Category Archives: Language Strand

Feb 23 2016
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American Literature, AP Lang, AP Lang and Comp, AP Language and Composition, Common Core, English III, Grammar, Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Language Strand, Teaching, Uncategorized, Writing

Week 8 – Writing Workshop

One thing is for certain: Writing can always be improved.  This week, we are going to be making a short stop to focus on the rhetorical analysis writing in detail, one part of the paper a day.  The goal is to remind students of the elements of strong responses so they are prepared to build this into their essays as a whole. Ideas? As always, I’m open to your thoughts.

 

MONDAY

Bell Ringer (15 minutes): Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)
    • G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner
    • Share outs (based on pacing)

Multiple Choice Monday: Through the study of an AP MC reading selection (Prestwick The Scarlet Letter AP Test Questions 1-10), students will be able to correctly answer the question, including justification for the selected answer.

  • Student are given 13 minutes to read the text and answer the questions.
  • T will give correct answers and percentage of students who correctly answered the question. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions about what is unknown as needed.
  • Students will review answers and write corrections with argumentative stemFOR HOMEWORK if they desire earning back the missed points.
    • Frame: I chose ___ because ____. That is wrong because ____. The correct answer is ___ because ____. 

Writing Workshop: Through the review of the rhetoric précis, the student will be able to write a thorough introduction including a thesis with vocabulary from the prompt.

Note: Student essays are evaluating the rhetorical strategies that Paine employs to accomplish his purpose.

  • Students will review the outline completed over the weekend.
  • Students will review elements of an effective introduction by looking at seven examples from released AP exams and identifying strategies for an effective introduction.
  • Students will finalize the introduction paragraph using the sentences from their outline and critical attributes from class today.
  • Peer Review (Time Permitted): Students will review the introduction paragraph for grammar, usage, and mechanics.
  • Submitted paragraphs will be reviewed by the teacher and appropriate written feedback will be returned to students during class tomorrow.

HWK: Students will write two body paragraphs using information from their outlines.

 

TUESDAY

Bell Ringer (15 minutes): Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)
    • G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner
    • Share outs (based on pacing)

Thesis Statement Tuesday: Through the review of the three types of thesis statements, students will identify what their thesis statement is and use this to organize their paragraphs.

  1. Highlight your thesis statement. What type of statement is it? Are your main points clear? How could you improve it?
  2. Syntax Evaluation: How would you label the syntax of your thesis?

Writing Workshop: Through the review of TIQA and incorporating quotes, the student will be able to write body paragraphs for the analytical essay.

Writing Workshop:

  1. The class will sit in a circle and pass their first paragraph to the person on the left for peer review.
  2. Students will return their paragraphs and evaluate the quality of feedback before deciding what revisions should be made.

NOTE: Short share out for T is track common errors on the board.

  1. What is TIQA? Look at paragraph 1. Highlight AUTHOR’s words in green, direct quotes from PAINE in red, and paraphrases from PAINE in yellow. What color should be most common on your page? Why?
  2. For body paragraph 2, students will look for the errors discovered in part 1 and make those changes on their own. Additionally, students will evaluate TIQA in their own writing.

Reflection Closing: What errors do you commonly make? How can you work to correct these errors in the future? What TIQA-related changes did you make? How can this process help you writing the final body paragraph?

 

HWK: Finalize the body of your essay.

 

WEDNESDAY

Bell Ringer (15 minutes): Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)
    • G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner
    • Share outs (based on pacing)

Writing Wednesday: Through the study of The Art of Styling Sentences and the specific review of patterns 1-3, students will be able to write thorough and concise sentences.

  1. Students will identify the sentence parts of the given sentences.
  2. Students will label the pattern of the given sentence.
  3. Students will create an example for each of the sentence patterns in their paragraphs. (Ex, one pattern per paragraph.)

Cohesive Conclusions: Through the study of concluding paragraphs from actual AP essays, the students will be able to identify critical attributes of an effective conclusion and demonstrate mastery by writing an effective conclusion.

  1. Students will review and BAT a released AP writing prompt.
  2. Students will review sample released AP conclusion paragraphs for the prompt in order to identify critical attributes of the conclusion paragraph.
  3. Students will share the CA and evaluate them as a class to create guided questions.
  4. Students will write their conclusion paragraph.

Time Permitting, students will peer review the conclusion paragraph.

Closure: Finalize your essay to submit before class tomorrow.

 

THURSDAY

Bell Ringer (15 minutes): Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)
    • G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner
    • Share outs (based on pacing)

Tutoring Thursday: Through the study of AP Rhetoric, students will be able to correctly identify and explain the given device in the task cards. (Mastery 8/10)

I: Student are given 10 minutes to review the academic vocabulary associated with the excerpts on the task cards. This is designed to help reteach missed skills, and definitions of unknown words are encouraged for learning outside of class.

D/Ap: Students will rotate through stations to complete a minimum of ten task cards each for a grade. Mastery = 8 of 10.

Visual Rhetoric: Through the study of comics and visuals found on released AP exams, the student will be able to analyze the image to create a logical conclusion.

  1. T will model the process of see, infer, and conclude again for students.
  2. Class will discuss the depth of the responses.
  3. T will model taking the conclusion and creating a sentence using the designated pattern.
  4. Students will apply the model process to analyze the visual rhetoric and track conclusions in a variety of sentence patterns.

 

HWK: Take a break. If you did not submit your essay today, you BETTER have it tomorrow morning.

 

FRIDAY

Bell Ringer (15 minutes): Through the study of Litte Red Riding Hood, students will be able to monitor GUM and identify the meaning of unknown words.

  • Caught ‘Ya (L11.1-3)
  • Etymology (L11.4-6)
    • G/AF: Sentence Corrections with guided questions with assigned weekly partner
    • Share outs (based on pacing)

Free Response Friday: Through the review of the student-created essay, students will finalize and submit the rhetorical analysis essay.

  • Students will type the finalized essay with Google Docs.

Sunday News, Monday Views: Through the study of current events, students will be able to rhetorically analyze a chosen article from the weekend news.

  • Students will pick an article and complete the analysis.
  • Monday: Ss will share to raise awareness of current events and build background knowledge to help prepare for the AP exam.

~Note: This assignment is weekend homework due at the start of EVERY Monday.

 

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Mar 19 2013
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Instructional Delivery: Plan and Progress, Language Strand, Writing

GRRRR! Grammar!

Growing up on a farm in the south one might think I had picked up the southern drawl of you’uns and y’alls. In reality, we girls were trained in the manner of Eliza Doolittle and, combined with my own personal disgust of tobacco spitting old ladies at church, people often assume I’m a transplanted northerner until the southern temper spikes its head. Anyway the point is I heard grammar correctly and had it drilled into my head so much that I honestly accidentally found myself correcting even my own mother. I’m not sure I even understood why certain elements were correct until Dr. Overholt drilled it into my head in the glorious days of Maryville College. I say all of that to say society owes it to our future to speak in a manner which is grammatically correct. In the urban setting, agreement and comma usage is the hardest thing to teach. It isn’t all the fault of the student because it is all they hear so them it doesn’t have the nails on the chalkboard effect.
This rant is brought to you by our testing data. We use Standards-Based Grading, so we have 5-6 questions per objective and track mastery in the manner the state does on the EOC. We tested parts of speech, agreement, and comma usage. Apparently, I suck at teaching these elements this year. But with every problem MUST come a solution.
For years, I have successfully used a mini-grammar lesson combined with the Caught ‘Ya system, but this year we were asked to use the textbook for instruction. In testing, these are the worst grammar results I have seen in at least five years. The problem with the textbook method is that if I know I’m in the comma chapter and the problem is a comma, I can probably get it right. But given a sentence with unknown problems, students tend to miss it. It is like looking at specific skills independently does not allow students to see how grammatical structures play together and function as one in sentences. And throw in the problems of text-message-ese and spoken dialect… So I’m looking for a new idea. Suggestions?
The grammar text book (which I have NEVER been a fan of) does not seem to be sticking long-term with our students, but the Caught ‘Ya model is going well. We are going to continue with CY, but we are going to add back the grammar instruction of a program called Daily Grammar Practice from DGP Publishing. In this model, students use the same sentence or passage and make different corrections each day. A good colleague (and excellent teacher) used this model in 8th grade and felt it was successful so we are going to try a few weeks with the 8th grade book to see about getting the money for the 9th grade books next year. I’m not opposed to purchasing it on my own if it works. In the midst of the start up, I created a few files which you are welcome to try if you are interested.

Files/Resources:
1. DGP Publishing Web Site: http://www.dgppublishing.com/reading.htm
2. FREE DGP Student Notes Handouts: I gave these out to students and them modeled going through each step of the sentence and consulting the page. My plan is to have them use this page on the test at first, but I will use the scaled noted system where next Monday students only have one page on which to write notes. Each week I will decrease the amount of space on which to write notes for use on the test until ultimately there are not notes. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Grammar-Practice-DGP-Notes
3. FREE DGP Student Notes Flashcards: Whatever it takes, right? I know some of the students will not use these, but for those who are interested they will be helpful.
Monday – http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Grammar-Practice-DGP-Monday-Notes-Key-Vocab-Flashcards
Tuesday – http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Grammar-Practice-DGP-Tuesday-Notes-Key-Vocab-Flashcards
Wednesday – http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Grammar-Practice-DGP-Wednesday-Notes-Key-Vocab-Flashcards

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