Argumentative Writing Unit

Hello Students and Parents,
     It was nice to meet with many of you for Conferences.  I hope you all had a restful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.  We are finishing up our short story unit with a final chance to edit our own short stories on Monday, Nov. 27. Then we will have three weeks until Winter break to complete our argumentative writing unit.
     We will be looking at several articles each week which present two-sided issues.  Our task will be to take a side and present our claim using evidence and support.  We will continue to write our ideas in our journals and then revise and edit our writing at both the classroom level and with peers.   Argumentative writing is a skill that will be useful in all aspects of the world of work where employees generally work in teams.  We will learn how to present our ideas with evidence and support in order to make a difference it our world.
     Don't forget that your Book Talk is due on Dec. 4.  You have three options for presenting your outside reading novel.  Please look at the upper right side bar as a reminder of the options.  You will want to be working on this as homework to be turned in hard copy at the time of your presentation.

Go to Kansas - There Will Be Soft Rains

Go to Kansas

Current day news item relating to "There Will Come Soft Rains"

Learning Community: Speaking and Listening Skills

Hello Sophomores:
One of the most important skills you will learn and practice in high school is communication through speaking in front of and listening to your peers.  In order to practice this in class, we must agree upon some norms:

NORMS for Participation in the Classroom

Here are my suggestions, originated from my observation of classrooms that have modeled this skill at a high level.

When someone else is speaking (front of the classroom/acknowledged at desk), the rest of us will:

• LISTEN - note how LISTEN has the same letters as SILENT
• L - LOOK at speaker - LOOK interested
• I - INVOLVE self by getting INFORMED
• S - SIT UP - STAY FOCUSED - offer SAFE environment
• T - TEST understanding - jot questions
• E - EVALUTE message - jot summaries
• N - NOD - please refrain from cheers,  jeers, claps, snaps, taps - other noise makers
• PARTICIPATION POINTS - 5 per discussion
• Speaking 2
• Listening 2 and Respect 1
• ACADEMIC CONVERSATION Guidelines to be discussed and practiced soon, i.e., How do we respectfully AGREE-DISAGREE-ADD-CLARIFY-QUESTION-SUMMARIZE ?                                                                                 

August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

Revision and Editing Checklist for Your Writing Pleasure

Revision and Editing Checklist

First Six Weeks Completed

Hello Students,
I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and that you are ready to dig in to our next unit, a short story unit. We will be reading several stories in your Blue Lit Book.  To begin we will listen to a thriller by Edgar Allen Poe - The Pit and the Pendulum.  You will want to share this story with your families, a tale that is certainly appropriate for this time of year with Halloween and The Day of the Dead approaching.

Be sure to use this BLOG to review lessons, to access make up work and journal entries if you miss  (see right hand side bar) and to find extension activities, GOOGLE CLASSROOM codes and other year long documents (left hand side bar). 

Congratulations on a successful first six weeks.

Mrs. Rands

Journal Entries 6-10

Hello Sophomores,
I have been enjoying my conferences with you although the not so quiet/silent reading of your peers has been an obstacle to my efficiency.  Please remember to be considerate,and to respect and honor the time of your classmates.  If you are all done with your work and don't have an outside book to read, please find a different academic endeavor that doesn't involve verbal exchanges with your friends.

If you missed the quiz on Monday, make it up by writing me a one paragraph summary of chapter 8.  It should be 5-7 sentences in length. Use your best penmanship, please.

These are the journal entries you should have for #6-#10.  If you are missing something, see the journal entries listed and itemized on the right hand lower side bar.

#6 - dialectical journal for chapter 4
#7 - nine questions to answer for chapter 5
#8 - three questions that you create for your peers from chapter 6 - have someone answer them for you as well.
#9 - summarize chapter 7 in one paragraph to equal 6-7 sentences
#10 - find evidence of events that lead to a death on the island.  Include at least one example for each of the following characters - what they do, say, or think.  Maybe how they look as well.
Simon
Ralph
Piggy
Jack
Note the weather.  How does it foreshadow the major event at the end of the chapter?

Individual Conferencing now until end of 6 weeks

I am finally getting to know your names for the most part.  I am looking forward to getting to know you even better through conferencing which I am starting this week.
I will be visiting with 6 students during class time on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the end of the 6 weeks. We will visit  one on one for about 5 minutes each.  Please bring:

• Your journal to check off items 1-5

1. Thought for the Day
2. Background notes on LOTF
3. Leadership: Three Important Characteristics
4. Evidence of Leadership in LOTF (sticky notes or notes from presentations)
5. Clock appointments - questions from chp 2 LOTF

• Syllabus Signed Sheet if I don't have it yet
• Reading rate for LOTF (20 min without music - do it on your own and report if necessary)
• Words to learn for LOTF chapters 1-3
• What are you reading outside of class?

WOW. That is a lot to learn in five minutes but we can do it.

Join vocabulary.com NEW Link for periods 3 and 4!

Join Vocabulary.com to strengthen your vocabulary skills.  You will need to know the vocabulary listed for Lord of the Flies - chapters 1-3 by the end of September.  Join our class.  You can set up your own list of words and test yourself through activities and games. Remember: Words are Power!

ELA Sophomore Classes WSHS Rands

Period 1:           http://vocab.com/join/2AVQWPQ

Period 3            http://vocab.com/join/YPQKFV

Period 4            http://vocab.com/join/1HCCE72

Visit the URL above and your will get an account.  It is free!

Routines in Place

Week 2 Sept 11-15 Routine in place

I think we are in a routine of sorts now.  We finished listening to chapter one Lord of the Flies.  You practiced some ways to gather evidence based on a prompt which will lead to a piece of writing to show your understanding of a theme.  You gathered evidence to show the leadership qualities of each Ralph, Piggy and Jack.  Your work entailed journal writes #3 and #4.  You will now use this evidence and other ideas from the text to write 3 paragraphs on Monday.  You will be turning this short composition in to help me assess your writing skills and needs.

For week three, we will need to cover chapters 2-3-4.  That means you will be reading a bit on your own.  I will have some questions for you to answer to guide your reading.  Please bring your outside reading books with you every day as well.  You will need to read at least 30 minutes a day to complete your book by Oct 14 and write me a letter convincing me to read your book.  Please don't tell me the ending!  Your letter assignment is detailed under Inter-Textual Connections in the left hand menu bar.

First Week Reflection

Hello Sophomores,
You made it through the first week.  You make up three large, energetic classes.  I know that energy will propel you to read with passion and write with heart & vigor.  We accomplished a lot the first week by just getting to know each other, and learning the routine of West with the many guidelines for safety and academic success.  Everyone has class texts now.  That is an accomplishment, too.  Just be careful of that load you will be carrying around on your backs.

We did a little writing in your journal to break it in and get you in the habit.  I will be checking journals once a month or so in journal groups so that you all have a chance to read your work to one another and I can easily give you a grade. Generally, I will grade five entries at a time worth five points per entry or 25 pt for the check in.

Our first Journal entry was based on a Thought for the Day (author unknown).  It gave us some food for thought in starting the new academic year.  If you missed the chance to write in your journal, choose a line and elaborate  (See sidebar to the right - Assignments and Due Dates - Journal Entry 1:

Write a paragraph to include the lifted line with some elaboration plus at least 3 sentences to develop the thought. Use examples such as experiences from your life or others, or from books, movies and other media. Or just explain your idea with concrete details.

State a conclusion that ties it all together. 

(The lines to choose from are under Assignments and Due Dates: Journal Entry #1 in the right hand side bar.)

Have a nice weekend!   Mrs. Rands

Bring Lord of the Flies along with your journal, tape, pens, pencils, and syllabus signed - for Monday.  (And I still need your name cards!)

Welcome to Mrs. Rands's ELA 10 Class BLOG!

Friday, August 25, 2017

Hello Titan Sophomores!
Welcome to West Salem High School and English Language Arts 10.  This course is designed to improve your literacy skills to include reading, writing, listening, speaking AND most importantly, thinking.