Genesis: In reading, we continued Socratic discussion circles around the focus skill of inferencing texts.  Students interpreted both literature and integrated arts in these conversations.  We focused on how writers develop symbolism in their work, and we derived inferenced characteristics from authors’ use of this literary device.  In writing, students worked on revising run-on and incomplete sentences.  They developed various narrative drafts in order to practice these skills using their own writing.  I will be teaching four-line grammar minilessons next week in the heterogeneous classroom.

Genesis X:  We read A Light in the Forest during X Block time and will hold our discussions on the novel next week using our Literature Web thinking framework.

Legacy: We began the choice-motivated reading and writing workshop study that will span the remainder of Trimester 3.  Students reflected on what kind of writers they are, and we discussed how writers integrate nonfiction readings of human interest with form, genre, and style.  Students found their own human interest current events articles that will inform future writing projects.  In reading workshop, we considered how social context impacts the reading of texts–oftentimes, students want to read literature with a contemporary lens, which leads to misinterpretation.  Through a close study of the first two chapters of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, I modeled strategies readers use to investigate how their social contexts intersect with the social contexts of various literature selections.  We also investigated writing progress stages through a minilesson on the drafts of “One Art,” a villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop.  We noticed how her work evolved from free verse “scraps” into a polished, coherent final.  Students worked on their own independent reading and writing during workshop time.

Explorers: Our writing workshop week centered on creative and critical drafting inspired by Fahrenheit 451.  Students are developing their own points of view in their writing in order to improve their “6 Trait” skills as writers.  Instruction has been differentiated by individual writing conferences with students on their drafts.  Example topics from conferences include how to develop thesis statements, reduce wordiness, increase word choice specificity, create dialogue tags, introduce setting, organize outlines, avoid adverbs, use vivid verbs, and others.