched the bad interview example because of the terrible internet.
-Interview Practice Team
We practiced interviewing our partner with sample questions that were open ended.
-Share Out
-POL Rehearsal
We never made it here because class was over before this point.

First Rotation 9/10

This is a little late, but here is the agenda for Monday September 10.

 AGENDA
-SSR
Today you had to bring your SSR book. We read in class for about 20 minutes. Very similar to Edwards last year, so nothing new.
-Notebook Setup
We set up our notebooks so we can officially start class with Ortega.
-Intro to timed Writing
-Reading Autobiography
-ABC's (D's) of timed writing
This is supposed to help us with our timed writing in class. Fist, ASSES the problem; BRAINSTORM ideas; CHOOSE your order; and D.