First and fifth periods began by transforming a screenplay-style bit of dialogue into narrative dialogue. The passage in question was from Monster: Briggs The maximum sentence for the assault was...
Archive
What our classroom did in previous days, weeks, months, even years…
Dialogue and Point of View Shifts
First and fifth periods worked on the EQ, "How do writers show dialogue in narratives." We worked on punctuated dialogue and converting screen-play dialogue into narrative dialogue. Second and...
Point of View and Signs of Guilt
First and fifth periods continued with Monster. We got the first indications of guilt in a flash back that included such colorful characters as Peaches and Johnny. Second and fourth periods began...
Opening Statements and Point of View
First and fifth periods began with a choice journal topic. After presenting and discussing rebuttals, we turned to the anchor text of this fourth quarter, Monster. We made it through all lawyers'...
Beginning Monster and Finishing Characterization
First and fifth periods began the focus text for the fourth quarter, Walter Dean Myers' Monster. We'll be reading it in class and, since it's a screen play, acting it out. The rubric for the acting...
Changes in Point of View and Characterization
First and fifth periods began with another choice journal topic (number five) continued looking at point of view, examining the differences between a text originally in third person that they had...
Point of View in Narratives and Characterization
First and fifth periods looked at an excerpt from There Are No Children Here by Alex Kolowitz. We began by examining it for elements that seem to indicate it's a fictional piece (the presence of...
Reading and Debating
First and fifth periods finished up their mini-debates. We debriefed to make sure students are ready for the final, "real" debate we'll be having about the guilt or innocence of the main character...
Debates and Context
First and fifth periods began the day by adding a Schaffer paragraph to their fourth quarter choice journal. (Topics are available here.) their debates about the district-provided scenarios. Two...
Character Sketch
First and fifth periods spent the day working in groups, preparing for a debate on various district-provided choice scenarios presented to them. Second and fourth periods worked on text-based...
Arguments, Rebuttals, and Jaggers
First and fifth periods worked on choice debates. We'll be having the debates later in the week; today we worked on the first scenario, fleshing out one side of the argument and beginning to work on...
Foreshadowing and Schaffer Practice
First and fifth periods had a practice run of the extended starters (ten minute writing sessions followed by five minute mini-discussions in pairs) we'll be doing as part of this final unit. Second...
