Sports articles are due on Wednesday

All final sports articles are due on Wednesday with all earlier drafts attached.

In addition, please place all final drafts in the shared folder at school or email them to me.

Final drafts

Please make sure to drop a final draft of your article into the shared folder or email it to me so that I can put it there in the appropriate folder for layout.

Happy Snow Day

Good morning everyone... I was just about at school this morning when I found out we had a snow day :)

I hope you are all still sleeping...

For the rest of your day, however, please make sure to finish the midterm reflections as well as all other missing work... particularly articles due for this issue of the paper.

We have a town hall meeting on Wed. so we will be losing another class period as well. Let's use time wisely over the next couple of weeks...

Remember the paper needs to be ready by March 16th

Reflections in general

It is really important when writing reflections that you really go into depth about what your understanding of the assignment was and then how your work demonstrates you have done it.

Use the rubrics provided by your teachers to be specific in the standards and skills expected of you and then you can address many of them in your reflection.

Talk about what you did well.

Talk about what you could still do better.

Talk about how you felt about the assignment while you were doing it.

What do you want the reader of your reflection to take away from the piece you have used?

Sample standard based portfolio reflection

I have chosen my independent reading assignment for my portfolio because I feel that it illustrates my ability to demostrate a variety of skills and standards in this class. Because I have achieved a 93 on it, I feel that I am more than meeting many standards. It shows that I can identify texts of various genres independently and then write brief critical analysis about my selections.

For questions 3 and 4 where it asked me to locate a passage that shows the author's effective use in language, I show that I am both able to identify different literary elements such setting and characterization as well as literary techniques like foreshadowing and figurative language in the text. In addition to identifying these elements, I can discuss and analyze the author's craft and effectiveness. I feel that is not enough to just mention, but rather also to discuss the effect it has on the audience by using these things. I feel that reading published author's work has further helped me develop my writing as well.

Other things I am successful with in the assignment is my ability to understand texts on more than one level. I show that there is deeper meaning by selecting a passage and then drawing my own conclusions and making inferences.
I think this assignment demonstrates my successful mastery of these standards. I have learned to read a novel more closely and become acutely aware not only of story line meaning, but author's purpose while reading. I've also been able to write about these things in a meaningful way.

In the future, I feel that I will need to be more specific in addressing theme in this assignment. I think that I misunderstood what theme was about in question 6. I could have also worke with symbolism, but I think I mistook theme to be the main idea, when really it is just an overriding idea and there could be many in a text. Author's use them to connect the story to readers. Sometimes I could have selected more effective passages too. I think I may have rushed alittle in my selection of a passage about setting.

Current Events Standards

Here are the standards that you are working on when doing the current events assignment:


Performance Indicator 03--> ELA1.12.RE1.03::-->
Students analyze and synthesize information from different sources by making connections and showing relationships to other texts, ideas, subjects, and the world at large:
employ a range of post-reading practices to think about new learning and to plan future learning

Standard ELA2.12.RE1: Language for Literary Response and Expression
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

• Performance Indicator 01--> ELA2.12.RE1.01::-->
  Students recognize and analyze the relevance of literature to contemporary and/or personal events and situations from short stories, novels, plays, film and video productions, poems, and essays:
• read and discuss literary criticism
• engage in a variety of collaborative conversations, such as peer-led discussions, paired reading and responding, and cooperative group discussions, to make applications of the ideas in the text to other situations, extending the ideas to broaden perspective

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA2.12.RE1.02::-->

• Students read, view, and respond independently to literary works that represent a range of social, historical, and cultural perspectives.

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA2.11.RE1.02::-->

• Students read, view, and respond independently to literary works that represent a range of social, historical, and cultural perspectives:
• monitor their own comprehension by questioning, reviewing, revising, and rereading to enhance overall comprehension

Performance Indicator 07--> ELA2.11.RE1.07::-->
Students recognize and analyze the relevance of literature to contemporary and/or personal events and situation

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA1.11.WR2.02::-->
Students analyze and integrate data, facts, and ideas to communicate information.

Standard ELA3.11.WR2: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
Performance Indicator 01--> ELA3.11.WR2.01::-->
Students develop critiques from more than one perspective, such as historical, cultural, and social.

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA2.11.WR2.02::-->

• Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately three to five pages to:
  express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase
• explain how the author's use of literary devices affects meaning
• examine development and impact of literary elements, such as character (protagonist and antagonist), action (conflict, intrigue, suspense, and climax), and setting (locale and time period), in literary texts and performances
• compare and contrast the treatment of literary elements in different genres and by more than one author
• use literary criticism to expand personal analysis of the literary texts
  engage in a variety of prewriting experiences, such as using a variety of visual representations, to express interpretations, feelings, and new insights

Independent Reading Standards

In an effort to help you all write better, more specific reflections, I wanted to help you understand the specific standards we have been addressing in the independent reading assignment:

For the whole assignment:

• Standard ELA2: Language for Literary Response and Expression
  Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.
• Listening and Reading
  Key Idea 1 -->ELA2.LR1:
  Listening and reading for literary response involves comprehending, interpreting, and critiquing imaginative texts in every medium, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge to understand the text, and recognizing the social, historical and cultural features of the text
  
• Students read and view independently and fluently across many genres of literature from many cultures and historical periods
• Students identify the distinguishing features of different literary genres, periods, and traditions and use those features to interpret the work.
• Students recognize and understand the significance of a wide range of literary elements and techniques, (including figurative language, imagery, allegory, irony, blank verse, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness) and use those elements to interpret the work.
• Students understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in a text
• Students read aloud expressively to convey a clear interpretation of the work

Performance Indicator 01--> ELA2.12.WR2.01::-->
Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately five pages to:
express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase

• explain how the author's use of literary devices, such as allegory, stream of consciousness, and irony, affects meaning

Performance Indicator 06--> ELA2.12.RE1.06::-->
Students interpret multiple levels of meaning and subtleties in text

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA2.11.WR2.02::-->

• Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately three to five pages to:
• express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase
• explain how the author's use of literary devices affects meaning
• examine development and impact of literary elements, such as character (protagonist and antagonist), action (conflict, intrigue, suspense, and climax), and setting (locale and time period), in literary texts and performances
• compare and contrast the treatment of literary elements in different genres and by more than one author
• use literary criticism to expand personal analysis of the literary texts engage in a variety of prewriting experiences, such as using a variety of visual representations, to express interpretations, feelings, and new insights