2015! Monday, January 5 - Friday, January 9

Friday
No, we did not play Pictionary today; however, we did do some competitive questions related to the terms and devices on the Provincial Exam. After the prize cookies were awarded, I asked everyone to have their two personal essays peer assessed. I have collected both essays; I will assess one based on the criteria and the other will be recorded as a completed draft.
Thursday
Today we did the second personal essay based on the prompt : People create their own reality. Only 35 minutes for this one!

 Wednesday
The main event today was the personal essay. To get your brains engaged, we read through another personal essay that dealt with the personal essay as its topic. I read through several of the essays that resulted from this 55 minute write. I was touched and impressed by the topics and quality of writing. Tomorrow everyone will try a second personal essay with only 35 minutes on the clock in which to complete it.
Tuesday
Reading the term 2 novel is winding down as you will need to finish your book by next Wednesday in order to write the term essay. We spent a bit of time going over some short story terms and I was delighted to discover that, yet again, I have goofed on the flashcards by making too many! I will get it right this term! Essay terms tomorrow? We read two more personal narrative essays  and completed a criteria construction activity. Tomorrow you will write the first of two personal narrative essays based on an exam prompt and following the criteria we constructed together.

Monday
Happy New Year! Hope all of you enjoyed your winter break. I returned a number of assessment pieces today and provided everyone with a printed progress report. We discussed the calendar of events for the remaining four weeks leading-up to the exam: finish up narrative writing this week or early next week; novel term papers will be written in class next week; poetry and poetry terms; a gallop through Hamlet at the end of the month. We had a look at a personal narrative essay today and made a start at coming up with criteria.

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