IMPORTANT INFORMATION for Mr. Bosler's upcoming assignments

HOMEWORK:
 I would like students to finish reading My Favorite Chaperone using their online books.  Each student in class today was shown how to do this.  They should also answer the questions.

Here is the book.
Here are the questions.
Share your questions with me so I can grade them: mrbozhb@gmail.com
E-mail me if you need your username and password again: mrbozhb@gmail.com

The close reading questions the students are responsible for are good for discussing the story as we read.  They are asking the students to analyze.  And I still want them all answered and ready for discussion so they can be checked for accuracy soon.

Here is what I have created for the next few pieces of writing. 
 It is a work in progress and will be on this page.  

The writing for Smarter Balance requires students to write extended responses which have a clear focus and use multiple pieces of evidence from texts.  At the conclusion of this unit, students will have read multiple pieces on the theme of immigrants.  They will be asked to write an expository essay on the experiences of immigrants.  

Essay 1: Due March 2nd-ish

I would like the students to write an essay on My Favorite Chaperone first. (Different classes will have different length expectations. Grade based on supports.)

How are the events in the rising action magnified (worse) for Maya's family because they are immigrants?  Contrast the American experience with the immigrant experience. Describe how the writer conveys the immigrants' experience in America through the use of characters such as Maya and her family. Go through each character and describe what we learn from each. Find at least three uses of imagery in the story that express the immigrant's experience in America.  Describe how these external images reflect the internal experiences of the characters in the story. To get started on these all of these, go through the story and compile examples of the immigrants' experiences in America.  For example, early in the story Maya's brother was being bullied.  However, we come to find that the custodian at the school was bullied the same way when he was younger.

Ven Diagram: Due March 5?

I would then like them to compare and contrast the experiences of those characters with the experience of the author of the memoir Bonne Annee.  This can be a shorter piece, or maybe even just a graphic organizer or brainstorming.

Research

Students will then research informational articles.  One article we will read is from our book: A Place to Call Home- What Immigrants Say About Life in America.  Students will learn to take notes.  They will also be expected to find one or two more sources on their own, or I will copy articles if they do not have computer access due to testing.

Expository Essay: Date to be determine

I will help the students to organize their essays around a focusing statement.  For example, being an immigrant in America is hard. They could then go through the three pieces they read, discussing how each piece helped them to arrive at that conclusion.

Students could also discuss various aspects of being an immigrant that were covered in all three pieces.  For example, immigrants feel more stress than citizens of the country.  (I don't know if that is true.  I am just throwing that out there.)  They will have three body paragraphs, one on each aspect.  Within each paragraph, they will use examples from the three pieces.

I will have better outlines as we approach the time to organize and write.

Hopefully we will have computer access so students can type the essay up in class.