Outside Reading Book: 4th Quarter

Construct a blog post about where you are in your outside reading book for 4th quarter. For this post, choose FIVE of the following sentence starters and write a one-paragraph reflection for each (five paragraphs total).

Due: Monday, April 25th.

• I noticed...
• I wonder...
• I'm surprised...
• I was reminded...
• I'd like to know...
• If I were...
• The central issue(s) is (are)...
• I'm not sure...
• Although it seems...
• I realized...
• One consequence of _______ could be...
• If __________, then...
• The author's purpose is...
• The intended audience is...

April 13/14 Blog Posts

Welcome back to your blog. It has been awhile, but you should have many things to post. You should post the following as separate posts:

1. Parent Letter. Revise it with the feedback you got from your parents. 

2. Acrostic Poem

3. Riddle Poem

4. Concrete Poem (insert an image from a picture you take, or scan it in). 

You should have FOUR separate posts. Name each post according to the title in the list above.

Feel free to use images or pictures to spice up your posts. 

Blogger of the Week: Book Glog

I enjoyed reading all of your Glogs and seeing the wide-variety of books you read. I would encourage you to look through your classmate's blogs to see the books they read. Perhaps you will be inspired to read a book that one of your classmates read. I would also encourage you to go back and comment on your classmate's blogs.

There were many outstanding Glogs this week to choose from. Here are the Bloggers (or Glogsters?) of the week:

4th Hour
Cody read Knots in My Yo-Yo String
Bailey read To Live Again

5th Hour
Katie read Precious
Justin read The Dragon Heir

7th Hour
Natalie read The Red Pyramid
Tyler W read Trials of Death (I am going to sleep with the light on after seeing this Glog!)

Persuasive Essay: Julius Caesar

Directions: Create a persuasive essay, whereby you will persuade the reader to your side:

  

Write a letter from Caesar’s ghost to the Plebeians about what he learned about friendship.

Suggestions: 
Who you should trust and not trust.
What to look for in a friend.
What "red flags" to look for in a friendship.

Instructions:

1. Make a T-Chart showing what friendship is and is not.

2. Five-paragraph essay:

• Intro (Hook, set up the issue, thesis statement with subpoints)
• Refutation paragraph (show the other side)
• Body #1 – Addresses subpoint #1 with at least one quote
• Body #2 – Addresses subpoint #2 with at least one quote
• Conclusion – Brings it all together and refers back to the thesis

3. MLA Formatting – Heading, formatting, quotes cited

4. Proofread. Proofread. Then proofread some more!

5. Upload to www.turnitin.com

4th Hour Friendship Rules

5th Hour Friendship Rules

7th Hour Friendship Rules

Glog Blog: Outside Reading Book

You have spent this quarter reading an outside reading book. Hopefully you chose a book that you enjoyed reading. Now is your time to share!

1. Sign up on www.glogster.com (Make sure to write down your username and password!)

2. Here are the instructions and required elements of your Glog. Download them here.

3. Post your Glog to your Blog!

4. Here is an example from Mrs. White

5. Due: Tuesday, March 22nd (the day we return from spring break)

Blogger Award: Snow Day Letter

I was very impressed with your persuasive letters to Dr. Berry. I was primarily looking at three things:

1. Thesis statements - Did you have one that took a side AND included subpoints that previewed your paper?

2. Refutation - Did your second paragraph show the other side of the argument? Addressing the opposition is a key part of a good persuasive essay.

3. Organization - Was your paper organized similar to the models we looked at? Did you follow the paragraph pattern of TS, CD, CM, CD, CM, CS?

For the most part, our organization and refutation was solid. We still need to work on thesis statements.

One thing that many people omitted was discussing the background of the problem. That is something I obviously need to address before our next persuasive writing. Many people had a hook, and then jumped straight to the thesis statement. If I didn't know what you were writing about, I would have been lost understanding the situation without the background of the problem. Assume your audience is clueless about the situation, so you need to fill them in on the background.

Let's get to the winners of this week's Raven Blogger Award:

Andrea uses excellent support and commentary, including ETHOS, to support her argument. (4th Hour)

Katie does an outstanding job of appealing to Dr. Barry's emotions (PATHOS).  (5th Hour)

Braden took some chances on his letter, and it paid off. He uses LOGOS to support his opinion. (7th Hour)

POW #4: Does the opposite sex ever just make you mad?

In Act II.i of Julius Caesar, we are introduced to our first female characters: the wives of Caeser and Brutus, and we see some sparks fly.  As we read this section, think about the way the couples interact, how they feel about each other, and what roles they take in their relationship.

If you are a female, you will write two notes: one from Calphurnia to Portia and a response from Portia to Calphurnia.  If you are a male, you will write two notes: one from Caesar to Brutus and a response from Brutus to Caesar.  Both your notes should be in the same post and should include these items: 

• Recount the conflict you had with your husband/wife.
• Express your frustrations you have with him/her.
• Express the ways you feel pressured to act towards him/her. 
• Ask for advice from the person you are writing to and respond with advice.