Homework Updaate! Tuesday 10/13/09

Hey there all you Smarties!

In class today students began to analyze their essays on Schooled by Gordon Korman. This is a 30 point assignment. 10 points for correct formatting (do you know what parts of an essay go where?- For help see the power point under 8th grade materials).

10 points for content (I asked students to write me an essay that analyzes an aspect of the PLOT of the book. Specifically: I am grading essays based on their analysis and understanding of elements of the plot. For example, a student can analyze the three most important complications in the book.

In the thesis statement, the student would write something like: One important aspect of plot is conflict or complications. The three most important complications in the book are...  In the first body paragraph the student would start with a topic sentence along the lines of The initial conflict of Rain falling out of the tree is important to the basic situation or exposition of the book. Then students would add commentary: it is important because... and they would go on to discuss WHY this complication is an important part of the plot. Think of things like, what does it add to the book? How does it help the reader? How does it further the plot? Does it cause us to meet anyone, or does it cause anyone to do anything that furthers the plot?

Follow with evidence- this is where you give facts or examples from the book that prove your point.
End with opinion. This last part is also where you are transitioning to the next paragraph.

Make sure that you are always keeping the purpose of the essay in mind: I am grading your essay on CONTENT. Specifically your analysis and understanding of aspects of plot using the book schooled as evidence.

Essays should have a balance of commentary and evidence. Please make sure that you have eliminated all contractions because we don't use them in formal writing. All essays must be formatted in Times New Roman or Arial 12 point font with 1 inch margins. We will be going over essays again tomorrow and if needed students will be revising again tomorrow night.

The third area being assessed (10 points) is the use of academic vocabulary (correctly) these are words like rising action, falling action, basic situation, exposition, conflict, complication, climax, flat character, round, stock, etc.

Students need to revide their work tonight. I would love to give perfect scores to everyone! So please do your part and revise your work!

There is a sub for my 6/7 core tomorrow because I have a grade level meeting off site. If students in the PM CORE have any quesstions, please feel free to email me at luvmysmartypants@yahoo.com.

Mrs. Anderson