Ongoing Assignments

A. Language Network Book [LNB] - Students will use this book for an overview of mechanics, usage, and grammar. For each chapter, we'll take a pre-test. If they turn in an assignment for regular credit (on time!) and get a C or lower, they'll have the option of doing the more practice page, due the next day, to improve their score.

B. M.U.G. Journal  – single spiral bound notebook. All mechanics, usage, and grammar lessons from the LNB are done in this journal as a part of our M.U.G.practice. 

C. Extra-Credit Column – Twenty points extra credit can be earned in this column each quarter. These points are separate from any extra-credit points that might be given as part of an assignment. EXAMPLES –  Fiction book, nonfiction book, movie, or game reviews, ONE EACH, can earn five points per accurately completed review; see my extra-credit forms link for printable forms, details, and directions. No extra credit of any kind is allowed unless all regular assignments are complete.

A. Literary Response Journal – single spiral bound notebook. One period a week on Wednesdays is spent in independent reading. The students are expected to spend that period reading a school appropriate book, magazine, newspaper, or text of their choice for fun. Catalogues and Garfield/Calvin&Hobbes-type materials are excluded. After approximately twenty-five minutes of reading they are allowed to write in their journal. Their response must be half the page, margin to margin, without skipping lines. Responding to the prompt is optional, but responding to the selection is not. If they don’t want to respond to the prompt, they can write a sentence telling me so and then explore a thought, impression, connection, or question they are having about what they are reading. They can't just give me a plot summary, though. They must share their specific reaction to what is happening in their piece. They can also respond to earlier prompts if they’d like. They must then have at least two partners of their choice write initialed, three line minimum responses to what they have written. The lit. response journal is worth fifteen points. To earn full credit they must have their name on each page, the title and author of the piece they are reading, the prompt, their initial response, their partners’ initialed responses, and one full page of writing. After the first half-page response, any subsequent responses by the journal owner must be initialed. One point extra credit per full page, up to five pages, can be earned for each additional full page of responses for that week. This can be done with or without partners, but partners cannot write more than the owner of the lit. response journal. The lit. response journal is collected on Fridays and returned the following Wednesday. Each journal owner should write their name and the words lit. journal clearly on the front of their notebook for identification and organization purposes. The lit. journals are to be used only for this activity.

B. Root Examples – The students in my literature classes will be exposed to one hundred Greek and Latin root words, approximately one per day, from which they will create a Roots Journal. Each root word will be accompanied by four to nine derivatives with definitions. Each quarter, the students will be required to find, present, and display ten credits worth of examples derived from the current root words being studied. For example; the word photograph is derived from the Greek root word photos. A student could find an actual photograph, or the word photograph in a newspaper or magazine article, a computerized dictionary or encyclopedia, or some other similar source. They should cut out enough of the text to show the context of the example and highlight the word, or mount their example, on a note card with the root word, its definition, the derivative, and its definition. They will present this information to the class orally and display the example on our bulletin board. In general, each example is worth one point, but creativity can result in extra points. If they find a derivative that’s not on our list, they can earn an extra point. They can do only one example per day. After their presentation, I will ask a student at random to restate the example. They can use their journals to do this, but if they’re unable to correctly restate the example, they lose one of their root example credits. 

C. Extra-Credit Column – Twenty points extra credit can be earned in this column each quarter. These points are separate from any extra-credit points that might be given as part of an assignment. Extra root examples can earn one point per example (creativity bonuses still apply!)once they have completed the required ten credits total. No extra credit can be earned until all ten regular root example credits have been earned. No extra credit of any kind is allowed unless all regular assignments are complete.

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