Extra Credit Opportunity - Sentence Composing Journal with Color-Coding

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
1. Sentences in all caps will not be accepted. 
2. Sentences should either be in Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman and be at 12 point font.
3. If you did color code your journal, name the file turned into Turnitin.com with the word "Color Coded" as in "Sentences 1-39 Color Coded."

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After careful consideration, I've decided to allow students to submit their sentence composing journals (with mentor and original for sentences #001 - #039 ) earlier than planned, this Friday, the final due date for the marking period being Monday morning at 8:15 AM.

Students who have color-coded, underlined, and [bracketed] all of their sentences will be eligible for 20 points of extra credit as a bonus for going above and beyond.

Students who have only done part of the color-coding, underlines, and brackets may earn 5 points of extra credit.

And all students who have kept up with their daily sentence composing journals and have all 39 sentences (including the mentor sentences, so really 78 sentences) will receive 40 easy points for classroom participation.

The format should look like the following:

#001 Mentor Sentence
This is where the mentor sentence would go.

#001 My Sentence
This is where the student's sentence would go.

#002 Mentor Sentence
This is where the mentor sentence would go.

#002 My Sentence
This is where the student's sentence would go.

#003 Mentor Sentence
This is where the mentor sentence would go.

#003 My Sentence
This is where the student's sentence would go.

... Etc.

Modified Quizlet Outsiders SAT List

For students with IEPs and 504s taking modified versions of Thursday's test:

https://quizlet.com/_7e5l0b

Outsiders Vocabulary Quizlet Link - No Pictures

For those who are preparing for Thursday's Test:

https://quizlet.com/_3sso62

Approaching Deadlines Reminder

Thursday 10/31/19 - Quizlet Vocabulary Test - Outsiders SAT Words

Monday 11/4/19 - Last Day to turn in late work / make up tests for first quarter.  All grades due by end of day.  Any make up tests can be done during lunch or rec or on the previous Flex Friday

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The following grades will apply to the beginning of the second quarter:

Monday 11/4/19 - Test - Grammar Complex Sentences Part 1 - Analytics done in class

Monday 11/4/19 - Response Paragraph #03 Due to Turnitin.com due by 8:15 AM

Tuesday 11/5/19 - No School for students

Wednesday 11/6/19 - Mindful Reading

Thursday 11/7/19 - Grammar Complex Sentences Part 2 - Synthesis & Application

This Week's Agenda

Response Paragraph #03

Due Monday, 11/4/19 by 8:15 am to Turnitin.com

This is intended to be a light writing exercise that explores character education while incorporating our grammar study.  It's not meant to be written formally or with great care.  (In other words, do your best, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.)  Just express your thoughts and ideas, exploring the topic and sharing your own perspective.  Have fun with it.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Include the title at the top of the document.

2. The minimum word count is 150 words.

3. IMPORTANT:  Underline or highlight at least two original two complete complex sentences.  If you get stuck, feel free to use the sentence patterns you wrote in your daily sentence composing journal as a guide!

4. Choose to write a response to one of the two character prompts below.

OPTION A

TITLE:  "White Lies"

Character education clip from Liar, Liar

https://youtu.be/J8MvYI7QP6Y

PROMPT:  Are white lies okay?  Why or why not?

- OR -

OPTION B

TITLE:  "Hiding in Fear"

Character education clip from Shrek

https://youtu.be/obN8EIOj19M

PROMPT:  Why are we afraid at times to be truthful?

5. Submit your essay to turnitin.com before the deadline.

https://www.turnitin.com/?svr=27&session-id=&lang=en_us&r=60.2489454290978

Sentence Composing #031 - #034 - Complex Sentences

This Week's Agenda

Compound Sentences #021 - #029

Advice for help with Sentence Composing Tests

Several students and parents have asked for advice on how to succeed at our sentence composing grammar tests such as the recent ones on prepositional phrases, simple sentences, and compound sentences.

These tests at fist appear to be very easy, in that students are only expected to write a sentence and count up its parts. However, a very high level of analytical thinking, synthesis of knowledge, and application of abstract concepts are interwoven together.

Here are my recommendations:

1)  DAILY ENGAGEMENT.  Be engaged during in class during our daily sentence composing activities.  Students who raise their hands to ask questions, who remain focused, and who explore the ideas on a daily basis will fair much better than those who sort of sleep walk through our daily work and go through the motions.

2)  ONE PAGE NOTES.  During each unit, students receive a page detailing all of the basic rules as wells as common "traps" to avoid based upon years of teaching this subject.  There are helpful mnemonic devices.  Instead of asking students to blindly memorize lists, those word banks are provided.  However, these great tools are only valuable if they are actually used both in class every day as well as on the tests.

3)  COLOR CODING.  Students have the option of color coding the words in their sentence composing journals as a way to hard-wire their brains into seeing the grammatical patterns.  Students who finish early or are looking to study our sentences during Flex Friday would do well to color code their work.  This is especially helpful because students' journals are available to view during the tests.

4)  FLEX FRIDAY HELP.  During Flex Friday, students can meet one-on-one with Mr. Chappell, or can work with a partner to review the grammar concepts.  Sometimes a friend can explain things more clearly than a teacher.

5)  ONLINE EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS.  We show mini-lessons from the Khan Academy, School House Rock, and others to help teach these grammar concepts.  Students are welcome to use these resources to review and study.  Usually just using the "Search" engine on Youtube with the name of the grammar concept will help you find good sources.  Also, on the Most Excellent Blog links are often posted.

6)  USE THE BLOG.  The PowerPoint slides for the sentences from the previous units are regularly uploaded to the blog.  These can be invaluable reviews for the classwork we do each day, as well as tools for students who were absent.

7)  DILIGENT PRECISION.  Students who rush their work and are sloppy will not fair well with this type of work.  Think of it as needing a surgical scalpel as opposed to bludgeoning with a sledgehammer.  So take your time, make sure that you understand the concepts at play, and most importantly REREAD your work, checking for errors. Some students actually "read" the sentence out loud in their mind before submitting their work, making sure that they didn't leave out anything and that the sentence makes sense.

8)  REGULAR ATTENDANCE.  It's really hard to make up many absences because these ideas are sequenced and scaffolded one upon the other. Try to be in school every day.

9)  READ MORE OFTEN.  Just as students who listen to music all of the time excel in band or choir, just as students who enjoy a game of back yard football are more likely to excel in P.E., students who read by choice for entertainment are going to be exposed to thousands of hours of sentence structure and grammar construction.  Unfortunately, there is a significant decline in students who read for pleasure between 5th and 8th grade.  This results in those students who read having a huge advantage on all things related to grammar and writing.  So, if you really want to be more successful on these grammar tests, do yourself a favor and get back into reading for fun.  Go to the library.  Keep an influx of good books on hand.  Make time to read as a daily activity.  You'll thank yourself in the future.

I hope that these tools are helpful, and don't forget that I am always here to help.  :)

The Outsiders Vocabulary Study Part 1 - SAT Prep Words

Here is the link to the next batch of vocabulary words we will be studying for Quizlet.  These are words culled from the text of The Outsiders that we are front-loading before we read the novel.

https://quizlet.com/_36a4i4

There will be a fun KAHOOT! pre-test as well as a formal assessment next week.

Creative Paragraph #02 Drop Box is Open

DO NOT FORGET TO UNDERLINE THREE SIMPLE SENTENCES

This would be a great activity for Flex Friday.  Just a reminder, this is due Monday, 10/21/19,  morning at 8:15 AM.

https://www.turnitin.com/

This Week's Agenda

Apologies for not getting this to you sooner.

Coming Due Dates and Make Up Tests

Due Thursday 10/17/19 - Paired Passages Classwork Units 1 through 4 (and optional extra credit)

Due Monday 10/21/19 - Creative Paragraph #02 into Turnitin.com by 8:15 am

Make Up Tests will not be conducted on Flex Friday, but during lunch and rec on Thursday 10/17/19

Coming Due Dates

Monday, 10/14/19, Paired Passages #4 is due

Monday, 10/21/19, Creative Paragraph #2 is due

Creative Paragraph #02

Due Monday 10/21/19 by 8:15 am to Turnitin.com


DIRECTIONS:

This is intended to be a fun, creative paragraph exercise and is not meant to be written formally or with extra care.  In other words, do your best, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Include the title at the top of the document. The minimum word count is 150 words.

Choose to write about one of the two prompts below.  Underline or highlight at least three complete simple sentences. 

If you get stuck, feel free to use the sentence patterns you wrote in your daily sentence composing journal as a guide.


OPTION 1

TITLE:  No School

PROMPT:  Imagine living in a society where kids do not have to attend school. Instead, they are expected to teach themselves. Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting teaching yourself with attending school. Explain how you would teach yourself. What resources would you use? Describe several ways your life would be different if you did not have to attend school and several ways it would stay the same. Give specific examples.

- OR -

OPTION 2

TITLE:  School Club

PROMPT:  You are a member of a school club, and the members want to take a field trip. The problem is that the club does not have sufficient funds. What can you and the other members do to raise money for the trip? Write a paragraph detailing several suggestions for fund-raising. Give specifics to show how these suggestions would work.

Sentence Composing #21 - 25, Compound Sentences

Visual Connector for Paired Passage #04

https://youtu.be/tLDxWRDArQU

This Week's Agenda

Comma Splice Error and Solutions

Comma Splice Errors

You can put wings on a pig, you don’t make it an eagle.

Solution #1 – Make a Compound Sentence by adding a FANBOY (Coordinating Conjunction)
You can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.

Solution #2 – Make a Complex Sentence using a subordinating conjunction
If you can put wings on a pig, you don’t make it an eagle.

Solution #3 – Make two separate sentences
You can put wings on a pig.  You don’t make it an eagle.

Solution #4 – Join the two ideas with a semicolon.
You can put wings on a pig; you don’t make it an eagle.

Simple Sentences Test Study Guide

Here are the links to videos that we had in class:

Morton and Webster Independent Clauses
https://youtu.be/t1r_thraBLU

Morton and Webster Simple Sentences
https://youtu.be/_fC6MevkPpc

JChapps One Pager on Simple Sentences
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XnOFH5q7s3fnPmVkHMibjwKm0HJMAVYh/view?usp=sharing

JChapps One Pager on Prepositional Phrases
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fa9FCS4cyua-T5UCVbyspqPI2VjFnmMi/view?usp=sharing

Humble Brag?

So this happened.

Last spring I was honored with an award called “The Order of the Plume” at Oakland University for being what was described as "an inspirational teacher of writing.”  My undergraduate students nominated me, said some very touching things, and the English department was nice enough to recognize my work there.

Anyway, I thought it was worth sharing, given the fine company and world class-educators that we have here at Derby and BPS.

Every day I appreciate the opportunity of being able to connect young minds to the joy of reading, writing, and thinking critically about their world.  With the much-appreciated support of our administration, my colleagues, the parent community, and my family, I feel totally lucky to be able to have the best of both worlds.

Best,
Jonathan

Visual Connector for Paired Passage #3

The Tasaday Tribe Hoax

https://youtu.be/Xa4hhLKT6kU

Wednesday CERS and SIP Pre-Test Links

Good Morning Students,

For the CERS and SIP Pre-Test today, you will need the following information during class:

1)  Your student ID number
        - The same one you use in the cafeteria and/or the media center
        - If you do not remember your number, I can access it on Powerschool

2)  This link:

https://testing.illuminateed.com/auth/quick

3)  The code that will be written on the board

Please boot up your laptops, click on the link, and have your Student ID number ready...

NOTE: 
Students with IEP accommodations for testing will be doing the test with their LRC teachers

Students with 504 accommodations for small group testing may be sent to the office to do their tests.