AS English - quarter 3
Week 11
Spring Break!
Week 10
Monday, March 6
Establish
SWBAT practice for their exam
Engage
- Bellwork: What character traits do you think of when you think of a "politician"?
- Individual Work: Students write two speeches from opposing views.
Two politicians have been invited to contribute to a debate on the theme "Giving aid to the poor does more harm than good"
Write the text of their speeches (between 300-450 words) In your writing create a sense of opposing attitudes and viewpoints. The politicians should be invented.
- Individual Work: Students create two politicians that will be having this debate. You will want to write in their style/tone so you will want to develop their character first.
- Individual Work: Students fill out Character Worksheets for both of their characters/politicians
Tuesday, March 7
Establish
SWBAT practice for their exam
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you think of your characters?
- Individual Work: Complete "Opposing Points" Worksheet
- Students begin speeches
1. 2 speeches, each 300-450 words. Must show opposing attitudes/viewpoints, styles (2 very separate voices)
Wednesday, March 8
Establish
SWBAT complete assessment
Engage
- Bellwork: What are your plans for Spring Break?
- Work on speeches DUE Friday
1. Each speech is 300 -450 words
2. These are the speeches each politician will give before the debate begins. The first speech will give that specific politician's view, the 2nd speech can reference the 1st speech and also give the 2nd politician's views
3. Use specific language for your specific candidate. For example, a candidate who went to an Ivy League school may use more "fancy" words than their opponent, who may have come from a public university.
Thursday, March 9
Establish
SWBAT continue working on speeches
Engage
- Bellwork: How are you feeling about your speeches?
- Work on speeches!
- Due Friday
Friday, March 10
Establish
SWBAT continue working on speeches
Engage
- Bellwork: What kinds of writer's effects have you used?
- Highlight the following:
1. Writer's Effects
3. Devil's Advocate
4. Logical Fallacies
Week 9
Monday, February 27
Establish
SWBAT understand considering both sides of a story
Engage
- Bellwork: Which is better, cats or dogs? Explain your reasoning
- Whole Class: notes on GAPS
- Go over worksheet
- Write definition of "logical fallacy" and "devil's advocate" in ISN (key terms)
- Begin discussing debate
Tuesday, February 29
Establish
SWBAT practice devil's advocate, logical fallacies
Engage
- Bellwork: Why is it important to play Devil's Advocate?
- Whole class: Go over logical fallacies handout
- Individual work: Complete handout
- Table work: compose Devil's Advocate assignment (started yesterday)
- Whole class: Share Devil's Advocate examples
- Begin prepping for debate
Wednesday, March 1
Establish
SWBAT practice devil's advocate, logical fallacies
Engage
- Bellwork: Where do you find yourself most often "playing devil's advocate"?
- Table work: Complete table DA exercise. Present to class,
- Large Group: Prepare for debate: One side says cats are better than dogs, the other side says dogs are better than cats. In your debate group, need to delegate responsibilities to research and compose speech.
Thursday, March 2
Establish
SWBAT continue exercising Devil's Advocate
Engage
- Bellwork: Why will your team win the debate?
- Large Group: Finalize debate speeches/research
- Create magazine article where you first discuss one side, and then play devil's advocate. Topic: President Trump's "travel ban". Write a headline for the story, draw a picture with a caption, and fill the page. You can use the back as well. You should use at least 2 techniques from your Devil's Advocate packet (put the number of the technique next to the part of your writing where you include it)
Friday, March 3
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: How are you feeling about your performance this quarter?
- Large Group: Take a few minutes to prepare for debate
- Large Group: Debate!
- Individual Work: Complete articles
Week 8
Monday, February 20
No School!
Tuesday, February 21
Establish
SWBAT practice free writing, compose descriptive piece
Engage
- Bellwork: What is free writing? Look it up and write a definition
- Individual work: For 7 minutes, free write on a separate piece of paper (not in your ISN).
- Individual Work: For 10 minutes, write a descriptive piece (focus on using writer's effects, mood/atmosphere, and other techniques learned in this unit)
- Partner Work: Swap descriptive pieces. Partner will now rewrite the description to be the opposite (ex: "It was dark and stormy" becomes "it was bright and peaceful")
Wednesday, February 22
Establish
SWBAT complete end of unit practice test
Engage
- Bellwork: What is your favorite piece of writing you have done in class this far? Why?
- Write the opening to a novel called Escape from the City, in which a narrator describes her or his experiences of moving to a rural area. In your writing create a sense of the narrator’s outlook and mood.
- narrative or descriptive piece of continuous writing of 600–900 words
Thursday, February 23
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: Are you excited to make a book? You better be. It's very exciting.
- Whole Class: View video on how to create a book
- Table Work: Work in tables to bind books
Friday, February 24
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: Since you will know how to make your own book after today, what kinds of things could you make using the skills you will learn today?
- Whole Class: View video on how to create a book
- Table Work: Work in tables to bind books
- Books due on Monday. Books will be graded on effort, creativity, and following directions. These are a collection of your best works and will be an assessment grade. Please include the following:
What must be in your book:
Monday, February 13
Establish
SWBAT complete practice test
Engage
Bellwork: Is NPR a credible source for news? Use your device to investigate, and then make a conclusion. Finally, explain how you determined whether NPR is credible or not.
- Collect villanelles
- View Obama interview and follow along with transcript
- Review instructions for practice test
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, February 14
Establish
SWBAT practice writer's effects
Engage
- Bellwork: Why do we celebrate Valentines? Look it up!
- Create "compliment posters" - work with a partner to create a poster of compliments that they can take. Each compliment must demonstrate a specific writer's effect (loaded language, metaphor/simile, description, 5 senses, etc). Poster must be attractive and creative.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, February 15
Establish
SWBAT practice for Cambridge test
Engage
- Bellwork: What is the tone/style of a news brief? What is the purpose? Who is the audience?
- Complete Part 1 (began assignment on Monday)
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 16
Establish
SWBAT evaluate own writing (practice Cambridge test), continue exploring 1st person accounts (narrative style)
Engage
- Bellwork: How did your news brief differ from the spoken interview? What was the difference in style? Explain.
2. Compare the style and language of your response with the style and language of the original interview. [15 marks]
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, February 17
Establish
SWBAT understand differences in first person perspective v third person perspective
Engage
- Bellwork: Which story is the most compelling? Why? Explain.
- Complete I Survived video
- Read LA Times article about Lee
- What major differences do you see between the two reports (the first hand account versus the written, third person account?) Write a 1 page analysis on the differences (should be 2 paragraphs)
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Week 6
Monday, February 6
Establish
SWBAT implement writer's effect and narrative techniques
Engage
Bellwork: Look back at Joy Harjo's poem Remember. What seems to be the main message of the poem?
- Individual work: Craft a poem that includes the following:
1. 2nd Person Perspective
2. What you think the reader should "remember"
3. Repeated words (NOT "remember", we are not plagiarizing Joy Harjo here)
4. Alliteration
- Pair work: Swap your poem with the person across from you. Have them perform a peer edit to give you feedback
- Completed poem due on Tuesday (with 1st draft)
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, February 7
Establish
SWBAT research favorite poem
Engage
Bellwork: What is a sonnet? Use your device and write an explanation
- Whole class: Students copy Shakespeare's Sonnet "Sonnet 130" into ISN and read as a class
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
- Students discuss rhyme scheme
- Students analyze meaning
Evaluate
- Participation
Wednesday, February 8
Establish
SWBAT write a sonnet
Engage
Bellwork: Do you find "Sonnet 130" romantic or otherwise?
- Individual work: Students craft their own sonnets
1. Must follow sonnet rules
2. Must compare one thing to another
3. Must include simile/metaphor
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 9
Establish
SWBAT write a villanelle
Engage
Bellwork: What is a villanelle? Use your device to write an explanation
- Continue working on sonnet (DUE Friday)
- Whole Class: Read "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (copy into ISN)
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night
- Whole class: analyze rhyme scheme
- Whole Class: Discuss meaning
Evaluate
Friday, February 10
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Work on villanelle. Must:
1. Follow villanelle scheme (no other requirements as this is a very hard poem to write)
Evaluate
Week 5
Monday, January 30
Day 11: Using effects such as alliteration and onomatopoeia
SWBAT Use language to create deliberate effects
Bellwork: How was your weekend?
Engage
Notes:
Sound repetitions are a distinctive feature of poetry, but they are also effective in prose.
Although understanding of the concept is always more important than simple use of the terminology, it is as easy to get these things right from the start as it is to get them wrong! So, learners need to be able to distinguish alliteration (consonants) from assonance (vowels)
- Individual work: remember alliteration and its effects by writing a sentence about yourself: beginning with their first name, all the following words with lexical content must alliterate with it (e.g. Louisa loves lounging on a lilo in the lake, licking a lemon lollipop).
- Whole class work: Read The Highwayman as a class.
Tuesday, January 31
Day 12: Creating an atmosphere
SWBAT use language to create deliberate effects
Bellwork: How does atmosphere/mood help enhance a story?
Notes:
Definition of Mood
Mood is a feeling that is conveyed to the reader in a literary work. It is also synonymous with the atmosphere created in the literary piece. The writer can develop mood through word choice, dialogue, sensory details, description, and plot complications.
- Table Work: Pretend you are making a movie of this short story. Discuss with your table and select a song to begin playing at the part where Mr. Summers says "let's finish quickly" (on the last page).
Wednesday, February 1
Day 13: Creating mood/atmosphere
Engage
SWBAT use language to create mood/atmosphere
Bellwork: Look back at The Raven - what is the overall mood/atmosphere? What words are used to create this mood/atmosphere?
Individual work: Students are given the following moods/atmosphere: Dreamy, Sad, Humorous, . Students will write 3 flash fiction stories. They will only have 10 minutes per story. Students will try to write an entire story in the 10 minutes given. Students will use specific language, dialogue, sensory details, description, and plot complications to create 3 different sense of mood/atmosphere for each of the assigned moods/atmospheres.
Stories are due on Thursday.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 2
Day 14: Activating imagination, practice form (haiku)
Engage
SWBAT learn to write in haiku form, use specific language, activate imagination
Bellwork: Write a few sentences from the point of view of an animal. You will pass this to a buddy and they will have to try and guess your animal.
- Introduce book project
- Write 3 haiku from perspective of inanimate object - must follow haiku rules, must include descriptive language http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-haiku.html (take notes in ISN!)
- "classic" Haiku examples: http://www.haiku-poetry.org/famous-haiku.html
- Swap poems and revise
- Students favorite poem will be in book!
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, February
Day 15: Activating imagination, practice form (Harjo)
Engage
SWBAT analyze a poem for deeper meaning
Bellwork: What does the act of "remembering" mean to you? How can you connect this act to your relationship with your family, with your ancestors?
Water Song
- Whole class: Listen closely to a Native American Song from the Western Shoshone Tribe
1. Listen to Corbin Harney of the Western Shoshone tribe singing “Water Song.” This song is in Harney’s native language. As you listen, write down what you hear, e.g., a drum, repeating sounds, or rhythms. Listen to the song a second time and again write down what you hear.
2. As a table, come up with an agreed upon list of what you heard in the song, including how it was structured, as well as the sounds and rhythms. Assign one person to represent the group’s findings in a larger discussion.
3. Through class discussion, come up with a list that reveals characteristics of a Western Shoshone song
4. Whole class discusses: what can you learn about this Western Shoshone song, even though you don’t understand the words?
5. Play Corbin Harney’s introduction to the song. Students discuss: What, in addition, can you learn about the song from Corbin Harney’s explanation?
Remember
6. Complete a close reading of "Remember" by Joy Harjo
- Write down phrases, images, and words that jump out at you.
- Write down words and phrases you might not know.
- Notice how Joy Harjo structures her lines.
7. Watch video of Joy Harjo reading her poem
- notice the difference between experiencing a poem on a page and experiencing a poet reading her poem
- write down what you notice in the poem that is new and different
- What do you notice about the way Joy Harjo reads the poem? How do her voice and her facial expression reflect the poem and add to it?
8. Table work: think about how the class synthesis of characteristics from “Water Song” might relate to what you noticed in the poem “Remember.” How does the position of the words on the page influence the rhythm of the way the poem is read?
Week 4
Monday, January 23
Day 7: Working with genre
Bellwork: Define "genre" in your ISN under "Key Terms"
Partner Work:
Notes:
The genre of a story is its type or kind. Some common short story genres are mystery, detective, science fiction, war, romance and the supernatural. It is not necessary to write in a particular genre unless the exam question specifies it.
Activity:
Partner Work:
visit: https://thestoryshack.com/flash-fiction and read as a table "Hitchhike"
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, January 24
Day 9: Working With the 5 Senses (Description)
Establish
SWBAT write a descriptive piece of continuous writing of 600–900 words
Engage
Bellwork: What is your favorite genre? Why? Explain.
- Table Work: Read "The Condemned" on Story Shack - does this story have all the techniques of a suspense genre story that you wrote down yesterday? Discuss with your table.
Notes:
To describe is to use words to express the qualities of something, and is one of the most basic human language activities.
A good place to start is to use the five senses to help in describing. The senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell convey the experiences of living to our consciousness and are essential if experience is to be put into words expressively to communicate to someone else.
These senses are sometimes called visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory. It is common to describe what something looks like (sight) but not so common to evoke the sounds and smells of the place, for example.
Another sense important to description is the sense of movement or energy (kinesthetic).
Activity:
Pair Work: With a partner, go for a walk. Fill out this worksheet as you are on your walk. When you come back to class, use the worksheet to describe you walk using as much description of the 5 senses as possible.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 25
Day 8: Useful strategies for bringing the story together
Establish
SWBAT analyze genre and "bringing a story together"
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you think it means to "bring a story together"?
- Individual Work: Read Fantasy genre flash fiction. Fill in handout to analyze genre and "bringing story together"
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 26
Day 10: Working with description (2): comparison and figurative language
SWBAT effectively use vocabulary and figurative language (e.g. use of metaphor and simile)
Bellwork - What do you like about the fantasy genre? Explain. What do you dislike? Explain.
Notes:
Notes:
The most effective writing often employs comparative figures of speech, such as simile, metaphor and personification, which are all a form of metaphor.
This is sometimes known as imagery, and will be useful in Paper 1 too. Using it will help learners to identify it in others' work.
Descriptive work is rarely literal in its methods and effects. Symbolism - the use of physical objects or situations to represent feelings - is an effective method in descriptive writing, as well as useful for drawing together the threads of a story. (See 8. above).
Activity:
Pair Work: Learners need to appreciate the difference between straightforward description – using precise but literal choices of vocabulary – and language used figuratively.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 27
NO SCHOOL
Week 3
Monday, January 16
MLK Day - No School
Tuesday, January 17
Day 6: Evoking settings
Establish
SWBAT create an effective setting
Engage
- Bellwork: What are the main ways to describe a setting?
- Pair Work: with a body, find the main ideas in the homework and write brief notes in your ISN
- Individual Work: Students view several pictures and write the opening to stories based on these images. Students will want to write 5-7 sentences to capture the setting effectively. Students should use writer's effects.
- Whole Class: Students read through flash fiction samples and discuss brevity in setting
- Individual Work: Students revise their settings to be concise and poignant
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 18
Day 7: Evoking settings
Establish
SWBAT write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork: what major tips relating to description can you apply to setting?
Activity:
Individual Work:
- Students read aloud from flash fiction samples
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 19
STAR TESTING
Friday, January 20
Day 8: Working with genre
SWBAT write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork: what sort of effects can you use to enhance your imaginative writing?
Notes:
In a short story of 600–900 words, too many different settings are not advisable. A few touches of apt description should be sufficient to create the atmosphere of a particular place.
If working in a particular genre, then the setting should be suitable for that genre
Learners may need to be guided away from the tendency to ‘over-write’: ‘flowery’ adjectives and verb-less sentences, for example, can easily be over-done.
Activity:
Individual Work: Select one of the following prompts and write a short story of 300 - 600 words. The goal is to write an effectively evocative setting. You will have 25 minutes.
a busy market, a moon-lit scene, school break-time, by the sea ...
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Week 2
Monday, January 9
Day 1: Getting started on writing: working with narrative/plot
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects, convey mood describe a character
Engage
- Bellwork: Think of your favorite book. What makes this book so engaging to read? Explain.
- Whole Class: Students take the following notes in their ISN:
Notes:
A narrative is of course a series of events, but too many unlikely or dramatic ones will not help in developing a convincing account. A story can revolve around the consciousness of a character in a daily routine and still be very effective.
Every day our own lives contain many narratives and parts of narratives.
Define the following: first person, second person, third person objective, third person limited, and third person omniscient
"Evidence strongly suggests that humans in all cultures come to cast their own identity in some sort of narrative form. We are inveterate storytellers." - Owen Flanagan
Stories are an important aspect of culture. Stories are also a ubiquitous component of human communication, used as parables and examples to illustrate points. Storytelling was probably one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Narrative may also refer to psychological processes in self-identity, memory and meaning-making. (from Wikipedia)
- Pair Work: working in pairs, research the day’s news, in print or online form, looking at news stories that have a clear narrative.
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, January 10
Day 2: Getting started on writing: introducing characters and point of view
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects, convey mood, describe a character
Engage
- Bellwork: Define “first person” and “third person” narration – may use your device
- Whole Class: Take notes on the following
Notes:
Although every story depends on characters, there should not be too many. One or two well-developed characters will be more effective in 600–900 words than a cast of thousands.
The point of view of the story needs to be decided. Events could be recounted by an omniscient narrator (an omniscient narrator is one who knows everything that is happening, and has a kind of god-like knowledge and overview) in the third person (he/she/they) or focused on one individual's actions and feelings in the first person.
The main character could be an observer or by-stander, or one of the main initiators of the action.
- Individual Work: Complete worksheet: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/point-of-view-worksheets/point-of-view-worksheet-11.pdf
- Pair Work: Using the work produced yesterday, work out the ‘formula’ for a newspaper story – what do newspaper stories have in common? What elements must a news story have in telling the story?
- Whole Class: Choose one suitable example from the displayed mini-narratives from above, and work as a class to shift the point of view form third- to first-person – in other words, to make it a personal eye-witness account.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 11
Day 3: Effective openings
Establish
SWBAT write clearly, accurately, creatively and effectively for different purposes and audiences, using different forms
Engage
- Bellwork: Define “in media res” – may use your device
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following:
Notes:
An effective opening to a story should hold the reader's interest straight away.
A nineteenth-century story would often begin with an introduction or exposition.
A more modern approach might be to plunge into the middle of the action – in medias res – and to leave the readers to work out gradually who the characters are and what their situation is.
NOTE: Examination questions sometimes ask for just the opening of a story, so practice is important.
- Individual Work: Find a random wikipedia article about a person! Using the random article as inspiration, you must write a story in two ways:
- Table Work: (ISN) consider whether there are other ways of opening a story, researching the openings of stories by published writers and presenting their findings to the class.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 12
Day 4: Using timescale and flashback
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork:
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following
Notes:
Events takes place in 'real time' in chronological order (A–Z or 1–10). A storyteller can choose to start in the middle or near the end and then ‘flash’; backwards or forwards, to gain particular effects.
Some nineteenth-century short stories used a framework – perhaps a group of characters talking together, with one telling a story which becomes the main theme of the narrative – for example, Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
In 600–900 words the timescale will not usually be very broad. Even within this limitation, certain events can be told more briefly and others suggested in more detail, compared with their real-time equivalents
- Partner Work – Fairy Tale chronological:
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 13
Day 5: Appropriate endings
Establish
SWBAT demonstrate a knowledge of English language and its use in a variety of contexts
- Bellwork: What are your 3 day weekend plans?
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following:
Notes: An appropriate ending for a story is best planned from the outset. It is not advisable to start and then just write in a rambling fashion until there is no time left.
Another common misjudgment is to end the story with a murder, an earthquake or similar highly dramatic climax which is unlikely and unconvincing in the context of the story as a whole.
Learners need to be realistic about what can be achieved in 600–900 words and one hour of examination time The word/concept 'closure' implies a completion or rounding-off, and may not always be achieved
- Table Work: Students read handout “How to Write Satisfying Story Endings”
- Whole Class Work: (ISN) Analyze ending from sample. What method is used? What is the effect?
Individual Work: (ISN) Analyze ending from sample. What method is used? What is the effect?
- Partner Work:
Engage
Evaluate
Week 1
Monday, January 2
NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, January 3
Establish
SWBAT analyze maxims
Engage
- Bellwork: have you ever come across a quote that has stuck with you in some way? What was the quote? Why did it stick with them? What does the quote have to do with them?
- Students analyze maxims, choose one you like the most
- Students go over the following stations (using handout) and use their chosen quote for the activities:
Evaluate
- Participation
Wednesday, January 4
Establish
SWBAT analyze maxims
Engage
- Bellwork: Go over the activity sheet you worked on yesterday - read your responses and fill in any other responses you did not complete
- Complete steps 1 and 2 in your graphic organizer
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 5
Establish
SWBAT develop character essay
Engage
- Bellwork: Why is it important to clearly structure your essay?
- Work on character essay handout DUE BY END OF CLASS
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 6
Establish
SWBAT develop character essay
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you want to add to your essay today?
-
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Character Essay DUE Monday, January 9
Spring Break!
Week 10
Monday, March 6
Establish
SWBAT practice for their exam
Engage
- Bellwork: What character traits do you think of when you think of a "politician"?
- Individual Work: Students write two speeches from opposing views.
Two politicians have been invited to contribute to a debate on the theme "Giving aid to the poor does more harm than good"
Write the text of their speeches (between 300-450 words) In your writing create a sense of opposing attitudes and viewpoints. The politicians should be invented.
- Individual Work: Students create two politicians that will be having this debate. You will want to write in their style/tone so you will want to develop their character first.
- Individual Work: Students fill out Character Worksheets for both of their characters/politicians
Tuesday, March 7
Establish
SWBAT practice for their exam
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you think of your characters?
- Individual Work: Complete "Opposing Points" Worksheet
- Students begin speeches
1. 2 speeches, each 300-450 words. Must show opposing attitudes/viewpoints, styles (2 very separate voices)
Wednesday, March 8
Establish
SWBAT complete assessment
Engage
- Bellwork: What are your plans for Spring Break?
- Work on speeches DUE Friday
1. Each speech is 300 -450 words
2. These are the speeches each politician will give before the debate begins. The first speech will give that specific politician's view, the 2nd speech can reference the 1st speech and also give the 2nd politician's views
3. Use specific language for your specific candidate. For example, a candidate who went to an Ivy League school may use more "fancy" words than their opponent, who may have come from a public university.
Thursday, March 9
Establish
SWBAT continue working on speeches
Engage
- Bellwork: How are you feeling about your speeches?
- Work on speeches!
- Due Friday
Friday, March 10
Establish
SWBAT continue working on speeches
Engage
- Bellwork: What kinds of writer's effects have you used?
- Highlight the following:
1. Writer's Effects
3. Devil's Advocate
4. Logical Fallacies
Week 9
Monday, February 27
Establish
SWBAT understand considering both sides of a story
Engage
- Bellwork: Which is better, cats or dogs? Explain your reasoning
- Whole Class: notes on GAPS
- Go over worksheet
- Write definition of "logical fallacy" and "devil's advocate" in ISN (key terms)
- Begin discussing debate
Tuesday, February 29
Establish
SWBAT practice devil's advocate, logical fallacies
Engage
- Bellwork: Why is it important to play Devil's Advocate?
- Whole class: Go over logical fallacies handout
- Individual work: Complete handout
- Table work: compose Devil's Advocate assignment (started yesterday)
- Whole class: Share Devil's Advocate examples
- Begin prepping for debate
Wednesday, March 1
Establish
SWBAT practice devil's advocate, logical fallacies
Engage
- Bellwork: Where do you find yourself most often "playing devil's advocate"?
- Table work: Complete table DA exercise. Present to class,
- Large Group: Prepare for debate: One side says cats are better than dogs, the other side says dogs are better than cats. In your debate group, need to delegate responsibilities to research and compose speech.
Thursday, March 2
Establish
SWBAT continue exercising Devil's Advocate
Engage
- Bellwork: Why will your team win the debate?
- Large Group: Finalize debate speeches/research
- Create magazine article where you first discuss one side, and then play devil's advocate. Topic: President Trump's "travel ban". Write a headline for the story, draw a picture with a caption, and fill the page. You can use the back as well. You should use at least 2 techniques from your Devil's Advocate packet (put the number of the technique next to the part of your writing where you include it)
Friday, March 3
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: How are you feeling about your performance this quarter?
- Large Group: Take a few minutes to prepare for debate
- Large Group: Debate!
- Individual Work: Complete articles
Week 8
Monday, February 20
No School!
Tuesday, February 21
Establish
SWBAT practice free writing, compose descriptive piece
Engage
- Bellwork: What is free writing? Look it up and write a definition
- Individual work: For 7 minutes, free write on a separate piece of paper (not in your ISN).
- Individual Work: For 10 minutes, write a descriptive piece (focus on using writer's effects, mood/atmosphere, and other techniques learned in this unit)
- Partner Work: Swap descriptive pieces. Partner will now rewrite the description to be the opposite (ex: "It was dark and stormy" becomes "it was bright and peaceful")
Wednesday, February 22
Establish
SWBAT complete end of unit practice test
Engage
- Bellwork: What is your favorite piece of writing you have done in class this far? Why?
- Write the opening to a novel called Escape from the City, in which a narrator describes her or his experiences of moving to a rural area. In your writing create a sense of the narrator’s outlook and mood.
- narrative or descriptive piece of continuous writing of 600–900 words
Thursday, February 23
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: Are you excited to make a book? You better be. It's very exciting.
- Whole Class: View video on how to create a book
- Table Work: Work in tables to bind books
Friday, February 24
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Bellwork: Since you will know how to make your own book after today, what kinds of things could you make using the skills you will learn today?
- Whole Class: View video on how to create a book
- Table Work: Work in tables to bind books
- Books due on Monday. Books will be graded on effort, creativity, and following directions. These are a collection of your best works and will be an assessment grade. Please include the following:
What must be in your book:
- Villanelle
- Sonnet
- Haiku
- 1 excerpt from a larger work (an especially good descriptive paragraph, for example)
- Anything else you want! Synesthesia exercise, any short writing, any excerpts from larger works, etc.
Monday, February 13
Establish
SWBAT complete practice test
Engage
Bellwork: Is NPR a credible source for news? Use your device to investigate, and then make a conclusion. Finally, explain how you determined whether NPR is credible or not.
- Collect villanelles
- View Obama interview and follow along with transcript
- Review instructions for practice test
- You have been asked to write the text for a brief news report about this interview between Barack Obama and Steve Inskeep. Write the text for this news report in 120–150 words [10 marks]
- Compare the style and language of your response with the style and language of the original interview. [15 marks]
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, February 14
Establish
SWBAT practice writer's effects
Engage
- Bellwork: Why do we celebrate Valentines? Look it up!
- Create "compliment posters" - work with a partner to create a poster of compliments that they can take. Each compliment must demonstrate a specific writer's effect (loaded language, metaphor/simile, description, 5 senses, etc). Poster must be attractive and creative.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, February 15
Establish
SWBAT practice for Cambridge test
Engage
- Bellwork: What is the tone/style of a news brief? What is the purpose? Who is the audience?
- Complete Part 1 (began assignment on Monday)
- You have been asked to write the text for a brief news report about this interview between Barack Obama and Steve Inskeep. Write the text for this news report in 120–150 words [10 marks]
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 16
Establish
SWBAT evaluate own writing (practice Cambridge test), continue exploring 1st person accounts (narrative style)
Engage
- Bellwork: How did your news brief differ from the spoken interview? What was the difference in style? Explain.
2. Compare the style and language of your response with the style and language of the original interview. [15 marks]
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, February 17
Establish
SWBAT understand differences in first person perspective v third person perspective
Engage
- Bellwork: Which story is the most compelling? Why? Explain.
- Complete I Survived video
- Read LA Times article about Lee
- What major differences do you see between the two reports (the first hand account versus the written, third person account?) Write a 1 page analysis on the differences (should be 2 paragraphs)
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Week 6
Monday, February 6
Establish
SWBAT implement writer's effect and narrative techniques
Engage
Bellwork: Look back at Joy Harjo's poem Remember. What seems to be the main message of the poem?
- Individual work: Craft a poem that includes the following:
1. 2nd Person Perspective
2. What you think the reader should "remember"
3. Repeated words (NOT "remember", we are not plagiarizing Joy Harjo here)
4. Alliteration
- Pair work: Swap your poem with the person across from you. Have them perform a peer edit to give you feedback
- Completed poem due on Tuesday (with 1st draft)
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, February 7
Establish
SWBAT research favorite poem
Engage
Bellwork: What is a sonnet? Use your device and write an explanation
- Whole class: Students copy Shakespeare's Sonnet "Sonnet 130" into ISN and read as a class
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
- Students discuss rhyme scheme
- Students analyze meaning
Evaluate
- Participation
Wednesday, February 8
Establish
SWBAT write a sonnet
Engage
Bellwork: Do you find "Sonnet 130" romantic or otherwise?
- Individual work: Students craft their own sonnets
1. Must follow sonnet rules
2. Must compare one thing to another
3. Must include simile/metaphor
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 9
Establish
SWBAT write a villanelle
Engage
Bellwork: What is a villanelle? Use your device to write an explanation
- Continue working on sonnet (DUE Friday)
- Whole Class: Read "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" (copy into ISN)
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night
- Whole class: analyze rhyme scheme
- Whole Class: Discuss meaning
Evaluate
Friday, February 10
Establish
SWBAT
Engage
- Work on villanelle. Must:
1. Follow villanelle scheme (no other requirements as this is a very hard poem to write)
Evaluate
Week 5
Monday, January 30
Day 11: Using effects such as alliteration and onomatopoeia
SWBAT Use language to create deliberate effects
Bellwork: How was your weekend?
Engage
Notes:
Sound repetitions are a distinctive feature of poetry, but they are also effective in prose.
Although understanding of the concept is always more important than simple use of the terminology, it is as easy to get these things right from the start as it is to get them wrong! So, learners need to be able to distinguish alliteration (consonants) from assonance (vowels)
- Individual work: remember alliteration and its effects by writing a sentence about yourself: beginning with their first name, all the following words with lexical content must alliterate with it (e.g. Louisa loves lounging on a lilo in the lake, licking a lemon lollipop).
- Whole class work: Read The Highwayman as a class.
Tuesday, January 31
Day 12: Creating an atmosphere
SWBAT use language to create deliberate effects
Bellwork: How does atmosphere/mood help enhance a story?
Notes:
Definition of Mood
Mood is a feeling that is conveyed to the reader in a literary work. It is also synonymous with the atmosphere created in the literary piece. The writer can develop mood through word choice, dialogue, sensory details, description, and plot complications.
- erie
- electrifying
- happy
- bleak
- dreamy
- freewheeling
- gloomy
- light
- ominous
- reckless
- humorous
- sad
- soothing
- brooding
- cheerful
- intense
- calm
- somber
- whimsical
- volatile
- Table Work: Pretend you are making a movie of this short story. Discuss with your table and select a song to begin playing at the part where Mr. Summers says "let's finish quickly" (on the last page).
Wednesday, February 1
Day 13: Creating mood/atmosphere
Engage
SWBAT use language to create mood/atmosphere
Bellwork: Look back at The Raven - what is the overall mood/atmosphere? What words are used to create this mood/atmosphere?
Individual work: Students are given the following moods/atmosphere: Dreamy, Sad, Humorous, . Students will write 3 flash fiction stories. They will only have 10 minutes per story. Students will try to write an entire story in the 10 minutes given. Students will use specific language, dialogue, sensory details, description, and plot complications to create 3 different sense of mood/atmosphere for each of the assigned moods/atmospheres.
Stories are due on Thursday.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, February 2
Day 14: Activating imagination, practice form (haiku)
Engage
SWBAT learn to write in haiku form, use specific language, activate imagination
Bellwork: Write a few sentences from the point of view of an animal. You will pass this to a buddy and they will have to try and guess your animal.
- Introduce book project
- Write 3 haiku from perspective of inanimate object - must follow haiku rules, must include descriptive language http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-haiku.html (take notes in ISN!)
- "classic" Haiku examples: http://www.haiku-poetry.org/famous-haiku.html
- Swap poems and revise
- Students favorite poem will be in book!
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, February
Day 15: Activating imagination, practice form (Harjo)
Engage
SWBAT analyze a poem for deeper meaning
Bellwork: What does the act of "remembering" mean to you? How can you connect this act to your relationship with your family, with your ancestors?
Water Song
- Whole class: Listen closely to a Native American Song from the Western Shoshone Tribe
1. Listen to Corbin Harney of the Western Shoshone tribe singing “Water Song.” This song is in Harney’s native language. As you listen, write down what you hear, e.g., a drum, repeating sounds, or rhythms. Listen to the song a second time and again write down what you hear.
2. As a table, come up with an agreed upon list of what you heard in the song, including how it was structured, as well as the sounds and rhythms. Assign one person to represent the group’s findings in a larger discussion.
3. Through class discussion, come up with a list that reveals characteristics of a Western Shoshone song
4. Whole class discusses: what can you learn about this Western Shoshone song, even though you don’t understand the words?
5. Play Corbin Harney’s introduction to the song. Students discuss: What, in addition, can you learn about the song from Corbin Harney’s explanation?
Remember
6. Complete a close reading of "Remember" by Joy Harjo
- Write down phrases, images, and words that jump out at you.
- Write down words and phrases you might not know.
- Notice how Joy Harjo structures her lines.
7. Watch video of Joy Harjo reading her poem
- notice the difference between experiencing a poem on a page and experiencing a poet reading her poem
- write down what you notice in the poem that is new and different
- What do you notice about the way Joy Harjo reads the poem? How do her voice and her facial expression reflect the poem and add to it?
8. Table work: think about how the class synthesis of characteristics from “Water Song” might relate to what you noticed in the poem “Remember.” How does the position of the words on the page influence the rhythm of the way the poem is read?
Week 4
Monday, January 23
Day 7: Working with genre
Bellwork: Define "genre" in your ISN under "Key Terms"
Partner Work:
- Swap papers with someone across from you
- With a highlighter, mark successful passages
- With a pen, star passages that could use more description
- Discuss your findings with your partner
Notes:
The genre of a story is its type or kind. Some common short story genres are mystery, detective, science fiction, war, romance and the supernatural. It is not necessary to write in a particular genre unless the exam question specifies it.
Activity:
Partner Work:
- Make a list of genres
- Research writers who work successfully in these genres
visit: https://thestoryshack.com/flash-fiction and read as a table "Hitchhike"
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, January 24
Day 9: Working With the 5 Senses (Description)
Establish
SWBAT write a descriptive piece of continuous writing of 600–900 words
Engage
Bellwork: What is your favorite genre? Why? Explain.
- Table Work: Read "The Condemned" on Story Shack - does this story have all the techniques of a suspense genre story that you wrote down yesterday? Discuss with your table.
Notes:
To describe is to use words to express the qualities of something, and is one of the most basic human language activities.
A good place to start is to use the five senses to help in describing. The senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell convey the experiences of living to our consciousness and are essential if experience is to be put into words expressively to communicate to someone else.
These senses are sometimes called visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory. It is common to describe what something looks like (sight) but not so common to evoke the sounds and smells of the place, for example.
Another sense important to description is the sense of movement or energy (kinesthetic).
Activity:
Pair Work: With a partner, go for a walk. Fill out this worksheet as you are on your walk. When you come back to class, use the worksheet to describe you walk using as much description of the 5 senses as possible.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 25
Day 8: Useful strategies for bringing the story together
Establish
SWBAT analyze genre and "bringing a story together"
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you think it means to "bring a story together"?
- Individual Work: Read Fantasy genre flash fiction. Fill in handout to analyze genre and "bringing story together"
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 26
Day 10: Working with description (2): comparison and figurative language
SWBAT effectively use vocabulary and figurative language (e.g. use of metaphor and simile)
Bellwork - What do you like about the fantasy genre? Explain. What do you dislike? Explain.
Notes:
- showing, not telling – learners need to learn how to avoid always wanting to tell the reader everything – character can be shown through action and words, not just authorial statement
- repetition of key words for structural coherence
- ellipsis – being concise and making choices – accepting that you don't have to cover everything, and that suggestion can be very powerful
- description, imagery and symbolism
- balance of the different elements of the story – too much description may hinder the progress of the narrative – as may too much dialogue.
Notes:
The most effective writing often employs comparative figures of speech, such as simile, metaphor and personification, which are all a form of metaphor.
This is sometimes known as imagery, and will be useful in Paper 1 too. Using it will help learners to identify it in others' work.
Descriptive work is rarely literal in its methods and effects. Symbolism - the use of physical objects or situations to represent feelings - is an effective method in descriptive writing, as well as useful for drawing together the threads of a story. (See 8. above).
Activity:
Pair Work: Learners need to appreciate the difference between straightforward description – using precise but literal choices of vocabulary – and language used figuratively.
- Working in pairs on The Raven, they could list different linguistic features of description:
- unusual adjectives
- expressive verbs
- similes
- metaphors/symbols
- any other linguistic features they find.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 27
NO SCHOOL
Week 3
Monday, January 16
MLK Day - No School
Tuesday, January 17
Day 6: Evoking settings
Establish
SWBAT create an effective setting
Engage
- Bellwork: What are the main ways to describe a setting?
- Pair Work: with a body, find the main ideas in the homework and write brief notes in your ISN
- Individual Work: Students view several pictures and write the opening to stories based on these images. Students will want to write 5-7 sentences to capture the setting effectively. Students should use writer's effects.
- Whole Class: Students read through flash fiction samples and discuss brevity in setting
- Individual Work: Students revise their settings to be concise and poignant
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 18
Day 7: Evoking settings
Establish
SWBAT write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork: what major tips relating to description can you apply to setting?
Activity:
Individual Work:
- Students use the random word as inspiration to illustrate a word using descriptive techniques using the tips learned from 2 handouts
- Think about: symbols associated with your chosen word, 5 senses associated with your chosen word, descriptive words associated with your chosen word
- The goal is to create a visual representation of descriptive techniques
- Students read aloud from flash fiction samples
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 19
STAR TESTING
Friday, January 20
Day 8: Working with genre
SWBAT write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork: what sort of effects can you use to enhance your imaginative writing?
Notes:
In a short story of 600–900 words, too many different settings are not advisable. A few touches of apt description should be sufficient to create the atmosphere of a particular place.
If working in a particular genre, then the setting should be suitable for that genre
Learners may need to be guided away from the tendency to ‘over-write’: ‘flowery’ adjectives and verb-less sentences, for example, can easily be over-done.
Activity:
Individual Work: Select one of the following prompts and write a short story of 300 - 600 words. The goal is to write an effectively evocative setting. You will have 25 minutes.
a busy market, a moon-lit scene, school break-time, by the sea ...
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Week 2
Monday, January 9
Day 1: Getting started on writing: working with narrative/plot
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects, convey mood describe a character
Engage
- Bellwork: Think of your favorite book. What makes this book so engaging to read? Explain.
- Whole Class: Students take the following notes in their ISN:
Notes:
A narrative is of course a series of events, but too many unlikely or dramatic ones will not help in developing a convincing account. A story can revolve around the consciousness of a character in a daily routine and still be very effective.
Every day our own lives contain many narratives and parts of narratives.
Define the following: first person, second person, third person objective, third person limited, and third person omniscient
"Evidence strongly suggests that humans in all cultures come to cast their own identity in some sort of narrative form. We are inveterate storytellers." - Owen Flanagan
Stories are an important aspect of culture. Stories are also a ubiquitous component of human communication, used as parables and examples to illustrate points. Storytelling was probably one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Narrative may also refer to psychological processes in self-identity, memory and meaning-making. (from Wikipedia)
- Pair Work: working in pairs, research the day’s news, in print or online form, looking at news stories that have a clear narrative.
- choose four current news stories, preferably ones which appear in a number of different sources
- for each one, make notes (ISN) on the factual basis – in other words, pick out the basic elements of plot/narrative
- each pair of learners then divides the stories between them, choosing two each
- working from the shared notes produced in their paired work, each learner then individually writes a single paragraph for each story, concentrating only on bare narrative
- Written work
- Participation
Tuesday, January 10
Day 2: Getting started on writing: introducing characters and point of view
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects, convey mood, describe a character
Engage
- Bellwork: Define “first person” and “third person” narration – may use your device
- Whole Class: Take notes on the following
Notes:
Although every story depends on characters, there should not be too many. One or two well-developed characters will be more effective in 600–900 words than a cast of thousands.
The point of view of the story needs to be decided. Events could be recounted by an omniscient narrator (an omniscient narrator is one who knows everything that is happening, and has a kind of god-like knowledge and overview) in the third person (he/she/they) or focused on one individual's actions and feelings in the first person.
The main character could be an observer or by-stander, or one of the main initiators of the action.
- Individual Work: Complete worksheet: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/point-of-view-worksheets/point-of-view-worksheet-11.pdf
- Pair Work: Using the work produced yesterday, work out the ‘formula’ for a newspaper story – what do newspaper stories have in common? What elements must a news story have in telling the story?
- Whole Class: Choose one suitable example from the displayed mini-narratives from above, and work as a class to shift the point of view form third- to first-person – in other words, to make it a personal eye-witness account.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Wednesday, January 11
Day 3: Effective openings
Establish
SWBAT write clearly, accurately, creatively and effectively for different purposes and audiences, using different forms
Engage
- Bellwork: Define “in media res” – may use your device
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following:
Notes:
An effective opening to a story should hold the reader's interest straight away.
A nineteenth-century story would often begin with an introduction or exposition.
A more modern approach might be to plunge into the middle of the action – in medias res – and to leave the readers to work out gradually who the characters are and what their situation is.
NOTE: Examination questions sometimes ask for just the opening of a story, so practice is important.
- Individual Work: Find a random wikipedia article about a person! Using the random article as inspiration, you must write a story in two ways:
- The exposition of a character and the events leading up to the action of the story (third person limited)
- Going straight into the middle of a dialogue between the same character and another one (third person omniscient)
- Table Work: (ISN) consider whether there are other ways of opening a story, researching the openings of stories by published writers and presenting their findings to the class.
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 12
Day 4: Using timescale and flashback
Establish
SWBAT: write imaginatively, use language to create deliberate effects
Engage
- Bellwork:
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following
Notes:
Events takes place in 'real time' in chronological order (A–Z or 1–10). A storyteller can choose to start in the middle or near the end and then ‘flash’; backwards or forwards, to gain particular effects.
Some nineteenth-century short stories used a framework – perhaps a group of characters talking together, with one telling a story which becomes the main theme of the narrative – for example, Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
In 600–900 words the timescale will not usually be very broad. Even within this limitation, certain events can be told more briefly and others suggested in more detail, compared with their real-time equivalents
- Partner Work – Fairy Tale chronological:
- Fill out your worksheet, using a numbered chronological series of events (1-6)
- Briefly describe each event in the corresponding order
- Cut out the pieces
- Now, work with your partner to find a way to tell the story in any way other than chronological
- On a separate piece of paper, rewrite the story – 1 page in length
- You will be graded on how well you use:
- description (WE)
- 5 senses (WE)
- a sense of setting (WE)
- Third person omniscient, Third person limited, or first person narration
- loaded language (WE)
- Creative and attractive story page
- Be sure to show your understanding of how “playing with time” can be used to rewrite a story and create an intense experience
- You will be graded on how well you use:
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 13
Day 5: Appropriate endings
Establish
SWBAT demonstrate a knowledge of English language and its use in a variety of contexts
- Bellwork: What are your 3 day weekend plans?
- Whole Class: Students take notes on the following:
Notes: An appropriate ending for a story is best planned from the outset. It is not advisable to start and then just write in a rambling fashion until there is no time left.
Another common misjudgment is to end the story with a murder, an earthquake or similar highly dramatic climax which is unlikely and unconvincing in the context of the story as a whole.
Learners need to be realistic about what can be achieved in 600–900 words and one hour of examination time The word/concept 'closure' implies a completion or rounding-off, and may not always be achieved
- Table Work: Students read handout “How to Write Satisfying Story Endings”
- Whole Class Work: (ISN) Analyze ending from sample. What method is used? What is the effect?
Individual Work: (ISN) Analyze ending from sample. What method is used? What is the effect?
- Partner Work:
- Take cut up fairy tale story – put in chronological order
- Remove the ending
- Glue onto piece of paper
- “Brainstorm” two or three different possible endings
- Explain which is most effective, and in what ways
- Re-write ending
- a change in the point of view
- a return to the frame in a framework story
- a summary of events
- a 'twist in the tail' – an unexpected or ironic ending can be effective
- a symbol which represents an important aspect of the story and has perhaps been used earlier
- an open-ended or even inconclusive ending revolving around a character's consciousness.FOR TOMORROW: Students open dictionary, close eyes, point to word. Teacher records word, copies out page of dictionary for each student
- FOR HOMEWORK: Read the following articles “How Setting Affects Characterization and Conflict” and “Descriptive Writing and the Five Senses”
Engage
Evaluate
Week 1
Monday, January 2
NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, January 3
Establish
SWBAT analyze maxims
Engage
- Bellwork: have you ever come across a quote that has stuck with you in some way? What was the quote? Why did it stick with them? What does the quote have to do with them?
- Students analyze maxims, choose one you like the most
- Students go over the following stations (using handout) and use their chosen quote for the activities:
- Station One: Yoda-cize: Have students change the syntax of a quote to match the way Yoda would say it (e.g., cannot hold a man down without staying with him you must).
- Station Two: Tweet It: Have students summarize the quote in 140 characters. They must also add a hashtag to the quote
- Station Three: Pictionary: Have students describe what the quote means using non-linguistic representations
- Station Four: Quote Comparison: Compare the following quotes:
"We live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principal goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained" - Barack Obama
"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive" - Dalai Lama
"I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization" - Roger Ebert
"I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it" - Maya Angelou
"To perceive is to suffer" - Aristotle
How are these quotes similar in meaning? What is different about the ideas behind these quotations? - Station Five: Hashtag. Make a list of hashtags for your quote.
- Station Six: License plate: Create a license plate that captures the idea of a quote
- Station Seven: Research It: Have students use a computer (or their phones) to research the person who said the quote. What was happening in their life? In the world?
- You will have 5 minutes to do the task (talking and rotating).
- Decide which partner will go first. When the teacher says “go,” that person should talk for the entire minute about one of the eight quotes, while the other partner silently takes notes.
- The speaking partner should first tell what the quote means, putting it into his or her own words.
- Next, this same partner should react to the quote, saying whether he or she agrees or disagrees with it. - Finally, the speaking partner should verbally brainstorm all the connections between this quote and as many aspects of life — today, at the time it was coined, or for the future — as possible. This may mean describing how the quote might apply to literature, popular culture, current events, history or the speaker’s own life experience. - After two minutes, time is called and partners reverse the roles.
- Decide which partner will go first. When the teacher says “go,” that person should talk for the entire minute about one of the eight quotes, while the other partner silently takes notes.
Evaluate
- Participation
Wednesday, January 4
Establish
SWBAT analyze maxims
Engage
- Bellwork: Go over the activity sheet you worked on yesterday - read your responses and fill in any other responses you did not complete
- Complete steps 1 and 2 in your graphic organizer
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Thursday, January 5
Establish
SWBAT develop character essay
Engage
- Bellwork: Why is it important to clearly structure your essay?
- Work on character essay handout DUE BY END OF CLASS
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Friday, January 6
Establish
SWBAT develop character essay
Engage
- Bellwork: What do you want to add to your essay today?
-
Evaluate
- Written work
- Participation
Character Essay DUE Monday, January 9