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September 13/16, 2024
Housekeeping:
None
Icebreaker:
Have 5 more students share out their "Get to Know You" slide.
Start Daily(ish) Routine
Most days, I have a routine: grammar, rhetorical term, writing time, & then "main lesson"/"content". Once I am done with all of the foundational work for the class, we get into the routine. I start with grammar and keep it to 5 minutes so that it is quick and painless. Next, I review a rhetorical term and give students time to practice using it in some guilt-free writing. Lastly, we do the "main course" of the lesson and get into whatever text it is we are studying.
Grammar
Since this is a writing class, students need to be well-versed in the language of grammar. I start at the beginning, with parts of speech, and move along from there. I use the free materials on NoRedInk because I love being able to see how kids are doing in real time. Unfortunately, my county cancelled our premium NoRedInk subscription last year, so I can only use the basic, free materials. Total bummer, but that's what happens when you actually have a tool you like.
County: "What digital tool is helpful to you guys?"
Teachers: "Oh we love NoRedInk."
County to self: "Immediately cancel NoRedInk."
So. I use what I can and then use my old, old paper handouts after that.
For today, I gave students a sheet of scrap paper and asked students to write down the 8 parts of speech-LOL. They basically had a meltdown and after a while handed me back blank sheets with some answer attempts. Once everyone was done guessing, we did a very quick review on the whiteboard.
Rhetorical Term
Each day, I review a rhetorical term. I know the class is not reliant on kids memorizing long lists of terms anymore, but I still like teaching a wide variety of terms...this is the terminology that advances the language of the class and gives the students tools for their own writing.
For the mini lesson, I introduce the term, provide an example, and discuss the general effect. Then I ask the students to attempt to use the device in their own writing.
I have grouped the terms in different ways over the years and I still can't really settle on a sequence. This year I am going in alphabetical order, but next year I may organize by device type (ie: repetition terms together, comparison terms, etc...).
For our first literary term, we learned about abstract language.
Writing Time
Each period I have students write in a marble notebook for 8-10 minutes. They can write about whatever they want but must try and attempt to use the rhetorical term for the day. Since some kids get overwhelmed by all the freedom, I usually also provide an optional writing prompt. I don't come up with the prompts myself; I usually take them from writing books I've collected over the years or writer'sdigest.com.
These are the prompt books that I have & use. They have some adult content so I usually choose a few prompts for the kids instead of handing them the whole book.
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Content/Main Lesson
I started this year with two Native American pieces and a Puritan text to cover "early America." Obviously, this is not an exhaustive study of early American texts.
The main goal of the unit it to start introducing kids to the rhetorical analysis essay, while touching on the other essay types.
For our first text, I used an oral myth from our new curriculum materials, "The World on Turtle's Back." If you haven't figured this out yet, I like packets!! So I made an analysis packet that we worked through during class. My AP packets usually consist of the passage and directions for annotating. For this story, I asked to students to summarize in their head as they were reading and to mark some of the literary devices that I had listed. Students needed about 25-40 minutes to read and annotate the passage.
Homework: Finish annotating "The World on Turtle's Back."
September 17/18, 2024
Grammar (5 minutes)
Review the basics of a noun.
Have students complete practice on NoRedInk.
Rhetorical Term
For today's rhetorical term, the students learned about alliteration. This one is pretty easy to get through since students have usually come across this term before. I just remind them not to overuse alliteration in their writing, as then it becomes sort of silly.
Writing Time
Write for 10 minutes on topic of your choice. Use alliteration at some point.
Optional Prompt:
Try to write a paragraph using words that only start with the first letters of your first, middle, and/or last names.
Text/Core Lesson
Today we continued with "The World on Turtle's Back." Since I haven't taught this class in 7 years, I had the kids read the text and then I tried to jump straight into analysis. But when I saw all of their confused faces, I realized I had jumped the gun and needed to go back and make sure they understood what they read. I quickly typed up some comprehension questions and put them in pairs to answer the questions. This took maybe 15-20 minutes for them to complete and then we took 10 minutes to go over it.
"World on Turtle's Back Comprehension Questions" (15-20 minutes)
Go over questions together as class (10 minutes)
The next part of the lesson takes 30-40 minutes and requires a NearPod account. We have Nearpod accounts via our school and I am not sure if you can access this Nearpod lesson since I made it with my school account. Basically, I reviewed the literary terms that I asked students to annotate for and then walked the students through some basic analysis.
"The World On Turtle's Back" Nearpod (30-40 minutes) (You need a free Nearpod account. If you have an account and can't get the presentation to work, please email me at EricaMargaret5@gmail.com so I can figure out how to post this lesson in a different way.)
September 19/20, 2024
Icebreaker:
If you have not finished this yet, have 5 more students share out their "Get to Know You" slide. My classes have 30 kids in them this year and then a bunch of kids got moved around and added late, so it actually took us a while to get through the slides.
Grammar
Continue reviewing parts of speech. Today we reviewed the basics of a verb.
Practice verb identification in NoRedInk.
Rhetorical Term
Today's rhetorical term is allusion.
Writing Time
Write for 10 minutes on a topic of your choice and attempt to include an allusion.
Optional Prompts: Finish this story… "I walked into the classroom and I couldn't believe my eyes…" or "Describe the unhealthiest meal you have ever eaten and how you felt afterwards…"
Text/Core Lesson
You may need to go back and finish the Nearpod lesson, but if you have finished that lesson, the last step is to have the students attempt their own analysis paragraph. On the handout, I make students copy my model analysis paragraph, but I skipped that this year since students seemed to be doing okay with the lesson. You can use or not use as needed. Then I had students choose a literary device from the story, fill in the graphic organizer, and then fill in the paragraph frame. (They could work with a partner if they wanted.)
I made the students a paragraph frame to use because this style of writing (literary analysis) is just hard to learn (and I like to avoid meltdowns by making sure I give students something they can tackle with their current skills). The paragraph frame worked well and students completed it with no problems. Some students didn't use the paragraph frame and just wrote the paragraph on looseleaf.
Students had to turn the paragraph frames into me when they were done. I read through the paragraph frames and put checkmarks next to good stuff and minus signs next to the areas that needed work; otherwise, I put this assignment in the grade book as a completion grade.
September 23/24, 2024
Icebreaker:
If you have not finished this yet, have 5 more students share out their "Get to Know You" slide. My classes have 30 kids in them this year and then a bunch of kids got moved around and added late, so it actually took us a while to get through the slides.
Grammar
Continue reviewing parts of speech. Today we reviewed the basics of an adjective.
Practice adjective identification in NoRedInk.
Rhetorical Term
Today's rhetorical term is anaphora. This is one of my favorite terms because it's fun to say and the technique pops up everywhere.
Writing Time
Write for 10 minutes on a topic of your choice and attempt to include an anaphora.
Optional Prompts: "Write about a fake psychic who has an actual vision of someone's future." (Writer'sDigest.com)
Text/Core Lesson
I didn't want to only study an oral myth and leave it at that for the Native American texts; I felt like I had to at least touch on the relationship between the American government and Native American tribes (shitty). Even though this is a very short text, it opens the door to a larger conversation that can be had about the treatment of Native Americans in the United States then and now.
Read and annotate Chief Joseph's "I Will Fight No More"
Homework: Read & annotate Chief Joseph's "I Will Fight No More"
September 25/26, 2024
Icebreaker
If you have not finished this yet, have 5 more students share out their "Get to Know You" slide.
Grammar
Continue reviewing parts of speech. Today we reviewed the basics of an adverb.
Practice adverb identification in NoRedInk.
Text/Core Lesson
Work in progress! Updated on Oct 17, 2024. Please check back as I add more.
September 27/30
October 1/2, 2024
October 4/7, 2024
October 8/9, 2024