Language+Arts

Do You Need Help? **Time to Do Some Projects **

For this assignment, We will explore someone you know better than anyone else, yourself. You will begin this assignment by writing an "I Am" poem detailing all of the special things about you that you would like to share with the world. Once we have gone over your rough draft, you will start collecting images of your thoughts about yourself. You will use the images you find to create a digital story about yourself to upload to our class wiki page and share with all of my students and the rest of the world. Consider it your first internationally published work of art. Do not worry, if you need help, you can work with a partner or ask me for assistance. For beginning tech students, Hello Slide is an easy way to use Power Point(which most students are familiar with) to get you going.  Student Poems:

Mr. Stahlheber's I Am Poem Examples

Miss Roe's 7th Grade Language Class

Smith's Ninth Grade  Blog

To see more student poem examples and some of my former Student's Digital Stories, check this out! __What are paragraphs__?
 * Use this pdf file to help you write your paragraph for this assignment. **[[file:How to Write a Paragraph.pdf]]

For this project, use this link to write your first paragraph. For your second paragraph, explain what affect the paragraphs in this link had on the way the writing sounded. What would the written language be like if there were no adjectives or pronouns?

__Now Create a Business Letter __

Here is an example of what a lettercould look like.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 39px; text-align: center;">Now it is time for you to write your first paper! <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 26px;">The **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 26px;">MONSTER ** <span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 26px;">essay <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Think of the types of monsters that you know from literature, comics, cartoons, and trading-card games. Then generate a list of descriptive words and phrases to describe them. Using that list of idea, begin brainstorming an idea for an original monster of your own design. Be as creative and imaginative as possible. Make the monster yours. Think of exactly how it will look, smell, act, and even taste. Think about where it lives and what that is like. How does it attack or defend itself. What does it do when confronted with people or other monsters? How does it make more monsters? Once you get a good idea of your monster (you can use this link to get some ideas), use this template to create a monster trading card. Here is an example. Try using "powerful," vivid language to describe your creature. Use descriptive imagery and word choice and combine that with visual elements to make a monster never before imagined. Then describe your monster fully in 5 paragraph essay. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Now move on to your outline. An outline helps you put everything in its correct place. Once you brainstorm and figure out what your monster will be, fill out this form to help you build your outline. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 39px;">Outline __**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">media type="youtube" key="EiOuqwgXqAM?hl=en" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="J4EsmiL3Zfs?hl=en" height="344" width="425"

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">media type="youtube" key="6TpoEGhx7t8?hl=en" height="344" width="425" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Once your outline is done, your paper is basically written. Now all you have to do is put that information in paragraphs. media type="youtube" key="andfAFtoK3w?hl=en" height="344" width="425" **__<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 300%;">Writing Your Drafts __** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Now it is time to write your essay. For each part of your outline, write one full sentence. Then, put all of the sentence together and read your essay out loud to someone else. Look over your essay and make sure that you correct spelling and grammar errors, and make sure that it sounds good and makes sense. Use the example and the worksheet below to help you make your essay great. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Once your rough draft is exactly the way you want it, email it to me. I will give you comments how to make your essay better. Read my comments and edit your essay. You can have your family or a friend help. Last, write a final draft with no errors and turn it in.



<span style="color: #3fe23f; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Want some extra credit? How about making a wanted poster for your monster. It can be a digital poster or on poster board. Use the software on my tech links page to get started and get ideas. Your poster should look something like this.

**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">The Power of Words Project: Active Listening ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Choose one of the speeches from this site and complete each of the steps below as you listen. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Type the answers to these questions as well as any notes that you took about the speech in the box below. Be sure also to note the speech you chose.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Pay close attention to the introduction. What key points will the speaker discuss? What predictions can you make about the content of the speech?
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Find the main ideas. What does the speaker want you to think or do as a result of this speech? What is the speaker's thesis statement or main argument?
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Analyze the body of the speech. How does the speaker prove each of his points?
 * 4) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Review. Were your initial predictions correct?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Advertisement <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;"> Create a product and make an ad to sell your product to the public. Be creative. Humor always helps.

**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Summarizing a Formal Essay **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">Summarize this formal essay **Your summary will be evaluated by your ability to express these points:**
 * [|Details]
 * [[file:mrmcdanielsteacherpage/Formal Essay Example.pdf|Download]]
 * 8 KB
 * The topic sentence includes the main idea.
 * The summary is clear and concise.
 * The summary is about one-fourth to one third the length of the original.
 * It expresses the author's ideas, not a private interpretation.

**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Report: Thesis Statement ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">Use this web site to help you write a proper introduction paragraph. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">A Proper Introduction



**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Researching to Persuade **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">Now it is time for you to write a persuasive essay. Follow these steps and use these resources to complete your excellent persuasive essay. Remember, you want your readers to believe that you are right and everyone else is wrong.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Propaganda __

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">For this assignment, let's discuss the word that all students dread to hear: HOMEWORK! Why do teachers give homework? Is it really necessary? Take a look at the Homework page and get some perspective. Then, think of reasons why homework should be banished from schools. Use this topic and these ideas to write a persuasive essay explaining why homework should never be allowed in schools. Use the pdf files below to help you write your paper. You will do a Brainstorm, an Outline, a Rough Draft, the Edit Worksheet, and a Final Draft for this assignment.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Note Taking __
 * <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">To further help you with this assignment, you need to understand the types of propaganda used. Watch this short video and get an idea of how propaganda is used in our world: ** media type="youtube" key="TD4a4u9AbZA?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">You will start by taking notes so that you know what you are going to write about. In this assignment, find articles, books, or magazines in your local library or online to use that will help you get an idea of what information you can use to write about your subject. For each source you find, you will create a note card that looks like this. media type="youtube" key="ngK_9cromhQ?hl=en" height="344" width="425"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 39px;">Persuasive Oral Presentation

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">media type="custom" key="9246984"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">You are now going to take the essay you have written in the previous project and unit and turn it into a three to five-minute speech by creating a podcast. You could also create a propaganda film instead of speech if you would like. That would also be accepted instead of doing a speech. You could join the two ideas and create a digital story like you did for the All About You project and present your speech with pictures to make your points. If you are unfamiliar with what a podcast is, use this link to familiarize yourself. To create your podcast presentation, you can download (which you might need help to do) and use Audacity or any recording software of your own. Once you have recorded your speech, create a Podbean account and post your speech to your new account as a podcast. Make sure you check out each of these help files to learn how it is done:


 * <span style="color: #ff5800; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Audacity Tutorials **


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">Podbean Quickstart Userguide **


 * <span style="color: #642b2b; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">VoiceThread Guide **



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">If you could be a super hero, what would be your special powers? Think of all of the types of super heroes that you know from literature, comics, cartoons. Would you fly? Can you freeze things? Can you become invisible or pass through solid objects? What are your defenses? What are your attack moves? Do you have any weaknesses or evil arch enemies? Are you an evil arch enemy? Why do you fight for good or why are you evil? **

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 300%;">Start with This PowerPoint

__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">** Write a Character Summary ** __

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Once you have an idea of what you would like to be, then generate a list of descriptive words and phrases to describe your super human self, maybe like some of these: ** <span style="color: #ff0061; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Using that list, begin brainstorming an idea of how you will present yourself to the world. Then summarize who you are. My suggestion would be to write up your summary in an office document like Open Office, Microsoft Word, or Pages if using a Mac, save it to your computer, and email it to me when you are done. Be as creative and imaginative as possible. Make me want to read more. <span style="color: #ff5900; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">Once you get a good idea of who your super hero self is, go to the Super Heroes page of my wiki and create a virtual image of yourself. Use that image to help you get a better idea of who you are as a super hero or super villain. On the Super Heroes page, you will find some great ideas and see an example of some excellent craftsmanship on my part. Then...

=__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Write a Character Sketch __= =<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Now that you have an idea of who your super hero/villain is, start thinking about how you want to present your character. Use this link to write a brief character sketch that expresses the heart of your character and shows that he/she is worth writing about. This will help you understand your character better and guide you in completing this project as you can always look back on your character sketch for direction or to make a change. =

=__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Outline the Details __= **<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Start building your essay with the outline listed below so that you know what you are going to write about and where everything goes. If you need help with the outline, let me know and I will go over it with you. The outline is on of the most important parts of essay writing, so make sure you do your best. Together, we can make you the coolest hero or baddest villian ever! ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Here is your outline to get started: **

=__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Rough Draft Time! __=

<span style="color: #81c412; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Now it is time for you to take that excellent outline you created and write your <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Super Hero/Villain <span style="color: #81c412; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">rough draft. Try using "powerful," vivid language to describe yourself. Use descriptive imagery and word choice and combine that with visual elements to make yourself a super hero/evil villian that has never before been imagined. Remember, the essay should be at least five full paragraphs. Once you are done with the rough draft, email it to me or print out a copy and bring it to class. I will give you comments on how you can make your essay better. Read my comments and edit your essay. You can have your family or a friend help too (and I suggest you do as much as you can).

__<span style="color: #ffb100; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">Write the Final Draft __


 * <span style="color: #0f0fb3; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">Your last task is to write your final draft with no errors and turn it in. This may take some time as the writing process is a lot of work. You may have to go through multiple drafts to get a final product. Just work with me, let me help you make it easier, and together we can create an essay that you will be proud to show others. **



<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">For 100 extra credit points, make a short five-frame comic strip starring your super hero self. **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Make up a quick story and show off your super fighting skills to save the day (or if you are a super villian, to ruin and destroy all who oppose you...but in a nice way). Here's a little help: **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #808000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 400%; text-align: center;">Next Essay

=__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 27px; line-height: 40px;">Persuasive Argument __=

**<span style="color: #008080; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;"><span class="empty_container"> For this essay, you will be persuading your audience. The object is to make everyone who reads your essay believe that your favorite cereal is the greatest food ever created and everyone in the world should eat it. Use the following pdf files to help you create your persuasive masterpiece to convert the world. You will be completing a brainstorm worksheet, an outline, a rough draft, the edit sheet, and a final draft. You will email me each form as soon as you complete them and before you move on to the next form. Remember, have fun and be persuasive. **

media type="youtube" key="cFdCzN7RYbw?rel=0" height="432" width="767"



media type="youtube" key="5KZVvK7HQFo" height="349" width="560"
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Want some extra credit for this project? You can make a one-minute commercial starring whoever you want promoting your favorite cereal. **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Be creative and have fun with it. Use the arguments from your essay and prove your point once and for all! **



=__<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The Informal Essay __=

**<span style="color: #808000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">Your assignment is to write a five paragraph compare and contrast essay, choosing TWO of your favorite people. You can choose two people that you know, two of your favorite cartoon characters, two of your favorite celebrities, or two characters from one of your favorite books or a book on my favorites list (of course if you choose a book on my favorites list, you have to read the book before you write the essay). You will want to be thinking about similarities and differences for each person or character. Once you have decided which two to use, you will want to choose THREE to FOUR things about them you can discuss. Here is video from a Social Studies perspective of comparing the Civil War with the War of Independence that can help you begin this process: ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">media type="custom" key="9248156" **<span style="color: #404040; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">Notice that they placed the thesis sentence of their introduction paragraph at the end of the paragraph. I would like you to put your thesis after your hook. ** <span style="color: #808000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">Once you feel you have a good understanding of what it means to compare and contrast, use the pdf files listed below to complete this assignment. Email me each part as you finish it beginning with the brainstorm, then outline, rough draft, parent edit worksheet, and last the final draft. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 26px; text-align: center;">**SHORT STORIES** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**//Use the directions listed below to complete these projects.//** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #808000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">In this series of projects for this Odyssey Unit, you will be creating a short story, but not just any short story. Your short story will be a Choose Your Own Adventure short story. If you are unfamiliar with this genre of stories, click on this linkand find out more. Here is one brief example of a blogger who started to write one about her own life. You could also do a Choose Your Own Adventure YouTube video. Here's how!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Characters and Point of View <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Every great author understands the importance of character development. A story would fall flat without strong characters. Think about what kind of characters you want in your story. Use this Character Sketch Worksheet to create a biography of your three main characters. Put them into paragraph form and send your character biographies to me. Then mark this assignment as complete with a note in the text box of the assignment saying that you have completed and emailed me all three sketches. <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
 * [|Details]
 * [[file:mrmcdanielsteacherpage/Character Sketch Worksheet.docx|Download]]
 * 12 KB

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Prewriting the Plot <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The plot is all about action! What will happen in your story? How will you move the story along? How will you keep your readers glued to the words you would have them read? Once you have some ideas, fill out this Plot Worksheet using complete sentences with as much detail as possible and email it to me. Then mark the assignment as completed with a short message telling me you emailed your completed worksheet to me.

<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
 * [|Details]
 * [[file:mrmcdanielsteacherpage/Plot Worksheet.docx|Download]]
 * 12 KB

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Prewriting Setting, Mood, Tone, and Theme <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Think about where you want your story to take place. It could just be one town or place, or you could have your characters travel to many places, even through time if you wish. Is your story dark, depressing, happy, suspenseful, or simply fast-paced and filled with action? Are your characters vikings, explorers, space men, or crazy bunnies that can break dance? You decide! When you have an idea, fill out this Literary Element Planning Worksheet and email it to me to complete this project.

<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
 * [|Details]
 * [[file:mrmcdanielsteacherpage/Literary Element Planning Worksheet.docx|Download]]
 * 12 KB

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Writing the Short Story

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is where the fun really begins! Look over the final tips listed on Odyssey for this project before beginning to write your short story rough draft. Please use either Microsoft Word or Open Office (save file as either a .doc file if you are using word or as an .odt file in Open Office) to write your drafts. Always check for grammar errors and have someone read your story back to you. Trust me, it helps. When you are satisfied with your first draft, email it to me and mark this project as completed on Odyssey.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Final Story Please don't end your story this way. It may frighten other little cherubs.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Once you email your rough draft, I will review it and send you back comments to help you improve your story. Please review my comments and correct any mistakes I have illuminated for you as well as adding more details to make your story the best that it can be. When you are completely satisfied with the results, email me your final copy before moving on to the Special Project listed below.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 39px;">Special Project

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Now you get to turn your short story into a wiki like one of these! I can help with the big stuff, but in the end, your wiki/CYOA story should be awesome and accessible to the world. As you can tell, I love using Wikispaces. It has some really great help files to get you started, but feel free to use any wiki site you deem worthy as long as you put your full effort into it.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">You may also choose to find other students who are working on this and combine your stories to make this project really interesting. I look forward to seeing your finished projects. This final project is worth 200 points, so make it good. When you are done, send me the link to your wiki.