H: Outside Reading – The Good Earth Assessment

The assessment for your outside reading The Good Earth will be Friday, November 9. Thus, you will be responsible for having completed the reading at that time. You must bring your novel with you to class on that day. You will need it for the assessment, and you will be returning it at the end of class.

H: Vocabulary 05 & Double-Entry Journals

Vocabulary 05

Below are the vocabulary words for lesson 05. You know the drill. You already have the vocabulary squares, but the link will allow you to download the document so you always will have it. It would be wise to download a copy onto your hard drive, then use it as a template for each lesson.

1. astute
2. asylum
3. atone
4. atrocity
5. atrophy
6. attrition
7. augment
8. augur
9. austere
10. authentic

Complete the vocabulary squares for Friday, November 2, which will also be the date of the quiz.

Double-Entry Journals

• Tuesday, Ocotber 30 is the due date for journal chapters 5-9.
• Monday, November 5 is the due date for journal chapters 10-12/13

H: Notes on Favorite Song Essays

Overall, these papers were fascinating insights into your personalities and tastes. Those papers that are the most successful drew direct connections between their selected song and their personal lives. That is a key element of explaining why the song is your favorite, which was essentially the assignment. Many faced expected challenges, considering that this is not a typical school English assignment. That is by design, in part to challenge your notions of what a school paper is to be  and also to begin to forge the idea that the best writing, no matter what form or genre, includes the strongest, personal feelings of the writer, whatever shape they may take. Here are my general observations:

On Conventions

• many have poor command of the comma
• lower punctuation placement within upper punctuation is often incorrect
• many include varied sentences with some degree of complexity, but lack rhythm
• too much reliance on the inappropriate or unnecessary use of second person
• too many phrases, clauses, or sentences ending with prepositions
• too many empty phrases that have no valid meaning
• poor understanding of the typography of titles

On Development

• who cares about everyone, someone, or anyone? keep the piece about you
• define broad terms as they relate to your description, like “classic” or “perfect,” etcetera
• make connections to the song clearer, nothing is obvious
• the difficulty of picking a favorite is not interesting
• need for greater creativity in phrasing and organization
• lack of real personal power that is attractive and uniquely yours
• use titles to your advantage, they can be the hook

All of you can take solace in the fac that many of these issues are common, especially at the begining of the year. Yet, once you know better you can do better, and I will give you the opportunity for that soon.