To Write is to be POWERFUL!

Margaret Atwood, the author of the novel The Handmaid's Tale, which Hulu made into a television series, says this of writing, "A word after a word after a word is power." Poet Emily Dickenson says, "I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word." And Mohammed Qahtani, prize winning speech writer says, "Words have power, words are power, words could be your power."

Because I believe in the power of words, one of the most important endeavors we will undertake this year in ELA is to develop your ability to write.  But, I am not going to lie.  Writing can be difficult work.  Even professional writers agree.  But, the ability to write well is a manifestation of the ability to think well, to produce ideas, support those ideas with sound reasoning, and communicate those ideas clearly in ways that are persuasive and moving.  In this sense, your ability to use words to reach with your voice, anyone you want to hear you is your power, and I am here to help you find it!  By the end of 8th grade, I expect you to be singing just like Snap, about having the power to write!

First, a word about the Writing Process...

Good writing doesn't just happen.  It takes work, from the generation and organization of your ideas, to the writing about and revising those ideas as many times as it takes to reach your audience and fulfill your purpose, to the editing for conventional errors, and finally to publishing your final written piece (Phew!). 

This page is meant to help you in this multi-step writing process.

Pre-writing
  • Find an idea to write about.
  • Focus on how you want to write about that idea.
  • Organize any details that will help you communicate with your readers about your ideas.
    • Ask:  Who is my audience?
    • Ask:  What is my purpose?

​Writing
  • Begin to write your ideas down as you planned
  • Read your writing back to yourself with a moving mouth (audibly or inaudibly) and test the sound of your written thoughts. 
    • Ask:  Am I saying what I want to say?  Am I meeting my purpose?
    • Ask:  Am I saying it the way I want to say it?  The way I want my audience to hear it?
  • Keep at it, even when you struggle to find just the right word or structuring your sentences so that they flow.

Revising
  • Now it's time to read your writing as if you are an outsider looking in.  Play the part of your audience, and read with clarity and coherence in mind.
    • Ask:  Did I keep the needs of my audience in mind?
    • Ask:  Did I accomplish my purpose for writing in the first place?
  • Change any parts of your written piece that aren't clear or coherent. 

Editing
  • Now it's time to get picky about the conventions of written English.
  • As you read your writing this time think about the following:
    • Did I spell all of the words in my written masterpiece correctly?
    • Did I capitalize the pronoun "I", all proper nouns and adjective, and at the beginning of each sentence?
    • Did I punctuate correctly?
      • Did I use apostrophes to form contractions or show possession (and NOT to make a singular noun plural!)?
      • Did I end each sentence with a period, exclamation point, or question mark as required for each kind of sentence?
      • Did I use commas to separate items in a series?
    • Are my sentences constructed correctly?
      • For compound sentences, did I use a semicolon (;) or a  comma + conjunction (FANBOYS) to separate independent clauses?
        • Ask:  Did I make sure I don't have any comma splices, run on sentences, or sentence fragments?
      • Did I use a variety of sentences, including simple, compound, and complex?
        • Note: Complex sentences are made up of an independent + a dependent clause.  Complex sentences are a good way to show a connection between two or more ideas, with one idea (the idea in the independent clause) being more important than the other (the idea in the dependent or subordinate clause). Dependent clauses may be marked by any of the dependent clause markers in the word list that follows:  after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while                

​Publishing for the world to see and celebrate!

Second, a word about Grammar...

Dear Students,
In order to get you completely fit for Freshman English (regardless of the specific course you take) you have got to build a solid understanding of English grammar.  Grammar is simply a set of rules for speaking and writing English (or any language, for that matter).  Grammar includes the study of words and word usage in the making of phrases and sentences (also known as clauses). So, to learn more about English grammar, I am sending you to Grammar Camp.  Woo Hoo!  

So, work your way through each "week of camp" by going through each week's slide show, taking notes on what you learn and preparing for an assessment on what you've learned at the end of each week.
GRaMMaR CaMP 

WeeK   oNe - NOUNS

Before you begin, open up the Google Doc below and make a copy for yourself!
Here's our weekly routine...

Third, writing tools for writing minds...

Click here for an excellent SIGNAL WORDS tool! >>>  https://lincs.ed.gov/readingprofiles/Signal_Words.pdf