Monday, December 15 - Friday, December 19

Thursday

I am away this morning with the Grade 8s. I am watching The Hobbit while you toil in the portable.
Here is something that might cheer you up:

Hink Pinks 18

1. Not as good as poem
2. Mortgage howl
3. Paddle shop
4. Nude rabbit
5. Natural remedy
6. Nice poster
7. Pasta pastry
8. Orca story
9. Pale man in armour
10. No more fiber

Here is a list of things to do in class today:

1.     Silent reading or working silently on chart related to Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.  (may use NetBooks for the chart ). 10-20 minutes

2.   Thesis worksheet handed out yesterday (see attached yellow sheet). Re-read the criteria for an effective thesis and then complete the back of the sheet stating whether the thesis statements provided are proficient (good) or deficient (lacking) and why (based on criteria). 15-20 minutes

3.  Sample essay about Chicken Run. Identify the following parts of the essay:
thesis, introduction, general opening statement, introduction of arguments, P.E.E.L, conclusion, body. 15 minutes

4.  “Graphic essay”. Work in teams of 2-4 to complete. Christopher uses a number of pictographs (drawings, maps, figures) throughout his story. Choose 3 pictographs from the story and explain what central insight they grant into his character.
Create the “essay” on a poster. For examples that are something like what I hope you can create go to:    http://graphic-essays.blogspot.ca/
Your graphic essay must have a general opening, a thesis, 3 arguments, 3 quotes and a clever closing. You can use as many or as few words as you feel you can get away with. You can include as many or as few images as you feel you need.

Criteria:

• creates an effective layout

• uses words and pictures that work together

• creates an “essay” that is aesthetically pleasing

• includes traditional essay elements skillfully

Wednesday
Micro-fiction good copies were submitted in class today, and there was an edit quiz. Afterwards, we checked out an NFB short Christmas film from my childhood! Next we looked at the criteria for a strong thesis and I encouraged everyone to take the "Theis Pledge".
Tuesday
We went over the guidelines for the during reading chart for Curious Incident just to clarify a few questions ( 6 events - 3 where autism is a hindrance, 3 where it is an asset). We also went over the questions related to the Temple Grandin film. Next we looked at some of the most common writing errors that were made in the micro-fiction assignment and how to fix those errors. There will be a quiz on these errors tomorrow. At the end of the class we returned to essay structure. I handed-out a diagram showing you how to organize the structure of essay body paragraphs.
Monday
After silent reading and my late entrance (photocopy machines!), I asked everyone to take out their synthesis piece about Holding Harley and Who I'm Not. I asked you to identify where you had used PEE (point, evidence, example). Once those pieces were handed in, we watched two short films related to micro-fiction as a reward for writing such fabulous micro-fiction yourselves. At the end of the class we began looking at essay structure (fun!) and did a practice writing a body paragraph based on the introduction for the essay.