Tomorrow's the big day--L.A. ISTEP time. The students will be doing a 55 minute ISTEP prompt. Thursday will be their constructed response/extended response day. Despite a whole lot of students failing my class right now, I have to say that I'm 100% confident that every student I have can do well on this thing. We've worked hard on this on-demand writing stuff, and I know they can impress.
We spent some time with our novels the last couple days. We also did some last-minute ISTEP prep stuff. I gave back some older on-demand writings for them to get some feedback on. Yesterday, the students read about Howard Hughes and did some constructed response work (Block Three read about an entomologist instead.), and we'll go over those answers tomorrow.
Vocabulary--they do have an assignment for this week. They're making a vocabulary chain, trying to find things the word parts have in common to link them all together. If they can make a 250 word part vocabulary chain, they will have the new world record. Here's an example:
sacro links to sanct because they both mean "holy"
sanct links to biblio because they can both make places that are quiet (sanctuary/bibliotheca)
biblio links to leg because "books" are "read"
leg links to ocul because you use your "eyes" to "read"
ocul links to spec because you also use your "eyes" to "look"
spec and scope link because they both mean the same thing
scope links to tele because it makes the word telescope
tele also links pathy because it makes the word telepathy
pathy links to son because one is "feeling" and one is "sound," two of the five senses
son links to phone because they both mean "sound"
phone links to caco because it makes the word cacophony, bad or harsh sounds
caco links to eu because they're opposites--"bad" and "good"
eu and bene link because they both mean "good"
bene links to mal as opposites since mal is "bad"
mal links to cide because "killing" is "bad"
cide links to mort because "killing" makes things "dead"
mort links to cad because cad makes cadaver, somebody who is dead
cad links to rupt because when something "falls" it might "break"
rupt links to fract because they both mean "break"
fract links to osteo because a "bone" is something you could break
osteo links to man because you have "bones" in your "hands"
man links to ped because "feet" are like "hands" for the legs
ped links to ambul because you use your "feet" to "walk"
Honestly, I don't know how they'll do with this. It forced me to use my mind to make connections, and I know that making connections is good for learning. If they have trouble making one giant chain, they are allowed to break their chain up and do 10 25-link chains or something like that. They should be asking me, asking each other, or looking the word parts up on the Internet if they don't know or have forgotten some.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, ISTEP Eve
It's not actually ISTEP Eve for 8th graders though. Their testing starts Tuesday. And since Tuesday is only a math test, I don't know if I really even count that either.
By the way, I've said it before and I'll say it again--changing the schedules of your typical middle school student is like changing the feeding times for a monkey. They just go nuts. The two-hour delay turned your sons and daughters into lunatics. Lovable lunatics, sure, but nevertheless, still lunatics.
For what I think might be the last time, I talked about constructed responses. I used a couple analogies (dirty windows and toilet paper) to keep the important (but easy) things they need to remember about doing well on constructed responses in their heads. They had a chance to finish (or in some cases, rewrite) their "Ransom of Red Chief" constructed responses which I'll grade over the weekend before determining if they need any more last-minute practice before ISTEP.
We had our vocabulary quiz. It was only 25 questions. I've graded two classes, and I'm not too happy. I really thought this would be a lot easier and that there would be a lot more high scores. And I do have a ton of 92, 96, and 100 percents. Unfortunately, there are a lot in the 20-40 percent range, too. Very few students get C's on these tests. They're either working and paying attention and studying a little bit and getting A's or they're doing next-to-nothing and failing.
These next couple weeks, we're reviewing the word parts from lists 1-10. I didn't want to give them new word parts over ISTEP week because I want their focus to be on impressing the ISTEP people. They do have a sheet with all 250 (can you believe it's that many? wow!) word parts from this school year. Their job is to go through it and circle the ones they need help with.
Make sure they're reading this weekend! I have had a handful of students already finish their book. I gave them the option of reading something else or reading Hunger Games, a book that I've never read but want to find out more about. They're going to fill me in and let me know if I should teach this novel next year.
Have a great weekend!
By the way, I've said it before and I'll say it again--changing the schedules of your typical middle school student is like changing the feeding times for a monkey. They just go nuts. The two-hour delay turned your sons and daughters into lunatics. Lovable lunatics, sure, but nevertheless, still lunatics.
For what I think might be the last time, I talked about constructed responses. I used a couple analogies (dirty windows and toilet paper) to keep the important (but easy) things they need to remember about doing well on constructed responses in their heads. They had a chance to finish (or in some cases, rewrite) their "Ransom of Red Chief" constructed responses which I'll grade over the weekend before determining if they need any more last-minute practice before ISTEP.
We had our vocabulary quiz. It was only 25 questions. I've graded two classes, and I'm not too happy. I really thought this would be a lot easier and that there would be a lot more high scores. And I do have a ton of 92, 96, and 100 percents. Unfortunately, there are a lot in the 20-40 percent range, too. Very few students get C's on these tests. They're either working and paying attention and studying a little bit and getting A's or they're doing next-to-nothing and failing.
These next couple weeks, we're reviewing the word parts from lists 1-10. I didn't want to give them new word parts over ISTEP week because I want their focus to be on impressing the ISTEP people. They do have a sheet with all 250 (can you believe it's that many? wow!) word parts from this school year. Their job is to go through it and circle the ones they need help with.
Make sure they're reading this weekend! I have had a handful of students already finish their book. I gave them the option of reading something else or reading Hunger Games, a book that I've never read but want to find out more about. They're going to fill me in and let me know if I should teach this novel next year.
Have a great weekend!
Belated Thursday Post
Sorry about the lack of blogging yesterday even though I'm pretty sure I just apologized to 1 1/2 people. It slipped my mind. This week has been stuffed with meetings, talks with parents, ISTEP stuff...they had me in three places at one time yesterday.
We reviewed vocabulary some in preparation for our short test Friday.
We did a test prep activity where we broke down a writing prompt using the I-chart. We also looked at paragraph organization, and I stated the importance, once again, of writing at least 5 paragraphs on the ISTEP 6-point rubric prompt.
And we finished the O. Henry story, "The Ransom of Red Chief," after a quick review of the three types of irony. Next week, we'll look at another genre of short story (horror) to see how irony works when the author isn't trying to be funny. The students had three O. Henry constructed responses to do, but two of my classes might not have been able to finish.
Speaking of constructed responses, those are next week on ISTEP. And I'm still concerned that some of my students aren't using the text enough to get a 2 out of 2 on those bad boys. I want them to imagine themselves as cranes, lifting words from what they've read to plop down in their 6-line, 1-paragraph answers. If they do that, they should be successful.
We reviewed vocabulary some in preparation for our short test Friday.
We did a test prep activity where we broke down a writing prompt using the I-chart. We also looked at paragraph organization, and I stated the importance, once again, of writing at least 5 paragraphs on the ISTEP 6-point rubric prompt.
And we finished the O. Henry story, "The Ransom of Red Chief," after a quick review of the three types of irony. Next week, we'll look at another genre of short story (horror) to see how irony works when the author isn't trying to be funny. The students had three O. Henry constructed responses to do, but two of my classes might not have been able to finish.
Speaking of constructed responses, those are next week on ISTEP. And I'm still concerned that some of my students aren't using the text enough to get a 2 out of 2 on those bad boys. I want them to imagine themselves as cranes, lifting words from what they've read to plop down in their 6-line, 1-paragraph answers. If they do that, they should be successful.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday
The students have a vocabulary review sheet. There's an assignment for Friday (pictures or "invented" words or a combination for each of the 25 word parts), and a worksheet thing that we'll go over tomorrow.
The vocabulary quiz is Friday. This one is different because it's only going to have the 25 new word parts. That should make it easy for them to study and very easy for them to get a good grade on it.
Tonight's reading focus: style and voice--what kinds of things is the author doing to make the novel fun or interesting to read? We used O. Henry (see below) as an example.
Speaking of O. Henry, a pseudonym, we started a story called "The Ransom of Red Chief" about a 10-year-old boy who is kidnapped by some men wanting 2,000 dollars. It's a hilarious story! No, really. It is, mostly because of O. Henry's style. He uses a lot of irony in his work, so we took some notes on the three different types of irony--verbal, situational, and dramatic. As we read O. Henry's story, we'll look for all three examples.
The vocabulary quiz is Friday. This one is different because it's only going to have the 25 new word parts. That should make it easy for them to study and very easy for them to get a good grade on it.
Tonight's reading focus: style and voice--what kinds of things is the author doing to make the novel fun or interesting to read? We used O. Henry (see below) as an example.
Speaking of O. Henry, a pseudonym, we started a story called "The Ransom of Red Chief" about a 10-year-old boy who is kidnapped by some men wanting 2,000 dollars. It's a hilarious story! No, really. It is, mostly because of O. Henry's style. He uses a lot of irony in his work, so we took some notes on the three different types of irony--verbal, situational, and dramatic. As we read O. Henry's story, we'll look for all three examples.
Tuesday
We had Acuity testing today with the laptops. It took a lot of the students almost the entire time, so I just had them read their novels (which some of the students failed to bring with them) after they were finished Acuitying.
Today's novel focus: conflict
--What is conflict?
--What conflicts do you see in the story you're reading?
--Predict: What conflicts do you think will pop up later?
--Predict: How do you think the conflicts of your novel will be resolved later?
Today's novel focus: conflict
--What is conflict?
--What conflicts do you see in the story you're reading?
--Predict: What conflicts do you think will pop up later?
--Predict: How do you think the conflicts of your novel will be resolved later?
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday Haiku Entry
Word within a word--
The building blocks of our words.
List ten is complete.
Iso means "equal"
In math, there's isosceles
with two equal sides.
Convert and revert
both contain the word part vert
and that one means "turn"
-ate is a suffix
that makes "cause" verbs like create,
dominate, placate
when you encourage,
you strengthen somebody's heart,
and that's what cor means.
What's the difference
between a prince and princess?
The -ess is female!
What is a mutant?
It's something that means "change."
Hey, muta means change!
Finally, there's fug,
like fugitive or refugee--
A word part that flees.
ISTEP is coming,
But we'll be ready to go
thanks to our practice.
Extended response--
The students wrote an essay
all about reading.
Block 3 did C.R.'s
about Howard Hughes today.
1 and 2 did not.
They looked at sources--
How does a researcher know
If a source is good?
Classes on Tuesday
Are Acuity testing
with trusty laptops.
I hope students read
for at least ninety minutes
this three-day weekend.
The building blocks of our words.
List ten is complete.
Iso means "equal"
In math, there's isosceles
with two equal sides.
Convert and revert
both contain the word part vert
and that one means "turn"
-ate is a suffix
that makes "cause" verbs like create,
dominate, placate
when you encourage,
you strengthen somebody's heart,
and that's what cor means.
What's the difference
between a prince and princess?
The -ess is female!
What is a mutant?
It's something that means "change."
Hey, muta means change!
Finally, there's fug,
like fugitive or refugee--
A word part that flees.
ISTEP is coming,
But we'll be ready to go
thanks to our practice.
Extended response--
The students wrote an essay
all about reading.
Block 3 did C.R.'s
about Howard Hughes today.
1 and 2 did not.
They looked at sources--
How does a researcher know
If a source is good?
Classes on Tuesday
Are Acuity testing
with trusty laptops.
I hope students read
for at least ninety minutes
this three-day weekend.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday and Thursday 2/16 and 2/17
Yestersday's word parts:
luqu means "talk" like loquacious ("full of talking") and eloquent and soliquy
sacro means "holy" (just like sanct) like in sacrosanct (holy holy?), sacred, and sacrifice
uni means "one" like the words uniform, unicycle, united, unique, and unibrow
-ness is a suffix that means "quality of" so that happiness is the "quality of being happy" and laziness is why this blog entry wasn't typed up yesterday
alt means "high" (just like acro) like with altitude and alto
-ics is a suffix that means "art" like in the words calisthenics and acrobatics and politics
We'll go over the rest of the words tomorrow.
The students spent Wednesday doing some research on the Chicago fire of 1871 using four sources that I gave them. It's kind of like a quiz. I'm looking at their ability to write down the source information like we've discussed and taking note cards using their paraphrasing skills.
I also introduced twelve books to them. Details about them are below. On Thursday, we made our trip to the library and each student checked out one of those twelve books. They'll do some in-class reading (so bring your book every day!) but I do expect them to spend 20-30 minutes a night reading at home. I gave the students a reading log thing (that's what I named it--Reading Log Thing) where I'm having them focus on one thing each reading day. They need to reflect on the day's focus and answer some questions.
Thursday's reading focus: They're looking at the novel's point of view and the tone of the story. I know--that's two things.
Friday/Weekend's focus (for those who like to think ahead): The protagonist and his/her traits as well as what the protagonist is going to want in the story. All protagonists want things. Conflicts in our novels occur when something is keeping the protagonist from getting what he or she wants.
Here are the novels they picked from:
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, a story of a girl whose life is turned upside down when she immigrates to California and has to start working hard instead of living the rich life on a Mexican ranch
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis--a story about a family in 1963 that moves from Flint, Michigan to the segregated South
Bud, Not Buddy, also by Curtis--a 10-year old orphan goes on a journey to look for his father
Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a guy with a terrible last name--this is all about Paul, a kid who just wants to play soccer, and the problems when his family moves to Tangerine County in Florida. There's lots of soccer in this one. In case you don't know, soccer is kind of like a sport.
The Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers--some kids don't like their neighborhood because of an ugly apartment building that makes their street look like a "ghetto dump"; they decide to ask the landlord about fixing up the place and he sells it to them for a dollar. So they're suddenly young landlords which I guess is why the book is called what it is.
I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier--this ones a psychological story that a lot of the students would probably find boring. It's a real thinking book. A kid is riding his bicycle to find his dad. Juxtaposed with those chapters are chapters where he is being interviewed by a psychologist. It's deep stuff.
The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci--Torey, the main character, has his life turned upside down when the geeky guy who's always picked on turns up missing. Note: This book does contain some bad language.
Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper--it's like Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare except it takes place in modern times and is about a young black girl and a Mexican boy who people don't want to be together
Heat by Mike Lupica--it's a baseball book; Michael is a Cuban immigrant in New York City who has all kinds of problems trying to survive with his older brother. All he wants to do is play ball, but things are getting in the way.
The Giver by Lois Lowry--it's a science fiction novel, a lot like Uglies. It's about a futuristic society that has tried to eliminate emotions in order to have a "Sameness"
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill is the humorous account of a war between fruit and flower vendors in New York City and truck drivers
And The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is about a guy named Ponyboy. A lot of students have told me that they've already read this one. S.E. Hinton, by the way, wrote this book when she was only 15.
In other news, I think I was bitten by a brown recluse spider last night, and I'm afraid my leg is going to rot off. Stay tuned for further details.
luqu means "talk" like loquacious ("full of talking") and eloquent and soliquy
sacro means "holy" (just like sanct) like in sacrosanct (holy holy?), sacred, and sacrifice
uni means "one" like the words uniform, unicycle, united, unique, and unibrow
-ness is a suffix that means "quality of" so that happiness is the "quality of being happy" and laziness is why this blog entry wasn't typed up yesterday
alt means "high" (just like acro) like with altitude and alto
-ics is a suffix that means "art" like in the words calisthenics and acrobatics and politics
We'll go over the rest of the words tomorrow.
The students spent Wednesday doing some research on the Chicago fire of 1871 using four sources that I gave them. It's kind of like a quiz. I'm looking at their ability to write down the source information like we've discussed and taking note cards using their paraphrasing skills.
I also introduced twelve books to them. Details about them are below. On Thursday, we made our trip to the library and each student checked out one of those twelve books. They'll do some in-class reading (so bring your book every day!) but I do expect them to spend 20-30 minutes a night reading at home. I gave the students a reading log thing (that's what I named it--Reading Log Thing) where I'm having them focus on one thing each reading day. They need to reflect on the day's focus and answer some questions.
Thursday's reading focus: They're looking at the novel's point of view and the tone of the story. I know--that's two things.
Friday/Weekend's focus (for those who like to think ahead): The protagonist and his/her traits as well as what the protagonist is going to want in the story. All protagonists want things. Conflicts in our novels occur when something is keeping the protagonist from getting what he or she wants.
Here are the novels they picked from:
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, a story of a girl whose life is turned upside down when she immigrates to California and has to start working hard instead of living the rich life on a Mexican ranch
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis--a story about a family in 1963 that moves from Flint, Michigan to the segregated South
Bud, Not Buddy, also by Curtis--a 10-year old orphan goes on a journey to look for his father
Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a guy with a terrible last name--this is all about Paul, a kid who just wants to play soccer, and the problems when his family moves to Tangerine County in Florida. There's lots of soccer in this one. In case you don't know, soccer is kind of like a sport.
The Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers--some kids don't like their neighborhood because of an ugly apartment building that makes their street look like a "ghetto dump"; they decide to ask the landlord about fixing up the place and he sells it to them for a dollar. So they're suddenly young landlords which I guess is why the book is called what it is.
I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier--this ones a psychological story that a lot of the students would probably find boring. It's a real thinking book. A kid is riding his bicycle to find his dad. Juxtaposed with those chapters are chapters where he is being interviewed by a psychologist. It's deep stuff.
The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci--Torey, the main character, has his life turned upside down when the geeky guy who's always picked on turns up missing. Note: This book does contain some bad language.
Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper--it's like Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare except it takes place in modern times and is about a young black girl and a Mexican boy who people don't want to be together
Heat by Mike Lupica--it's a baseball book; Michael is a Cuban immigrant in New York City who has all kinds of problems trying to survive with his older brother. All he wants to do is play ball, but things are getting in the way.
The Giver by Lois Lowry--it's a science fiction novel, a lot like Uglies. It's about a futuristic society that has tried to eliminate emotions in order to have a "Sameness"
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill is the humorous account of a war between fruit and flower vendors in New York City and truck drivers
And The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is about a guy named Ponyboy. A lot of students have told me that they've already read this one. S.E. Hinton, by the way, wrote this book when she was only 15.
In other news, I think I was bitten by a brown recluse spider last night, and I'm afraid my leg is going to rot off. Stay tuned for further details.
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