Christmas Eve Eve

Hello everybody. Resting up? Staying up late and sleeping in? Yes, you know you are.

Just a reminder about the Extra Credit Assignment. Here it is...

Extra Credit Assignment

Mr. Lackey’s classes

December 2014

1. Watch the movie It’s a Wonderful Life (1947) starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. Bonus points if your parent(s) watch it with you. Watch it all the way thru. No cheating. Even more bonus points if it’s in black and white.

2. Have your parent sign a paper saying you watched it. They can add whether or not they watched it with you and whether or not it was in black and white.

3. Do any ONE of the following:

A)    Write a paper comparing and contrasting this movie with the movie The Family Man starring Nicolas Cage. (The Family Man is rated PG-13.) The paper must be hand-written and must be one to two pages long.

B)    Make a Christmas card with a drawing of Bedford Falls or some other image from the movie. Have a message/greeting on the front and on the inside. I will not accept one done on notebook paper. Put some effort into it and make it look like a real Christmas card.

C)    Write another chapter for the movie. What happens next? Your chapter can focus on any of the main characters (including Clarence). It can be humorous or serious, but must be well-written. The paper must be hand-written and must be one to two pages long.

D)    Write a composition about the costs and rewards of sacrifice. Include personal examples of times you made a sacrifice. The paper must be hand-written and must be one to two pages long.

Due date: No later than Tuesday, January 6, 2015. Partial credit will NOT be given. You must watch the movie, bring the parent signature STATING that you watched the movie, and do ONE of the choices above.

 

A word of warning: Cheating, including forging your parent’s signature, will do more than deny you the extra credit. There will be other consequences as well.

Stave One

We will have a quiz over Stave 1 tomorrow (Tuesday). Be sure you have read and understood what happens. As a reward for checking this blog, here are 3 questions you will find on the quiz. Please don't share the questions with others who have not read the blog. Don't reward them for YOUR effort.

What month and year was this book first published?

Two portly gentlemen come to Scrooge and Marley's after the nephew leaves. What do they want?

What does it mean to be "fettered"?

Marley was dead: to begin with.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you ate well today. Despite all the good food, I have one word for you... pie. Mmmm... pie.

Have you done anything constructive this week? I finished reading The Maze Runner, and then I read its sequel: The Scorch Trials. The dystopian novels (The Giver, Hunger Games, Divergent, etc) are all the rage lately, and the Maze Runner series is that same genre, but I am really enjoying the story. It hasn't turned into a "love story" just yet. I'll start book 3 (The Death Cure) tomorrow. I need to finish it before Monday. I don't like juggling two books at once.

I also went to see the Maze Runner movie yesterday. It was good - just not as good as the book (of course). The girl taking tickets was a former student of mine. It's always fun to run into old students. Most of the time, it's hard for me to remember names - after all, this is my 30th year to teach - but I didn't have that problem with this particular student. Some of you are hard to forget. lol. A word of advice, though: when you run into your old teachers years later, offer your hand in greeting while reminding the teacher of your name. Don't put them on the spot by saying things like, "Do you remember me?"

Bad day on the gridiron with both the Cowboys and Aggies getting whupped. Oh well, I'm not going to let that bother me. At least the Aggies made it close. And the Cowboys have been bad at home all year. Maybe the next couple of weeks on the road will help (but I won't be holding my breath).

We start the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol on Monday. Have your books! You'll be learning about one of the most iconic characters in literature: Ebenezer Scrooge. I love Dickens. He's one of my favorite writers. Did you know he used to do public readings of A Christmas Carol? People would show up to listen to him read the book aloud. That would have been an amazing event.

By the way, the title of this post is the first line of A Christmas Carol. What standard sentence structure rule did Dickens ignore when constructing this opening line?

We're also going to revise and re-write our expository essays. In addition, we will continue examining the parts of the sentence. We're almost through with Step 4: Complements, but having all the DOs/IOs (w/ action verbs) and PNs/PAs (w/ linking verbs) mixed together will be challenging. The more you understand how a sentence works, the better your own writing will be.

Next up after that will be Step 5: Modifiers (adjectives and adverbs). In the not too distant future, we will be learning all about the AAAWWUBBIS and complex sentences.

So gear up and get ready for a fun three weeks leading into the Winter Break.

More soon. Continue to enjoy your break. Read something!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

I know, I have ignored the blog for almost a month. So let's catch up...

The 1st Quarter ended and we started anew with the 2nd Quarter.

We have all checked out library books and MUST HAVE ONE EVERY DAY until Thanksgiving. It is imperative.

When we return from the Thanksgiving break, you will need a copy of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

We did fine on our Quarter 1 Summative Test, but we can do better. Like before, we will have a Q2 3 Week test (which will be an expository essay), a Q2 6 Week test (right before Christmas), and a Q2 Summative in January.

I'll post an outline for the 2nd Quarter soon.

A Monday with no school

Don't you love three day weekends? I do.

My family spent yesterday at the State Fair. We had a great time, but I was (and still am) tired. I not only reached 100% on my Bowflex Boost (which tells me how much walking I do during the day), but I ended the day at 223%.

And the Cowboys won! Woohoo! The St. Louis Cardinals won their game last night as well, so it was a perfect day.

Remember to have A Separate Peace finished. Have your annotations completed and ready to turn in tomorrow.

You took home your IRWINs so you could share what you've been doing with your parents. Be sure to get their signature on the table of contents AND BRING THE IRWIN BACK TOMORROW!!! Remind your friends to do the same.

This will be week 8 of the school year. We're closing in on the end of the first quarter. That means the first report cards of the year. Are your grades where you want them to be?

I hope you're having a great weekend. See you tomorrow.

A Separate Peace

Here's a schedule for your reading responsibilities:

By the time you get to class on...

• Tuesday, October 7 - You should have read to the end of chapter 9 (w/annotations).
• Wednesday, October 8 - You should have read to the end of chapter 10 (w/annotations).
• Tuesday, October 14 - You should have finished the book (w/annotations).

On Wednesday (tomorrow), I will tell you to finish the book, but you will have until after the weekend before you are held accountable.

There still may be a quiz over chapters 1-10, so be prepared.

6-week Assessment

Tomorrow (Friday) we will take our 6-week assessment for the 1st Quarter. Rumor has it that it will be a couple of poems with maybe 10 questions. I doubt they will use poems we have already read, but that's not a problem for us. Use your TPCASTT process to analyze the poems. That will help you understand it. Whatever you do, don't rush through it and assume you have figured it out. You'll need to study the poems closely.

In the meantime, I am not assigning additional reading for tonight. You should be through chapter 7 of A Separate Peace by now. You will be assigned to read and annotate chapter 8 over the weekend.

First Quarter Syllabus

Below is a list of things we have covered (or will cover) during the first 9 weeks of this school year. There are some things that will be pulled in as well to support the things I need you to learn (example: "Seventh Grade", the short story by Gary Soto, helped explain plot and character development).

Homework

Tonight, read and annotate chapter 2 of A Separate Peace. Don't just carry the book around - turn off your electronics for 30-45 minutes and READ!!!

Also, with the boys at Devon headed toward action in World War II, it reminded me... I visited the Air Force Academy this past weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Remind me to tell you about it. Below is a picture of the campus chapel.

Four Weeks Down!

We're almost at the halfway point of the 1st 9 weeks. Progress Reports go out at the end of this upcoming week.

Starting Monday, you MUST have a copy of A Separate Peace. Not an electronic version of it - the actual book. I'll go ahead and tell you now, your reading assignment on Monday will be to read Chapter 1. It's only about 10 pages, but we meet the main characters and get to know the setting.

At this very moment, I am downloading an audio copy of the book onto my iPod. I will play Chapter 1 in my room before school on Tuesday for anyone who happens to come to morning tutorials. I won't be there Monday to write you a pass, but your parents can write one. And it's Mrs. Duncan at the front door, so maybe she'll let you by.

We make our first trip to the library on Tuesday, but we won't be checking out books. Our reading time needs to be focused on the novel we are starting. In fact, be prepared for a quiz when I return on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend. I'll be in Denver to watch the Colorado Rockies play baseball. Maybe I'll post a picture or two. Don't be jealous!

TPCASTT of "Invictus"

Your homework is due at the start of class Monday. Your homework is to TPCASTT the poem "Invictus." To get you going in the right direction, I will try to help you out. The parts highlighted are actual answers you can use if you want. The parts NOT highlighted are just tips for you to follow.

T - The title Invictus could mean any number of things. But without reading the poem, my best guess is that it has something to do with the definition for invictus, which means undefeated or unconquerable.

P - I am coming out of the night time, which was all around me
It was so completely dark from end to end that it was like being in a deep well
I give praise to whoever is responsible (the gods? God?)
for giving me this invincible character

That's one stanza. Surely you can do the other 3 by yourself.



C - repetition - lines 15-16 both start "I am the..."
repetition - line 12, finds and shall find me
rhyme scheme - ABAB (and it stays completely true to that in every stanza)
In line 10, the word Horror is capitalized. That can't be an accident; it is being used as a proper noun, maybe because it symbolizes the thing or person (the devil?) that causes me to suffer.

Boom, that's 4 things. You can thank me later. Now... find some more.



A - I have yet to give you the list of tone words, so for now, you are on your own to come up with the speaker's attitude. You've heard the poem several times. How do you think the speaker in it feels?

S - Think of the shift in time for this one. The speaker is talking about what has happened before, but he also talks about the here and now. He even refers to the future. There's also a shift in the third stanza. Can you find it? It should be recognizable because of the conjunction that often signals a shift.

T - Look back at the title. Why use this title? What could the poet have meant by using this title?

T - We have talked about this. What is the speaker's message to us? And really, why do I say this poem so often? The answer should reveal the theme of the poem.

TPCASTT Notes

T - Title - Examine the title of the poem before reading it. Predict what the poem is about based only on the title. If the poem doesn't have a title, use the first line. (This should take you 1-3 lines. It counts 10 points.) After doing this, read the poem. Read it more than once.

P - Paraphrase - After reading the poem, put the lines of the poem into your own words. Don't try to interpret the meaning of the poem - that comes later. Go line by line, rephrasing every line into your own words. (This should take as many lines as the poem is long. Skip lines between the stanzas. It counts 25 points.)

C - Connotations - This is where you start looking at the poem like a poet would. What literary techniques does the poet use to convey his/her message? Some of the things you might see are similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, repetition, rhyme, assonance, consonance, allusions, onomatopoeia... Or maybe the way the poem is designed is physically unique. Maybe the punctuation is different in places. What is the mood of the poem? What is the rhyme scheme? Does the poet use symbolism? By noticing these things, we begin to get a better idea of what the poet is trying say. Note the line(s) you find the technique, but also explain it. You can't just make random guesses; you have to be able to support your comments with text evidence. (This should take you about as many lines to complete as the poem has in it. It's okay to have more. It counts 25 points.)

A - Attitude - How does the speaker in the poem (or the author) feel about this poem? Refer to your list of tone words for some ideas. (This should take 1-3 lines. It counts 10 points.)

S - Shift - Look for shifts in tone, attitude, meaning... Where does the author/speaker shift from one idea to another? Where does the author/speaker shift from one mood to another? Where does the author/speaker shift from asking questions to answering them? Note the line and explain. (This should take 1-3 lines. It counts 10 points.)

T - Title - Look at the title again now that you have read the poem. Does the title give any insight into the message the author is trying to convey? What is the significance of the title? Were you right in your earlier prediction? (This should take 1-3 lines. It counts 10 points.)

T - Theme - What is the message the author is trying to make with this poem? Look for a global message because themes usually apply to everyone. Poets often use simple things to make a more universal comment, like using a fork in the road to symbolize choices in life. (This should take 1-3 lines. It counts 10 points.)

Three Week Assessment

(Sorry, Dylan. This one's for you.)

Today we wrote our first draft on a personal narrative about technology and how it influenced a decision you have made. This first draft will be scored this weekend and will count as a major grade (the Q1W3 Assessment). We won't be finished with it, however. We will discuss ways to revise our papers. Then we will have writing conferences where I give you specific feedback on your paper. After the conferences, you will revise your paper at least once, eventually writing a final copy.

Tomorrow, after we finish TPCASTTing "The Courage That My Mother Had", we will turn in both of the poems we have analyzed and then TPCASTT "Invictus" individually.

Soon, I have a book to read to you. It's short; we can read it in one day. We will try our hand at writing our own original poems. We still have a couple more poems to analyze in depth (TPCASTT).

The other thing is something new and special. I'm not going to tell you about it yet, but I CAN say that I'm looking forward to giving it a try. It should be fun.

We start reading A Separate Peace the week after next. Don't delay! Get your book now!

Two Weeks in the Books

Another week is behind us. 7th grade is already flying by. I am getting to know the young men, and they are getting to know me. Writing and talking about our personal narratives will do that.

This past week we started working on our first personal narrative of the year. We looked at mentor text and even watched a couple of videos of Bill Cosby verbalizing his personal narratives.

We worked on using the BaDaBing sentence as a way to start the personal narrative.

We continued our work with prepositional phrases.

We read "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto and discussed plot, characterization, and point of view.

We added several literary terms to the vocabulary section of our IRWIN.

And many of the young men have started reciting "Invictus" with me.

Next week, we start poetry. As an introduction to poetry, we will see a few classroom scenes from Dead Poet's Society. We will learn the aspects of TPCASTT and begin to analyze some excellent poems, including "Invictus."

We also have our 3 Week Assessment towards the end of the week. It will be a personal narrative. Hopefully, the work we've already done will help us on this. We will do writing conferences and multiple revisions, but the Assessment grade will be for the first draft of your paper.

In two weeks we begin reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles. You need to get yourself a copy now. Try Half Price Books or buy one on Amazon.com. I just checked, and Amazon has used copies for a penny. Even with the shipping and handling, it's just $4. But order soon! I might have a few books for loan. Come see me if you need one.

Have a great, restful weekend. If you need something fun to do, visit the Fall Festival at St. Michael's church, across from South Grand Prairie H.S. And remember, Meet the Teacher Night is Tuesday night. I really hope to meet all of you then.

Grades Posted

The first week's grades are posted on Skyward. Be sure and keep track of your son's grades via the Parent Portal. Or email me and I'll tell you his grades. There are quite a few with averages in the 90s right now, but there are even more with averages below 70. All of those are because they didn't do the summer reading.

Their grades are also posted outside my door (using ID numbers instead of names) so the students always know where they stand.

We're writing!

One Week Down

What a great first week! I can already see that this will be a wonderful bunch of young men. For the most part, they have all come in with the right attitude. They seem eager to learn and eager to please, and you can't ask for more than that.

They turned in their Flair! projects yesterday, and I was amazed at how hard they had worked on them. They look great. You can see them on the wall outside my room when you visit me at Meet the Teacher Night on September 9th.

Our chief mission this year will be writing. Yes, we will read many stories and poems and articles, but the way in which we respond to these will be the key. Responding to text is a big part of what we will do, but we will also spend a fair amount of time writing personal narratives and an even bigger amount of time writing expository papers.

I will try to have all grades posted in Skyward by the end of the weekend.

If you haven't already done so, please email me at rick.lackey@gpisd.org so that I have a good email address for you. Or, call and leave your contact information in a voicemail at 972-522-3667.

And, as always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a great 3-day weekend!

Prepositions, The Giver, and Flair

Today we agreed upon a Social Contract; we learned about prepositions and prepositional phrases; and we talked and wrote some more about The Giver.

Remember that your page of Flair is due Friday. There have been some questions about the Flair. First of all, the different icons do NOT have to be circles. Any design is fine as long as it looks nice and the images are things that symbolize you. Here's another example. Notice it has the person's name (Adrian Beltre) and 15 things Adrian likes:

This took about 20 minutes to make. You can do it, too!

Flair!

Instead of "Pieces of Flair", you would put your name.

The assignment today is called Flair. Flair is just a way to show things that symbolize you. First, pick out 15 things that represent you. Examples: a soccer ball, a picture of you and your grandfather, a chocolate donut, the McDonalds arches, your favorite book, your favorite movie, your favorite video game, your favorite shoes, etc. Once you've come up with 15 (or more), make a flair page. You can cut the images out of a magazine (get permission), or you can cut and paste images from the internet. You can even get crayons or map pencils and draw your images.

Remember, your name should be on the Flair page, too. It should nice and big and bold so it stands out.

Make your whole Flair page colorful and bold. Nice and neat. It should be done on copy paper or construction paper. NO NOTEBOOK PAPER!

These will be posted in the hallway outside my room. Meet the teacher night is coming, so EVERYONE will see your Flair. Do your best. They are due at the start of class on Friday.

And yes, Meet the Teacher Night is coming up. It will be Tuesday, September 9th. I hope to see you all there.

I got an email from a parent today and had a parent conference with another one. Outstanding! Please email me. Or call. Or come by.

First Day of School

Today was tiring... but it was great meeting my new young men. It will be even better when we settle into some routines (especially a lunch routine).

As usual, there are issues with the summer reading assignment. Thank you to those of you who came prepared today. To the others, please get caught up as soon as possible. We will continue to talk about and write about The Giver all this week and part of next week.

Also, remember to get those supplies. The sooner, the better.

Something to think about for Tuesday... If you had a flag or a coat of arms that represented you, what would be on it?

Parents, please let me hear from you. My email is rick.lackey@gpisd.org.

If you have any questions or concerns, let me know.

Things Change

Yesterday morning we learned that YMLA principal, Mr. Arendse, has been moved to Grand Prairie High School and replaced by Mr. Johnson. We (the teachers) were all shocked. It's extremely unusual to make principal changes just a few days before the start of school, but it was something they felt needed to be done. GPHS will be better off with Mr. A. But there is no reason to believe that things won't go on as usual here at YMLA. In fact, there's no reason to believe things won't be even better here. Mr. Johnson will do a fine job. He was an outstanding teacher and then an amazing assistant principal. He loves the kids, and we are all very fortunate to have him.

Countdown to Day One!

I have to be honest, I am pumped about this school year. We're going to grow so much... our writing... our reading comprehension... our maturity... our awareness... And I promise some laughs along the way.

But here's the deal... You really, really, really need to show up prepared on the first day. That means you have read The Giver and another book from the list. It also means that you have annotated The Giver. And you have to bring those annotations with you to class on the first day.

Because if you don't... well, the world won't come to an end, but you will put an obstacle in front of yourself that might be hard to overcome. The annotation assignment for The Giver counts as a major grade. It will be accepted late, but it's 10 points a day off of your grade. Tuesday, September 2 is the absolute last day I will accept the assignment. So show up prepared and get off to a great start.

If you have a problem or a question about this assignment (or anything, really), please please please come see me.

If you want to know how to stay on my good side... You HAVE to enjoy reading. It helps if you love baseball, but loving to read is the key.

A person who CAN read... SHOULD.

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

Hello. My name is Rick Lackey. I teach PreAP/GT English 7 at the Young Men's Leadership Academy at Kennedy Middle School in Grand Prairie. My goal this year - as it pertains to this blog - is to post assignments, notes, and reminders on a regular basis.

I trust you have read The Giver and another book from the list. Your annotated copy of The Giver is due on the first day of classes (August 25). Be prepared to take part in a discussion of the book.

In addition to the annotations, there will be writing assignments covering both this book and the other book you chose to read. The assignment, which was given to you last spring, is detailed here.

In addition to the summer reading assignment, the supplies you will need for my class are:

• A 3-ring binder (1" or 2" is best). Choose a sturdy one because you will use it every day. This binder is for ELA class only.
• A pencil pouch inside that binder
• Dividers (a package of 5)
• Blue or black pens (We will write in pen 95% of the time.)
• Pencils
• A highlighter (At least one, but a package of them is even better.)
• Notebook paper

I look forward to meeting you and helping make this a great year.