A biopoem for Terry Fox

To learn a bit about the writing process, our class began by watching a documentary of Terry Fox.  As we viewed, we recorded our ideas of things Terry needed, wanted, loved, shared, and felt as well as character traits he demonstrated using post-it notes.  Once we finished the documentary, we worked in groups to write a draft of a biopoem about Terry Fox.  Next, we shared our drafts with the class and selected the lines and descriptive words we liked the best from each version shared.  We combined them to create a class poem, made up of the best words of the group drafts.  Even then, we still read the poem over to make many improvements.  We took some words out that we found redundant, and we switched the words around in a few sentences that didn't flow well.  Then, we added a picture, changed the font, and centered the text.  Here is our final product:

Speak Up!

A basic book review is made up of 2 parts:  a section that introduces the book and provides a brief summary, and a section that discusses/evaluates the book's strengths and weaknesses in your opinion.  It is a personal opinion piece, so it should reflect your own voice!

Writing the first paragraph:

Who is your audience?  Remember, your audience hasn't necessarily read your book. What could you tell them about the story so that your audience has a basic understanding? 

Keep your summary brief.  Only choose the most important details.

• Mention the genre of the book.
• Introduce the characters.
• Mention the setting, both time and place.
• Summarize the plot.
• Discuss the basic conflict.

Writing your evaluation of the book:
Choose to discuss two or three main points in this section and give your opinion.  Your opinion should be well supported with reasons and examples.  You should use concrete examples from the book, such as describing a scene or using a couple of short quotes. Some ideas you may wish to consider discussing could include:

• What themes did the author convey? Were they effectively conveyed? Did you agree with them? 
• Did the book appeal to you either emotionally or logically? 
• How did this book compare to other books you have read in the same genre, or other books the author has written? 
• What was the author’s style like? Did you like the author’s style? Do you like the way the author uses his/her words to tell the story?  Describe.
• Does the author do a good job of making you feel like you are there?  How?
• Did you enjoy the plot of the story?  How could it be improved? What makes it interesting?
• Are the main characters believable?  How does the author describe them or make you believe in them?
• Did you like the ending of the story?  Why or why not?

Concluding your review:

Design a clever rating system for your book and give your book a rating.  Describe who should read this story and whether you recommend it overall!  

Where could you publish your review?

Twitter Takeover 3 & 4

Would your character share this? 

http://d15ya7jlc6yy8b.cloudfront.net/paperclip/article_images/17048/images/three_column/bold_or_italic.jpg

                             or this?

http://www.dogstarnyc.com/2012/10/words-to-live-by_16.html

Twitter Takeover 2

What story are you going to tell?

• What do you love?
• What do you hate?
• What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?
• What are you good at?
• What are the four most important things to know about _______ that no one talks about?

What topic/theme are you considering using for your ignite presentation?  Why do you think this makes a good topic for an ignite talk?

Twitter Takeover

Reading "Tweets" round 2

This week's Reading Tweet assignment is an extension of our tweets from last week.  

You will once again be composing 5 tweets similar to the format of last week, including questions, comments, predictions.  But this week, you must include at least 3 of the following hashtags in your tweets in a meaningful way in addition to the hashtags from last week.

#dystopian
#bigidea
#setting
#favquote
#writingstyle
#conflict
#foreshadowing
#romance
#title
#lifelesson
#bookormovie
#keepingcontrol

Your first tweet should once again introduce your book and current page of reading:

Where'd U Go Bernadette (123) My #favquote so far "Hello, can I help you with something?  If not please step aside because I'm going to kick the **** out of life" (100)

And your subsequent quotes will include questions, comments, and/or predictions, as well as content related to the above mentioned hashtags:

!- Love how the above quote shows the chutzpah Bernadette used to have. Clearly something has changed. But what? #prediction

"If you don't create, Bernadette, you will become a menace to society" She already is! I think this is one reason for her lost chutzpah. #comment #bigidea

This book is written like a puzzle, Bee is collecting the e-mails, paperwork and personal accounts that document her mother's breakdown #writingstyle

Bernadette has outsourced a PA from India.  I think the PA becomes and important part of the plot, b/c she has access to lots of B's personal info #foreshadowing

All tweets should be posted by no later than Friday morning.  We will have time in class on Friday to respond to this week's round of tweets, so yours need to be on your blog by that point.

Need some help getting started?  Check out Ms. McLaughlin's student blog examples here.