Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Student-Lead Conferences Day II

Another long night tonight, but it's all worth while if I get to meet some parents.  Can't wait!

Today we looked at theme in the honors class.  We agreed that it

-was the central idea of a piece of writing
-shared the point the author was trying to get across
-was the moral
-was universal in scope
-was a stated in a sentence, not a single word (like courage)

When it came to the theme in "All Summer in a Day" one class emphasized the importance of thinking through decisions before acting.  Another class stressed the power of jealousy and how it makes us act. Period 6? I'll find out in an hour.  the classes offered support and argued for their selection in a debate.  Good material.

As you can tell from the Acuity tests, knowing how to identify themes is an important skill.  You will be tested on it again so we will be working on it often this year.

The standard class had a good discussion on "All Summer in a Day".  We didn't get to theme, but we still managed to demonstrate our understanding of the text and dig a bit into character motivation and development.

Tomorrow we will write for 45 minutes.  Be sure you have a good topic you feel fired up about.   It would also behoove you to have some research handy.  Facts, figures, quotes and evidence will all add credibility and strength to your paper.  Remember, you will be writing this essay tomorrow and won't have access to a computer.  I also will not be allowing any printing tomorrow. Bring what you need to school tomorrow so that you are prepared.

Until next time...

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