"Can We Start the 'SUMMER' Over Again?? I Wasn't Ready..."

I WANT TO CHANGE "WEEKEND" TO "SUMMER"!!!!!

I know I say this every year, but...it's that time again! Time to start thinking of how I'm going to teach all my new little dumplings. (At this point in time, my rolls show I will have 203  204 students in six classes this year!!! Two of my Honors English 8 classes have 40 STUDENTS!!!!! HOW. DO. I. FIT. THE. DESKS. IN. MY. ROOM...not to mention THE. BODIES!!!!!)

A lot of things will be done the same (because, frankly, why change what has worked in the past???); but there will be some new additions.

Our Interactive Notebooks will be initially set up the same way I did last year. You can look at the pages, links to documents, and get more information HERE.

Last year, I had a lot of problems with plagiarism and cheating. This year, I'm going to add a page (notice it's printed in RED) that deals with the definition of plagiarism and cheating along with our school's consequences.

NOTE: I'm not going to link or share this page as it is tailored to our school. However, I hope it will give you some ideas of how to get the point across to your students. (I tell them over and over again...this is THE. WORST. PART. OF. MY. JOB!! I HATE dealing with this!!!)

More later...

First days of Interactive Notebooks

This week has been GREAT so far! Every student has started their Interactive Notebooks and are doing well at saying caught up. For my own documentation, as well as suggestions for others, I am uploading pictures for each of the pages we've completed so far.

This year, we are using the "cheap" spiral notebooks, found at WalMart, Target, Office Max, Staples, etc. for 17 cents (on the Back-to-School sales), I purchased twenty five extra notebooks for those students who weren't able to have them the day we started entries. By the end of the day, I had given away ALL of them! I asked those students to try to get one and then just give it to me to replace the one I provided. So far, about one-fourth of them have done that; I figure a 17 cent loss is affordable. (Plus, our office ladies had purchased some and were able to help reimburse my stash for future students.)

NOTE TO THOSE WHO HAVE USED MY DOCUMENTS BEFORE...I've had to re-size them to make them fit in these smaller notebooks. I'll try to upload the new sizes but if I forget, you'll have to make sure you do that if you are moving to the cheaper, smaller ones.

PAGES 1-3: The first three pages of the notebooks will be designated the TABLE OF CONTENTS. Each time they create a page, they will enter the title and the page number on this page.

PAGE 4: As I did last year, I will be giving them "Doodle Pages" to color when they have all their other work finished. I found these at DOODLE-ART-ALLEY and just re-sized them to fit the notebooks. (I will not be posting links to these pages...it's easy for anyone to do using their own quotes.) 

PAGE 5: I want my kids to start setting goals for this class. We have an Advisory period this year where they will be setting academic goals so I want the ones they put in their Interactive Notebooks to be focused specifically on English. I honestly can't remember where I found this format idea but I did redo it to fit in my notebooks using a table in Word. I had them fill out the top three boxes and then will revisit this page later in the term to check their progress and revise it, if necessary. CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF. 

PAGE 6: This is a reference page for formatting documents on the computer. I have used this format (MLA standards) for years and still have students coming back saying they use it in high school! Love that!! CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF FILE.

PAGE 7: This page is probably the most used page in the entire notebook! I am adamant on them putting their "MLA HEADING" on every paper they submit to me. The first few assignments include a grade for proper formatting to make sure they do this correctly. I've had a few parents upset that their student lost points on an assignment because it wasn't "perfect" but when I explain to rational behind it...that it is a standard adopted by our school and one they will use in high school and many of their college classes...they understand. This year, I let them use some of my beloved Post-It notes instead of tracing cards I'd cut for the different sizes and then made them color them to look like Post-Its. I made a really big deal about it being a "step in my recovery program for Post-It addiction." They thought that was pretty funny. ;) 

PAGE 8: This summer, I attended the USOE Utah Standards Academy. We were taught several strategies for doing CLOSE Readings (more on that later...), different ways to take notes, and how to do an "OPTIC Analysis" which is used for analyzing visual pieces like paintings, graphics, cartoons, etc. I've never done this with my kids before simply because I didn't know how. We did this yesterday and I LOVED IT!!!!!! I used this page as their reference and then had them do the assignment on a separate sheet of paper. We went through it step-by-step using Norman Rockwell's painting "The Holdout." It was FABULOUS!!!!!!! I highly recommend adding this to your curriculum as a really fun activity that everyone enjoys! (I figured it fit the Common Core Standard SL8.2 for my 8th graders and SL.9-10.2 & 3 for 9th graders. While there's nothing "fallacious" in this picture, it gets them started with the idea of how to "evaluate information presented in diverse media." CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF.

PAGE 9: Each week, we will be doing "MUGShot Monday" using Laura Randazzo's FABULOUS "FULL YEAR of English Class Vocabulary, Grammar, and Literary Terms, Devices" available on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm so excited about using this package with my own little tweaks to it. This morning (we did them on Friday this week since Monday is a holiday and I don't want to get behind...), I had them glue this Proofreading Marks page into their notebooks. Then I put the MUGShot up on the projector (she has it as a PowerPoint) for them to work on. They came in and started cutting out this page before the tardy bell even rang! It was AWESOME!!! I can't wait to do more! :)  CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF. (NOTE: I already had this one as a PDF...I just printed it and then reduced it to fit on the notebook page.)

That gets me caught up through Bell Work on Friday. I'm excited at how well things are going so far, and really hope it will continue! :)

Quotations, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and MLA source formatting

UPDATE 5/13/2015: I APOLOGIZE TO ALL WHO HAVE REQUESTED COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS FOR THIS POST. I HAVE NOW UPLOADED THE DOCUMENTS FOR YOU TO HAVE FOR YOUR OWN USE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PATIENCE!! :) 

THE DOCUMENTS ARE UPLOADED AT THE END OF THE POST.

It's my least favorite time of the curriculum...research. I personally don't mind doing research but trying to teach the process to students is so time-consuming and tedious. But, with the new Common Core focus on argumentative writing, we have got to focus on it more. Plus, it's a skill they will use in all the years of schooling that follow.

I'm all about making the Interactive Notebook pages creative which makes them more likely to be used. I also firmly believe that the more modalities you have students use when learning something, the more likely they are to remember it. So, I've pulled out the colored pencils and markers and encouraged them to have fun designing the pages.

NOTE: Our district has adopted MLA formatting as the standard for all classes. Everything I post on this subject will be in accordance with the latest MLA standards.

I started with a reminder of what is considered FICTION versus NON-FICTION:

I reviewed our school's plagiarism policy to remind them of the consequences here as well as explained the consequences if caught in college/university. I stress this over, and over, and OVER again throughout the year! (The most hateful part of my job involves cheating and/or plagiarism!!)

Then we created a page for using quotations in an essay:

The next day, we discussed paraphrasing: 

and summarizing:

I then showed them the Incredible Shrinking Notes concept of taking a piece of material, taking notes on it in the top box, deleting the lesser important items for the middle box, and then 2-3 MOST IMPORTANT statements in the smallest box. It helps give them a visual of how to pick out the most important information. I also stress using bulleted lists with sentence fragments when taking notes. This helps with making sure they aren't copying information word-for-word which leads to plagiarism.

Then we created a reference page for "MLA Format for Parentetical Documentation." This is hard for them to grasp so having a resource to refer back to always helps.

The following two pages are the basic types of sources they will be using as they research and how to create the Works Cited page. My own daughters, who are in college, still refer to this as a guide for Works Cited pages. I update it as MLA standards change. 

Then, we practiced as a group how to cite an article they had summarized the other day. I had them walk me through the citation but made corrections as needed. Next week, they will create a Works Cited page from a variety of sources I provide. It takes time but it really helps them get the hang of it.

NOTE: THE NOTES ON THE TOP OF EACH NOTEBOOK PAGE ARE ON PAGE 1 OF THE QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING PAGE. YOU CAN EITHER PRINT THIS OFF FOR THEM TO GLUE IN TO THEIR INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS OR HAVE THEM WRITE IT. I PREFER TO HAVE THEM WRITE IT BECAUSE THEY'RE USING MORE MODALITIES SO IT GETS INTO THEIR BRAINS BETTER. (AT LEAST I HOPE IT DOES...)

QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING

MLA FORMAT FOR PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

WORKS CITED FORMAT GUIDE

MLA Format

Our English department teaches the MLA format for written and computer-generated documents. I wanted them to have a resource for this format so I don't have to tell them every single time we do an assignment! So...page 9 becomes that visual.

I have an obsession with Post-it notes! (My daughter thinks I should be admitted to a rehab center of some sort!) So, mine has Post-it notes I cut down to the desired size and stuck in my example. I had the kids pretend they had Post-its (some actually had some in their binders...) and write the important information.

Don't forget to date the day it's done, title it, and put it in the Table of Contents.

NOTE: I found this as an "Anchor Chart" on Pintrest. Not positive where I got it but I sure loved it! Thank you Pintrest!! :)