Second period worked on improving their diction in their memoirs, specifically focusing on creating more specific nouns and verbs. I spoke individually with several students about their drafts and ways to improve it. The class is slowly coming to realize that writing is a long, time-consuming process.
First, fourth, and sixth periods had a selection test [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods ended units on an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We’ll be having a very short selection test tomorrow.
Second period worked on editing their second drafts. We spent a little time concentrating on the lead, but we also looked at content gaps again.
Homework

First period:

study for [...]

First period discussed the excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings after a quiz.
Second period discussed the memoir form, pre-writing techniques, and began writing pre-writing for their memoir.
Fourth and sixth periods began the excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, working in groups to discuss questions about the use of details [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods took a look at the Great Depression as represented in two songs. We’re trying to activate prior knowledge and add new knowledge about the Depression so that Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings makes more sense.
Second period finished up the book.
Homework

Second period: none (quizzes online).
First period:

Letter from [...]

First period had a quick review of nominative and objective case personal pronounse.
Second period finished up the dialogues combining characters from Journey Home and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Some students took grammar handbooks for the self-study parts of speech review.
Fourth and sixth periods finished up reading the excerpt from An American Childhood. [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods began a new selection that will focus on mood. Our first task: determine what mood is and how writers create it. And to do that, we … listened to music and watched movie trailers. We did this to see what mood is: an atmosphere created by a work of art. [...]

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, [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods finished up their work on the Raise Responsibility system we use in class for behavior management. Students perpared skits illustrating particular behavior levels, then shared them with the class.
Second period began reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We discussed the notion of beauty and what it is, specifically [...]

First, fourth, and sixth periods worked on the levels of behavior that will be recognized in our classroom. Students are to explain to parents these levels and then summarize that conversation. Second period began the unit on memoirs, doing some pre-reading activities for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. We looked at Dunbar’s poem [...]