Language Arts 9: River of Words Art Contest

With visiting artist Elizabeth, we created rough drafts of water web-inspired artwork for the River of Words art and poetry contest. Elizabeth will be back on Friday with watercolors!

Language Arts 9: Blue Gold

Discuss how documentary films can be "read" as texts.

Define bias.

View a portion of the documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars and complete viewing handout (questions about the argument, point of view, possible bias, and imagery of the film)

Homework: None!


Don't forget about the FREE screening of Watershed at The Loft (on Speedway at Country Club), on Wednesday, September 19, at 7 p.m.  Get background information, material, and imagery to use for River of Words.

Language Arts 9: River of Words poetry

Warmup: In your writer's journal, list as many water-related words as you can think of. Win a point of extra credit by having the longest list of words that no one else thought of!

Read poems from previous winners of the River of Words poetry contest.

Draft your own poem for the contest.

Homework: River of Words poem due Friday. It must be at least 15 lines long, and typed or written neatly in ink. Include imagery, metaphors, similes, and symbol to make your poem stand out from the rest! (3 points)

Language Arts 9: River of Words, Arizona Water Web

Today we had a visit from Yajaira Gray, of the Pima County Natural Resources Department.

After discussing the sources of water and consumers of water in our local area, you participated in a hands-on demonstration. You created a model of what happens to our water resources when there are competing demands from a wide variety of water users.


Homework: None!  Tomorrow we will be working on writing original poetry for the River of Words poetry contest. How can you turn what you learned today into a poem?

Language Arts 9: Peer Editing

Warmup: sentence variation practice: Choose a topic to write about. Nonvolunteers will be chosen to roll a set of dice. Whatever number comes up, you will have to write a sentence about your topic using that number of words. You can NOT begin any of the sentences with the same word! 

Review the Six Traits rubric.

Peer edit TWO classmates' essay drafts for all 6 traits, using the rubric and the peer editing handout.

Homework: FINAL essay draft, with all rough drafts and peer editing sheets attached for full credit, is due on Tuesday. This will be graded according to the six traits rubric you worked with today and will be worth 25 points.

Language Arts 9: Autobiography Endings

Writer's Journal Entry: If the world were going to end in one week, what would you do? What is on your "bucket list"?

Brainstorm common and cliched endings to movies, books, stories, etc.

Discuss common, overused endings to five-paragraph essays

Discuss cliched endings to autobiographies

Notes on strong conclusions

Handout: Read example of a strong ending to a memoir about place, Helen Blatt's "Returning Home."

Answer the following questions in 1-2 sentences each:

1. What did Blatt learn from her trip? Summarize this in a sentence or two on the bottom of the page.

2. How did she manage to convey this information without sounding cliché or overly sentimental? Explain this in another 1-2 sentences. 

Homework: Your "almost-final" draft of your environmental autobiography is due on Friday! Add a new conclusion based on today's information. Use my feedback on your draft to improve the organization, and make sure to avoid overused words!

Your final draft will be due on Tuesday.

Language Arts 9: Voice

Writer's Journal entry: Choose one of the "totally radical" 1980s yearbook photos from the board. Write a paragraph as the person you choose, in what you imagine their voice to be like. Your classmates will guess which person you are. You are not writing ABOUT that person, you ARE that person.

Discuss voice trait

Using a voice trait rubric handout, assess three writing samples, giving each a score for voice.

Peer edit another student's environmental autobiography, marking places where voice is strong and places where voice could be improved. Mark AT LEAST 10 places.

Extra credit assignment(sentence fluency): For one point of extra credit, do the following correctly:

Write at least 10 sentences about any topic you choose, following the rules below.  

1.  Do not begin any sentence with a, an, or the.

2.  All sentences must begin with a different word.

3.  Do not begin any sentences with a common noun.

4.  Do not begin any sentences with I, my, or you. (personal pronouns)

5.  Do not begin more than two sentences with the same part of speech. (noun, adjective, verb, pronoun, etc.)

Homework: None!

Language Arts 9: Burying "Dead Words" and Autobiography Drafting

Warmup: Create a list of the 20 verbs and adjectives you believe are most often overused in writing!

From the list we create, choose your "top 3" overused words.

"Bury" one of those words by creating a gravestone for it. Around the outside of the gravestone, write five more vivid, specific words that could replace the dead word. (worth 2 points)

Handout: 6 Traits Rubric. Your environmental autobiography will be graded on this rubric.

Homework: Environmental autobiography draft due on Tuesday. It must be TWO pages long for five points. (Three or more pages will get you a point of extra credit.)

Remember, this is a ROUGH draft. You will revise it and make it better later on!

Language Arts 9: Writing Strong Hooks

Warmup: What do you think is (or would be—you can make it up), the BEST first line of a story, book, or movie ever written? What makes it the best?
 

Read some examples from the list of best first lines of novels.

Handout: "Little Red Riding Hooks": 8 techniques for grabbing your reader's attention in your first line (Organization Trait)

Work on rough draft of your environmental autobiography. 

Homework: None

Language Arts 9: Environmental Autobiography

Writer's Journal entry: Describe, in detail, a place that has been important to you. Really set the scene, using imagery from as many senses as possible. What does the place look like, sound like, smell like, feel like? Why was it so significant? This should be at least one very LONG paragraph. Once you're finished, draw a picture in your journal of what your place looks like.  

Read and discuss excerpt from Jeannette Walls' "true-life novel," Half-Broke Horses.

Discuss environmental autobiography assignment, and prewrite. 

Read reviews of two Southwestern novels, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, and House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer. Be ready to vote on Wednesday for which book you'd like to read as a class this year!

Homework: None

Language Arts 9: Jimmy Santiago Baca, part II. Environments

Writer's Journal entry: ten-minute free write. Include at least one simile, one metaphor, and one example of each of five types of imagery in your writing.

Identify examples of similes, metaphors, imagery, and symbol in Jimmy Santiago's poem "I Am Offering This Poem..."

Discuss whether knowing the poet's background and history influences how you read his poem.

Read an excerpt from Jimmy Santiago Baca's memoir A Place to Stand. 

Homework: NONE!

Next week you will begin working on your own "environmental autobiography."

Language Arts 9: Jimmy Santiago Baca

Read brief author biography of Jimmy Santiago Baca

Writer's Journal entry:

1. Does Jimmy Santiago Baca sound like a person whose work you'd like to read? Why or why not?

2. Do you think that knowing the author's biography and life history is important for your understanding of a poem or story? Why or why not?

Review of and notes on simile, metaphor, imagery, and symbol.

Read Jimmy Santiago Baca's poem, "I Am Offering This Poem to You." Watch video of Baca reading his poem aloud

Homework: prose poem due Friday, August 24

On Friday, you will be finding the similes, metaphors, imagery, and symbol in "I Am Offering This Poem to You" and reading an excerpt from Baca's memoir

Language Arts 9: "Borderlands" and Prose Poetry

Writer's Journal entry: ten-minute free writing

Read and discuss Gloria Anzuldua's poem, "To Live in the Borderlands Means You..."

Assignment: Due Friday, August 24, write your own prose poem on any topic, following the instructions and tips on the assignment sheet. This is worth five points.

Remember the "borscht" from the poem? This what borscht looks like:

Language Arts 9: Symbolism

Guess the logo game

Notes and discussion on symbolism

Read about the Tohono O'odham Man in the Maze and its symbolism

Assignment: Create your own personal symbol and explain it in writing

Requirements: Create a visual symbol that represents some aspect of yourself and/or your life. Make it large and artistic, at least an 8 1/2 x 11 size. 

•Your symbol should include at least FOUR symbolic elements (shapes, colors, etc. that represent something about you).

•You must also write an explanation of your symbol and what each element stands for.

•Your explanation must include an introduction, a conclusion, and at least TWO sentences explaining each element. (So, it will be at least 10 sentences total.)

This will be due on Tuesday, August 21. It will be worth 10 points. 

Use your writer’s journal to brainstorm and sketch!

Language Arts 9: Language and Parts of Speech

Circle the nonsense words in "Jabberwocky" and label their basic part of speech (noun, verb, adjective)

Reflection paragraph: What does "Jabberwocky" show us about how language works? (For example, how did you know how to "galumph," or what part of speech "mimsy" was?)

Free writing: Practice free association getting ideas on paper by writing for five minutes on any topic without stopping

HW: None

Language Arts 9: "Jabberwocky" introduction to poetry and parts of speech

Quiz on class procedures

Writer's Journal Entry: Write your own "nonsense" poem, using at least five made-up words

Reading and dramatic performance of "Jabberwocky," by Lewis Carroll

Notes on review of basic parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, and verbs

Homework: None, but be ready to label the basic parts of speech of the nonsense words in "Jabberwocky" on Wednesday, August 15

Discuss class procedures

Present two to three procedures to class using art (poster, skit, song rap, etc.)

Handouts: Language Arts Class Procedures sheet

Homework: Procedures Quiz Tuesday, 8/14

                   Have all class supplies Tuesday, 8/14

Fill out "Getting to Know You" sheet.
Teacher Quiz
discuss Course Syllabus

Homework: Have course syllabus signed for Friday, 8/10.