Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Create a story that gives details.

• Continue to research, organize, and keep notes about the information that is required for the college research project. 
• Remember that research should be completed by Friday and you MUST share your Google Document with me in order to receive a grade for doing the research.

 

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

For today's writing prompt you need to explain your answer. You do not have to create a story.

• We researched the colleges we are interested in. Remember to use the assignment sheet/rubric to make sure you are getting the information that is required.
• Keep in mind that this is a research project and you will have to dig deep to get the necessary information.
• Your notes should be kept in a Google document that you will share with me by Friday.
• You should have all of your research done by Friday.
• Keep in mind that the information that you collect is going to be used in your presentation. 

Monday, August 25, 2014

Today's writing prompt: Make sure you put it into a story! Do not simply tell me what you would do with them.

•   We checked for questions on the college exploration project.
• I explained how to use Google Docs to keep notes. You will create a document titled something like "college research notes" or similar to keep your notes for this project. You will then share your documents with me.
• We looked at the proper way to format website citations in MLA. Take a look at the Purdue Owl website for specific information and examples. This is a great resource. 
• With a partner students created a citation for Portland State's Undergraduate students in history webpage. 
• We then went over it as a class and wrote the citation in the correct format.

Friday, August 22, 2014
Today's writing prompt: make sure you support your reasons for wearing/not wearing the fanny pack. Give reasons!

 

·      Make a list of things you would like to know about college: how to get in, what’s it like, what are the costs, etc. Be specific.

·      Introduce the College Exploration Project

·      Students should begin brainstorming and researching.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

For today's writing prompt you will need to compare and contrast how school and prison or similar or different.

 The majority of our classes were at the test prep seminar today so I did a short ACT presentation including what the tests cover, how to prepare, and motivation.
Please take a look at my class website for links to the ACT website and a wide variety of practice tests and books.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Today we worked in the library to complete our brochures. They are due at the end of class today. They should include the following' in this order top to bottom.

• Final brochure
• Assignment sheet/rubric
• Editing sheet
• 2 rough drafts
• Brainstorming page

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

• Today we worked on our career exploration brochures in the computer lab.
• We will be in the library tomorrow to finish them up and print them. 
• Make sure you double check your spelling, grammar, organization, etc.
• The brochures are due at the end of class Wednesday August 20th.

Monday, August 18, 2014

• No writing prompt today.
• Remember that the journal in the class is for writing prompts only. Please use a different spiral notebook for other assignments. You are more than welcome to leave them in your cubby but please keep them separate.
• I showed everyone one more time how to get to the brochure templates on Word.
• We worked in the computer lab on our brochures.
• Brochures will be due at the end of class on Wednesday, August 20th. 

Friday, August 15, 2014

• Today's writing prompt is a little different than the ones we did earlier this week. You MUST explain why you would want to be a particular creature. 

 

 

• I gave everyone about 10 minutes to finish up their initial rough draft for their "Me" brochure.
• We then did a self edit and a peer edit using the Editing Checklist form. I will be saying this over and over this year but I REALLY want you to take the editing serious. Do not rush through it. 
• We finished up class by creating a second rough draft. This draft should be nearly perfect. You should be able to sit down at a computer on Monday and start imputing your information into Microsoft Word. 
• If you have a flash drive make sure you bring it on Monday. 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

For today's writing prompt make sure you put the dialogue into a story format. Do not simply write a dialogue. 

 

• We discussed the "Me Brochure" and checked for any questions you have. 
• We researched career options so that you can fill in your rough draft. Think about what you have to do in order to get to the careers you are interested in. What kind of education or training etc? 
• Finished up by working on the rough drafts. Make sure your rough draft is complete as possible (minus the actual pictures). Take this part very seriously so that you can have a great finished product. 

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Today's writing prompt: Make sure you are telling a story! Be creative with your writing.

•  We discussed college and career goals that you have planned. What does it take to reach those goals etc.?
• We looked at the "Career Exploration" rubric and discussed the requirements for the brochure.
• We looked at how you create a brochure on Microsoft Word.
• Begin working on your rough draft of your brochure.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

• Today's writing prompt: Make sure you tell a story. Do not simply tell me what you see here. You should write for a minimum of 5 minutes.
• Next we wrote a "Letter to Myself" that we would read in 10 years at your 10 year reunion. Here are some more guidelines.
• 
  “Letter to Myself”
  
  You are to write a letter to yourself that would be opened 10 years from now at your high school reunion. Please write the best you can and consider grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. while composing the letter. The letter should include some of the following information. Also, feel free to add whatever you may think is relevant.
  
  ·        You could talk about your friends.
  
  ·        Explain what high school is like. Maybe tell yourself what you will miss or things you cannot wait to be done with.
  
  ·        Talk about your car/truck.
  
  ·        Write down your future goals and plans and explain how you plan to accomplish them.
  
  ·        Write about your high school accomplishments. 
•  Simply think about what you would want to tell or remind your 28 year old self about and write it down.

• This writing assignment is due at the beginning of class tomorrow, August 13th.
   

Monday, August 11, 2014

• We went over the class syllabus and class expectations today.
• We created a Google account on the iPads. If you do not have one you will need to create an account.
• We briefly looked at the tools available on Google including Google Docs, YouTube, Blogger, etc.
• Everyone sent me an email message to tsummers72@gmail.com to confirm that they had an account set up. Make sure you use complete sentences and proper grammar in your emails, NO TEXT TALK! This is for a grade.

Friday, August 8, 2014

• Checked for schedule issues.
• Checked for questions about  the class or anything else that had to do with school.
•  We did the following writing prompt so I can assess your current writing skills.

Write a narrative explaining what you did this summer. You could pick one major thing that happened or you could talk about the whole summer.

Organize it so that it reads like a story. Do not just start listing things that you did.

Make sure you think about structure, grammar, and word choice.

Be as descriptive as possible, use great adjectives.

 

Thursday August 7, 2014 

Welcome back to school!

• Today I introduced myself and showed a PowerPoint all about me.
• Students completed an index card to tell me about them. 
• I introduced the class including expectations, policies, and what to expect in the coming year.