Class Feb 22 & 23

VOCABULARY ROOT "lent"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE to p. 141

THIS I BELIEVE
Writing Spotlights: "Voice" and "Sentence Rhythm"
Writing Lab--Make revisions and print.

Class Feb 18 & 19

VOCABULARY ROOT "ject"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

THIS I BELIEVE personal essay
Jackie Robinson's This I Believe essay
Peer Review and Grading Rubric
Schedule
Writing Lab--finish your essay; if you're not done, finish at home. We're going to work on Voice, Sentence Rhythm, Commas, and Pronouns next week.

Class Feb 16 & 17

VOCABULARY ROOT "form"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE reading

WRITING SPOTLIGHT--Flow

THIS I BELIEVE personal essay
Writing Lab

Class Feb 11 & 12

VOCABULARY ROOT "fid"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

POETRY
"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter," p. 775 in textbook

THIS I BELIEVE personal essay
Work at Writing Lab

Class Feb 9 & 10

SKYWARD TRAINING: This was mandatory for all juniors. We spent half of class in the counseling office learning how to register for next year's classes. Registration for seniors will begin on March1 at 4 pm. Go by the counseling office to get the handouts you missed.

I collected HOMEWORK ("Don't Judge Me by My Tights").

THIS I BELIEVE assignment: Staple the following together--

• DRAPES assignment from last time.
• "Life is Wonderfully Ridiculous" from last time.
• Writing Lab work: The beginning draft of your own This I Believe essay. Draft for about 30 mins coming up with DRAPES to support your belief--and print.

Feb 4 & 8

HOMEWORK: Reading Comprehension Practice, "Don't Judge Me by My Tights." (handout)

ANNOUNCEMENT: No school Friday; it's Professional Development day for teachers.

BELLWORK
Vocabulary root "dyna"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
Read to page 89.

THIS I BELIEVE
Graffiti Wall: Write your belief statement
"DRAPES: How Do I Support My Belief?"

• D--Dialogue: Quoted material; something memorable that someone said. ("If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all," my mother warned me throughout my childhood.)
• R--Rhetorical Questions: A rhetorical question is a thought question not meant to be answered. ("When you are eighty years old, what will you regret that you didn't do?")
• A--Anecdote: An anecdote is a short entertaining account of some happening that's usually personal or biographical. (One day my friend decided to sluff school. When he got home, his dad hadn't gone to work that day, and my friend got in trouble. My friend learned that it's better to go to school.)
• P--Personal Experience: An experience that happened to you or that you've observed. (My family was on a road trip, and our tire popped. We didn't have a jack or any way to fix the tire, and a police officer stopped and helped us.)
• E--Example: An example isn't necessarily related to yourself; an example is just something to show the nature or character of the rest. (I learned from Charlie Brown that it's okay to be afraid...just don't let your fears control you. Charlie Brown often sat in bed and spoke of his fears, but no matter how scared he was, he always did the things he wanted to do.)
• S--Statistic: A numerical fact. (I learned that 47% of dogs in the United States sleep in a family member's bed.)

"Life is Wonderfully Ridiculous"--highlight the DRAPES.
Start brainstorming DRAPES for your paper.

Class Feb 2 & 3

BELLWORK
Vocabulary root "dom"

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
Read to page 72.

THIS I BELIEVE
"What Do You Think?" activity (on the back of "Genre: What Is a Personal Essay?")

Class Jan 29 & Feb 1

QUOTE OF THE DAY by Ray Bradbury
 "I know you've heard it 1000 times before. But it's true--hard work pays off. If you want to be good,  you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it."

BELLWORK
Vocabulary root "dia"
Tuesdays with Morrie (pages 48-61)

WRITER'S NOTEBOOK
Add-on stories: Start a story using the vocabulary words "aristocracy," "addict," and "diagonal." Write for 2 minutes then pass your WN to someone else who will "add on" to your story by writing 2 more minutes (you don't have to use the vocabulary words again). Trade 5 times. If you were absent, spend 12 minutes writing a story on your own.

THIS I BELIEVE
What is a personal essay? We did a "genre" group activity to help answer this question. If you were absent, ask me for the folder with the three writing pieces in it and the handout that goes with it.