1. 9th Grade English

2. Do Now:
Take out finished poems, place them on your desk (don’t turn them in yet).
Discuss with your group members:
when you write creatively, do you tend to write and revisit or revise as you go?
Do you think it is good or bad to revise creative work?

3. To Revise or to Not Revise
Either is good, both is best

4. An Example of Professional Revision
Walt Whitman published and republished the same book of poetry, Leaves of Grass nine times
He started with 12 poems, then revised those and added to the collection of work until it had more than 400 pieces of poetry

5. Moral of the Story?
Your creative work is valuable at ALL STAGES of creation
But, rewriting allows you to look at a few versions of the same piece and decide which best fits for certain opportunities (submitting to a creative magazine, turning in an assignment for my class, or keeping a piece for your private journal)
Save the same piece under different names depending on what it is, or put it in a collection of similar stuff if you want it to be part of a larger project

6. Do Now:
Please ensure your name is on your poem (handwritten names will not get any points off)
Paperclip your rubric to the back of your poem and turn it in
Get in your Girls, Drums, and Dangerous Pie groups

7. Girls, Drums, and Dangerous Pie
The rest of the time is yours to complete that worksheet. Our assessment is tomorrow—meet me here and we will walk to the lab together

8. Before you go! Take a post it note, write down: Name: Read: Write:
Then record your name (first and last), what kind of text you like to read best (novel, comic, movie, poetry), and then what kind of text you like to write best (comic, movie, poetry, essay)

9. 8th Grade English

10. Do Now:
Put all of your materials for the materials check on your desk:
Your three ring binder
Something to write with
A flashdrive
Your writer’s notebook
Your SSR book
Answer the survey on your desk—as long as your answer is honest, it is right. Please use the same writing utensil to answer all of the questions.

11. Your Writing Diagnostic
Check it out and enjoy your sticker

12. Things that were AWESOME
Period Four:
Logan S. used buzz words
Emma B. used figurative languageLeo also used examples and gave full explanations of why
Brian G. picked 3 specific points and focused his paper around them
Jake K. write topic/closing sentences for his paragraphs Noah and Erin used stories to prove points
Emma T. identified a counter argument and debunked it

13. Things that were AWESOME
Period Five:
Mac used words from the prompt in order to keep her paper focused
Ashley fully expanded on each claim in her body paragraphs
Danielle used transition words to indicate she was switching focus
Jacob S. repeated words from his thesis to emphasize his point
Jimmy used a specific example/story to make his point clear
Marie had very clear topic sentences
Tommy clearly laid out everything in his introduction to give the reader a roadmap for the paper

14. Things that were AWESOME
Period Six:
Brian Hess backed up his points with specific examples
Domenic Esler had a great transition sentence—it referenced the topic of the last paragraph while going on to introduce a new one
Aarushi defined jargon to make her essay clear to any reader
Mason Loeb gave supporting details and stories to back up his points
Ali told a great story to support her point
Luke Shank wrote my favorite sentence: “When you’re in second grade, you feel like you own the world”

15. Areas to Work On: Expanding on each point fully in body paragraphs
Using examples and anecdotes to support a claim
Using specific language to establish voice
Spelling, passive voice, dropped endings, plurals, repeating words, tenses
Transitions
Avoiding “And that is why…” conclusions

16. Do Now: Open your writer’s notebook to a fresh page
If you do not have it, use scrap paper
Date your entry (9/6)
List two things you do well in essay writing
List two things you want to improve in essay writing

17. Becoming Better
Circle the two things you wrote down and put a star next to that circle
These are you two goals for this semester. In every essay, I’ll ask you to check back with this page and make sure you’re keeping these in mind as you write

18. “What’s in my Journal”
Listen to the poem as it is read aloud, then read it quietly to yourself
During both readings, make notes in the margins
Record ESPECIALLY whenever something about the poem feels weird or random

19. Share Your Notes!
First with your table group, then we’ll share as a class.

20. Explain the Weirdness
Work, either in your table group or by yourself, to explain every weird moment in the poem
It’s a lot like explaining your own answers on that survey
In English, the most important thing is often explaining the best way you can—explain why this poet chose to include that weirdness
You don’t have to agree!

21. Looking Forward
We’re going to be expanding on this tomorrow and you’ll be writing your OWN poems of random weirdness
Go through your survey tonight use it to make a list of weird things you’d like to include in your poem tomorrow

22. List of weirdness: I expect at least 10 things!
Homework
List of weirdness: I expect at least 10 things!