Common Assessment Cold Passage - Unit 2

1. CLEAN-UP I attempted to tidy up our unit two folder in dropbox by making folders for each part of this unit. If I've misplaced a document, feel free to drag it to the appropriate box - sometimes it was tough to tell which folder I was dragging to.
-assessments (pretests, common assessment, etc)
-reading (any documents, resources for the reading standards)
-writing (any documents, assignments, resources for the writing standards)
-essential question (any documents we used to relate to culture)


2. COMMON ASSESSMENT I found and formatted the text 'Winter Hibiscus' for our common assessment. It is in the common assessment folder for unit two. It includes a lot of dialogue and incidents that can be analyzed for cause/effect, characterization, and effect on meaning.  We can review Unit 1 by adding context clues and inference questions. I have some questions already drafted up that I will share with you this week. *Bonus: it connects to the essental question.
BEFORE THURSDAY: Please read this text (Winter Hibiscus) and write 3-5 multiple-choice questions that could tie each of the following standards: RL8.3, RL.8.1, L.8.4a, L.8.4b   L.8.5. We will work with Mrs. Dixon to finalize our MC questions and we can work together to write some SAQ/ERQ questions.

YOU MAY BE AFRAID/INTIMIDATED OF BRINGING A CRAPPY QUESTION TO THE PLC, DONT WORRY!! JUST BRING SOMETHING!  
In the words of my hero Anne Lamott: "...(T)he only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really sh***y first drafts....All good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something -- anything -- down on paper." :) 


**How are we doing with the job assignments from last Wednesday? Let me know if you need any help or direction-steering. :)

Characterization

I added a PowerPoint on characterization to dropbox.  Teach it with any short story--after they have the hang of plot and setting.  I like the chart on page 134 in the Red Book to get them to start analyzing character. 

-Tiffany

Readings with Standards

list of literary resources and skills to use with them in the culture unit 2:

Red Book:

"A Smart Cookie," by Sandra Cisneros page 747
"The Medicine Bag" page 759
"An Hour with Abuelo" page 773
"The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson

• RL 8.3

"Saying Yes," by Diana Chang 753

• RL 8.5 pair with "A Smart Cookie"

"The Wise Old Woman," by Yoshiko Uchida

• RL8.3--Plot

Mrs. Flowers from I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

• RL 8.3

"First Stop:  Ellis Island"  Photo Essay

Coming to America from New Kids on the Block:  Oral Histories of Immigrant Teens  Oral History

• RI 8.7  Compare and contrast the theme/topic of these two texts--then evaluate the advantages/disadvantages of one medium over the other

"My Mother Pieced Quilts," by Teresa Palomo Acosta

"Everyday Use," by Alice Walker  --Not in book (I have this short story)

•   RL 8.5  Compare and contrast the structure of these two texts....

"Gil's Furniture Bought and Sold," by Sandra Cisneros page 609

• L8.5 a-c

"I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman page 671

"I, Too Sing America," by Langston Hughes

• L8.5 a
• W8.3d

"Brer Rabbit and Brer Lion"
"The Ransom of Red Chief," By O. Henry

• L8.5a-c

"Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allen Poe (I know it doesn't really have anything to do with culture, but it has irony!!)

• L8.5 a-c

To explicitly teach narrative openings, look under writing in dropbox.

Yes, there are many many more, but this will do for now. 

-Tiffany

Minutes 9/26

Great Link from Jefferson County:
This link has tons of resources specifically for KY middle school ELA: on-demand writing resources, articles on reading, unit planning for standards based curriculum, a great Socratic circle handout, and tons more! *Tiffany can add it to our Important Links section on the right when she gets a chance. :)
http://jcps.jefferson.k12.ky.us/section/content/default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=4A2C86974FE34CDC8D3DF0C8289FD587

Minutes from Power Hour 9/26: 

1. Expertise roles were assigned as follows:
Tiffany: Reading materials & struggling reader materials (A-Z, adapted texts, etc).
Chris: Grammar year-long plan per college readiness standards, test-formatter (is that a word?)
Josh: 21st century-connector, bellwork bank, grammar unit plan
Sarah: vocabulary year-long plan, learning target remediation*this is for anyone not just sped
Abby: Writing, learning target enrichment, curriculum document maintenance

2. Brainstormed ideas for RL.8.7 - To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter, Hatfield-McCoys/Coffin Quilt, Hugo Cabret, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Blind Side...
*I thought of Gulliver's Travels when I got home. Here is link to a READ.WRITE.THINK lesson that could really help us with this assignment. It can be adapted to any book/movie combo. It mentioned Light in the Forest. This is a short novel - has a huge culture connection. There is a film version.
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/know-movie-coming-what-854.html?tab=3#tabs


3. Need to develop our questions for Unit 2 Common Assessment

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

Henry Ford 

Morning Power Hour - This Week

I am getting feedback that mornings are good for most. 

Who can meet me tomorrow morning at 7:35? 
We do not have to do this every week - just until we get our plans so that we are preparing a week+ in advanced. We gotta suck it up for a little bit to make life easier later on.

Power hour plan: 

1. Prepare materials/texts for this unit. We need literature that includes ample dialogue, plot incidents and character develop that also can help look at culture and how people are defined by their culture. Think about a variety of cultures: Native American, Appalachian, African American. Look through our text, plus any other resources or novel excerpts you can think of. I have chapter 1-2 of The Kite Runner?

2. What text are we going to use to assess RL.8.7? Must be available in print and performance form.

3. BE PREPARED TO CHOOSE YOUR JOB(S)

I am all about efficiency for this group and I finally feel like we are getting a handle on this!! But we have to FOLLOW THROUGH! Let's talk about roles we could each be in charge of so for each unit we are not all doing 7 different things every unit. You would be in charge of getting a plan together for your particular area of expertise. You use the existing unit plan and standards, and you come prepared to each PLC with materials and ideas to share for the current unit and, eventually, future units. We need the following jobs to be worked out by the group. 1-2 people could work on each. When you take this job you are responsible for the group, so you must offer items and materials in a timely and accessible manner: use dropbox, offer clear instructions, provide a teacher copy if dropbox isn't an option, eventually a week in advance (but we can settle for 2-3 days until we get to the 'week' part). 

a. Year-long specific plan for vocabulary: Latin root and affix work + activities/quizzes; L.8.6-academic/domain-specific words*

        b. Year-long specific plan for College Readiness English/grammar + activities/quizzes*
*These items essentially will have their own curriculum map created for the whole year. They are on-going.

c. Year long unit-by-unit texts & materials for reading standards considering lexiles, variety, standard-connection, EQ connection, availability, etc.

d. Year long unit-by-unit materials for writing standards considering on-demand requirements, plus a variety of writing needs as determined by the unit plan

        e. Year-long unit-by-unit materials for struggling readers (A-Z, strategies, modifications to assignments) - would work with job c. very closely - but also needs to communicate with the 8th grade SPED people

        f. Bellwork plan for the year or a bellwork bank. Something we can pull from as needed: flashbacks, test prep, writing prompts, grammar, edits - a variety of standards-based ideas for the year. *Optional (is this necessary  Would it help?)

        g. Test Format Maker- We give the common assessment materials to you and you work your magic putting it into the proper testing formats for K-Prep, making a teacher copy and getting it to assessment folder for Mr. Halsey

       h. Remediation expert. You will work mostly with reading/writing (for now) to develop assignments/rubrics/tasks that could offer remediation for students as they learn the new reading & writing standards. This is different from job e. because ANY student can struggle with a articular standard and we have to have the go-to materials to support re-teaching.

        i. Enrichment expert. Same concept as above, only you are thinking about strategies to take existing reading/writing tasks (as established by job c/d) and enrich them.

        j.  21st Century Connection Expert: We need to look at each unit and how the reading, writing and speaking/listening make 21st century connections. You need to be familiar with the state's KY Curriculum Map document for Next Generation learners and you will work closely with the unit plan, plus jobs c/d to see how you can tweak/enhance activities so that a variety of 21st century skills are made each unit. 

Have a great day! See you at grade level meetings! :) 

Unit 2 Updates

TIP: Bookmark this page on school and home computer! :) It will save you from trying to remember the  URL. I think you can also choose to follow the blog via email, so that every time a new post is made you will receive an email update. 

UNIT 2 UPDATES: 

- Learning Targets have been posted to Dropbox.  

  Link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/pc1si62uqnqa3rq/Unit2_targets.docx

-Pretest for RL.8.5 passage (Pecos Bill) is uploaded. Don't jump in until you know what they
 know! You can adjust from there. Can I get a volunteer to provide answers for the group? We can add/revise questions as needed. 

-Reflect & respond: We are still significantly behind and not to the point of planning a week or two in advanced. I vote for a couple hardcore 'power hour' sessions before or after school in the VERY near future to get us caught up. I think it will pay off in the long run. 

"To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift."

~Franklin Roosevelt

9th Grade Cold Passage

Found a nice little poem that can be used to assess their ability to analyze voice on the Common Assessment. 

I think we have our passages... when can we meet to make the questions?

Latin Roots Lesson 1 and Culture Openers

Please find the first lesson of Latin Roots with answer key under the Unit 2 Materials. 

With the "Contemplating Culture" worksheet have index cards with one of the following words written on each card:

-cricket, soccer, curling, rugby, jai alai
-Islam, Hindu, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism
-blue jeans, kimono, sari, dashiki, hijab
-borscht, poi, croissant, pizza, flautas, sushi
- sitar, jembe, tango, diggery-doo
- democracy, republic, communism, monarchy, socialism
- Portuguese, French, Swahili, Japanese, Tagalog

In groups, ask students to sort the cards into stacks of related words and choose a category name for each stack. 

Use the PowerPoint to give students a visual of some of the unknown words. 

In groups, place some of the cards into cultural categories and give the stack a cultural name like, "American."

Next go on to any of the other two "engager" exercises.   

The "Circles of Influence" worksheet asks students to read the poem "I am From" and think about the different cultures they are a part of and describe that culture in with a few solid images. 

The "Perceptions" worksheet asks students to look at 5 symbols and write down what they associate with that symbol to teach them about differing perceptions.  The images for this worksheet are on a PowerPoint.

9/15

Agenda:

Unit 2 essential quesiton:  How are people defined by a culture? (Still talking about place--just a little more broad)

Culture activity --Tiffany will post on the PLC website and e-mail in Google docs.

Common Assessment underway--we will use a longer play, A Doll's House, as our cold passage. 

On Tuesday's PLC we will make questions for the Common Assessment. 

9/13 Today's Agenda:

1. Test items - answers/models/validity (10 minutes)

2. Newspapers - how to use/share/etc. (5 minutes)

3. Unit 2 groundwork. (15 minutes)

 

 

Agenda for the next two days:

 

Friday after school:  9th Grade PLC

 

Saturday at 12:  8th Grade PLC Unit 2 Common Assessment

Got it started--just need to add things to it!