Grades have been updated. Please check HAC!

Grades for the third marking period are almost done for me.  

The end of the 3rd marking period is next Friday. 

 This week we have three days of testing in class. 

 We are also in the middle of the Diary of Anne Frank.  

Upcoming Grades for 3rd MP

1. Quiz on the first three groups of words tomorrow, Monday.
2. Completed Diary of Anne Frank What You Should Know sheet (Graded on completion)

Upcoming Grades probably counting for 4th MP

1. Multiple choice test on the Diary of Anne Frank
2. Diagram of characters which shows characterization, conflicts, quotes. (More about this later)
3. Section 1: recreate the introduction of Mr. Dussel to the families in the attic.  This will be a group project where students write a script and act it out for the class.  It will be recorded.
4. Sections 2 and 3: I need to see what these classes would like to do.  I have some options.  

Here are the summative assignments we have done this marking period.  We have done a lot of writing.  I hope the students are prepared for the Smarter Balance tests.  I have been practicing what they need to do for the both types of writing they will see on the test.

Assignment	Explanation
03/13 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 1.00 Immigrant Experience Constructed Response	Writing: Four paragraph constructed response
01/29 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 3.00 Argument Essay: Social Media	Writing: Five + paragraph essay citing multiple sources
02/12 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 1.00 Long Answer for Bobby Fisher	Writing: 200 - 400 word response to one question
02/12 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 1.00 Bobby Fisher Theme Piece	Writing: 5 paragraph essay (section 1 only)
02/26 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 0.50 Nurzhan's Role in Conflict Question	Writing: 200 - 400 word response to one question
02/06 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 1.00 Literary Terms Unit 1&2	Literary Vocabulary
02/06 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 1.00 Literary Vocabulary in Bobby Fischer	Writing: 5 sentence responses to multiple questions discussing how the literary vocabulary was used in Bobby Fischer
02/12 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 0.25 Unit 7 Vocab Quiz	Section 1 only
02/27 SUMAS Pts: 100.00 Wgt: 0.50 My Fav Chaperone Test	Multiple Choice test

We finished Act I of the Diary of Anne Frank

Homework:
I will give a quiz MONDAY on the first three groups of words.  Practice here.
(I did not stress this enough this week.  I want students to be prepared.)

Warm-up: If you would like to read the play at home, it can be found on this page. Here is the play: Google Doc version of the play I will be marking up. Who said these quotes? Burn them.  All of them. (Mr. Frank- not a quality quote for him.) I’ve got to go to the other side of town to get some ration books for you. (Miep- Not a quality quote for her.) I’m sort of a lone wolf. (Peter- This is a good quote for him.) And Anne hasn’t had her milk . . . (Mrs. Frank- Not a good quote.) You’ll be all right, Peter? You’re not afraid? (Mrs. Van Dann- Not a good quote.) Mother is unbearable. She insists on treating me like a baby, which I loathe. (Anne- Not a good quote.) No. No. (Mr. Van Dann- Not a good quote.)               (Margot- it's a joke.  She did not speak yet.) Objectives: Students will identify the initial incident which starts the rising action. Students will continue to complete the worksheet focusing on the characters' internal conflicts. Agenda: Continue to listen to the play. Stop at key moments to fill in the sheet. Standards CC.8.R.L.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CC.8.R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or dr

What we did today

The Diary of Anne Frank (Started Mar. 11)

Worksheets:
     What you should know by the end of the play      Google Doc / Word Doc

Link to our online book

Warm-up Have you turned in your essay? Hand back the immigrant sheets from the sub day. Quiz on all 35 words on Friday Objective: Students will understand what they are responsible for knowing for the Diary of Anne Frank. Students will have a general idea of the stage. Students will begin start to locate and highlight what they need to know in their Close Readers. Agenda: Copy what they need to know into their close readers. Go through the stage directions slowly and view pictures of the interpretations. Begin reading the play to establish setting and characters. What should you be able to do after reading The Diary of Anne Frank? Know the background and setting of the play    World War II    How Jews were persecuted and outcome Know each of the characters:     Physical description    Relationship to others    Personality    Identify important quotes said by each Explain the conflicts     External- between other characters and world    Internal- Struggles to understand self Plot the story     Important events that add tension    Identify the climax    Explain the resolution Be able to explain the theme and its development over the course of the play

Here is what we did today

I entered a grade for the worksheet students completed with the sub yesterday.  We are done with immigrants.  We are now starting the Diary of Anne Frank.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Warm up:  Critical Vocabulary 1-3 Quiz on responders Collect My Favorite Chaperone Essay Objectives: Students will have been introduced to the drama terms they will need to know for the Diary of Anne Frank. Students will have been introduced to Anne Frank so they have a background for reading the play. Students will have started listening to the play. (The overall goal is to have students know the story of Anne Frank and her message as conveyed by the playwrights.  We will then compare the choices made by the producer of the modern video version of the story.) Agenda: Go through the Power Point on drama and fill in the sheet. Watch this video on Anne Frank. Standards: CC.8.R.L.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.

Study this combined set of vocab words for tomorrow.

With the sub today, students should have finished a worksheet AND studied for this combined set of words.  I will give a quick quiz on these tomorrow.  

http://quizlet.com/74488325/combo-with-critical-vocabulary-set-1-contribute-style-and-2-others-flash-cards/

See you tomorrow.

I hope you have all finished your My Favorite Chaperone written piece.

I would still like students to finish the immigrant piece for Friday, regardless of the snow.

This essay has been homework since last Thursday.

Here is the easiest piece to write.

Students can use their e-book, but they were given time with the real books last week.

Topic: In “My Favorite Chaperone,” the writer conveys immigrants' experiences in America through the use of characters such as Maya and her family and the events they go through (the plot).

Now go through the story and list the experience for each of the characters:

Papa Compare the old life to the new in America	Momma Compare the old life to the new in America
Maya Compare Americans to parents’ traditions	Nurzhan Example: Teased and fights (line 110)
Custodian and the aunt who moved	Shannon’s family compared to Maya’s

Now write the piece starting with Papa.  Explain his immigrant experience in America from the story.  Then Momma.  Then start comparing them to the experience the children had.  There are other characters as well.

I have already offered time for feedback, which many students have not taken advantage of.  

Students can hand write these, turn in a Word Document here, or share their Google Doc with mrbozhb@gmail.com .  

Have you shared your immigrant experience piece with me through Google Docs?

I don't know how you spent your snow day, but I spent from 7:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. giving feedback on the immigrant essays.  Please read through my feedback and reply.  That way I know you have revised.

If you have not written your piece yet, what are you waiting for?

These are due Friday, March 6.

-MrBoZ

Rewrite Option for Nurzhan Question

On the Smarter Balance test, students will be expected to write longer answers to questions which will be hand scored by people.  By longer I mean about 6-8 sentences.  But the length does not matter as much as really proving the topic sentence.

The scores are on HAC.  I feel that many students could do better.  I will hand back the scored pieces tomorrow and give them the option to rewrite the response.

I am going to stress again that they follow the outline provided below.

              Nurzhan Question
                      Brainstorming Sheet (Google Doc)
                                                       (Word Doc)

What role does Nurzhan play in resolving the conflict?

(You may type and submit this online.  See link onWednesday, February 25, on my daily pages.)

Rubric: Response is an evidence-based explanation that provides two pieces of evidence from the source that support the claim and clarify why each is a good example.

Organization:

Restate the question in your topic sentence:
           Example: Nurshan plays a large role/no role/some part in resolving the

                            conflict in “My Favorite Chaperone.”
Explain the conflict.
Explain the effect of Nurzhan on the conflict.
Explain the role he had in resolving the conflict.

Assignments Due

The 25 questions for My Chaperone are due now.  Have them tomorrow if needed.

Students will have answered one of the seven questions from page 28 in their text books.  This will be about six sentences proving they understand the story and can pull details to answer. They will submit this Wednesday. (See below)


Students will have written a long answer response on My Favorite Chaperone.  That is due Friday.  The response should be between 500-700 words or so.  There should be many details used from the story to explicate the theme.  Here is the brainstorming sheet.


Finally, students will take a quick multiple choice assessment on My Favorite Chaperone using the responders.  We will discuss the results as practice for standardized testing.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for Mr. Bosler's upcoming assignments

HOMEWORK:
 I would like students to finish reading My Favorite Chaperone using their online books.  Each student in class today was shown how to do this.  They should also answer the questions.

Here is the book.
Here are the questions.
Share your questions with me so I can grade them: mrbozhb@gmail.com
E-mail me if you need your username and password again: mrbozhb@gmail.com

The close reading questions the students are responsible for are good for discussing the story as we read.  They are asking the students to analyze.  And I still want them all answered and ready for discussion so they can be checked for accuracy soon.

Here is what I have created for the next few pieces of writing. 
 It is a work in progress and will be on this page.  

The writing for Smarter Balance requires students to write extended responses which have a clear focus and use multiple pieces of evidence from texts.  At the conclusion of this unit, students will have read multiple pieces on the theme of immigrants.  They will be asked to write an expository essay on the experiences of immigrants.  

Essay 1: Due March 2nd-ish

I would like the students to write an essay on My Favorite Chaperone first. (Different classes will have different length expectations. Grade based on supports.)

How are the events in the rising action magnified (worse) for Maya's family because they are immigrants?  Contrast the American experience with the immigrant experience. Describe how the writer conveys the immigrants' experience in America through the use of characters such as Maya and her family. Go through each character and describe what we learn from each. Find at least three uses of imagery in the story that express the immigrant's experience in America.  Describe how these external images reflect the internal experiences of the characters in the story. To get started on these all of these, go through the story and compile examples of the immigrants' experiences in America.  For example, early in the story Maya's brother was being bullied.  However, we come to find that the custodian at the school was bullied the same way when he was younger.

Ven Diagram: Due March 5?

I would then like them to compare and contrast the experiences of those characters with the experience of the author of the memoir Bonne Annee.  This can be a shorter piece, or maybe even just a graphic organizer or brainstorming.

Research

Students will then research informational articles.  One article we will read is from our book: A Place to Call Home- What Immigrants Say About Life in America.  Students will learn to take notes.  They will also be expected to find one or two more sources on their own, or I will copy articles if they do not have computer access due to testing.

Expository Essay: Date to be determine

I will help the students to organize their essays around a focusing statement.  For example, being an immigrant in America is hard. They could then go through the three pieces they read, discussing how each piece helped them to arrive at that conclusion.

Students could also discuss various aspects of being an immigrant that were covered in all three pieces.  For example, immigrants feel more stress than citizens of the country.  (I don't know if that is true.  I am just throwing that out there.)  They will have three body paragraphs, one on each aspect.  Within each paragraph, they will use examples from the three pieces.

I will have better outlines as we approach the time to organize and write.

Hopefully we will have computer access so students can type the essay up in class. 

Interims are Friday

We discussed irony using this picture.

Each student was given a grade slip and the make-up work today.  That work needs to be returned ASAP.

We started a new story today, "My Favorite Chaperone."  We will be reading the story in class and applying the skills I taught during Searching for Bobby Fisher.

I suggest students read the story in their online book.
          This way they can read the story twice. (starts on page 3)

I suggest students take time to answer these questions well.
         I will eventually ask them to submit answers to some of them for a grade,  like I did for the movie.

If a student needs his/her login for the book, please e-mail me: mrbozhb@gmail.com.

Section 1 HAC update

Think SNOW

I read the Bobby Fischer theme pieces submitted using Google Docs.  I provided feedback using comments.  What I found is I should have limited the topics.  My questions required too much writing to fully explain, yet I had asked the students to shoot for 500 words.  I should have made questions that were more focused.  Therefore I scored the writing looking at if the students could identify the theme of the movie and generally explain how the screenwriter conveyed the theme.  The best pieces were over 1000 words, unfortunately.

If a student did not get an A, he/she may rewrite the the piece for a higher grade.  Students who earned an C had very short pieces.  If you have questions about your score, please e-mail me.
-MrBoZ

Note- I was going to have sections 2 and 3 write these as well, but I decided that the questions I have graded were enough.

Scoring the long answer questions for Bobby Fischer

I would like to open the results of my scoring for discussion, for those who would like to participate.

I have made a page with all the long answer responses and the scores I gave them.  I would be curious to see if you agree with my scores.

For example, do you see any places where I gave a response a 95% or above where there is an 85% that is just as good?

Rubric I used in my head to score.

• The response had a topic sentence.
• The response had multiple, well explained examples from the movie.
• The paragraph had few errors that interfered with understanding.
• The response proved the writer understood the movie.

If you have a Google account, make a detailed comment explaining why one of my scores should be changed.  Be sure to refer to other answers using specific details.  Refer to the number on the left when discussing other answers.

I have entered some grades on HAC

I entered two grades taken on Friday.

The first is see how the students could apply the literary vocabulary to the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.  They were to go to this form and answer the questions with sufficient details from the movie.  I graded each answer on its accuracy and supports. This counted as a summative.


The second grade was formative.  This is one of two questions students must answer.  Students were to brainstorm these questions.  I told them that I would choose two of them.  Ultimately, I allowed them to do the one the felt the most confident about.  On Monday or Tuesday, students will answer a second question.  This time I hope they use a lot more details! I will grade the second question as a summative.

Section 1 had two other grades entered Friday.  We are done the literary and critical vocabulary tests.

Sections 2 and 3 took the literary vocabulary test as a formative.  We have been studying these words and I wanted to see how much they have learned.  They will have time to practice these words this week and take another test as a summative.

This is the list of literary vocabulary as well as the Quizlet practice page.
This is the list of critical vocabulary as well as the Quizlet practice page.

Our goal for this coming week is to wrap up applying the literary vocabulary to the movie and then apply them to the short story called The Chaperone. 

Finishing Bobby Fischer: Assessment

Here is what the students are working on today and tomorrow:

Objectives:

Students will have worked on the 500 word piece on how the author's choices helped convey the theme of Searching for Bobby Fisher.

Students will have typed up their answers/notes for the comprehension assessment on Friday.

Students will have practiced the literary and critical vocabulary they will need for Friday's quizzes.

Agenda:

Section 1 will enter their vocabulary homework into the responders.

Students will work on their theme discussion for part of the period. (Due by end or period Friday.)

See this page for the themes.

See this page for the words you should include in your piece.

Share your Google Doc with mrbozhb@gmail.com or use this page to turn in the document

Here is the script if you need it.

You might find this article interesting.

Students can then collaborate on answering these questions for Friday.

Copy and paste these questions into a Word document. (You can use these notes on Friday.)

Your answer should restate the question in the answer.

Your answer should be detailed and to the point.  Not too long or too short.

Practice using these Quizlets for Friday's quizzes.

Literary Terms

Critical Vocabulary

Standards

CC.8.R.L.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine a theme or central idea of a textand analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

 CC.8.R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

 CC.8.R.L.6 Craft and Structure: Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use ofdramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

CC.8.L.6 Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.