Everybody Hates Phrases

Guys, guys, guys. Phrases, as a segment of grammar, aren't hard, they're tricky.

Recall the Allegory of the Train.

Prepositional Phrase Practice 1.5 (The Booster Shot)

Discussions about the TKAM Anticipation Guide were interesting. 6th period in particular delighted me with several original thoughts.

1st period was too spicy. Not bad (though I heard informally that it got worse over the course of the day), just too spicy. Tomorrow I'm going to chill that class out.

HW:

• Membean Quiz tomorrow.

Practice: Adj. Phrases

2 Major Things Happened Today:

• Students *attempted* to complete Phrase Practice #1 (Ex. 2 on pg. 118-119 of the purple book). Since it was practice, I revealed all of the right answers. I should not have been surprised that most everybody got most everything wrong. Ah, but I was.
• Students received the TKAM Anticipation Guide. It became HW for sharing in class tomorrow
• Note: students did not have to respond in writing to each statement. They only had to write down their reasoning for 4 (2 SAs and 2 SDs)

HW For Wednesday:

• Complete TKAM Anticipation guide for discussion tomorrow.
• Membean Quiz on Thurs.
• Flag Football on Friday

STOP: Grammar Time

We started new grammar:

The Phrase

Here is the note-taking sheet I gave students. Yes, it gets filled out, and taped into to the Notes Composition Notebook.

The information is on pages 116-118 in the Purple language book.

HW:

• Membean Quiz Thursday
• Flag Football Game Friday (2-3p)

Welcome to Q2

10/12 - 10/16
Monday was a Teacher Planning Day - No Students
Wednesday was the PSAT. It was insane, and should not count as a school day in any regard.
Tuesday there was a Membean Quiz.
Tuesday and Thursday, students worked on a TKAM WebQuest:

TKAM WebQuest Document

Tuesday they researched an assigned portion individually - 

Thursday they shared what they found with jigsawed groups.

Friday, I gave my own lecture on TKAM background information. I used this powerpoint to emphasize certain points:

TKAM Background & Context Powerpoint

"...but Tidyman...I don't have powerpoint!"

Quit whining.

Here is the powerpoint saved as a .pdf

HW for Monday:

• The next session of Membean closes on Monday, 10/19. Go study some minutes.

Wait, What's an "RQ" again?

Immediately after our attendance-taking, and a wee stretch, I returned students' Speak Reading Quiz #1.

Which was good. They could see what they got. And maybe think about coming to see me, on their own time, to ask me questions about their grade.

I had to give that quiz back, so I could give out

Speak Reading Quiz #2. It was not over everything we've read; rather, it was only over last night's reading assignment.

After the distribution and completion of the quiz, I invited students to examine Mr. Neck's "debate" on IMMIGRATION, in the context of the First Amendment and Free Speech.

This the slide I threw up on my powerpoint:

BUT LET ME BE CLEAR:

I did not open the discussion referenced above to student debate.

It was simply a visual reminder of Mr. Neck's debate.

With this slide in view, I asked students to answer a few questions (leading, of course, towards sharing and discussion), in their Classwork Composition Notebooks:

1. What is the First Amendment?
2. (a) Did Mr. Neck's class' debate observe, feature, or otherwise uphold free speech? (b) Was Mr. Neck's debate fair?
3. Have you ever, as a student, been a part of a class at all like Mr. Neck's discussion? How did it go? How did you feel? Connect personally, if you can and wish to, to this passage.
1. I neither required, nor forced, students to draw a personal connection. Nor did I require that any students share feedback of a personal nature. It was an invitational journal response only. That being said, several students, in all of my classes, had something to say about connections between Mr. Neck's "debate" and their own educational careers.

HW:

• Tomorrow, we're focusing on the Sordino Family Thanksgiving. You might wish to review pgs. 57-65 to prepare.
• Keep studying Membean.

Flipping Cushions

First of all, students began classes today with 15 minutes of Membean practice time, courtesy of Mrs. Syes' loan of the laptop cart.

The current 2-Wk Session of Membean:

9/8-9/21

Last Tuesday to Next Monday

90 Minutes of Study

6 different days

See me with individual questions about progress.

Students then joined me in sharing thoughts on a certain white couch in the Sordino living room.

This is a link to the slides I shared to move the discussion along.

As an added bonus, there are slides at the end with my critique of sample student responses.

See how yours stacks up.

Also, here's a sample of digital annotations I put up for the classes today:

HW:

• Read Speak pages 49-65. Stop @ PEELED AND CORED
• Continue to study Membean.

Analyzing Melinda's First Quarter

Classes today began in the Notes composition notebook:

• Capitalization Practice #2 from Purple Language Book, pg. 294-297
• Takes notes 10f(1-3)
• Complete Exercise 3, which we then checked in class.

Then, students transitioned to their Classwork Notebooks to respond to this Speak Journal Entry:

Yes, the discussion that followed occasionally derailed into venting. But only occasionally.

HW:

• Log your time on Membean.
• Here is a link to the Symbolism Analysis Document, which comes to class tomorrow completed.
• Spoiler Alert: