Today in Class

Today, in all classes, we practiced using MEETS to find evidence.

M--money
E--effort and education
E--effects at home and globally
T--time
S--safety

If you consider all these timeless concerns, you'll have some pretty convincing support for your argument.  Check out this example:

For the thesis "Students should drink more water" ----

M--(money)-- Water is cheap.  Compared to juices or sodas, it's a big money-saver.

E--(effort/ed)-- Water helps me stay focused to learn.  Dehydrated people get headaches.  Plus, it's easy.  Just walk to the faucet or filter some with a carbon filter. 

E--(effects)-- If students drank more water, we would have a healthy world:  more efficient workers, less tooth decay, and less obesity. 

T--(time)-- Water drinkers live longer lives; they spend more time outside.  Starting a water drinking habit can impact every area of someone's life.  People who feel healthier, act healthier, and live longer.

S--(safety)--People don't have water allergies.  Especially if you use a filter, water is the safest, most natural drink there is.  You're made of it!

Tomorrow, we'll brainstorm and see what evidence you can gather for your own persuasive essay.

A Note to Those Following

Hey All,

If you're following the blog regularly, I'm really glad!  I wanted to post a note that the County's filter is now blocking the blog site as inapropriate, so it's a little harder for me to update.

Today in Class

From now on, click your class level in the "Labels" heading to see what your class did.  If you're in the on-level class, click 8th ELA. If you're in the Advanced class, click TAG.

Today in class, we practiced identifying the "naysayers" in persuasive writing.  Even though persuasive writing isn't exactly like a debate, where you have your opponent sitting physically across from you, it kind of is!  Only in a persuasive essay, your opponent doesn't identify himself, you must identify him.  Sometimes, the hardest part of writing a good argument is figuring out who the disagree-ers are.

Who would disagree with the

Dear Mom, I want to drive a new BMW when I turn 16    ?


How about the

Middle school students should not have a curfew     ?


After we practiced identifying all the possible opponents, we began writing our first persuasive essay together.  We'll work on that more on Monday (Checkpoints pre-test and quiz tomorrow).

Today in class

Today in class, we finished reading The Treasure of Lemon Brown and had a discussion and mini-activity about characterization.  What gives us clues about a character's character?

What a character says and does, how the author describes him or her, and how other characters react.  We can remember these things using the acronymn SADR:  Speech, Actions, Description, and Reactions of Others.

Tomorrow's quiz will be on prepositional phrases.  Make sure you know the difference between prepositions and infinitives. 

Warm-ups are due tomorrow, too.

Parent Wordle

We know what the State of Georgia wants you to know, what you want to know, and what I want you to know, but what do your parents want you to know?  Check out this Wordle. Thanks, Wordle!

Textbook Password

Username: 8thgrade7
Password: excellence

Today in Class

We had our first quiz!  Students sang "The Preposition Song" as a way of showing they'd memorized over 30 prepositions!  I was really impressed with how everyone did.

We also finished up our first mini-debates and in some classes, started reading a short story by Walter Dean Myers. 

If you ever want to read a selection from the lit book, but you don't want to carry your book home, see the link for the online textbook on the right.

Today in Class

We launched our persuasive unit.  Tomorrow, we'll continue with mini-debates and finish discussing reading expectations for the class.

Friday, we'll have a quiz and notebooks are due.

Today in Class

Today in class, we started answering the questions:

Who are we?
Who is my teacher?
What will we learn?
How will we learn it?

Please see the links in the Handouts sidebar to find any handouts you missed/misplaced.

Getting to Know You

So that we can get to know everyone in class a little more quickly, please click "Comment" and post your own version of a poem using this template. I've posted mine below as an example. I can't wait to read what you write!

Class Period/Initials________
Do not post your name or use your real name in any commenting sign-in.

Title (of poem)_______________
I will never _______________,
I will never ________________,
and I will never ______________.
I will always ______________.


A.C.

Buses
I will never forget the time green Fanta spewed on my lap in the back seat
I will never drive a school bus
and I will never understand why they're all orange . . . ish.
I will always remember my hours on the bus as life "study hall."

Welcome to a new year!

Please find your class link in the right sidebar.