Art Day #1: Pencil

After our second reading quiz, we spent the day doing a bit of symbolic art. No homework this weekend, so it's a good time to catch up!

Reading #3

We began the day with a some says/means/matters practice and then read about half of Reading #3 (pp. 49-68). Students should finish that reading with dialectical journal entries for tomorrow.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday we began the day with a short reading quiz on the end of reading #2 (which was homework). We then reviewed some of the major characters and events from the first section of the novel and wrapped up with a summary of the 1st marking period in their writer's notebooks. Frames for the summary are located on the back of the Speak handout.

Wednesday we focused on some of the issues, symbols and themes from Speak by filling out the top part of the Speak handout (below). We then reviewed and shared a few of the quotation analyses (i.e. says/means/matters) from the students DJs (aka Writer's Notebooks). By now, they should have at least 4 of these.

Revisiting the Argument Essay

After a brief reflection on Speak, we spent the period revisiting the argument essay from last week. After looking at student model or two, students had the rest of the period to finish/revise their essays. A few students chose to complete this process at home.
For homework tonight, students should finish reading #2 (pp. 24-46) in Speak which they started on Friday in class. They should be sure to complete the dialectical journal entries as well. (They have a handout for this.)

Starting Speak

We began the day talking about some issues facing teens today, then moved on to starting Speak, reading a bit and ending the period with a bit of analytical writing.

Essay Drafting

Today students spent the whole period working on an essay based on the notes and prewriting we've been doing in class. They were collected and we will revisit them next week.

Essay Prep

Today we continued our preparations for the argument essay, slides 19 and 20, which we will write in class tomorrow. We also checked out copies of Speak, but won't start it until Wednesday.

Discussion Rubrics & Claims

Today we started with a look at the class discussion rubric and then began to focus on the claim for our writing next week (slides 13 through 16).

The Baby Lab

Today we watched a short video clip from 60 Minutes (below), took some notes, and added a couple more people to our position line (slides 10 through 12).

Reading 2

Today we finished our second reading and annotation of the article from yesterday. See slides 7 through 9 here.

The Argument Mini-Unit

Today we did some prereading and writing for our next unit, including a first look at this article. The slides are here.

Letters & Folders

Students had the chance to wrap up their letter revision and get those printed, while also working on the activity below.

Final Letter Revisions

Today students spent the period revising their typed letters using the revision assignment at Google Classroom and TurnItIn.com. Some students finished and printed their letters, which are due Monday.

Typing Time

After a quick moment to revisit the poem we looked at yesterday, students had the entire period to type their draft introduction letters. The whole assignment is at Google Classroom. If possible, students who didn't finish should do so tonight.

Intro Letter Drafting

We began the day with a bit of poetry, and then students had a chance to start drafting their intro letters. They should finish those drafts for homework in their writer's notebooks, so they're ready to type tomorrow.

The Intro Letter

After reviewing the course description, we started on our first real academic unit, the letter of introduction, and I checked materials. The slides are here: we worked through the first 7.

Picture Day!

Today we spent part of the period on a quick art activity (see below), had pictures, and spent a few minutes talking about expectations for the course.

Respect

Today we talked a bit about respect and reviewed a few more classroom policies. Picture day is tomorrow!