 Yesterday was the kind of day that makes weekend nights hunched over a stack of essays worth it. I had a great time celebrating reading with your kids; if they had one quarter the amount of fun I had, we’ll consider it a big success. It wasn’t just meaningless fun, though. As I told the kids, the day was intended to be a party with a purpose. My main purpose was to have every kid identify a reading goal or resolution for next semester. As the day went on, I discovered that most resolutions were falling into three categories:
I took pictures of all of the kids with their reading resolutions--we added some festive costumes to keep it fun. I am going to print and post all of those pictures in the classroom to help us keep those resolutions in mind as we move into second semester. There are a few pictures at the bottom of this post to give you an idea of what we were up to. What can you do to help support these awesome resolutions? Ask your students about the resolutions they made and then help them figure out how they’ll begin tackling it! Maybe they need to come ask me for recommendations or perhaps they can check with Mrs. Bratney, our high school librarian, for some help. Explore some titles with your students! I like to imagine that my kids (ages 3 and 6) will want me to read to them every night until they go to college. Your kids assure me that that’s not going to happen. BUT...it might be cool to read the same book and chat about it. Maybe you could make a reading resolution of your own! Here are a few lists of great suggestions:
Happy Reading and Happy New Year!
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 We had a great time at the DIA last week! Thank you again to the parents who chaperoned. I heard lots of high praise from the students--everything from “That was amazing!” to “That wasn’t as awful as I expected.” Though I’d prefer that they all feel like the first comment, I’ll count the second as a win, too. Not all the students loved it; I had a few tell me that they still think art is “boring.” I understand; the world would be a pretty boring world if we all loved the same things. However, if your student was one of those, I hope you can help me remind them that there is always benefit in pushing outside of your comfort zone a little.
Two major assignments were updated in MiStar over the weekend:
Our work this week will be focused on writing, revising, and editing the Informational Art Essays that students began last week. As of Friday, all students have had a chance to discuss their thesis and outline with me; most are right on track and working hard. Students have a sample outline, a sample intro and a sample conclusion to help them guide their writing. In class, they will have opportunities every day to conference with me and ask specific questions about their essays. Please encourage your students to ask for feedback!! I’m available everyday before school except Monday as well. Final essays will be due on Friday. Finally, the big New Year’s Reading Resolutions Party is on Wednesday! If you’d still like to sign up to contribute something, check the link here. We have lots of fun planned, but the most important thing is that students should walk away on Wednesday with a clear reading goal for the second semester. Please ask your students about their resolutions, and perhaps you could make some yourself!! I plan to send out an end of the week blog post this week to share some pictures of our party and some suggestions for supporting reading at home over the break and into the new year. Have a great week! In the last few weeks I have been promising the students that if they worked consistently and kept digging into their writing and reading, we’d be able to cruise into break easily. I pushed them pretty hard and my expectations were high, but...
We made it! This week is dedicated solely to writing workshop. Students should be starting the week with rough drafts--they may be very rough drafts and that’s okay--and we will spend four days this week editing, revising, and talking about those drafts. These essays are research-based essays that ask the students to pull from multiple sources to create new arguments. This week our revision will focus on:
By the end of the week, students should be almost ready to turn these essays in. They won’t be due until the Tuesday we return from break, but I’m happy to take them early. Argument essays will be returned this week (hopefully Tuesday!). As with all writing assignments, please encourage your students to come see me and discuss my comments if they don’t understand what they need to do to improve. My comments are always intended to be instructive; if students don’t know what I want them to do, I want to clarify!! Revisions and Second chances: Students who are taking the second chance opportunity for the rhetorical analysis essay should be working on those essays now as well. I am available before school everyday except Monday this week for extra help. There will not be a second chance for the argument essay, but since the synthesis essay is practicing the same skills as the argument essay, I will “count” the stronger grade of the two. Students should use their feedback on the argument essay to guide their writing with the synthesis essay. Finally, the big New Year’s Reading Resolutions Party is on Wednesday! If you’d still like to sign up to contribute something, check the link here. We have lots of fun planned, but the most important thing is that students should walk away on Wednesday with a clear reading goal for the second semester. Please ask your students about their resolutions, and perhaps you could make some yourself!! I plan to send out an end of the week blog post this week to share some pictures of our party and some suggestions for supporting reading at home over the break and into the new year. Happy Hanukkah to all of you that celebrate it! I’m trying to keep homework to a minimum this week for those that have family celebrations going on.
Our big excitement this week is the DIA field trip. Thanks in advance to all of the parents who have agreed to chaperone. For those of you not attending, I’ll take pictures and post them here next week. While students are there, they’ll be working on preparing to write an informational/research based essay about one of the pieces they see. Here is the assignment we worked on to prepare for the trip and the assignment for the paper they’ll be starting on Wednesday when they return. As we begin the writing process on Wednesday, encourage your students to tell you about their art and their research at home. We’ve been talking a lot about “reading” visual texts. What kind of messages are writers or artists sending when they create a specific image? How does the context of the piece (when it was created, what was going on in history, etc) impact the message of the piece? This ability to read messages in different types of texts is vitally important for students developing their critical thinking skills. The essays will be due Friday, December 18. We will work on the essays extensively for the next two weeks in class, so students should have no problem completing the essays prior to break. By the end of the week, your student should be able to show you a complete rough draft of his or her paper. Students will also be getting their informational text reading assessments back this week Wednesday. We did a lot of practice prior to the test; you can see two of the practice assignments that were scored (but didn’t “count” toward students’ grades) in MiStar. I scored those and gave the students feedback about them prior to the test. 4=advanced, 3=proficient, 2= almost proficient, 1= not proficient. Some students chose to not take advantage of that practice and received 0s. Those zeroes aren’t impacting their grades, but I’m nervous that the lack of practice will impact their ability to do well on the info text assessment. If that proves true, students will be able to come see me before school to make up that practice and then take a second stab at the assessment to improve their scores. Last thing: The students are getting excited about our New Year’s Eve-themed Reading Resolutions party on December 16. Well, I’m excited and I’m pretty sure they’re humoring me :) If you’d be willing to send in some snacks or drinks, please sign up here. And, if you’re interested in helping me craft a few decorations (I’m working on a photo booth and ball to drop!), shoot me an email! Happy Hanukkah to all of you that celebrate it! I’m trying to keep homework to a minimum this week for those that have family celebrations going on.
The focus this week is shifting to synthesis and research writing. Last week students were given a list of questions related to our gender unit. They have chosen one (hopefully! If not, they need to choose NOW!) and will spend Monday and Tuesday immersing themselves in the topic in the media center. I say “immersing themselves in the topic” rather than “researching” because it is imperative that students do that rather than simply look for evidence they can cherry-pick to answer the question. Engage your students in conversations about those questions if you can! My hope is that they will consider the complexities of the question they’ve chosen and challenge their preconceived ideas about what they believe the answers to be. Good research requires tons and tons of readings. Lots of students struggle with that because they want to quickly skim/skan and find an “answer”. After our research Monday and Tuesday, we’ll work on outlines and drafting the essays. As with the last essay, I’ll be encouraging the students to set goals for their writing process and figure out what they need to do to work on these essays over time. Many of them did a pretty good job with that “water buffalo mindset” with the last essays; others need more practice. Students who plan well should be able to finish them prior to break. They are due after break, but I’ll happily accept them before! Rhetorical analysis essay rewrites are also underway. Those students who have chosen to take a second stab at the unit 2 analysis essay should plan to come see me before school or during AA in the next two weeks for some feedback on their drafts. Those revised essays will be due December 18. As promised, we started some targeted grammar study last week by looking at semicolons and commas. The kids did well with the small bites of practice I gave them, but grammar and punctuation always need lots of good reinforcement. Encourage your students to review these rules as they begin writing their drafts. For students who would like some extra practice, click here or here for online practice quizzes. Last thing: The students are getting excited about our New Year’s Eve-themed Reading Resolutions party on December 16. Well, I’m excited and I’m pretty sure they’re humoring me :) If you’d be willing to send in some snacks or drinks, please sign up here. And, if you’re interested in helping me craft a few decorations (I’m working on a photo booth and ball to drop!), shoot me an email! Have a great week! |
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