Summer Reading Reminder for New 8th-Graders!

Ah, I can see you know...chillin' in your hammock, enjoying those last few precious moments of summer, when a chilling thought creeps into your head...didn't my 7th-grade teachers give me a summer reading assignment??!!!   AHHHHHHH!!!!

In  case you forgot about it, here it is.  Please pass this information along.

Summer Reading for Incoming Eighth-Graders

Now that you are entering eighth grade, it is only natural that you will begin to think about the expectations of high school.  In fact, in eighth grade, we focus on preparing students for the rigorous demands of high school reading and writing. To be ready to “hit the ground running,” below is a list of summer reading books.  We would like you to choose at least one to read with the following essential questions in mind:

Be prepared to discuss how the main character develops over the course of the story. How does the main conflict shape the main character’s development?

Be prepared to support your answers with evidence from the story. It is helpful to flag pages with small post-its and/or highlight passages (if you have purchased your own book).

You will complete both a written response and a discussion within the first two weeks of school.

Novel Options:

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

Maze Runner, James Dashner

Scorch Trials, James Dashner

Death Cure, James Dashner

The Kill Order, James Dashner

Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

Briar Rose, Jane Yolen

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Anthem, Ayn Rand

Although we encourage and are enthusiastic about re-reading favorites, we encourage you to choose a book that is new to you in order to challenge yourself! Your language arts teacher can help steer you towards a good choice if you are unsure of what might be a good fit for you.

These novels are available for purchase at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and Water Street Bookstore. We also have several copies available for you to borrow at CMS.

We look forward to eighth grade with you! Happy reading!

Mrs. Tobey -- Team Inferno (9) Mr. Stowell -- Team Tsunami (11)

Mrs. Prior -- Team Earthquake (10) Mr. Zakian -- Team Hurricane (12)

What to read this summer?

So, incoming eighth-graders, if you are wondering what to read, you can search Barnes & Noble for grade level-appropriate books, using a measurement called "Lexile score."

I did it for you, and sorted the list by what is most popular.  Give it a look!

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?SRT=SA&DREF=1&STORE=ALL&SZE=10&LEXILE=830^1090&SAT=1

Summer Honors Reading Assignment for Incoming 9th-Graders and THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Hiya folks,

I miss you already!  Thanks to every one of you for a wonderful year!  I hope you have a relaxing and safe summer full of family and friends fun-time!  Best of luck as high-schoolers!  Woo-hoo!

For those of you who are going into the honors freshmen English class next year...here is a link to the assignment in case you already lost your handout.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3PCuWOS-Ae7em1QOS1HS25aUDg/edit?usp=sharing

Persuasive Speech Semifinalists to vote for on Monday

Period 5:
Haley
Andrea
Chris
Caroline
Emma

Period 7:
Kristen (guaranteed spot)
Cole
Diana
Katrina
Solon
Morgan
Kyle

Period 5 Persuasive Speakers for Wednesday

Ben
Haley
Justin
Samantha
Jake
Emma
Bryan
*Makayla
*Anna

Giant Final Draft Checklist

1. Name, teacher, period, date in the upper-left corner
2. An interesting title, centered, not bolded, not large, not underlined
3. An interesting hook (1/3 of the intro paragraph)
4. basic background info on your topic (2nd 1/3 of your intro paragraph)
5. A universal statement right before your thesis
6. A clear, direct thesis at the end of your intro paragraph
7. Do all parts of the intro flow together when read aloud?
8. A transitional phrase a the beginning of 1st body paragraph, telling the reader this is your first point.
9. Transitional phrases in between every body paragraph to help your reader hear that you are going from one point to the next (remember, your listener can't hear paragraph indentations)
10. Is there a clear topic sentence for each body paragraph that says what the paragraph is about and matches the fact(s) within the paragraph?
11. Does each fact have a parenthetical reference right after it?  The period goes after the parenthesis.
12. After every fact, is there at least one sentence of your own words discussing/explaining it?
13. Have you embedded your facts? The New York Times reports...
14. Every time you mention a newspaper, news organization, book title - it should be in italics.
15. Does every body paragraph have a conclusion sentence?
16. Does the rebuttal paragraph mention the other side's point, and then shoot it down?
17. Is there a transition tot he conclusion paragraph?
18. Does the conclusion end in a thoughtful, meaningful way?
19. Is the call to action specific enough?
20. Is everything in Times New Roman 12pt. font, double-spaced....EVERYTHING!!
21. Did you take off all unused citations from your works cited page?
22. Are your citations in alphabetical order?

Rebuttal

Intro and conclusion

Intro paragraph:

First, you need a hook to get us interested.  You can have a thought-provoking quote or fact, or even a strong statement, or pose a question to the reader.  If you do, at least follow-up with a few sentences to develop/discuss that fact or quote or question.  Also, you can start it with a hypothetical scenario, putting the reader in the shoes of the situation.  The hook typically takes up the first third of your intro.

Second is the background information - the stuff we need to know to understand this topic you will be discussing.  Give us a brief history or understanding of some of the terms you will be using.  This takes up another third of the intro.

Next comes a universal statement.  This is the sugar to help the medicine of your thesis go down.  You need to come up with a statement that even people who might be on the opposite side would agree with.  To do this it may be very broad.  If my thesis was we should have universal health care, a universal statement would be..."Everyone wants to have the care they need, and would want the same for their friends, families and neighbors."

Finally, one sentence: your thesis.  Make sure it is concise and to the point.

Conclusion paragraph:

1) restate your thesis in different words.

2) summarize each of your body paragraphs

3) give the call to action

4) Finale: just like the hook got us interested, the finale needs to be interesting and leave us thinking.  Again, this can be a quote, fact, statement, question, or hypothetical scenario.  End strong, because this is your last impression.

Have you shared your outline?

I have met with you personally and gone over your outline, or I have commented upon your Google Doc for everyone that has given me access.  If you haven't, I marked it as a "U" in my gradebook, so you better get your act together!  :)

We have a field trip tomorrow, and on Friday we will discuss what goes into your intro and concluding paragraphs in more detail.  After that, you should have a completed rough draft for Monday!  Hooray!

Wednesday's Class

Hi Class,

I'm out sick today.  Ms. Maloney will be your sub.  You know exactly what to do: continue to work on your body paragraphs.  Please follow the example body paragraph on the poster (on the whiteboard).

I will not be able to meet with you individually, but if you shared your file with me and allowed me to make comments, I can do so for some of you from home.  To see if I made comments, go to the "Comment" button on your Google Doc.

Periods 2:  it is really important that you plug your computers back in at the end of the period.

If there are any burning questions, you can email me at dstowell@sau16.org

I expect you be on your best behavior.  Thanks!

Pre-Writing Outline

Pre-Write Outline:

I.               Thesis (One sentence that clearly states your claim)

Ex:  The United States needs universal health care now.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

II.  First Reason We NEED What You Propose.  (If your claim is for the status quo, than give us a reason why we don’t need change)

A)   Topic Sentence – clearly state this need in one sentence

B)   Supporting Fact (quote or summarized – be sure to know what source it came from

III.  Second Reason We NEED What You Propose.  (If your claim is for the status quo, than give us a reason why we don’t need change)

A)   Topic Sentence – clearly state this need in one sentence

B)   Supporting Fact (quote or summarized – be sure to know what source it came from

IV.  First Reason Your Proposal is of Value.  (Explain the satisfaction, value, or benefit your position or claim produces for others; your claim is not only necessary, but is beneficial or helpful for others.  If you are proposing the status quo, explain the value of keeping things the same and not changing).

A)   Topic Sentence – clearly state this need in one sentence

B)   Supporting Fact (quote or summarized – be sure to know what source it came from

V.  Second Reason Your Proposal is of Value.  (Explain the satisfaction, value, or benefit your position or claim produces for others; your claim is not only necessary, but is beneficial or helpful for others.  If you are proposing the status quo, explain the value of keeping things the same and not changing).

A)   Topic Sentence – clearly state this need in one sentence

B)   Supporting Fact (quote or summarized – be sure to know what source it came from

VI.  Counter Claim and Rebuttal.  Now it is time to consider a reason that the other side has for opposing your claim.  Concede that they have a valid point, but then you must try your best to rebut it or point out the flaw/problem with their argument.  You may say that they have a logical fallacy as a problem, or refute them with evidence.

A)   State a reason that the other side has.

B)   Point out a flaw with their reason.

V.  Conclusion with Call to Action.  State the specific call to action you believe we should do.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Article

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/06/28/sicko.fact.check/

Notes

Here are the notes from the film and terms.  The quiz will have you writing 1-3 paragraphs, using this information.  Be prepared.

Persuasive Organizer

Giant List of Topics

      Should the town of Stratham pass the teachers’ contract?

·      Should the second floor of the school be completed?

·      Should we eliminate summer vacation?

·      Should we eliminate standardized testing? (NWEA, NECAP)

·      Should New Hampshire repeal the death penalty?

·      Should we be vegetarians?

·      Should the government have more gun restrictions?  31-bullet clip?

·      Should the government do more to prevent illegal downloading?

·      Should the government do more to prevent homelessness, or is it not that big of an issue?

·      Should the hacker groups Wikileaks and Anonymous be arrested?

·      Should the government do more to prevent illegal immigration, or is it too expensive?

·      Should the government have more restrictions on genetically modified food?

·      Are we doing enough to prevent childhood obesity in America?

·      Does homework our school gives cause more harm than good for students?

·      Should we close all nuclear power plants in the U.S.?

·      Should the U.S. have more trade restrictions with China?

·      Should the U.S. immediately withdraw troops from Afghanistan?

·      Is too much of our nation's budget spent on defense?

·      Should we have levels in the middle school?

·      Should the U.S.  modify or repeal N.C.L.B. legislation?

Should we approve the Keystone pipeline project?

·      Should the U.S. drill in the Alaskan wildlife preserve for oil?

·      Do there need to be more restrictions on oil drilling in the U.S.?

·      Should the U.S. do more to prevent global warming?

·      Should economic sanctions be lifted from Cuba?

·      Should the president do more to close the Guantanomo Bay detention center?

·      Should major agriculture-producing countries stop producing crops for biofuel?

·      Is the Obama administration taking appropriate actions to reverse the recession?

·      Should the U.S. apply more pressure on China for human-rights issues?

·      Should the U.S. do more to coerce China to grant Tibet independence?

·      Should the U.S. put more pressure on Israel to have a peace agreement with Palestine?

·      Is the Obama administration doing enough to protect the environment?

·      Are our schools doing enough to prevent bullying?

·      Should our school start time be later?

·      Should N.H. keep the law allowing gay marriage?  (be careful to keep it fact-based, not opinion)

·      Should we keep the new health care legislation?  "Obama-care"?

·      Should American citizens boycott the sale of S.U.V.'s?

·      Should American citizens boycott Walmart?

·      Should plastic bags be banned in grocery stores?

·      Is the U.S. doing enough to reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons worldwide?  (We just signed a new treaty with Russia)

·      Should people be allowed to own exotic/dangerous pets?

·      Are we, as a nation, doing well enough to educate our students?

Examples to study

To study

Present:  study, studies
The students study their verb examples.

Past:  studied
The students studied for an hour.

Future: will study, shall study
The students shall study on a regular basis.

Present Perfect: has studied, have studied
The students have studied a lot for this quiz.

Past Perfect:  had studied
The students had studied before they played their video games.

Future Perfect:  will have studied, shall have studied
The students will have studied before they play their video games.

Present Progressive: is studying
She is studying her algebra homework.

Past Progressive: was studying, were studying
They were studying their French sentences in study hall.

Future Progressive:  will be studying
Mr. Stowell's class will be studying tonight!

Present Perfect Progressive:  has been studying
He has been studying for seven days.

Past Perfect Progressive:  had been studying
He had been studying when his dog ate his homework.

Future Perfect Progressive:  will have been studying
We will have been studying for three hours by dinnertime.

Verb Notes

Here are the notes we took today on the verb tenses and progressive verb forms.

Progressive Verb Forms

Presentations All Week

We are presenting our short stories in class all week.

Finishing the Short Stories

Period 5: you will have different iPads on Monday to finish your projects.  I know, very sad.  We cannot have the SAME iPads on Monday, but I have moved any presentations to Dropbox.

Everyone else: you will have to make sure you have finished and uploaded your project by the end of the day on Friday, for we will present on Monday.

Please fill the below form out immediately!

Epic Rap Battles Winners

Finally!  After much waiting and nagging....the results are in!  Claim your prize tomorrow

Period 1: The Friends Girls
Period 2: Oprah vs. Ellen
Period 5: Perry vs. Doofenshmirtz vs. Candace
Period 6: Sonic vs. Road Runner
Period 7: Bane vs. Joker vs. Penguin     tied with      Ozzy vs. Robert Plant

Writing the Short Story

Today we began the process of writing the short story.  Please see the handout description below.

Homework:  Pictures (if you are using Storybird) / typed rough draft due Friday.  Final project due the following Friday.

Create a Short Story!

You are going to create a short story to show us that you know what a good short story takes.  Once you create your story, you need to share it with us in one of three ways:

1)   By creating a Storybird using www.storybird.com (you turn it in through that website)

2)   By creating a picture book using Keynote (and emailing it to me through the app)

3)   By recording it with Garage Band to make an audiobook (and emailing it to me through the app)

Word Count:

            Academic: Minimum of 300 words (Storybird = 10 pages)

            CP:  400 – 500 words (Storybird = 16 pages)

            Honors: 500 + (no maximum, but try and keep it under 700 please!)

The Writing Process:

The way you go about doing this depends on what you want your final product to be.  If you are making a Storybird, you would be best to start choosing your pictures first, and then writing the story to go along with them.  Then, go the STORY WORKSHEET and make sure you’ve hit everything before revising your Storybird.

If you are going to make a Keynote book or Garageband audiobook, then you should start by outlining your story (see the STORY WORKSHEET).  That way you will have a basic idea of where to go.  Then, go ahead and type out your story.  After that is finished, you can add pictures through Keynote, or just read it aloud on Garageband. 

Short Story Rubric

Elements you must demonstrate in your story

(50 points)

Your teacher fills out the following!

­­­­______  /  5      A consistent and describable narrative tone (intelligent, innocent and naïve, dark and pessimistic, matter-of-fact) and point of view for your narrator

(1^st pers., 2^nd person, 3^rd pers. omniscient, 3^rd pers. Limited, 3^rd pers. Objective)

______  /  5      A Protagonist (or two protagonists, maximum) that is ROUND and DYNAMIC

           

______  /  15      Each of the parts of the plot diagram is obviously addressed, including inciting incident and climax, there is a sense of a complete/whole story, and you clearly chose ONE of the 36 PLOT LINES

______  /  5      An object, color, name, or season that has obvious symbolic meaning and fits into your story

______  /  5      Some obvious foreshadowing early in your story to the resolution of your primary conflict.

______  /  5      At least ONE type of irony obviously used (verbal, dramatic, or situational)

______  /  5      A repeating phrase, image, object, sound, or idea as a clear motif

______  /  5      It is professionally edited for spelling and punctuation

36 Plot Lines

When you are finished with the quiz, check out the 36 different plot lines to choose from.  Tonight's homework is to post which one you want to write on Edmodo....but it is first come, first served.  You will be able to decide by 3:30 pm today.

http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2012/10/36-plot-ideas-for-your-novel.html

The last two short stories

Read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" here.

Read "Harrison Bergeron" here.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Today we read the story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."  Find the whole story here.


Homework:  Take the reading quiz on Edmodo tonight.  If I don't see it in there by this morning, it is a zero.

Soooo...Alfred Hitchcock is a TOTALLY awesome director...and he tackled this famous story...in three parts.  He does change the plot...a little...so make sure you read the story, not JUST watch the videos.

Tomorrow's Reading

Here are some links to short stories that you should know to get the most out of this weekend's story!  Click on the picture to find out even more information about the nursery rhymes!

Here is the story itself:  "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

Georgie Porgie

Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

Here is a nursery rhyme link to "Who Killed Cock Robin" ... that gives away the killer!

Doctor Foster
Went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle
Right up to his middle
And never went there again!

Here is the one that the story is based on and explains what happened to the queen (Four and Twenty Blackbirds)

And of course, here is (Humpty Dumpty)

Now, for further investigation, here is the link for "film noir" a genre of film, and stories, were there is usually mystery and murder, and it is always rainy and dark out.

Monday - SST trip

Good morning, Tsunami!

We are only meeting with Period 2 today because of the SST trip.  So, period 2 - check out the previous posts.  The rest of you fine people - new story Tuesday, "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds."

All Summer in a Day

Today we read "All Summer in a Day"  Read the story again here.  Then we started filling out a grid of how all the terms fit in all the stories for the final test at the end of next week.

Homework:  Quiz on Edmodo due Monday.  The terms you are looking for are: Narrator type, irony type, conflict type, symbolism.

Literary Terms

Today we went over the quiz for "The Cask of Amontillado" and briefly discussed the story you read yesterday, "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned."

Then we got some new terms (see the flashcards in previous post).

• 1st-person, 2nd-person, 3rd-person omniscient, limited, and objective narrator.

• static vs. dynamic, and flat vs. round characters

• foreshadowing

Homework:  take the "After I Was Thrown ..." quiz on Edmodo.  You have 10 minutes, so be ready for it!

Metaphor

Nothing New Under the Sun: 36 types of short story

They say there are no new stories, just variations.  Some say all stories can be related to the Hero's Journey.  Some say all stories are either comedies or tragedies.

There is another popular theory out there that all stories can fit into one of 36 categories.  We'll be talking about those 36 categories on Wednesday in preparation for your final task: to write a short story.

Click here for explanations of those 36 categories.  We will go over many of these in class.

To help you with this task, we'll be reading several cool short stories along the way.  Most of the reading will be started in class and finished at home for homework.  Here are the terms you will be responsible for:


At the end of this unit, you will have a short story test, and will have written a short story!

Tonight's homework:

Read "After I Jumped in the River and Before I Drowned".

The Cask of Amontillado

Today we read a story about revenge.  We will also learn some more literary terms: irony, verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony, AND symbolism.

You can read the story online here, if you prefer.

For a huge list of symbols in literature, and what they often refer to, click here.



Homework:

Finish reading "The Cask of Amontillado" and be able to identify the terms we mentioned in class today

check out these videos....

 

 

Here is what the Parisian catacombs look like:

Id, Ego, and Superego

I always get the Id and Ego mixed up ... but here's a link.

Today's Class

Today in class we discussed the poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens.

We also shared your imitation poems from yesterday.

Homework:  Write a response poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a (_________)."  It must have the same number of stanzas, and lines per stanza as Wallace's poem.  See the post below for the full poem.