Article of the Week Due Sept. 24th [Assigned on Sept. 17th]

1. Go to drive.google.com and log in with your Chromebook login

2. Open up the "From Mrs. Lock" folder (it will either be on "My Drive" or "Shared with Me".

3. Open up and read "Article of the Week Due Sept. 24th."

4. When finished reading, open up "Article of the Week DIRECTIONS"

5. This document should walk you through the rest of the proccess. Make sure to title your document: "Last Name, Article Reflection 2" and MAKE SURE IT IS IN YOUR ELAR FOLDER :) I won't be able to find it or grade it :(


You have ONE WEEK to finish this!!

9/8-9/12

Monday we are read a story called "Waters of Gold" [read a summary here : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HOGCIl8UnTKvYOU5KQV_yP1iejwxo0xAfWTTIRjGJ60/edit?usp=sharing]

-We then talked about the figurative language used in this story: personification, metaphors, similes, irony, repetition, and imagery.

Tuesday we began writing our rough draft for our personal narrative. See the "From Mrs. Lock" folder [https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-wpXarO8sPyRVQtRjdpcmJFeFk&usp=sharing] and click on "Personal Narrative Rubric" for requirements and click on "Copy of Personal Narrative Brainstorming" for help with this assignment if you lost any of your copies.

Wednesday  We will continue to write our rough draft and hopefully finish by the end of class. If everyone has finished their rough draft and if your class' behavior was good, then we are going to go outside to peer edit on Thursday

Thursday Peer edit outside! See the "From Mrs. Lock" folder [https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-wpXarO8sPyRVQtRjdpcmJFeFk&usp=sharing]  on Google drive for a copy of the peer editing guide.

Friday we will type our final draft on the Chromebooks! See the requirements below:

-Must be in MLA format
-Must be in your ELAR folder
-MUST BE titled "Last Name Personal Narrative" so that I can find it when I search for it.


If you are not satisfied with your Test 2 score, please visit Schoology and take the Re-Test 2. I will take the higher grade of the two. You HAVE to come let me know that you want me to replace the grade if you score higher. 

9/5

After the test, please get a Chromebook and follow the directions below:


1. Go to drive.google.com and open your "From Mrs. Lock" folder (click on Shared with Me)

2. Open the "Article of the Week DIRECTIONS" AND "Article of the Week Sept. 5th"

3. Read "Article of the Week DIRECTIONS"

4. Read "Article of the Week Sept. 5th"

5. Begin a new document IN YOUR ELAR folder and format it MLA style.

6. Begin writing your reflection.

THIS IS DUE BY MONDAY SEPT. 8th

9/4 ELAR

After we finished reading "The Medicine Bag", we got onto the Chromebooks and began our assignment. If you did not finish, it is HOMEWORK!! See the directions below:

uGo to drive.google.com (your login is the same as your Chromebook log-in BTDUBS)

-Open your ELAR folder, then create a document titled: "Last Name Characters"

-BEFORE TYPING ANYTHING... Change the font to Times New Roman (12 point size) then change the Line Spacing to Double. 

-Don't forget your header in the top left hand corner!!

uPlease write 2 paragraphs about the static and dynamic characters in “The Medicine Bag”

uOne paragraph for static characters & one paragraph for dynamic characters. Each paragraph must be at least 3 sentences long. You might want to include what a static/dynamic character is!!

uIf you need help with MLA format, refer to your “From Mrs. Lock” folder.

uThis is DUE Monday, Sept. 8th.

Career Portals 9/3

Hello! Today you will be practicing writing a resume. Refer to the table below to help you understand the terms that are on a resume. See the example below :)

Full Name

Address

Phone Number

Email address

Objective	State the type of position or internship you are seeking.
Education	List (in reverse chronological order) the schools you have attended and your dates of graduation (month and year). For middle school, put the PROJECTED date of graduation.
Honors & Awards	List any academic honors here (GPA, honor roll, student of the month, etc)
Previous Work Experience	IF you have had a job before: list the job, when you had it, and what specific things you did. If you have not had a job before: get rid of this section!
Skills	List any special skills (computer, language, equipment, training, etc.)
Activities	List any sports, clubs, extracurricular activities, volunteering, etc here
References	List the name and contact information of at least 2-3 people who could serve as your references (teachers, coaches, counselors, etc)

Click HERE to search for a resume template on Google Drive. When you find one you'd like to use, click "Use this template"

For the remainder of class, work on filling out your resume :) Make sure that you drag it into your Career Portals folder or I won't get it!

8/25-8/27

Monday we read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury and answered questions over it.

Tuesday we read "There will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury and we held a class discussion over it.

Wednesday we creatively wrote about "There Will Come Soft Rains". See the requirements/directions below...

What do I write about?
Pretend that you are Mrs. McClennan. Write a short story from her point of view about maybe a day in her life, or you could write about the day of the disaster.

Requirements
-Include all elements of plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) [30 points]
-Include 2 examples of figurative language [30 points]
-Write in 1st person point of view (Mrs. McClennan's) [25 points]
-Correct heading [15 points]
-NO LENGTH REQUIREMENT, just meet these ^^

Visit your Drive account for copies of both stories. Remember, your log-in is: firstname.lastname@lifeschools.org and your password is last four digits of your ID number. Click "Shared with me" then click "From Mrs. Lock"

If you did not finish this assignment in class, it is homework due tomorrow, THURSDAY!

8/19- Finish Pre-Assessment and MLA format

Today, we will be going over your outside reading project. Please record the due dates in your personal planner or phone. These will be counted as test grades! See below the helpful videos for setting up your first MLA formatted document in Google Drive.



MLA formatted Google Doc videos.
Video 1

Video 2

8/18

We are taking a Pre-Assessment to see what you know!

8/15

Today we will be practicing using Schoology and Google Drive. Please read the steps below:

1. Log onto Schoology and complete the quiz: "See what you know"

2. Then go to drive.google.com, (log in if you aren't already) and create a new document in your ELA folder titled "My Summer Vacation" and begin free-writing about your summer. Here are some starts questions:
 What did you do this summer? What would you have liked to do? How did you spend your free time? Make sure that your document is in your folder so that it is shared with me. **USE YOUR MLA HEADING IN YOUR DOCUMENT IN THE TOP LEFT CORNER** (refer to the notebook paper on the right of the whiteboard if you forgot how to write one). It needs to be 2 paragraphs long.

3. When you are done with that, go to google and type in: Lock ELA STAAR Vocabulary and click on the first link. You may click on either of the two games listed under "Play" (Scatter or Space Race). Please attempt these games at least 2 times. This is just to give you a preview of the words we will cover this year in ELAR.

Google Drive 8/13

Log in: firstname.lastname@lifeschools.org
Password: last four digits of ID number


drive.google.com

We worked on researching MLA format and Career Portals worked on researching possible careers.

Tuesday 8/12

Today we will be identifying our goals and illustrating them. For those absent, just make sure you have written on a blank page your goal and make it creative and colorful! Just like Misty Copeland, we want to strive to be the best we can this year; identifying our goals is the first step in achieving that greatness. Make sure to have your goal ready to turn in tomorrow.

Upcoming Due Dates:
Wednesday: Goal Illustration & Parent Page
Thursday: Parent Page
Friday: Parent Page and last day to turn in Summer Reading Assignment for full credit.

Links for important documents:

First Day Powerpoint and Procedures

Syllabus and Parent Page

Welcome to 8th grade!

Hello all! Welcome to 8th grade Pre-AP ELAR! I'm so happy to be a part of your school year :) We will be using this blog frequently for assignment instructions and study tips. If I assign homework, I will always post the directions here too, in case you are absent or forgot! I look forward to a great school year with you all. My school email address is megann.backus@lifeschools.net.

End of Year Survery

I need to know what you think about this class and my teaching this year. Your ideas and feelings are really important to me. I'll use this information to make my class better next year. It's really important that you are as honest as possible.

However, I'd also like to ask you to be responsible for how you say things. If you say that you didn't like me because I was always mean, then I won't be able to hear your real complaints.

I want to take your opinion seriously. I want you to think about how you say things. If you have critical comments, that's fine. In fact, I encourage you to be critical. But I also recommend that you explain your answers. 

I really need your help to get better. There's no one whose opinion matters more to me than yours. I need you to be really honest :) Click below for the survey! Thank you for a great year Mustangs!! Best of luck to you in HIGH SCHOOL!!!!

End of Year Survery Click HERE

Research Presentation Rubric

See the link below for the rubric for the presentation!

Rubric

Anne Frank Script & Info about upcoming events

Here are links to the Anne Frank play we read in class last week. Use them to answer the study questions I gave you if you are behind. Remember if they are completed, you may use them on your upcoming quiz! Your quiz over Anne Frank will be on May 16th. I'll be taking up your questions at the end of the movie to check for completeness.


Act 1

Act 2

Finally don't forget that you will have to give a short presentation on your research you did for the topic of your paper. I will average your grade on the presentation with your paper grade to get your final exam grade. You will present during our scheduled final exam time. See final exam schedule here: Click HERE. I'll be handing out rubrics next week!

DON'T FORGET THE FIELD TRIP MONDAY :D

You got questions?

Here are some answers to common questions that I've been asked. I hope this finds you well, and that you are behaving for Mrs. Zepeda!

Q: How do I get to Google Drive?
A: drive.google.com

Q: How do I indent for a new paragraph?
A: Hit the tab key

Q: What is on the Works Cited Page?
A: Literally, the only thing that goes on that page is the title (Works Cited) and your four MLA citations. The video shows you how to do the hanging indent. Google an example of a works cited page if you are still confused.

Q: When is the final paper due?
A: MAY 2nd is when I will be checking Google Drive for your final copy.

Q: What should I name the document in my Reader Writer Notebook?
A: ALL RESEARCH PAPERS IN GOOGLE DRIVE SHOULD BE NAMED "LAST NAME, FIRST NAME." You can change the document name by looking at the top left hand corner of your document.

Q: How will this be graded? Is there a rubric or something?
A: Look at the peer editing guide in your packet. Those are the things I am looking for :)

Q: How do I make sure I am formatting my paper according to MLA style?
A: If you watched the videos in the previous post, then you should be in good shape. You can also find a lot of information about MLA style by just googling it and looking at a picture.

Q: Where does my in-text citation go?
A: Your in-text citation should FOLLOW the information that you borrowed. So for example, if my paper were on the benefits of not eating meat here's what that would look like: According to research, meat is very high in fat, especially saturated fat (Smith). See how I put the in-text citation at the end of the sentence and inside the punctuation?

Q: What do I do when I'm done with my final draft?
A: You may have free time on the computer! Woot! Woot!

Q: What if I don't want to do my work?
A: You will get 2 tallies-- one from Mrs. Zepeda and one from ME!

Q: Why do we have to do this?
A: You are in school until May 23rd. We are not your babysitters :(

MLA format Videos

Video 1

Video 2

Wednesday, March 19th [Directions]

Today, you will continue your work from Monday on Study Island. For those of you not here on Monday due to track/absence or need to be reminded how to navigate through Study Island, here are the directions:

Please finish reading the steps below, and when you're finished, click >>here<< to log on for your assignments.

Your log in information

username: firstinitial.lastname@life (for example: m.lock@life)

password: study


After you're logged in...
1. Once logged in, you should see a blue bar that says "Lock ELA"-- click the green + button to expand the assignments.
2. Click on the assignment "Pre-Test"
3. Check all three topics ("Pretest- Reading", "Making Inferences", "Drawing Conclusions")
4. Then, click the green button that reads "Start Studying"
5. You may click the "Game Mode" but on Monday we had problems with people's computers freezing and lagging because of the game mode-- but it is allowed. I recommed "Practice Mode" because you'll get done quicker.
6. When you've selected the mode you prefer, hit "Next" and begin the assignment.

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU NEED HELP :) 

Tuesday March 18th [Directions]

READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE CLICKING ANYTHING

Please go to: STAAR Vocab Online Flashcards

1. Start with clicking "Flashcards" on the left side of the screen. (Click the card to show the definition).
2. When you've reviewed all the cards, click "Learn"
3. If you feel confident enough, click "Test." Please continue taking the test until you've recieved an 80%
4. When you've scored an 80% on the test, you may play the "Scatter" or  "Space Race" game with the words.



*When everyone is close to finishing, (and if behavior is good) we will have a whiteboard race with some of the terms. I'll split you all into two teams. Each team will nomiate someone to go up to the board and listen to the definition and try to write the word as quickly as you can to beat the other team.*

YOU WILL HAVE  A QUIZ ON THURSDAY OVER THESE TERMS. PLEASE STUDY YOUR TERMS TONIGHT, AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR HOMEWORK. COME BACK TO THE BLOG TO FIND YOUR WAY BACK TO THE FLASHCARDS WHEN YOU'RE AT HOME.

This week's plans

This week
Every other day this week, we will review objectives we have learned over the year to help prepare you for your STAAR test. We are going to use an online program that allows you to track your own progress and provides feedback for incorrect answers-- you can also play games on it if you get a certain score!

Your log in information

username: firstinitial.lastname@life (for example: m.lock@life)

password: study

Please finish reading the information below, and when you're finished, click >>here<< to log on for your assignments.

There are three assignments on there and you will be given a post-test on Friday that will show you the areas you need to work on.



Tuesday and Thursday
On Tuesday and Thursday, we will work on remembering literary terms using games, flashcards, and a quiz.

Expectations
This week is meant to help you set goals for yourself. I will be working with small groups throughout this week as well. If you need help, ask a neighbor first-- then raise your hand.

Beat your score contest
Lastly, I am holding a contest for each individual student. I will be giving you your benchmark scores again this week, and if you BEAT your benchmark score (on the actual STAAR) by 10 points-- I'll have a small reward for you. If you beat your benchmark score by 20 points-- I'll have a bigger reward for you; we will disucss the details of the reward system later. Y'all are going to rock!

When you're finished with Study Island 
When you're finished, I want you to preview the literary terms we will be covering. The space race mode is pretty fun-- click >>here<<

Chapter 28 Audio

Click >>> here

Chapter Summary Activity 3/5/14

Click here for directions/example!

Article Activity 3/4/2014

Click here to begin

STAAR Vocabulary Flashcards :)

Please click here to review some vocabulary for the STAAR. You can manipulate the terms into flashcards, a list, a game, and a few other things. Some of the terms may not look familiar to you-- this is because another teacher made these. This is a resource for you to prepare for the STAAR test; use it wisely!

In case you were absent Tuesday...

Here are the access codes for Schoology. If you forgot your log in for Mr. Stanmore's class, you'll have to create a new log-in... There is a discussion due by Sunday :)

2nd Period: KFHG5-37N9Q

4th Period:47NKV-XPZV6

5th Period: ZH2XZ-MQR3G

6th Period: 45Q66-5T98W

7th Period: WZSTG-WJ4VT

8th Period: 8WPT4-VJ4GX

Links for Class on Monday/Tuesday

Monday: We will be learning how to navigate through Google Drive. Click the link below to get started.

Monday's Instructions!


Tuesday: We will be learning how to navigate through Schoology and complete assignments via the web
Click the link below to get started

Tuesday's Instructions

Update on Divergent!

We are going to be through with chapter 14 today. Tomorrow we will be taking a break from reading and review the persuasive techniques we learned today. You will also have a little class time tomorrow to plan your propaganda poster.


ALSO! I have changed the due date of your faction poster project to FEBRUARY 14TH! YAY!


Click the link below to view the video we watched today to learn about rhetorical (persuasive) devices.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO!

Ethos (ethical/trustworthy character)- appealing to a viewers trust [uses a trusted celebrity or authority figure]

Pathos (emotional)- appealing to a viewers emotions. "Tugging on their heart strings"

Logos (reason/logic)- appealing to a viewers sense of logic [uses facts, data, reasons why]

Also, I am going to be handing out another copy of the rubric for the project just in case you lost yours. I will also include a handy check list to make sure you are creating an AWESOME poster! See the links below to print/view.

Rubric!

Checklist

Divergent Chapters 1-7

This week we covered chapters 1-7 in Divergent. Beatrice was faced with a lot of internal conflict about her choice to remain in her faction or transfer. This weekend, your homework is to finish the vocabulary for chapters 6-10, answer questions about chapters 1-5, and complete the "Beatrice's Choice" writing assignment. If you lost any of those documents, the links are below :) Those three things are due Tuesday! Have a great 3 day weekend!!

Click on the links below to access hand-outs you may have lost... Also, chapters 1-5 are available if you need them!

Chapters 1-5 Online

All assignments given so far