Today the students had a work-on-your-own day where they had the majority of class time to work on their argumentative essay rough drafts. Once the students finished, they were instructed to generate three questions they had about their work. I also provided the following examples to assist them:
- Is my essay clearly written?
- Is my essay engaging?
- Is my essay persuasive enough?
- How can I make my essay more ____________?
If time allowed, the students were permitted to work quietly in pairs to conduct a Mini-Charette where they swapped paper with their partner, read their partner’s work silently, drafted any thoughts or questions that arose while reading their partner’s work, and finally they discussed these questions plus the questions generated by the paper’s author. This workshopping technique provided the students with another perspective on their work. The students who did not finish early will be doing a more in-depth version of this in class tomorrow.
Before class came to an end, we debriefed on the writing process and I addressed any questions, comments, or concerns that arose. We then took a moment to recognize those who had taken the time this weekend to log onto KidBlog.org. As stated Friday, those students will receive an additional 10 points onto their lowest quiz grade.
Homework:
- Read for 30 minutes.
- Study the lesson 5 vocabulary words (quiz on Friday, October 10th)
- Log onto KidBlog.org before Wednesday’s class (information on the PowerPoint or in Friday’s blog post)
- Wednesday will be a BYOD day.
PowerPoint:
