We’ll do a quick homework update today — it’s Friday and we’re all tired.
First and sixth periods worked on the introduction to their ballad essay. We’ll be finishing up the project tomorrow, with the final draft due January 30.
Second period went over 2.2 — the famous balcony scene. We had written conversations to prepare us for group discussions about Romeo and Juliet as people — would we like to be friends with them? What type of people do they seem to be?
Seventh period continued with Hatchet.
First and sixth periods continued working on their Schaffer model essay on ballads. We’ll finish them up on Wednesday. Second and fourth periods finished 1.3, looking at various ways in which characters view love. Seventh period reviewed chapters 1-4 of Hatchet by looking at cause and effect in the text before moving on to chapter five.
First and sixth periods worked on ballads some more, looking at Dudley Randall’s “The Ballad of Birmingham” to see another example of the primary characteristics of a ballad.
Second and fourth periods worked on Romeo and Juliet 1.1. I also shared with them an example song for the soundtrack project.
Seventh periods worked on descriptive language in Hatchet.
First and sixth periods returned to using the Schaffer model to organize writing about literature, specifically ballads. We’re going to be writing a fairly impressive essay about ballads, and we began planning and writing that today. First period’s notes are below, and sixth period’s notes were virtually identical.
Second and fourth periods looked at act one, scene one from Romeo and Juliet. We examined Shakespeare’s use of puns, and we focused on the EQ, dealing with the bawdiness of the play’s opening and speculating on Shakespeare’s motivation for writing something so relatively crass.
Seventh period continued with Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, using the Say Something engagement to work through chapter two in groups.
First and sixth periods worked on the ballad, determining some of the qualities of a ballad. We’ll be using this information to begin an extended writing using the Schaffer model.
Second and fourth periods went over the prologue to Romeo and Juliet.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
We made a few observations, including the fact that this is a sonnet.
Seventh period used the “Say Something” engagement with the first chapter of Hatchet.
First and sixth periods continued working on the poetry unit. We looked at ballads, specifically “Boots of Spanish Leather.” We’ll be finishing it up in the next couple of weeks.
Second and fourth periods began Romeo and Juliet by watching a brief biographic video on Shakespeare. We’ll begin the play proper tomorrow.
First Period at Work
First and sixth periods worked on using the Schaffer model to help organize and plan our writing about alliteration in the poem “Silver.”
First Period Partner Work
Sixth period, not having read it before, had to spend a bit of time going through the steps we’ve been using to understand poems, but by the end of the respective class periods, the two groups came up with something rather similar.
First Period's Work
Sixth Period's Work
We’ll complete the work tomorrow.
Second and fourth periods worked on ballads, doing inductive reasoning from the ballad “Boots of Spanish Leather.”
Seventh period had a test on the poetry unit.
First and sixth periods continued working with short stories. We’ll be finishing up the unit tomorrow and preparing for Tuesday’s test on Monday.
Second and fourth periods began looking at the musicality of poetry, specifically be examining sound devices.
Seventh period completed the four-day (though it was supposed to be only three-day) ballad lesson.
To the parent that was asking about the organization of the binder: you’ll find that material here.
First period completed the “Say Something” engagement with the story “Charles.” We’ll look at character development tomorrow.
Second and fourth periods worked on connotation and denotation, finishing by doing group work sorting words according to the strength of their connotations.
Sixth period completed the “Say Something” engagement from yesterday with the story “An Hour with Abuelo.”
Seventh period continued with the ballad lesson, looking at some of the characteristics of a ballad.
First and sixth periods continued with the short story unit, practicing effective reader’s skills with a Say Something engagement. We’ll be finishing the unit on short stories this week and having a test on the unit next Tuesday, December 6.
Second and fourth periods began a unit on poetry. We will be spending these last three weeks before winter break working on verse in anticipation of Romeo and Juliet, which we will begin when we return in January.
Seventh period began working on narrative poetry. We were looking at a ballad in class, figuring out as we worked what a ballad is and how it works.
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First period continued with the writing focus experiment. We added sharing into our daily writing workshop focus. It was the first peer conferencing session, so it was far from perfect, but we did well: Students got feedback and had an opportunity to perform a traditionally non-student role.
Second and sixth periods went over “The Ballad of Birmingham,” Dudley Randall’s poem about the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was also the subject of a book most students read last year, The Watsons Go to Birmingham.
Fourth period finished acting out Romeo and Juliet act one, scene one.
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First period continued working on how to find ideas for writing. We looked at T-charts.
Second and sixth periods completed the ballad “Boots of Spanish Leather” and began working on the second ballad, “The Ballad of Birmingham.”
Fourth period went over the first half of Romeo and Juliet 1.1. We did some acting, some discussing, and wrestled with a few of the lines.
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Welcome back! I’m thrilled to get back to work, and I know everyone else is, too. (And I am not being sarcastic: I wouldn’t joke about my commitment to education.)
First period began a several-week experimental writing workshop model. We went over how class will work, spending a fair amount of time on the new Weekend Writing Assessment document. We also had a mini-lesson on getting ideas for writing by using/creating an Expert Inventory.
Second and sixth periods began the final activities of the poetry unit, looking at ballads.
Fourth period began Romeo and Juliet (R&J), examining the prologue to receive a quick overview of the plot.
First and fourth period were both engaged in inductive reasoning to come up definitions. First period has been defining propaganda. After looking at specific examples of Nazi propaganda yesterday, we came up with a class list of characteristics of propaganda, then worked to create a definition from those characteristics. First, individuals created definitions. Then pairs consulted and created new definitions. Next, pairs of pairs shared, and we continued until we got to two groups. Tomorrow we’ll combine the two definitions into a class definition and use that to make determinations about our cumulative project.
Fourth period did something similar with the ballad form, continuing from yesterday’s lesson. We finished up “Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather” and also read “Ballad of Birmingham.” Homework will entail a further examination of the ballad form.
Second and sixth periods began planning their final project for the persuasion unit. We’ve decided to have two options (which comes as a surprise for second period):
We’ll spend Wednesday and Thursday working on it, then present on Friday. The rubric is available here.
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