Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wednesday, 8-31

After yesterday's lesson on ideas, I had several students indicate that they wanted to try revising for focused ideas on their own before they would feel comfortable that they could do it.  Therefore, we took today to have a writer's workshop before moving on to voice.  I wanted to have the opportunity to check in on everyone and see how they were revising their personal narrative. 

From what I have seen so far, the kids are doing very well.  They will be coming home tonight with the request that they clean up all of their revisions and write a second draft.  This draft should be revised for ideas and organization.  The students should also fill out a reflection sheet, indicating where they are so far with their learning and where they still need improvement. 

If you have any questions about this, please let me know.  Thank you for all of the support you are giving your students and our learning community.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Narrative Unit

The following information is from our narrative unit.  Students have been learning what a narrative is and the skills needed to write a personal narrative.  Highlighted items are the items we have already completed in class as of today 8/30/11. Students should all be able to demonstrate or explain what they have learned so far and how it is helping them write their personal narrative.

The timeline for completing this unit is a bit flexible due to some of the other business items that are dealt with at the beginning of the year. The tentative completion/due date for the summative assessment is September 8th, 2011.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact me.


Unit Plan: Narratives [pre-writing, organization and sequence*, revising for voice, commas, ideas]
Unit Assessments:
Pre-test: District Writing Prompt 1: District Writing Prompt #1

Think about the last time you attended a special event such as a concert, a fair, or a sports event. Describe what it was like to be there and include sights, sounds and smells that will make the reader feel he or she is there with you.

Unit Goals: Objective(s): The student will

GLE: W1A: Follow a writing process to
a. use appropriate prewriting strategies as needed
b. generate a draft
c. reread, revise for ideas and content, organization and word choice (refer to W2B, W2C, W2D)
d. edit for conventions (refer to W2E)
*e. share writing
a.) Students will write to a post-card, write a story developed from character traits, create a heart map, a nametag and a collage in order to generate ideas for writing a narrative. (done as getting to know you activities, homework and quick writes)

b.) Students will organize their story into a graphic organizer and then write a draft following this organization.
c.) Students will evaluate their own and a peer’s writing to improve in the areas of organization, ideas and voice in their writing.
d.) Students will evaluate their own and a peer’s writing to improve the use of commas in their writing.

W2B: Compose text with
a. strong, controlling idea
b. relevant, specific details
Students will evaluate three student generated paragraphs using the scoring guide and determine which one is the most focused and what sentences or ideas don’t belong.

W3A: Compose a variety of texts,
a. using narrative features

W2C: Compose text with
a. an effective beginning, middle, and end
b. a logical order
Students will generate a graphic organizer that a younger child could use to organize their writing into a narrative structure.

Students will sort a disassembled narrative into a logical order, explaining why they think it has an effective beginning, middle and end.
Students will select one of their three pre-writes to develop further and organize their own narrative within the graphic organizer.

W2D: Compose text using
a. precise and vivid language to show voice
Students will revise a draft to add precise and vivid language to show voice.

W2E: In written text
b. use commas and quotation marks in dialogue, and semi-colon in compound sentences
Students will edit a draft to ensure correct comma usage.

Summative: Post-test: Write and publish a narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
with 80% accuracy at the minimum.

Scoring Rubric:

Mastered:
Ideas
The writer tells about ONE interesting and unforgettable experience. The details make the story truly memorable and focused.

Voice
The voice in the narrative perfectly captures the special time or experience. The writer’s voice can be heard, creating interest in the story.

Commas
The narrative is error free or has a few minor errors in comma use.

Organization and sequencing
 The way the narrative is put together makes it enjoyable to read. Well organized with a clear beginning, middle and ending, transitions are used well.

Proficient:
Ideas
The writer mostly focuses on ONE interesting experience. More details are needed to make the narrative memorable and focused.

Voice
The writer’s voice could be stronger. A voice can sometimes be heard, the writer needs to show more feelings.

Commas
The narrative has some errors that may distract or confuse the reader.

Organization and sequencing

The narrative is well organized, with a few sequences that need to be corrected. Most of the transitions are helpful but more transitions need to be used.


Developing:
Ideas
The writer needs to focus on one experience. There are not enough details or the details are unrelated to the main event.

Voice
The writer has rarely expressed a personal connection to the story.

Commas
Many errors make the narrative truly confusing and hard to read.

Organization and sequencing

The beginning, middle and ending all run together. The order is unclear.

Beginning:
Ideas
The writer needs to tell about an experience and use details.

Voice
The voice cannot be heard.

Commas
The writer has not yet considered using commas.

Organization and sequencing

The narrative needs to be organized.




Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Off to a Great Start

We have finished our PBIS activities that reviewed our Panther Paw Laws (Safe, Responsible, Respectful and Positive).  This has allowed us all to develop a common language of expectations and behaviors at North Middle.  Today we began getting into the Communication Skills Curriculum beginning with pre-writing.  Students have begun their writer's notebooks and should have one entry at least.  If your child does not yet have a composition notebook or a spiral notebook exclusively for my class, they will need that as soon as possible. 

As we are beginning our pre-writing activities, students have been asked to create a collage at home tonight.  This collage should include images that represent who the student is.  These can be printed, drawn, cut and pasted from magazines or stickers.  They should be no bigger than 8 1/2 by 11.  Once the student has chosen their collage images, they should explain, in writing, why they chose each image.  These are due tomorrow, 8/18/11. 

In class today we practiced this activity a bit by making name tags.  However, we did not get a chance to finish these.  Students were given a choice, they could do double homework and finish these at home, or they could finish them in lieu of their quick write tomorrow.  For those who chose the double homework, here is the link to the directions and scoring guide:  https://acrobat.com/#d=ektP6Spoqmbx0*jS5d3-aA 

All of my students seem to be adjusting well to seventh grade.  Not too many locker issues and all of them getting to class in plenty of time!  I am very impressed with them all and am looking forward to a fantastic year.

REMINDERS:

Book Fair Tomorrow
We are beginning our unit on narratives and kids will be writing their first piece before Labor Day.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Welcome Back

I had a wonderfully relaxing summer.  Did some travelling, studying, reading and lots of writing.  I am very excited to get back in the classroom though.  This year, I have been given the opportunity to participate in a study conducted by our own Mr. Wren.  I will be teaching one class of all girls, one of all boys and one class that is mixed.  We will be observing the differences in their learning styles and providing lessons that will fit those styles.  This is a very exciting opportunity for both me and the students.  Stay tuned for updates and articles relating to this adventure.

Students this year will again be utilizing blogs as a way to share their growth and showcase their writing talent.  If your child does not already have an e-mail address they will be needing one this year in order to create the account on Blogger.  If you  and your child would like to make their blog over the next week please feel free to do so.  We will have a day that we make them in class, but this day is generally hectic, so making the blog at home may be easier.  To make the blog, students need to go to Blogger.com and follow the direction for making a new blog.  If they make it early, I would appreciate and email that tells me the blog address so I can attach it to my blog.  This way all students will be represented on this blog.

Our first unit of study will be personal narratives.  Students will choose one event in their life and create an organized story, focusing on their word choice, voice and comma usage.  A scoring guide will be attached in a future post about this assignment.  Be sure to take some time to read the page about me and the page about this class (Welcome Letter).  If you have questions about any of the things we are doing in class, please ask.  You can e-mail me at cbenson@hazelwoodschools.org or comment on the blog. 

I look forward to working with your family this year as we support your child on their journey.

Mrs. Christine Benson
7th Grade Communication Arts
Hazelwood North Middle

Friday, April 15, 2011

Paul Harris Online: 30 Books Every Kid Should Read Before Graduating High School

I was attempting to work on a summer reading list for my students and I came across this blog post.  These are classic books and authors that are referred to often in text books, college, movies and on standardized tests.  Even if the work itself is not referred to, the vocabulary found in these books most definitely will be needed as the kids progress their education.  I will still continue my search for a summer reading list, more specific to middle school, but this information seemed too important to pass up.  Mrs. Benson

Paul Harris Online: 30 Books Every Kid Should Read Before Graduating H...: This list was inspired by a story about a high school teacher in Virginia who says that she doesn't have her students read "Catcher In The Rye" anymore, because she doesn't think it is relevant to their lives. I couldn't disagree more. It is the teacher's job to get the kids to relate to a great story. You don't have to have grown up on the Mississippi River to enjoy and learn from "Huck Finn," do you? Of course not. Here then, is a list of 30 classics that should be must-read for every American kid:


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Alice In Wonderland

All Quiet On The Western Front

Black Like Me

Brave New World

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Catcher In The Rye

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Diary of Anne Frank

Fahrenheit 451

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

Gulliver’s Travels

The Hobbitt

Little Women

Lord Of The Flies

Lord Of The Rings

Moby Dick

Old Man & The Sea

Old Yeller

Oliver Twist

Pride & Prejudice

Robinson Crusoe

Romeo & Juliet

Roots

Tale Of Two Cities

To Kill A Mockingbird

Treasure Island

The Yearling



Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Multi-Genre Book Analysis


The kids have been reading whatever they wish all year and their only accountability has been recording their pages read.  In class, we have been studying the elements that make up all pieces of literature and we have been responding to those elements.  Did you know that every novel has multiple conflicts and it is through those conflicts we learn lessons that are called themes?  The kids have learned this and have practiced how to explain the conflicts in writing and express what themes were learned from them.  Did you also know that the words an author chooses, creates the mood of the book (or at least for a certain part of a book)?  In class, we went through poems and noted the moods we felt.  We then indicated what words gave us those feelings.  This process helped us decide what the poem meant and how the poet felt about that topic.  Point of view, flashback and plot structure were also studied as well.

Students have been asked to demonstrate their understanding of these elements through a project.  Students are to generate five texts, each one representing a different part of their book (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution).  they should partner each of the stages of plot with one of the elements we have studied in order to show they understand how the author has used them.

There are examples of these on the left hand side of the blog under Tom Romano, Multi-Genre.  There is a great deal of info there to go through and the samples take forever to load, but it is helpful to check it out. 

Projects are due on March 31st and can be turned in on the blog, through e-mail or in class.  Below is a link with directions and a scoring guide.


Multi-Genre book Project Scoring guide

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Reading Update

The kids have been challenged to beat me at pages read.  As of now, I have read approximately 2200 pages.  I am sharing book trailers with the kids of the books I am reading, so they have an idea of the variety of books that are out there.  Here are some of the trailers we have seen so far.  The first one is from the Book Thief.  This is an excellent book about how reading helps us escape our struggles and survive hard times.  It is set in World War II Germany and is told in 3rd person omniscient from the point of view of Death.  The first few chapters can be a bit confusing at first, so give yourself some time to start the book.  After that, it is a great read.  The second video is the Official movie trailer for The Book Thief.

The last book trailer is from Fallen by Lauren Kate.  This book is another love triangle style book that fits the Twilight formula and the first in a series of four.  I did not particularly like the writing style of this author, as I felt she skipped big chunks of time.  Overall though it is a good story.  The main character, Luce, has been sentenced to reform school after being suspected in a suspicious fire that resulted in the death of a friend.  At reform school, she meets several fellow students and connects with them quickly since they are all there due to some sort of injustice.  In fact, she feels a very strong connection to Daniel who regards her in very confusing ways.  At times he seems repulsed by her and tries to keep a distance and at others he is very kind and tender, as if they have known each other for a long time.  The problems begin when Cam, another boy at the school gives her a necklace and asks her out time and again.  Which boy will she choose?  Will she ever escape the shadows that haunt her?  Will the mysterious behaviors Luce keeps observing ever be explained?  Not until a long battle rooted in history can be fought.

Followers