Fall Nonfiction Book Share

Now after analyzing your books in your journals, you have the chance to discuss your thoughts and reactions to the arguments you encountered in your books.  Feel free to use any of the prompts to respond to--DON'T feel like you need to answer all of them.

              *   Why should people read this book?  What is important, significant, or life-changing about the argument and the information presented?  Or, why shouldn't they waste their time with this book?  What was disappointing, frustrating, or even disturbing about what the writer did here?


            *    How did this book affect and influence your own thinking about the issue?  What did you think/believe before you started the book?  What do you think/believe now?  What was the most compelling part of the book that influenced your own thinking?


           *    What did you learn by reading this book that you would like to share with others?  What connections did you make with the reading?  What new insights and understandings do you now have?
 
           *    How successful was the author's argument?  What did the author achieve?  What didn't he/she achieve?  


A good blog post will have an angle or a focus that will be hinted at in the title. This angle will be the driving focus of the blog post.  It will discuss only a few really important specifics from the book, but it will discuss them deeply.  It will make connections between the reading and personal observations and/or experiences.  The writing will be clear, effective, and have a sense of voice.  Length: approx. 250-300 words.


 After you post your blog, read the posts of your peers and respond to them.  Try to engage in a conversation with at least 2 or 3 other people today.  Be respectful in your responses and share ideas.

Why You Truly Never Leave High School

Directions: Based on our discussions of what it means to have an idea and the “notice and focus” reading strategy, your first writing assignment is to write about an original idea(!) you have after reading an article from New York Magazine, entitled “Why You Truly Never Leave High School.”

For homework, as you read the article, apply the “notice and focus” strategy that we learned in class today. You can take notes in the margins—this will help you arrive at an idea that you will write about on our class blog.


You can write about anything that interests or strikes you based on what you read.  Keep your post centered around one main idea, insight, or observation you came to while doing the notice and focus strategy.  As you write, make sure you refer back to specific details from the article as you develop and explore that idea with more depth.

Note: This assignment asks you to write about an original idea you have. Please do not repeat other classmates’ ideas. This means that you need to read previous blog entries before submitting yours for everyone to see.

Don’t forget to construct your entry with your audience in mind. Your personality and your voice in writing is what makes a blog engaging. Also, avoid writing long paragraphs—long blocks of texts are difficult for readers on a computer to digest. Remember to include a catchy blog post title—you want your entry to stand out from the rest! Your blog entry should be approximately 300 words long (about one page typed).