Thursday: January 24, 2013

The Game Plan: 

• SSR
• Save the Last Word
• Lit. Circles
• Share Out
• Progress Reports

We started off with SSR then went into Assignment #66 Save the Last Word for Me in which we discussed about the passage from 1988. Then we went onto our Membership Grid Discussion: What would you bake for the person you love? After that we transitioned to Literature Circle Discussions. Last but not least, we received our progress reports.

Don't  forget to add Assignment #66- Save the Last Word for Me, Assignment #67- 1st Semester English Report and Assignment #68- LC Discussion Prep 6. 

Read your books and take down some quotes for our next discussion. 

Tuesday: January 22, 2013

Hello, South House! I hope you all had a wonderful day today. It's Tuesday, which means we only have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday until we can go back to being lazy once again! YAY! :D Anyways, let's get back to business, you poor fools.

The Game Plan: 

• SSR 
• Follow-Up Questions
• LC Discussion 
• Share Out 

First off, as always, we had SSR. Ortega gave us a mini lesson on Follow-up Questions in which she had us do Assignment #64: Asking Follow Up Questions in our notebooks with our partners. We were given a short story and had to come up with a good question that could eventually have follow-ups basically of the same concept. Then we moved right along to LC discussions. For homework be sure to attempt to read your books as well as add and complete Assignment #65 LC Discussion Prep 5 in your notebooks.



Good luck, my lovely Southerners.
Remain calm.

-Leslie L. Lopez

Thursday: January 17, 2013

Tomorrow is finally Friday! And this is the last day for my scribing.

Game Plan:

• SSR
• Asking Good Questions
• Membership Grid
• Lit Circle Discussion
• Class Share Out

Started off with SSR then Ortega gave us a mini lesson about 'Asking Good Questions.' She picked random names and had people share out some of the questions that came to mind when they read their books. 

Here were some of the questions that were asked:

• Catcher in the Rye - What was the point of Holden bringing up the ducks to the cab driver?
• Wes Moore - Do you have any connections like the one Wes Moore's grandfather had? 
• Glass Castle - Where did Rex get the money to buy groceries for the kids?

Then Ortega asked the class what type of QUALITIES those kind of questions had:

• Open ended
• Encourages deep thought
• Creates a stance
• Connects with the reader 

We then moved on to Membership Grid. The question today was: If someone bought you a yacht, what would you name it? 

Then we went into our Literature Circle discussions. 

Assignments added to the notebook: 

• A# 62 LC Disc. Prep. 4
• A# 63 Asking Good Questions 

That's pretty much it for today. Those were my scribe entries for the week! Hope you guys have a good weekend. Byeeeeeeee.

-Jessica Bustamante

Wednesday: January 16, 2013

Halfway through the week South House! 

Game Plan:

• SSR
• EPT info rubric 
• Group Scoring Practice
• Class Discussion

We started off with SSR then moved on to learning more about the EPT. (English Placement Test)

Ortega gave us a rubric about the CSU EPT and how we will be scored. The highest score you can recieve is a 6!

1. Score of 6: Superior 
2. Score of 5: Strong
3. Score of 4: Adequate
4. Score of 3: Marginal 
5. Score of 2: Very Weak
6. Score of 1: Incompetent 

After she explained the rules on how we were being scored, Ortega decided to have the class grade OTHER people's writing. Let's just say some of them weren't as amazing as others. 

Assignments added to the notebook:

• A# 60 - EPT Rubric: like I said before, the scoring guide for your EPT essay. 
• A# 61 - EPT Samples: the class looked over 6 essay samples and graded them using the EPT rubric. 

Don't forget to read your 10% for tomorrow's Lit Circle and bring in your English test scores from last year so Ortega can know if you passed or not!

-Jessica Bustamante  c:

Monday: January 14, 2013

What a day! Those sophomores had good mascots, right?! Alright, onto this. (Sorry this is so late >.<)

Game Plan:

• SSR
• LC Contract (Share Out)
• LC Discussions 

We did SSR for the first half of the class and Lit Circle for the other half. Mrs. Ortega made us share what we think makes a good Lit Circle Discussion. (Or how we can improve it.) Here are a few pointers my group members and I wrote down:

• Read your book
• Prepare for your next discussions
• Understand what you're reading or help your group members understand
• If you cannot connect to your character(s) very well, try to put yourself in their shoes and see what the situation was like in the perspective
• Be respectful! 

After we wrote these down, all our group members had to sign our notebooks to make sure we stick to these points.

Assignments we added to the notebook:

• A# 59 - LC Discussion Prep. #3: Write down any quotes/questions/or any type of conversation starter so you can be successful in keeping a good discussion in your Literature Circle. 

If you need the Lit Circle Assignment due dates: 

1. January 10th 
2. January 14th
3. January 17th
4. January 22nd
5. January 24th
6. February 4th 
7. February 7th
8. February 11th 
9. February 14th 
10. February 19th 

Well, I guess that's all for now! See you Wednesday. :D

-Jessica Bustamante

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

Well, we got through a busy day of school today, but take heart; one more day of school before the weekend! :)

Here was today's game plan:

1. Membership Grid:  (What worked/didn't)
2. Norm Brainstorm
3. LC Contract
4. LC Discussion 1

As I said, today was a busy day.  We saw all four teachers because of EQ meetings during 4th block.  With a spit schedule, unfortunately we didn't have enough time for SSR, so we went straight to work.

A# 56 is Membership Grid, which we did last time for literature circles.  This is a grid which we will fill out every time we have a literature circle discussion.  Mrs. Ortega will give us a question/topic to talk about, and we each will write down our group's answers.  Today, we discussed what worked and didn't work in our last literature circles.

We only had about 40 minutes with Mrs. Ortega today, so we skipped Norm Brainstorm.

A# 57 is LC Contract.  As homework, we are to come back with ideas for a contract to hold our the literature circle accountable.

We ended the day by talking for 15 minutes about what we read in our books.

A# 58 is LC Disc Prep 2.  The next reading assignment is Monday, January 14th.  Keep up with your reading and write down 5-7 quotes or striking words with page numbers for homework.


It was nice being your scribe for the week!  Have a great weekend!

-Lauren DeVaughn

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Another day of excitement has ended, and our first week of school in 2013 is aaaaalmost over.

Here was today's game plan:

1. SSR
2. EPT Explanation
3. Timed Writing

We started the day with the normal SSR for 20 minutes.

A#54 is LC Disc 1 Starters.  Mrs. Ortega wants us to be writing 5-7 things to share with your group for literature circle discussions.  She said that she might not check our journals for this every discussion, but you must have all of these discussion starters there when she check your notebook.  Don't procrastinate!

Then she explained the EPT Essay.  (A#55 is EPT Essay).  The EPT Essay is the Cal State version of the placement test, and Wednesdays will be dedicated to working on timed writing and reading comprehension in preparation for this test.  Last year we took the EAP (Early Assessment Program) as part of state testing.  If you passed the EAP for English, and you end up attending a Cal State, you are exempt from the Placement Exam in English.  To be sure, check with Hunzeker to make sure you don't need to apply for the Placement Exam.

For homework, we are to go home and ask our parents for state test results from 11th grade.  Bring them in.  Also, don't forget to read your LC book and write 5-7 discussion starters.

Finally, we were given a basic released EPT Essay Prompt, which usually includes directions, a quote, and a prompt.  We had 45 minutes to plan and write our essay.

Until tomorrow, that's aaaallll folks!

-Lauren DeVaughn

Monday, January 7th, 2013

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!! And welcome back to school (woooohoooo)!

Today was overall a pretty relaxed day; I think our teachers knew that we would be less than thrilled to be back at school after our two week holiday.  In English, the game plan was as follows:

1. SSR
2. Scribe Assignments
3. Book Talk
4. Literary Circle Assignments

For SSR, we read for 20 minutes as usual--nothing out of the ordinary.

Since we were running out of scribes to update this blog, Mrs. Ortega assigned scribes for the rest of January and February.

Next, for Book Talk, we began discussing the new choices for literary circle book choices.  Each group had a copy of the books, and Mrs. Ortega gave us a summary and some background for the three "coming of age" novels.  The three choices were:

• "Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger

Mrs. Ortega loved this book growing up.  It's one we are all expected to read before college, so she encouraged us to read it on our own if we didn't choose it for our lit. circle book.  It was written around 1949/1950, and the author (Salinger) died a few years ago.  Apparently, Salinger was this mean, serious guy who didn't joke around.  The main character, Holden Caulfield is a 17 year old, spoiled rich kid who runs away to New York City because he was going to get kicked out of school due to bad grades.  The book is everything that happens during his three day adventure in NYC.  Caulfield is "adolescent foolishness personified" who embarrasses you as you read his story.

• "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

This is a book that changed the way Mrs. Ortega does lit. circles!  It's about a wacky, dysfunctional family.  The parents have a bizarre placement of values and don't properly provide for the children.  This beautifully written book displays a family that is messed up, but beautiful.

• "The Other Wes Moore" by Wes Moore

Wes Moore is an academically successful student.  His success is printed in the local newspaper, and as he's reading his story, later in the same paper, he comes across information about a man with the same name as him who was tried and convicted of murder.  Wes Moore decides to write a letter to "the other Wes Moore" in prison, and he writes back.  They continue writing each other, and find that they shared the same beginnings, but then their lives took two different paths (one better and the other, not so good).

Finally, we were randomly picked to choose the books we will be reading for the next few weeks.  A#52 is our November Progress Report.  A#53 is LC Reading Assignments.

Our literary circle discussions will be held on Mondays and Thursdays.  Wednesdays are Writing Workshop days which are meant to help us with the placement exams that some of us will be taking for college.  During these Writing Workshop days we will be working on timed writing and reading comprehension.

We ended the day by writing down the page numbers our groups decided on for reading our lit. circle books.

Until next time! :)

-Lauren DeVaughn