Productivity Day

Today, there's a lot to do.

Goal #1: Goodreads
Yesterday I mentioned to you that your next two book reviews are due on Wednesday, January 17. If you haven't been doing so already, today you need to go log in to Goodreads and update your "Currently Reading" shelf to show what you're reading.

Goal #2: Ten Excerpts
If you have not found an example of each literary element to copy into your summary document, you need to do that. After today you should have all ten.

PLEASE MAKE THE TEXT OF YOUR EXCERPTS BLACK (not blue)

Here are student examples of dialogue and climax.



Goal #3: Write your book blurb if you haven't already.
(This is Part 1 on your summary document.)


If and when you've finished all of these, let me know. I'll give you some next steps.

Summary Doc, Cont.

We'll read first!

By now you should have at least four excerpts in your NaNoWriMo Summary Document.

Work on getting three more today, for a total of seven. Don't forget about writing your book blurb too! (That's Part 1 on your document)

If you're going in order, that means today you'll need examples of: sensory details, strong verbs, and dialogue.

Models for sensory details and strong verbs
Note: I want to make it clear that these examples will not be perfect, but pay attention to how they show the literary element. That is what is most important!

Literacy Interim Assessment 1

Happy Friday!

You get to take a district literacy test today. You can have your book out to read if you finish early. I'll pass out the test materials and get you started as soon as the bell rings. If you have a favorite pencil, now is a good time to get it ready.

Adding Excerpts

Your whole NaNoWriMo Summary Document is due on Wednesday, December 17th.
I want you to find possible excerpts for all ten literary elements by Wednesday, December 10.
They don't have to be perfect. We'll work on that!

Yesterday, you found excerpts to show characterization. (If you didn't, you need to catch up!)
Today, focus your attention on finding examples in your novel about setting. 

This includes a setting that reinforces character, and a setting that creates a mood. Remember, these excerpts have to describe a place, not a person or actions.

Here are more student examples for you to look at! (Notice that they are more than one paragraph.)

You can also use the search bar at the top left of this page to search blog posts for more resources.

NaNoWriMo Assessment

This morning I sent you a NaNoWriMo Summary Document in Google Drive.
You'll need to go to your "Shared with me" folder and move it into your drive (click "add to drive")

This will be part of your formal assessment for NaNoWriMo. (Like for a grade.)
It is to collect the best parts of your novel.

We'll spend some time on this in class, but we have lots to do. You'll have to make sure you're keeping up.

Today's Focus: Direct and Indirect Characterization

The due date for your NaNoWriMo summary document is Wednesday, December 17th. (That's two weeks from now.)

A tip:
When you're collecting excerpts for each literary element, don't just pick the first one you see that fits. It might help if you copy and paste two or three excerpts into the summary document and then pick the best one!

More Revision! More Editing!

Yesterday you began working through an editing checklist. Below is the rest of the checklist. Continue with yesterday's if you need to before starting this one. 

Yes, you will need to reread your novel in order to do all of these effectively.

1.  I have capitalized proper nouns such as places and people’s names.
2. I have made sure that every sentence ends with some type of punctuation mark (period, question mark, exclamation mark) and there are spaces between words and sentences.
3. I have spell-checked my novel and have corrected any spelling errors and/or typos.
4. I have read my novel and moved around certain parts to make it better.
5. I have removed (deleted) any parts that are unnecessary or that don’t work.
6. I have added writing that will make the story better or less confusing.
7. I use a variety of sentence types and lengths. I have combined sentences where appropriate. 

P.S.
If you got over 100% in NaNoWriMo, but did not earn the "winner" badge I have submitted your name to them for manual validation. You should get an e-mail in the next few days.

Welcome Back!

You wrote a novel! 

Congratulations!!!

The first thing we do today?
READ!


First order of business:
 In your English Journal (not your novel!), start a new entry at the top of the document with today's date.

Now that NaNoWriMo is officially over, it is time to reflect on the experience. Write a paragraph or two describing your experience. Don't spend more than ten minutes on this. Just write as much as you can. Some questions to get you started might include:

• What did you like or dislike about NaNoWriMo?
• What did you learn?
• How has your view of writing changed?
• What has changed in your own writing?
• What was difficult and how did you overcome those difficulties?

Second order of business:
Since you finished writing your novel, and probably got a lot of reading done as well, you're welcome to check out new books! (Please make sure you bring back books you've finished or want to abandon so others may read them.)

This week we're going to be spending time working on revision and editing!
This means you're going to take your novel and make it better.
Here are the things that you need to look for today:

1. My story has an ending that includes a resolution. (You can work on this as you need to, but you cannot simply stop when you hit your word count. You need the climax and resolution to complete the novel!)
2. I have divided my novel into sections or chapters in order to give it a structure that makes more sense for the reader.
3. I have divided my writing into paragraphs and have made sure that I have indented properly.
4. I have indented dialogue properly (each time there is a new speaker, there is also a new paragraph).
5. I have made sure that all dialogue is punctuated correctly. (Use of quotations, commas, question marks, etc.)
6. I have capitalized all words at the beginnings of sentences.
7. I have capitalized the word “I” every time I have used it.