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Would you like to win copies of the books talked about in class today? Put your name under the books you would like to win and then click submit.

Pre-Performance Poetry Reflection

Before you perform your poem, I want you to write about it. Each part of the assignment is worth 10 points and is to be completed in Google Classroom:

1. Type your poem out - be sure to write the title and author.
2. In a paragraph, explain what you think this poem means. Why do you think the author wrote it? What sort of mood or feeling does it give?
3. In another paragraph, explain why you chose this poem. What is it about the poem that speaks to you? (And just so you know, “It was the shortest poem I could find” is not an acceptable response!)


Here is an example from a previous performance I did a few years ago:

Fish Story

by Richard Amour

Count this among my heartfelt wishes:

To hear a fish tale told by fishes

And stand among the fish who doubt

The honor of a fellow trout,

And watch the bulging of their eyes

To hear of imitation flies

And worms with rather droopy looks

Stuck through with hateful, horrid hooks,

And fishermen they fled all day from

(As big as this) and got away from.

This is a poem about a fish story, but from the fish’s point-of-view instead of the human.  Everyone seems to have a fisherman in their family who has a tale to tell of “the one that got away.”  The family members all ooh and aah when said fisherman talks about how, “I once caught a fish this big,” and in a flourish, shows with exaggerated enthusiasm, the size of the fish that he caught, though conveniently no one has seen.  Richard Armour takes that fish story cliché and turns it on its heels by giving it a different perspective – from that of the fish.  Of course, the fish doesn’t tell of the size of the human they caught, but instead the size of the one they got away from (rather than the one that got away).  So of course, the mood of this poem is very lighthearted and humorous, which is always what fish stories are, whether told by human or fish!

What speaks to me about this poem is that I have many men in my family who are fishermen (though not very good ones!) so it’s always funny to hear them talk about fishing and their good-natured ribbing of each other’s lack of talent when it comes to catching anything of substance.  My dad, grandpa (who is now passed), uncle, and brother all love to fish so fish stories abound in my family!  When all of them get together and talk about fishing, everyone always has to laugh at the bantering back and forth between them.  When the men talk about fishing, you can always guarantee that laughter will soon accompany the conversation.  So when I read this poem, I always think of the men of my family and smile because I imagine the fish who is telling this story is the one that got away from either my dad, grandpa, uncle, or brother.

Thesis statement practice

A thesis statement is a one-sentence statement that is meant to give the reader an idea of the purpose of the paper. It usually comes at the end of your introductory paragraph. 


In your journal, try a few of these thesis statement stem sentences out with your own topic.  Then choose the one you like best and turn it in to me on an index card or the handout I gave you in class. Underline the stems. Feel free to change up any of the stems to fit your topic.

1. _______ had a huge/small effect on the outcome of ___________________.

2. ____________________was/was not an important cause of ________________.

3. _________ was/was not a good leader before/during/after _________________.

4. Without _______________________, we would not have ____________.

5. ________________________ was a difficult point during __________________.

6. ________________________ was a hero of ___________________________.

7. ______________ changed between __________________ and ____________.

8. _____________________ is an important idea in ________________________.

9. ______________ needed _______________ in order to __________________.

10.________________________ has an interesting history.

11.There were several stages in the _______________ of __________________.

12.____________________ caused many problems for _____________________.

13.A huge challenge for ____________________ was ______________________.

Source:

http://www.shenet.org/middle/Libraries/msresearchguide.pdf

National Poetry Month - Memorize and Perform a Poem

For National Poetry Month, we will all be memorizing and performing a poem in front of the class. 

Requirements:
Choose your own poem
Must be from a well-known, published poet
Must be at least 10 lines long
Must be approved by Mrs. Shaum by April 20th


You will be graded on how well you do the following: 
Memorization
Vocal intonation and expression
Proper volume
Address and engage the audience


Finding the right poem
There are many poetry books in the classroom
The best Internet source for finding poems though is Poets.org
You MAY NOT choose a Shel Silverstein poem (there are so many other great poets out there! Explore and discover a new favorite!)


Ways to earn extra credit
Way #1 
If you choose a poem that is 30 or more lines
Way #2 
In addition to performing your own solo poem, work with a partner and perform a poem for two voices


Due Date:
We will be reciting our poems April 29th and 30th 
If you don’t do well on your first try, you are welcome to try it again for a better grade


Some wisdom from Mrs. Shaum
Please make sure that you choose a poem that speaks to you and that you enjoy. If you just choose the first poem you find that’s 10 lines long and you don’t find anything fun or enjoyable about it, then that will show in your performance and you won’t do well. If you find a poem you like (even if it’s over 10 lines) then that will show through in your performance

Research Notes Graphic Organizer - Example from Mrs. Shaum

Here is an example of how I would like you to fill out your research graphic organizer. You will do this for AT LEAST three pieces of information for your passion project. Remember though: if this topic is truly your passion, you will research as much as you can about it.

Resource information: author, title, webpage company, dates, etc. (Err on the side of more info, not less)	Directly Quote your research here	List main ideas using your own words	Paraphrase your research.
Website: Edutopia Author: Rebecca Alber Date: July 31, 2014 Article title: “Using Mentor Texts to Motivate and Support Writers” URL: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-mentor-text-motivate-and-support-student-writers-rebecca-alber	“If we want students to do something well, it helps to both tell them and show them what we expect. When it comes to writing assignments, we teachers will give students directions to write a convincing essay or draft a descriptive narrative followed by telling them how to earn a good grade on it. Many of us also hand out a rubric or criteria chart that tells all the expectations for the essay. But, with all that there is to cover and the time crunch, we may sacrifice showing them mentor texts, examples of good writing.”	Show and tell students how to do an assignment Teachers like to give directions and rubrics but don’t always give examples. We often forget to show students examples of good writing.	In the quest to “cover” curriculum, teachers often give students directions and hand them grading rubrics for writing assignments, but one of the things that is often missing from that equation is allowing students to examine examples of effective writing. If they don’t know what good writing looks or sounds like, then how do we expect them to write well? This is what mentor texts are for.

Plagiarism Article of the Week

1. After watching the video below, read this article.
2. Underline or highlight your confusion
3. Talk back to the text - Annotate the article with comments, questions, inferences, etc.
4. Write TWO developed paragraphs to AT LEAST three of the five prompts below. You MUST respond to the first prompt. 



Writing prompts for Article of the Week:

In TWO well-developed paragraphs (introduce your topic, use evidence from the text, don’t repeat yourself just to get in an appropriate number of sentences), respond to the FIRST prompt and AT LEAST two of the other four (i.e., you can respond to more if you wish).  So to sum up, you are responding to THREE of the five prompts.

1. After watching the video and reading the article, write a short summary of your understanding of the situation.
2. Why do you think the media is choosing to paint John Green as a hero when others who have plagiarized receive extremely harsh consequences or reactions from the public?  
3. What do you think the consequences for plagiarism should be?
4. What does this situation make you think about the policies schools enforce about plagiarism? (Anywhere from failing grades to expulsion)
5. What do you make of the author’s claim that Green didn’t apologize? Do actions speak louder than words in this case?

Revising your Caldecott Essay

Even if you received a good grade on your essay, there is always room for improvement, so I ask that everyone find a way to revise your essay.

Here are the steps you need to take to revise your essay:

1. Unsubmit your essay.
2. Review your grading sheet and comments
3. Make appropriate revisions
4. Resubmit your essay.

Most of you lost points in the referencing the Caldecott criteria. Remember: it's not enough to have an opinion; you have to back it up with relevant evidence. Most of you turned in a nice piece of writing, but when it came to actually following the directions of the assignment, you missed out.

Here are a few sentence starters that you can use to reference the criteria in your paper:

• According to...
• As it states in...
• It is written in...
• The Caldecott criteria states...
• The Caldecott committee is looking for...

And finally, as a reminder, here are the criteria again. Remember that the main criteria you will be using to judge your picture book worthy of winning are letters a through e. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Randolph Caldecott Award seeks to find "The most distinguished American picture book for children."

But just what does distinguished mean?

Distinguished: (adjective) made noticeable by excellence; having an air of distinction or dignity

In making your decision you must keep this in mind: the Caldecott is awarded for illustration, not for text. You may only consider text only if it detracts from the illustration.


Here is the Caldecott critera from the ALSC website (I re-worded some of this to help you better understand the criteria):

1. In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as illustration, committee members need to consider :
   1. Excellence of execution in the artistic technique used
   2. Excellence of interpretation of story, theme, or concept through pictures
   3. Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept;
   4. Understanding of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the pictures;
   5. Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience.
2. The only limitation to graphic form is that the form must be one which may be used in a picture book. The book cannot be dependent on other media (i.e., sound, film or computer program) for its enjoyment.
3. Each book is to be considered as a picture book. The committee is to make its decision primarily on the illustration, but other components of a book are to be considered especially when they make a book less effective as a children’s picture book. Such other components might include the written text, the overall design of the book, etc.