Here is what we did today.

This is today's daily page.

Section 1

Objectives:

Students will have a better idea of how to write their introduction.

Agenda:

Take the vocab test on unit 6

Watch this video on introductions for argument essays.

Score two more debates. We need to do two debates a day!

Here is the schedule for the debates and the winners.

Work time on the next practice essay.  Homework: Have a T-Chart ready. Read pages 11-15.

Sections 2 and 3

Objectives:

Students will have organized the evidence from the articles in an outline to support their claim that students should be required to stay in school until they are 18. (Please see the outline I have provided below.)

Students will have a better idea of how to write their introduction.

Students will have finished a second practice essay.

Agenda:

Watch this video on introductions for argument essays

Work time on the essay which is due by the end of the period Thursday.

(Since we are practicing this as a timed writing assignment, the final piece will be hand written.)

Standards

CC.8.W.1 Text Types and Purposes: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CC.8.W.1.a Text Types and Purposes: Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

CC.8.W.1.b Text Types and Purposes: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

Argumentative Essay Outline and Checklist

____ Hook: Give the background for the discussion you are about to have.

____ Precise Claim: Students should be required to stay in school until they are 18.

____ Reason 1: There are positive effects from raising the age.

____ (Evidence: Discuss the Obama speech.)

____ Reason 2: Graduates will earn more money over their lifetime.

____ (Evidence: Chart)

____ Reason 3: Dropouts will suffer

____ (Evidence: Part of the interview discussed these.)

Counter Claims

____ There are some valid reasons why students need to drop out. (Letter)

____ Just raising the age does not fix everything. (Interview- pathways)

____ The main problem is economic, which we cannot fix. (Interview)

Conclusion

____ While we can’t solve all the problems, students should be required to stay in school until 18.

Quick update

Homework:
Section 1 will take the unit 6 vocab quiz tomorrow.
Sections 2 and 3 will be completing an essay in class tomorrow. 
Please check HAC to see if you have any missing work.  

Argument Resources
Rubric
4ish Samples for Second Language Essay 
(I commented on these so you can see what I am looking for.)


If you are interested, here are the pictures I took from the wrestling match yesterday:
 Wrestling Pictures.

The end of the marking period is Thursday!

PLEASE check HAC to make sure I have all of your work in.  If not, e-mail me.

For example, if you have MIS in your Value of Work essay, I do not have it!  Copy and paste a copy into an e-mail: bradford.bosler@redclay.k12.de.us .

Section 1 should finish unit 6 vocabulary and page 82.  You will have a quiz Wednesday.
Section 1 will also have two debates tomorrow.  You know who you are.  Be ready to win!

Sections 2 and 3 have an essay due at the end of the period Wednesday. We will have lots of time to work over the next two days.

Today was interesting.

I did not see Section 1.  For tomorrow, Section 1 students should be done the Choosing the Right Word in the vocabulary book.  The two debaters, Justin and Ryan, should be ready to go.  I had asked students to be done a practice essay for tomorrow, but I had planned on talking about the essay in class today.  The essay can be due Monday.

In sections 2 and 3 we looked at student examples from the language writing prompt.  We read through some student examples I scored as a 3 and the book sample which I think is a 4.  Before today's class, I gave all their practice essays a quick score.  I will enter their score as a formative grade tomorrow.  I will post the examples and a rubric in another blog entry.

Sections 2 and 3 have no homework, unless they need to make up the practice essay because they were absent.

Section 1: What are we doing in class?

Section 1 is writing the same practice essay as sections 2 and 3.  Refer to the previous post for the details.  I asked the students to read the two articles and take notes tonight.  They should be ready to organize an essay tomorrow, which means they need to be familiar with the articles.

They also have Choosing the Right Word unit 6 due tomorrow.


Debate Update:
We had our first debate today between Preeti and Vedant.  It was AMAZING!  They were both so well prepared!  At this point, the class knows what I expect of them.

The students voted on who won using the responders.  They came up with a tie!  Surprisingly, I scored the debate as a tie as well!  I have a scoring method that I have used forever.  I score the debate with points that could translate into a grade, but I am holding off on giving a strict grade right now.


Students should come prepared with the following:

First Round

Introduction

• A hook that grabs our attention.
• A precise claim (what they will prove in their debate).
• State the 1, 2, 3, (4) things that will be discussed.  

Stop

• Go through each of the three main reasons which support your claim.  
• Explain with enough detail, but not too much. There has to be a balance.
• Don't bore us with lists.  Be sure to use evidence from from researched sources.
• By the end of this round you should have blown us away!
• I suggest students create some type of visual.  I give extra points, which could change who wins!

Second Round

• While the first round is being delivered to the class, the opponent takes notes.
• In this round you get points for repeating what the opponent said.
• You get points for refuting your opponent's reasons logically.
• This round is hard to prepare for.  Try to anticipate what your opponent could say during the debate and come prepared with some evidence to refute them!

Third Round

• Tie up any loose ends that need to be addressed.
• Restate your claim and how you proved it using 1, 2, 3.
• Also mention how you refuted you opponent's main reasons logically.
• The end!

Sections 2 and 3: What are we doing in class?

Sections 2 and 3 are writing a short argumentative essay on the following topic:

Should all U.S. students be required to speak at least one language besides English?

Here are the notes we took from the two articles.  Now students should use one of the two outlines provided below to organize their thoughts.  Students have until the end of class tomorrow to finish the essay.  I will read through them and provide feedback.  The essay will be a formative grade between 80% and 100%, assuming all the required parts are included.

We will do one more practice essay.  Then the students must do the whole process on their own.  We will start the second essay on Thursday. I need to prepare them for the essay they will write for the state test.

Reasons they should be required to speak on language besides English

Reasons they should NOT be required to speak on language besides English

What reasons do the articles have to support they SHOULD be required? 1.     Many countries outside of the United States require their children to learn another language. 2.     We need to hold up our end of the cross-cultural conversation. 3.     Information on the Internet is available in multiple languages. 4.     Law enforcement and intelligence agencies need people who speak other languages. 5.     Improves vocabulary skills 6.     Stimulates memory 7.     Develops patience and close attention. 8.     Students are exposed to another culture. 9.     It’s not a burden if done early. 10.  Improves cognitive development 11.  Enhances academic skills 12.  Sense of wonder 13.  Looks good to colleges

What reasons do the articles have to support they SHOULD NOT be required? 1.     The rest of the world is already learning English. 2.     It is a burden to learn a language in high school. 3.     Waste of money because of empty language stalls. 4.     Waste of time a.     80% only do it because they have to. b.     Do it only because colleges require it. c.     They don’t achieve fluency. d.     We give high grades for minimal progress. e.     Our intelligence agencies higher foreigners if they need someone to speak another language.

General Outline #1

Paragraph 1

Claim: Students should be required to learn a second language.

Reason 1 + Explain

Reason 2 + Explain

Reason 3 + Explain

Paragraph 2

Counter Claims: There are those who believe students should not be required to learn a second language.

They believe…

They also believe…

They also believe…

Paragraph 3

Refute the counter claim: Even though some believe students should not…, they are wrong.

Explain why each one is wrong.

Conclusion: You have proven that students should be required to learn a second language.

General Outline #2

Paragraph 1

Claim: Students should be required to learn a second language.

Reason 1 + Explain

Reason 2 + Explain

Reason 3 + Explain

Paragraph 2

Counter Claims: There are those who believe students should not be required to learn a second language.

They believe….

            However, explain they are wrong.

They also believe…

            However, explain they are wrong.

They also believe…

            However, explain they are wrong.

Conclusion: You have proven that students should be required to learn a second language.

Quick Post

Sections 2 and 3 will not have homework for about two weeks.
We are just going to be focusing on argumentative essays in class. Students will be completing assignments in class for formative grades.  I will post the assignments when I get time.

Section 1 DOES have homework.  
Tonight's homework is the pictionaries for unit 6 in the vocabulary.
Students have also been assigned a debate topic.  Their debates are scheduled below.
(The debates are for pride and a formative grade.  I expect students to prepare so they will do well. More details will follow.  The first few get the breaks.  The longer we do them, the more I will expect.)

Here is the debate schedule: The brown column does the opposite.

The Value of Work Essays and Samples

I finished grading the Value of Work essays for all three classes.  

Scoring an essay is subjective, even when there is a clear rubric.  Each essay has its strengths and weaknesses, which makes it hard to place the essay specifically on a grade scale.  That is why I love giving feedback using Google Docs. That said, I did not give detailed feedback for section 1.  Sorry. I spent my time helping sections 2 and 3.

If you feel that your essay is scored too low, or if you would like me to offer give you some feedback, please e-mail me and I will look at it again.

Here are a few samples that might help you understand how I scored your essay.  You might want to start with the B.  In that essay, the student basically followed the outline and did a decent job explaining.  

A+  Sample: Way above requirements
A+  Sample: Amazing depth
A    Sample: Mostly what I was expecting
A    Sample: Basically what an A looks like
B    Sample: Solid B
C-   Sample: Lowest possible C

An average 8th grade student will not have a perfect paper; therefore, the score of a C should be easy enough to attain.  If the student followed directions and attempted the essay, the lowest the grade should be is a 70.  

*Note: I did not focus too heavily on the grammar.  This was a very complicated essay, and I was looking to see what the students said.

A:
Three body paragraphs explained very well with precise examples
Has student written hook and thesis which grabs and directs
Very few if any distracting grammar errors

B:
Three body paragraphs
All colored sections are discussed and mostly correct
Student has written a hook and thesis which attempts to grab and direct
A few distracting grammar errors, but not too bad.

C:
Three body paragraphs
All sections were attempted
Uses my hook and thesis
Although grammar is not my main focus, try not to have too many errors.

D:
1-2 body paragraphs
Most sections were attempted
Weak discussion of the required sections
Uses my hook and thesis
Although grammar is not my main focus, try not to have too many errors.

59%:
Student hands in something.

Value of Work essays are graded for section 2

When I am done section 3, I will post some links to excellent samples so you can see what I was looking for.

-MrBoZ

Grade updates for MrBoZ

I entered the scores for the quotation marks quiz for all classes.

I also scored the value of work essays for section 1.  I am missing some essays, so you might want to check your grades.  I did not make a lot of comments.  I read them and scored them.  I will post model essays later so you can see what I was looking for and compare.

I am planning to grade sections 2 and 3 today or tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying your break.

-MrBoZ