Friday, August 29, 2014

Day 10!

Happy second Friday of the year!!

You will have some time to finish TWISTING our second set of Anne Bradstreet poems today. "In Memory Of..." and "To My Dear and Loving Husband" 

When you are done, write a brief answer to each of the following questions:

1. What is the theme of each poem? Does it reflect good Puritan values?
2. Based on what you know about the Puritans, how would they react to Bradstreet's poetry?


IF we get time after we discuss the poems, we will begin a short writing assignment. You can access the information by clicking this link! ----->Puritan RAFTS


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Day 9!

Happy rainy Thursday!

We will finish our discussion of "Upon the Burning of Our House" today! Then, we will finally get to move on to Bradstreet's next two poems "In Memory Of..." and "To My Dear and Loving Husband".

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Day 8!

Happy Wednesday!

We will take some time to finish up with "Upon the Burning of Our House"


Then, if we get time, we will TWIST through "To My Dear and Loving Husband" and "In Memory" !

After you've analyzed each, answer the following questions:

1. What is the main message of each poem?
2.Based on what you know about Puritans, how would they react to this poem? Why?

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Day 7!

Happy Tuesday!

Today we will continue to work with Bradstreet's  "Upon the Burning of Our House"

Remember to use the steps of TWIST!

T=          Title: Read the title and stop. Predict what the poem will be about.  Consider connotations of the wording.

W=       What is it about?  Paraphrase each LINE of the poem. Don’t interpret it, just tell it in your own words.

I=          Imagery: Look for any imagery (description that makes it so real you can imagine it with any of your five senses), symbolism, metaphors, similes, personification, irony, understatement, allusions, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhythm (write out the meter pattern), rhyme scheme, tone and the tone shift, poet’s attitude toward the subject, etc.


S=         Structure: Look for the tone shift, punctuation used, stanza division, changes in stanza or line length, layout of poem, or capitalized words. Discuss how these elements relate to the meaning of the poem.



T=        Theme: Look at the title again from an interpretive level.  Do you see anything new? What is the subject of the poem? Then determine what the poet is saying about each of the subjects which is your theme.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Day 6!

Happy Monday! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend!

We'll pick up where we left off on Friday. We will take a look at the research that you did on the Puritans!

Once we get through that, we will start discussing our first author, Anne Bradstreet. If we get some time, we will read her poem "Upon the Burning of Our House" . With a partner (a NEW partner), read the poem and analyze it using the steps of TWIST (see below). We will discuss the poem tomorrow in class.



TWIST Method of Poetry Analysis

T=          Title: Read the title and stop. Predict what the poem will be about.  Consider connotations of the wording.

W=       What is it about?  Paraphrase each LINE of the poem. Don’t interpret it, just tell it in your own words.

I=          Imagery: Look for any imagery (description that makes it so real you can imagine it with any of your five senses), symbolism, metaphors, similes, personification, irony, understatement, allusions, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhythm (write out the meter pattern), rhyme scheme, tone and the tone shift, poet’s attitude toward the subject, etc.


S=         Structure: Look for the tone shift, punctuation used, stanza division, changes in stanza or line length, layout of poem, or capitalized words. Discuss how these elements relate to the meaning of the poem.



T=        Theme: Look at the title again from an interpretive level.  Do you see anything new? What is the subject of the poem? Then determine what the poet is saying about each of the subjects which is your theme.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Day 5!

Remember on Monday when you thought this day would never come?! Well it's finally here; it's finally Friday!

Today, we will finish up with any remaining #wordcrimes presentations (winners will be selected within the next week).

After that, we will get to work on our Puritan Research Questions. If we have extra time, we will discuss what you found regarding these early Americans.

Then, I will give you a two day break! You're welcome.

Also, check out our writing goals in this sweet Wordle!
  Wordle: Writing Goals- English III

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Day 4.

It's THURSDAY!!!! We are going to make it!

We'll finish up with our #wordcrimes poster presentations today! Remember to be taking good notes on these words, so you are prepared should you ever have to take a quiz over these.....................

Once we are done with that, we will move on to our very first unit- the Puritans! (Can I get a whoop whoop?!)

With one partner, you will have some time to answer these research questions. Use the text books in class, your computers, and any other resources you choose. Don't be lazy, though, look further than Wikipedia!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Day 3!

Happy Wednesday! You're almost through your first week!

Today, we will spend some more time working with our word crimes! I will give you plenty of time to make your posters look as awesome as possible. Be sure that you include a mix of images and words on your posters! Someone from another class should be able to look at your images and understand when to use each word.


All three classes are creating posters for the same words, so your group will be competing to get your poster on the #wordcrimes board. The groups who make the board will earn an awesome prize!

Once your posters are completed, we will present them to the class.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Day 2!

Happy Tuesday!

Can you believe you made it through the first day of school alive? I sure can't!

Okay, so today, we are going to start working on our building goal of improving our writing skills. To begin with, we will take a look at your semester essays from last year. You will first read through what you wrote and the comments that Mrs. J made. Then, you will reflect on your writing using the reflection/ goal setting sheet that I will give you.

Once we are all done with that, we will get into groups and begin working on #wordcrimes. We will watch Weird Al's sweet video, and then divide our words up into groups.

Here are our word crimes groupings:


  1. less vs fewer
  2. it's vs its
  3. good vs well
  4. figurative vs literal
  5. who's vs whose
  6. your vs you're 
  7. their, there, they're
  8. to, two, too
  9. woman vs women
  10. all ready vs already
  11. buy, bye, by
  12. lose vs loose
  13. who vs whom
  14. affect vs effect
  15. have vs of


Monday, August 18, 2014

DAY. 1.

Welcome back to school! I can't believe summer is OVER. I hope you had a great vacation and that you are stoked to be back.

Today, we will spend some time getting to know each other, and will go over the basics of life in Mrs. Gulley's room. It's going to be so exciting!

Yay for school!