Day 1

Welcome! Please find and be in a seat when the bell rings.

Today:Who are we?Class InformationImportant Documents

Day 2“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” ~John Donne

Respond to this quote. What might it mean? Try to write at least 5 complete sentences and create a paragraph with your response.

Hint: Think about the idea of “community.” Is our classroom a community? Is it important?

Day 3

Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG4ZIJg

Write down at least 10 tips you learned from this video-- be prepared to share with the class.

Why are these skills important? Hold on to the tips you wrote down.

They will be of use to you throughout this unit!

Day 4 Very soon, you will be taking the

county-wide writing assessment that looks at your knowledge of how to write a persuasive paper.

Pretend you are a preparing to write an essay on why there should be more time in between classes.

Write down 5 reasons you would use to convince your reader that more time is necessary.

Day 5In what ways are the advertisers of this ad trying to

get a person to buy this product?

Day 6

Please read the worksheet “Introduction to the Student”

Copies are at the front of the room

Day 7Let’s think about voice in reading and writing.

Writers make conscious choices, too, and good readers learn to recognize and understand the effects of these choices. It is these choices that create voice. Let’s start with a very simple sentence.

The little pink fishes swam upstream and died.

1. Is this sentence sad? Think about this carefully. Don’t focus on the idea of the dying fish. Instead, focus on the sentence itself and the effect it produces. Does the sentence make you feel sad, or like crying, when you read it? Why or why not?

Day 8Answer the question and briefly write a short definition

next to each of the word in letters A – E.

Ravens appear to behave _________, actively helping one another to find food.

(A) Mysteriously(B) Warily(C) Aggressively (D) Cooperatively(E) Defensively

Absent day 9

Day 10 Copy down these notes:

Diction refers to the author’s choice of words. In order to write well, you have to find the perfect word.

The perfect word is clear concrete and exact. In other words, it says exactly what you want it to say, is specific, and creates just the picture you see in your mind.

Some words are especially overused and tired, certainly not perfect. These words have lost their freshness and impact. Avoid them at all times!

Consider these words “forbidden” and eliminate them from your vocabulary: good, nice, pretty, beautiful, fine, bad, thing, really, very, terrible, wonderful, a lot

Words don’t simply have meaning. Words have denotation and connotation.

Denotation is the literal meaning of the word, and connotation is the meaning suggested by a word, the feeling evoked by a word.

Day 11

M.C. heard him scramble and strain his way up the slope of Sarah’s mountain. (Hamilton)

1. What does it mean to scramble and strain up a mountain? Close your eyes and try to get a picture of someone scrambling and straining up a mountain.

2. How would it change your mental picture if we rewrote the sentence like this? M.C. heard him walk up the slope of Sarah’s mountain.

3. Write a sentence describing someone slowly climbing up a flight of stairs. Use Hamilton’s sentence as a model. Use “perfect” words!

Day 12

A judgment made before all the facts are known must be called ________.

(A) Harsh (B) Deliberate(C) Sensible(D) Premature(E) fair

Day 13

They scuttled for days and days till they came to a great forest, ‘slusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there they hid: and after another long time, what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, an what with the slippery-slidy shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra great stripy, and Eland the Koodoo grew darker…” (Kipling).

1. What is the dictionary definition of scuttled? What sort of image does this create in your mind?

2. How do the adjectives in this paragraph help you understand the scene?

3. Write two sentences about going on a long car trip. You should use strong verbs, hyphenated adjectives (like above). Remember that the purpose of this exercise is to make an experience come alive for the reader!

Day 14

Despite their ________ proportions, the murals of Diego Rivera gave his Mexican compatriots the sense that their history is _______ and human in scale, not remote and larger than life.

(A) Monumental .. Accessible(B) Focused … prolonged(C) Vast …. Ancient(D) Realistic… extraneous(E) Narrow …. overwhelming

Day 15

Brown as a coffee-berry, rugged, pistoled, spurred, wary, indefeasible*, I saw my old friend, Deputy-Marshall Caperton, stumble into a chair in the marshal’s outer office (O. Henry).

*indefeasible = something that can’t be cancelled1. Look at the first two boldfaced words (pistoled,

spurred). Both of these words describe the deputy. What do they mean?

2. The word indefeasible is usually used to describe a contract or some kind of legal document. O. Henry uses it to describe a character. What does it mean in this context? In other words, how can a person be indefeasible? What does this choice of words add to the sentence?

3. Write a sentence describing someone whose clothes are really wild.

Day 16

The research is so _______ that it leaves no part of the house unexamined.

(A) Comprehensive(B) Rewarding (C) Sporadic(D) Economical(E) problematic

Day 17

Write a short description of a pair of shoes (at least 3 sentences). First, decide whether you want to designed expensive shoes or old muddy shoes in your closet. Then capture the shoes by using strong diction. Don’t explain that the shoes are fancy or scruffy. Instead, use “perfect” words to create a picture of the shoes for the reader.

Day 18

A dictatorship _______ its citizens to be docile and finds it expedient to make outcasts of those who do not _______.

(A) Forces … rebel(B) Expects … disobey(C) Requires … conform(D) Allows …. Withdraw(E) Forbids … agree

Day 19

“Filch hobbled across to his desk, snatched up the envelope, and threw it into a drawer” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

1. Which words help you visualize what is happening in this passage?

2. What is the mood of this passage? How are the characters feeling? How do you know?

3. Create a sentence of your own that helps your reader visualize what is happening. Create a mood and we will try to guess it when you read it aloud.

Day 20

Alice Walker’s prize winning novel exemplifies the strength of first-person narrative; the protagonist tells her own story so effectively that any additional commentary would be _______.

(A) Subjective(B) Eloquent(C) Superfluous(D) Incontrovertible(E) Impervious

Day 21

Describe a room that is ridiculously cold (ha, you might think of this one!) In your description, use words that are clear, concrete, and exact. Use a vivid adjective to describe an object in the room. The adjective and object should help your readers understand the feeling of the room. Remember, don’t simply state that it’s cold. Instead, create a picture for the reader, capturing how the cold affects the surroundings.

Day 22

Answer the question and briefly write a short definition next to each of the word in letters A – E.

After observing several vicious territorial fights, Jane Goodall had to revise her earlier opinion that these particular primates were always _______ animals.

(A) Ignorant(B) Inquisitive(C) Responsive(D) Cruel (E) Peaceful

Day 23 Copy down these notes:

Detail is what makes writing come alive. Detail includes facts, observations, reasons, examples,

and incidents that a writer uses to develop a subject. Specific details create a clear mental picture for the reader by focusing on particular details rather than random things.

Detail helps the reader understand what you’re writing about exactly as you want him/her to.

Details helps to focus the reader’s attention on important ideas and shapes the reader’s understanding of a topic.

Detail allows the reader to participate as an equal partner in the “world” the writer has created and to follow the writer’s ideas in the way the author intends.

“I used to like going to have my hair cut. I liked the mirrors in the room and all the smells of lotions and shampoos. I liked to sit there– young and fresh and pretty– and see what the women were having done, to make themselves look younger and prettier. I liked the way my mother’s hairdresser teased me about boyfriends and dances. Not anymore, though. Somebody held the door open so my mother could wheel me in, and a few people who had met me came around to say how sorry they were” ~Cynthia Voight, Izzy, Willy-Nilly

1. Which details support the attitude that the narrator used to like having her hair cut? Write down those details and their effectiveness.

2. Which details change the direction of the passage? Note that the narrator’s reason for not liking haircuts anymore is not explained. Nevertheless, you know what has happened. What effect does it have on you?

3. Write a paragraph using details to capture the reasons why you like a particular sport. Don’t explain why you like the sport. Instead, use details to show the reader what you like about the sport.

“Meanwhile, Confucius pursued his studies. Whenever he had a chance, he visited the state capital, Qufu, a lively town thronged with people talking, laughing, and shouting; buying, selling, and gambling; eating at food stalls in every street; and watching acrobats, jugglers, and magicians at the marketplace, where vendors hawked such delicacies as bears’ paws, the fins of sharks, the livers of peacocks, and bees fried in their own honey.” ~Russell Freedman, Confucius: The Golden Rule

1. What is the focus of the detail in this description of the state capital?

2. How would the feeling and impact of this passage change if Freedman had ended the second sentence right after people?

3. Describe a town you have visited. First decide on a focus: the people, the historic sites, the stores and restaurants, or the scenery. Now write a paragraph similar to the one above. Use lots of details to make your description come alive !