ESL Writing Assessments

Today the whole class wrote the ESL placement writing assessments.  The writing took the entire block.  We have our informational text quiz on Monday, first thing.

If you need to check the answers to the multiple choice questions for "Writing on the Wall,"  the answer key is here: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/search/grade10/english/release/key/1008en_pk.pdf.  You just need to check questions 1-9.

Informational Text Review

Today, we read the informational text piece "Writing on the Wall" and students took the multiple choice questions home for homework.  I also handed back the poetry quiz, and we went over the correct answers.

We have decided that the writing assessment will take place on Thursday, for the first 40 minutes of class, and then the informational text quiz will happen on Monday.  Please be prepared for both of these.

Poetry Practice

We have spent the past couple of classes totally focused on the study of poems and poetic devices.  We are working towards a higher degree of comfort and confidence with poetry, so that when students are faced with the task of understanding a poem on their own, on the exam, this won't be quite so scary.  We had great success today with a really tough poem.  Good work, everyone!

A reminder that your quiz on poetry will occur on Wednesday in class, and that your ESL reading assessment is taking place in the morning on Thursday.  We will conduct the writing assessment the following week.

Poetry Review

We spent this morning going over the answers to the questions on the poem, "The Blizzard."  We talked about strategies for reading poems, to make them easier to understand.  For example, be sure to read using punctuation as your guide, and not the ends of lines.

Then, I distributed a poem called "Remembered" and we read it over and discussed who the subject of the poem might be.  We used the details of the poem to help ourselves make the inference that the "he" in the poem was likely an older man, probably the grandfather of the speaker.  We will conclude our reading and discussing this poem next class, and then do some focused work with poetic devices, using  the poem.

Symbolism Paragraph

We began today's class with an exercise on homophones.  We are getting better at knowing which words to use in each scenario!

I then told students about a field trip opportunity - Bard on the Beach, to see Twelfth Night, on Thursday September 12, 2013.  First 30 people to bring $16.50 and a signed permission form will get to go.

Finally, we began working on our symbolism paragraph.  We are generating this paragraph together, so we can review topic sentence construction, paragraph organization and use of quotations from literature as support for our ideas.  We will finish the paragraph next class.

Provincial Exam Prep

We spent a lot of time today talking about the provincial exam, and what we still need to do in order to feel ready.  I want to reassure you that you will be fine on this exam.  You have all worked really hard this year, and you will get through it.  We will continue to get ourselves ready over the next six weeks.

Next class, we will share our symbolism charts and then we will practice putting our ideas/evidence together into a paragraph.

Symbolism Continued

We began our class with a short exercise on homophones and idioms.  Who knew that "hit the road" really means get going, and not punch the concrete?!?

We then finished the story "The Hand of Fatima."  Many of us were unhappy with the quick ending.  We felt like the author had done such a great job of building suspense, and then all of a sudden, we learn the ending, and it's over.  We discussed the symbolism of the gold charm at the end of the story.

Finally, I asked students to gather evidence from the story (phrases or sentences) which supported the ideas we came up with related to symbolism.  So, for example, when the gold charm symbolized Aneesi's father's love and support, which phrase or sentence from the story could be used as support for that idea?  We will continue with this exercise next day.

"The Hand of Fatima"

We began reading the short story, "The Hand of Fatima" today, as a means to better understanding symbolism.  We made it through most of the story, and we are tracking how the gold charm (the Hand of Fatima) changes its symbolic meaning as we progress through the story.

We can't wait to see what happens to Aneesi and her father!

"Just Lather, That's All"

We spent most of today's class reading "Just Lather, That's All" and practicing our ability to apply the  elements of fiction to the story.  We worked through the story, identifying aspects such as conflict, symbolism, character, point of view and theme.  Students seem to feel quite comfortable with most of the elements related to plot and character; however, we agreed that more time spent on symbol, point of view and theme might be a good idea.

We will continue this work with the elements of fiction next class. 

Narrative Feedback

Narratives were returned today, with my feedback about what's working, and what still needs improvement.

Students completed a short package on verb tense, which should help with narrative writing, as many students are having trouble maintaining consistent verb tense.

Finally, last day's narratives were returned, and students continued to write those stories, to be submitted for feedback next day.

Writing a Narrative using a Provincial Exam Prompt

We spent the first part of class working through some homophone pairs/threes.  Try to be aware of these in your writing... they are easy to confuse!

We then spent the remainder of class writing our narratives, using the prompt "Some of our greatest struggles can be with ourselves."  Students were given 35 minutes to begin their narrative, and really challenged themselves to just push through the opening, to get going on the writing of the story.  Our intent is to practice this "under pressure" writing, so that come exam time in June, people feel fairly comfortable writing with a time constraint.

Working with Exam Prompts

We began today's class by working with four narrative prompts, from previous Provincial Exams.  Students worked in groups to come up with story ideas for each prompt.  There were many unique, workable ideas generated!

We then discussed some strategies for approaching the prompts, to make the writing of our stories less stressful and more successful.  We came up with the following tricks and tips:

• consider disagreeing with the topic
• don't necessarily go with your first story idea (lots of people will write on their first idea)
• common gr. 10 topics are school, exams, driving tests, relationships... you might want to avoid these
• consider key words and focus in on those
• don't use the actual prompt sentence in your story

Next class, we will work on developing a plot plan using a prompt, then write an opening for the story, all under time pressure.  We are going to begin to simulate exam situations, to get you practiced and prepared for that day in June!

Using Powerful Verbs and Specific Nouns

Wow, did we ever learn many new words this morning!  We began with a vocabulary exercise which worked with powerful verbs and specific nouns.  We learned that searching for the EXACT word is worth it!  It will make our writing so much more detailed and interesting.

We finished off the class by going over the rubric that will be used to mark our narratives on the Provincial Exam.  I have asked students to complete their narratives for Monday, and to hand them in to me at that time.

Narrative Writing... continued

We used the story, "So... What Are You, Anyway?" as a model piece, to consider the importance of having an effective opening, authentic characters, an intriguing conflict and a meaningful theme.  We agreed that the story had all of these components.

Students then spent time continuing to write their narratives. I have collected these and will return them on Thursday.

Using Dialogue in Narratives

We began class with instruction on how to use dialogue in narratives.  We discussed how dialogue can be quite helpful in narratives: it can move your plot forward, reveal conflict and develop character.  It is important, though, that you punctuate and structure dialogue properly.  I distributed a handout on how to use dialogue properly and students worked through some sample sentences, adding punctuation where it belonged.

The remainder of the class was devoted to writing narratives.  I collected what students had accomplished by the end of class, and I will return it on Tuesday, with some feedback and direction for further progress.

Enjoy your Easter weekend!

And we're back!

Hi there!  I hope you all had a fulfilling, restful Spring Break, and that you are ready to work hard for the remainder of the year.  I apologize for falling down on the updating of this blog: I commit to updating every day, for the rest of the school year!  I promise!

Today, we each reviewed our Spring Break, sharing some of the highlights with our classmates.  Remember that these discussions are a good opportunity for you to try out new vocabulary!

Then, we reviewed our character profiles for Carl, from the movie Up, which we watched before the break. We discussed his background, his positive and negative traits, and his goals and ambitions.  Figuring out these aspects of your character BEFORE you write your story will help you have a better sense of what your character should say, think and do.

Finally, we began filling out character profiles for our own characters, for stories we will write next class.  If you were away, or if you lost your character chart, you can access one at the side here.

Compare/Contrast Writing Assessments

We have spent the past week and a half preparing for our compare/contrast paragraph assessment.  After a few practice pieces, today was the day to show what we can do!

Students spent last class reading two pieces: the poem, "Students" and the short fiction piece "Crow Lake."  After reading each piece, students completed multiple choice questions in response.  Today, students were given a paragraph topic and asked to write a compare/contrast paragraph in response.  We will complete these on Tuesday, and Ms. Barsky will mark them.

Making Connections when you read

Today I began with a short mini-lesson on making connections.  We discussed that when you read, you can make connections between the text and your own life, the text and the world, and/or the text and other texts.  Then I asked students to consider connections when reading the chunk for Wednesday.  Students are going to bring charts detailing their connections with them on Wednesday to share.

We spent the latter half of class completing compare/contrast paragraphs.  Please see me if you still need to complete this assignment.  (This is the paragraph comparing/contrasting Julia in "My English" to the speaker in "How I Learned English" in terms of their experience learning English).

"How I Learned English"

Today, we prepared for reading the poem "How I Learned English" by reviewing four poetic terms: free verse, simile, imagery, and onomatopoeia.  We defined each term, and then as we read the poem, we looked for examples of each.  Also, we spent time reviewing some of the baseball jargon used in the poem.  We will continue working with the poem next class.

Then, I distributed a "First Impressions" page, to be completed for Thursday's class.  The form is to be used to prepare notes for discussion on your novel you are reading with your group.  If you didn't get one, there is a link to the handout at the side.

Happy New Year!

We spent today's class going over the multiple choice answers for the questions to "The Game," and then we generated notes from the story, to answer the other half of the compare/contrast paragraph question.

We then reviewed the basic framework for a compare/contrast paragraph.  I reminded students that your topic sentence requires three components: mentioning the two subjects, whether you will focus on similarities or differences, and a focus for your paragraph.  We also discussed that for this particular paragraph, block method of organization makes more sense.

Finally, I shared the marking rubric that would be used, were you writing this paragraph on the Provincial Exam.  We talked about the differences between and among the categories, and we discussed different approaches to answering the Part B - Making Connections section.

Students will write their compare/contrast paragraphs next class.