Day 1
Welcome! Please find and be in a
seat when the bell rings.
Today:
Who are we?
Class Information
Important 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
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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
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Watch Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG
4ZIJg
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
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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 5
In what ways are the advertisers of this ad trying to get a
person to buy this product?
Day 6
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Please read the worksheet
“Introduction to the Student”
Copies are at the front of the room
Day 7
Let’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 8
Answer 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
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Absent day 9
Day 10
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Copy down these notes:
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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, patchyblatchy 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 cancelled
1.
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
1.
2.
3.
“Filch hobbled across to his desk, snatched up the
envelope, and threw it into a drawer” (Rowling, Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Which words help you visualize what is happening in
this passage?
What is the mood of this passage? How are the
characters feeling? How do you know?
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
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Copy down these notes:
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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 !