First, second, and seventh periods spend the day preparing for the in-class performance/reading of Diary of Anne Frank.
Each group had a chance to practice as a group and discuss the text. I also shared with students the grading criteria:

Preparedness: I am familiar with my lines (not necessarily memorized) and I understand the meaning of my [...]

First, second, and seventh periods began their preparations for reading Diary of Anne Frank. Students were divided into groups, and after working on vocabulary, the groups decided who was going to play which parts.
Fourth period continued debriefing “Cub Pilot.” Having spent yesterday preparing, the students began giving their presentations. After the first group — guinea [...]

First, second, and seventh periods finished the anticipatory lesson for a unit on The Diary of Anne Frank. As such, we had an today, drawing on students’ prior knowledge of the Holocaust and making it personal through a series of reflective writing exercises. To do this, we looked at a slide show I created about [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods had a selection test on “Cub Pilot,” conflict, and prediction. Hopefully everyone did well. After the test, we began the next selection by talking about mood, which is the feeling that a piece of writing creates in a reader.
Second period had something of a catch-up day. We went over indirect [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods completed a review of “Cub Pilot”, discussed some grammar (the formation of plural nouns), and reviewed some vocabulary. We’ll be having a selection test tomorrow.
Second period discussed the eight chapters (!!) they had to read for today. We worked in small groups, then shared one epiphany with the class.
Homework

Second period:

Complete [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods finished “Cub Pilot,” and everyone was relieved to see Brown get his just dues.
Second period watched a short clip about the Great Depression, listened to a song about a share cropper, and, running out of time, prepared for an essay question that should have been a class discussion.
Homework

First, fourth, [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods continued working on “Cub Pilot.” We practiced prediction skills and continued reading the memoir.
Second period worked on characterization. We discussed the ways in which writers present characters, then began examining specific characters in pairs to see how Angelou uses characterization. We used a chart to analyze charaters. Students looked at

What [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods began “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi”, an autobiographical account of Mark Twain’s first days on a riverboat. We looked at the setting (the Mississippi River) and we began reading.
Second period looked at four discussion questions about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings:

Why did Angelou include the episode in chapter [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods began working on unit 1: the memoir. We’ll be reading Mark Twain’s “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi”, which is actually a chapter from his memoir Life on the Mississippi. We began today by looking at conflict and prediction. We discussed methods to predict and why it’s an important reading skill, [...]