1. Warm-up: First, write down the three milestones that you would like to write about for your Milestones essay. Next, get out the maxims that you wrote down yesterday. Write down the maxim that you’d like to use for your milestones portfolio essay. It should have something to do with milestones, how the past and future are connected, etc. MAKE SURE IT CONNECTS TO YOUR MILESTONES. ( Note: if you do not want to write a maxim, you can ask a question or present a scenario related to milestones instead. )

2. REMINDERS  Tutoring = today after school  Period 4: Bring items for Patience with Patients drive (cartoons & family-friendly DVDs too)  Bring your portfolio prompt next week.  English Portfolio pieces that you need to have when you return from Thanksgiving break:  Compare/Contrast Essay  Autobiographical Essay  Oedipus the King Essay Test OR Generational Cultural Assignment.  Take notes on the following slides…

3. Literary Response and Analysis 3.2: Analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim.

4.  starting school  moving to a new town  middle school promotion  fighting with a best friend  breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend  a health catastrophe  death of a loved one  making the team  failing a class  getting your first A in high school (or a good report card)  Note: GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL IS NOT A MILESTONE YET, SINCE YOU HAVE NOT GRADUATED.

5. On your warm-up paper, brainstorm what three milestones you would like to write about in your essay. Make sure that one milestone relates to school/your education. Make sure that your milestones go along with the statement that you wrote how a person’s past impacts him/her.

6. HOOK: Grab your reader’s attention by making a statement about the topic that you will be writing about (i.e. milestones or the past). This statement should general, so don’t get too specific about how it applies to you yet. EXPLAIN: Explain what you mean by your hook BRIDGE: Connect this idea to your own past (don’t mention your milestones yet). THESIS STATEMENT: Connect what you said in sentence one to your three milestones. Make sure that you mention what your three milestones are!

7. TOPIC SENTENCE: Make a statement about your first milestone and connect it with your hook. EXPLANATION (5-7 sentences): Tell the story of your milestone.  Begin by talking about when and where this happened.  Then, continue to give specific details about your milestone so that the reader knows exactly what happened to you (they should feel like they experienced it with you). ANALYZE (2-3 sentences) Why this was such an important event in your life? How has this milestone changed or impacted you? CONCLUDING SENTENCE: Connect this event back to your very first sentence (i.e. how does this event prove your statement about the past?).

8. RESTATE THESIS: Restate your thesis statement in different words. SUMMARY: Summarize what your three body paragraphs have proven. APPLY: Connect the main message to the rest of the world. CONCLUDE/WOW STATEMENT: Explain the lesson that others should learn from your essay (connect to your introduction sentence).

9.  When you are thinking about milestones to include, think of events or situations that can be described in detail.  You would not want to say, “One time I procrastinated when turning in my portfolio assignment and got a zero and failed”.  You would want to tell a story with detail that is exciting to read.

10. Ex.: “I remember it like it was yesterday: getting my report card and seeing that huge, ugly ‘F’ under the English column. When I stared at that ‘F’, all I could think about was, ‘If I had just turned it in on time, life would be so much easier; I wouldn’t have to take another English class to make up for my laziness.’ Why did that ‘F’ appear on my report card you ask? Had I not completed what I was supposed to for the year? No. Had I turned in terrible work? No. It all happened in one, single day.

11. “ I had taken my time writing my rough-draft for my portfolio essay. My teacher kept telling me to start working on my essay in class, but I kept saying ‘Yeah, okay’, as I turned back around to talk to my friend. I kept telling myself: ‘I’ll get to it eventually; get off my back.’ I remember walking into the room on the day of the portfolio deadline, no portfolio essay in sight, thinking, ‘Mr. Teacher is a nice guy. He’ll let me turn it in late.’ After class I casually approached his desk. Putting my most charming smile on, I stated, ‘Hey, I’ll bring you my portfolio essay tomorrow.’ I’ll never forget that disappointed stare that my teacher gave me: a stare that seemed to say, ‘When will you ever learn, Brittany?’…

12.  Now let’s look at some sample essays to help you understand how to get an “A”.  Please do not write on these: write notes on the essays on the bottom of your WARM-UP.