Odyssey Constructed Response 9th Lit

Hello all,

I've been checking over the constructed responses of the people who turned them in early and I'm seeing a couple of things.  You have until 11:59 tonight to resubmit your constructed response to turnitin.com.  Please double check that you have done the following things, and edit your response and resubmit if you have not.

1. Do you have 3 paragraphs?  1 paragraph for each response.
2. Does EACH of your paragraphs have the following:
1. a thesis statement that clearly answers the question that is your first sentence
2. 2, 3, or 4 quotes from the Odyssey to use as evidence to support your thesis
3. for each quote, at least one sentence that explains how your quote supports your thesis
4. a conclusion sentence that restates without repeating your thesis as your last sentence
3. Is each paragraph numbered 1, 2, or 3. (In order please)
4. Do you have an MLA Heading?
5. Have you put your quotes in quotation marks:  "words words words (p. #)."
6. Have you fully answered the question in the prompt?
7. Is your explanation of how the quote supports your thesis underlined? (This is to prove to yourself that you do have it.)
8. Did you look at the examples we did in class?  Does each of your response look similar or very different (it should not).

From what I've seen most students missed only one or two things listed above and would loose just a few points.  Some students it seems didn't read the instructions and only looked at the questions, which means they won't earn points.  We discussed this in class and did an example together in class.

Please use this opportunity as a chance to raise their grades.  This assignment is worth 30 points and up until this point their constructed responses were only worth 20.  I want this to help their grades, not to harm them.  

I've copied the assignment below:

Student responses. Answer each of the prompts with a complete paragraph. The majority of your points will come from how well you explain how your textual evidence supports your claim. You do need a thesis/claim statement, 2-4 pieces of evidence (quotes!), and a concluding statement as well.

1. Evaluate Odysseus' trials. What obstacle do you think is the greatest one that Odysseus faces? Describe it and explain why it was the biggest challenge he faces. (10 Points)


2. Is Odysseus an epic hero? Why or why not? Provide and explain at least two (2) specific examples from the text. (10 Points)


3. Explain the virtue of hospitality by using one episode from Odysseus’s travels that illustrates the importance of this virtue to ancient Greeks. (10 Points)

Yearbook 2nd 6 weeks Progress Report

Hi all,

Today marks the end of the 2^nd 6 weeks grading periods.  Some students are doing stellar in the class.  Some students are behind.  As I told them today, if I don’t have their page done, checked, edited, and submitted today, I cannot give them a grade as they haven’t earned any points.  Because some students have yet to submit their Deadline 2 page, their grades are about to massively drop.  

However, I know they are working hard on their pages to get them in to our standards by Monday. 

Please have your student pull up their yearbook page for you and talk you through their progress on Deadline 2 (10-19—yes, they are late).  Some are submitted and graded, but if their button is not green, your child’s page has not been completed.

If they are not finished, please make sure they work hard this weekend to complete their deadlines to pull their grades up.

Thank you and happy Halloween!

9th Lit 12 Week Progress Reports

Hi all,

Progress Reports will come home next week.  What I’ve seen is that students who are doing all of their work, are participating in class, and turning their work in are passing.  The students who are not passing are not passing because of a major zero.  Every assignment from this point on is vital to their grades. Please make sure they’re doing their homework every night.  Yes, they have homework every night. Even if they don’t have an assignment due (which usually they do), they should be spending time studying for their upcoming test.

Students will have a quiz over the Odyssey Part 2 on Monday.  They also have their Constructed Responses due on turnitin.com on Monday before 11:59.  Please let me know if you have any questions about that one—we did do an example together which is on the blog.

We’ll have the Odyssey Unit Test on Tuesday.  Students have their study guides and have been working on filling them out the whole time we’ve been reading.

Also, with the EOC looming upon the horizon I’ve been assigning USATestPrep.com practice every week for homework (Due Wednesdays).  Some students are doing this well.  Some aren’t touching it.  Please encourage your student to not only complete these practices, but try their hardest as they mimic the EOC, which will be 20% of their grade.  The more they practice the test taking skills, the better they’ll be on that test.

Happy Halloween!

Kim Bundschu

The Odyssey 9th Lit

At this point students should have read up through "The Challenge" of The Odyssey and completed most of their study guide questions.  Our test is scheduled for Tuesday next week, and we'll have 2 major assignments in the interim.  Please make sure they are studying and prepared.

We also have 2 USA Test Prep assignments due on Wednesday night, with another 2 for next week.

Happy Tuesday!

Yearbook -- Last Chance

Tomorrow I'm going to do a final run through of our pages.  Any edits that I have to make at this point will come off your grade.  Make sure that you've gone by our rubric, class discussions, notes on your page, and have no errors.  Check the colors, the layout, the name tags, the punctuation, and the spelling.

Grades go in tomorrow.  Happy Thursday.

9th Lit Permission Slip Due 10/27

Hello all,

We sent home a permission slip today about the movie we'd like to watch in class next week as a part of a multimedia, standards-based assignment.  You can find a digital copy of it here, just in case your 9th grader misplaced it.

Happy Thursday!

[edit: Apparently, because we've previously shown this movie with no problems, we were told that permission slips are not neccessary.  If you have an issue with the movie, please let me know directly at kimberly [dot] bundschu [at] cobbk12 [dot] org and I will give your student an alternative assignment.  Students who did turn in their slip today will receive extra credit because they did exactly as I asked.]

Moving forward 9th Lit

This unit we're reading The Odyssey.  We'll have a quiz over part 1 tomorrow, the quiz over part 2 next week as well as a travel brochure, a writing assignment, and our test will be early the week after.

We'll also have our Touchstone 2 on Friday.  This is a standarized test from the county that doesn't directly impact your grade, HOWEVER you can use it to recover an old test grade