Time to Write

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday you did not get a lot of writing time in class, so I want to give you that opportunity today.

You have resources to use IF you need them.

Things to watch out for in your essay:

1. CITE your evidence!!
2. No huge quotes. Quote only a few words or a sentence at most. Longer than that and you should be paraphrasing or summarizing. (See post below from Monday/Tuesday.)
3. Make sure your name, date and period are filled out at the top of your essay. 
4. Do not number or label your paragraphs. 

Try http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
Also try http://www.paperrater.com/free_paper_grader 


Reminders:
If you missed the Socratic seminar, it is your responsibility to talk to me after class, at lunch, or after school about how you can make up those points.

Your final book review is due on June 10.

If there's no score in Powerschool, I haven't graded it, and I do not know exactly when that will be done. I apologize, but please be patient. I will put those in as soon as possible.

Writing Counterclaims

Today's Goal: Examine possible counterclaims to your thesis, gather evidence and express your rebuttal.

The Plan:

1. Read
2. Discuss writing your counterclaim paragraph
3. Continue working on your essay!

Counterclaim:
An opposing viewpoint related to your thesis. If someone disagreed with your point of view, what would they say?

Evidence from text:
What evidence would support the opposing viewpoint?

Rebuttal: 
The reasons why you believe that the opposing viewpoint and its evidence are not valid.




Reminders:
If you missed the Socratic seminar, it is your responsibility to talk to me after class, at lunch, or after school about how you can make up those points.

Your final book review is due on June 10.

If there's no score in Powerschool, I haven't graded it, and I do not know exactly when that will be done. I apologize, but please be patient. I will put those in as soon as possible.

Writing Task!

Today's Goal: Begin working on the extreme sports writing task. Write your introduction and begin making your claims using evidence as support. Learn the difference between direct quotation, paraphrasing, and summarizing in writing essays, and practice using and formatting them correctly in your own writing.

The Plan: 

1. Read!
2. Talk about your writing task
3. Begin writing!
4. Practice "using the words of others."
5. Keep Calm and Write On.

Using the words of others:

• Direct quotation: In “Extreme Sports Not About Risk-taking: Study,” Dr. Brymer found that people who participate in extreme sports have an image of “risk takers and adrenaline junkies.” He found this really isn’t true (Queensland University of Technology 3).
• Paraphrase: In “Extreme Sports Not About Risk-taking: Study,” Dr. Brymer notes that people who participate in extreme sports try to be prepared so they can decrease their risk of injury (QUT 8).
• Summary: In “Extreme Sports Not About Risk-taking: Study,” Dr. Brymer cites study after study to show that many people who participate in extreme sports do so for reasons other than an adrenaline rush. He points out that they don’t like to be out of control and that by preparing for their sport, they feel they are really in control (QUT 11).

Finishing up your stereotypes report

Today is your last day in class to work on your stereotypes report.

• Use the post from Friday for the outline that you can use to organize your article.
• Use these frames to help you. (Some will especially help with your last two paragraphs.
• I am locking the essays to grade them at 3pm on Wednesday, 4/15. (Note that this is changed from what the blog said on Friday.)

Homework: You must "call in" your essay and read it to my voicemail before 9pm on Wednesday 4/15. (See the directions below and/or take a picture of the chart in the room.)

To call it in:

1. First, practice reading your essay out loud a few times.
2. Use the Google Voice box in the sidebar to call if you do not know the number, or call the number on the "Call it in" chart in class.
3. State your name and period clearly.
4. Read your essay to the voicemail. 
5. You do not need to call back if it cuts you off after 3 minutes.

Writing about Stereotypes

Y

The Goal: Make progress, add paragraphs, to your essay about stereotypes at our school.

You will need:

I. Introduction, including a revised version of your rhetorical precis from 3/27.
II. A description of our research process. (We will work on this together in class today.)
III. An explication of our quantitative data. (We wrote this together on Wednesday.)
IV. A description of our qualitative data. (You worked on this yesterday.)
V. Your conclusions about what this research data says about our school.
VI. Your suggestions of what our school could do to improve student learning based on the data we collected.

Today work on pulling together everything you already have into paragraphs at the top of your essay template document. Together we will write about our research process. Then you can work on your last two paragraphs.

Click here for some helpful sentence frames!!!

Quantitative: Data that can be expressed in numbers, like the number of people we interviewed or the percentage of people who gave a particular answer. 

Qualitative: Data that you need to look at closely to see patterns, often comes in words, like the words people used to describe the stereotypes about their group. 

Generalizations: The similarities you see in the data. When you start to write, "Most ____ said that____" you are making a generalization. 

Conclusions: The opinions you form based on the data. "Since most _______ say that ________ our school should consider___________."

Homework: Note that your essay is due on Monday at the end of the period.

Response to McBride

Return to your normal seats.
Please make sure you get a book and your homework out.
DON'T FORGET: Two book reviews are due tomorrow. They should be posted in Goodreads.


We have been reading and analyzing James McBride's Hip Hop Planet; now it is time to write about it more formally. Today we will work on the first part, the summary. Tomorrow we will work on the response portion.
I've sent you a document to write your assignment. Look for it in your "Shared with Me" or "Incoming" section.

Assignment:  Summarizing and Responding in a Letter to James McBride

• Now that you have considered the topic of hip hop and its global influence, you will write a summary and response in the format of a letter.
• Your task is to compose a letter to James McBride with the purpose of letting him know what you think about the claims he makes about the importance and power of hip hop in his essay.
• The first portion of the letter will be a summary where you show McBride that you understand the main points of his essay. The second portion of your letter will be a thoughtful and formal response to his ideas.

It might be helpful to review what you did with SOAPSTone last week. Find those responses HERE.