First and seventh periods had a final day of work on the memoir final draft. It is due tomorrow, along with several other documents:

First draft
Peer editing form
Second draft
Final draft
Rubric

Fourth period worked on the nonfiction form and will continue tomorrow. We’ve begun a short unit on the memoir and we will be focusing on the relationship [...]

We had a day of testing, but the upside is that the Explore test — a two-and-a-half hour, four-subject marathon test — is over. As a result, we didn’t have first or second period.
Fourth period worked on revising their Antigone analysis papers. We looked at run-on sentences, and had a bit of practice.
Homework
Fourth period:

complete run-on [...]

First and seventh periods had a great: Ms. Woods, our District Instructional Facilitator (DIF) and a former English teacher herself, came into the classroom today to model with me what peer conferencing looks like. We’ve been trying to do it for the past couple of days, but I realized that it’s something that really needs [...]

All classes are now working on composition in one form or another.
First, second, and seventh periods are working on peer revision for their first draft of their memoir. We will be finishing that up tomorrow and completing the second draft shortly. The memoir will be due the following Monday (October 5).
These periods also got the [...]

Most classes had stems tests today.
Homework
Fourth period: complete Antigone, putting the final page in your own words.

First, second, and seventh periods all worked in pairs on revising their memoirs, using the Memoir Assessment tool.
Tomorrow, first, second, and seventh periods have the test on stems list 21.
Fourth period is almost done with Antigone. We’ll finish up tomorrow. The day closed for English I students with a quick review of prepositions. The easiest [...]

After completing the starter, first, fourth, and seventh periods went to the library to learn about the new Junior Book Award nominees for the year.
In order to qualify to vote, students must read three of the twenty books nominated. For those who complete these books, extra credit will be available.
Fourth period continued with Antigone. I [...]

First, second, and seventh periods began working on memoir revision. We used the memoir peer revision graphic organizer to begin working with a partner to improve our writing.
Fourth period continued with Antigone.
Homework

First, second, and seventh periods: none.
Fourth period: outline two examples of how Antigone illustrates the four basic premises of sociology that we looked at [...]

First, second, and fourth periods added one more element to on-going memoir assignment: specific verbs.
Specific verbs (also called “action verbs”) add vitality to writing.  They not only tell what’s going on but also give indications of how.
“Walk” is a boring verb. It could be used to describe any number of movements. “Shuffled” is a specific [...]

First, second, and seventh periods all began their outlines for their memoirs.
Fourth period continued preparing Antigone. We also had a quick review for tomorrow’s test on nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.
Homework

First, second, and seventh periods: complete outline.
Fourth period: study for parts of speech

First, second, and seventh periods finished up working with specific nouns. We used a couple of examples to see the importance of and practice using specific nouns.
Fourth period continued with Antigone.
We also added a new point to the comprehension tips list we’re making. (I added one more to the list that we didn’t go over [...]

First and seventh continued working on improving our use of specific nouns. Second period worked on the same thing, but then, having some extra time, we returned to sensory details to look at how to include them without being so direct: “I smell,” or “I hear.”
Fourth period continued working on Antigone. We began by creating [...]

First, second, and seventh period began working on stems list 21. We looked at the individual stems and how they relate to the words. We will be having a quiz on the first ten words on Friday; the test on all words will be the following Friday.
Afterward, we discussed the important of specific nouns in [...]

Second period (English I) went over the material from the first half of our parts of speech review (nouns, pronouns, and adjectives). We began reading Antigone.
First and seventh periods worked on sensory language a little more. We’ll start applying that to our memoirs on Monday.
Second period didn’t have class due to the magazine sales fund [...]

We added some examples of sensory language from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For one passage, I showed instead of telling:
I looked around the room that I had never in my wildest fantasies imagined I would see. Browned photographs leered or threatened from the walls.

I took some pictures while students worked, [...]