You had the rest of the day to work on your Revision Stations. Just a note: I apparently messed up and switched two drop boxes or assignments up. For this assignment, don’t worry about what the assignment/drop box name is: just turn it in and I’ll figure it out. Thanks for being understanding while I figure out how to use this new system!

Reminder: your final copy is due Monday at midnight.

You need to have the introduction and the first four chapters of How To Read Literature Like a Professor read by the time you get to class on Monday. If you haven’t started reading it yet, it’s an easy read. And I’m not just saying that because I’m an English teacher and think everything is easy.

Have a great weekend, me mateys!

We took our 14 question quiz today – the grades *should* be in the grade book tomorrow, fingers crossed!

After we took the quiz, we worked on (finished?) our rough draft. Remember – at the end of the day today, we have had a little over an hour to work on this paper. Look at what you have done: does your product reflect an hour’s worth of work? If yes, thank you! 🙂 If not, think about why. Were you playing catch up from absences or a transfer? Were you off task? Did you struggle and need help?

I’ve had a lot of students ask when the rough draft is due. Technically, it’s due at the start of class tomorrow when we edit and revise the paper. However… I am not asking for a copy of your rough draft. I’m going to look at your your revising and editing and your final copy. If you don’t have the rough draft, you can’t revise and edit. If you don’t revise and edit, you may not meet the requirements on the rubric.

I know Littlefinger said that “Ladder is a chaos,” but so are my assignments. I scaffold them for success!

Today, we pulled out the multiple choice test from the 1994 AP Literature test. I gave you the answer key and the percentages from the actual test to compare. Instead of me sitting and giving you guys the answers and rationale for the answers, you got into groups to discuss your wrong answers.

“All too often when students receive back a graded exam, they focus on a single feature – the score they earned. Although this focus on ‘the grade’ is understandable, it can lead students to miss out on several learning opportunities that such an assessment can provide.” (Ambrose, et al, 2010)

Remember – I am taking a grade on the participation and reflection questions. You will see the straight average in Skyward/Schoology, but it isn’t going to count. I want you to focus on learning from your wrong answers and to see a steady improvement during the year on these multiple choice tests. You aren’t going to do that if you are too concerned about how this grade is going to affect your average.

Reminder: we have a Dark Ages quiz tomorrow! Don’t freak out – it’s not worth cheating on or losing sleep over, but you can review my pictures and in Schoology to help. I’m also going to let you use my pictures on the quiz.

I showed all of my classes MLA format (how to do it manually and find a template in Word and Docs) and I gave you time to start drafting your essay. I handed back all prewriting charts and showed you my comments and suggestions. I conferenced with a few students and helped a few students organize their essay using text structures.

Please, please, please use your time wisely. I desperately want these essays turned in on time because I have a grading day next Wednesday. If you turn your essay in late, that means <guilt trip> I’ll have to spend my personal time at home on the weekend to grade your late work and poor Eleanor will cry because Mommy will have to Oak ‘Em all weekend long</guilt trip>.

I really try hard to set it up so that you don’t have to work on classwork at home. Please extend the same respect to me. 🙂

I warned you guys on day one that I’m not traditional. So today, we aren’t going to swap papers and edit, we are going to use a process called ratiocination to revise and edit the paper according to the rubric that you, the students, helped devise based on the words you suggested.

Based on the rubric, which you can find in Schoology, I found some activities to do today to make sure we address the rubric. When you get to the Ba-Da-Bing section and the Text Structure section, make sure you click the link provided to make sure you know what you are doing. Just because you attempt a station does not mean you are required to revise your essay with it. For example, if you add sensory details to an example to help make it a showing example, you don’t have to use ALL of the senses that you brainstormed – that would be overkill. If you tried a Ba-Da-Bing and you don’t think it works with your essay, then don’t use it.

This is your essay. We want to add details and depth, but not at the risk of your authenticity. Get this done by Friday. The rough draft will be due on Monday at midnight.

We went to the auditorium for a senior meeting with the counselors today to go over transcripts and senior stuff. See you all tomorrow! 🙂

Hopefully I’ll see your parents/guardians tonight at Open House! #oakem

Today, we reviewed the Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages history by playing a Kahoot.

If, at the end of the game, you rated yourself as a “Jon Snow” because you “know nothing”, I have a present for you! Go to Schoology > Beowulf and find the Media Album with all of my pictures and captions to help you out.

Afterwards, I gave you the rest of the day to work on and finish your Epic Dude. 🙂

We went over a few housekeeping activities today, reviewed due dates, talked about independent reading, looked at Schoology, and bubbled our first AP Multiple choice test. It’s not being taken for a major grade, but I do want the data from this.

Rough Draft of College/Scholarship Essay due 9/13 when you walk into class (we’ll be workshopping it)

Introduction and chapters 1-4 of HTRLLAP need to be read by Monday, 9/18

Othello and Pygmalion need to both be read by October 16th (we’ll start the next grading period with this)

We pretty much just finished up the AP pre-test. Mrs. Jane and I decided to go ahead and let you guys use the dictionary on this one to see if you can think out the right answers, but I want to know what words/phrases you struggled with.

The Writing Territories assignment is due today. If you didn’t turn it in at the start of class, just turn it in throughout the day.

I’m not going to have grades in by the Progress Report cut off today, so don’t be shocked.  I’d rather take my time and leave legitimate comments rather than rush through for a completion grade.

If you turned an assignment in without a name, we can easily fix that on Monday.

Remember – you need to start reading How To Read Literature Like a Professor – the introduction and first four chapters are “due” on the 18th.

Monday we’ll be wearing red, white, and blue and receiving our laptops.

We reviewed the epic hero cycle by watching The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. Honestly, I felt like this confused a lot of you. The point was to identify epic whenever from the video – even if they all weren’t about the same character/epic hero. If you missed that, don’t worry. You get another chance by doing the Epic Dude (and THAT’S what I’m taking for a grade).

If you need help, try looking at this list of real life people to use as heroes. If you are using a real person, you probably won’t be able to answer the supernatural part of this graphic organizer, so instead, tell me who your hero received HELP from.

If you look at my example, no, it’s NOT a drawing of me. It’s supposed to be the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who. I fail at artwork.