15.2. Review: About Reviews/"Lincoln" RI9.

A review is a form of essay - meaning that its primary job is to communicate and prove a thesis. The reviewer may give information about the movie, that's one of the roles that a review serves, because it presumes that the reader hasn't seen the movie yet. However, the reviewer has an opinion about the movie and seeks to persuade the reader to share it and then do what the reviewer thinks that they should (see it or avoid it, depending on the opinion).

Because movies are usually a mix of good and bad, the thesis of the review can be very difficult to figure out. However, the writer communicates a thesis in a good movie review, just as surely as in a standard persuasive essay. We read the review to listen to the argument about the movie, consider the supporting facts, and then decide if the author has convinced us to see (or avoid) the film.

So, if you read many movie reviews (I like reading movie reviews even if I have no intention of seeing the movie), you will want to take note of who is reviewing the movie. If you like their taste, then you know that you can take their recommendations more readily.

This is a movie review for Steven Spielberg's upcoming "Lincoln," written by A.O. Scott, a movie reviewer with whom I know I often agree. The other reviewer for this newspaper, Manohla Dargis, is someone whose taste I don't match up with as well, although I like that she's really opinionated and writes well, so I read the reviews anyway (here's her review of the new Bond movie, Skyfall).

15.1. Reviewing the Reviewers - Metacritic.com RI9.

A great way to find a movie reviewer that you like is to check out a review that they have written for a movie that you've already seen. I do this a great deal, too, read reviews of movie's I have already seen. I like comparing what I thought with the reviewer, and having a fight in my mind about the movie.

One of the million great things about the internet has been that it lets you choose a reviewer that you like from hundreds. When I was a kid, the Newark Star-Ledger had two film reviewers, one I really liked and one I thought was a total idiot and a bad writer, but I had no other options - it was the only paper that came to our house. New sites called "review aggregators" have sprung to gather many, many reviews and average them into a consensus. While the website "Rotten Tomatoes" is the most famous one, because of its funny name, I use another well-known one, Metacritic, to check out what many critics think of the same movie. These sites have gained power in the movie industry itself, as this article  (I found the link on Wikipedia) explains pretty well.

Directions
During class today:

1. Visit Metacritic and choose a movie that you've already seen.
2. Read three of the reviews - the most positive, the most negative, and any one in the middle.
3. Write a logical (SEE) paragraph - which of the three reviews best matched your own assessment of the movie?

For tonight (if you don't have internet access right now, make sure to print a hard copy before you go):

1. Read a different review by the same reviewer with whom you most agreed. You can read another review for a movie that you've already seen or choose something that you are trying to decide whether to invest time and money in.
2. Answer the following in complete sentences in a Google Drive file:

• What was the author's central thesis about this movie?
• What was their best explanation for why they loved/liked/disliked/hated the movie?
• What was their best example from the movie that they used to try and prove that it was great/good/bad/terrible?
• Did the review persuade you to see/avoid the film? Why (or why not)?

15.1. Social Media Obsession - Groups and Technology

Here's a reading about how technology and groups of people interact.

1. Open the file.
2. Collect 3 words for your online vocabulary spreadsheet.
3. Write an author purpose statement for this article.
4. Write a Central Idea statement (a WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence).

14.5. Judging Evidence Relevant and Sufficient/Red Sox Signing RI8.

One of the things that we have been focusing on this year is trying to make arguments where the evidence presented is both relevant (meaning it is logically related to the matter, that it helps prove what it claims to be trying to prove) and sufficient (that there is enough evidence to convince a smart, reader that the author is correct).

Example of How Relevance Can Be Used to Construct and Evaluate Arguments:

Two young children are arguing on the playground over whose turn it is to go down the slide. One says, "Well, my dad can beat up your dad." This evidence is irrelevant to the matter at hand - what does the physical strength of their respective fathers have to do with anything? C'mon, kids, craft better arguments.

Then the other kid says, "Well, you're a doo-doo head!" This is another common logical fallacy. Rather than address why their opponent's argument is incorrect, this child has chosen to attack the character of the opponent. Whether the boy is or is not a "doo-doo head" is not relevant to whose turn it is.

After some more of this counterproductive wrangling, the kids realize that they will never negotiate a settlement this way, and turn towards the matter at hand. The first kid, the one with the really strong dad, states, "I was here first." This is a good argument, since, generally speaking, one's place in an informal line is determined by one's arrival at the end of that line. Furthermore, it is a good argument because it is a relevant argument - it is logically connected to the matter at hand, and, without any other information, would convince a dispassionate observer that the first boy (we'll call him Firstie) does deserve to precede the other boy in line.

However, the second boy also has relevant evidence to present. "I called it first! You heard me!" he protests. This is relevant, too. In certain cases, a right to a certain position or possession can be secured by "calling it," stating publicly and clearly that one wishes that position or use of a shared community object. The second boy (we'll call him Call-y) has an argument. Whose evidence is more persuasive?

Firstie wishes to question this argument. "You can't call the slide. It's always who gets there first. You only can call it if we're talking about the swings, or the front seat, or playing with a toy." Firstie's right, here, children use "calling it" only in cases where "a turn" would take so long that it would occupy the entire available time. Kids cannot "take turns" in the front seat on a single trip, so one kid must "call it," announcing his or her attention to occupy a given physical location. Remembering to "call it" is taken as an indication that that person wants the prize more. It's a pretty good system, but it's not applicable here. Going down a slide takes only a few seconds, so it's silly to "call it"; everybody can have multiple turns in a given recess period. Lining up to wait in the order you arrived is customary in this case.

Call-y does not want to admit that his evidence was not sufficient to overcome his opponent's line of reasoning, so he simply takes his place behind Firstie, his face openly displaying rancor over the matter. Another argument solved by presenting and evaluating arguments.

So, here's an optional reading on this subject. It's a baseball article about how good a signing Ryan Dempster was for the Red Sox. Notice how the author uses relevant evidence to try and prove his position about Dempster.

14.5. Essay Prompt (With Increased Attention to Commas

Today, we're going to compose an essay - hopefully, our recent work on commas will help you with your sentence structure and punctuation.

Here's the writing prompt:

Your science teacher has become frustrated. He (or she) keeps finding these great web-videos on YouTube and other sites to teach science concepts. However, whenever the teacher tries to show them in class, the school's web filter blocks him (or her). The teacher has asked the school principal to unblock YouTube in your school so that the science videos can be used in class, to help teach concepts on the Promethean Board and for students to use in school to do research for their assignments and papers.

Do you think that the principal should allow YouTube to be unblocked so that teachers and students can use the educational videos on it? Write a letter to the principal advocating a position. Make sure to use reasons, facts, and examples.

File title is "YOUR NAME YouTube"

After you are done -

Read your essay and try to find the following sentences:

1. An IC, FANBOYS IC sentence.
2. A DC, IC sentence.
3. An IC DC sentence.
4. An ADJ, ADJ NOUN Construction.

14.4. Commas Rules - Application L2.c.

Today we're practicing the first three comma rules that we learned this week. 


They are

IC, FANBOYS IC 
DC IC but IC, DC.
and
ADJ, ADJ NOUN if ADJ=ADJ.

These mean,

IC, FANBOYS IC means  When you join two independent clause together with a coordinating conjunction, you have to separate them with a comma.

DC IC but IC, DC means When you have a dependent clause and an independent clause in a sentence together, you only need to use a comma if the dependent clause comes first.

ADJ, ADJ NOUN if ADJ=ADJ means If you have more than one adjective in front of a noun, you have to separate the adjectives from each other with a comma, if those adjectives are of equal weight. If they're not, then you don't need a comma and the more important, "heavier" one goes closer to the noun.

There are a number of quizlet sets available to practice them.

NOTE: DON'T USE THE "STUDY" OR "SCATTER" OPTIONS TO PRACTICE, IT WON'T TEACH YOU ANYTHING WORTH KNOWING. ONLY THE "LEARN," "TEST," OR "SPACE RACE" THINGS SHOULD BE USED AT ALL.

14.3. Phrases and Clauses Practice Exercise L2.c.

Here's an exercise designed to practice the material that we discussed in class on Monday and Tuesday.

14.1. Using a Comma to Indicate a Pause or Break L2.a.

We talked about commas already, but it's good to know the theory, but essential to practice it.
This is a tough skill to learn to do -- you have to read a lot (to see how writers use commas), be able to read carefully out loud with practiced skill, and think a great deal about their own writing.

So, people who read, write, and think a lot already tend to get better and better, while people that don't tend to get poorer and poorer. (This happens a lot, it's called the "Matthew Effect.")

Like most of things in English, people who are good at commas seem to be so "naturally." But there's no such thing as a "natural reader" -- reading is a human invention, a learned skill.

So, we should practice:

Click here to take the Comma Pretest

14.1. Comma Rules: Compound Sentences L2.c.

We're practicing comma rules for a little while.

People have a lot of different ways to explain how commas work. It's tough; they do many different things.

We'll talk about what a comma is in a "big-picture" way, but, mainly, we're going to learn the basic rules one by one.

Today's rule is useful - you need to use a comma to separate two independent clauses joined together by a coordinating conjunction.

It's easy, once I explain what an independent clause and a coordinating conjunction are. That's kind of tricky.

There's a quizlet set that helps you practice this rule.

14.0. The Comma Loves the Word L2.a.

Today's comma punctuation tip is that the comma and the period both love the word, cannot be separated from the word.

So, if you try to write the sentence

Until I watched "Thor", I had no idea how boring a superhero movie could be.

The comma will twitch and writhe and moan - it's separated from the word that it so loves by the wall of the quotation mark. The comma will vault over the wall in order to be with the word that it loves so much . . .

Until I watched "Thor," I had no idea how boring a superhero movie could be.

The comma always goes inside the quotation marks, even when it seems like logic would put it outside. Putting it outside is sometimes a smart mistake, but it's always a mistake.

13.3 "Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears" RI4./RI6.

For Classwork:

We're starting our third thematic unit this week, entitled "Groups, Technology, Power." We'll be reading articles, essays, short stories, and nonfiction narratives about power - which we are going to define as the ability to make other people do what we choose for them to do. We'll be asking questions like:

• Are groups inherently bad or good? Neither?
• Is our ever-growing use of technology good for us or bad for us?
• When is it okay to control somebody else? When is it not?
• Is it okay to manipulate others if you think that it's for their own good?
• If we don't agree with a group that we're part of, when is it best to go along? When is it best to resist?
• Does technology make us more or less free of the power of other people?

So, to start off, let's read an article about technology and power that I hope illustrates how these themes might impact a teen's life.

While you are reading:

1. Input three words into your spreadsheet and conduct the analysis. Make sure to practice the "Three Boxes" technique to analyze the context of the words.

2. Write an Author Purpose Statement in a new document called [YOUR NAME] Ring Tone AP.

Here's a model:

In the article, "Men Without Women," the author's primary purpose is to inform the reader that, in many areas of Asia, more boys are being born than girls because of social values, and this has consequences.

3. Choose one of the words and type up how you did the Three Boxes. Here's a frame to use, use this as a model:

First, I looked at the sentence and realized that because it came after the subject and there wasn't another verb, that it must be a verb, an action word. So, denigrate means "to _____________."

Then, I read over the paragraph. The main idea is that the man doesn't want to be made to feel like he's worthless. So, I am inferring that "denigrate" must mean to do something that makes somebody feel bad about themselves. The Central Idea of the article is about how people saying cruel things to others makes their physical health worse, which corroborates my guess. I am going to guess that "denigrate" means to say something to make somebody feel bad.

4. Respond to this question with a SEE paragraph:

What is ironic about the situation that the author presents in the article?

13.2. Determining Word Meaning in Context RI4.

Read this for homework, choose five words, and input them into your spreadsheet. Then, send me an email telling me that you are done.

Note: You don't have to do the Author Purpose or the Central Idea Statements tonight. I want to grade the classwork first. I'll tell you if you have your expert check or not tomorrow, and I may ask you for these statements tomorrow in class.

Remember, though, now that we've gone over the Three Boxes technique, that you HAVE TO understand the article to make a good context guess. Start reading the article and let the Tier Two words emerge naturally.

13.3. Applying the Author Purpose Technique RI6./L6.

1. Open a new document in your Google Drive - call it "[YOUR NAME] Hobbit AP."
2. Read this.
3. Find five words and perform the structure and context analysis practice, and then verify the word's meaning with an online dictionary.
4. Write an Author Purpose Statement and a WHO+WHAT+WHY Central Idea Statement.

13.2. Author Purpose and Vocabulary Practice

1. Read this passage from Newsweek. 

2. What is the author's intent in writing this? (Remember, "intent" is a synonym for "purpose," I am asking for an Author Purpose statement.

3. What is the Central Idea of this? (These two sentences share information, but AREN'T identical.)


4. Next, conduct a vocabulary analysis of the following Tier 2 vocabulary words (remember to use the "Apple+F" Command to help you locate the words quickly):

complied
chicanery
antics
coincided
incompatibility
fanfare
denounces
inadequate
affiliated
demonstrate

13.1 Determining Author Purpose RI6.

Review of the Basics

This week's skill reading skill concerns nonfiction readings - informational articles, essays, and nonfiction narratives.

Author purpose is an easy concept to learn, since it is fairly close to determining the central idea of a text. You simply put an "author purpose" verb at the beginning and don't fuss about the "why" part.

This is a single sentence assignment, and often can be completed after reading only half of the article (sometimes less). Here's a mastery list for it.

13.1. Keeping a Personal Dictionary L6.

We want to begin keeping track of the vocabulary that we encounter in our reading.

For this week, you need to locate five words in each reading and fill them into your dictionary, to get the ball rolling.

Here are directions to help you begin filling out the Personal Dictionary.

Here's a link to a file that you can copy (Click "File," then "Make a Copy," then rename it).

13.5. Science-Language Arts: Sweden Wants Your Garbage RHST1.

We're running a interdisciplinary ("-ary"means "having to do with," "discipline" means "school subject, " and "inter-" means between, so "interdisciplinary" means "between two subjects" reading to both practice our reading comprehension and analysis and to learn more about how different forms of energy  impact the world around us. So, we found what I hope was a reasonably interesting article about Sweden's relationship with its garbage. Here's the article - "Sweden Imports Waste from European Neighbors to Fuel Waste-to-Energy Plan."

Click on the "Read More" for the Complete Instructions.

12.1. Introduction to Mood RL4.

One of our objectives this year is to develop our understanding of how word choices by a writer can create a mood in a fictional story. However, I think that before we do that, it makes sense to first develop our understanding of what mood is. So, our first goal this week is to talk about emotions in the more exact, rigorous way that we prefer.

Here's a set of quizlet flashcards designed to formalize our knowledge about feelings - did you know that there are eight basic ones? All other emotions are just combinations of the eight (anxiety is fear + anticipation, while eagerness is joy + anticipation), the eight themselves at different intensities (rage is just very, very angry), or the eight in different contexts (jealousy is anger while coveting, and shame is disgust + sadness directed inward). I didn't learn this until I was thirty or so, and I couldn't believe that it wasn't taught in elementary school.

12.2. Symbols, Metaphors, and Allusions

We're talking about symbols, metaphors, and allusions in our class, and I realized that it's tough to tell these apart, partly because they all have the same kind of job -- they are the trapdoors to the theme level.

To review, a story, when it's literature, works on two levels. The first level is the "reading" level -- these characters, with these backgrounds, personalities, and desires have problems with internal and external aspects, which they try and fail to fully solve until they don't (or maybe don't in a really final way). That's what a reading teacher teaches in the elementary school.

There is another level, though, that runs parallel to the literal, "reading" level. This is the metaphoric, or "literature" level. In this level, the story maker is trying to communicate to the reader about universal ideas. The most basic one is theme -- in fact, the theme taught by literary stories is sometimes spelled out inside the plot. However, there is all kinds of other interesting stuff to find.

The literature level is far more difficult to find, because artists usually won't address it directly. They tell a story and bury these messages in it. I'm not sure why; I think that it's because people generally don't like to talk about deep stuff in public, so artists have to hide their vitamins in the chocolate bar. That's me guessing, though.

Anyway, metaphor, symbol, and allusion are three ways that artists try to build trapdoors so that you can find the deeper level hidden there.

1. Metaphor is when an a speaker says that one thing is like a categorically different thing. The two things have some creative connection that makes you understand them better, or remember the point more easily. The last line of The Great Gatsby is something like, "And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." That image of a person trying to row a boat against the current of the water is supposed to be like a person trying to move forward in their life, but they can't, since they are dragged backwards by what happened to them in their past. It's a neat trick; it lets you imagine a really abstract idea. Maybe we can call that one definition of art, it's when somebody tries to take ideas and turn them into objects that you can sense.

2. Symbols work just like metaphors, except the symbol has to be something in the story. In Gatsby, there's no rowboat at the end of the story, so it's a metaphor. However, if a thing (or character) has a deeper, abstract meaning and it IS in the story, too, it's a symbol. These are actually harder to spot than metaphors, because everybody understands how they work in the "reading" level, so it's especially easy to miss their other job. In the story, "The Treasure of Lemon Brown," the titular "treasure" helps drive the plot, because the thugs mistake it for something that they want to steal. However, as a symbol of how worldly accomplishment is most worthwhile because of the pride in you that your loved ones feel, it is key to understanding the theme. It's a helpful trapdoor to the universal "literature" level. If a writer describes anything carefully, a character or (especially) an object, it's a symbol. If a person or thing serves as the title of the story, it's a symbol of something.

3. An allusion is another way to build trapdoors to the deeper level. When James Joyce wanted to build a novel out of a single day's events in the life of one man, he needed to make sure that the reader understood that he was actually trying to wrestle with things he thought were important. So, he built into his novel, Ulysses, a bunch of references to Homer's Odyssey. These allusions let the reader know that Joyce wanted his readers to understand his book as one dealing with those most important things in life, or even life itself, as epics used to attempt. An allusion is a reference to another, more famous story -- usually the author is trying to point out in an indirect way that the two stories share related themes.

4. One last way that writers try to build hinted puzzles for the reader to solve in through puns in names. The names that a writer chooses for places or characters often have meaning that help. In Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes picks the main characters names to let you know how they work -- the dad is Matt (his wife walks all over him), the mom is Rose (she symbolizes blood and anger), and sister, Norma, is the normal child that Rose always wished for.

10.5. Science - Language Arts Interdisciplinary Reading RL2.

Here's a short story by the American fiction master Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway is famous for writing very sparely (he uses few and simple words), but his stories nearly always have some sort of subtext (a story going on underneath the original story). In today's story, "A Day's Wait," a father and son deal with the young boy's illness, but they have very different reactions.

The ending is somewhat of a surprise, but there's a pretty definite reason that we're giving this assignment out as a joint venture between Science and English classes, which gives a bit of a hint.

Click on the title to read "A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway.

When you are done, answer the following questions in a Google Drive document. Write a single SEE paragraph for each. In both paragraphs, make sure to cite specific, quoted evidence from the story as proving examples in your paragraph.

1. Why do the boy and the father have such different beliefs about the boy's illness? What has the boy misunderstood?
2. How does Ernest Hemingway use point of view to construct the story to create the surprising revelation at the ending?
3. If the boy and father were still living in France, how would the (French) doctor have described the boy's condition differently? How would that have affected the plot of the story?

10.1. How Writers Characterize RL3.

This week we're focusing on how writers create people in their stories. It's really an amazing trick; the idea that an artist (or team of artists) can create a story that you know is fake (it's called "fiction" after all, which means "made up"), and still get you to care about them. So, it's worth exploring how they do it.

Here are the basic terms and comprehension that you need to start having these discussions in a literature class:

11.0. Language Arts/Mathematics/Social Studies Reading: On Being a Quant

I thought this article was interesting, and am going to put it up on the page of links under "Mathematics" and "Civics," but thought I should be posting when I am doing this stuff. The article refers to the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis, who normally writes about business matters. The book is about changing the way a baseball team is run in order to try and quantify things number. We use the word "quantify" in our logical essays, it means to understand or express something in quantities, or numbers. The word "quant" is a back formation (that's when people take a word and shorten it to make a new word that's faster to say) that means "a person who believes in understanding the world through the sophisticated use of statistics." Here's the link to the article, "The Statisticians on the Bus: How a Nerd Changed Political Reporting Forever," by Andrew Romano, at Newsweek's website.

Poem of the Week #1

My life been the poem I would have writ,
but I could not both live and utter it.

                                 - Henry David Thoreau

W10. Written Argument Prompt: "For Whom Would You Have Voted?"

The students here always get into the Presidential election, and it's nice to hear the kind of (sometimes heated) discourse in our classrooms. So, I figured that it made sense to write a piece on which candidate each of us would have voted for, had we attained our majority of eighteen.

IYI. A.Word.A.Day

There's a great mass email that I signed up for a couple months ago and thought I'd share if you're interested. It's called A.Word.A.Day, and every day, it sends a new word to your email account. The words are often very rare, (today's word "nonesuch," means "a person or thing without equal," a I would probably never use it in my own writing, because it seems too rare to me, and other people wouldn't get it), but it's a great way to get some really smart person to pick out an interesting word for you.

Also, there's a quotation at the bottom and they're often great, too, I enjoy them as much as I enjoy the word. I highly recommend signing up for a free subscription.

Here's the link to the site to sign up - it's free and I don't think I've received any spam from this site.

13.2. Determining Author Purpose RI6.

Applying Our Knowledge to Construct an Author Purpose Statement

Yesterday, we went over the basics of determining author purpose in a formal way (here's the link to the mastery list if you need the notes).

Today, we are seeking to apply this to an article - "For Navy SEALS, The Biggest Threat May Be Hollywood" from newsweek.com.

So, do this to demonstrate your current level of skill at determining author purpose, first read the article.

Then,
1. Read the article.
2. Open a Document in your Google Drive and name it "RI6. Navy Seals and Hollywood."
2. Write an author purpose sentence (consult the mastery list for the formula, it explains exactly how to phrase this).
3. Write a WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence that determines the main idea.
4. Select five Tier 2 vocabulary words to add to the class's online database.

Notice that the two sentences, the first that states the author purpose and the second that determines the central idea, are similar. This does not mean that you are making a mistake; I am asking for two versions of the same thing.

9.5. SEETH Application Practice R5.

Objective: Today, we're practice the SEETH idea. That's the idea that you can analyze an informational paragraph to determine what role each of the sentences play in it. "SEETH" is an acronym that stands for "Statement-Explanation-Examples-Transition-Hook," like our "SEE" body paragraph slightly expanded.

Do Now:
We need a reading to conduct this on, so here's one that relates to our current theme, because two groups of people have two different sets of values, which causes them some problems in this situation.

This is the reading, open it up first:
"Wolves Are Returning to Oregon, But Not Everyone Is Pleased" from Smithsonian.com

Read the entire article first, and write a WHO+WHAT+WHY central idea sentence in a new document in your Google Drive.

Review You May Need to Do Your Work:
To review -
     There are five kinds of sentences you'll see in nonfiction writing (article and essays) - statements of new main ideas, explanations of that main idea, examples of that main idea, transitions to the next main idea, and hooks (at the very beginning and end). If you know what the author is trying to do with each sentence, you can understand the paragraph and answer questions about it far more easily.


Independent Practice (What I am Going to Grade to See if You Are Novice, Proficient, or Expert at this Skill):

Take the first ten sentences, copy and paste them into the same document you already have made, and label them with a SEETH letter and a short explanation.

Demonstration to Guide Your Work:

For example, (the blue type is my identification and rationale)

Even before the first modern-times wolf moved permanently into Oregon, officials foresaw the potential for the species’ return and the problems the wolves might cause. This is a transition sentence. And so the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan was enacted in 2005 by the state of Oregon with the intention of readying the state and its people for the presence once again of the gray wolf. This is a main idea; it mentions this management plan for the first time and the rest of the paragraph is about it. The wolf plan outlines just how to respond to wolves that prey upon livestock and at what point Oregon wolves might be removed from the state’s endangered species list as their numbers grow, among other issues of question. This explains how the plan works. Ranchers, hunters, hikers, conservationists, government land managers and other stakeholders took part in developing the wolf plan, Dennehy said. This explains how the plan was made.

Social Studies - Language Arts Interdisciplinary Writing Prompt

This week's essay forces you to assume a role and write from that perspective, so don't forget the RAFT skill - it's our easiest skill, but also easiest to forget doing.
The teachers in eighth grade Social Studies and Language have convened and arrived at a prompt that will test both Writing Skills and Social Studies content knowledge.

9.1. Analyzing a Paragraph Using SEETH RI5.

While the hurricane caused me to do this a little less formally than I would have liked, I did want to give everybody the mastery list for this week's skill, which is to look at a paragraph and identify the job that each sentence is doing in it. So, I wrote up a mastery list for it and will design a quizlet set, in case you need to review it (or just feel like a nice game of Space Race).

Here's the mastery list.

RI2./RHST2. Mathematics-Language Arts Interdisciplinary Reading

So . . .
As you have probably noticed, we're trying hard to incorporate reading and writing exercises into all of our classes. Well, we've always done that, but we are trying to communicate and use technology to make those reading and writing experiences more rewarding and useful to the students.
Click here to get to the reading about the benefits of studying math.

2.1. Values, Rules, and Crime - Introductory Discussion

Here's the document for you to copy and have your discussion. Share it with your group members, me, and Mr. Sabol.
The Questions

1. What makes a good rule or law? How can you distinguish a good law from a bad one?

2. What is a “value”? What do we mean when we say a “person’s values”?

3. How does a person get their values? Where do values come from?

4. If someone has very different values from us, are we allowed to call them “wrong”? When are we allowed to? When are we not?

5. Should you be able to break a rule or law if you think that the rule or law is unfair or unjust? Is that morally okay?

6. Should the state be able to execute people? Is the death penalty okay?

7. Should parents be allowed to strike their children if it’s part of their disciplining style?

8. Are there times when it is okay to lie?

W1. Keyboarding-Language Arts Writing Prompt

Good morning, this post applies to my period 2/3b and 6b/7 students, both of whom have keyboarding right now. This week's essay, as I mentioned to you, will be conducted in your keyboarding class. I wanted to make sure that you had ammunition for your own ideas, so I've prepared a link to a reading that you can go over first to help you out. Click here to read "Benefits of Music Education," an article from Music Education Online.

Once you are in Keyboarding class, you will have the entire period to compose your response. Remember that this is a graded exercise for me, so if you need any writing checks for my gradebook, this is a good way to get them. I have given Mr. Carmona the writing prompt and lined paper.

I appreciate both your taking the time to do this for me, and Mr. Carmona taking the time to administer it. I want to construct situations where you write when I am not around, so you can make sure that you can do all of these tricks that we learn in lots of different contexts and classes.

W1. Foreign Language-Language Arts Interdisciplinary Writing Prompt

Good morning. This week's essay will be conducted in your Foreign Language class. I wanted to make sure that you had ammunition for your own ideas, so I've prepared a link to a reading that you can go over first to help you out. Make sure to click the link with the appropriate prompt for you, depending on what language you are studying.

I appreciate both your taking the time to do this for me, and Mr. Leister taking the time to administer it. I want to construct situations where you write when I am not around, so you can make sure that you can do all of these tricks that we learn in lots of different contexts and classes.

Once you are in Foreign Language class, you will have the entire period to compose your response. Remember that this is a graded exercise for me, so if you need any writing checks for my gradebook, this is a good way to get them.  Remember, you can't type on the original, so click "File," then "Make a Copy," so you can have your own personal copy. Do not share your file with anyone this time.

Latin Students
We wanted to give help with this, so here's Click here to read "The New Case for Latin," an article from Time magazine.
Here's the file with the prompt.
Again, do it in Google Drive, just like in Language Arts.
German/Italian Students
If you need help coming up with arguments, click here.
Here's the file with the prompt.
Again, if your class uses Google Drive, do it in Google Drive. If not, do it in Word.

Dollar Words #2: Cerulean

Our second Dollar Word is a little out of place in the curriculum, but one of my classes is writing about Latin in their weekly essay, so, if they're sharp (and notice this), they can find an argument for their essay. For everybody else, it's still a great word to know for writing.

cerulean - sky blue.

Usage Notes - "Cerulean" is a great word to use in your writing to help establish mood. It specifically refers to the blue of a sky-blue sky, and has connotations of peace and happiness. It helps a smart writer to establish a calm, pleasant mood in a sensory detail, either in an essay (to be convincing) or in a story (to indicate a happy point in the story). Cerulean is an adjective, which means that you should use it to modify an noun (the sky, blue eyes, the color of a dress)

Examples:

Suddenly, after days of rain, the clouds parted and a cerulean sky revealed itself - we could play the championship game after all.

I can close my eyes and visualize it now - the healthy, svelte youngsters playing under cerulean skies.

For such a gruff, irascible person, my football coach certainly drove an incongruous car - a cerulean two-seat convertible. (Here we're using it to create a contrast, "incongruous" means "not matching, unexpected, clashing")


Etymology:
"Cerulean" is derived directly from the Latin word for "sky" and "blue. It's been an English word for about 500 years.

RL2. Raymond's Run

This is the reading that you want to do if you decide to try and get the Five Fingers check, either at expert or proficient. It's a story, one I really like, by Toni Cade Bambara called "Raymond's Run," we'll be reading another by her later in the year, but I like this one best. I highly recommend it. (Click on the title of the story; the other link is just background information, IYI).

8.1. W1.b./W2.b. Creating Specific Proving Examples

This week's skill follows from last week's, where we were going over the three things that a logical paragraph usually does - states a main idea, explains why the idea is true, and give specific examples to show how the idea works. This last part is by far the hardest for writers, so we should spend more time working on it specifically. I have three kinds of examples to share that hopefully will allow you to create specific example more effectively and easily. Here's the mastery list for the week.

Let's learn this stuff at the knowledge/comprehension level - check quizlet.com for a flashcard set.

Dollar Words #1. Optimal

We started writing our logical essays this week - they went really well, I thought, the best first set of essays I've ever had. I introduced our scoring system yesterday, and taught it to everybody. So, we want to start maximizing our scores on this kinds of essays. One way to do that is to use sophisticated vocabulary to pick up the $1 reward for each Tier 2 word (that's the teacher-y term I use for "big words that all educated people know").

The first in this series, which I am calling "Dollar Words" is one that my students are already familiar with - "optimal." I use my favorite source for these definitions, which is the Dictionary that comes with the Apple OS - it's the most thorough and readable set of definitions I have seen on a computer - online or not.

So,

optimal - best or most favorable.

Usage Notes - "Optimal" should be used to describe solutions to problems or situations - the optimal choice, optional conditions, the optimal candidate - they all have to do with making choices, solving problems, or dealing with situations.

Examples:

The optimal decision here is to hire an extra person for the Christmas rush.
I don't know if the conditions are optimal right for camping - it looks like it might pour later.
The optimal choice here is to have four four-week vacations instead of one longer summer vacation.

Examples of Possible Misuse:
I chose the optimal French fries at lunch. ("Optimal" is off-key when used to mean "best" for specific things, you could say "I thought that the French fries were the optimal choice, because the baked beans looked gross."
My friend Martha is optimal. (Same reason - "optimal" might describe the best friend to help with a problem, but not the friend in general.)

Etymology:
"Optimal" is derived from the Latin word optimus, which means "best." It's actually a relatively young English word; it's only existed for a little more than a hundred years. In your regular life, you have probably seen Optimum Online (they want you to think that they're the best internet provider) and maybe seen a TV show or movie with the tractor-trailer/robot Optimus Prime (he's the best one on the show, the leader of the good guys).

Language Arts-Social Studies Activity

This week's current event is taking a quick break from the Presidential campaign to talk about a news story that we thought might be interesting to our middle schoolers.

We're going to write less this week that normally for a current event - instead of the Chain of Main Ideas, we're going to write two central ideas, aka WHO+WHAT+WHY sentences. If you don't know how to write one, there are directions to help you below.

1. Read the informational article here and write a WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence that expresses the central idea of the article.

2. Read this second nonfiction piece on the same topic - how is it different from the first one? How is the author's purpose different? How does that affect what's is in the article? Write a WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence for this one, too.

When you are done, you will have read two articles and have written two (longish) sentences.

Things to Think about/That We May Discuss
Think about these issues - you DON'T need to write or type answers to them.

- You know the difference between facts and opinions. Notice that one of these pieces contains the author's opinions and one does not. Why do you think that is?

- Notice that when writing the directions, I used two different terms to name the readings - one is called an "article" and one is not. What accounts for this?

- This article is about France - so what does it have to do with us? Why care about topics that are concerned with French schoolchildren? Why care?

- Notice that the second article adds something as a "Bonus" meaning that the author didn't think that she wanted to simply make it another paragraph. Why do you feel that she labeled this part "Bonus"?

Lather and Nothing Else

Here's the story for tonight . . . I think this is a good one.

If you aren't an expert at the Five Fingers, then write a Five Finger paragraph summary. If you have your expert point, write a Central Idea statement. This is due by midnight tonight.

W1.b. Writing SEE Body Paragraphs Application

Today, we're going to take the body of knowledge that we reviewed yesterday and apply it to the introductions that we wrote - choose three of the introductions that you wrote last week and for each of them, write TWO body paragraphs (not three, we're only going to finish the body of our essays later in the week. If you need help, watch the video embedded in yesterday's lesson.

2.1.1. Short Story "Gentleman of Rio en Medio"

Tonight's short story, "Gentleman of Rio en Medio," celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and is the first new reading (The Giver will continue to be a core text for our discussion and thinking) in Unit 2: Values, Rules, Crime, the focus of our thematic discussions for the next six weeks.

After you have read the text, make sure to write a Five Finger summary of it. If you need review for this technique, search Five Fingers in the search box above, or check your own Google Drive for your own completed work.

Submit your work to me through Google Drive; it's due by midnight (not that I think that you should wait until 11:30 to get it done).

Giver Big Discussion 2: The Follow-up

Okay, I think that there was a lot of really good thinking in the first Discussion page, so let's go again with a bunch of new, very difficult questions.

I have emailed you an invitation to the document, so check your gmail account for the link - I tried to put one here, but it wouldn't let students type.


I think some ground rules emerged from you guys, this is what they seem to be:

1. Don't use the document to be annoying. One of the risks of democracy is that fools get votes, too. The way to remedy that is to educate fools. Please act like a person who deserves to be heard.

2. If you want to use color to mark off your posts, you may. Remember, though, that the interesting part of this document isn't who said it, but what was said. However, don't change the font - some of these are tough to read. Change the color and leave the font.

3. I don't need people to repeat things that were already said, so look at what was written. An agreement statement with more reasoning or proof is more valuable than repeated a answer, even if it's an insightful one. Don't be afraid to disagree respectfully; people fear of disagreement is what makes conversation so boring in real life.

4. Take chances - don't hesitate to write down something that you aren't sure is right. The people who aren't afraid to express themselves, aren't fearful about being labeled "dumb" or "a nerd," are the people who end up having the best time at school and at their job.

RI2./RSHT2. Science/Language Arts Article

Learning about science is more and more crucial to understand what's going on around you. I am continually amazed at how often I am reading the news and something comes up that would be really confusing to me without the science classes that I took as a student.

So, the science department and I thought it a good idea to plan some joint readings to show the important connections between our disciplines. This particular article, about a proposed rebuild of a bridge right over the New Jersey border in southern New York state, requires a basic knowledge of how sound waves travel in order to understand fully. Click on the link to read the article, and then practice the "chain of main ideas" technique in order to create a summary. Think about what you have learned in science about sound waves in order to understand the seriousness of the problem of protecting the fish underwater from the construction noise.

Important Note: Since this is a news article, and so keeps its paragraphs extremely short, which makes our "Chain of Main Ideas" too much work. So, you should simply group the sentences together and remake full paragraphs by summarizing once every five sentences or so. Never be afraid to alter your tools when your intelligence suggests this.

6.2. Giver Big Discussion RL8.

This week in Periods 1 and 2, we're having a big literary discussion about The Giver. Notice that they are a few levels at which you can talk about books and stories:

1. The NON-READER level - This level of talking about reading a book isn't even about the book - it deals with the sort of things, like, "This book was too hard/too easy to read," or "It's so long." This kind of talk about books is about the reader. I find it useful to listen to, but I never do it myself.

 2. The BOOK CLUB level - This level of talking is very natural and normal - it involves talking about the characters as though they were real people and what is happening is really going on. This is normal in a story, it's called "suspension of disbelief," meaning that a person will agree to act as though something is really going on, even if the know, deep down, that it isn't. Saying things like, "I was so mad when character X did this," or "I really wanted her to marry Jesse" are talking about books on the STORY level. This is a perfectly healthy way to use books as entertainment. People all over the world join real or virtual book clubs and talk about stories together this way, and English class up through the middle also often operates on this level.

 3. The LITERATURE level - While the BOOK CLUB level is always important, since understanding the story is a basic requirement, the LITERATURE level is the next deeper level that a person can talk about a book. At this level, it is less desirable to talk about the characters or plot as actually happening, because the LITERATURE level tries to read the book as something written by a person. It's much more concerned with artistic technique than the other one.

 To tell the difference between levels 2 and 3, I often think of a magic show. The BOOK CLUB level is the same as sitting in the audience at a magic show, watching all the tricks, and thinking about whether you enjoy them or not. The LITERATURE level is much more like standing behind the magic and watching how the tricks are done, in order to understand how the thing works. Both ways are fine ways to think about books, it's my job as your eighth grade teacher to try and start to show that level beneath, and to think about a books as something made by a person.

 I should mention that a lot of people might naturally assume that the BOOK CLUB level is more entertaining that the LITERATURE level - that that's the main difference. I totally disagree with that. I feel that trying to get a deep understanding of how something works in just as entertaining as using the thing itself. I enjoy using my coffee making to make coffee, but I also enjoy opening it up to see how it heats up and releases the water, and what happens if I run it without any coffee in it. Trying to figure out how things work, to me, is just another fun way to use them. Giver Big Discussion

6.1. RHST2./RHST6. Week of Respect Readings

We found all these readings for our assignments on this website, Teens Against Bullying, which has a good deal of other interesting information on it and looks pretty, too.

Tuesday (RHST2.)
"A Boy the Bullies Love to Beat Up, Repeatedly" This is a news article from The New York Times, which is considered by many to be the most important daily newspaper in America (even the world).

For this reading, we can practice the "Chain of Main Ideas" summary (click the link if you need directions) - remember that the main idea of each paragraph is the (WHO+WHAT) - "Who is the person or group that we're talking about and what is happening to them/with text?"

Wednesday (RHST1.)
"The Bully and the Bystander" This reading is from a website that is designed to teach parents, kids, and teachers important information.

For this reading, we are going to practice learning to read "textbook text." We're learning outlining in Social Studies, which is the best/easiest way to learn what you need from this kind of text, so make an outline of the argument.

Thursday (RHST2.)
"Telling Bullies to Think Pink" This is a more personal essay written by a news reporter - which is different from saying that it's news.

For this reading, we'll write a single sentence that determines the central idea (WHO+WHAT+WHY).

5.4. Should Schools Go Paperless?

What Are Learning About Today?

• We are reading a pair of short thesis-driven essays and practicing writing Text Citation Sentences. RI1.
• We are also reviewing both our RAFTS technique for analyzing a writing prompt to determine the role, audience, format, topic question, and size AND our ability to construct a prewrite.

What Do We Need to Know to Make Our Work Easier

1. Read over the directions for how to write a text citation sentence. Make sure to do it well, I don't give points for effort -- you're developing, proficient, or expert.
For Writing the Text Citation Sentence (Check 1)
2. Any statement that attempts to analyze a text can be designated as "explicitly stated" in the text, "should be concluded" by inferences in the text, "should not be concluded," by a lack of evidence in the text, and "explicitly contradicted" by evidence in the text.
3. The formula for a text citation sentence is, [CLAIM] + "explicitly stated/should be concluded/should not be concluded/explicitly contradicted" [QUOTED/PARAPHRASE EVIDENCE].
For Analyzing the Prompt (Check 2)
4. You should memorize RAFTS -- role, audience, format, topic, size -- these are the things that you have to ascertained when you are given a writing prompt.
5. This is a thinking exercise, so it doesn't matter how it appears on the page, you just have to get the answers right (don't forget that the T has to be expressed as a question).

The Text

My classroom runs in a different way from most of the ones in our district, which I think it's important that we talk about. Otherwise, people have such strong views about technology, that I thought that we should talk about my reasons and goals. I also want to say that I personally am only going paperless in one respect - photocopies. I would be the last person in the world to give up printed books; I fill my home and classroom with them. I also love notebooks, graph paper, Dixon-Ticonderoga pencils with that green foil, and old-school art supplies - I use them and love them. But, in the spirit of dialogue, I found two people that would argue these two sides for us - see which one you find more convincing.

   "Should Schools Go Paperless" Point/Counterpoint

Practice Exercise 1 - Complete During Class

Statements About This Text
RI1. Write a sentence or two for each statement below that follows the rules laid out in the "How to Write a Text Citation Sentence". Remember that there are two short essays here -- but sure to be clear about which one the statement is referring to.

1. The writer who favors getting rid of paper cares about the environment, but the writer who wants to keep paper doesn't care.
2. The writer of the second essay believes that having children learn to make letters with pencils is important for children's reading skills.
3. The writer of the first essay is advocating a total ban on all paper in schools.
4. The writers of the two essays agree that computers would cost a lot of money.
5. The writer of the first essay is younger than the writer of the second.

5.4. "The Country That Stopped Reading" RI9.

We are talking in this unit about how a society decides what should be learned in school and how it should be taught. I found this op-ed piece ("op-ed piece" is short for opinion or editorial, which is a section of the newspaper where the writer is allowed to express opinions and make arguments, an op-ed is a kind of essay) about how a writer wishes to alter the approach that his homeland takes towards school.

"The Country That Stopped Reading" from The New York Times

For an argument or persuasive essay, remember that when you are thinking about the whether you think the writer is right or not depends of a few things. First, you have to understand his position. Next, you have to understand his supporting reasons. Last, you need to check if those supporting reasons have good enough explanations and sufficient and valid enough evidence.

This is easier than you think if you know how to prewrite for a persuasive essay. When writing a persuasive essay, you think of a plan (the prewrite) and then execute the essay. When reading a persuasive essay, you instead take the finished essay and try and figure out the plan the writer used.

Assignment: Take the author's essay and identify the position, reasons, explanations, and examples that he uses. Copy and paste this organizer below into a document and then fill it in. I have only given room for two supporting reasons, but simply copy and paste the block to make more.

Writer's Position:

         Supporting Reason:
                        
                        Explanation:

                        Evidence:

                  Supporting Reason:

                         

                        Explanation:

                        Evidence:

5.3. Giver Nonfiction Topics: Introduction to the Amish People RI2.

Introduction: In The Giver, Jonas and his community have a very different way of life from what we think of as normal. Since "biography determines perspective," it makes perfect sense to them, but seems bizarre, laughable, interesting, or tragic to us. However, many people in our world choose to adopt or keep different ways of living in order to reinforce values that they hold as important. The idea that a person's behavior is determined by their perspective is one that I think is worth thinking a great deal about.

Today's nonfiction reading relates to The Giver as the previous two did - again we are trying to pick up a seriously meant entertainment like The Giver and see how the themes that Lowry explores DO have parallels with our world. In this way, we can use what we learn by living these alternate lives (the main characters) in our regular lives.

The Text: 

So, here's the Amish introductory reading for today, which explores a social group that has chosen to live in a way very different from what we think of as "normal."


Write a WHO+WHAT+WHY central idea sentence for this reading.

Current Events Article RI2./RHST2.

We're doing another Current Event Article about the 2012 Presidential Election, which the biggest news story in America during October.
However, the article will be easier to understand if we take a quick check of your understanding of American government. Take this short true/false quiz to check what you know about this topic. You get your credit when you get to the end of the quiz and the form asks for your name.


Once you are done with that, here's this week's article, "Struggling Young Adults Are a Question Mark for Campaigns," which deals with an crucial part of the electorate in the coming election.

Complete your "Chain of Main Ideas" summary according to our format. Remember that in some news articles, there are shorter paragraphs, and if you see a paragraph that is just a quotation, it probably is the proving evidence for the previous paragraph. You don't need to write a main idea sentence for that one, since you already did. For Mr. Holder's classes, complete your chain of main ideas in Google Docs. For Mr. Holder's classes and Ms. O'Mara's, after your summary, write a WHO+WHAT+WHY central idea sentence, because you get credit for that in our class.

5.2. Giver Nonfiction Topics: Geoengineering RI2.

Why We Should Read This Thing Right Now: One of the science fiction aspects of The Giver that is getting closer to science fact is the idea of controlling the weather. The vast majority of scientists are warning that the behavior of people on earth is altering the climate. Now, scientists are talking about a topic called "geoengineering," which is the practice ("-ing") of changing the earth ("geo") on purpose through technical means ("engineer"). So, as is happening more and more lately, science fiction is turning into science fact.

What You Need to Know: Remember, this week's skill is "Determining the Central Idea of a Short Reading" - so you only need to write a single sentence about this reading. We'll discuss all this in conversations throughout the next few months, in science and language arts, so I'd like you to have this reading. We've reviewed this twice, so you may already feel comfortable, otherwise click on the link to get a little help.

The Text: Today's article,  How Stuff Works "Cloud Seeding", is a look at one way that people have proposed to fight global warming - not by recycling (which does not do anything for global warming, but people tend to think recycling solves all environmental problems) or reusing stuff (which does help the environment) - but by actually doing something active to change the environment more.

5.2. Giver Nonfiction Topics: Reproduction and the Law RI2.

Objective: To determine the central idea of an informational article.

Things That You Should Know:

1. The WHO in a WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence can be a person (Tom), a group (Earthquake scientists, Americans), or even a thing (like the Titanic). The real world is subject, but WHO is easier to remember.
2. The WHAT is either "What is the main character doing?" or "What is happening TO the main character?"
3. The WHY for a nonfiction article is the answer to the question "Why did the author think that this was important for a smart English speaker like you to know?"
4. If you can't figure out the WHY, reread the end (these go in order).
5. The formula for the main idea of a paragraph is WHO+WHAT (remember from out Chain of Main Ideas). That's why many teachers use "main idea" to mean both "main idea of a paragraph" and "central idea of a reading." They're not wrong, but it can be confusing. I try to keep the two separate, so when I say "central idea," I mean "of the whole thing" and when I say "main idea," I mean of the paragraph.

The Text: Today's nonfiction reading gives us a chance to use the WHO+WHAT+WHY formula. The good news is that the product for this is a single sentence, so simply read the article and write a single sentence. Review the mastery list if you need help with this. Here's the link - Missing Women in Asia Article.

Independent Practice:
First, everyone write a sentence that expresses the central idea of the reading.
Next, determine what group you are in:

•  If you need the Chain of Main Ideas Proficient check, write a summary to try and get it (remember, I can't pass anybody who's not proficient in that by the end of the marking period). If you have the check, read the next bullet.
• If you need the Citing Text Evidence Proficient check, check with me to see if there is a set of seven sentences for this reading. If so, do that as your second exercise. If you have the proficient check, read the next bullet.
• If you have both proficient checks, you may choose to try and get either of the expert level checks. Pick one of the two, citing or Chain of Main Ideas.
• If you have both expert checks, read in your unit novel and take Active Reading Notes.

Assessment:

I'm going to quickly assess your Central Idea sentence, so make sure to show it to me as soon as it is finished.

Any second checks, I'll grade according to our contract. If you want to watch me grade it (that can be really helpful), let me know so that we can make an appointment. 

5.1. Determining the Central Idea by Constructing a Who+What+Why Sentence RL2./RI2.

This week we're going to continue with our work in summarizing readings, but now, instead of a paragraph, we're going to try and boil everything down to a single sentence. That single sentence, called the central idea, is often called the main idea. However, I find this confusing, since in our classroom we have already defined "main idea" as the one idea stated, explained, and proven in a logical paragraph. I used to call the central idea "the main idea of the whole thing," but that seemed kind of silly and long. So, central idea, which for us means "one sentence that expresses the single idea that a writer is trying to communicate to the reader." In an essay, we call it the thesis, which, of course, you know from last week's prewriting practices. However, central idea is one sentence that we will use for short stories, newspaper articles, nonfiction narratives, and essays.

How do you write one of these?

I'm glad you asked. You need to be able to decide whether something is a story or an informational reading. Then, you use the Who+What+Why formula to write a sentence.

Central Idea of a Story = Main Character + Conflict/Climax + Theme
Central Idea of a Informational Reading = Topic + What Happened + Why a Smart Person Would Care

Of course, the mastery list for this week (below) spells it out in much more careful detail.

4.5. "He Who Fails to Plan Is Planning to Fail" - Winston Churchhill W1./W.4

Last week, we stated that we were ready to start writing an essay when we knew what the thesis was, so this week, we're practicing that skill by writing a bunch of theses (that's the plural of thesis, not thesises, which is tough to say). So, here's a collection of seventeen writing prompt, for which you have to develop seventeen logical thesis. Remember to use last week's mastery list; it was meant for you to use, not just memorize and forget. There's a copy embedded in this blog, though, if you need a memory refresher - it will seal into your memory through practice.

4.3. "Cub Pilot on the Mississippi"

"A Cub Pilot on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain, from Life on the Mississippi

Question about Our Unit Theme:

Mark Twain always stated that he learned a great deal about life from his time spent on riverboats, and that that learning helped him as a writer.

• What do you think he learned as a result of his experience with the cruel captain that helped him write?
• Do you think that he could have learned this lesson in a more formal way, e.g. through reading or school?

4.4. Planning a Logical Argument Essay W1./W4.

We're learning how to plan a logical argument this week/month/year, and it is one of my very favorite things to teach, since it's really important and also can be really interesting, because it asks that you fight about it. I made a video that demonstrates step-by-step one of these prompts, in case anybody needs help.




Here's the document itself, if you just want to see the finished product as a reference for your work.

3.3. Applying the Five Fingers. RL2.

We're practicing our story analysis by practicing it as much as we can.  Tonight, I want the class to read a third story by Walter Dean Myers, "The Treasure of Lemon Brown," and complete a Five Finger summary for it.

Remember:

• Choose the main character - one main character. This focuses your summary on what is essential and makes your work far easier.
• Think carefully about what the problem with the character is, especially the internal aspect of the problem (meaning, what two ideas/values/desires are fighting inside the main character's head). The external aspect of the problem (the part of the problem that involves other people) often shifts, but the internal one rarely does. If you get the internal problem right, your job is easy.
• Remember to reflect and try to find a universal theme that emerges from the character's resolving of their internal problem.

An example:

     In the Pixar film Cars, Lightning McQueen is an arrogant, talented, friendless Nascar-style race car who desires victory in the Piston Cup and the individual rewards that come with it. He ties during the final race of the season with two other cars, and so must win a tiebreaker race. However, on his way to the tiebreaker, he becomes separated from his escort and accidentally causes a great deal of damage to the main street in a little town called Radiator Springs. He is sentenced to repair the damage done to the road, and, after first trying to talk, cheat, and race his way out of the sentence, does so. While he does, he meets and bonds with the town's residents, finding true friendship with several. When he finally gets to the tiebreaker race, his friends follow to support him, enabling him to win. However, he realizes, as he is on the cusp of winning, that the individual glory means less to him that his support of other people, and gives up the championship to help another racer finish his last race, showing to himself and the viewer that individual success is empty unless one has people to share it with, and caring for these important people is the measure of true success.

Note:

• Kids will think that Lightning McQueen's problem in Cars is that he's stuck in Radiator Springs, or that he hasn't won the race. They're kind of right, but if you miss the internal aspect, that McQueen is looking for meaning in the wrong place, the story is just a "bunch of stuff that happened."
• The summary does not mention any other character specifically. I could have mentioned others - Mater, Sally, Doc Hudson, Strip Weathers, and Chick Hicks all place important plot roles, but notice how all of those characters are in the story to show McQueen and the viewer ways of thinking about life.  The first four understand the value of people and community, and Chick does not.
• The theme at the end is one that every person in the world must make a decision on. As you go through your life, you will have to decide how much you are going to value individual success (money, career, sports) and how much you are going to value relationships (family, friends, your community). You cannot escape thinking about this. This is why a cartoon about a NASCAR with headlights for eyeballs can possibly be one of the most important things for you to understand, ever. I know that's kind of crazy, but it's true.

3.2. Five Fingers Demonstration RL2.

Here's a video to help you if your stuck with the Five Fingers - I wanted to show you how I go through it, and how you have to revise things and correct yourself while your reading. With some of our skills (RAFT and Prewriting, for example), if you do it right, you can be really confident of yourself, but reading doesn't work like that. It's important to know that it's a process of coming up with theories and either confirming them, adjusting them, or replacing them.

3.1. "Stolen Day," Five Fingers RL2.

Last week we learned how to analyze and summarize nonfiction readings - things like newspaper articles, essays, textbook chapters. However, using the Chain of Main Ideas technique is only really useful with these kinds of readings. It won't work for stories. Therefore, we need a separate tool to analyze and summarize stories. So, this week's procedure focuses on locating and understanding the essential parts of all stories.

Why should I learn this?

Good question. I think, for most people, learning to summarize nonfiction text is more important - for high school subjects, college, and jobs - than summarizing stories. However, between right now (the beginning of eighth grade) and your freshman year of college, you'll probably be expected to understand about a hundred stories between now and then.  Plus, most people LOVE stories - reading novels, watching movies and fiction television shows - and learning how to understand how stories work makes stories more fun, just like practicing a sport should, in the end, make it more fun to play. The picture for this theme is of O. Henry - a master of the classic short story, which is a well-made machine to deliver smart fun.

1.2. Analyzing a Writing Prompt Using RAFT W4.

1.1. "Charles" and Citing Evidence as Proof RL1./RI1.

Sorry for the awkward title, if you can think of a catchier way to say that, I am all ears*.

The Lesson: Here's the mastery list, meaning the list of information that you need to do one of the jobs that we're supposed to master together.




The Text: "Charles" by Shirley Jackson (Note: This copy was sent to my email by the Library of America's killer "Story of the Week" email. I highly recommend both subscribing to the lists and buying some of the beautiful books that they put out, or at least asking that your library buy them.)

Independent Practice: Given seven sentences that posit ideas about the story, write a text citation sentence.

Assessment: I will spot assess this and label your work emerging, proficient, or expert.

* Note on Compositional Method: That expression, where you take a part, "ears" and have it stand in for the whole "me, listening" is called metonymy, like saying "We cold use another bat on the bench" to mean "We should get another baseball player for our team that is good at hitting." Look, I'm off topic already. Also, you should know that things in parentheses are, by definition, not that important. You use parentheses to say, "Here's something I think interesting, but it's not part of my main idea." So, in the future, you can skip this stuff if you want.

HOCW: Back to School Night

First, please let me know some information.
Dear everybody who's interested,

If you are reading this in my classroom, thanks so much for coming out to meet us all, I know how hard it is to organize and make time to attend this kind of thing. I appreciate it. If you're viewing this at home, I am sorry to have missed an opportunity to meet you, but appreciate you taking the time to read this.

What I need to tell you about our class -

I honestly believe that this class can be really important to your student's future, no matter what field or career they choose. Literacy skills are the most important academic skills that a person can learn for nearly any field of work, and benefit people enormously. So I take our class very seriously.

When I think about doing anything is our class, I ask these questions:

1. It is difficult enough to grow students, but not so difficult that students cannot succeed?
2. Does learning this (in this way) benefit the student in high school/college/career/life?
3. Is the way that I have designed the lesson let the student practice a lot and minimize the time I spend lecturing or explaining?
4. Is the lesson or reading I am considering something that is connected to the real world? Is it current?
5. How can I teach or explain this or design this lesson so the skill can be used outside my classroom?
6. Will this interest my students who are giving it their best effort?

These questions help me decide everything I do. I have a longer, more detailed explanation of how I make classroom decisions about everything if you click here, but I also just think that it's important to tell people how you make decisions, because if they share your values, they can simply trust you to do your best. Please read the document attached to the link if you want to learn more about the philosophy behind my actions.

This year we will explore six big topics in our six six-week units (get that?). They are -
1. Learning and School;
2. Values, Rules, and Crime;
3. Groups, Technology, and Power;
4. Past, Present, and Future;
5. Beauty, Art, and Artists; and
6. Mother(land), Father(land), Home(land).


Readings have been selected from many different sources, but include the novels The Giver, Tuck Everlasting, The Wave, My Brother Sam Is Dead, and The Outsiders. Our short story selection proudly features stories by many different authors, including Langston Hughes, Walter Dean Myers, William Carlos Williams, Maya Angelou, Kate Chopin, Saki, Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, Mark Twain, Laurence Yep, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ray Bradbury. While I do not expect everyone to like everything, I have not had a student yet that didn't find something that they really enjoyed in our class. In addition, I have drawn dozens of readings from magazines, newspapers, and nonfiction books to help students learn the special structure and vocabulary of nonfiction text.

Grading - We will issue four grades a week - a knowledge, comprehension, application, and effort grade. These will be weighted to match the departments grading policy. Each week, we will gather together the work and see if a student has mastered the skill that is the focus for that week - if they have shown that they know it, understand it, and can apply it. Since we try to expose students to so many readings each week that are of different levels of complexity, we understand that every student might not understand everything, and so we award the effort grade to students who have clearly expended enough effort to either master the skill or to show that they have tried to.

Each check is pass/fail - there are no partial credits - a student either knows it well enough or does not. To meet this high standard for achievement, though, we are willing to grade anything at any time, which means that there are no penalties for late work, a student may retake any assessment as many times as he or she needs to, and that any missing check may be made up at any time. We really want your student to focus on learning these important skills, and so we don't think it's a good idea to give up if it takes a little longer.

Class Rules

1. Everybody who is a member of our class is expected to take their Language Arts education seriously. Everybody in our class is an intelligent, capable student, and is expected to act like it.
2. Everybody who is a member of our class will treat everybody else with the respect that they should - we are all fellow serious students.
3. There are many objects in our room - the school's, mine, other students'. Any object in our room may be used by anyone to complete work. If you need something to do your assignment, you may look through my desk. If you want to borrow a book, let me know and borrow it. In return, you agree to be respectful of all the objects in the room. They are shared amongst us.
4. As a member of our class, I will follow all the rules that I make. If I need you all to be silent, that means that I cannot talk, either. However, as a member of our group that takes our mission very seriously, I am uncompromisingly honest when a student is hurting our classroom's success. Please understand that and try your best. You are welcome to criticize or question me at any time as well.