1. As a class, we discussed a lot of political history in Canada and went over some of the backgrounds of the political parties we have in government today. The Student Vote is coming up tomorrow so this was to enhance their understanding along with the material that’s been posted on the bulletin boards for a few weeks.

1. The only thing that took up a good majority of the class was a practice activity on developing a smooth way of integrating references (material directly taken from the literature) into your own writing. This specifically is what students will have to do with sentence # 4 on the outline handout for formal literary body paragraphs. (Eventually, when writing, you hopefully will not have to follow such a structured paragraph outline, but to understand what is necessary for a good body paragraph and the order information should be placed, following that guide can be helpful.)
2. I did the first three of the practice questions, with students contributing responses pointing out where the “present tense” verbs were that indicated the sentence was in present tense. (This is another thing to develop or work on with their writing, as in formal literary essays the text is always in present tense.)
3. Students had the rest of the class to do the following questions on their own. Once done that, they could finish working on their paragraph assignment or write out their reflection for the summary paragraph that has to be submitted on the blog. (There’s always something to work on next!!)

Here is the handout they worked on    practice-integrating-quotes-into-your-writing

Here is the copy with examples written on the board    sample-work-integrating-references-in-writing

1. This week, students are going to use a good portion of our time writing their Reflective Essay, their first major assignment for the course. Before beginning that essay, we used today to do a basic review of the specifics of essays. I was pleased to see that a lot of what we covered was only review of what they already know / practice when writing an essay.  In the instance that there are any gaps, though, or common errors students make but are not aware of, it doesn’t hurt to look again at the beginning and the steps in constructing an essay.
2. I started off with a few short videos, one of the South Park characters coming up with a solution on how to complete their essay homework and the other a student-made video detailing the basic structure and types of essays.  Watch that video here.
3. Next we talked about the steps – where do you start with an essay and what comes next. I showed a powerpoint that, in the most basic of ways, explained that starting in the middle is the best options, then going to the beginning, and then writing your conclusion. (I’ve attached that powerpoint to this post.) essay-plan-of-attack2462
4. Next we looked at an example of an Essay Outline, which the students explained looks very similar to the one Mrs. Enns uses. It doesn’t matter to me which outline they use, as long as they use one. (I’ll get a copy of her version for them to use, if that’s what their familiar with, and possibly add a few key sentences to include.) My copy of an outline is attached in this post, as well.
5. Then we looked at the steps and went through the essay process bit… by tiny… bit. Like I said, this is review for some and helps fill in gaps for others.  The powerpoint is also attached. writing-an-essay-in-steps-waldner-ppt
6. In the middle of that powerpoint, we stopped and looked at the easy step-by-step process of making your thesis statement. To review, the order is this:
    1) brainstorm and create at least five possible paragraph topics
    2) choose your best three topics, listing them in order of strong, stronger, and strongest
    3) create your actual topic sentences, being strong and clear
    4) paraphrase the topic on the side of the outline (in a simple phrase, what is the topic?)
    5) to create the thesis, then, add the phrase topics (from the left side of the outline) in a sentence with the simple formula of a + b + c = thesis. 
    
   We created a thesis statement, using this formula, together in class. I’ve added a pdf copy of it to this post.  three-point-thesis-statement-example
7. We continued through the powerpoint, discussing introductions and transition sentences. We were cut off by the bell but got through a lot today and went at a good pace so everyone was able to follow. We’ll review just a little tomorrow and they’ll have class time to begin their brainstorming.

PS: Those who started their brainstorming over the weekend, as requested, were awarded with fresh Tim Horton’s donuts!! It pays to do your homework – sometimes!

1. I reminded the students that their poem / paragraph assignment was due last Thursday but will still be accepted until the last day of school, this Thursday.
2. To direct their focus as we listen to the end of Animal Farm, I wrote several themes or topics related to the novel in our unit of study. The topics were as follows:
   1. Consider how easily people in societies can be persuaded / manipulated / motivated.
   2. Leaders and followers – there are always natural leaders and natural followers
   3. Common good – what does it mean / who decides what it is / someone always loses out
   4. Social responsibility – our conscience / intuition inform us in our decisions
   5. Self doubt – people still do things despite uneasy feelings (ie: follow)
   6. People do what they believe is right
   7. Power – does power always lead to corruption?
3. Students finished listening / reading the novel Animal Farm. We discussed it a bit at the end but will continue tomorrow.
4. I also handed back the practice Dept exams the students started last week. Whether they use them as practice or to study the format for the exam or not is up to them. There is also a answer key they can use to check their responses for the first few sections of it.
5. In regards to the format for their final next Monday, I reminded them that they will have to write two formal literary essays – one that only refers to any three of the shorter literature (stories, essays, poems) and one that refers to only one of the major pieces of literature we have studied (Hamlet, Night or Animal Farm). I had written on the board the essay question options from last June’s B30 dept exam. The questions will obviously be different ones but looking at these allows them to gather a better idea of the types of questions they may be asked.
   1. Formal essay  options referencing three shorter pieces:
      1. With reference to three selections, show how characters strive to be accepted or admired.
      2. With reference to three selections, show how characters’ reactions to challenges illustrate their true identity.
   2. Formal essay options referencing only one major piece:
      1. Show how unrealistic expectations established by the main character(s) lead to disappointment.
      2. Show how characters attempt but fail to remedy the injustices of society around them.

Here is a link to another year’s ELA B30 departmental exam with answer key attached. Try it out.

There’s a pretty great movie made based on the novel Animal Farm. They did a great job with the movements of the animals. What do you think?

1. We only have two classes together this week. (Students are going to be away Tuesday on a Golfing field trip and Thursday they’ll be going bowling.)
2. Students were given a copy of the literature lists for both units in the B10 class. They should have their copies still but this copy has a few titles / assignments crossed out because we were unable to get to them this year. Any of the literature studied since the beginning of the class, in the beginning of February, may be refered to in the questions of the Final.
3. There was also a list of “skills” that have been taught during this course. Some of the final will be content related questions while others will be skill related. These would be the types of assignments or writing skills we have studied, such as:
   1. Grammar: comma use, common essay errors, commonly misspelled words
   2. Formal literary paragraph writing
   3. Thesis creation and transition sentence
   4. Essay work (brainstorm, outline, evidence for support)
   5. Integrating references / evidence from literature into own writing
   6. Tone in writing by specific word choice
   7. Poetry analysis
   8. Figurative language
   9. Reading / analyzing / comprehending literature
   10. Elements of narrative essay
   11. Themes / symbols / conflicts
4. Students were also given a short science fiction story. They will be given specific questions related to that story, but instead of having to read the story during the exam they can read it in advance. They were told to be sure to bring their copy of the story to the exam, but copies will be available. (If they have notes written on the page unrelated to that story in particular, like study notes or a cheat sheet, they’ll be given a new copy.)
5. Students then used the duration of the class to review their literature, go through their binders to check for any missing pieces. They were also reminded that the narrative essay due last Thursday can still be handed in up to this Thursday. Last chance!!

1. We started off the class with my attempt at reciting the poem from memory – all stanzas of it! I did fairly well, I have to say, and it helped paint the picture in the poem by having the raven sitting up on the light fixture.
2. We started reading through each stanza looking for the figurative language but the overhead project was too blurred to see clear. Instead, students looked at “The Raven” with an interactive site and looked for the pattern of figurative language. It is the same pattern in every stanza. See if you can see the repetition. Click here for the site.
3. They were also told to listen to the audio version of the poem that I have in the Common file on the school serve – it is listed under “Waldner Animal Farm” in a folder called “The Raven”.
4. Tomorrow, things will go much more smoothly.