Inference Summative and Start of Writing Unit

I couldn't post last night as I went to the UH football game and came home a little late. So here is yesterday's info. We took our inference summative that ends The Outsiders. Today, we started brainstorming ideas for our 5-paragraph essay on someone or something that has shaped you into the person you are today. We read a chapter from The Ultimate Gift to give the students an idea of people and events that can change people.

Work in class:
Read ch.3 of The Ultimate Gift- Click here to see it
Brainstorm ideas for essay

Homework:
Read RC
Continue brainstorm and paring down topic for essay

The Outsiders RC Test and Google Docs

Today the students took the RC test for The Outsiders, so many now have some points. After tomorrow's summative, we will be all done with The Outsiders and starting our new unit on writing a 5-paragraph essay. To get ready, we set up our Google Docs accounts so students will be able to use the program to write their papers.

Work in class:
RC Test
Set up Google Docs account

Homework:
Read RC

Done With The Outsiders

Today we finished up The Outsiders and did a discussion on the word choice of the author. It turns out it seemed a little feminine because S.E. Hinton was a 16 year old girl. So many of the interactions between the guys in the story were a little more touchy-feely than most boys would do. We will take the RC test tomorrow as a class. The computer lab opened up so we will be going in there tomorrow instead of doing our summative.

Work in class:
Read Ch. 12

Homework:
Read RC

Inference Formative 2

Today we took another formative to practice for our inferencing summative on Wednesday. Early indications are better than the first attempts at inferencing. Most of the students made inferences, but they were rather simple and obvious. So now it comes down to thinking a little less elementary, and a little more secondary. We will finish The Outsiders tomorrow.

Work in class:
Inference formative

Homework:
Read RC

At the Library

Today we finished up our library orientation and now the students should know how to use the library--if they didn't learn it over the past two years. Students were given the opportunity to look for and borrow RC books.

Homework:
Read RC

Chapter 9

The climax of The Outsiders happened today as the Greasers and the Socs had it out in a big rumble. Also, the death of Johnny brought a hush to the class. Afterward, the students had some time to write their summaries.

Work in class:
Read Ch. 9

Homework:
Read RC

More Inference Practice

Today we spent the day practicing making inferences. I returned the inference formative from last week so students know what they need to work on. I gave a presentation to go over the problems and also show the students examples of good answers. Then we did a practice where students looked a a picture and made inferences about what happened based on the evidence. Then, we read a passage from a book and the students made inferences based on it.

Work in class:
Inference presentation -- Click here to see it
Inference picture practice -- Click here
Paragraph inference on Mollie -- Click here

Homework:
Read RC

The Outsiders Chapter 8

Today we read chapter eight in The Outsiders. We are almost there as there are only a couple of chapters left. I updated edline today to include the grade for the inference formative. Results were not the greatest, so we will do a couple of more practices before we take the summative.

Work in class:
Read Ch. 8
Summarized Ch. 8

Homework:
Read RC

Chapter 7 and Movie Night

Just got home from movie night and for our first activity, it was very successful with about 65 students showing up. Hopefully there will be more activities to come.
In class today we read chapter 7 and it was a long one. Many interesting inferences could be made in this one. Soda's girlfriend going to Florida and Randy being figured by Pony as a possible hero; many interesting twists. Have a great three day weekend.

Work in class:
Read Ch. 7
Summarize Ch. 7

Homework:
Read RC
Summarize ch. 7 if not finished in class

Inference Formative

Today the students took the inference formative. Early indications don't look promising. We'll have to do a couple more lessons to get many up to speed on inferences. Many students wrote details. Afterward, students were given time to go to the library and read RC.

Work in class:
Inference formative
RC reading

Homework:
Read RC

Formative Prep

Today we worked on inferencing by correcting the inferences we made about Pony and Johnny's friendship.The students partnered up, exchanged papers, and used the rubric to grade the paper. In the end, it seemed as though the students graded a little higher than they should have. I went over what is considered "Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, and Novice" answers so I hope it helped. Formative tomorrow.

Work in class:
Inference review
Continued chapter 7

Homework:
Read RC

Chapter 6

Today was a reading day as we read chapter six together. Afterward, students summarized the chapter.

Work done in class:
Ch. 6
Summary

Homework:
Read RC

Finishing Up Five

Today the students finished reading chapter five on their own and had to answer questions. Then, the students practiced making inferences, having details from the book to back up the inference, and explaining how the details prove the inference. Afterward, they summarized the rest of the chapter.

Work in Class:
Finish Ch. 5
Question and inference sheet - Click here
Summarize Ch. 5

Homework:
Read RC

The Outsiders Chapter 5

We read chapter five in class today and didn't quite get finished. we will finish it up tomorrow.

Work done in  class:
Read Ch. 5

Homework:
Read RC

The Outsiders Ch. 4

We continued reading The Outsiders today as a whole class. Afterward, the students had some time to work on their summaries and dialogue sheets. The main idea of the unit is inferencing and this week we have added details to back up the inference. No longer can students just make inferences with out some kind of detail for support.

Work done in class:
Read Ch. 4
Summaries
Dialogue sheet

Homework:
Read RC

Lit Circles Day 2

We continued reading chapter three today in our lit circles. The students had the same job as yesterday and those sheets were collected today. Afterward, students needed to do the summary of chapter 3 and also finish their dialogue sheet. One difference from the past on the dialogue sheet is now they need a detail to back up their inference. For those that were absent or need a book, click here for an online copy.

Work in class:
Lit circle sheets - See yesterday's post
Summary
Dialogue Sheet

Homework:
Read RC
Do any work not completed in class

Chapter 3 Lit Circles

Today we read chapter three in literature circles where every student had a job to do. As the reader would read, the discussion director, the connector,  the character tracker, and for a few groups the travel tracer, would listen for parts of the story that fit their job. After a couple of pagers, the students would discuss what they had written. We will continue the circles tomorrow. As for the sheets, I'm having a little trouble getting them uploaded, so I'll try tomorrow at school.

Work done in class:
Read Ch. 3

Lit circle sheets:
Character Tracker - Click here
Connector - Click here
Discussion Director - Click here
Travel Tracer - Click here
Vocabulary Enricher - Click here

Homework:
Read RC

Close Reading of Chapter 2

Today the students were on their own reading in class. There was a sheet of questions the students needed to answer. Afterward, they needed to continue their summarizing of the chapters on the same sheet as chapter one. For those that finished early, there was an extra section on the worksheet. NOT EVERYBODY WILL DO THIS SECTION. Only those who finished their questions and summaries. Those who did not finish the questions were able to check out a book with a green "Late Work" slip. Since some are slow readers, this gives them the opportunity to finish the work for full credit. If they took the sheet home, they do not need to do the extra work on the back......unless they want to.

Class work:
Read Ch. 2
Close reading questions - Click here to see them
Summarize chapter 2 on the same sheet with chapter one summary
Do extra section

Homework:
Finish questions
Finish summary
Read RC

The Outsiders

Today we finished reading chapter one and started reading chapter two. Midway through the chapter, we stopped and did another section on or dialogue sheet. We also discussed making inferences when reading. Today we made an inference on where we think the story took place and we used evidence from the story to back up our inference. We think it is somewhere in Texas because of references to rodeos and many of the characters say "ya'll." We will start making inferences and now using evidence to back it up.

Work done in class:
Dialogue sheet for chapter 2
Summarize chapter 1
Handed out RC packet

Homework:
Summarize chapter 1 - if not completed in class
Get RC packet signed