What a crazy week! It was nice to see some of you at conferences!

Today and tomorrow our classes are getting together with Mrs. Pearl's classes, and we're watching the movie "Freedom Writers." This is an inspiring tale that will hopefully show our students the value of writing. After the movie, we've got three prompts from which to choose so students can reflect on the film.

Friday is Career Day, so regular classes will not be in session - We all hope it is a successful day!

Enjoy your Spring Break!

Homework:

* READ, enjoy what you're reading, and blog about it! :-)

We're taking the next two days to clear up misconceptions about independent reading, and to actually have the time to read and to share what we're learning. We had one presentation already today (Thursday) in Block 5/6, because one student was finished with her first topic and wanted to share with us.

Thursday we'll spend time researching BOOKS and ARTICLES students can read, and sharing our ideas and topics.

Friday we'll spend quiet time in the library, actually reading, blogging, and having more one-on-one conferences.

Homework:
* Independent reading process = Read 20 min each night, and post on the blog by Friday night each week.
* BRING something to read tomorrow!

We had to stop everything to help prepare for Career Day today - Each LA teacher was given a day to work with students on a very large interest and skill survey. Students can always revise this at www.careercrusing.net.

Homework:
* Movie permission slip due Friday (it's on Edline if you "lost" yours)
* Independent reading process = Read 20 min each night, and post on the blog by Friday night each week.
* BRING something to read the next two days!

We made it! Today is the day we start typing our final papers for Phineas Gage. All of our hard work will make it's way into a document that can be shared with other students and they will help each other edit, using the editing sheet on the back of the rubric.

This work will take TWO days in class, to be sure to give students enough time to edit thoroughly before "turning in" the paper via GoogleDocs. (We're saving trees this time.)

Homework:
* Independent reading process = Read 20 min each night, and post on the blog by Friday night each week.
* BRING something to read on Thursday and Friday!

We're getting close to wrapping up our response to nonfiction essay... Today's Lesson 17 was about logical structure again - Writing Transitions and a Conclusion. We had a work session on writing transitions, and writing a conclusion. We are focusing on NOT writing "first, second, third," for transitions, and NOT just repeating what we've said throughout the essay for the conclusion. We focused on sophisticated transitions and thought-provoking conclusions.

Homework:
* Review the rubric for the response to nonfiction essay (found on Edline - will be handed out on Monday).
* Independent reading process - 60 min.

Lesson 16 today was about Logical Structure - Revising and Writing the Introduction... We first reviewed strategies for writing leads, and then experimented with different ones. We then shared the beginning of many nonfiction pieces, to see how other writers used various leads.

Next, we went right into writing the introduction for our response to nonfiction essay. Our introductions included three items (see picture).

Homework:
* Independent reading process / 20 min.

We experimented more with our writing today - Lesson 15 from Phineas Gage was "Adding Evidence From the Text and Experimenting with Paragraph Sequence and Logical Structure."

We revised once again! We then looked at a set of three paragraphs, and held a discussion on which paragraph should go first, second or third, and WHY. Students then had time to look at their own three ideas for their essay and "moved them around" to see which should be first, second, third, and WHY.

Homework:
* Independent reading process / 20 min.

We're getting into revision, preparing to write our final essay. The essay prompt will be: Explain three effects of Phineas Gage's accident. Be sure to include evidence from both texts that help show these effects in detail.

Today, Lesson 14 found us looking at a sample paper - response to nonfiction. We looked at the lead, the introduction, the claim, evidence, direct quotes, and the conclusion. We then looked back at the prompt from Lesson 13, and noticed where students bracketed their own writing. We then added more detail and another direct quote from the book or article for the revision assignment.

Homework:
* Independent reading process / 20 min.

Today we finished Lesson 11 (Citing from Multiple Sources) and then went back and completed Lesson 12 - Analyzing and Writing Conclusions. (I wanted to move this so that we wrote our three effects first! It just seemed more natural that way...) We looked at word choice in conclusions. We read the last seven paragraphs of the Blakeslee article again, and filled in the chart here. We then did the same for Phineas Gage, reading the last five paragraphs.

When we were finished, we completed the bottom of the chart, which encouraged students to fill in their own ideas about their own conclusion.


Our prompt was narrative again (so it will only be graded for completion), and it was, "Think of a time when you did something that had a consequence, good or bad. Write about that time, including what you learned as a result of that action. Be sure to include a conclusion in which you show some details about what you learned in the course of writing your entry.

Homework:
* Read 20 min.
* Independent reading process.

We started with part of Lesson 11 of from Phineas Gage - Using Evidence from Multiple Sources. (See Edline for the guide sheet.) We began by reviewing engaging leads. We're saving Lesson 12 for Monday, and completing Lesson 13 today! Lesson 13 is "Preparing to Write the Response to Non-Fiction Essay." We looked at Lesson 10's prompt of the one effect about which students wrote. Today, we answered this prompt: Write about two effects of Gage's accident. The effects could be immediate (e.g., having to do with Gage's life) or more long-term (e.g., effect on brain injury patients today). Support your ideas with evidence from both texts.

Students were given more time than usual to write, and they knew they'd be graded on dialogue and evidence today. During sharing and responding, students jotted down any other ideas they might want to use for their final piece. They also bracketed at least two places where they think they will be able to add more details from one or both texts.

Our final piece will be in response to, "Explain three effects of Phineas Gage's accident. Be sure to include evidence from both texts that help show these effects in detail."

If time, students started a GoogleDoc for their final piece, and shared it with me (under my old name - JDvoratchek) so we can use this the next two weeks.

Homework:
* Read 60 min.
* Share a Phineas document with JDvoratchek.

Before Lesson 10, Identifying the Effects of a Cause, we read pgs. 65-75 silently. As we read, we put sticky notes next to details that grabbed our attention. When we began, students were made aware that this prompt would be graded using the dialogue and evidence rubric once again. After using our sticky note details to find the main idea of this passage, we had a skill drill listing effects after one cause. We then put these effects into categories (i.e.: personal effects on Gage, effects on science in 1848, effects on science today). Lesson 10 prompt: Your friend says, "So some guy 160 years ago got a rod through his skull and survived. Cool, but really, what's the big deal?" Write your response to your friend, explaining at least one effect this event had. Be sure to use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Homework:
* Read 20 min.
(* Finish Blakeslee article if you did not.)