9th Grade - Freshmen have been working on their final essays for our unit on "Romeo and Juliet" this week. Both days have been dedicated to outlining and/or writing the first draft, depending on the student.
In-class, we have been discussing and practicing writing strategies as students work through this essay. We have looked at how to develop ideas, create an outline, and strategies for creating a solid first draft.
Students are encouraged to work on the body of the essay first, since it is entirely developed based on evidence from the text, and analysis of that evidence. The conclusion needs to summarize and connect the body to some greater ideas, and the introduction needs to get the reader's attention and contain a thesis. Without having a full body, both the introduction and conclusion are much harder to develop.
10th Grade - Sophomores are working on reading A Separate Peace over this week and next. The grading for this unit will be based on three formal, in-class discussions and a final exam based on A Separate Peace AND the in-class discussions.
Students receive credit for these discussions based on
1) Active Participation for those involved (each discussion involves about 1/3 of the class)
2) Active Observation for those watching (everyone else is expected to be taking notes and developing questions to pose to those discussing).
Everyone should be taking notes during these discussions, and those notes will be allowed to be used on the final test.
HOMEWORK - for 6/3, everyone should have read through CH 8.
***For students that miss discussion days***
Since the credit for this unit is based on participation, if you miss a discussion day, you will need to complete a short writing assignment over the same topics.
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