S+Cole,+Eric

** E-mail: ** eric.cole@maine.edu
 * Teacher:** Mr. Cole
 * Office:** Room 1492 in the Peterson Building
 * Office Phone:** 320-5144
 * Office Hours:** M-F 3:00-4:30

=Summary of Unit= The purpose of this unit is for students to 1: Gain a greater appreciation for writing by learning about how to write with passion and conviction. 2: Learn about the basic practices and vocabulary of English and Writing such as Plot, Metaphors, Character Development, Dialogue, Imagery, and Story Webs and Trees. 3: To become better writers by learning not only how to write about things that they know, but to also be able to connect to stories that they read in a personal and meaningful way. 4: To learn about different technologies that they will be able to use such as Blogs, Wikis, IMovies, Podcasts, and Online Poster Creators. Students will achieve these goals by writing multiple stories based on their own experiences, and reading other stories by their fellow classmates. They will also take some of the stories they write and convert them into podcasts, and digital presentations. This entire unit will culminate in the students creating one final digital presentation based on a childhood event.

=Establish Goals= Maine Learning Results: English Language Arts: B. Writing B2. Narrative Grades 6-8 Students write narratives that convey complex ideas, observations, events, or reflections.

= = =Students will understand that= • writing is not robotic. It is written with passion. • writing is about connecting things to you in a personal way. • writing is about what you know, rather than what you don't know.

= = =Essential Questions= • How do you develop a passion for writing? • Why do you make a personal connection? • Why do you write about things that you know?

= = =Students will know= • Vocabulary: Metaphors, Imagery, Alliteration, Similes, Personification • Story Development: Plot, Setting, Characters, Dialogue, Suspense, Voice, Climax • Story Creation: Brainstorming, Venn Diagrams, Story webs and trees, Character Bios

= = =Students will be able to= • express emotion in their writing • represent themselves in their writing • create stories based on their own personal experiences • compare passionate writing with non-passionate writing • relate to other student's writing • students will be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to writing.

**Performance Task Overview**

You are an aspiring children’s author who has written an amazing new children’s book about an event that happened in your life. You have sent your story off to several publishing companies, including Random House Inc, and have received a letter back from Random House. While they are interested in your story, they are still undecided on whether they want to publish it or not. They have asked you to “sell” your story to them, and to help get them excited about publishing it! Using Comic Life, and other digital media of your choosing, you will create a digital presentation of your story that you will present to several Random House editors and executives. Your story can be of any length and style that you choose. You will use Comic Life to create the illustrations for your story. Be Creative, and think “outside the box”! Create something that the executives will remember and be excited about!

=Expectations= As with all classes there are certain expectations that I expect out of you as a student. Learning is a cooperative process. I must meet a certain amount of expectations that you have of me, just as you must meet the expectations that I expect out of you. As long as we are able to do this in a respectful manner, then things should go quite smooth in this class.

__//**Attendance**//__**/__//Participation//__** You are expected to attend every class. However, attending class and sitting in the back falling asleep is not enough! You must also be prepared to participate in class. Regularly attending, and participating in class discussions is an important part of succeeding in this class. If you do not take the time to attend, and participate then you will not fully understand the material, and will do poorly. However, I do understand that life happens. You get ill, you get a flat tire on your car, or you take a bad tumble and break something. If you will be unable to attend class please let me know. Send me an email at eric.cole@maine.edu as soon as possible so that I might mark you accordingly, and be able to set up a date and time where you will be able to come in, and catch up on what you missed. If you are unable to attend class you will be expected to get the assignments for the day from a fellow classmate.

__//**Assignments**//__ The second part of succeeding in this class is to complete your assignments. Assignments will be completed on the day they are due. However, again, life can get in a way. I understand that there is more to school than simply classes. People have extra curricular activities, part time jobs, etc.... If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, late work will be accepted within three days of the due date with a 5 point penalty for each day the assignment is late. After the third day, the assignment will be considered incomplete, and will receive an automatic 0.

__//**Plagiarism**//__ Writing is all about finding your own way, and your own voice. It is about creating something that is uniquely your own that nobody can ever take away from you. For this reason, Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. Many of the things we will be doing in this class will be creative in nature, but if you must quote out of a book, or do research online, you must cite your sources. I will be checking for plagiarism throughout the semester. Do not simply assume that if something is turned back into you that it is safe. If I find that you have plagiarized there will be severe consequences. //**DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!**//

__//**Respect**//__ This above everything else is the single most important expectation in this classroom. It is terrifying enough to have to read something out loud to a class, or have to come up to the board to answer a question, or a hundred other tasks that are performed in the classroom. However, this fear is only enhanced when it is your own work that you are presenting. People are protective of their writing. It becomes a part of them. So, when someone has to share that part with the world, it can be a scary thing, and nobody deserves to be disrespected when they put themselves out there like that. You will respect all of your classmates, and the writing that they will be doing in this class. If I see anyone making fun of someone behind their back, saying something clever or snide, or any other disrespectful act, that person will be asked to leave the class immediately, and will have to make up the work done in class that day. Simply follow the golden rule of "Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself" and you will do fine in this class.

=Benchmarks (EXPAND ON THESE! MAKE THEM A PARAGRAPH!)= Below are the assignments that you will be expected to complete throughout the semester. These assignments will be graded based on a point system. If you complete all the assignments you may earn up to **1,375** points.

__**Class Journal**__ (175 points)

Before each class this semester we will have a free write session in a class journal. These writings will be based on various prompts that I will provide, or will be a general free write. Each one of these journal entries will not be graded per say. If you simply complete the assignment, you will be rewarded the full points that day.

__**Participation**__ (150 points)

As said in the expectations, Participation in this class is an imortant part to the learning process. You will be expected to participate in class discussions, and read out a few of your written works to the class. Your participation will be monitored each class through check marks on the attendance sheet., and you will receive a final assessment of how you performed in this area at the end of the year.

__**Online Poster**__ (50 Points)

On their own, students will first read two stories, one that they think is passionate, and one that they think is non-passionate. They will compare the writing in these two stories, and develop a list of what they think passionate and non-passionate writing is. Then in groups, students will create an online poster comparing these two styles of writing. These posters will then be presented to the class, and will be graded using one rubric. Students will also do a self-assessment with this rubric on how they believed they did on the project.

__**Blog**__ (75 Points)

On their own, students will write a blog for at least a week on their own everyday lives. These blogs can be about various events that the student experiences throughout the week, feelings that they have, or just their general thoughts on various issues. Students will then take these blogs, and using what is written in them students will write a short story. These stories will be posted on the class wikispace, and students will also have the opportunity to share their stories in class. These stories will be graded using a rubric that I will create.

__**Audio Podcast**__ (125 Points)

On their own, students will write a story about a "big" childhood event in their life. These stories can range from being about something funny, something embarrassing that happened to you, a family vacation that you took one summer, or any other event that you deem significant in your life. Students will then take these stories and using Garageband, or any other audio recording software, students will record an audio book of their story, with the student "acting" the story out, and showing the emotional depth of the story.


 * __Wikispace__** (100 Points)

On their own, students will listen to at least three of their classmates audio recordings. Students will pick stories that they share a connection with. These connections will vary based on the student's personal experiences and emotions. Students will then create a wikispace about the three stories that they choose to listen too. On this wikispace students will describe how they connected to each story, what they felt while listening to each story, and their general feelings on the story as a whole. Students will use hyperlinks to various websites that show why they connected to each story the way that they did.


 * __Comic-Life__** (150 Points

Students should be pretty aware of their own strengths and weaknesses as a writer now. Students will be placed into groups based on their common strengths and weaknesses as writers. Each group will then write a story where one character has all of the students strengths, and another character has all of the students weaknesses. These stories can be in any style that the group decides, but each group will use Comic Life to craft the story into a comic book. These books will then be presented to the class, and be graded using a rubric that I create.


 * __Final Project__** (550 Points)

For the students final project, students will follow the following prompt to create a digital presentation of a childrens book that they will write for this class. Students will be graded using two rubrics: One for their actual project, and one for their presentation.

You are an aspiring children’s author who has written an amazing new children’s book about an event that happened in your life. You have sent your story off to several publishing companies, including Random House Inc, and have received a letter back from Random House. While they are interested in your story, they are still undecided on whether they want to publish it or not. They have asked you to “sell” your story to them, and to help get them excited about publishing it! Using Comic Life, and other digital media of your choosing, you will create a digital presentation of your story that you will present to several Random House editors and executives. Your story can be of any length and style that you choose. You will use Comic Life to create the illustrations for your story. Be Creative, and think “outside the box”! Create something that the executives will remember and be excited about!

=Grading Scale= **A** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76),
 * C-** (70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59).