Week 8: February 25 - March 1

Welcome to Week 8.  This week, like last week, we will complete our bell ringer exercise and then move directly into the vocabulary exercise each day.  See below for the information on these daily exercises.

MONDAY: Today we began our study of Lesson 9: Persuasion Techniques.  We read through the first 2 pages in this lesson today.  In the lesson, we encountered our next two vocabulary words.

subtle: not obvious, slight

propaganda: persuasion that is systematic and organized to bring about a change in a group of people

In the first two pages of this lesson, we also learned about three types of persuasion techniques:

1. Ethos: appeal to a person's character, sense of authority, or trustworthiness
2. Logos: appeal to the use of logic
3. Pathos: appeal to one's emotions

To introduce this topic, I showed the following short video:  An Introduction to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

Homework assignment: Create a graphic organizer of the 3 types of persuasion.

TUESDAY:  After completing the bell ringer and the vocabulary exercise, I walked by to take a look at each student's graphic organizer that was due today.  Next, we worked together to demonstrate how to make a simple web from the information that we discussed yesterday.  Then, we jumped right back into Lesson 9 and read about three different techniques which each represent a form of pathos persuasion. 

Finally, I drew the beginnings of a web diagram to help the students with their homework assignment.

Homework:  Finish reading Lesson 9 and create a WEB of the entire Lesson 9 by finishing what I started:

WEDNESDAY:  Today we discussed the students' graphic organizers and how they decided to divide Lesson 9 in a way that makes logical sense to them.  With the help of some students' input, I showed the students what the first half of their graphic organizer should look like.  Equipped with this knowledge, the students were told to redo the second half of their graphic organizer so that it followed the same pattern as what we discussed for the first half.  As well, we delved deeper into the contents of Lesson 9 by discussing 6 types of rhetorical devices.  

At the end of class, the students were shown how to set up (see below) their homework assignment, which is to write down at least 1 UNIQUE example of each of the 6 rhetorical devices mentioned in the lesson WITHOUT using the examples provided either in the lesson or discussed in class.

THURSDAY:  Today I did a quick homework check of last night's homework.  Those who had completed the homework were then sent to the tables in the back of the room to work in a group and share their responses, choose the "best one" from each category and write it on a piece of paper.  One member of the group then shared their group's "best" choices with the class.  Those who had not completed the homework were required to sit quietly and complete the homework.  Afterwards, those students also listened to the results of the groups that were being shared with the class.  

Finally, we worked together as a class to finish the graphic organizer for Lesson 9.  All students were required to make sure that their graphic organizer was "correct" before tomorrow's class and bring it back to class corrected.

FRIDAY:  After completing today's bell ringer exercise, the students graded another student's vocabulary exercises for this week.  I asked them to do this grading primarily to make sure that each student is fully aware of my expectations for these exercises. 

Then, we finished our study of Lesson 9: Persuasion Techniques by applying our knowledge of the 7 persuasive techniques used in advertising to actual television advertisements.  The students created a chart and then used their chart to help them identify which of the 7 techniques were present in each of the advertisements they viewed.

This week's Vocabulary Exercises:

Monday:  1. inference + mistake
                2. viable + problem

Tuesday:  1. advocate + lunchroom
                 2. trivia + pizza

Wednesday:  1. foreseeable + mother
                      2. proliferation + copy machine

Thursday: 1. substantiate + opinion
                  2. subtle + propaganda

Friday: We graded the Vocabulary Exercises in class today.


This week's Bell Ringer exercises:

MONDAY: Correct the grammar.
a. mother she have not read easy cooking a Magazine article
b. one of the cats are washing it's fur

TUESDAY:  Correct the grammar.
a. i have laid their in the hammock many times to
b. im righting a letter to history today my favorite magazine

WEDNESDAY:  Correct the grammar.
a. after us have left their we will do the following get a map eat lunch and explore the city
b. its much easier to carry the smallest of the too boxes

THURSDAY:  Correct the grammar
a. she pointed out by the way that he had already shook the container of orange Juice
b. in portland oregon we stayed at the blue spruce hotel

FRIDAY:  Correct the grammar.
a. i am bringing my to brothers old clothes to the international agency for the poor
b. the burglar would of stole the bike if i hadnt been sitting on the porch

Week 7: February 19 - 22

Welcome to Week 7, another shortened week of school. This week, school begins on Tuesday.

TUESDAY:  Lots of activity took place today.
1. I collected last week's bell ringers assignment.
2. We used a socratic style discussion to go over the students' homework assignment, writing 13 vocabulary sentences.
3. We began our first day of "Vocabulary Exercises" which required the students to write down a combination of two words (one of which was a vocabulary word) and then write a complete sentences using both of those words in their sentence.  The words for today were as follows:

        a. metacognition + brain
        b. sound + teacher

4. Finally, I introduced the students to Mel Robbins' 5 Second Rule.  To elaborate on my explanation of this concept, I showed the students the following video:  The 5 Second Rule
After a discussion, the students wrote down the following information to help them explain this rule to their parent.

HOMEWORK:  Discuss the 5 Second Rule with at least one of your parents and then get your parent to (a) PRINT their name and then (b) PLACE THEIR SIGNATURE on the paper that you copied down from the whiteboard.

WEDNESDAY:  I began today by collecting last night's "5 Second Rule" homework assignment.
Then, we moved into deep breathing followed by the bell ringer.
Next, the students completed the following VOCABULARY EXERCISE based on yesterday's instructions:

       a. infer + radio
       b. insoluble + math

For the remainder of the class period, the students and I began delving into the contents of Lesson 8: Evaluating Facts.

HOMEWORK:  Finish reading Lesson 8 and create an outline of Lesson 8.

THURSDAY:  Today was another busy day.  After the bell ringer, I gave the students the following 2 sets of words for their daily VOCABULARY EXERCISE, and then gave them one minute within which to write a sentence for each set of words:

1. impediment + mouse
2. alleviate + brother

Next, the students worked in groups of 4 people to re-create the Lesson 8 outline.  Their work was due at the end of the class period.

FRIDAY:  To close out this week, we did some peer grading to help the students understand my expectations for their work.  First, I had the students grade another student's vocabulary exercises for this week, looking for missing items, misspellings, and grammatically incorrect sentence structure.  Next, each student graded another student's Lesson 8 outline.  Afterwards, I collected the Lesson 8 outlines and will review the student corrections and then input a final grade for this assignment for each student.  Other than reviewing the vocabulary words and class notes, no additional homework was assigned for this weekend (other than asking your parents if they are willing to donate any boxes of Kleenex to my classroom since I have run out).  

This week's BELL RINGERS:

TUESDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. this here dog brang a old shoe to my aunts door
2. that map however shows only pudding lane

WEDNESDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. by this evening i will have brung all of the cardboard ribbon and paint to your apartment
2. the pond in front of the allerton canning company has froze

THURSDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. them boys went to the record store to buy a copy of sound of drums a song they had heard on television
2. we can climb up to the Tower or we can hike to the lake

FRIDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. right your name at the top of the page he said and put your title on the first line
2. when is your club having its bake sale asked keiko

Week 6: February 11 - 14

This week is a shortened week, and the students will have school on Monday - Thursday only.

To start off this week, I distributed Lesson 6: TROUBLESHOOTING to the students and we began reading aloud, annotating, and working through a couple of the practice problems.  In this lesson, the students are learning about the difference between foreseeable problems and unexpected problems.  The word "foreseeable" was added to our vocabulary list.  The lesson focuses on how to troubleshoot foreseeable problems in order to either prevent them from happening in the first place or be prepared to solve them if and when they occur.
The homework for today is to finish reading and annotation Lesson 6 and begin thinking about how to create an outline of the information presented in this lesson.

TUESDAY:  Today the students worked with their "elbow partner" to brainstorm and create an outline of Lesson 6.  I provided the students with "hints" throughout this process.  The final "hint" was the structure of the outline (see below).  Afterwards, I walked them through a troubleshooting scenario (see pg. 55 of Lesson 6), and then instructed them to complete Practice #3 on the back side of their outline for homework.

Lesson 6:  Troubleshooting

Purpose:  

I. 
     A.
     B.
II.
     A.
     B.
     C.

HOMEWORK:  Complete the Lesson 6 outline and Practice Problem #3 (all on the same piece of paper).

WEDNESDAY: After completing today's bell ringer assignment, the students discussed their responses to the homework assignment.  After the discussion, I collected the homework assignment. 
Next, I passed out Lesson 7 and informed the students of today's homework.
HOMEWORK:  Read and annotate Lesson 7,  and then complete an outline of Lesson 7.

THURSDAY: With the help of a student who wrote their own outline on the board, along with my verbal guidance, the students and I discussed how to accurately create the outline for Lesson 7 (see below).  I guided them through a step-by-step process that they should follow when creating any outline of a lesson.  While working through this process, we also came up with 2 new vocabulary words to be added to our list:

#12. proliferation: rapid increase in number
#13. substantiate: provide evidence to support or prove

Lesson 7: Finding Resources

Purpose: To discover the best ways to find the information you need to find solutions to problems.

I.   The Internet
     A. There are three basic investigative methods
          1. Use search engines
          2. Use subject directories
          3. Go directly to the site with the pertinent information
     B. Roadblocks to internet resources
          1. The proliferation of poorly researched or knowingly false data
          2. Be suspicious, and substantiate the information you find
II.  The Library
      A. Librarians
      B. Non-searchable print
      C. Reliability of information
      D. Find non-historical or very current information (very old or very new info.)
      E. Often the price is free!
III. Expert Opinions
      A. Benefit: saves time!
      B. Be sure to check credentials

Homework:  For each vocabulary word, write a complete sentence that uses that vocabulary word and demonstrates an understanding of the meaning of that vocabulary word.

FRIDAY: NO SCHOOL!!

THIS WEEK'S BELL RINGERS:

MONDAY:  Correct the grammar.
1. our club has chose renalda and i as guides
2. we shined the flashlight into the cave but we couldn't see anything

TUESDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. there taking mrs alvarez theyre friend to joshua tree national park
2. theres three fish in this here pond

WEDNESDAY:  Correct the grammar.
dear mr quinn
the acorn quest a novel has been sent to you it is a complimentary copy
sincerely
e. kato

THURSDAY: Correct the grammar.
1. the sunday School teacher learned us to respect people with different beliefs
2. mom glanced at me and remarked dont believe everything you read

Week 5: February 4 - 8

MONDAY:  After completing today's bell ringer assignment, I led the students through the process of grading another student's homework assignment.  Through this process, the students are getting reinforcement of the learning that should have taken place already.  Next, I led the students through the process of now "applying" (3rd level on Bloom's taxonomy) what they should have learned through the reading, annotating, and creation of an outline of Lesson 4.

Homework: Complete the Graphic Organizer Applications work that we started in class (see below).

TUESDAY: Today, I collected last night's homework, and we began our study of Lesson 5: Setting Goals.  We also added another word to our vocabulary list: TRIVIA.  Trivia is unimportant information.

While reading through Lesson 5, we discussed how to set "SMART" goals once again.  We learned about this acronym last semester during our study of Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind.  This time, we identified a slightly different way to use the acronym (which represents what every goal should be).

S: specific
M: measurable
A: achievable
R: recorded
T: timely (deadline-oriented)

For HOMEWORK, the students are required to finish reading and annotating Lesson 5 and complete the Setting Goals activity (that was discussed in class and which is shown below). 
NOTE:  A PARENT SIGNATURE IS REQUIRED for this assignment to be complete.

WEDNESDAY:  After completing today's bell ringer assignment, I allowed student volunteers to sit in the "hot seat" and share out their goal while the rest of the class listened and asked questions of the "hot seat" student to help clarify whether the goal described was a "SMART" goal.  As they listened to each others' responses, they were encouraged to "tweak" their homework assignment to be more accurate.  Then, I collected the students' work.

THURSDAY: After the bell ringer activity today, I distributed an "open book quiz" to all of the students to complete.  They were required to work independently to answer each question.  If they did not finish it during the class period, the students were instructed to complete it for homework.

FRIDAY: Ms. Ellie Adams substituted for me today.  She worked with the students as they completed their bell ringer and then discussed the answers to the take-home assignment.  Finally, she conducted a "pop quiz" on a few of the vocabulary words that the students should have been reviewing.  

No homework was assigned today.  Have a great weekend!

This week's BELL RINGERS:

MONDAY:  Correct the sentences.
1. mom brung the flowers in from the garden or it could of been dad
2. this bush should of grown to become the largest of these to

TUESDAY: Correct the sentences.
1. the man he has took to cans to the charity drive
2. we saw prof guarino buying the following items four notebooks two pens and an eraser

WEDNESDAY:  Correct the sentences.
1. it's two much to believe that won bird stealed all that fruit
2. clean youre room mother said or your not going swimming

THURSDAY:  Correct the sentences.
1. i like to watch the world cup the winter olympics and the indianapolis 500 on television
2. my sister in africa rights a letter twice a week to mom and dad

FRIDAY:  Correct the sentences.
1. that there library is the more beautiful building in town
2. i have just finished reading how to paint the portrait of a bird an interesting poem