In-Depth Commenting Directions

Step One: Pick a story to comment on in depth (it could be one of the ones that you read yesterday).

Step Two: Check the previous post on my blog for the assigned story you will be commenting on.

Step Three: Begin with the one you are assigned and answer these prompts for their story:

1. Overall, what is the best quality/characteristic of this story? It could be its characters, the conflict, the resolution, the description of the setting, the story arc, use of dialogue, etc. Use specific details and references to the story (quotes from the story/textual evidence) to fully explain yourself.

2. What is the story's theme? What details does the author include throughout that leads to the fully expressed theme in the end? (Give examples of how you see the theme in the beginning, middle and end of the story; if you don't, comment that you don't see examples in a section)

3. What is your personal reaction to the story? How do you feel after reading it? What do you remember? What images do you see? What did you learn about the situation/place/conflict? (You don't have to answer all of these, just write a paragraph of reflection/reaction to the story)

4. What was your favorite part of the story? Pick a line that you liked, put it into the comment box, put quotes around it, and explain what it was about it that stood out to you.

5. If the author were to make this better, they could... (finish this statement with as much specific detail as possible)

Each of your answers should be a short paragraph or so in length (this means you will be writing five answers/ five paragraphs).  You need to use proper spelling and grammar when writing your answers/critiques of your classmates' writing.  You will be picking one story to comment on and you will be randomly assigned another (this means you will write full comments on two different people's stories).  Make sure your comments, even if they are more critical, are phrased in a positive manner.  Be as specific as possible in your comments, both for your commenting grade and for the benefit of the author.

You should, to be safe, write your responses in a document (word or google doc) and then paste them into a comment on their blog.  This way, if Blogger thinks you are a robot, all of your work won't be lost.

Step Four: Do the same thing for the story you chose.

Step Five: Make sure this is done by Tuesday when you walk in to class.

You need to have your comments done by Tuesday, before class begins.

content adapted from http://bgexemplar.blogspot.com

In-Depth Commenting

Here are the pairings for commenting:

Third Block

Jake and Whitney

Carolina and Liza

Shayna and Maria

Tymber and Cassidy

Dylan and Casey

Kaylea and Tessah

Avery and Britta

Camilo and Erica

Jacob and Nick

Cody and Noah

Sam reads Breanna's

Breanna reads Genna's

Genna reads Sam's

Fourth Block

Claire and Kathryn

Katie and Mat

Paul reads Danielle's
Danielle reads Austin N's 
Austin N reads Paul's

Lilian and Mark

Jordyn P reads Kat's

Kat reads Bri's

Bri reads Jordyn P's

Alyssa reads Hallie's

Hallie reads Jordyn M's

Jordyn M reads Dakota's

Dakota reads Jared's

Jared reads Ploy's

Ploy reads Cohl's

Cohl reads Walker's

Walker reads Richard's

Richard reads Alyssa's

Gathering Perspectives

Today during class and tonight if necessary, you need to read your classmates' stories to gain more of an understanding of global perspectives.

You need to read through at least four and offer comments on them to prove that you read each one. Make it a nice comment that refers to something specific in their story.  A comment that would accomplish this would be: "I like that you made the main character a kid to show how crazy war seems to kids that young."

Tomorrow I will give you a specific story to read and specific guidelines for more in-depth comments.

Intro Quiz

Shakespeare Intro quiz: Go to this link

http://www.dukeofdefinition.com/shakeback_beg.htm

When done, copy and paste your ENTIRE quiz (answers and everything) to a google doc and share it with me.

Shakespeare Preview

Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet

Use the following sites and videos to help you answer the five questions given to you in class.  You can watch the videos as many times as needed.  Make sure your answers are complete, many answers will come from more than just one of these sources.

You may also want to add to your notes from the literature book reading if you find any more info that fits into the three categories (Time/Era/England, Shakespeare Bio, Theater/Plays).

Websites and YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_0hdTa92HM&list=PL0E6A588915AE953A 

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/william_shakespeare.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhZeaSH_IaA: folger video stop at 3:10ish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkuUADWW2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMr3sqWLqxM

Watch these either on your own or with a partner and as you watch them, answer the questions that I gave you.

Thursday's Blog Assignment

Today you need to add your classmates' blogs to your blog list that we created yesterday.  You can also take some time to personalize your blog by changing the templates, moving things around, changing colors, etc.  However, remember that your rough draft is due by the end of work time today!!

When adding blogs, you have two choices: 1) from your live blog, you click on the wrench and screwdriver crossed at the bottom of your list and that will let you edit it; 2) you go to layout from the overview dashboard, and then click on the word edit under where you have placed your blog list.

Once you are editing, you can copy and paste the blog addresses from my list (open each blog and then copy the address from the tab) or you can type the addresses in.  Remember to save the additions before you close the window; if you don't, you will have to do it all again.

Creating a Blog and Your First Post

Your job in the next few days is to create your blog and your first post will be explaining the subject and perspective you are writing about.  You can do a quick summary of what you are planning your story to be about if you'd like as well. But at the least, you need a sentence explaining your subject and perspective.

This first post should be done in the next 30 minutes or so, and throughout the rest of the block, as you are working on your draft, you should read your classmates' posts.


Making a blog is VERY easy, the most confusing part is creating the list of blogs of your fellow classmates (we'll be doing that in class).



1. Go to Google
2. At the top, click on "More" then "Blogger"
3. using your school email, create a blog.  Your URL needs to be your first name and last initial and the class (English 9). Your title needs to be your name and something creative.
4. Email your URL to me at tiffany.johnson@gk12.net
5. I will create a list of links to blogs on this page, you need to create one on your page as well.
6. You will post your first person writing on that page as well as other writing through the semester.