Place Descriptions

For the first half of class, you discussed in small groups the "Ground Zero" article and analyzed its thesis, imagery, literary devices, and mood. We then completed a full class discussion. If absent, you will need to hand in your annotated essay to me for participation points.

With our discussion complete, you copied down the next 10 vocab words, which will commence tomorrow.

And to end our class, we ventured to the library for your to jot down notes about what you heard, saw, felt, and smelled. For homework, you are to write a 1-2 paragraphs describing the library to an audience that has never been there.

Describing A Thing

After our vocabulary quiz today, we worked on description by composing a paragraph on John William Waterhouse's Miranda. As with description of any "thing" or object, you want to create imagery and a mood for someone unfamiliar with the topic. Since our class was curtailed by college credit visitors, you will read and annotate the descriptive essay for homework.

Into the Imagery

After reviewing our 12 vocab words and crowning Jenna the unit 1 vocab champ, we met for feedback on our second summary. Following that meeting, you received a text to annotate and write a summary for your final assessment. Here is the text for any absentees: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/22/opinion/is-harry-potter-evil.html.

For the majority of our second half, we began our descriptive unit, which covers imagery, mood, subjective and objective detailing, and purpose. In order to practice imagery and creating a mood, you worked with these bland sentences (http://jupiter.plymouth.edu/~megp/test/vague.htm) to convey specific, memorable details. We completed revisions for number 2 and number 10.

We will resume descriptive writing on Friday.

More Summary

After finishing our vocabulary today, we looked at the 7 components of a strong summary. As indicated in class, the most important element is to reference the author throughout the piece and be selective with the details you place into your summation. For homework, you are to write a summary for the "Adjuncts" article.

See you tomorrow for more summaries and possibly a little digital work too.

Annotating to a Summary

1. We commenced with 4 more vocabulary words for a grand total of 8 at this time. We will finish the last four tomorrow and then have a review day prior to the quiz day.

2. We reviewed how and why we annotate texts via the Sperber article on college-level writing.

For homework, you are to complete a summary of the Sperber article. We will use this in class tomorrow to discuss the qualities of a summary and how to write a successful one.

E-Mail Assessment

After beginning our first vocabulary unit with four words, we spent the remainder of class completing the e-mail assignment: three e-mails (one a question, one an absence, one a turn-in of work) to me. If absent today, you should complete this task prior to Monday's class.

Welcome to Advanced Composition

While future blogs will most likely cover more details regarding writing and mechanics, today's blog will be on the short side. First off, welcome to Advanced Composition, a class in which the goal is to make you stronger writers that recognize the importance of every detail.

To begin class today, we chatted about college credit courses, what you want to improve during the class, and what adjective best describes you entering the final semester of your high school career.

After looking at the syllabus, you copied down the first 12 words of vocab unit 1. To learn vocabulary and maintain its meaning in our daily vernacular and written projects, you will become vocab experts on one word. A vocab expert gathers the definition, at least two synonyms (preferably not from the class vocab book), and a memory trick to help your classmates understand the word's meaning. Today, our small nine were assigned their given word and will prep the aforementioned components for tomorrow's class. Absentees, don't fret - you will have your word tomorrow.

At the end of class, we discussed e-mail communications by looking at sample e-mails and suggestions for the five components necessary in a professional e-mail. During tomorrow's class, you will have the whole hour (unless you all finish early and we have a great deal of time on the clock) to write 3 e-mails to me. One e-mail will be on a question for an assignment; one e-mail for an absence; one e-mail for turning in an assignment.

While we are a class of 12, that number will work wonders for paper writing and revisions. See you tomorrow -- sans snow, of course.