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.

POW #3: Letter to Dr. Berry

The Olathe School District has had six snow days this year, two days over the limit built into our schedule.

THIS IS HYPOTHETICAL:
Our superintendent, Dr. Berry, is considering adding two additional days on to the end of the school year to make up this lost time.

Write a letter to Dr. Berry persuading him to add on the extra days, or to NOT add on the extra days. It is your choice.

Process:
1. Create a T-Chart of pros/cons. This is your brainstorming
2. Your introduction should have a hook to draw him in to your letter. Address it to him. The last sentence should be your thesis statement
3. Show the other side of the argument (refutation).Use the transitions we discussed.
4. State your case. Your topic sentences should match up with your thesis statement.
5. Your conclusion should bring everything together.
6. Proofread. This is going to the superintendent, so you want to make sure everything is perfect.

Raven Blogger Award: Outside Reading #1

I hope you all are having a great snow day! I have enjoyed reading your blog posts about your books. I noticed a wide variety of books that you are interested in, which is very cool to see. I just hope you find a book that interests you that you don't want to put down. Like this one:

I finished my first book, and I am now reading The Accidental Billionaires. I wish I could accidentally become a billionaire! It is about how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook. Many of you have probably seen The Social Network, which is the movie version of this book. You guys know that I am a techno-geek at heart. Why didn't I think of Facebook? I wonder what Zuckerberg thinks about how he was portrayed in the movie and book...

Frank is also enjoying the book:

Now to our Raven Blogger Award winners for your book post. Congratulations to these winners:

Rachel is reading Burger Wuss, and she did a nice job with her post. Great picture for her rating system! (4th Hour)

Maddie is reading Acceleration. I really like that she noticed the foreshadowing early on in the book. She also has a unique rating system. (5th Hour)

Have you read The Da Vinci Code? If so, you would like Shaun's book Digital Fortress, also written by Dan Brown.  (7th Hour)

I would encourage you to look through your classmate's posts to see what books they are reading. Some of you commented that you were interested in reading a certain book, so please feel free to ask each other questions!