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TYPE ON YOUR OWN PAGE DO NOT DELETE THIS PAGE "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
 * Take a look at the two writing options for today**
 * "I have a Dream" Response**

Use all of these words in a story:
 * Writing prompt:** Has MLK's Dream been realized in this country? Explain.
 * Word Splash**
 * Friday the 13th
 * Cold
 * January
 * Wilkinsburg Middle School
 * late bell
 * Science Test
 * Cold chicken nuggets
 * A stolen calulator

Write for the entire period and try to be creative in your storytelling. Your story can be funny, scary, or just wacky. Happy writing.

Now, I want you to try a three element story like you did on Monday and make it about WMS. In these lists, all of the things are things that can be found here at the school.
 * WMS 3 Element Story**
 * The ISS room, a pencil, and a broken locker
 * Office 211, a piece of chalk, and Mr. Uhlinger's beard
 * Cafeteria Pizza, the band room, and Mr. Boll's computer
 * Mr. Altemus's pencil sharpener, the Boys' gym, and snack shack french fries
 * 4- Sight tests, Middle school basketball game, and a security guard
 * Creative Writing class, Math homework, and a bullying meeting
 * A hall pass, a fire drill, and a 5-paragraph essay
 * PSSA, homework, and cafeteria green beans

Just like Monday, you should use one of these lists to write for the entire period. Be creative and have fun.

Your assignement today is to write a creative short story using a set of three elements from the list below. Your story can be about anything, but it must include the three things from the list you choose. __Choose from these options:__
 * 3 Element Story**
 * A stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a stranger
 * A taxi, an old enemy, and valentines day
 * Identical twins, a middle school, and a broken desk
 * A campfire, a scream, and a lie that gets bigger and bigger
 * The first day of school, a note, and a recipe with a big mistake
 * A broken wristwatch, peppermints, and a hug
 * An annoying boss, a swimming pool, and a fake illness
 * A basketball, a parked car, and a group of kids

Pick one of these sets and tell a story. Your story has to include all three elements in the group. I want you to write for the entire period. Take your time and develop a good story.

Happy writing. For this assignment, you will be writing a story from the first person point of view of another character. Basically, you will have to put yourself in somebody else's shoes. Take a look at this picture:
 * Point Of View Story**

Without knowing much of anything about what is happening here, create a story from the man's point of view. Where is he? What is he doing? Why is he doing what he is doing? There is no right or wrong answer for this assignment and you can be as creative as you want. Make sure you explain the feelings and thoughts of the character and use first person language (I, we, us etc)

[]
 * Skipping School Assignment- Please follow the directions and answer the questions on your wiki.**
 * Read this entire article:**

1) Summarize this article in 30-35 words.


 * 2)** According to the article, what might be some roadblocks that this law will face?


 * Open-ended Response: Do you think something like this would work in WIlkinsburg? Use examples from the text to support your answer.**

"I am" Metaphor Poems A metaphor is when you compare two things without using the words "like" or "as." Today, I want you to write metphor poems about yourself. These poems should start with "I am."

For example: I am a pencil, the days are stories that come to blank pages.

I am an empty book, With so many pages left to fill.

Find something you can compare yourself to, and try to complete the comparison by briefly explaining the comparison. Try as many as you can in the class period. If you want to use simile after you have tried some metaphors, you can.

Have fun and happy writing.

Courage In My Community Essay

Now is your chance to write a courage essay for submission to this competition: []

The competition simply asks that you "explore and write about their own experience with courage and how this experience has made an impact in their lives." This is the first organized academic essay that some of you have written and it will take some time and work. This essay is titled the "Courage in My Community" essay so make sure you think about courage in your life and where you live. Please take time to read the description of this assignment so that you know what is expected. **Your essay should be at least one page long. You may write it on the Wiki or on Microsoft Word and paste it to the wiki.** Your essay must include: 1. Dialogue “ Hurry or you’ll be late!” called my mother from the bottom of the stairs. “Today of all days you want to be on time.” If I had only know what that day would bring, I would have stayed in bed. 2. A Question Have you ever had a day when you wished you had stayed in bed? As I rushed to catch the bus on what seemed to be a perfectly normal day I had no idea what was ahead of me. 3. A Vivid Description The sun was warm on my back as I raced toward the waiting yellow school bus. As I nestled into the worn leather seat I was greeted by the friendly voices of other excited children. The look on my face was one of confidence and contentment. With a jerk the bus rumbled down the road and I was on my way into one of the worst days of my life. 4. An Interesting Fact Shock has been known to kill ten year olds. It can cause their brains to explode and their heart to stop dead still. These facts raced through my mind as I stood dumbfounded in front of my fourth grade classmates. I wish I had stayed in bed! 5. Sound Effects “Buzzzzzz!” The sound of my alarm clock droned in my ears as I struggled to come awake. With a start I sat straight up in my bed. This was my big day and I had to be on time.
 * Introductory paragraph that gets the readers attention
 * A second paragraph that clearly shows what courage means to you
 * a story about how you have noticed courage either in your own life or in the lives of others.
 * A conclusion that tells what that courage has meant to you
 * Introduction notes:** Use one of these methods in your introduction to help get the reader's attention

Article Response: I have always said the most important thing that you can do in education is to learn ways to understand and respond to the world. One way to do that is to read the news. I came across the article that you are reading in class today in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday. I want you to respond to the article answering these questions.
 * Do you think that this would be a better way to do high school?
 * What are some reasons that are mentioned in the text that this would be better or worse than the normal high school experience?
 * If you were given the opportunity to be a part of this program in 9th grade, would you do it?

Your response should answer all of these questions and be about 8 sentences long.

Happy writing and thinking.

Song Re-write: Most of you have heard songs before that are written to the tune or the beat of another popular song. Today, I want you to try this. Pick one of you favorite songs and re-write the lyrics. This may be hard at first, but take a look at the lyrics of the song and insert your own lyrics to the same rhyme scheme or rhythem.

Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" says:

Let's hear it for New York These streets will make you feel brand new These lights will inspire you.

You could re-write that for Pittsburgh:

Lets hear it for Pittsburgh Yellow bridges crossing the river Good times we deliver.

Happy writing.

Questioning Assignment

- First I want you to explain who you are interviewing and why they are being interviewed. This could be a real or fictional character, but it should be someone who is interesting to you and who you know something about so that you can ask informed questions. Next, I want you to think of 10 questions that you will ask during the interview. Think about questions that viewers would actually want to see answered. For example, nobody cares where or when someone was born. Instead, you may ask someone what is was like growing up in a certain neighborhood or area and how did that affect the person that they are today? Don't ask yes or no questions, but questions that require thought and longer answers. This week we take a three day break from school to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. All of us have holiday stories that would be worth sharing as holidays are often a time to spend with family and loved ones. For today and Wednesday of this week, I want you to write a holiday **story with the theme of family**. This is your only requirement about the content. It should be about the holidays and center on family. The definition of family can be as broad as you want it to be. This is a narrative, so I will be looking for a lot of the same things that were present in you Superhero stories earlier this year.
 * Holiday Story Assigment**

You will be graded on the following:
 * Strong sensory descriptions throughout the narrative
 * A detailed chronolgoical narrative with transition words (next, after that, later that day, then etc)
 * An introduction that gets the readers attention (Use a question, a quote, or a vivid description)
 * A conclusion that talks about your theme of family

THis is a two-day assignment and that should be reflected in the length. I am looking for a longer narrative that gives detail of a story about holidays and family.

Happy Writing.

As is usually the case, you have two options for this assignment. "We wake early we think often we, talk softly we, Scream loudly"
 * "WE Real Cool" Assignment**
 * The first option is simply for you to re-write this poem. You would have to use the same format exactly, but change the words slightly. For example, if I were writing about teachers I might say...

With this option, you would have to put yourself in the mindset of the person you are writing about just like Gwendolyn Brooks did in "We Real Cool." "I come to the pool hall because school was never going to work for me. It didn't work for my brother or my dad. So I figured it wasn't for me either."
 * You second option is to write a narrative or story from the perspective of the pool players at the Golden Shovel in Brooks' poem. This should be at least 12 lines long. Tell the reader what they are thinking, why they aren't in school, what they do, and whether the poem was right that they are not the best of kids. Remember, any first person account is much better when the characters thoughts are included.

Happy writng. We will read this article together as a class, and I want each student to respond to this story in writing. You have two options:
 * Today's Assignment: Bullying is an important in the news today. This article caught my eye in Sports Illustrated recently. Take a look.**
 * You can respond directly to this article by explaining whether you think that what Desean Jackson is doing will help the bullying problem. Of course, you have to to explain your answer with supporting details.
 * The other option is to speak about bullying in general. You could discuss whether you think that bullying is a problem and your experience with it (remember to keep names out of it). What do you think should be done to help people be nicer to one another? Do you think this is important? explain your answer with details.

DeSean Jackson wants you to stay still and listen. This seems an odd request coming from one of the NFL's fastest and most animated players. But Jackson, the Eagles' star receiver, is spreading a message that even rival fans should embrace: Bullying is a major problem; it's not an acceptable part of growing up, and we all need to deal with it. "I'm talking to everybody," he told SI last week, and he does mean everybody: victims, bullies and bystanders. Jackson did not ask his agent to pick a cause out of a hat to help his image. The cause found him last winter, in the form of a 13-year-old boy from outside Philadelphia named Nadin Khoury, whose favorite athlete happens to be one DeSean Jackson. One day last January, neighborhood bullies, who had long tormented Nadin, took the abuse to a new level. They kicked and punched him and dragged him through the snow. They hoisted him into a tree and hung him from his jacket on an iron fence. Like most bullying incidents, the attack would have remained a dark secret, but word got out for two reasons: Video of the attack was recorded on one of the bullies' cellphones, and when Nadin got back on his feet, he stood up for himself. He told his mother, who informed the police and the school district, and when local news outlets reported the incident, Nadin spoke out, even as the story went national. " It hit a chord with me," Jackson says. "I wanted to go help him and stand up for him. In this world a lot of people get bullied." When Nadin courageously shared his story on The View, Jackson surprised him by walking onto the set. Nadin was so overwhelmed by the sight of his hero that he dissolved into tears. Since then the two have become friends. Jackson took Nadin to the ESPYs awards ceremony in July, and they keep in touch. B ut Nadin is just one kid. Jackson wants to influence thousands. This past spring, while the NFL was locked out, Jackson was locked in on his mission. He spoke to students at five schools in one day. He appeared before the Oakland all-city student council. He went to San Quentin to hear prisoners tell their stories. He spent the off-season working with Leila Steinberg of Alternative Intervention Models, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that specializes in helping kids through arts and athletics. Jackson has discovered what so many other athletes haven't: They are in a unique position to fight bullying. In almost any social setting, athletes are the biggest, strongest and most popular people. They help set the tone for what is socially acceptable. Steinberg works with a lot of performers, but she said, "I have the artists that I need. I couldn't get to 50 percent of the kids. DeSean helped me reach them." Jackson seems like an unlikely role model. He occasionally says something impolitic, and he celebrates touchdowns two to three business days before he scores them. But that is precisely why he spreads this message so well. He does not speak from a pedestal but from the heart. His speeches stand out for what he doesn't say. He does not scream at bullies or even chastise them. His message is inclusive. He wants students to understand: At some point, in some way, we have all been picked on, and we have all picked on others. That includes Jackson, who grew up in a rough neighborhood in L.A. " DeSean always speaks in the first person," Steinberg says. "He talks about how he was bullied and how he became a bully. Everything that comes out of our mouth lands somewhere-and in an instant you can save a life or destroy one." There are three target audiences for his speeches, and most of us fall into all three. There are the bullies. There are the bullied. And there are those who stand by and do nothing rather than risk the wrath of bullies. "A lot of kids are scared to speak up, scared to tell their parents, scared to tell the teachers," Jackson says. "At a young age, it's so hard to do anything about it. I'm at a point where I've made it and I can help." Jackson and Steinberg are developing an antibullying curriculum to spread throughout the country. They are trying to stop a cycle: The bullied become bullies. If we simplify the problem-if we break it down into evildoers versus victims-we won't solve it. Jackson says, "I'm just trying to prevent it. [Bullying] is not a job. It's not going to help you in life." Jackson now has two jobs: One, with the Eagles, that everybody wants, and another, as an antibullying ambassador, that any athlete can have. Nadin Khoury's story struck a chord with him. Perhaps Jackson's story will resonate with his counterparts in all sports. Professional athletes don't have to worry about bullying. But it would be nice if they did
 * In the news: Bullying**

Everybody has dreams and goals. In this assignment you will think through a few of your own dreams and goals in life and what they mean to you. What do you want to be in life and how do you want to get there. Think about this before you write.
 * Dreams and Goals Essay**
 * What are your academic goals? How do you want to do in high school? Do you want to go to college? How do you think you will get there? Explain.
 * What are your professional goals? Do you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a business person, a teacher, or an athlete. Be as detailed as you can and explain your answer.
 * What do you hope to give to the world? Do you want to make a lot of money or make the world a better place to live? Explain.

Quotation marks are something that are often used incorrectly at the middle school level. Today, your job is to write about a conversation that you heard or were a part of that you remember well. I want this to be longer than a 5 line conversation, so please think of an important, longer conversation that you can share. Please pay attention to these rules when quoting:
 * Using Quotations Correctly**
 * All direct quotes, or things a character says, should be set apart with quotation marks (" ") . **Example:** "Get over here," my mom shouted.
 * All explanatory phrases (he said, she exclaimed, he screamed etc...) should be set apart from the end of the quote with a comma inside of the quotation marks. **Example:** "The Steelers lost to the Ravens last night **,"** Mr. Boll explained.
 * Place all punctutation inside of quotation marks at the end of a quote, but before quotation markds at the beginning of a quote. **Example:** Mr. Boll screamed from the front of the room, " get back into your chairs !"

Be creative, have fun, and happy writing. As most of you know, the middle school is currently selling hoagies to raise money for field trips and activities. In the past, we have went to Kennywood and to Boyce park as our field trips. Your assignment today is to think of the ultimate field trip for the middle school. Imagine that we raise a lot of money and that this is not an issue for our trip. Your job is to persuade the adminstration and teachers here to take this trip.
 * Middle School Activity/Field Trip**

This should be at least two strong paragraphs:
 * One paragraph that introduces the trip and talks about why students here would enjoy that trip so much
 * One paragraph persuading teachers and administration that this would be a good trip to take middle school students on. Remember what teachers and administrators care about: Learning, safety, fun, etc.

Dream big. Due at the end of the period.
 * NEW QUARTER:** **Assignment 4:** I love hearing all the halloween stories. Please take the time to write your most memorable Trick or Treat Tale in your life. This should be 15 lines worth of writing. Please share the characters in your story, the setting of your story, and events or plot of the story. Enjoy the writing, and take your time in writing.

Special Assignment (We will try this again):
Students in 7th and 8th grade about being drug free and living a drug free life. The poem can be about any aspect of the Red Ribbon Week causes as long as it is respectful and appropriate for the learning environment. A poem expresses your feelings, so it is that easy. Just express how you feel. The poem will be judged on the following areas: The poems are due in office 211 by Wednesday, Oct. 26. The winner will be notified on Friday and recieve a $15 gift card.
 * Focus- Is the poem focused on the topic of living a drug free life
 * Grammar- Is the poem written using good punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
 * Content- Is the form of the poem allowing the reader to feel, think, and imagine the feelings expressed about living a drug free life.


 * You could use 5 Stanzas like this:**

Keep your mind free to learn and grow, read a book or hang with friends And Just say no.

This is an ABCB rhyme scheme which is common for poetry. Try this in your poem.

Write a three paragraph essay on a person that inspires you. This could be an actor, musician, politician, historical figure, or anyone who you know. Format your paper like this:

 * ===First paragraph should give a short biography of the person. What do/did they do? What is their contribution to society? etc.===
 * **Second paragraph should be about one way that they inspire you. Make sure you connect them to how they inspire you. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. inspires me to have hope because he showed that things can be better than what they are.**
 * **Third paragraph should have another way that person inspires you.**

Imagine that you are planning the Wilkinsburg Graduation. The school district has asked you to convice them why your favorite person should be the graduation speaker. Your job is to pick the person you want to speak at graduation and convince the school that they should allow this person to come and speak.
 * Assignment 3:**


 * First, you must introtduce the person that you want to speak and say what they do (intro paragraph)
 * Your next paragraph should give one reason why they should speak and explain why that reason would be helpful for Wilkinsburg students.
 * Your next paragraph should give a second reason why that person should speak and why this reason with supporting details as well.
 * Then include a conclusion.

Your paper should be 4 short paragraphs.

Happy Writing!