Paraphrase

Since we will be doing more of this particular close-reading activity throughout the year, it was time to blog about it, as it has "success" written all over it...

This week, we read a NewYorkTimes article about the teenage brain to accompany Phineas Gage and get us ready for The Outsiders. We read it aloud first, discussed any questions students had, and then tried a couple of close-reading activities. One of the activities we completed was a seemingly simple paraphrase of one sentence. We took the following sentence:

     "These (studies) show that the brain systems providing for impulse control are still maturing during adolescence."

Students looked at this sentence for a minute, then they were asked to put this sentence into their own words.  After a few minutes, I collected a few samples, and put them on the board, under the original sentence.

One class looked like this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1                                             2                                              3                                         4

closest to the 

author's meaning

     "These (studies) show that the brain systems providing for impulse control are still maturing during adolescence."

A = During adolescence, your brain is still maturing and the way 
       you react during adolescence will not be the same reaction 
       as an adult.
B = During maturing of the brain, impulse control isn't developed.
C = Teens aren't fully developed when it comes to making social 
       decisions.
D = These studies show why teenagers are impulsive.

What did we do with these? Looking at one answer at a time, students took turns discussing where they would place it on the line and explain why. Students listened to each other, commented on each other's comments, along with adding their own, and we came up with a number range for each one that they were satisfied with. By the time we reached the fourth response, "D", students were demonstrating deep understanding of the original sentence. They knew which parts were the most important ("impulse control," and "still maturing during adolescence"), and they had strong discussions about the true meaning of the words "impulse" and "adolescence." Some expressed that their brains hurt when we were finished. Mission accomplished...



We did this as a class today, and will be doing this again as a class, in small groups, and students will also rate their own words on a similar scale.

This activity was adapted from Wireless Generation's lessons on The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. We use Wireless Generation / Writers' Express as a writing curriculum, which closely aligns with the Common Core Standards.

February

This week, we are transitioning from our nonfiction reading of Outliers, to responding to nonfiction using Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, by John Fleischman.

This book is the third book in the WEX curriculum, and yet we are not just writing in response to what we read, but we will continue to take notes in our reading journal AS we read, and also partake in close-reading activities that are in direct correlation to the Common Core Standards. This book will likely take us into the first week of March, as we dissect portions and really look closely at the author's choice of vocabulary, structure, and purpose.

This blog will not be updated until we transition out of Phineas Gage, but writing prompts and activities that can be completed at home will be posted on Edline. Be sure to check the Posterous page for activities that vary from our classroom "norm." Any questions? Please don't hesitate to ask!

A Short Week

Due to Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and a S.I.P. day (where LA teachers will be learning how to apply Common Core Standards to our WEX reading materials and "core" books), we have a very short week of school.

Wednesday we will start by re-fueling discussions about our passions, so students who need more guidance choosing a path for their independent projects can hopefully get their passions reignited. We will also continue with our projects and one-on-one conferences regarding individual goals. Thursday and Friday we will complete our close-reading of Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell. Grammar and Root Word study this week will be a review of what we've learned so far. (We hope to begin Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science next week.)

Outliers & a visitor!

Last week, and the week coming up, our LA classes are taking a glimpse into the book Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell. We are doing some close-reading exercises, which align with the Common Core State Standards, along with writing about what we read. Last week we read chapter one, and this coming week into next week, we'll be reading and responding to chapter two.

We will have a visitor on Tuesday, 1/15 - Miss Julie Jergens from AHML will be coming and giving book talks to our classes and Mr. Slowinski's classes! Miss Jergens could entice a BEAR to read the books of which she speaks!!

Other points of interest coming up... Our MAP LA test was on 1/11. This is used primarily as a screener for advanced LA. Our winter MAP Reading test will be on 1/17. This is used as a check-point. It is the shortened version of the full MAP test (only 20 questions), and is not one teachers tend to look at when we're looking at data points, as it is so short. Our full 40 question test will, again, be in the spring. Please note that LA teachers do not "teach to the test." This is just another number we can use when looking at the whole picture of your child's progress. In fact, Mrs. Bingaman let me know a few weeks ago, that the high schools in the area have found that test scores do not indicate success in high school - student grades do.

Two weeks of quality writing...

We are all sensing the vibrations coming off of each other in room 239. It seems as if winter break can't get here fast enough, but we really need to hold on! We have finished reading Out of the Dust, and we have begun the process of writing our final polished piece for response to fiction. We will be using all of our resources to get through - the marble behavior plan, examples of student writing, quotes from the book, the timeline of events from the novel on two walls, and our patience.

Schools Clipart.com

This week: All week - Grammar and root word warm-up exercises
                  Monday - Genius Hour (many new ideas brewing!)
                  Tues-Fri we'll be writing different parts of our polished piece!!
Next week: All week - Grammar and root word warm-up exercises
                  Monday - Genius Hour (Have you asked your child what he/she is learning?)
                  Tuesday & Wednesday - type and edit our polished piece
                  Thursday & Friday - watch the PBS special about the dust bowl
                  Saturday - time for family... Enjoy!

Classroom Conversations

We ended the week by having a classroom discussion - about whatever each class decided was important. Many topics were raised, and we started to come up with solutions - to behavior issues (talking over each other, following directions) and use of "special" chairs (such as yoga balls). We talked about some of it aloud, and we wrote some of our thoughts in blurbs on Today's Meet.

We will be addressing these issues more this coming week, while we realize that we still have many choices in this class. This class is run much like a democracy - where students have choice. When asked what choices do we have in this class, one student said the following:

I hope this transcends to Genius Hour on Monday. I hope more students will begin to see the value in choice of what they read. I have a feeling we'll be having some presentations soon that show what students have been researching... My next goal is for those to be inspirational to other students so we can continue this trend of learning what we choose to learn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So thankful...

   I am thankful for our 7th graders.

   I am thankful we take quality time with lessons.

   I am thankful we have students owning their own learning.

   I am thankful we are focused on learning, and not grades.

   I am thankful we have caring students in our midst.

After this week of Out of the Dust, reading about the sorrow in Billie Jo's life, I just wanted to say how thankful I am for what I have in my life. May you and your families have a beautiful Thanksgiving week. 

Maybe I'll see some of you at conferences!

          Sincerely,

                  Mrs. Kirr