Wednesday, September 29, Day 17

TODAY’S AGENDA

Double Period

One cracker for a small snack

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE

NOTEBOOKS READY??

Teacher Assistant:

90 seconds for book talk, vocab

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT 

Special treatment for our visitors

SLIDE SHOW? SCHOOLTUBE?

Reminder about jobs

JOKES

Go over any homework due today

 Reminder about SLANTS

SKIT??

Poem of the week

TODAY’S LESSONS:

Lesson #1: 

Serious Listening in a Socratic Seminar 

Think about that person in your life 

who really listens 

when you talk to him or her.

Try to be like that person

in our seminar this morning.

Be especially careful to track the speaker. 

See if you can turn your eyes 

to each speaker.

How Did We Do?

 *******************************

LESSON #2: 

Circling unfamiliar words 

and 

making personal connections 

As you read today, 

try to circle one unfamiliar word

on each page,

and try to make a personal connection

with what is happening 

in the story. 

Does it remind you of something in your own life --

something that happened to you, 

or in a movie,

or on another book?

* In notebooks,

write covered topics in margin.

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant stands and says:

"Rise, push in chairs, and leave quietly with thanks."

Tuesday, September 28, Day 16

TODAY’S AGENDA

One cracker for a small snack

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE

NOTEBOOKS READY??

Teacher Assistant:

90 seconds for book talk, vocab

Special treatment for our visitors

SLIDE SHOW? SCHOOLTUBE?

Teacher’s Mailbox

Reminder about jobs

Return any papers

JOKES

Go over any homework due today

 Reminder about SLANTS

SKIT??

Poem of the week?

 

TODAY'S LESSON

A Review of Themes and Motifs 

 

Was there a motif in your weekend -- 

an occurrence or a place or an object or an activity

that seemed to be come back again and again?

How about a theme --

a quality like courage or boredom or friendship or fear?

The difference between a motif and a theme:

Well, the difference is slight, 

since both motifs and themes 

are patterns, or threads, 

that run through a story or poem. 

I would say a motif is more like an object or occurrence or activity,

whereas a theme is more like an idea or quality.

Let’s Practice It

Let's read TKAM to p. ___, making annotations

and then sticky notes on p. 54. 

Let's look for motifs and/or themes,

and add them to the list in the back of our book. 

How Did We Do?

Monday, September 27, Day 15

TODAY’S AGENDA

One cracker for a small snack

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE

NOTEBOOKS READY??

Teacher’s Mailbox

Teacher Assistant:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

Reminder about jobs

Return any papers

JOKES

Go over any homework due today

 Reminder about SLANTS

SKIT with Jenn, Kiona, and Andrew 

(Don't let me forget!)

TODAY’S LESSON:

Using Bell Words and Echoes

Have you ever heard really good echoes -- 

maybe in the mountains, or in huge church?

How would we use bells and echoes in writing?

Have you learned something like this in other classes?

Click HERE for a good explanation 

of bell words and echoes in writing.

Click HERE to study Anna Holt's  use of bell words and echoes

in one of her brilliant essays.

Make sure your polished essay tonight

makes good use of bell words and echoes.

* In notebooks,

write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tomorrow: 

Check the new "Homework Assignments" link

on the right sidebar of this page.  

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant stands and says:

"Rise, push in chairs, and leave quietly with thanks."

Thursday, Sept. 23, Day 13

TODAY’S AGENDA

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE

Each moment is what it is ... so we might as well not fight with it. 

Teacher Assistant:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

Reminder about jobs

Return any papers

JOKES

Go over any homework due today

CHECK OUT SOME READING BLOGS
Please set up your reading blog
so the date appears on each post. 
To do this, 
on your home page click "Design" (upper right), 
then click "Blog posts", 
then put a check mark next to the date.

SKIT by 

Andrew, Kiona, and Jenn

TODAY’S LESSON:

MORE ON ANNOTATING

Let’s Practice It:

Silent reading with annotations

How Did We Do?

* In notebooks,

write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tomorrow:

Make comments on your partners' blogs tonight.

I will grade the comments tomorrow morning.

When you comment on a classmate's draft, you should

write three careful sentences:

One specific compliment (something you like about the writing),

and two specific suggestions (how they could improve the writing)

Post the comments at the bottom of their blog

by clicking "comments" and then entering your comment in the box. 

A good way to do it is to copy a sentence or part of a sentence, 

paste it in the comment box, and then comment on it.

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant stands and says:

"Rise, push in chairs, and leave quietly with thanks."

Wednesday, September 22, Day 12

TODAY’S AGENDA

DOUBLE PERIOD

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE:

Be like a mountain

Teacher Assistant:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

Reminder about jobs

Return any papers

JOKES

Go over any homework due today

 Reminder about SLANTS

Poem of the week:

MEMORIZE BY MONDAY

Today’s Lessons:

Period #1

 WRITING AN EXCELLENT CONCLUDING SENTENCE

LET’S TRY TO MAKE THIS EXCITING!

If you go to the movies with your boyfriend or girlfriend, wouldn’t you want your last words to be very special?

WHAT ARE WE HOPING TO DO?

Learn about the importance of an exciting concluding sentence (CS)

HAVE YOU LEARNED SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE?

HERE’S EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE GOING TO LEARN

1. Try to make your CS the most interesting sentence

in the paragraph.

2. Of course, it should somehow tie in with the topic sentence,

but it should not simply repeat it.

3. Make the reader say, “Wow! What a cool way to end!”

LET’S PRACTICE IT

 Let's look at a fine example by Simone.

Click here.

HOW DID WE DO?
Do you think you're ready to write an exciting CS tonight?

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant stands and says:

"Let's take a break. Please rise, 

push in chairs, 

and leave quietly with thanks."

Today’s Lesson:

 Period 2

Annotating a Book

LET’S TRY TO MAKE THIS EXCITING!

 Have you ever taken photos on a trip or vacation?

Why?

WHAT ARE WE HOPING TO DO?

 We want to learn some simple ways to do careful annotations in a book.

HAVE YOU LEARNED SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE?

Have you annotated books before?

HERE’S EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE GOING TO LEARN

HOW TO ANNOTATE

1. As you read, make at least one annotation on each page. It could be a star in the margin, or an exclamation point, or a question mark, or a highlighted sentence. 
Be sure to be ready to discuss each page's annotation 
the next day in class.

2. At the end of the assigned reading, write three sticky notes:
* a summary of the reading
* your reflection on the reading (see bookmark for prompts) 

* your favorite sentence

MAKE SURE YOUR ANNOTATIONS ARE DONE 

NEATLY AND CAREFULLY. 

I WILL LOOK AT THEM THE NEXT DAY IN CLASS.

20 MINUTES OF SILENT READING IN TKAM
FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSION

* In notebooks,

write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tomorrow: 

 1) Write the body paragraph of a 3-paragraph essay on this topic: 

"A Strange Person".

This could be a person you know, 

or someone from a movie or book.

In your three chunks, try to describe

three different aspects

of this person's strangeness. 

You might look up some synonyms for "strange"

and use a few of them in the paragraph,

just to keep the reader focused on the main idea. 

IMPORTANT: 

MAKE THE CONCLUDING SENTENCE 

THE MOST INTERESTING ONE IN THE PARAGRAPH.

Post the carefully written paragraph (11-sentence recipe)

on your blog before you go to bed tonight. 

I will check them tomorrow morning before school. 

2) Study poem for memorization due Monday. 

 

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant stands and says:

"Please rise, push in chairs, and leave quietly with thanks."

 

Monday, September 20, Day 10

TODAY’S AGENDA

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE:
Be a Nutty Kid

Teacher Assistant:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

 Reminder about jobs

SCHOOL TUBE AND SLIDESHOW


REMINDER ABOUT READING BLOGS:

Post two comments about your book each week,

one by Monday night, and one by Thursday night.
The comments should be at least three sentences long, 
and should include the title of the book, 
the pages you read, 
and a brief summary of what happened. 
This much will earn you a B for personal reading. 
In order to get an A, you would have to write 
more than three sentences, 
and put up at least three different posts each week.  

Return any papers

 Reminder about SLANTS

SCREENCAST: 

MR.SALSICH WRITING --

"Constructing a Chunk with Unity and Rhythm"

Today’s Lesson:

THE RUBRICS

Objective of the lesson: 

to introduce you to the standards 
by which your formal writing will be graded.

Did you use rubrics last year? Do you remember what they were?

Click HERE to see our rubrics. 
You can also access this from
"Rubrics for Formal Essays" 
under 
"Important Links" on our home page.

* In notebooks,

write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tonight: 
1) Post another comment on your reading blog tonight. Now you should have at least two posts on the blog. 
2)Polish your body paragraph according to your partners' comments, 
add an opening and closing paragraph, 
add a self-assessment at the end of the essay, 
and, 
using a proper heading (first name, course, date, title and subtitle), 
post the draft for grading on your blog tonight. 
I will check them tomorrow morning.



The self-assessment should cover these topics:

1. One writing issue I am continuing to work on

2. One strong point I see in this piece of writing

3. One possible weak point I see

4. The grade I would give myself

NO HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY NIGHT.  

CHILL AND BE PEACEFUL.

When all is quiet, Teacher Assistant says:

"Rise, push in chairs, exit quietly with thanks."

Thursday, September 16, Day 8

TODAY’S AGENDA

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE:

Be Like a River

* TA:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

* Reminder about jobs

* Reminder about SLANTS

* CHECK LINK FOR PARAGRAPH RECIPE, OR FORMULA, 
IN YESTERDAY'S LESSON, BELOW.

Today’s Lesson:

Commenting on Your Classmates' First Drafts

Gain attention

Let's look at a few comments from last year's 8th grade

Inform learners of objectives

-- to clearly understand what you should do when commenting on a friend's first draft

Stimulate recall of prior learning

Have you done this kind of helpful commenting on other kids' writing in the past?

Present the content

When you comment on a classmate's draft, you should

write three careful sentences:

One specific compliment (something you like about the writing),

and two specific suggestions (how they could improve the writing)

Post the comments at the bottom of their blog

by clicking "comments" and then entering your comment in the box. 

A good way to do it is to copy a sentence or part of a sentence, 

paste it in the comment box, and then comment on it.

Feedback

Any questions??

* In notebooks, write covered topics in margin.

Assignment due tonight: 

1) Make a comment on both of your partners' first drafts. 

Post the comment tonight, 

and I will grade them tomorrow morning. 
2) Do 15 minutes of careful freestyle writing, and post on your blog tonight. 
BE SURE PUNCTUATION IS COMPLETELY CORRECT. 

 

TA:

Rise, push in chairs, exit quietly with thanks

Wednesday, September 15, Day 7

TODAY’S AGENDA

Double Period

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT ON PEACE:

There is a river ...

* TA:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

OPEN NOTE QUIZ 

* Reminder about jobs

* Return any papers

* Go over any homework due today

* Reminder about SLANTS

* Poem of the week?

Today’s 1st Lesson:

The Paragraph Recipe

Gain attention

Did anyone cook something this summer using a recipe?

Inform learners of objectives

to learn the steps in a good writing recipe

Stimulate recall of prior learning

What recipe did you use last year?

Present the content

Click HERE 

for a complete explanation of the 11-sentence recipe.

Click here to see Hannah Long's essay

using the 11- sentence recipe. 

Practice)

Try writing a single chunk, using this SD:

"Yesterday was a rather __________ day."

* In notebooks, write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tomorrow: 

Write the body paragraph for your first essay of the year.

Topic: Describe a song or a movie 

that somehow expresses your feelings

about the end of summer

and returning to school.

* The final essay will have three paragraphs, 

including the body paragraph you will write tonight. 

*The body paragraph should use the 11-sentence recipe,

and sentences should be labeled (TS,SD,CM,CS). 

*Post the body paragraph on your blog tonight.

I will look for it tomorrow morning.  

TA:

Rise, push in chairs, exit quietly with thanks

Today’s 2nd Lesson:

The Serious Reader's Bookmark

Gain attention

How many of you consider yourselves "serious" readers?   

Inform learners of objectives

-- to understand the qualities of a really serious reader

Stimulate recall of prior learning

Did you do "serious reading" last year?

Present the content

Pass out the book marks and carefully examine,

and then pass out TKAM

Elicit performance (practice)

Read aloud from TKAM, and ask students to visualize and memorize

In notebooks, write covered topics in the margin.

TA: Rise, push in your chairs, and leave quietly.

Tuesday, September 14, Day 5

TODAY’S AGENDA

ONE-MINUTE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

* TA:

seating, book talk, vocab, prefixes and suffixes

 

* Reminder about jobs

* PASS AROUND SHEET FOR EMAILS (PARENTS AND KIDS)

FACEBOOK GROUP

* Return any papers

* Go over any homework due today

 

* REMEMBER TO USE PROPER PUNCTUATION 

IN FREESTYLE WRITINGS

* Reminder about SLANTS

* Poem of the week?

Today’s Lesson:

Extendend Metaphors and Unity in Writing

(using Jordan's and Jenn's freestyle writing)

  * Gain attention

Where's the metaphor in Jordan's writing? 

* Inform learners of objectives:

--to learn how to use extended metaphors (analogies) in writing, and to understand the importance of unity

* Stimulate recall of prior learning:

What did Dr. Smith say about metaphors and unity?

* Present the content

* Elicit performance (practice):

Try writing a 3-sentence extended metaphor comparing going back to school to something.

* Provide feedback

* Assess performance

 * In notebooks, write covered topics in margin.

Assignment for tomorrow: 

1) Polish FSW and send it to me (hesalsich@gmail.com) 

by email attachment 

tonight. 

2) Post an entry on your reader's blog by tonight. (Review the assignment in the Lesson for last Wednesday, September 8) 

  

* TA:

Rise, push in chairs, exit quietly with thanks