ELA 10-1 Week 5 Content and Assignments

Google Classroom From now on we will be using Google Classroom as a means to access your Cyber High class! I will no longer be linking assignments into Power School, it will only contain your marks. You will need to use Google Classroom to access your course content, quizzes, and as a way to submit your assignments!

Google Classroom/Google Drive Google Classroom is linked with your Google Drive. Both of these sites will let you access your course material. Please watch the Student Tutorial Video posted on our classroom site for more information on how to utilize Google Classroom!

Essay It's a big week! This week you'll start working on your first literary essay! I'll introduce you to the big assignment and then to some steps that should break down the task into smaller steps.

Week Outline Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4 The Big Questions – Have a look at the major project that will be due next week - Wednesday The BIG WHY? Let’s have a quick look at why we spend time learning to write essays. The Big What? A little more time looking what goes into an essay. The So now what? A look at what will be due and how to get started!

Day 1: The Big Questions Please locate your major project for your short story unit titled “Short Story Essay” on Google Classroom. Look over your essay questions and start thinking about which one you will choose.

The Big Why? Why do we write essays? This is an important question! I very bright former student who planned to become an engineer asked why students have to write literary essays. She argued, “I'll probably never write an essay in the REAL world.” Essays can give us a structure to organize our thoughts. Believe it or not, that's a valuable skill in the "real" world all the time! Essays help communicate our thoughts with clarity. Essays provide a structure to analyze the parts of a text and an opportunity to synthesize what we observe from a text. It's a place to pull all your ideas together in a way that will make sense for someone else! Essay writing can help us train our minds to think logically and pass on our ideas to others. In any job you do, communication is important, and being able to examine a problem and organize a effective response is part of it.

The Big Why? What goes into an essay? An introduction... it needs a "hook" it needs a clear thesis statement (often near the end of the paragraph) The supporting information... the body of your paragraph examples arguments comparisons support points you are making The conclusion... a restating of your main point an ending to your thoughts. Be direct and straight-forward in what you are saying. Use specific words that mean what you want them to. Avoid wishy-washy words, like "good" or "bad" or "things"... What is a better word that describes these? Find it, and use it!

Brainstorming YOUR FIRST STEP SHOULD BE TO.... Brainstorm what you want to write about first. Come up with ideas and examples to include in your essay. Find the Brainstorming Handout in your Google Drive, Week 5 folder. The document is called “How to Brainstorm”

Thesis Statements! The most important part of your paper will be your thesis statement. It may take you a lot of time to create a great thesis statement, but it's worth the time! Check out the “Thesis Statement and More” handout in our Google Drive, Week 5 folder. Read this document!

Essay Assignment at a Glance Essay Assignment - Hand-In Monday, March 23 rd ! Steps to writing an essay: 01 - brainstorm your ideas 02 - organize your ideas into an outline 03 - write out a rough draft 04 - revise, edit, and rewrite 05 - write out your final draft It is important to take a look at the Essay Rubric to see how you will be marked! Be sure to contact me if you want to look at any step of this process together!

Check it Out! I’ve included two audio files that may help you with organizing your essay. Also found in our Google Drive, Week 5 folder is: Essay Rubric PIE ESSAY introduction Writing in Iterations