English 8 and creative writing students began their initial formative assessment, a writing assignment designed to give me information about students’ understanding of and comfort with the writing process. The topic for the English 8 students is:

Write a personal writing history.

• What has been your experience with writing?
• From whom have you received positive feedback that encouraged you?
• Do you feel confident as a writer? Why or why not?

First period working on the starter and providing an excellent example of how to begin class

Fifth period working on the assessment, showing what true focus is

Creative writing students choose their own topics (in keeping with it being a creative writing class).

English I Honors students continued with the Schaffer model introduction, examining some more paragraphs and writing one as a group:

It’s not a good idea to procrastinate because it can lead to a bad grade. To begin with, you’ll have to do it at the last minute. You won’t have as much time to think, and the rush will stress you. Stress slows your thinking process. As a result of this last minute work, you’ll have sloppy work from rushing. It won’t just be a question of sloppy handwriting; your thinking will be sloppy from the stress as well. If the teacher can’t follow your sloppy thinking, you can’t get full credit. Therefore, if you procrastinate, it will show in your grade.

Tomorrow we’ll begin having students write them in groups and finally individually.

Homework

• English I Honors: 
  • plan a TS for a paragraph about how crowded the school hallways are this year;
  • complete the benchmark test at the Moodle site by Monday.