September 9th, 2011

Dear Juniors,

We had a come to "ATHENA (she's the goddess of wisdom), meeting today in class regarding completing your homework. Guys, if you need help then ask me. NEVER choose to fail! If you haven't completed an assignment, then submit what you have completed.

1. We work on revising our body paragraphs. Miss. Davis reviewed passive and active voice with you. We then identified and corrected the passive verbs along with the dead words in our body paragraphs. Students then did some peer review in relationship to the structure of their paragraphs.

HOMEWORK:
1. Each student was asked to review and revise their body paragraph, specifically noting passive verbs, dead words, and the five paragraph structure. THE REVISED PARAGRAPH is due on TUESDAY!

Wed., September 7th

If you missed class on Wed., September 7th...Shame on You!

Dear Juniors,

The following image relates to your "Article of the Week #3" that was given to you in class today. If you missed class, please see me in order to obtain a copy.. Your homework regarding this article is due on Thursday, September 15th. Please annotate/notate using ONLY RED/7-10/page! PLEASE collect an article from me if you missed class.

I think you will more greatly appreciate the freedoms you possess as citizens of the United States of America after you read, annotate and notate the article. Please notate the article using only RED. So, your notations need to appear in the form of questions for this article.

2. Journal #2 "Why boys don't like chick books"

Return to your article, cute kids, and identify the BLUE and PURPLE aspects that you annotated. Please include a minimum of three each. So, indicate what points you made an emotional connection and personal connection with, as well. Next, select ONE line from the article that you found insightful. Justify your response.

3. Next we reviewed the 8 sentence structure for strong body paragraphs. We color coded both paragraphs in order to make sure they contained the required parts. We learned that the first example does not have enough COMMENTARY or GREEN.

Paragraph Examples

#1.

Due to the pain that one feels during post surgery, scientists and doctors use new medicines to help patients through pain relief. However, many drugs fail to provide sufficient relief due to the weakness of the drugs. For example, Stephen Aaron, a middle-aged man from Salt Lake City, Utah, recently required back surgery. He received morphine to help cope with the pain he felt, however, the pain pushed through the medicine to a point where he found it almost unbearable. The drugs couldn't provide the relief he required, and unfortunately legalized marijuana isn't an option in Utah. Very few people react negatively to marijuana Allergic reaction reports seem to come up very seldom and far in between. These reasons help indicate why medical marijuana should become an option in all states.

#2 (with more commentary/support)

Due to post surgery pain, medical professionals use new medicines to assist patients with pain relief. Unfortunately, many drugs fail to provide sufficient help. For example, Stephen Aaron, a middle-aged man from Salt Lake City, Utah, recently required back surgery. He received morphine to help cope with the strong post surgery discomfort; however, the morphine did not ease his pain. If current pain options cease to alleviate patient pain, then other avenues need consideration. According to one study conducted by the U.S. Society for Neuroscience, “Careful studies show marijuana directly interferes with pain signaling in the nervous system.. This insight may lead to a new class of pain killers. Patients suffering from spinal cord injuries and the ill effects of chemotherapy will find pain relief through the use of marijuana” (Joy, Stanley, and Benson). A second study sponsored by the Healthcare Regularly Agency (HRA) indicated that the 200 individuals used in the study “found the use of marijuana most effective, particularly regarding pain relief and improved sleep” (Armenteno). If Mr. Aaron had taken marijuana for his pain, he would have recovered more quickly and experienced less side effects from the surgery. Unfortunately, the use of medical marijuana creates a barrier in the state of Utah. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia permit the use of medical marijuana (Seimons). If approved throughout the United States, medical marijuana would decrease pain experienced by those recovering from surgery and other illnesses.

2. Students selected the topic for their eight sentence paragraph. If you missed class then please come see me so you can choose your topic. The paragraph is due on Friday.

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Dear Juniors,

"WHAT DID I MISS TODAY, MRS. CRAMPTON?"
"Well, let me enlighten you, cute kids!"

1. We completed our "plate paragraphs" and submitted them for participation points.
2. We then worked in groups concerning five different topics. Students were asked to discuss the topic and then triangle their ideas using the color coding method. Then, on an individual basis, they were asked to write the body paragraph for the triangle that they had just created with the members in their groups.

HOMEWORK:

1. Article #2 is due on Wednesday. You may use ALL your COLORS /7-10 annotations/notations for each page. Only one annotation and notation are required for the last page.
2. We will have a quiz on WED. where you practice writing a body paragraph by yourself. Each student will select from one of the following topics;

• Prayer in school
• Uniforms
• Taking the ACT
• Mosque at Ground Zero
• Year Round School

REVIEW the paragraph structure. You are welcome to create a triangle to record ideas in order to assist you with your paragraph .


Enjoy your weekend!


Cheers,
Crampton

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Dear Junior English Kids,

If you missed class, we completed the following:

1. We completed your first journal entry. From now you will experience a journal entry on a more frequent basis.

JOURNAL ENTRY #1 entitled "Boy, 12, faces grown up murder charges"/ Article #1

Please use your annotated article to respond to the following journal prompt.

After reading and annotating the article, identify two points of interest from the article. In addition, indicate two points that you found confusing, and then two points that you found emotional. Tell me about those "colors." Basically, why were you interested, confused, and emotionally connected to the text?

Next, justify your opinion regarding the prosecution of minors as adults. I look forward to your response.

2. Next we completed the "triangle" that we started on Monday, August 29th, and then we wrote a paragraph using the triangle as our guide. This is the paragraph that we wrote together.

Due to hectic schedules, many teenagers fail to eat a healthy breakfast. One reason for this pertains to the fact that young people wake-up late. Late nights spent on homework can cause exhaustion, and therefore a lack of desire to eat. In addition, teens must work to pay for expenses and to assist their families. This, of course, adds to the fact that they are tired, and therefore not interested in eating a healthy meal. A second reason involves laziness on the teen's part. Lack of motivation to complete responsibilities takes place because students don't see a purpose with their "jobs." Therefore, laziness kicks in and teenagers fail to eat. The above points illustrate why teenagers struggle with eating a healthy breakfast.


HOMEWORK:
1. Complete a colored body paragraph choosing from the list below. Your paragraph needs to include the "triangle" and appear in color. You may hand write your paragraph!

• Divorce
• Uniforms in secondary schools
• Marrying young
• Taking the ACT
• Liposuction
• Freedom
• Racism
• Year-Round school
• Cell Phone Policy
• ARC

Class on Monday, August 29th, 2011

Dear Juniors,
If you missed class today, we completed the following:

Dear Juniors,

Let me "enlighten" you on what we worked on today in class:
1. We finished the green handout that we started on last Thursday. We completed the sections regarding "Academic Voice."
2. We "outlined" the five paragraph essay format using the COLOR CODING format.
3. Students recorded the following information on the Five Paragraph essay structure:

INTRODUCTORY Paragraph
Eye Catcher
Transition Sentence
THESIS statement with three defining points

BODY #1
Body Thesis/Topic Sentence
Commentary
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Commentary
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Concluding Sentence

BODY #2 and BODY #3 contain the same organization format

CONCLUDING Paragraph

3. We then "TRIANGLED" (an organization method) our ideas regarding why teenagers rarely eat a healthy breakfast.
4. As a group we wrote the color body paragraph for "Why teenagers rarely eat a healthy breakfast. We started with the "triangle" format for A1 and finished with A2. We will write the paragraph together on Wed.


HOMEWORK:
1. Complete your "Article of the Week" #1. Remember that you may use all your colors and that 7-10 annotations/notations are required/page.

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