Week at a glance Aug 23 - 27, 2010

Curriculum focus: determines word meanings through knowledge of word structure: Greek and Latin roots and prefixes and suffixes (11.1.3.k3), organizing and planning a written piece (11.7.1.3), composes persuasive writing (11.7.2.1c), adapts writing by identifying, analyzing, and understanding audience (11.7.2.2), writes using one or more text structures when appropriate to a achieve a specific purpose or to address a specific audience: problem/solution (11.7.2.4d), and develops clear and purposeful ideas with sufficient evidence and/or relevant detail to satisfy purpose using sufficient evidence, examples, anecdotes, quotations, expert opinions, and/or statistics (11.7.2.1d)

Root words for this week (root - definition - examples):

1. ante - before - antecedent, antebellum
2. brev - short - abbreviate, brevity
3. fin - end - final, infinite
4. pan - all - pandemic, panorama
5. poly - many - polygamy, polytheism
   
6. vac - empty - vacation, vacuum

This week, we start in on our Root Words unit. The Root Words unit will be helpful to students as it provides students with essential tools for learning words by knowing their structure. The first six roots are listed above. We also write our first essay of the school year: the Personal Narrative. The Personal Narrative is an essay with both narrative and expository elements. Students will relate a story of their experience to a song or poem. They will then analyze their experience in the context of the song or poem. Since this is our first essay, we will go step-by-step through the writing process. A handwritten rough draft for the Personal Narrative is due on Friday. Check the Course Materials section for copies of this assignment.

• Mon: Root Words introduced. Organize binders. Personal Narrative, assignment overview. Personal Narrative prewriting due Tuesday.
  
• Tues: Personal Narrative prewriting checked in class. Creating an informal outline. Begin creating an informal outline for the Personal Narrative.
  
• Wed: Personal Narrative informal outline checked at the beginning of the hour. Writing the introduction. Introduction paragraph due at the beginning of the hour on Thursday.
  
• Thurs: Personal Narrative - Discuss pulling in quotes and analyzing the material. Introduction paragraph checked by the end of the hour. Begin writing the rough draft.
  
• Fri: Root Words quiz; Personal Narrative handwritten rough draft due by the end of the hour