Tuesday and Wednesday--Not Acuity Days!

Yesterday, we did a longish W2M quiz and had some discussion over the big chunk of weekend reading. Some of my students aren't reading the book which must make that part of class extremely boring for them. It depresses me. For Thursday, the students will need to get to page 156. For now, we're holding off on that character poster thing. As they read, they should be jotting down some things that will help them do well on that though.

We looked deeper at persuasive writing the last couple of days. We finished our zoo reading and talked about the different ways persuasive authors can back up their claims. We looked at the acronym (there's a word part in there) D.R.A.P.E.S. which is a way to remember the importance of covering (you know, like drapes) their topic completely to fully convince their audience. It also stands for the different types of elaboration an author can use. We used an essay on why the school cafeteria should start serving nutria rat as an example.

D -- Dialogue (quotes from experts) -- like using a nutrition expert or food critic talking about nutria rats
R -- Rhetorical questions -- like, "Don't you want your kids snacking on something tasty and nutritional instead of something like a Ding Dong."
A -- Analogy/Comparison -- like comparing the taste of nutria rat to fillet mignon or something
P -- Personal experience -- like when the author uses any of the times he or others he knows have enjoyed the rich flavor of the nutria rat
E -- Examples -- like when another school who serves nutria rat is used
S -- Statistics -- like when numbers are used to back up the claims


We'll continue looking at how authors back up their claims as we read about school uniforms, dodgeball, and video games this week and next.


We looked specifically at thesis sentences and good body paragraphs, and some of the students worked hard on their writing today. This is the essay where they are trying to persuade me to retire from teaching and do something else or stick with teaching. I expect to see good supporting details and D.R.A.P.E.S. in their essays!


They turned in a worksheet about the zoo readings. I got less than half of them in one class. I can't figure out why because all the work was done in class, and a lot of the work was done together. But if you see a low grade or no grade for "zoos" on PEP, you should definitely ask them about it.


The next vocabulary quiz is next Thursday. They have a little extra time to study. It's the last vocabulary quiz, so it'll make a big difference on what their overall vocabulary grade will be.


Nutria rat recipes can be found at this helpful website: Yum!

Here's a picture of the little critters: