Characters, Setting, Mood, Oh My!

Hey, Coyotes!

Thank you for another week of hard work and "creative elbow grease". As a result of your focus, we were able to analyze the various ways in which authors use "setting" to enhance the "mood" of a text. You then utilized the same strategy by incorporating "mood makers" into your RAFT personal narratives, which are coming along beautifully.  Along with enhancing your setting, you practiced "exploding" various 'big moments' in your pieces by slowing down the action and flooding those scenes with sensory details for the reader to chew on -- nice work!

By the end of the week, you appeared confident and ready to show me what you knew by taking the narrative unit quiz.  To prepare for the exam, you wrote an "on demand" creative fiction piece that utilized the concepts, strategies, skills, and vocabulary that you had learned during the prior weeks, simultaneously making you eligible to submit your piece on NPR's website as an entry in their "3-Minute Fiction" writing contest (remember to submit your piece by 9pm on Sunday).

All in all, I'd say you were "in it to win it" this week, and I thank you for your effort.  Let's carry that same energy and effort into this next week when we analyze theme, begin using our reading blogs, and place the finishing touches on our RAFTs (final due Friday).

Have a great weekend, good luck in your games/tournaments/

performances, and I hope to see you rested and refreshed Monday morning.

~Mr. Allen

Back to School!

It pleases me to welcome everyone to a new school year, and to what I anticipate to be a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging experience in English class!

Our initial Unit of Study is titled 'Everyone Has a Story', and thus far we've analyzed two short, fictional narratives ('Rules of the Game' & 'The Treasure of Lemon Brown') in which we took a closer look at the themes of 'emerging sense of independence' and 'static vs. dynamic characters'. The resulting conversations prepared us to draft two written pieces (letter to parents & a defining moment in our life) that examined the way in which these themes are reflected in our own daily experiences.

Students have impressed me with the degree of effort they've invested into our readings and conversations over the course of three weeks -- as is evident in their written pieces -- and I greatly look forward to further developing what already appear to be strong reading/writing skill foundations.

Thank you, students and parents, for a great beginning to what will surely prove to be another memorable year.

~Mr. Allen