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Homework for Thursday, 11/30: Create a comic strip depicting an important scene from your book. The scene should be something that absolutely could not be left out of the book, such as an important event or person in your subject’s life.

You must have at least ten “boxes” for the comic and a caption or clear dialogue for each box.

You may use poster board, or regular sized paper. You may create a comic book, if you choose. You may use the computer or just draw.

When presenting to the class, you may either read your work aloud, or pass it around to let other students see your work, but you must explain why your chosen scene is important.

For Tuesday, 12/5: Read the suggestions and advice on pages 97-100. Bring your responses to the questions AND your draft to class on 12/5.

Okay, so it looks like we’ll have a very large December issue.  We’ll meet this Friday, 12/1, for a fresh round of assignments.

Homework for Tuesday, 11/28: Do the writing activities on pages 89-97.  Research, interview, and observe while taking notes that you’ll use for your Profile draft.

For Monday: Read three columns by the same writer.  Write a 300 word critique of their work.  What do they write about? What do you like about it?  What don’t you like about it?  Here’s a link to the work of over 700 columnists.

Homework for Tuesday: Write a narrative essay in the form of a column.  Follow the directions on pages 52-54 in Short Takes.

1. Complete writing activities for 66-70 (in class) & 71-74 (for homework) in Short Takes.
2. Do vocabulary, unit 4.

1. Do pages 73-79 in Concise Guide to Writing. Read the essay, “The Edison Café” and do the writing activities that follow.
2. Do the writing activities on pp. 80-87 in Concise Guide to Writing.
3. We complete pp. 67-73 in class.  If you weren’t here, do the writing activities for the profile essay, “I’m not leaving until I eat this thing.”

Dear Parents,

Unfortunately I will be out of town during Parent-Teacher conferences this year; I’m presenting two workshops at the National Writing Project conference in Nashville, TN. Here’s some information about what I’m doing if you’re interested.

On Monday, your student will be bringing home their report card and a sample of their work for you to look over. Please sign the sample and have your student return it by Tuesday, November 14. If you have any questions about your student or their grade, please email me, or just add a comment to this post.

I think we’re doing some great work this year, and it’s my pleasure to be your child’s teacher. Thanks for all your support.

Chris Sloan
English teacher, media adviser

Write 2 reviews for Monday, 11/13. Here’s the Writing Reviews assignment description.

Choose one of the following books to read for 11/28.

Utopian works
Utopia, Sir Thomas More
The Republic, Plato

Distopian novels
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

A student pointed out that I didn’t put the “Shooting an Elephant” assignment on the site.  It’s here now.  Answer questions 1-7 briefly, and respond to question #8 in approximately 300 words.  Due 11/9.