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First period took a very individualized approach to class today. We’re trying to clear up any loose ends before Tuesday’s test. Each student worked on something specific to his/her needs and deficits. I tried to conference with as many students as possible about those deficits, but I was unable to get through all 29 in the class. We’ll continue tomorrow, adding a peer-editing element toward the end of the day.

Second and sixth periods looked again at using specific details to pump up writing. Many of the practice PASS test responses from last week demonstrated a real need in this area. Hopefully, I’ll be able to re-teach just enough in order to maximize their PASS scores.

Fourth period continued with To Kill a Mockingbird. We worked on the Say Something strategy in anticipation of our most challenging work, which still lies before us: Dickens’s Great Expectations.

Homework

• First period: continue on the work we started in class.
• Second and sixth period: take one of your drafts from the Anne Frank writing last week and use the wh- question format to add enough details to quadruple the length of the paragraph. (Ah! That’s what all those drafts are for!)
• Fourth period: read through chapter 19. (I’ll assign through chapter 23 tomorrow, so ambitious students might want to read ahead.)