Daily Bell Ringer Schedule

Students are expected to spend the first 3-5 minutes of class completing the daily bell ringer.  A bell ringer is an activity or brief assignment for a student to complete as soon as he or she arrives to class and is seated.  All students are expected to be engaged in the daily bell ringer prompt by the time the bell rings signifying the start of class.

I will give students an opportunity to share their responses on occasion.  I will also circulate around the classroom to ensure that students are actively engaged in the bell ringer assignment.  Students may earn a weekly bell ringer grade for sharing a bell ringer response as well as completing all 5 bell ringer prompts for the week.

Students who talk while someone is sharing their written response, work on other assignments, interrupt or disrupt while others are sharing, or refuse to write quietly for the 3-5 minute period are subject to losing some or all bell ringer points for the week.

Below is the link to our weekly bell ringer schedule:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dFVNLomjjQw4nqqfHgG54DJ8A4XGb1AX8Ss9duZkcmo/edit?usp=sharing

Favorite Writing Quotes

“Write while the heat is in you. … The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.”
— Henry David Thoreau


Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
- Anne McCaffrey


“I write only because
There is a voice within me
That will not be still” 
― Sylvia Plath, Letters Home


“Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you're working. Tell them it's research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.” 
― Jennifer Weiner


“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” 
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Rambling Autobiography

The rambling autobiography will be the first writing assignment this year.  Please read through the following examples of rambling autobiographies and then be prepared to discuss what you notice about these writing pieces.


http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/personal_experience/article/234070/Rambling-Autobiography/

http://misterstephenson.blogspot.com/2011/02/rambling-autobiography.html

http://www.fmschools.org/files/3329/Rambling%20autobiography.pdf

https://sites.google.com/site/laclassedemmelaberge/anglais-1/rambling-autobiography


Please be aware that I will ask you to share your own rambling autobiography in class, so you may not necessarily want to write about your deepest and darkest secrets!

Class Syllabus

Included on the syllabus is a list of supplies needed for the course.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UInc-ps0DQ-H1re-Xu5ShtRbkMYSDohz0xJI0lx62PA/edit?usp=sharing

Note:  I will ask you to decorate your writer's notebook the first week of school.  Be creative and have fun!  Feel free to use cut-outs from magazines (pictures, words, phrases), song lyrics, photos, stickers, post cards, duct tape, art work, recycled greeting and birthday cards, print-outs from the internet, etc.  This is your writer's notebook, and you will be using it a lot, so have fun decorating it!