Goodreads Shelves

No official H/W today due to M.A.P. Optional - Use these links to to finish setting up your Good Reads accounts and to 'add shelves' to your good reads accounts. Tomorrow, we should have time to listen to the book talks from the class from each winning group. First Word study/vocabulary Assessment - Will be next Monday (due to M.A.P.) First graded reading response -Will be due next Friday - Plan ahead!

Week 2 Reflection

We began to think a little this week about how we talk about books. Next week, I will give  you a list of advanced phrases that you can use when discussing your opinions.

Remember:
Summarizing is 'low' on the depths of knowledge scale - always go much deeper. Try to avoid 'cliches' when discussing theme. Mentioning 'red flag' moments - is a great way for you to make sure you are seeking evidence from the text to support your claims, but don't list the categories as you talk, speak naturally and blend your ideas together.


Some mentor text writing from your classmates from last week.


Next Week

MAP Testing - No H/W  Monday & Tuesday!

Word Study Assessment - Next Thursday.
There will be approx.  30multiple choice questions about the roots and the words. You will also have to write detailed sentences or a paragraph using some of the words in context.

We will begin our grammar unit. What do you know about advanced subjects and predicates?

Bring in a photo of a place you know well. We will be writing a little about that place.

Reflecting on Learning

Today's Recap

A lot of reflection today on what you are doing well and what you need to focus on going forward. From now on, if asked, you should be always able to state your writing goal and what you are doing in order to achieve it. Build your tool box of techniques and strategies that make your writing sophisticated!

Tomorrow, Reading Classes will participate in a 'Book Talk' competition. Small treats for the winners!
Use this gird as a reminder of some possible content to discuss.

Make sure your reading log and your Word Study pages are up to date - You will 'drop' these in my folder for me to check over the weekend and assess how well you have maintained your routines
e.g. Daily Reading Check in, Reading Log

Talking about Books

For Friday's class, you need to have prepared a short talk about your book using the prompts we discussed in today's session. What depth of knowledge will you demonstrate?

Lowest Level - Retell the story

Higher  Level  - Focus on character

                   - Focus on issues/themes

                   - Focus on an important moment in the story

Greater levels of sophistication:

• Judge the character
• Offer alternatives
• Judge the message
• Prognosticate

(can you see how this is being done in the response below?)

Sample

The anthology by  John Scieszka, Guys Write for Guys Read, contains a short story titled Lloyd Alexander. The premise of the tale  revolves around the events that transpired after Lloyd, the main character, asked his 9th grade sweetheart to the school dance. Throughout the tale Lloyd proves himself to  be the typical teenager with limited self-confidence. He is somewhat insecure and lacks the courage to openly communicate his feelings. In the first place, he is shocked that his would be date actually accepts his invitation.  Most people would only ask classmates that they honestly believed were likely to respond positively. A key event in the story is when he rallied his mother to cancel the date instead of being upfront and honest about his accident to the girl in person.  Worrying what others might think is another traits that Lloyd portrays. If he had gone up to his date and explained the situation either before the dance or after his return to school, most girls would have probably understood. If anything the message the story is somewhat flawed. Life does not have to be, ‘...filled with injustice, humiliation, shame, despair…” Life is the result of the choices people make daily. Lloyd chose to see the world in one way because of his own character deficiencies. The world is a good place, so my advice to Lloyd, dance whenever you can.

Your Word-study should be up to date. You will be sharing your word study work and your reading logs with me on Friday. Will you be up todate?

Tomorrow, you will have your grammar pretest. Do you know your parts of speech? We will also look at our memoir paper. We will be discussing the characteristics of a memoir paper.

Great readers pay attention to tiny details...

Homebase
Finish your write ups for Back to School Night. (click for link) Look at Kalia's for an example of an effective write-up.

Remember: When you are reading, you should always be on the look at for tiny details that might lead to much bigger ideas. Recap of the point  we made in today's class are:

a) Character(s):

e.g Struggles/Desires/Motivation - History/background - Change(s) - Learns - Acts out of Character -Nuanced  etc.

b) Author’s Craft (choice of words author uses):

e.g. Symbolism, Figurative language Tone (author’s attitude to story content), Mood (story atmosphere/character’s feelings) etc.

c) Themes: Life Lessons:

e.g. What the story is teaching you?
What were the 'red flag moments' in these lyrics?
Tomorrow:
Make sure your first writing piece, opinion based blog post,  is finished for tomorrow's class.  You will receive 4 grades for your work - see sample below. Throughout the year, each paper will be graded in the same way.

Sample rubric: Four grades taken - No overall average grade given

Don't panic - As this is the first paper of the year, it will not be weighted too heavily when compared to papers we do later in the unit.

Tomorrow:
You will have a grammar pretest - This will tell me what you already know about grammar
You will have 1 hour to write on this topic: Make sure you already have a good idea of what to write about. Do not start writing this at home!