Friday, April 15, 2011

Book Project

Grade Nine Book Project
Due Date: Monday, May 5nd

You must create a Power Point that has a minimum of 20 slides that represents your book.  You must include captions and pictures on each slide.  You can represent and talk about the novel in any way: plot, characters, point of view, setting, theme, mood...  There is no expectation to cover everything, except the audience must understand the entire novel.  There is an expectation to RESPOND to the novel.  What are you feelings about the topic; how can you connect to the novel; can you learn anything from the novel...  You can refer to our reader response questions.

Power Point
/20       slides and overall content on each slide
/5         creativity and overall appearance
/5         covering what happened in the story
/5         grammar, spelling

/5         responding to the story -

Presentation
/5         volume
/5         expression
/5         fluency and eye contact

Total
/55


Compose and Create (CC)
Goal 2
Representing, Speaking, and Writing Assessment and Evaluation Criteria Holistic Rubric
Level 6
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is original and insightful.
(Product is well-crafted, fully developed, and appropriate to purpose and audience. The student demonstrates confident control of the language elements of composition and presentation. Planning is evident, and the composition or presentation comes together as a secure whole. The few errors in mechanics are likely the result of risk taking.)
Level 5
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is clear and thoughtful.
(Product is fully developed and appropriate to purpose and audience. The student controls the language elements and techniques effectively. Planning is evident and the composition seems complete. The few mechanical errors do not impede communication.)
Level 4
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is clear and straightforward.
(Product is adequately developed, appropriate to purpose, and shows some awareness of audience. The student demonstrates control over the language elements and techniques. Planning identifies main ideas. Minor errors, though noticeable, do not impede audience understanding.)
Level 3
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is satisfactory but unrefined.
(Product is understandable but uneven in its development. It maintains the purpose on a basic level, but may not show awareness of audience. The student shows a basic control over the language elements and techniques. Some errors in mechanics may impede understanding.)
Level 2
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is limited and over generalized.
(Product demonstrates uneven/uncertain control over the language elements relative to the purpose. It may not show awareness of audience. The student shows some control over the language elements and techniques, but attempts at complicated or sophisticated structures and variety results in awkwardness and/or obscured meaning. Less than adequate planning results in inconsistent development. Frequent mechanical errors impede understanding.)
Level 1
The visual, multimedia, oral, or written composition is unfocused and unclear.
(Product is difficult to follow. The purpose is unclear, and the subject may be off topic. Evidence of planning is absent. The composition shows an uncertain grasp of the basic language elements relative to the purpose. Sentences are incomplete, run-on, or simple

Questions to Consider While Creating Your Presentation:

About what am I speaking, writing, or representing? Who is my audience (to what person or group of people am I trying to communicate)? What is my purpose (what do I want to achieve)? What register and tone would be appropriate (what level of language should I use and what “voice” should I assume)?

What form should this take? Is this the right form to communicate my message? Is my text effectively and logically organized? Does each section/paragraph begin and end effectively? Does my text use a consistent point of view? Does my text use effective transitions and connections?

Are all sentences clear, complete, and with varied beginnings? Have I used a variety of sentence types (e.g., exclamations) and sentence structures (e.g., S-V, SVO, and S-LV-C)? Have I created sentences of varying length? Have I used co-ordination, subordination, and apposition to enhance my communication? Are there any sentence fragments or run-ons? Does each verb agree with its subject?

Are my word choices vivid? Have frequently confused words been used correctly? Have I used qualifiers effectively and appropriately? Have I noted the denotative and connotative meaning of words and used them effectively? Are my pronoun references correct? Have I avoided double negatives?

How could I clarify or enhance my communication using other elements such as graphics, colour, sound, movement, or props? How can I make this more interesting? More effective? Are my accompanying visuals and other media appropriate? Did I use legible handwriting or appropriate fonts?


Have I included everything I want to say? Do I need to add any other information? Are there enough details? Do I need to take anything out?
Is the writing interesting?
Does the writing achieve the purpose? Are there unrelated ideas that distract the listener, reader, or viewer?


Do I have an introduction?
Is my main idea clearly developed and supported?
Is my order clear?
Are the ideas and details arranged in an effective order?
Are the connections between ideas and sentences clear?
Do I have a good ending?

Are my sentences clear and complete?
Do my sentences read smoothly?
Is the sentence structure varied?
Do the subjects and verbs agree?

Does my language fit the audience and purpose?
Have I used the best words?
Have I used any words too many times?
Have I left out any words?
Are my words spelled correctly?

Did I proofread for capitalization and punctuation?
Is it audible?
Is my polished draft legible?
Is the layout clear?

What is the part that I like best?
Does it say what I wanted it to say?
Does it have a clear form?
Does it make sense? Is it interesting?
Does it give the intended reaction?
Is it clear and easy to understand? Is it appropriate for my purpose and audience?
How can it be improved?
What could I do next?

What does quality speaking, writing, and other forms of representing look and sound like?
Is my presentation ready?
In what context (situation) will my listeners, readers, or viewers engage with my text?
How will this context affect its presentation?

What is the listeners’, readers’, or viewers’ response?
What worked well?
What would I try next time?
What lessons have I learned from this experience?

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

This Week

Report Cards for grades 9-12 will be sent home on Wednesday this week and Grade 9 ELA students will receive an updated mark sheet today.

We are continuing to read Romeo and Juliet this week!!

Monday, April 4, 2011

William Shakespeare

Today we worked on a love and loyalty question sheet, and then a few questions regarding William Shakespeare.  Students hung up the book displays and all were expected to be finished.  Tomorrow students need to hand in their parts of speech booklets, and Wednesday they have a reader response letter due.

Tomorrow we will listen to some book assignments and we will begin reading the prologue of Romeo and Juliet.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

This Week

We have been working on:

1. Parts of Speech Assignment - due Tuesday, April 5

2. Book Report/Poster - Due tomorrow - Monday, April 4th

3. Students also have April reader response letter due: Wednesday, April 6th.

I also bought some great books at Rural Congress - 4 (ONLY 4) parts of speech, quotation marks and apostrophes that we will share:)

We started Romeo and Juliet - and we will continue with some William Shakespeare history and then begin reading the play.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Book Reports

Book Reports are due on Friday, April 2nd.

Love and Loyalty

We are beginning the unit Love and Loyalty this week.  We have started with Romeo and Juliet, and we are wathcing the new edition with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Test

Norse and Indigenous Narratives Exam

CHANGE TO MONDAY, MARCH 21ST
Study:
Importance and purpose of storytelling.

Story Selections:
- Beowulf and definitions
- Thor's Journey to Utgard
- Death of Balder
Norse Gods
-  Loki
- Balder
- Thor
- Beowulf
- Grendal
- Odin
- Hod
- Hel
- Skymir
- Vali

Sentences - run ons, fragments, and comma splice
Capitalization and Spelling

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Grade 9 Book Report

Grade Nine Book Report
Select an age-appropriate book that you have never read and create a poster that includes each of the following.  The poster needs to be large bristle board paper.
/2            Title and Author
/2            Information about the author including other books that he/she has published
/3            Setting – where, when and mood (general feeling a reader gets from the story).
/5            List of main characters, no more than five, with a short description for each – identify the protagonist (main character – hero) and the antagonist (the person or thing fighting against the protagonist).
/6            Conflict – list 3-5 conflicts from the story.  Explain and label each.  (person vs person, person vs self, person vs society, person vs nature)
/2            Point of View – state the point of view – the angle from which the story is told:  first –person: one of the characters is telling the story using “I”; third-person: someone outside the story is telling it – She walked slowly, wishing she could turn.  There are three types of third-person: omniscient (know all about every character), limited omniscient (know the thoughts and feelings of one character), and camera-view (objective and unemotional).
/10         Plot : exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.  Explain in sentences or use a diagram.  Exposition is the beginning – often the initiating event (what gets the story going).
/5            Visuals – at least five pictures – that must be hand drawn (they may be traced)
/2            Description of favourite part
/2            Personal response to the book –
/3            Spelling, Capitalization, grammar
/3            Neatness and Overall Appearance

PRESENTATION:
/5            Volume
/5            Expression
/5            Eye Contact and Fluency

TOTAL - /60

Monday, March 7, 2011

This Week

This week we are finishing up our Norse Unit.  We are going to finish reading Balder, and then we have to read two more short selections.  We will plan to have an exam later this week or early next week.  I will post exactly which work/selections will be on the test.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Wednesday, March 2

FINISH:
1. GRAMMAR BOOKLET
2. THOR - STORY CHART
3. READER RESPONSE LETTER
These are due on Thursday.
Thursday stories:
1-Keirstin
2-James
3-Alex
4-Mikayla
5-Tristin
6-Justin
7-Ally
8-Kim
Friday Stories:
1-Riley G
2-Syd
3-Tyra
4-Shania
5-Riley T
6-Jesse
7-Tyler
8-Danny - next week
9-Tylynne