Making the Right Choice: February 28, 2018

Focus: How does our understanding of metaphysical conceit help us with MC?

1. Warming up with the poem's dramatic situation:

• Where are they?
• Who are they? 
• What does each one want?
• What are the conflicts?
• Where's the shift?

2. Exploring the MC stems for "The Eolian Harp": What types of questions do you see?

3. Predicting with a partner the answers to the MC stems, then working through the full MC section on your own and discussing the answers as a class

HW:
1. For TODAY: Critical reviews are due by 3:00. They must be printed with the checklist stapled to the top.

2. For tomorrow: 

• Study your Academic Vocabulary Set 6 words for a short assessment.

• Thursday will be a poetry paper/project work day in here, so bring your laptop or any materials you might need.

3. For Friday: Complete your reading assignment, syllabus, and anything else assigned by your book club.

The Metaphysical Conceit: February 27, 2018

Focus: How can vehicle and tenor help us make meaning of metaphysical conceits?

1. Warming up with a poetry exercise: Moving from abstract to concrete and using your unlikeliest comparisons to create a metaphysical conceit

2. Understanding and practicing vehicle, tenor, and meaning with metaphysical conceits

3. Reading "The Eolian Harp" with a focus on unpacking the metaphysical conceit

• What is the vehicle? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding this vehicle.

• What is the tenor? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding the tenor.

• What is the meaning of this conceit? What do we understand better or differently by seeing these two unlike things being compared?

HW:
1. For TOMORROW:

• The final draft of your critical review is due by 3:00 pm on Wednesday, Feb 28. IT MUST BE PRINTED WITH THE CHECKLIST STAPLED TO THE TOP.

2. For Thursday: 

• Study your Academic Vocabulary Set 6 words for a short assessment.

• Thursday will be a poetry paper/project work day in here, so bring your laptop or any materials you might need.

3. For Friday: Complete your reading assignment, syllabus, and anything else assigned by your book club.

Pre-Book Clubbing: February 26, 2018

Focus: What foundation do we need to establish to set up our book clubs for success?

1. Warming up with three good things and the Tuesday Night Checklist

2. Setting yourselves up for book club success:

• The shared Google folder; make sure it's shared with everyone in your group and me and has a clear, distinctive label.

• Your Manifesto (click here for a sample)

• The reading schedule (click here for bookmark)

• The syllabus schedule (click here for a sample syllabus)

• Other (reading tickets? Research? Quizzes? Snacks?)

3. Performing a slow read of your novel's first three pages: How do the first pages set up everything you need to know about your novel in terms of setting, characters, point of view, and conflicts?

HW:
1. For Wednesday:

• The final draft of your critical review is due Wednesday, Feb 28. IT MUST BE PRINTED WITH THE CHECKLIST STAPLED TO THE TOP.

• Wednesday will be a poetry paper/project work day in here, so bring your laptop or any materials you might need.

2. For Thursday: Study your Academic Vocabulary Set 6 words.

3. For Friday: Complete your reading assignment, syllabus, and anything else assigned by your book club.

Polishing the Critical Review: February 23, 2018

Focus: How can the process of peer editing and revision improve our evaluative writing skills?

1. Warming up with your new friends, words from Academic Vocabulary: Set #6 (are you trying out your new and improved vocabulary in your writing?)

• Tell us a cool story about your word. What are its roots? What's its story? How can we remember it?

• Use www.oed.com for help (Oxford English Dictionary).

2. Offering you the rubric for the Critical Review and peer editing each other's essays

3. Conferencing, revising, and playing with Writer Reviser

HW:
1. For Monday, Feb 26: Bring in a copy of your British Book Club book.

2. For Wednesday, Feb 28: The final draft of your critical review is due (printed hard copy).

3. For Thursday: If you're writing the poetry paper, bring in your laptop for some work time in class. If you have any idea of what you want to do for your project, bring in your materials.

4. Ongoing: Use your metacognitive feedback to begin drafting your essay or planning your project. Show up for the conference you signed up for.

Critical Review Style Workshop: February 22, 2018

Focus: What elements of style can we develop through the critical review essay?

1. Warming up: What does evaluative language look like, and are you sustaining it throughout your essay?

2. Offering you Style Mini Lesson #3: Sentence Variety

3. Editing our critical reviews with a focus on using concise language, active voice, and sentence variety

• Try Writing Reviser (it does some of the hard work for you).
• Log in (with your Google account).
• Launch Resource
• Create essay --> copy and paste your essay in there

HW:
1. For tomorrow: If you prefer handwritten peer feedback, then print the draft of your essay (otherwise, you can Google share it with someone tomorrow or trade laptops).

2. For Monday, Feb 26: Bring in a copy of your British Book Club book.

3. For Wednesday, Feb 28: The final draft of your critical review is due (printed hard copy).

4. Ongoing: Use your metacognitive feedback to begin drafting your essay or planning your project. Show up for the conference you signed up for.

Critical Review Structure Workshop: February 21, 2018

Focus: How can we revise and strengthen the structure for our critical reviews?

1. Warming up with Academic Vocabulary Quiz #5

2. Engaging in a quick group peer editing of a critical review thesis and structure

2. Revising your own thesis statements and structures; continuing to draft the rest of your critical review essay

HW:
1. Finish the rough draft of your critical review (2-4 pages typed, double-spaced).

2. If you have not turned in your British Book Club proposal yet, please do so.

Playing with Evaluative Language: February 20, 2018

Focus: How is evaluation different from analysis?

1. Warming up with three good things and turning in your British Book Club proposals

2. Finishing the film and discussing it using the 4A's:

• What Assumptions does the documentary hold? 

• What do you Agree with in the documentary?

• What do you want to Argue with in the documentary?

• What parts of the film do you want to Aspire to?

3. Experimenting with evaluative statements

• What was the film's purpose, and how well did it achieve that purpose?

• Who is the intended audience of this documentary, and do you think the film was successful in reaching / moving that audience?

• What's the purpose of a documentary in general? Did this film represent excellence in its genre?

• Is the film a complete success, or did some aspects of it keep it from being fully satisfying?

• Would you watch another film by this director? Why or why not?

3. Perusing one example of published and student critical reviews with a focus on the intro, thesis, and set up

4. Starting to outline and draft your critical reviews

HW:

1. Finish drafting at least the first page of your critical review. 

2. Look over your vocabulary words for tomorrow's brief quiz.

3. Remember to show up for your conference, and come prepared.

4. Acquire your British Book Club book; if you're ordering it, make sure you do so tonight. You need a copy in your hands no later than Monday, Feb 26.