English I students worked on their first analytic Schaffer paragraph by looking at the short story “The Sniper.” We determined that the story could not work if we change the setting, and as we began working through this premise as our topic sentence, realized that it was too general.

Fourth-period notes

Fifth-period notes

From this, we were able to create a Schaffer outline that we could, in theory, use to write a fairly good paragraph.

English 8 students (periods 6 and 7) worked on three types of questions for “Thank You, Ma’m” (download).

1. Right There Questions (observations from the text)
2. Think and Search Questions (inferences based on observations from the text)
3. Author and Me Questions (inferences about the author’s choices)

One of the questions had to do with inferring the protagonist’s social class from her living conditions. The relevant passages were on page two:

From this and the fact that she walked home and had warmed-over lima beans for supper, we can infer that she is financially struggling.

Homework

• English 8: complete the questions about “Thank You, Ma’m” as necessary.
• English I Honors: read “The Most Dangerous Game” for tomorrow.