Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lesson for Thursday, August 25th

Dear Juniors,

We completed the following on Thursday, August 25th:

1. Students submitted their Disclosure Documents (50 points).
2. A1 and A2 completed the writing assessments in order to determine if their placement in junior English is accurate. I can have you take these when you return to class.
4. We reviewed some "Writing No-No's." Please cut and paste the following aspects into WORD and then place them in the "Vocab./Mechanics" section of your notebook.

NO-NO #1: The following words are called "Dead Words" and they should not be used in your formal writing work: got, get, very, a lot, cool, stuff, sort of, kind of, like, really, good, thing,and pretty.


NO-NO #2: Please avoid the use of SECOND PERSON when writing. Second person includes the following words: you, your, yourself, and  yours.

NO=NO #3: Avoid passive voice in formal writing. Active voice adds clarity, where as passive voice makes writing flat and dull. Passive voice uses the "be verbs" (is, are, was, were, be, been, being). For example, the following sentence uses passive voice: The check was cashed at the bank. It is not difficult to use the active voice in re-writing the sentence. Molly cashed her check at the bank.

NO-NO#4: Avoid redundant phrases such as In my opinion...., I believe that....., I think that....., I am going to write about.....

NO-NO #5: Avoid absolute terms such as never, always, everyone, all, always, none.

NO-NO #6: Make sure that your structure in writing is parallel. For example the following sentence is NOT parallel. Sarah loves playing volleyball, reading poetry, and to study history.  This sentence is easy to correct  by doing the following: Sarah loves playing volleyball, reading poetry, and studying history.

HOMEWORK:
WHAT DOES ANNOTATE MEAN, Crampton? "ANNOTATE" means to underline text in order to strengthen understanding. "NOTATE" means to record information next to text in order to strengthen understanding.

So.........Your first annotated article is due on Wednesday, August 31st!
  • If you  find a section of text confusing then you would underline it using BROWN.
  • If you are able to make a connection ot your own life then you would underline that section of text using your PURPLE.
  • Another way to annotate is by asking QUESTIONS about the text. RED is the color you will use for this annotation.
  • If you come across a VOCABULARY word that you don't know use YELLOW!
  • If a piece of text touches you emotionally, then BLUE is the color for that annotation.
  • If a piece of writing is poetic to you, then use BLACK!
  • If text gives you a different perspective then GREEN is your annotation color.
  • ORANGE is the color you will use if you come across text that you find interesting.
HOMEWORK CONTINUED........
1. Your "Where I Stand" introduction is due on Monday.
2. Your Article of the Week #1 is due on Wednesday. You need to use ALL your colors and include 7-10 notations/page. I have included the color coding key for you above.


Enjoy your weekend!
Cheers,
Crampton