4/8-11/08 8th

This week we have been working on a persuasive paper.

Organizing the Persuasive Essay

Step 1: Choose a topic
• Your topic should be an issue that has two opposing views.
• You must have an opinion on this topic.
• Consider your feelings and opinions before you write.
• Consider what evidence and examples you have.

Step 2: Determine Your Purpose
• Decide on your purpose: What will you convince the readers to believe or to do?
• Do not start writing until you have a clear purpose.
• Your purpose determines your thesis statement.

Step 3: Remember Your Audience
• The topic will tell you who the intended audience is (usually some formal group of adults: school board, administration, etc.)
• Keep this audience in mind as you write. (You don’t have to address them by name.)
• Present your arguments in a way that will impress this audience.
• Name calling and angry tirades won’t work.

Step 4: Opening Paragraph—Capture Attention
• The first sentence(s) in your essay should capture attention.
• Your attention-getter must relate to the topic in some way.
• Ways to capture attention:
1. Startling situation or statistic
2. intriguing question
3. Powerful description

Some Way NOT to Begin:
• I am going to tell you about . . .
• Once upon a time . . .
• This is an essay about . . .
• The assignment says I have to write about . . .
• My first main idea is . . .

Step 5: Opening Paragraph—Clearly State Your Thesis
• Thesis = a complete sentence that gives your opinion regarding the issue and what you think should be done.
• A good thesis is short and clear.
• The thesis is what the rest of your paper will prove.
• Example: We should get rid of the candy machines in the schools.
Step 6: Opening Paragraph—Main Points
• After stating your thesis, briefly and clearly mention your three main arguments.
• There should be no question about what you will prove in your essay.
• Example: We should get rid of the vending machines in schools. They contribute to health problems, they cause messes, and they do not earn much money for the school.

Step 7: Opening Paragraph Conclusion/Transition Statement
• At the end of your first paragraph, make a statement the either moves the reader smoothly into the next paragraph or restates your thesis in different words.
• Example: Clearly, vending machines do more harm than good.

Step 8: Second Paragraph—Topic Sentence
• Begin the second paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly states your first main point.
• Example: To begin with, vending machines in schools contribute to health problems for students.

Step 9: Second Paragraph—Specific Supporting Examples
• Support your topic sentence with specific (not general) examples and details.
• Include explanations about how your examples support the topic sentence.
• Address the opposing argument: Explain why it is wrong or why your idea is better.
• Example: Some people argue that kids will get pop and candy anyway, so there is nothing wrong with having the machines in schools, but this goes against the spirit of education. Schools are supposed to help kids stay healthy, not provide them with products that may cause them harm.

Step 10: Transitions
• At the end of the second paragraph or the beginning of the third paragraph, include a transition sentence.
• Example: Not only do vending machines contribute to health problems, but they also create other problems in our school.

Common Transition Words:
• First
• Furthermore
• Another
• Besides
• Although
• Consequently,
• Additionally,
• Next,
• In addition to
• Instead of
• Rather than
• Similarly,
• Therefore
• On the other hand,
• However,
• Finally,

Step 11: Third Paragraph Topic Sentence
• The topic sentence that clearly states your second main point should either be at the very beginning of the paragraph or immediately after your transition statement.
• Example: Vending machines create a lot of litter.

Step 12: Third Paragraph Specific Supporting Examples
• Support your topic sentence with specific (not general) examples and details.
• Include explanations about how your examples support the topic sentence.
• Address the opposing argument: Explain why it is wrong or why your idea is better.
• Example: Many people believe that litter in schools is not a problem. They say, “That’s why we have janitors!” Not only is this incredibly arrogant, but it doesn’t address the fact that the presence of vending machines makes our school look bad.

Step 13: Transition
• At the end of the third paragraph or the beginning of the fourth paragraph, include a transition sentence.
• Example: Some people might overlook the mess because they believe the vending machines bring lots of money to the school, but this is not the case.

Step 14: Fourth Paragraph—Topic Sentence
• The topic sentence that clearly states your third main point should either be at the very beginning of the paragraph or immediately after your transition statement.
• Example: Contrary to popular opinion, the vending machines do not bring in that much extra money.

Step 15: Fourth Paragraph—Specific Supporting Examples
• Support your topic sentence with specific (not general) examples and details.
• Include explanations about how your examples support the topic sentence.
• Address the opposing argument: Explain why it is wrong or why your idea is better.
• Example: The argument that the schools need the money brought in by vending machines is misleading. The amount the machines bring in is such a small part of the total school budget that the money would not be missed.

Step 16: Fourth Paragraph Conclusion Sentence
• End your fourth paragraph with a sentence that concludes your third main point.
• Example: There is no doubt that the school needs more money for programs and supplies, but there are better ways to get the money than by poisoning our students with junk food.

Step 17: Closing paragraph—Restate Your Thesis
• Begin your final paragraph with a concluding phrase and then restate your thesis.
• Don’t use the exact same wording you did in the opening paragraph.
• Example: As you can see, the disadvantages of vending machines far outweigh the advantages, and we should therefore remove them from our schools.

Common Concluding Phrases:
• In conclusion
• As you can see
• To summarize
• It is clear that
• Obviously
• For these reasons
• As I said
• Clearly

Step 18: Closing Paragraph—Restate Your Main Points
• Restate the main points in different words than you used in the opening paragraph.
• Example: Because vending machines are hazardous to students’ health and make the schools look bad, they are not worth the small amount of extra money they bring in.

Step 19: Closing Paragraph Clincher: Powerful Closing
• Conclude your paper with a powerful and memorable final sentence (“clincher”).
• You may refer back to the opening of your paper if you used a good example to capture attention.
• You may end with an intriguing question or a provocative idea.
• Leave the reader thinking!

Step 20: Avoid These Phrases:
• I am going to tell you about . . .
• This is where I talk about . . .
• In this paragraph, I will . . . .

You now have everything you need to organize an excellent essay. You just have to come up with the ideas!

4/8-11/08 9th

We've been busy with our mythology unit. We've had group presentations every day. If you missed a day, please get the notes from a friend. I will be collecting notes and journals on Tuesday.

Be sure to keep up with the reading schedule, and if you miss a quiz, be sure to arrange with me to make it up.

Have a good weekend!

4/7/08 8th

Today we watched a video about Anne Frank. Look forward to a nice big writing project starting tomorrow!

4/7/08 9th

We are going full speed ahead with our mythology/epic unit. Today we started group presentations. We had three excellent presentations about Aphrodite, Poseidon, and Artemis. Good job presenters! Get the notes from one of your buddies if you missed today.

I gave journal topics today. We will start class with five minutes for journal writing for the next several days. Your journals entries must be at least one half page to get full credit. Journals will be due Tuesday, April 15. Here are the prompts:

Odyssey Journal Questions
Name_________________________
Respond to the following journal prompts during the first five minutes of class for the next six days. You should write a minimum of a half page for each entry. Staple this paper to the top of your entries to turn in on Tuesday, April 15.

1. What are the characteristics that someone must have to be a hero?

2. Have you ever been on a journey? Here did you go? What did you do? If you have never been on a journey, where would you like to go?

3. If you were going to write an epic poem, who would you want as the hero? Why? Describe this superhero of yours.

4. Odysseus and his crew encounter various monsters on their voyage home. Have you faced “monsters” in your life? How have you dealt with them?

5. Odysseus, as the hero of The Odyssey, displays many abilities in having to deal with beings of all kinds and with various cultures. Think about the qualities Odysseus displays that help him interact with the various people he meets on his journey. Choose a quality, such as “open-mindedness,” and tell how this quality can be useful today when you are dealing with people.

6. Odysseus does not tell his men about the dangers they face with Scylla and Charybdis. Do you believe that it is best to know what is going to happen to you if it is dangerous, or would you rather face the danger without knowing about it? Why or why not?

I also gave a chart of Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes for you to study for the upcoming test on Tuesday, April 15. You'll need to see me for the chart. The format won't work right here, and it is best that you have the chart in the proper format.

Also, we will follow a strict reading schedule for The Odyssey. I will put a schedule of the quizzes in the due date column to the right.

Reading schedule:
We will be reading Part One of The Odyssey from your purple literature books during the next five days of class. Please keep up with the following reading schedule:

Date, Pages
Monday, April 7, 651-658
Tuesday, April 8, 660-665
Wednesday, April 9, 666-670
Thursday, April 10, 673-677
Friday, April 11, 678-686

We will be having a test on the group presentations about the Greek Gods, The Odyssey, and Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes on Tuesday, April 15.

We are packing it in during the next several days. I'm expecting great work from each of you.

Sorry for the break

I apologize for the break in entries. It's been a very busy week. You'll have to see me if you missed school during the past week. As a quick review:

8th graders:

We finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank on Tuesday. Wednesday we had a review for the test. Yesterday we participated in a survey sponsored by Communities that Care. Today we are taking the final test on the play. We will be watching a video about Anne Frank on Monday, then we can look forward to a writing project next week.

9th graders:

We are studying mythology. We had a introduction to mythology and the Olympians on Monday. See the PowerPoint presentation here. We also read this Greek Creation Myth:

Greek Creation Myth
In the beginning there was an empty darkness. The only thing in this void was Nyx, a bird with black wings. With the wind she laid a golden egg and for ages she sat upon this egg. Finally life began to stir in the egg and out of it rose Eros, the god of love. One half of the shell rose into the air and became the sky and the other became the Earth. Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth he named Gaia. Then Eros made them fall in love.

Uranus and Gaia had many children together and eventually they had grandchildren. Some of their children become afraid of the power of their children. Kronus, in an effort to protect himself, swallowed his children when they were still infants. However, his wife Rhea hid their youngest child. She gave him a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, thinking it was his son.

Once the child, Zeus, had reached manhood his mother instructed him on how to trick his father to give up his brothers and sisters. Once this was accomplished the children fought a mighty war against their father. After much fighting the younger generation won. With Zeus as their leader, they began to furnish Gaia with life and Uranus with stars.

Soon the Earth lacked only two things: man and animals. Zeus summoned his sons Prometheus (fore-thought) and Epimetheus (after-thought). He told them to go to Earth and create men and animals and give them each a gift.

Prometheus set to work forming men in the image of the gods and Epimetheus worked on the animals. As Epimetheus worked he gave each animal he created one of the gifts. After Epimetheus had completed his work Prometheus finally finished making men. However when he went to see what gift to give man Epimetheus shamefacedly informed him that he had foolishly used all the gifts.

Distressed, Prometheus decided he had to give man fire, even though gods were the only ones meant to have access to it. As the sun god rode out into the world the next morning Prometheus took some of the fire and brought it back to man. He taught his creation how to take care of it and then left them.

When Zeus discovered Prometheus' deed he became furious. He ordered his son to be chained to a mountain and for a vulture to peck out his liver every day till eternity. Then he began to devise a punishment for mankind. Another of his sons created a woman of great beauty, Pandora. Each of the gods gave her a gift. Zeus' present was curiosity and a box which he ordered her never to open. Then he presented her to Epimetheus as a wife.

Pandora's life with Epimetheus was happy except for her intense longing to open the box. She was convinced that because the gods and goddesses had showered so many glorious gifts upon her that this one would also be wonderful. One day when Epimetheus was gone she opened the box.

Out of the box flew all of the horrors which plague the world today - pain, sickness, envy, greed. Upon hearing Pandora's screams Epimetheus rushed home and fastened the lid shut, but all of the evils had already escaped.

Later that night they heard a voice coming from the box saying,

"Let me out. I am hope."

Pandora and Epimetheus released her and she flew out into the world to give hope to humankind.


We spent the rest of the week working on group presentations on the Olympians. Here is the assignment:

Your group will give a group presentation about the Olympian you’ve been assigned. The rest of the class will take notes on your presentation. You will be tested on all 12 Olympians presented as well as the myths each group presents, so it is important that you include all the following information in your presentation.

Olympian Name: Greek_______________ Roman__________________

1. Family background of Olympian (mother, father, sisters, brothers, etc.)

2. Physical and emotional description (remember, each Olympian had human-like qualities which became his or her strength or weakness)

3. Important milestones (progress made by your Olympian)

4. Hardships (every Olympian had some sort of struggle, this is why they were revered by the Greeks—because they could understand the human struggle)

5. Major accomplishments (what is your Olympian known for?)

6. Include a myth about your Olympian. (from Wikipedia.org—“a myth is a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form.”) You may read your myth or retell it in your own words.

7. Include visual aids in your presentation (PowerPoint, pictures, posters, videos, props, etc.)

8. Your presentation must be at least 10 minutes long

We will have a couple of library days to prepare your presentations. I will have books available for you in the library. We will present three groups a day. I will make a schedule of group presentations during class. Your presentation can be a PowerPoint presentation (I have a projector), you can make a video, you can present orally in front of the class, you can make worksheets (give me a master so I can make copies), you can act out your myth in a Greek-style play, or you can present in your own original creative way. The idea is that your group will teach the class all about your assigned Olympian. I am requiring visual aids (pictures, posters, handouts, PowerPoint, etc.). The time requirement is a minimum of 10 minutes. You may go as long as you’d like.

Remember, after we are through with the presentations, we will have a test on all 12 Olympians and the myths each group shared. That means the information you teach will be included in the test. Teach the appropriate information so you and your classmates will do well on the test.

I will be grading group presentations on content (whether or not you included all the required information), length (at least 10 minutes), and visual aids and/or handouts (get some!).