Character Presentations + Quiz Tomorrow

Today, students presented their posters they'd been working on for their Character Analysis Groups.

There is a Quiz tomorrow on Part 1 of TKAM. Would you like to review some of the intro information we covered? I sure know Mariam and Sandi did, so check this out:

Link to Background Info Powerpoint

Also: review your A.R.N. This kind of thing is what those are for. Didn't do them? Well...

HW:

• Study Part 1 of TKAM for quiz tomorrow
• Don't forget about Membean! 2 week period ends this Saturday

Character Analysis Day 2

Students continued working (with various degrees of success) on their Character Posters that they began on Friday. It's a pretty detailed assignment; no one got 100% done on Friday.

Tomorrow, groups will give their classmates a 3 minute presentation on what they know about their character, and what parts of the book informed that knowledge.

Absent: Character Analysis

I'm sorry, guys, I'll be out of the classroom today. The Model UN group is going to Murfreesboro, and I'm helping with chaperoning.

With the Substitute, students will begin the Body Biography Character Analysis Assignment:

Here is the Assignment Handout

Here is the Rubric

Groups will begin this project today -- we'll pick up with it on Monday, when I'm back.

PS: Membean. It's for you. Study your words.

Major Questions of Part 1: RVW

First thing today, students took their first Membean Quiz! I'm delighted to say that grades were good, for the most part!

If you didn't do as well as you thought you should've I recommend doing more Membean study sessions (not longer sessions, just more of them.)


Having read to the end of Part 1 (ooohh! Get ready for the Trial, y'all), we took some class time today to review, and reflect on, some questions that I consider major, and important.

Here is a link to the .pptx with the Qs

Tomorrow, I'll be out of the building.

TKAM: Ch. 1-5 Small Discussions

Students got together in groups today to discuss the first five chapters of the book.

This is the discussion sheet.

Students mulled over the 10 questions in their small groups, and wrote answers in their Notes Composition Notebook.

HW:

• Read Ch. 6-8 (that's through)
• Complete A.R.N.

For WEDS:

• Read to the end of PART 1
• Complete A.R.N.

TKAM 1-4; Examples of A.R.N.

Many students handed in their Career Fair Final Drafts today. Only a handful experienced technical difficulties. And apparently the printer in the MLK Library is running out of ink.

BUT! Today we finally got into Ch. 1-4 of TKAM.

No, I didn't give a reading quiz.

No, I didn't check the A.R.N.

...yet.

After fielding students' initial questions (and getting into Miss Caroline's generally terrible first day of school), I shared my model for completing the different bullet points of the A.R.N.

Here are my examples on Powerpoint slides.

HW over Weekend:

• Read TKAM Ch. 3-5
• YES this is your chance to CATCH UP from THIS WEEK
• Complete the A.R.N. for each chapter.
• Don't forget to also do Point 7: Character Tracking! You have your characters now!

Examples of Thorough Peer Editing

"What does good peer-editing look like?"

Well, here are two real examples. I've edited out the names.

This first example is what a weak essay looks like after serious and thorough peer-editing:

And this second example is from a much stronger essay example, again, thoroughly peer-edited;

You know I'd like to point out here?

*Both* have a TON of written feedback.

Amount of ink =/= quality (good or bad) of essay

If you actually read the essays, you'll see what I mean. Essay Example 1 does not actually answer the question, and is poorly organized, and furthermore, is delivered with rudimentary word choice.

Essay Example 2 is much more focused and deliberate in its approach to the CF Essay Contest Question. Most of the edits suggest new words, phrases, and constructions, to convey what is a solid treatment of the prompt.

Peer Editing

Peer Editing Document #1

Peer Editing Document #2


HW:

• Final Draft of CF Essay due in class tomorrow
• Finish reading Ch. 1 through 4 of TKAM and completing ARN for tomorrow.

Distributing Books; Active Reading Notes

After checking the Infinitive HW from Monday (here is a link to the KEY and I highly recommend you download or open the file, to solve formatting issues), we (finally, FINALLY!) cracked into TKAM.

But I put some groundwork in place first: Active Reading Notes.

1-6 are to be completed per chapter

in students' Notes notebook.

At which point we began reading Ch. 1 together. I stopped in many places to model parts of the text that would lend themselves well to being Noted as part of the A.R.N. entries.

HW:

• Bring a completed CF draft to class tomorrow for Peer Reviews
• Read Ch. 1 through 4 for Friday, with A.R.N. for each chapter.
• Don't forget to Membean.

Parent Conference / Election Day

I had some wonderful conversations today.

Just think, students! Soon you'll be able to vote!

Don't forget - that infinitive Practice is due tomorrow in class.

Also, bring TKAM if you've got one.

Welcome to Maycomb: Intro. Notes

First, students refreshed their brains' Infinitives department with a brief Bellwork exercise from the purple grammar book: Ex. 9 on page 131. This was competed in the Classwork composition notebook.

This is a link to the BW.

And this is a link to the key.

Then, we spent some time on laying a Historical and Social Context foundation for beginning the book on Wednesday.

This right here is the .pptx file we used in class. Students took notes on the information in their Notes composition notebook. If you missed class, you can print it out to see what you missed.

HW etc.

• Infinitive Grammar Practice due Weds.
• Bring TKAM on Weds.
• 45 mins of Membean this week.
• Your Career Fair Essays are due to me Friday.