Due Monday, October 3rd

Reader Response Letters
Book Reports - due Thursday, October 6th

Short Story Assignment

Grade Nine English Language Arts

In Search of Self

Creative Writing Assignment

Your assignment is to write a short story, or a personal anecdote, describing an event in your life that helped you to understand yourself.  This event may be small in nature or very large.  For example, it may be attending a friend’s birthday party or it may be when your parents got divorced.  The event may be recent or it may be from several years ago.  This event must include some discovery or realization about you.

You must write in first person and you must consider word choice, organization, voice, conventions, and sentence fluency (handouts).  Your story must be at least 1500 words.

You must include pre-writing, drafting and a good typed copy with a title page.  You must have at least TWO people edit and proofread your story.  They must use two different colors and sign their names on the draft.

The story will be due on Tuesday, October 11^th.

Today

Students were writing and classifying simple, compound and complex sentences.  We finished reading Jade Peony.
Tomorrow the students will need to finish assignments for Happy Feet, Jade Peony, corrececting sentence sheets and reading for book report.

Today

Today we are finishing up:

1. Four Grammar sheets on sentences - hand in.
2. Outlining Story Elements - for "Kath and Mouse"
3. Finish critiquing video on self presentation and hand in.
4. Read for book report.

Tomorrow -
1. Read two short selections "Appearance" and "Living Life to the Max"
2. Grammar

This Week

Monday and Tuesday:

- I Was a Teenage Ingenue - short article and assignment.
- Kath and Mouse - short story and assignment including outlining story elements.
- Critquing oral song presentations - hand in or email.
- two more grammar assignments (hand in last two).
- time to work on book report presentations.

Wednesday, September 14

BOOK REPORTS - PRESENTATIONS DUE:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

Song Lyric Assignments

We will finish listening to the song lyric assignments tomorrow.  Students are also finishing up questions from the short story "Borders" and completing some grammar work on simple and complex sentences.

Students must also continue reading their novels that they selected.  Each novel must relate to our unit of study - In Search of Self.

Students must check their student email to analyze their song lyric presentation.
1.  Analyze your voice - loudness, clarity, pacing...
2. Analyze your posture, eye contact and body movements.
3. Analyze the flow of the presentation: were they unnecessary pauses?  Were you rushing?
4. Did you forget anything?  If so, what?
5. Overall, describe your presentation, and inlcude at least one aspect that you plan to target for your next presentation.

Answer and hand in - or email to me.

Weekend

Today, we read books for our book assignments. 

Song Lyric Assignment is due Tuesday:  All students to present.

Monday - I will be in Assiniobia for a workshop.

Students will read short story "Borders" and have a short assignment.

Good Morning

Today we are working on the following:
 - students were given marks for All That I Am Webs
- working on Song assignments - some students will be able to present this afternoon and the rest tomorrow.

Rhyme Patterns:  http://www.loske.org/html/school/english/rhyme.pdf
- Reading short story "Borders"
- given book assignment/project

Tuesday, September 6

Working on:
1. Hand back letters and go over - run-ons, capitals...
2. Presentations
3. Accpetance - read short story (very short) with five comp questions
4. Song Lyric Assignment - go over "I Am My Hair" as an example.  Handout - assignment and rhyme schemes.
5. Working on song lyric assignment.
6. Short Story "Borders"

Your identity is who you are.  It has been built by you and shaped by your family, friends and community.  By exploring who you are and finding out more about your friends, classmates and others as individuals you gain a stronger sense of self.  In turn, by knowing yourself, you can consider who you want to become and be open to changes (and conflicts) that you will encounter as you journey through life.

Possible Questions for Deeper Understanding:

• From where does our sense of identity come?
• What makes each person unique and interesting?
• How do people express their individuality?
• How do people change as they journey through life?
• How do we keep our self-identity yet, at the same time, become part of a community?

I Am My Hair

http://www.directlyrics.com/lady-gaga-hair-lyrics.html

Homework

"Search of Self" web is due Tuesday.
Students need to search for a song that expresses something about themselves..