Archive

What our classroom did in previous days, weeks, months, even years…

Topic Sentence and Anticipation Guide

Topic Sentence and Anticipation Guide

English 8 students went over the anticipation guide for their new unit which will cover determining the main idea, summarizing, determining the theme, and examining point of view. We will be...

Test and Schaffer Planning

Test and Schaffer Planning

English 8 students had a test on Schaffer today. We'll start a new unit tomorrow. English I students began planning their second Schaffer paragraph, this time on Poe's story "The Cask of...

Parsing Continued and Test Prep

Parsing Continued and Test Prep

English I students finished up going over the three tricks for parsing tricky passages: We looked a little more closely at the second method (looking for interrupters) in conjunction with the third...

Parsing and No Red Ink

Parsing and No Red Ink

English 8 students worked on No Red Ink practice with Schaffer paragraphs, determining the claim, evidence, and reasoning (as NRI calls the TS, CD, and CM). We'll have a little more review on it...

Second Story Cycle Planning and Schaffer Completion

Second Story Cycle Planning and Schaffer Completion

English 8 students completed their second (and last, for the time being) Schaffer paragraph about how to have a successful school year. We'll be having a test on Schaffer and "Thank You, Ma'am" next...

Second Schaffer as Class and Socratic Seminar

Second Schaffer as Class and Socratic Seminar

English 8 students worked on another Schaffer paragraph, a final paragraph before we will have a final assessment on the unit. This time, students worked with very little help except the aid they...

Schaffer Completion, Library Visit, and Evaluations

Schaffer Completion, Library Visit, and Evaluations

All students went to the library today for the first day of checkout and in-library reading. English 8 students completed their first real Schaffer paragraphs. We competed our TS and CDs and joined...

First Schaffer Paragraph and First Workshop

First Schaffer Paragraph and First Workshop

English 8 students worked on their first Schaffer paragraphs, returning in time to that awful time of fifth grade when we had to deal with Covid and its effects on school. Our first paragraph dealt...

Schaffer Fun Friday

Schaffer Fun Friday

Everyone worked on Schaffer paragraphs today -- it was a Shaffer extravaganza. Schaffer-palooza. Schaffer-stock. English 8 students worked on re-ordering a scrambled Schaffer paragraph. English I...

Planning Schaffer and Learning Schaffer

Planning Schaffer and Learning Schaffer

English 8 students continued with their introduction to the Schaffer model. We looked at an example paragraph and broke it down into its constituent parts. We'll continue tomorrow with a scrambled...

Integrating Quotes and Organization

Integrating Quotes and Organization

English I students finished up their practice with integrating quotes. We did one session of practice as a class with the following quote, determining as a class what could be paraphrased/eliminated...