Monday, October 27 - Friday, October 31
Friday - October 31st !
We spent quite a bit of time reviewing the exam terms beginning with the letters A-C. Using the recipe cards, we spent some time throwing around terms and definitions. We talked a bit about bias and current news. We saved the reading on bias for Monday and played Pictionary.
Thursday
Today we did our second in-class write: a compare and contrast essay about the Hemingway short story.
Wednesday
We worked more on firming up the essay thesis statements today. We looked at "The Essay Machine" template available in the links section of this blog. It will guide you through the structure of a basic essay if you still find you don't know what to write. We also wandered around the room looking at the quotes from "The Short Happy Life...". On recipe cards, I asked you to write down words (abstract nouns like courage) that you associate with the quote or the character. I expanded the essay topic to a compare/contrast between Francis and Robert OR Robert and Margot (those two predators!). After the walk about and more time to work on the outline for the essay I really started to notice some interesting ideas surfacing in what you were writing down. Keep pushing your thinking! Also, remember to use your four words (from the recipe card) to form the topics you will discuss in your essay body paragraphs rather than using one event in the story as the basis for one of your arguments. This is, I think, the reason why some of your body paragraphs are a bit thin: you are only using one example/event from the story. Instead, pick a broader topic and select moments/quotes from the story which deal with your topic/argument. I asked you to work on the introduction to your essay towards the end of class. Tomorrow you will have only 60 minutes to write your complete essay.
Tuesday
Following a bit of reading of the banned/challenged books, we looked at a couple examples of Grade 12 essays from the Provincial Exam. We read a 6 and a 5 on the marking scale to get a sense, in particular, of the body paragraph depth and development. I am noticing a lot that is good in the class essays: sentence construction, tone, paragraphing. However, the weaknesses at this point are in the depth of the discussion, the minimal amount of evidence provided and the lack of a developed explanation of the examples/quotes/evidence. Next I reminded everyone of the essay topic: compare and contrast Francis Macomber with Richard Wilson in Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." By the end of the class (30 minutes was provided for an outline - waaaaay more time than you will have in the exam) everyone should have produced an outline that includes a thesis, and three topics for each of the body paragraphs.
Monday
Hopefully everyone felt rested-up after the three day weekend because this week is our first five day week for a while! I reminded everyone today about getting your novel Challenged/Banned book read so you can begin your essay soon. It will be due on November 21st - the last day of term 1. Also, don't forget about the novel "Autographs". The outline for which is now in the link section of this blog. To start off today, we marked Thursday's editing sheet/quiz. Today was the last call for the "lilac" essay practice (body paragraph) sheet. Essays were to be handed in today, but given my current pile of marking, I said I will take them in tomorrow.
Most of this class was spent looking at quotes from "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." As you did with "A Short Story", quotes were placed around the room and you wrote on the quotes commenting on their relationship to plot, characterization, setting, irony, symbolism, foreshadowing. This thinking is the background work for the essay you will write in-class on Thursday. You will be asked to compare and contrast Francis Macomber and Richard Wilson.
Grafitti quotes link - (Thank you to my friend & colleague Ms. Schleppe who prepared these quotes)
We spent quite a bit of time reviewing the exam terms beginning with the letters A-C. Using the recipe cards, we spent some time throwing around terms and definitions. We talked a bit about bias and current news. We saved the reading on bias for Monday and played Pictionary.
Thursday
Today we did our second in-class write: a compare and contrast essay about the Hemingway short story.
Wednesday
We worked more on firming up the essay thesis statements today. We looked at "The Essay Machine" template available in the links section of this blog. It will guide you through the structure of a basic essay if you still find you don't know what to write. We also wandered around the room looking at the quotes from "The Short Happy Life...". On recipe cards, I asked you to write down words (abstract nouns like courage) that you associate with the quote or the character. I expanded the essay topic to a compare/contrast between Francis and Robert OR Robert and Margot (those two predators!). After the walk about and more time to work on the outline for the essay I really started to notice some interesting ideas surfacing in what you were writing down. Keep pushing your thinking! Also, remember to use your four words (from the recipe card) to form the topics you will discuss in your essay body paragraphs rather than using one event in the story as the basis for one of your arguments. This is, I think, the reason why some of your body paragraphs are a bit thin: you are only using one example/event from the story. Instead, pick a broader topic and select moments/quotes from the story which deal with your topic/argument. I asked you to work on the introduction to your essay towards the end of class. Tomorrow you will have only 60 minutes to write your complete essay.
Tuesday
Following a bit of reading of the banned/challenged books, we looked at a couple examples of Grade 12 essays from the Provincial Exam. We read a 6 and a 5 on the marking scale to get a sense, in particular, of the body paragraph depth and development. I am noticing a lot that is good in the class essays: sentence construction, tone, paragraphing. However, the weaknesses at this point are in the depth of the discussion, the minimal amount of evidence provided and the lack of a developed explanation of the examples/quotes/evidence. Next I reminded everyone of the essay topic: compare and contrast Francis Macomber with Richard Wilson in Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." By the end of the class (30 minutes was provided for an outline - waaaaay more time than you will have in the exam) everyone should have produced an outline that includes a thesis, and three topics for each of the body paragraphs.
Monday
Hopefully everyone felt rested-up after the three day weekend because this week is our first five day week for a while! I reminded everyone today about getting your novel Challenged/Banned book read so you can begin your essay soon. It will be due on November 21st - the last day of term 1. Also, don't forget about the novel "Autographs". The outline for which is now in the link section of this blog. To start off today, we marked Thursday's editing sheet/quiz. Today was the last call for the "lilac" essay practice (body paragraph) sheet. Essays were to be handed in today, but given my current pile of marking, I said I will take them in tomorrow.
Most of this class was spent looking at quotes from "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." As you did with "A Short Story", quotes were placed around the room and you wrote on the quotes commenting on their relationship to plot, characterization, setting, irony, symbolism, foreshadowing. This thinking is the background work for the essay you will write in-class on Thursday. You will be asked to compare and contrast Francis Macomber and Richard Wilson.
Grafitti quotes link - (Thank you to my friend & colleague Ms. Schleppe who prepared these quotes)
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