One thing I decided to do over the break was shave. AH! It feels good to get that scruffy, shag off my face. But it was well worth it. After period one asked, I promised not to shave throughout November if they won the food drive. Congratulations to period one! You amazed me with your generosity.
I trust you all had a great holiday break. Lots of turkey. Lots of shopping. Lots of rest. Did you shop on Thanksgiving day? Or did you wait until Black Friday? We had a good nonfiction reading and video on that topic in the standard class. I wonder what you all decided to do.
We'll keep looking at some nonfiction articles and speeches this week, but we are filling our time with other things as well.
First of all, we all have ACUITY testing on Tuesday. This will be the second quarter predictive test we'll all be taking. Our weak areas across the board had been recognizing nonfiction material, identifying the most precise and vivid sentences, and writing for clarity. We have used Tool Time and class time to focus on these areas. Hopefully, we will be able to see some progress on this test.
On Wednesday and Friday I have the computer lab (Lab B) reserved to help us prepare for the presentations that will start in a little over seven days. I trust we have watched our films a couple times and have completed a majority--if not all--of our books. We have taken copious notes and have narrowed our discussions down to some strong examples. As a reminder, here are the priorities you need to be focusing on:
1) Open with an effective, engaging hook to your topic
2) Introduce the material you used
A) title and author of the book
B) title and director of the documentary
3) Offer a summary of the information the material shared
A) this should be quick
B) this should be basic
4) Discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of the two mediums (book and film)
A) this discussion will include quotes from the text (sources and evidence comes in here)
B) this discussion will include excerpts from the film (sources and evidence comes in here)
5) Explain what the central idea of the book is and back it up
6) Explain what the central idea of the film is and back it up
7) OPTIONAL: Touch on the bias that might be evident in either piece
*this is optional because you might find that the material is not biased
8) Have an effective closing to the presentation
9) Be ready to handle the Q and A following the presentation
I'll be sharing some more ideas with you tomorrow to help you make sure you are preparing for this presentation the best way you can. We might have some trouble with the videos clips, but we are going to do the best we can to make sure that this goes over as effectively as possible. There will be a checklist and a rubric that you'll want to look at carefully too.
That leaves part of Monday and Thursday for our nonfiction articles/speeches. The goal is to have a group assessment followed by an individual assessment. The group assessment will be tackled this week while the individual will be something you will demonstrate the following week. Remember the four questions and the B--word.
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Three quick weeks and then winter break. This year is moving fast. Do your best to keep up.
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