Recording and Vocab

Homework:
Completing the Sentence Unit 4

My plan for the week is to finish unit 4 vocabulary and the recordings.  By the end of the week, I hope to start the students on the next quick unit, the PTA reflections contest.

HB section parents, I updated the grades on HAC.  I was able to grade the narrative essays.  Please know that I am taking off one letter grade for each day late.  At least eight students are two grades down as of today!

Recording is underway!

Homework:
Practice for narrative recording.

Today:
I collected the good draft of the narratives. (I hope I can get them graded by the end of the marking period.)
We started recording the narratives.

To receive an A, I needed to hear variations in voice level, variations in pace, and emotions that match the story.  It's hard to say exactly what an A+ is accept you know it when you hear it!  :)
A nice, clear reading is not an A! 


Here are some samples of some excellent readers.
Baseball Moment: 
Sample 1
Crazy time in a theater:
Sample 2
Reading buddy who wasn't!
Sample 3

The narratives are due tomorrow!

Homework:
Good Draft of Narrative Due!  Late = 1 grade down a day!
Be ready to read and record the narrative for a presentation grade.

Parents, if you can proofread your child's paper, that would be great!

Maybe you could also listen to your child read his/her paper.  This would give him/her practice before getting up in front of the class.


Today:
We discussed the purpose of an introduction.  The first section of the intro is the handshake.  It greets the reader and draws him in.  The handshake then transitions into the thesis, which is the statement that tells the reader what the paper is about.  


In most classes, we discussed how the intro reflects the structure of the paper.  The intro also leads to the conclusion.  I gave them a sheet with five examples of just introductions and the conclusions.  I cut out the body of the narrative to show that you should be able to read the two parts by themselves.


Here are the four types of handshakes I discussed in class today.

Question- A question provokes thought and helps the reader become involved in your subject matter. Your job in the paper is to provide the answer to this question.

             Do you believe that all dogs go to heaven?  Do dogs have souls like people?  The night my dog was hit by a car in front of my house, I wanted to hide in my room and cry.  I wanted to run away from the pain.  Instead, my dad told me to help him.  When I buried my dog, I learned an important lesson about death.

Quote- Your quote should tie into your subject matter and come from a recognized authority in the field. (Try this site for quotes.) Using a quote will give your writing believability and help convince your reader to read on.

Joseph Addison, an American writer, once mused, “Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.” The night my dog got hit by a car, I wanted to hide in my room and cry.  I wanted to run away from the pain.  Instead, my dad told me to help him, and I am glad he did. That night, my dying dog taught me some wisdom I would never forget.

Amazing fact or statistic- Either one of these hooks is intended to disquiet the reader with its bluntness or frankness.

Every year 10,000 family pets are hit on the road in front of their houses.  While not all accidents can be prevented, people should be more careful, for both the safety of their pet and for the safety of motorists. The night my dog got hit by a car, I wanted to hide in my room and cry.  I wanted to run away from the pain.  Instead, my dad told me to help him, and I am glad he did.

In the middle- Your handshake puts the reader right in the middle of the action.  It’s like you suck them from their world into yours.

We were all standing around the animal in the middle of the road.  The sun was going down, as were our hopes for our family’s pet surviving the night.  We knew we had to do something, but we were afraid that anything we would do would put the poor thing in even more pain.  The night my dog got hit by a car, I wanted to hide in my room and cry.  I wanted to run away from the pain.  Instead, my dad told me to help him, and I am glad he did.

Today we discussed revision

(Have you check HAC lately?)

Homework:
Choosing the Right Word Unit 4
Good Draft of the essay is due Friday
We begin recording Friday, so students should practice reading their pieces.

Today:
We discussed revision.  I had students read two models.  One was a B paper with paragraphs.  The other was a C- paper with only one paragraph and a major flaw in content.  Then I had students put their paper between the two.  Which piece did theirs look like?  What needed to be improved?  Another student also read their piece because we cannot always see our own work honestly.  The goal for today was not to find grammar errors.  What is the use of finding little errors if the whole paper needs to be rewritten?

I reviewed the rubric I posted the other day.  May students were surprised to see what I expect for a B.  I have high expectations.  Even though I covered many of these ideas before, now that they are done writing their pieces, many students saw that they have a long way to go!  They have until Friday to fix their pieces.

The picture shows what is important to focus on for revising the narrative.  The things near the top are more important during revising.  Grammar comes at the end, when the content and organization are finalized.

Tomorrow we will write introductions and conclusions for their papers.  Many students need help with paragraphing.

We practiced recording today!

Homework:
Synonyms Unit 4
Practice for Friday's recording

Today:
I collected the good-rough draft.
I reviewed the vocab words and checked the pictionaries.
Then we practiced recording.

I gave the students a poem.  Each student had a stanza.  I reviewed the rubric for an oral presentation and had each one read their piece.  Then we discussed the results. 

You can listen to the recordings at MrBoZ.com

I told the students that no one will get lower than a C unless they really mess it up.  However, to get an A, I have to hear emotion added to the words being read.  Simply reading well is not enough for an A.  Sections 4 and 5 struggled with that.  While they read clearly, only a few achieved an A.  I hope they realize that they must go above and beyond for the A on Friday.  They will receive a grade for the reading!


Here is the rubric:

	A	B	C	D
Audio	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible throughout the presentation.	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible throughout the most of the presentation.	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible through some of the presentation.	Voice could not be heard.
Pacing	The pace (rhythm and voice punctuation) fits the story line and helps the audience really "get into" the story.	Tries to use pacing but it is often noticeable that the pacing does not fit the story line. Audience is somewhat engaged.	No attempt to match the pace of the storytelling to the story line or the audience. Audience is not consistently engaged.	Just read the piece in a monotone.
Emotion	Emotional dimension of the piece matches the story line well. Listeners are encouraged to care about the person and his/her story.	Emotional dimension of the piece somewhat matches the story line.	Emotional dimension of the piece is distracting or is absent.	No emotion.  Read it to get it over with.

Adapted from Digital Storytelling Tips and Resources

By Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Academic Technology

Simmons College Boston, MA Copyright 2008

The Good Rough Draft is Due Tomorrow!

Homework:
Pictionaries Unit 4
Good Rough Draft of the narrative essay

Today:
We reviewed the terms for the nouns unit.
We took and reviewed the nouns quiz.
We listened to the unit 4 vocabulary words.


What is a "Good Rough Draft"?  
I explain it to the students like this: hand in a piece tomorrow that you will feel comfortable getting graded on.  In other words, this draft is the best you can do.  It can be a little rough if it is hand written, but if it is typed, it should be perfect.  Now, what improvements need to be made for Friday?

This week
Over the next few days, we will be looking at introductions.  I will be asking the students to add a better introduction to their paper.

We will discuss dialogue and how to punctuate it.  We will discuss dialogue in more depth later in the year, but I will teach the basic idea.

I will also discuss how the beginning leads to the end. 

Finally, I want to give the students practice reading their pieces because I will be recording them on Friday and over the next week.  The oral reading should add to the piece, not take away from it. 

Here is the rubric for the narrative essay:



I will post the rubric for the oral reading in a day or two.  However, the reading grade is broken down like this:
D- the student just got up and read it, and the reading was lame
C- the student just got up and read it, and the reading was OK
B- it was clear that the student practiced and tried to use his voice to create interest
A- Well practiced with a loud, clear voice.  The reading was a joy to listen to.

Like I said, I will make a clear rubric soon.