Mrs. Stubbs's English Blog: Lots and Lots of Writing...

I love watching my students write. You can see the wheels turning in their heads, and the moment when they figure something out, the "Ah Ha!" moment, their faces light up and all the struggles are worth it.

That's what this past week was about. After we took the objective portion of the test (which is posted online, by the way), we spent the rest of the week working on a 5-paragraph essay that brings everything together for the core idea of the story. It's as much about writing to learn as it is about writing to show what they've learned. They really figure things out as they plan, and then craft, and I see lots of biting of lips, writing utensils poised over paper, eyes that light up bright when they figure something out, and heads bobbing to music as they work their way through the material (I like to let them listen to their own music because for many of them, it really helps them dive into what they are doing).

On Monday we'll submit the essays, and then we turn a corner. We're doing a quick unit that links thematically with "St. Lucy's" in order to compare how authors craft their ideas, and by the end of the week we'll be getting the background knowledge on Shakespeare and his times so that we can read Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's themes are timeless, but he really wrote about his own life and times (no matter where he set his plays), so it helps to understand his world when reading. It also shows that as every generation thinks that their problems are unique, it turns out that they're really not. Coping with things like - teenagers finding their own way and rebelling against their parents and societies institutions; war; facing new technologies (in our world, it's electronics that allow us to explore the universe, in his it was the technology that allowed them to explore the earth); disease; human rights - it was all prevalent in his day, much as it is in ours.

So here's the schedule:

Monday - a PSAT annotation and reading test activity; we'll read a very short non-fiction piece on individual identity and how we find ourselves and annotate it.
Tuesday - Preposition packet #3 - review what we've done; we'll look at how non-fiction pieces are organized and how that helps us find the Central Idea.
Wednesday - Preposition packet #3 - adverbs vs. prepositions; we'll compare how authors of fiction and non-fiction organize and create to send out central ideas.
Thursday - Preposition packet #3 - reviewing prepositions; we'll do a group poster with Venn-Diagram and paragraph focusing on comparing and contrasting our two readings.
Friday - Preposition packet #3 - review; notes on English Renaissance and Shakespeare; Shakespeare scavenger hunt.

Well, that's the week. As always, I'll keep the calendar updated as changes occur. Ciao, everyone!