On Tuesdays, we use "This I Believe" as our model for our Writer's Notebook entry. Today I asked, "Is it important to believe in something? Explain your answer."
We went back to our three excerpts (see below for titles) from yesterday and examined them for commonalities in the areas of diction, figurative language, tone, voice, theme, and syntax. I used Yoda to teach syntax because it's the easiest way to see the arrangement of words in a sentence. When Yoda says, "Patience you must have my young padawan," he's using inverted sentence structure. (I just discovered that I've been misquoting Yoda all these years. He never said, "Try you must." Can I even call myself a Star Wars fan anymore?!)
We wrapped up our time looking at the prompts for our summer reading essay that we'll write on Friday. Students will have time in class each day to plan and find quotes from their summer reading books to use in the essay. I'll also be sharing strategies for writing a good essay, focusing specifically on introductions, thesis statements, transitions, and conclusions.
Three Excerpts
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper (first 5 paragraphs at the link)
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (first 7 paragraphs at the link)
Educating Esme: Diary of a First Year Teacher by Esme Raji Codell (Februrary 1 entry at the link)
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