ELA MCAS Prep 10-Period 1 Assignments

Upload your Analysis Paragraphs for Mr. Peterson here so I can help you! I'm looking to see you used the skills we learned this year:
- claim-ev-analysis structure
- claims that are your own ideas, not summaries
- analysis that analyzes craft tools the author is using

Typed, double-spaced:

Paragraph
1: How
are you doing in this class and in your ELA class? What skills do you most
struggle with? Why? What skills have you improved?  

  (writing complete sentences; writing claims
about what I read;   phrasing my ideas
clearly; connecting my claims to specific   evidence;
analyzing the author’s choices)


Paragraph
2: Did
you submit your Final Draft Open Response to me? How do you feel about your
work? If you did not, why not? What has been holding you back from doing your
best work in this class?

Paragraph
3: What’s
your GPA (total for all high school so far)? Are you happy with this? If not,
what do you need to do to bring it up?

Upload your final draft here. Make sure you have deleted the directions for the outline ("Claim 1," etc.) and your essay is in paragraph form. Double-spaced, black default font.

Write or type your Open Response for Biden's Inauguration Speech below.


Question: What is the tone of Biden’s inauguration speech, and how does he get the attention of the American people?


https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/20/joe-biden-inauguration-speech-transcript-full-text-460813

Type or write your Open Response for the opposite question from the one you chose last time.

Go through your "MCAS Defense of Answers" - for each question you got wrong, explain your thinking and where you see now that you got confused. Also explain how the correct answer choice IS the correct one.


Answer key: http://mcas.pearsonsupport.com/resources/student/practice-tests-ela/Grade10_ELACBT_PracticeTestAnswerKey_10-15-18.pdf

Write a clear, specific, & creative 1-page essay in
response to ONE of the Open Responses on the Practice MCAS: 

If you choose to write by hand – 1.5 pages
    Blue or black ink
    NEAT!
     Make sure the picture of your paper is clear

If you choose to type – 1 page double-spaced, size 11 (default in Docs)

Graded based on the MCAS rubric – focus on these items:
Make sure your response ONLY focuses on the prompt, nothing else
Show you understand the text – use as many details as you can
Proofread!

Here is the link to the test:
https://ma.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=LGN638760453&password=BUPPCLJD


Completed #1-22 due 8:55am today. We will be finishing in class.

Upload a selfie for our Google Classroom homepage!

- Write a 1-page rap, song, poem, or letter expressing your personal experience during COVID times to a future stranger living in your house. Be as detailed and creative as possible. Date it. Write this on paper, upload a picture to Classroom, and then HIDE IT somewhere in your house where it will stay undiscovered for at least twenty or fifty years. Try shoving it between doorway trim and the wall, under a basement stair, or under a loose floorboard. If you fold it, write a note on the outside that will make someone open it and read it. Have fun with this :) We'll share this and your interviews when I finally return, hopefully Thursday.

Upload your final draft here. Make sure you have deleted all my directions and lines and are uploading clean, professional work.

Upload a picture of today's completed notes + your own observation, question, and craft critique for what stands out to you on p. 46-48. PDF of the book is posted in G. Classroom.

Submit your observations, questions, and craft-focused critiques for the section "Waiting in Line on Saturday," from Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Upload today's notes and your own observation, question, and craft statement for p. 31-38.

Upload a picture of today's notes / your critique of the reading

Upload a picture of your "Craft Notes: Rich Dad, Poor Dad" from today's class.

You should have your own notes for Content, Craft, and Questions as well as the examples in the notes I posted. You also need a craft statement at the bottom of your notes using the sentence framework: "Kiyosaki uses (or "opens with") ___ to ____."

All late work = half credit

Right now in class, read my letter and then write or type a one-page reflection letter back to me. The more honest you are and the more detail you include, the more credit you will earn. REFLECTIONS ARE 20% OF YOUR GRADE :)

Dear Awesome Student,

You may not feel so awesome right now if your Term 1 grade in this class is low. On the other hand, you may feel great because you currently have a B or an A. Wherever you stand, the more detail you put into your letter responding to this, the more you will increase that grade.

How did Term 1 go for you in our class? If you did well - what are your personal habits that contributed to this? If you didn't do so well - what barriers were in your way? What don't you feel you have control over? How can I help? Did you take advantage of opportunities for support, like coming to my office hours, emailing for help, and doing make-up work? What DO you have control over that you can change from now on?

In terms of skills - What skills have we been focusing on in class? What do you know how to do now that you didn't before? Where are you still confused? Do you think the skills we've been focusing are important? Why or why not?

Are you looking forward to reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and learning a little about money? We will be focusing on the way the author presents his information, but along the way we'll get to talk more about some important real-world stuff.

Ideally, class will be a pretty equal mix of voices. You guys have also been utilizing the chat to weigh in on discussion, which has been great. How has your own participation been?

What questions do you have about the ELA MCAS you'll be taking in May? Did you do your Self-Assessment Letter? If not, why not?

What else can I do to help you succeed in this class? Be as specific as you can. What are your plans for after high school?

Sincerely,
Ms. T

Upload a picture of your craft analysis notes AND paragraph for Balto & Huckleberry Finn from today's class. Quiz grade.

Does Angelle make the right decision when she tells the truth in court?

Click on your team's document - Team 1 or Team 2! Make three comments on evidence. We will be finishing the debate on Thursday.

Upload a picture of your "Craft Cheat Sheet" notes you took in class and the craft statement you wrote on p. 12-17.

Submit your Content v. Craft notes + Content summary & Craft summary of the first section of Balto. (The first section ends on p. 2, "And she did. She did." Make sure your summaries use the structure I gave you in your notes.

Attach your copy of Balto with today's work here.

Good morning! The babysitter cancelled this morning. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to start the zoom meeting and then may have to send you off on your own to do work on here. I'd love to just have the baby in class, but she gets a bit jealous when I'm on the computer and starts doing things like screaming or trying to eat pens (like right now).

Due end of today's class (9:05):

- Go into your email & open the short story Balto, by T.C. Boyle. (Search: Balto - with page numbers)

- Read p. 1-7 (stop at the break: "And today--today was Wednesday")

- For each section (the large chunks of text between the breaks):
- Write a one-sentence summary in a text box on the doc
(there's a toolbar at the top - you can highlight and create text boxes!)
- Highlight one line of your choice + write 1 comment or question about that quote
- Extra credit - Why do you think Boyle flashes back and forth between the POV of Angele and her father instead of just sticking to one?

HW: Several of you have not submitted your Self-Assessment Letter or Freewrite Reflection Letter. Finish those and submit them for me!!

Text me if you need help - 860-539-4085
Ms. T

Find the best paper you wrote for a past English class. Maybe it's a paper from last year, maybe the year before. What matters is that it's the BEST example of your writing that you have. You may have to look through Google Docs for this, through your email, or through your room if you printed it out the old-fashioned way :)

Reread as if it's not your own - as if you're reading someone else's work, with a critical eye. Then, write a 2-3 page letter to me about what you notice. (Typed, double-spaced, size 12.) Assess your writing and specify what you need to focus on this year, using the format below. The questions are a guide - elaborate where it makes sense to, and don't feel confined.

Make sure to attach BOTH the paper and the letter & look over the attached rubric.

Ms. T

P.S. If you CANNOT find a past paper anywhere, write the best paragraph you can on ONE of these three questions for Ch. 4 of The Green Mile, then assess / reflect on that in your letter.
1. How does Stephen King use imagery to build tension?
2. How does the narrator feel toward these people?
3. Does Stephen King present John Coffey as more innocent or guilty? How so?
------------------------------------------------------------
Letter format:

Dear Ms. T,
(short intro explaining your overall strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and anything else you think it would be helpful for me
to know!)

Clarity
- What's the title of the paper? What's the paper's argument? Is it obvious in the first paragraph, or is it unclear even what the
argument is? Is the argument easy to follow, or does it get lost somehow? Does the conclusion sum up my ideas and make it
clear why they matter?
Creativity
- How much of this paper is my unique ideas?
Claims
- How often do I make solid claims (debatable statements) about the text, rather than summarizing it? How interesting are my
these claims?
Evidence
- How many quotes are in each body paragraph? Does this seem like enough? Have I cited all my evidence?
Analysis
- Do I analyze the author's decisions? When I quote a piece of evidence, do I just let it hang and move on? Or do I dissect it and
analyze the effect of a specific word or phrase, or piece of imagery, for example? How often do I refer to the author?

(Add some closure - how's class going for you so far? How can I best support you?)
Sincerely,
X

In a brief letter to me, reflect on the Freewrite you did in class to help me get to know you and to help build up your own personal "attic" of ideas: What cool topics emerged while you were Freewriting? Why do these topics interest you? When in your life have you encountered these issues / topics before? What questions can help you dig deeper? These questions are just a guide :)

Throughout this course, you will be stocking the attic up there in your brain with ideas, experiences, snippets of literature to pull from when you write. Once in a while you'll need to go up there, dig through things, and shake the cobwebs off. Think of this assignment like that. I'm excited to see what you find.

Ms. T