WELCOME TO 7 TH GRADE ENGLISH MRS. ROSE

Hi! I am Mrs. Rose. I have degrees from Texas Lutheran University and Lamar University. Previously, I had taught English for six years in Southeast Texas and two years online. I am excited to be a part of Henderson again and look forward to this semester. My husband and I have two children: Emelyn and Macallan. I enjoy watching football. I love to travel!

NEW SEMESTER, NEW PROCEDURES Every day when you come in, your necessary supplies will be listed on the PowerPoint or board. You need to have those at your desk ready to go when the bell rings. Not wandering in the door, staring blankly at books, begging for a pencil.

THE NEXT THING THAT WILL HAPPEN IS YOU WILL WRITE. Yes, every single solitary day you will have a writing prompt. This is your extra credit for the semester. This is your practice for the STAAR test. This is not negotiable. It will be in the warm up section of your binder, unless you’d prefer a separate writing journal. One thing you do get to choose.

WHY MUST I WRITE? 1. It is a valuable skill that transfers to all areas and stages of life. Who is planning to go to college (2 or 4 year)? Who is planning to join the military? Who is planning to join the workforce? Who is planning on going to jail?

WHY MUST I WRITE CONTINUED 2. It gives you power. Historical uses of abuse. Power to make own decisions. Ability to effectively challenge and question authority.

WHY MUST I WRITE CONTINUED 3. It is among the most difficult skills you will need to master. It is more art than science. It is open for interpretation and criticism. It is purely you.

WHY MUST I WRITE FINAL 4. THE STAAR TEST IS IN MARCH! The writing test has changed. This is probably not good for you.

OKAY, MRS. ROSE I’LL WRITE. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? 1. Be kind to everyone. You will need your neighbors’ help and advice. 25 kids times 15 minutes of feedback=375 minutes 2. Stay on task. NOTHING you have to say is more important than your neighbor understanding the material. 3. Work hard We are out of time for warm fuzzies.

SO WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY? Learning our way around Reviewing brushstrokes Group work (GASP)

CHANGES TO STAAR From two days to one From two writing passages to one From Pearson to ETS New scoring minimum

CHANGES ARE…. Good because Less to focus on Less endurance Less time out of instruction Bad because No room for error We’re flying blind No room to hide

THE GROUP PROJECT I will work under the assumption you are all competent, reasonable young adults until you prove me wrong. When we return from break you WILL have desks neatly combined in groups of X.

FROM BRUSHSTROKES TO ARTISTS… As a group, you will be making a brushstrokes word cloud or collage with at least 25 examples of the same brush stroke. Whatever you draw is the one you must do your project on. Possibilities are: Action verbs, absolute phrases, prepositions, appositives, participles What if we draw out something that we know nothing about? You will then have the privilege of LEARNING SOMETHING NEW!

WHAT DO I DO? Okay, so we have our brushstroke, what do we do now? Step 1: Research your brush stroke. What do these words/phrases look like? What is the definition? What is the function it in a sentence? This activity might require research and work outside of school time. Understand that self-driven RESEARCH is involved and that your teacher is not a reference book. Step 2: Find your words/phrases. Collect words from different sources and mediums. Create a list of words you will use in your project. Step 3: Choose your medium. You may go the hands-on route and create a collage with a poster, scissors, a glue stick, and some magazine clippings of words, pictures of words, and maybe some written words. Or, you can go the techno route and use your Word Cloud app on your iPad to create your project. You may also use other types of technology to create this project. You have a lot of freedom with this project.

GUIDELINES: -If you cannot work as a group, you will do this alone. This will triple your workload. -Your project may not mix brushstrokes. -Your project must focus on only the brushstroke that was assigned to you. -Your part of speech must have your brushstroke named as a main focus with a definition (title size). -Your project must have your names on the front. You can even hide it in the words, but it must be on the front. -Your project must contain at least 25 examples that are your assigned brushstroke. I want you to be creative with your display, design, and structure.

POINTS! How is this graded? -50 points: Correct, legible, and interesting brushstroke examples -20 points: Definition, brushstroke name, group names -20 points: Group dynamics -10 points: “Jazz Hands”

HALP!

WORD CLOUD