WRITING CONFERENCES BEGIN Tuesday, October 11. These will focus on stylistic improvements, as well as assessing the quality of your claim and supporting reasons. During the conference, I will ask you to read a body paragraph aloud. We will discuss what to improve, and how to go about completing those revisions. Once complete, writers will have ONE week to revise. Please staple your new draft on top of the first (with my comments). Our next text is Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.

MONDAY

Overview of minimizing wordiness--writing concisely, avoiding inflated phrasing, changing passive voice--by use of specific nouns and active verbs. Students will also sign up for writing conferences.
Analyze your nature paper for helping verbs (is, am, are, was, were, have, has, had, can, could, should, would, be, being, been, do, doing, does) and indefintite pronouns (some, many, this, those, people).

TUESDAY

Introduction to our next unit, "Puritans & Protest." We will read the NYT article on how America still reflects Puritan values, and start reading the introduction to Miller's play.
Finish reading the introduction (#2) to the play, and have your copy of the plan with you in class on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY

NO SCHOOL
HW: Remember to bring your copy of the play to class tomorrow.

THURSDAY

Q&A about introductions and conclusions, and we will also cover some trends in word choice that weaken your voice, stylistically.
HW: Begin drafting the reasons that support your claim. Remember, a claim is what you believe, the reasons explain why you believe it.

FRIDAY

Peer editing day. You will want to have a rough draft of ONE of your body paragraphs prepared for some peer reading today, in your small research groups.
HW: Wilderness/nature essays due Monday!