Overview 5/5 and Assignment for 5/12

Students were given a packet with a final checklist for their journals and information on how to write a review. Today students worked on their checklists/review of their favorite book they read this Spring. The link to that is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r1GnY_ESqyxq78fM8WDE-EPd7Pz2bwaG/view?usp=sharing

Journals are collected next week. Reviews are also due next week. They should be typed and printed or sent via email.

Email me with questions.

Overview from 4/28 and Assignment for 5/5

Make sure you copy the notes and complete the assignment for next week.

Overview from 4/21 and Assignment for 4/28

If you missed class, please take the notes on the following slide. Also, take note of your assignment on the last slide.

Click here for a sample of the book trailers I mentioned for the final project.

Overview of 4/14 and Assignment for 4/21

Today I did NOT collect the journals, but students were supposed to have ONE free entry and ONE signpost entry done for today that they completed over break. These will still be read and graded at a later date, but the journals do not need to be checked EACH week now that students are on the right track with what they should look like.

I reminded students that their last book needs to be finished by our last class on 5/12. I am thinking about a final project that will be presented in the near future.

Here are the notes from this weeks FINAL signpost for fiction. In the coming weeks we will be covering the nonfiction signposts before wrapping up the semester. If you were absent today, take these notes in your journal and make sure you complete the assignment that is on the slides. Students should currently be in their 3rd books.

Overview from 3/10 and Assignment for 4/14

Here are the notes from today's Signpost #5: Again and Again.

On the last slide you will see your assignments for 4/14 and your reading schedule for the rest of the Spring.

As always, please email me if you have questions or problems. Do NOT wait until 4/14 to come to me with a reason as to why you couldn't do your assignments.

fameacademy.literacy@famefund.org

Overview from 3/3 and Assignment for 3/10

Today we took a Signpost test. Students were given for excerpts to read, and they were to identify appropriate signposts, answer the anchor questions for those signposts, and make sure to address the literary elements of the signpost in their response. This was an "open note" test.

FOR NEXT WEEK:
You all should have finished your first book for this week. Since your first book is finished, your first cover page that you started should now be finished as well.

Before you write any entries for your second book, make sure that you start/leave a whole page for your second book's cover page. A cover pages needs to have the following things:
1. Title of book
2. Author
3. Genre
4. Picture for book
5. Short summary of book in your own words (have to finish book before you do this)
6. Rating for book with at least 2 reasons (have to finish book before you do this)

For next week's journal you MUST complete a signpost entry. Now that you know 4 signposts (Contrasts and Contradictions, Words of the Wiser, A-ha Moment, and Tough Questions) you should definitely be able to find at least one of those signposts early in your book. Your entry needs to be a developed journal entry. If you cannot write at least 3 paragraphs for your signpost entry, you can pick another topic to respond to for more content.

Please get in the habit of quoting pieces from your books in your journals. For example: when people are writing about the great imagery in the book, it is probably a good idea to provide examples of good imagery from the book. If you say your character is changing a lot, you need to provide examples of how they were at the start and how they are changing, etc.

If you are reading a biography/memoir, I realize that the only signpost we know that also works for nonfiction is Contrasts and Contradictions (you should be able to find those in your book early on). We will be learning more nonfiction signposts in the near future.

As always, let me know if you have any questions by emailing me at:
famacademy.literacy@famefund.org

I check my email daily around 9AM, and I try to get on a second time at some point in the evening. Do not wait until Friday night to ask me important questions that need answered before Saturday's class.

Overview from 2/24 and Assignment for 3/3

Below are the slides from the notes with your assignment for next week on the last slide. (If you were absent, you will need to write these notes in your journal BEFORE class next week. You will also need to get the additional assignment for the signpost from me when you return next Saturday.)

As always, email me with questions at;
fameacademy.literacy@famefund.org