"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.