Courage...

We finally got the #ENGRoom121 Courage wall up.  A big shout-out to our 9th-grade student aide, Alejandro S. for creating our wall.  The students were charged with the assignment to complete the following sentence... "If I wasn't afraid, I would...".  They were then asked to either draw an original picture representing what they would do if they weren't afraid or to color a picture of the cowardly lion.  Take a moment to see how some of the #ENGRoom121 students finished the above sentence.  How would you complete it?  Share your thoughts on Twitter using #ENGRoom121Courage or comment on this blog post in the comments section.  Your thoughts (no names or Twitter handles) will be shared with the students.

#ENGRoom121 Courage Wall

#ENGRoom121 Courage Wall 

Some honest sentence completion statements were shared.  Please take the time to read them.

                                       

In preparation for next week's Day of Redemption - "Perfect" Paragraph Assessment please have your student review the below videos about simple, compound, and complex sentences and how to write them. These videos will help them be even more successful on their redemption paragraph.

The Quiet Creative talks about sentences

Kahn Academy talks about sentences

Shmoop talks about sentences

Here's a look at the return week (2/13 - 2/17):

1. Introduce iRACE ... a writing process for responding to extended response questions (Monday, 2/13)

2. Decide on supporting details for our eBook chapter introductions (Tuesday, 2/14)

3. Day of Redemption - "Perfect" Paragraph Assessment - Planning Day (Wednesday, 2/15)

4.  Day of Redemption - "Perfect" Paragraph Assessment - Final Copy Day (Thursday, 2/16)


Vocabulary to know for the upcoming week (2/13 - 2/17):

NONE

Understanding When More Time and Teaching are Needed

On Thursday, January 26th and Friday, January 27th, students were given the below assessment.

3rd Quarter “Red Bandana”Assessment/Assignment

Writing for a Purpose and Getting Real World Feedback

“Perfect” Paragraph Assessment Dates - Thursday, January 26th & Friday, January 27th

Dear Students, Your final “Red Bandana” assignment for the school year is going to serve three purposes (please see below). It will be a 3rd quarter “Perfect” Paragraph assessment where we revisit the guidelines for writing a "perfect" paragraph from the first semester. You will be responsible for composing a topic sentence, body, and closing statement for your paragraph. Each “perfect” paragraph will be graded for a preliminary assessment grade. You will have an opportunity to correct mistakes and add to your paragraph for additional assessment points. Once you submit a second time, all paragraphs will be judged, and the top three will be pulled out. The three finalists will have an opportunity to make one more round of improvements and submit before WORLD WIDE judging begins. Each “Red Bandana” Finalist will have his/her paragraph anonymously posted online for people to comment on the writing and vote for the best-written paragraph. The paragraph that receives the most votes will be the final recipient of the “red bandana” award and be featured in our eBook on the dedication page, or introduction page for each chapter depending on what assignment your class receives.

All assessments were graded, and in our bi-weekly conference each student was met with, and thoughts were shared about what they did well with their paragraphs and what needs improvements.  Each student was told what was missing in certain sentences and what needed to be improved upon to meet the requirements of each type of sentence in writing.  While grading, it was discovered that we have a little more work to do to make sure our "perfect paragraphs" read like introductions to chapters, instead of just a piece of information. We will work on that in the coming week, as well as review the types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex).  On Wednesday, February 15th and Thursday, February 16th students will get a Day of Redemption and get to retake and/or improve on this assessment.  We have to remember that writing is a process and should never be looked at as a "one and done" type of thing.  For real learning to take place we must revisit and revise not once or twice, but multiple times.  This has been the philosophy in #ENGRoom121 all year long.  Please be patient with this process and your students learning.  

Please take a look at the below calendar of events for next week.  

Here's a look at the return week (2/6 - 2/10):

1. Go over Woolly Mammoth annotations (Monday, 2/6)

2. Receive, Annotate, and Share Annotations for 1st Paired Text Article (Tuesday, 2/7 & Wednesday, 2/8)

3. Receive and Complete 1st Paired Text Article Questions (Thursday, 2/9)

4.  Assessment on the 8th grade Vocabulary terms and Daily Grammar Practice (Friday, 2/10)


Vocabulary to know for the upcoming week (2/6 - 2/10):

8th grade Vocabulary List (see Google Classroom or follow this link to study - http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-2207574)