Mr. W's Blog

Now that 9th graders have worked to create a quality Grandparent Project, we will be having a “wrapping party” to wrap the stories up to give as a gift to your grandparent person. If you have extra wrapping paper you are willing to donate to our party, please bring it in. If you would like to bring “holiday refreshments” you may sign up for that as well. Good job, 9th graders. You have done some great work. Now it is time to celebrate!

I’d also like to give a shoutout to Mrs. Simpson at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. Thanks for telling me about this great project you have developed!

Now that 9th graders have created a draft that focuses on a single important and interesting event in their grandparent person’s life, it is time to start revising. Your work should refelct the character of the person you interviewed. If they are sweet and kind, your work should reflect these characteristics. If they are sharp and witty, your work should reflect those traits. There are many ways of accomplishing this goal. Use the Revision Checklist to help you employ such strategies as dialogue, sensory detail, interior mononlogue, etc.

You should also meet with a peer to get some ideas for revision. Document this meeting with a CRS.

Track your changes in your word processing document and submit your work on WSD Online.

Now that 9th graders have collected stories from your grandparent person, it is time to start creating a draft. Remember that your story should focus on just ONE event in your grandparent’s life. This is not a biography or “report” about their life; it is a memoir focusing on one important and interesting event. You may need to go back and do another interview if you didn’t get enough details to create this type of work that should be between 3 and 5 pages.

It’s probably not too early to be looking at the Grandparent Project Rubric to begin revising your work. We will be peer reviewing the stories next week.

Please submit your draft on WSD Online. If you start making some revisions, make sure you turn on “track changes” so you can submit your work on WSD Online as a revision artifact.

9th graders will be doing a little bit of research to add some  historical validity to their Grandparent Projects. We will be going to the computer lab to research details about the time in which your story takes place. You will include at least one of these details in your story. You also need to cite your source in your work. (Visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/ if you need help citing your source.) Use the Scavenger Hunt Chart to record your work. Submit the spreadsheet on WSD Online.

Here are some websites I recommend for historical details:

This website gives you details of what was happening and what was popular for the last 100 years

http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html

This Utah website shows you the fads throughout the years

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourFames.cgi?tour_id=13227

This New England website helps you explore the economy in different times

http://www.economicadventure.org/index.cfm

This website will let you look at some newspapers from the past (only some of it is free)

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/DailyPerspectiveFullView.aspx

Hair and fashion sites:

http://www.hairarchives.com/private/archivesnew.htm

http://www.fashion-era.com/

Car sites:

http://www.carsplusplus.com/years/index.php

http://www.acarshow.com/car.html

http://www.shs58.org/cars/

A website dedicated to the 60’s

http://www.sixties60s.com/index.html

If you find a helpful site you can add it in a comment above. Happy researching!

9th graders will be writing a short memoir about a grandparent or other important older person in their lives. You will need to use the time you have between now and the end of Thanksgiving break to interview this person. We will then be drafting, revising, and editing the story. The story will then be given as a gift to your grandparent person. (Shhh. That part is a surprise.)

Schedule a date and time to meet with your grandparent or older individual. You may need to schedule a telephone interview if they do not live near you.

Choose a list of questions ahead of time to ask this person. Use the KW chart and upload it on Moodle to help you formulate questions. You can use some from the list I gave you in class, but make sure you have a few selected ahead of time. Don’t try to just read all of them from this list. If you lost your list, it can be found at http://www.legacyproject.org/guides/lifeintquestions.pdf.

Use the questions to start a conversation with your grandparent at the meeting–don’t just ask questions that can be answered in one word. You may need to ask follow up questions.

You need to write down what they say. You may use a video/audio recorder, but this is not neccesary.

It is best to get several stories so you have a lot to choose from, but your final piece must focus on ONE story only. THIS IS NOT A BIOGRAPHY.

Use the Grandparent Interview Rubric to give yourself a grade on the interview. This must be turned in right when you get back from break for full credit. (December 2) Points will be deducted for every day it is late.

For this week’s Wednesday Writing, listen to the song “Hello in There” by John Prine and write a one page response. You can read the lyrics at this website http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/prine-john/hello-in-there-10843.html. Upload your response on WSD Online.

9th graders are back in the routine of Wednesday Writing. Please read the short memoir One Autumn Afternoon by Willa Parks Ward. Write a one page response and submit your work on WSD Online.

This work serves as a good example of a memoir. It focuses on just one important event. The details put you at the scene and help develop the character of the writer. These are element that your Grandparent Story should reflect as well.

While I am out, 9th graders will be reading The Grandfather by Gary Soto. You will also be writing a one page response to submit on WSD Online. Have fun. Don’t forget to do your interviews over Thanksgiving Break!

As practice for the grandparent project, we conducted interviews last week. Write up the information you got from your interview into a story you can share with the class. The story should focus on just one event. Submit your work on WSD Online.