"Thank You, M'am'

Pd 1: Finished Lesson 6 in REWARDS

Pd 3/7

1) Took spelling test

2) Reviewed "theme" and copied the following definition into notebooks:

abstract: idea not understood through the 5 senses; ex: guilt, innocence, good, evil, hate, love, hope, et.

The theme of a story is generally an abstract idea that is central to the story.

3) Reviewed the first paragraph of the story and read the first page. Afterwards we constructed a list of comments, inferences, predictions and questions.

HW:

Study Story Elements
Read for 15 minutes

Spelling List 2 (remember: 10 points for copying the list, 20 for copying the list and the definitions.

capitalism - (n) en economic system where trade and industry are controlled by private owners

immigrant - (n) a person who has come into a foreign country as a permanent resident

industry - (n) the manufacture or production of goods

investment - (n) an amount of money used to buy security, property, etc.

dividend - (n) a share of profits paid to shareholders

corporation - (n) the decision making body of a business

stockholder - (n) a person who owns capital in a business

natural resources - (n) sources of wealth to a country

diversity - (n) variety

revolution - (n) complete change of methods or conditions

Short Story Elements

PD 1: Rewards up to Lesson 6

Pd 3/7:

OM: Stop! Don't touch that button! (Write for four minutes.)

Read and discussed handout on the elements of a short story (see below).

Read the first paragraph of "Thank You M'am" by Langston Hughes. (Click link for full text. Discussed the amount of information given by the author about the two characters.

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, intsead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. the large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.

Homework!

-Study for spelling test tomorrow.
-Study Story Elements handout for quiz on Tuesday.
-Read for 15 minutes



SHORT STORY ELEMENTS
A short story is a fairly brief work of fiction. Fiction, as you know, is prose writing about imagined events and characters. A short story presents characters in a struggle or complication, which has a definite outcome. Novels are another example of fictional prose and are much longer than short stories. Some short stories, however, can be quite long. It may range in length from 500 words up to 15-20,000 words. The short story has a definite construction or unity rather than the freedom of a sketch or a tale.

The essential elements of a short story are characters, setting, plot, theme, and point of view.
Character A character is a person, or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the action of a short story. They may be described by the author mainly by conversation, indirectly or directly by action. By whatever method they are introduced, characters at once must be convincing to the reader since the author does not have a great deal of time to work with.

Protagonist- the major or central character
Antagonist- the character’s opponent, against whom the protagonist contends or struggles

Setting The setting of a short story is the time and place in whicbJ happens. Setting furnishes the background for a story. It includes the place, the time, and the mood of a story. Authors often use descriptions of landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting.

Plot The plot consists of a carefully chosen series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict.

Conflict- the struggle or tension that sets the plot of the story in motion; it builds suspense or mystery and arouses expectations for events to follow.
Rising Action- develops and intensifies the conflict
Climax- plot reaches its greatest emotional intensity; turning point of story
Falling Action- the tension subsides and the plot moves towards conclusion
Conclusion/Denouement- the outcome or settling of the conflict

Foreshadowing- the presentation of information in a work in such a way that later events are prepared for.

Theme The theme is the central belief or idea behind the story, which the author intends to develop through the entire story; it is neither obvious nor hidden. It brings together the characters, setting and incidents so as not to destroy the unified impression.

Point of View The vantage point from which the story is being told.

First Person- The narrative is portrayed by what is known and seen through a single character. That focal character addresses the reader directly.
Character refers to themselves as “I” in the story and addresses the reader as “you.”

Third Person- An outside person or narrator relates the story and can direct the reader’s attention to the inner thoughts of any of the characters and controls the sources of information.

Genres

Pd. 3/7

OM (Opening Move): List as many different types of writing that you can think of.

Writing genres were introduced:

Genre: A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.

nonfiction
fiction
mystery
fantasy
science fiction
romance
horror
essay (with emphasis on the persuasive essay)

Students were then given the following words:

Voice
Naughty
Smile
Revealing
Luck
*bonus word: laden

They then wrote, for ten minutes, a story incorporating these words. Afterward they read their piece to a classmate, listening for writing mistakes, which stand out when writing is read aloud. The point being that students should read their work aloud as part of the editing process.

This story must be rewritten and handed in tomorrow for a major grade.

Pd. 6/8

Continue REWARDS program.

Think-Aloud Strategies II and III

Pd 1: REWARDS up through lesson 4 activity D

Pd 3 & 7:

1) First half of period in library to visit book fair.
2) Using picture books, fill out handout as practive for think-aloud strategies: predict, visualize and question.

Yesterday, students with low scores were given Book 1 from the benchmark to take home and redo.

HW:

-Spelling definitions in notebook
-finish think-aloud strategy worksht.
-read for 15 minutes

PD 6: Unit 2 in Reading Test Success

Pd 8: REWARDS up to Lesson 4 Activity E

Benchmark IV

PD 1:

Class continued the assessment begun Wednesday while a short, one on one decoding assessment was done on each student.

PD 2 & 7:

Continued benchmark. Students who haven't finished Book III have to finish it over the weekend.

Spelling starts Monday. Students who copy spelling words neatly into the spelling/vocabulary section of their notebook will receive 10 extra credit points on Friday's quiz. Students who copy words and definitions will receive 20.

List #1

1. assessment – (n) the act of finding the importance, size, value

2. consequence – (n) result

3. eighth – (adj) next after seventh

4. information – (n) facts told, heard, discovered

5. intelligence – (n) mental ability

6. language – (n) words and their use

7. literature – (n) writing valued for its beauty of form

8. policies – (n) general plans of action

9. procedures – (n) series of actions done to accomplish something

10. success – (v) favorable outcome

Benchmark III

I wasn't in class yesterday, and didn't post the day before. Periods 3 and 7 have continued with the benchmark exam. On Tuesday the listening passage was read, notes taken and constructed response questions begun. Yesterday the essay for the listening section was done, and Book I completed as needed. Students were strongly encouraged to make sure they marked the text in Book I: chapter titles, underling and numbering answer proofs, etc. Credit will be awarded for doing so.

AIS classes either continued REWARDS activities on Tuesday or worked on other reading comprehension assignments.

Today:

Pd 1 and 8: REWARDS LESSON 2.Pd 1 finished up to activity I, pd 8 is up to activity G

Pd 3 and 7:

Complete Benchmark Books I & II, fill in scantrons. If time, begin Book III

Pd. 6: Began REWARDS program Lesson 1 activity E.

Benchmark I - REWARDS Program

Pd 1,8: First lesson in the REWARDS program, designed to increase decoding skills and reading fluency (words per minute).

Pd 1 completed activities A - E
Pd 8 stopped in the middle of activity E, underlining vowels

PD 3 & 7: All ELA classes took part one of the first benchmark exam. The results of this test will tell us what needs to be worked on for the upcoming state exam in January. There will be two more benchmarks taken in the coming months.

Todays portion is reading comprehension. Students read various passages and are encouraged to underline main ideas, vocabulary words, make notes in the margin, etc. There are multiple-choice questions associated with each passage. Students are encouraged to highlight or underline proofs for each answer.

HW:
1) Read for 15 minutes as always.
2) Bring picture book in on Monday (9/21)

Look ahead: Here is next weeks spelling/vocabulary list. Students who copy the word list into the spelling section of their notebook can earn 10 extra credit points toward their quiz grade.

1. assessment
2. consequence
3. eighth
4. information
5. intelligence
6. language
7. literature
8. policies
9. procedures
10. success

Pd 6-

Students were taken for for REWARDS program pretest. Class read first section in Reading Test Success book.

Think Aloud Part I

PD 1

OM: List the things you do in your head while writing.

Handout practice test and graded scantrons. Students corrected answers.

Pd 3 & 7

Reading Strategies

OM: List the things you do in your head while you're reading.

We watched and discussed a slideshow today called Think Aloud Strategy, which was about the things students should do while they are reading to make sure they are 'constructing meaning'. A few notes were taken. The main parts of the slideshow are as follows:


As students read they should…
* pause occasionally to think aloud about connections they are making.
* create images or pictures of concepts from the reading.
* recognize when they are experiencing problems in understanding.
* identify ways they see of fixing these problems.

As students use this strategy, they should:

* predict (“I bet that..” or “I wonder if…” or “I think that…”)

* picture the text (“From this part here I can see…” or “I imagine that…”)

* make comparisons (“This reminds me of..” or “This part is like..” or “This is similar to..”)

* monitor their comprehension (“I don’t get this...” or “This confuses me because..” or “This is a difficult part because…”)

* decide how to fix up (repair) comprehension problems (“Maybe I better reread..” or “Maybe I need to keep on reading to see if…” or “I better find out what this word means because..”)

* comment on what they’ve read (“I like this because…” or “This part is sad because..”)

Good readers have a constant dialogue with the text as they read, although they usually do it silently. Think alouds provide struggling readers with a structure on which to build this dialogue; they learn to think about their reading and to monitor what they do and do not understand.

I will model these strategies using a picture book after the benchmark exams which begin next week.

Students will bring in their own picture books for Friday, 9/21 when they will practice these strategies with a partner.

Pd 6:

Finish Learning Test Success pre-assessment


Pd 8:

OM: same as pds 3&7

Do Huck Finn questions. Read tips, answer together.

Listening/Opening Moves II

Pd 1:go over notes from yesterday's activity, model on screen with focus on economy and organization

Pd 3-7

OM: What is the most important part of the writing process?

Continued the Opening Moves worksheet. objective of this activity is to show students that they can write easily and in quantity if they break writing tasks into small pieces.

Pd 6-8

Continue yesterday's Listening activity

Listening/Opening Moves

Pd 1: Listening exercise in prep for next weeks Benchmark exams. Reviewed note taking in t-charts (manin ideas in left column, details in right.

Pd: 3/7

OM: What have you learned about your own learning style and what changes will you make to improve?

Opening Moves handout on various timed writing activities. Start, finish tomorrow.

Collect HW.

For tonight, read for 15 minutes.

Pd 6: Listening activity. Similar to pd 1 but with diferent passage.

Pd 7: Same as pd 6

Learning Modalities Part III

PD 1:

Finished assessment. Introduced decoding strategy to be utilized in the new REWARDS program.

Pd 3&7:

OM- Free write for 4 minutes and edit

-Check hw
-start rewrite on Learning Letter

HW- Finish rewrite, read for 15 minutes

Pd. 6

Continue assessment

Pd. 8

OM - Free write and edit

Finish Huck Finn, do questions together

Learning Modalities Part II

PD 1: Some students were exchanged with students from Mrs. Poulin's class. Practice assessment was continued.

PD 3 & 7:

Opening Move: Four minutes of writing on one more 'moment'. Today, however, students tried to double the amount they wrote from yesterday.

We went over the results from the survey, discussed learning behavior and strategies associated with each of the modalities.

Homework:

Read over pages 26 and 27 in the handout. Write a first draft letter according to these directions:

Dear Mr. Lambert,
• I discovered I am a/an ____type of learner.
(What is your learning modality? Which ‘intelligence’ best describes you? Tell me why you know this. )

• I usually study by…..
(2-3 sentences)

* I plan to improve my study habits by…
(2-3 sentences; Refer to “Environments for Better Learning.” Describe how you study. Explain how you can improve your study habits.)

* My goals for this school year are……
(academic, social, personal; Two or three sentences for each.)

4 paragraphs
Final copy

Pd 6:

Reading Test Success pretest was continued.

Pd 8:

OM: tornado picture (describe the moment)

Students then counted number of lines written, and marked a space twice that beneath. Students were challeneged to reach that mark in one more journal type entry.

Continue Huck Finn passage with focus on reading strategies.

Learning Modalities

Note: There will be no spelling/vocabulary list next week.

Pd 1 - Continued practice assessment

Pd 3&7 -

- Journal: projected a picture, students had to write for four minutes to describe the "moment" shown in the pcture

- Students received a handout on learning modalities, ways of "using sensory information to learn." They took a short survey designed to identify their own primary learning style.

Pd 6 - begin Reading Test Success assessment.

Pd 8

- Same journal assignment as pds 3 & 7.

- Model reading strategies with passage from Huck Finn

A New Beginning...

Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year!

Please note: All students should have a hardcover composition notebook by Monday, Sept. 10. These will be used as daily journals and will be kept in the classroom.


PD 1-AIS 8

Reviewed reading strategies: chapter titles, finding proof, etc. Then began an early assessment. After completion, some schedules may be changed to form better grouping by skill levels.

Pd 3 & 7- ELA 8

Today we discussed the difference between a moment and an event. After reading a model (see below) Students wrote a 4 minute journal entry on one moment during the summer. Describing the main moments in an event will result in much more detailed writing.

Events vs. Moments

Event:

Johnny was in a car accident. The driver didn’t see the car coming and was hit in the intersection. Johnny needed to be cut out of the car. He was knocked out, but wasn’t hurt too badly. He came to in the ambulance and his parents met him at the hospital. A week later he realized his knee needed an operation.

Moment:

She didn’t see the oncoming car and drove into the intersection. Time seemed to slow down for Johnny who was sitting in the passenger seat. He saw the car approaching and leaned over toward the driver. There was a moment of fear, a loud crash, then darkness.

PD 6 BDF- AIS 8 (BDF)

Yesterdays activities:

- fill out index cards with personal info
- Copy quote: "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.-- Babe Ruth"

PD 8 AIS 7- Same lesson as pd 3 & 7