12/12/10-12/17/10

This week, Ms. Nickow, our lovely teacher, rented out the library and the computer labs for us seniors to work on our literary research paper. While everyone was stressed out about the deadline approaching, she helped us every step of the way. This week, our outline was due for our research paper. And today our rough draft for our research paper was turned in for Ms. Nickow to read while she is relaxing on vacation!

-Uns Uns Baby

Week of 12/6/10-12/10/10

This week in English class everyone was stressing about the end of the semester literacy research paper. The library was our home for the entire week as we frantically tried to finish our research. The class had to have 75 source and citation note cards prepared by Wednesday to show to Ms. Nickow. Some of my classmates were successful, and unfortunately others were not. Thursday, and Friday were spent in the library straighting out last minute research information and sorting our note cards in preparation for the final outline. The next step in our literary research paper is to finish our final outline, which is due MONDAY, DECEMBER 13TH!!

Jerod Mikkelsen

Week of November 29 - December 3

This week in English we spent more time working on our research papers. We spent the majority of our time in the library. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we all worked on our preliminary works cited, which we turned in on Wednesday. Thursday we were back in the class room learning how to do in-text citations for our research papers. We went back to the library on Friday to continue work on our note cards that are due next Wednesday.

- Elaina

Week of 11/22-11/26

This week we had another short three day week. We spent some of our time in the research center working on our Research papers. A librarian taught us how to use databases to find computer sources and book sources in the library. She also taught us how to cite our resources. In class, we learned how to organize our note cards efficiently.

During the short 3 day week, we went to the library where we listened on tips for picking out the book that we are going to be doing our research paper on. We talked about good options on which books to select based on if there would be enough research that you could find to complete the paper on. After we discussed this we selected a book from the list. Also we worked on our compare and contrast unit by doing an activity that helped us compare to unlike things.

Week of 11/8 - 11/12

This week we learned about compare and contrast, but these were not like out typical dogs vs. cats paper. We talked about the more abstract and different our topics were, the better. We learned methods of creating a paper in a point by point and block by block format. Point by point was each point and then underneath each aspect of the two different subjects. Block by block is one section of all one subject with multiple points within it then another subject with its points underneath. For my class excersize I compared and contrasted basketball and Norstrom department store. :)
 

Week of October 25 - 29

Before the weekend of Halloween festivities began, our class focused on narratives. We started out the week by reading samples. We learned that narratives involved a lot of description, which we learned about the week before. The next day we brought in a picture and had others describe it. We used what other people said to create a paragraph story. The next few days we focused on making our official narrative papers. We peer edited eachothers papers and made sure to include a thesis in our story. We finished the week off by receiving a piece of candy and looking forward to the weekend ahead.

-Elise

Week of 10/18-10/22

This week we started talking about narrative essays. Ms. Nickow had us bring an interesting picture to class that was shared in a group. We had to pick words to describe how each of the five senses were being affected in the picture. Then we had to write a paragraph with the words we chose. On Friday, Ms. Nickow showed us an episode of The Wonder Years. In the show, the main character narrates a lot of the story. This fits because we are going to begin working on narratives soon.

10/11-10/15

This week we turned in our pet peeve papers. I found out that some people can have interesting pet peeves. I also found out that some pet peeves are ironic.

10/11 - 10/15

This week we worked on our descriptive essays by doing different peer edits. Due to a weird week, we only had a few days in class to work on them. In order to get the best essay, we needed to revise them many times. Then friday we topped off the week by going to see the school musical practice which was a unique experience.

Picture of the Week 10/4 - 10/8

this week we went into the writing lab to write out pet peeve papers. i did mine on angry drivers.

Picure of the Week 9/27 - 10/1

This week we learned about imagery and descriptive writings. We wrote a bunch simile and metaphors such as "the biker is as fast as an elderly person driving", and with that we started our descriptive essay on our pet peeves.

September 20th - 24th

We started off this week by playing a "musical chairs" story game and a descriptive words game which helped us wake up from the weekend. Although our week at school was short (late start on Tuesday and early dismissal on Thursday), we still fit in some in-class reading from our lovely textbook and had some time in the computer lab on Friday to finish the final draft of our college essays that are due on Monday.

Picture for Week of 9-13/9-17

This week in English we shared rough drafts of our college essays. We got in groups of 3 or 4 and peer edited them. This was a good way to have another set of eyes on our essays.

September 13 - 17

This week in class we focused on our college essays. We went to the lab twice to work on our drafts. The peer editing/questions were really helpful and I think we should use this exercise with our future papers. The weekly journal was added to our class. The journal will help us as writers but I think it wasn't welcomed into the class.

One of my favorite moments of this week in English was having a Skype session with Ms. Nickow's friend who was an admissions reader at Vanderbilt. By talking to her our class gained some valuable knowledge about admissions, and we got to ask questions that we had about admissions as well.

Week of September 7- September 10

College, college, and more college. This week we continued to focus on our college applications and understand the concepts of writing a good essay. We started off the week by trying to write an intro paragraph of a college essay for someone else; although bragging about someone else is easier than bragging about yourself, many people found it hard to start their paragraphs. On Wednesday we skyped with Ms. Nickows friend who used to help with the admissions at Vanderbilt University, and learned how to make you essay stand out from the hundreds of other applications that the school has received. On top of that, we continued the college talk with our counselors on Thursday, but ended the week on a fun note by playing a game at the end of class on Friday.

Picture for week of August 30 - September 3

This is the tassle from my undergraduate college graduation! This week, we began discussing our college application essays. Although it is a bit overwhelming, it is even more exciting!

Week of August 30 - September 3

Everything we need to know in life we learned from English 405 class.  This week, we wrote papers and spent time sharing some important lessons we have each taken away from some event, person, or other influence in our lives.  Some of these lessons came from families, friends, Spongebob, fortune cookies, Ben Franklin, sports, and even Target.  We also spent time discussing and writing papers about our summer reading books.  As the week ended, we started thinking about our college essay applications.  It's hard to believe it is already time to apply to college, but we are grateful to have class time to devote to our prompts and personal statements.