Advanced

Advanced, Unit 2 assessment is updated with ERQ and SAQ on Dropbox.

-Tiffany

Readings for Unit 3

I found some supplemental novels for our conspiracy theory unit.  There are plenty for everyone to have at least one class set of one novel. 

Historical Fiction 

The witch of Blackbird Pond
--Witches conspiracy--colonial America

The Year of  the Hangman
--George Washington's death conspiracy--after the Rev. War

Winter of the Dead
--Starvation and cannibalism in colonial America.  (kinda a stretch on conspiracy)

  I believe social studies is on colonial America now.   

My students really liked that we had Max the Mighty to pull most of our reading from.  We only read about 6 random chapters in all, but I think they will like a centered reading focus for this unit also. 


These are just a few ideas--feel free to come up with something way better. 

-Tiffany

Study Guide

I added a potential study guide for the test onto Dropbox under Assessments.  It is titled: ELA Final Term 1 (2).  I made this last year for my S.E. students, but it may work as a study guide. 

I also added my sample ERQ and SAQ under the RL 8.3; although, they are not perfect I made them quickly. 

-Tiffany

On-Demand Prompt

This is what I used today:

Prompt:

Write about a time you learned a lesson, and how did that lesson change you or someone else? 

-Tiffany

Minutes from today

Minutes from PLC today -

• Unit 2 test writing:
• SAQ was changed to the ERQ.
• Need Abby and Josh's questions typed and sent to Chris.
• Abby will send the questions we wrote today to Chris for formatting by tomorrow PM.
• The reading test will be on or a day before/after OCTOBER 31st.
• I posted that Rip Van Winkle task to dropbox. Could be a good review passage before unit test. Read through the instructions at beginning - it was an interesting way to explicit;y teach the guided reading.
• RACE may be replaced with RAP-C :Restate, Answer, Prove, C??? What was the C? Comment?

Reminder of how we are assessing standards this unit -
1. Reading (RL.8.3, RL.8.1, L.8.5, L.8.4)- Cold passage/MC questions/ERQ/SAQ = Test October 31st
2. Reading (RI.8.7) Evaluate mediums on Appalachia - Write a lesson plan (see drop box for task & materials)
3. Reading (RL.8.3) Analyze & evaluate film choices -  How about a film review that shows their knowledge of the departure from text + director's choices. We can show samples? If we do this - how can we embed that S&L standard into this? SL.8.2: Analyze purpose/evaluate motives?
4. Writing (W.8.3): On Demand, 60 minute response to prompt. I will post some prompt options to blog - we didn't get to them today.



And Sincerely, Teachers






GREAT Standards Resource!!

I am gathering materials and brainstorming ideas for our on demand assessment for W.8.3.

I came across this GREAT website from Ohio. They have linked Read.Write.Think lessons and other quality lessons/resources to each standard. 

Below I am specifically linking the W.8.3 standard. Check out the 'flashback' lesson and the 'leads' lessons - among the others. 

http://www.ohiorc.org/standards/commoncore/ela/resources.aspx?id=6360&parent=5012

This link will lead you to lessons for the other standards. :) 

http://www.ohiorc.org/standards/commoncore/ela/

I know we are all crunched for time, but I found some great articles and resources all around this site when I went back to the home page and starting poking around.

I will have a list of on demand prompts and resources tomorrow at PLC. 

Assessment RI.8.7 & materials

I just created an assessment for RI.8.7

I created a folder for this standard in dropbox that has the assignment. It is a written assessment wher ethe students pretend to be a teacher who has to explain his/her choice to include 3 of the 5 possible mediums (see evaluation chart) on to teach Appalachian Culture. You will also find handouts I used. The only thing I have not doen yet is scanned and uploaded the excerpt from Outliers that talks about the "Culture of Honor".

Also, I created a Prezi for this. It has an intro video that I did for my student bc that is what I used for my sub plans today. IGNORE THAT. LOL! If I get time I will edit the Prezi and resend the link with changes.

http://prezi.com/wxdmk-udpnh8/evaluate-how-different-mediums-present-information-on-appalachia/

I encourage you to get to know Prezi if you haven't used it already! I love it. It is much easier to embed video clips and it is web-based so it is easy-access!

Enrichment Reading for Writing

I have found one short descriptive text that would work well for struggling readers with a lexical level of about 600.  Pretty low. 

Use it to teach the narrative writing standards of narrative intro, refelction, sensory details, sequence of events etc...

Get with your special ed. coordinator to get the reading on A-Z. 

"Inside a Copper Mine," by Tony Francisco

Level P

Target 3

What decision does the following line of dialogue provoke?   (RL 8.3 Target 3)

“Nothing else. I paid over nineteen dollars for it.”

 

A.      Saeng has to decide where to place the plant in the garden.

B.      Saeng’s mother has to decide whether or not she will be mad at Saeng for spending so much money.

C.       Saeng should have chosen to spend her money on something else.

D.      Saeng had to decide Big Macs over Flowers.

RL 8.7

In the last post Abby meant RI 8.7.


Okay, I have been focused on English 1, so I kinda dropped the ball on finding everyone materials to use for RL 8.7. 

Anne Frank could be used-- It is in the red book, relates to culture, and there are film versions available.   Just focus on how the film version vs. the play version creates mood, so you can focus on camera angles and lighting.   You can modify what you practiced with the "Freak the Mighty" clip to use for Anne Frank. 

I am using Max the Mighty to go along with "Freak the Mighty."

There are 19 copies left in the library that you can check out for your class for next week, if you want to use that.  If you wait until the following week you can use the copies I have checked out. 

Due to the fact that we are limited on materials--we may want to trade off what week we teach RL 8.7 so that more than two people can use the Max the Mighty materials.   

OR

You can also go to the library and ask them what materials they have that also have a companion film.  If you cannot do that before next week--then I would suggest focusing on RI 8.7 for next week. 

I have picked two materials in the text that go along with it in the post I made a few weeks ago. 

Abby just posted some material that can be used...

I will post the podcast link on here, and I assume that you can find the Dianne sawyer clip online. 

PODCAST:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5386355

 

Try YouTube for Dianne Sawyer clip

 

We can get you an excerpt of Outliers ASAP. 

 

This should cover the basics for RI and RL 8.7.


If you are completely lost or confused about what I am saying see me in person or call me. 

Thanks,

-Tiffany
 

Post Delay

I think I fixed the issue; this is a test post.

RL.8.7 - Text Option

Nerd alert. The truth is - I am resisting the urge to text every single one of you right now. #sorryi'mnotsorry I just get ridiculously excited when I find texts/literature that I find interesting and that is relevant to what we are doing in the classroom.

Anyway - I just found a reading that will be so cool to use with our RI.8.7 target where we are compare/contrasting how info is presented. We are tying the culture EQ to specifically to Appalachian culture - listening to a podcast, watching exceprts of the Diane Sawyer interview with Appalachian people, and reading some texts.

Malcolm Gladwell TOTALLY goes into our culture conversation using an informational approach with his chapter on Harlan, KY from his book Outliers. We will definitely have to manipulate the presentation of the chapter because the first part references a study in which researchers wanted to experiment with insults and the male (18-20 years old) brain. The insult was 'a$$hole' - the book casually drops the word several times. I think we can leave that part of the chapter out. (My hesitation is not so much that they will breakdown at hearing the cuss word - it is more about the possibility that one of them will decide to run the experiment themself.) Ha!

I also have a fave essay from Loyal Jones where he references some of the traits that are common to Appalachians. It ties into Gladwell's argument regarding the intense connection between Appalachians and their territory and tendancy to be 'aggressive'. Jones acknowledges the connection, whereas Gladwell tries to explain it (herdsman protecting their livlihood). It is so dense that it may be tough to read, but I think we could pull a paragraph or two from Jones. (And this is why I wish THC's Hatfields and McCoys wasn't so darn gory to watch!! Ugh!) *Sidenote- Morehead Theater Guild was performing a locally written play called Bloody Rowan all this week - it was about an infamous  Rowan feud between the Tollivers and Martins.

This will be something we can organize for the week we are ready to get that standard. Next week we are focusing on RL.8.7 and W.8.3, but this was something that I ran across this morning and had to share! :)

If you google "Harlan KY Outliers excerpt" you will get links to what others have said about that chapter in the book. I will have a hardcopy by Tuesday - I'll "drop it" (s/o to Cobb's slang) if I feel fancy this weekend.


~Happy Friday!

I have made a quick little formative for RL 8.3.  It is in Dropbox under Reading Materials.  It goes with the "Mr. Irwin Lasher" story from "Bad Boy."

-Tiffany

9th Unit 2

Dear Abby,  ; )

The following are the standards I am focusing on next week.

A.6

a. Identify, analyze, and evaluate the effectiveness of persuasive techniques (e.g., appeals to emotion,

reason, or authority; stereotyping) and the presence of bias in literature, film, advertising, and/or

speeches



A.5
 
 
h. Identify the author’s stated or implied purpose in increasingly challenging text

 

There is a process for getting students to think like a writer to analyze and evaluate informational texts called SOAPSTone. 

 

S=Speaker

O=Occasion

A=Audience

P=Purpose

S=Subject

Tone=Tone

 

We would be hitting everything under the A.5 standard and it would keep up a very rigorous class system, but it would be on-going.  My husband uses it for his Pre-AP class, but I believe our kids could get started on a modified version.  We need to start them off being able to identify the different categories in a text then, we can have them analyze for just one.  The sequence is laid out and models made for us to follow.  I will start it, and see how it goes. 

 

My 9th grade week:

Monday:

Persuasion/Rhetoric (A.6)

 

Tuesday:

Persuasion/Rhetoric  (A.6)

 

Wednesday:

Identify the different SOAPSTone terms in a text  (A.5)

 

Thursday:

Identify and explain the different terms in a text  (A.5)

 

 

8th Grade:

 

RL8.3

W8.3  Dialogue, Commentary, Vivid verbs, Sensory details, Point of view, Characterization