Tuesday

7th grade classes--We read an article in our Scope magazine today about singer/songwriter Taylor Swift. Miss Swift has some very interesting opinions about writing and believes that the lyrics make the music special. Students seemed very interested in what she had to say, and I hope some found some inspiration for their own writing projects. Writer's Workshop followed the article.

8th grade classes--All classes have now finished the film, October Sky, and once again I am pleased that students seemed to enjoy it. (It's a wonderful family drama, and students learned quite a bit of background knowledge about the Sputnik era and coalmining.) We used our viewing charts, which noted character qualities of John Hickam and Big John from the ballad, and started to organize our information. We used a T-chart to do so. As a matter of fact, the assignment for Wednesday is to finish filling in the T-chart for each character, selecting four of the most prevalent traits from the viewing chart and noting evidence about both Johns from the ballad and film.

Agenda: 2 RRJ's due Friday, October 30. Student choice: visualizing, determining important ideas, questioning. (To my homeroom, I have your RRJ's home with me tonight; you should have them back tomorrow, Wednesday.)

Fondly,
Mrs. V~