Due Dates (Updated)

As we are approaching the end of our nonfiction reading unit, there are some due dates you need to be aware of:

Final Summative Assessment on Author's Viewpoint on Tuesday, January 24
(This is a constructed response on our author's viewpoint standard.)

Performance Task due Wednesday, January 25 (This includes all 3 sources posted.)
***However, we will not have laptop carts in class after Friday the 20th, so students who are not finished will need to share limited resources in class to get the projects finished.***

Unit Post-test on Friday, January 27
(This is a full-length test with a variety of questions focused on main idea and author's viewpoint.)

We will be starting the nonfiction writing unit the week after that!

Scoring Criteria for Reading Nonfiction Performance Task

The following is an excerpt from your scoring rubrics that shows what it takes to be proficient on your performance task: (Refer to the paper copy of your scoring guide for other proficiency levels.)

• Blog is organized to present at least two different viewpoints from a minimum of three sources
• Each post identifies the author’s purpose for writing by analyzing the organization of the source, the inclusion of facts/opinions, slant/bias and persuasive strategies.
• Each post identifies the author’s viewpoint through analysis of word choice, tone, and the use of text features
• Each post identifies accuracy of a source by including the author’s credentials and analyzing the reliability of each source.

Mouse Trap Blog

Click here to see Miss Poslosky and Dr. Brandon's model performance task blog addressing the research question: What is the most effective way of getting rid of mice?

Reading Nonfiction Performance Task

Reading Nonfiction: Research GRASP
Due Date: January 25, 2012

Goal: Your goal is to present multiple points of view on a single topic and to analyze each source for point of view, purpose, accuracy and quality of evidence.

Role: You are an advance researcher for the eighth grade writing nonfiction project.

Audience: Eighth graders at Northeast Middle School

Situation: In our next unit, we will focus on writing nonfiction. That will require you to have quality and balanced resources. During our current unit, you will be creating a bank of quality and balanced resources for you or your classmates to use.

Product: You will create a website or blog to present at least three (3) reliable sources that you have analyzed for purpose, viewpoint and quality of evidence. Your website or blog should display a range of viewpoints that accurately display multiple viewpoints on the issue.

Requirements:
1. Present at least three (3) sources
2. Use at least one scholarly source
3. Write an overview of your sources
4. Presentation is clean and free of distracting errors (see writing rubric)


Analysis questions:
What is the author’s purpose for the source and how do you know? (Include bias or slant in your response.)
What is the author’s viewpoint and how do you know?
How does the author present conflicting evidence? If there is no conflicting evidence, explain why the author did not include any.


Common Core Standard 8.6:
Determine author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

"What Do You Stand For"-- Book Review by Matt

"At the Farm" (Narrative from guest author, Matt)

It was in the early spring on a Saturday noon. I was out into the country with my friend Graff, as we walked down the road We saw a man who was moving into a new house.

“Hello boys, Can you come over here and help me out?” Graff and I looked at each other.

“Sure.” we shouted running down his driveway. Graff was already friends with his new neighbor. I was a little shy around the new neighbor. 

“How can we help?” Graff said gently.

“Listen, I have to go somewhere to pick up some tools because I need to build my shed, and I need you boys to help me out with some work on the farm when I’m gone. Is that ok with you boys?” the man said. He looked stressed and in a hurry.

“Yes of course, we have nothing else to do.” I said.

The man ran inside and came back out side and handed us two sheets of paper of things to do.

“Thanks!” the man said as he jogged to his truck. “And make sure you don’t mess anything up, I’ll be back at 6 o clock.” He said as he drove away. Graff and I browsed down the list. Our eyes got bigger as we looked on the second page.

“Does he want us to finish everything on this list before he gets back?” Graff asked.

“Hope not” I said. “Now what do we do first?” I said.

“Well it says here the first thing to do is to clean up the trash in the field.” Graff said. I looked up to see the field.

“O-my.” I said. The field was huge and had so much trash in it. It had rappers and cups every where, and There was several old rusty tires that were stuck into the ground.

“Who used to live here?” I asked.

“I don’t know but I think the pile of empty beer cans out there explain a lot about what happened before they left.” Graff laughed. Graff and I ran towards the field with a trash can. The tires were around 80 pounds to get out of the ground. We dug under the tires with our hands then pulled them out. It took at least five to six minutes to dig under the tires. The tires didn’t fit in the garbage can so we had to roll it up the hill and lean it up against the wall. After the trash was picked up we dragged ourselves back to the house to see what was next.

“It’s already 1:26, What is next?” Graff said.

“Collect fire wood.” I read aloud. Graff and I both split up and searched around the farm for sticks and logs. We mostly traveled into the forest to find some wood. After we couldn’t find anymore fire wood we met back up and counted the wood.

“twenty-four logs and thirty-two sticks.” I said.

“NEXT, my back hurts.” Graff shouted.

“Man up! The next thing is to move the rocks behind the house.”

I said. I look around to see the pile of these big rocks up the man’s long drive way. Graff ran behind the house and picked up a wheel barrel and came back.

“Let’s do this.” Graff whispered. We walked all the way up the tall drive way up to the top. The wheel barrel was heavy. Graff held the wheel barrel as I put the rocks in the barrel. As soon as we walked down the hill the barrel shot out from Graff’s hands and the barrel rolled down the hill and crashed into the pile of logs, as rocks flew out onto the ground.

“Whoops!” Graff laughed.

“That’s not funny dude we have to get this work done before he comes back.” I snapped.

“I know.” Graff said. We walked back down the hill and put the rocks behind the house.

“Alright two chores down four more chores to go.” I said proudly. “Next we have to organize the pile of wood, screws, bolts, and screw drivers.” I said slowly. He gave us a list of how much wood, screws, bolts, and screw drivers there were. Graff and I walked around the farm a few times till we found the pile of stuff. We organized the wood first then the screws then the bolts, and last screw drivers.

“I’m tiered of working!” Graff shouted. Graff lays down all sweaty from the sun.

“No we are not going to quit! We have just one more chore to do. The man will be home in an hour.” I said.

“Fine!” Graff said giving me an ugly look.

“The last chore is not even hard. All we have to do is just pull weeds out of the field.” I said taking deep breaths.

“I hardly saw any weeds out in the field earlier” Graff said. He lifted his head then we walked out into the field, By then the sun was just setting.

“Hurry Graff it’s getting dark.” I shouted. We poked our heads out into the field. There were weeds every where.

“Not hard PUH!!” Graff said giving me an ugly look. I shrugged my shoulders and walked down the hill.

“It is already five thirty.” I said. We started pulling weeds here and there and every where, I also I had to make several trips to the trash can to throw away the handfuls of weeds. After 20 minutes most the weeds were gone. Graff and I dragged ourselves up the hill and sat down. Our backs hurt so much from bending over. The man drove down the drive way parking his truck.

“Hey boys!” the man shouted then he stopped and looked around. “I didn’t say you had to do all of it.” He said. “I was just expecting you to pick up trash and that’s it.” Graff looked over at me really angry. “You boys had done a lot of work! You two deserve something special.” The man walked over and handed us $40 each.

“Wow thanks!” Graff said as he jumped right up. At that moment I learned something. I learned that you should always complete task and objectives even if you don’t know your goal then it could lead you into better things.

Student Blogs Go Live

Along the right side of this page, you will find the links to newly-created individual student blogs.  Many already have writing published for you to check out!  Comment and let the authors know what you think.