2.1 The Four Temperaments

Monday September 15

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Identify and discuss the four temperaments in writing: story, structure, music, and imagination.

• Write a poem that reflects at least two of the four temperaments.

Agenda Items

• Journal Writing

• Overview of The Four Temperaments

• Mentor Text - poems from We Borrowed Gentleness by J. Estanislao Lopez

• Journal Writing - experiment with two of the four temperaments as you write a poem

Assignments

• 2.2: Poem with Imagery - due Friday 10/11

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2.2 Form & Structure

Wednesday September 17

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Identify details that contribute to structure, writing style and voice in a written work.

• Describe the tone, structure, style, and voice in a written work.

• Write for at least 10 minutes using a mentor text to experiment with structure and/or style.

• Share your favorite excerpt from what you wrote today. 

• Give specific, positive feedback on a classmate's writing. 

Agenda Items

• Overview of Form & Structure - definitions & example - structure, form, genre, hybrid, writing style, voice

• Choose one of the following readings to use as a mentor text

• Read & Annotate:

  • In the margin, write a short summary phrase for every few sentences -- What information does the author give us? Why?

  • Underline words & phrases that contribute to tone -- choose words to describe author's tone

• Questions for describing tone, structure & style

  • What do you notice about word choice? 

  • How would you describe the author's tone?

  • What do you notice about the sentences and punctuation?

  • How would you describe the structure, style and voice in each excerpt?

  • How does it influence your understanding of the author's purpose for each piece?

  • Which excerpt appeals to you most? Why?

• Questions for understanding rhetorical situation:

  • Who is the author? What background information about the author’s life and work helps us to better understand this piece?

• Journal Writing: Structure & Style Mentor Text Inspiration

• Sharing & Feedback

• Whole Class Discussion - Co-Creating an Annotation & Note-Taking Rubric

  • What makes our annotations & notes useful?

  • What questions can we ask of ourselves when we are taking notes in preparation for writing or discussion?

Assignments

• 1.7 Structure, Style, and Voice Analysis - due Friday 8/23 - submit in Google Classroom

2.3 Passage Breakdown & Annotation

Thursday September 18

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Read and annotate a nonfiction text with your observations, thoughts and questions.

• Identify, deconstruct, interpret, and paraphrase a challenging passage.

• Look up the definition of unknown words and apply the definition to improve comprehension.

• Reflect on your work in English class this week.

Agenda Items

• Passage Breakdown Worksheet

• Write your reading reflection - consider creating a mind map or list

  • What do your authors/poets say about what it means to be "American"? How do they each define "American"? Provide text evidence and commentary to support and explain your answer.

  • Explain the rhetorical situation for each piece.

  • Consider also describing tone & structure (we haven’t covered this in class yet, but it’s good to try)

  • What ideas do you agree with?

  • What other ideas and perspectives can you offer?

  • What details and examples can you offer from your own experience or knowledge?

• Whole Class Discussion - Fine-Tuning Our Annotation & Notes Rubric

  • Review our annotation & notes rubric. Did our discussions reveal any challenges or needs for clarification? 

Assignments

• 1.15 Passage Breakdown Worksheet

• FA: 1.14 Nonfiction Reading Notes & Reflection due Friday 9/13 (scan & upload) -- annotations, sentence structure/punctuation in the written reflection - rubric

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2.4 Nonfiction Annotation & Notes

Tuesday September 19

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Read and annotate a nonfiction text with your observations, thoughts and questions.

Agenda Items

• Choose at least one of the following nonfiction texts to read and annotate: 

  • “Trevor, Pray” excerpt from Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

  • “The Kind of Problem Poverty Is” excerpt from Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

  • “Hello, Hollywood?” excerpt from A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen

  • “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Matsuo Bashō

  • “Washington, DC” excerpt from Bright Felon by Kazim Ali

  • “Allegiance to Gratitude” excerpt from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

  • “The Last Place You Want to Be: Facets of Trauma” excerpt from The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté - see “Why Normal Is a Myth” for background on the rhetorical situation

  • “Dialogue” excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire 

  • “Ethical Loneliness” by Jill Stauffer, excerpt

  • “Work: When You Grow Up, You Might Not Have a Job” excerpt from 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

  • “Values” excerpt from The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

  • One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (excerpt)

  • “Create Dangerously” from Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danticat

• Read & annotate / take notes

• Whole Class Discussion - Fine-Tuning Our Annotation & Notes Rubric

  • Review our annotation & notes rubric. Did our discussions reveal any challenges or needs for clarification? 

Assignments

• 2.4 Nonfiction Annotation due today (scan & upload) -- rubric

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2.5 Historical, Social, Literary & Biographical Context

Monday September 22

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Examine the historical, social, literary, cultural, and biographical context related to a text, and explain how it influences meaning in the text.

Agenda Items

• Overview of Historical & Cultural Context

• Read & annotate: Choose one of the following literary texts:

  • 
    

• Research context:

  • Historical & literary events & figures

  • Author's background

  • Author's literary career & writing process

Assignments

• Historical, Social, Literary & Biographical Context Notes

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2.6 Form & Structure Analysis

Wednesday September 24

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

Agenda Items

• form vs. structure

• structure levels

  • sentence/line level

  • paragraph/stanza level

  • global

• genre, hybrid

Assignments

• 2.6 Form & Structure Analysis due today in class

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2.7 Analytical Writing, Synoptic Moment & Theme Statement

Thursday September 25

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• 
  

• Brainstorm a list of words that reflect specific ideas present in a complex text.

• Write a 1-2 sentence statement of the theme or main message of a poem.

Agenda Items

• Paraphrase, Summary, Description

• Embedding Quotes

• Claim, Evidence, Reasoning/Commentary

• Synoptic Moment & Theme Statements

  • The synoptic moment is “the point at which the whole is implicit in the part” and it may occur near the beginning or end of a piece or anywhere in between. 

  • Placement of the synoptic moment influences the structure and reader’s experience of the piece. Placing it near the beginning results in analytic development, while placing it near the end results in synthetic development. 

• Whole Class Discussion - brainstorming & theme statement

• Whole Class Discussion - Co-Creating a Reading Reflection Rubric

  • What makes a reading reflection engaging?

  • What questions can we ask of ourselves when we are revising and critiquing our own reading reflections?

Assignments

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2.8 Reading Reflection

Monday September 22 - Friday September 26

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Write at least five paragraphs reflecting on a complex text.

Agenda Items

• Reflection Questions:

  • Describe a complex concept your author explores in the reading. Be sure to explain the related ideas that must be understood in order to understand the complex concept.

  • What ideas do you agree with? 

  • What other ideas and perspectives can you offer?

  • What details and examples can you offer from your own experience or knowledge?

• Whole Class Discussion - Fine-Tuning Our Reading Reflection Rubric

  • Review our reading reflection rubric. Did our discussions reveal any challenges or needs for clarification? 

• Scan and submit in Google Classroom

Assignments

• 2.8 Reading Reflection due Friday September 26 (scan & upload) -- explain your thinking in detail in the written reflection - rubric

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2.9 Socratic Seminar / Literary Discussion & Synthesis

Monday September 29 

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Write at least one paragraph responding to ideas in the text.

• Discuss and explain your understanding of a topic using text evidence and commentary to support and explain your ideas.

• Discuss and evaluate the quality and productivity of your group's discussion.

Agenda Items

• Synthesis

  • Review and reflect on the texts we have read:

    • 
      

  • Write your reading reflection - consider creating a mind map or list

    • 
      

• Overview of group discussion notes & evaluation

• Small group discussion

  • 
    

Assignments

• Practice: Small Group Discussion Notes & Evaluation

• Literary Discussion & Synthesis Notes 

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2.10 Literary Blog Post 

Wednesday October 1 

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Write a literary draft (at least 800 words) that includes analysis of  

Agenda Items

• Form & Structure

• Scan & save handwritten first draft in Writing Portfolio folder

• Type it up - What revisions did you make while typing it up?

• Submit both handwritten draft & typed draft in Google Classroom

Assignments

• Literary Blog Post due today by 11:59pm

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2.11 Writing Workshop: Peer Feedback & Revision Notes

Thursday October 2 

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

Agenda Items

Assignments

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2.12 Revision & Author's Commentary

Friday October 3

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

Agenda Items

Assignments

• 2.12 Revision & Author's Commentary due today in class

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2.13 Writing Workshop: Editing & Publishing

Monday October 6 & Wednesday  October 8

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

Agenda Items

• Revision using rubric & comments

• Individual Conferences

• Editor's Reflection

• Submission Form

• Website Publishing

Assignments

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2.14 In Conversation: Online Comments

Thursday  October 9

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

Agenda Items

• Website - Blog Post Publishing

• Follow the instructions for sharing and discussing your work on NowComment 

Assignments

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2.15 Poetry Café 

Friday October 10

Welcome back! My plan for today is to guide you to:

• Identify and discuss examples of imagery, metaphors, similes, repetition, shifts, contrasts and juxtaposition in poetry.

• Give specific, positive feedback on at least two other classmate's poems. presenting an insightful observation or interpretation related to your poem. 

Agenda Items

• Displaying Your Work - Permission Form

• Reply to classmates on the discussion board

  • Identify and discuss literary techniques in the author’s poem.

    • Explain (translate) the literary technique → how does it work in this example?

    • Explain in detail how this example influences meaning and interpretation in the poem

  • Give specific, positive feedback on at least two other classmate's poems. presenting an insightful observation or interpretation related to your poem. 

    • Try to include a claim, text evidence and commentary in your paragraph.

    • What words, phrases, lines stood out to you?

    • What did you notice in the author’s writing?

    • What do you like about their writing?

    • What does it make you think of? What does it make you wonder?

• Poetry Cafe Open Mic!

Assignments

• Practice:  perform a poem (your poem or one of your favorite poems) in front of the class

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