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The Plot chart thickens (part 2

9/28/2016

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After I have introduced the parts of the plot chart, and we’ve reviewed them with the short film, I have my students use the parts of the plot chart to organize an original creative writing piece. I ask them to get out a sheet of paper and number it 1-5. In every class, some student will raise her hand and ask if she needs to skip lines. I’ll say it doesn’t matter to me. She’ll have a look on her face that lets me know she’s uncomfortable with this no-rules, do-whatever-you-want, libertarian numbering system that will eventually lead to total anarchy in the classroom, so I tell her, I changed my mind. I want you to skip lines.

Once their papers are numbered, I tell them that I’ll be showing them five slides. Each of the five slides has four pictures on it. Using any criteria they come up with, they have to choose one picture from each slide and write down their choices on the numbered (and skipped) lines. These will be difficult decisions. Tough choices will be made. I let them know these are personal, so they don’t need to share them with their neighbor. Here are the five slides:


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Once they make their choices, we go back and I tell them what they will do with them. Beside number 1, I tell them to write protagonist. Number 2 is the sidekick. Number 3 will be the setting. Number 4 is the antagonist (usually there are collective groans from the people who now wish they’d chosen Justin Bieber here). The last slide is a magical item. They get to decide how and why it’s magical.

Now it's time to create their own story. The purpose of the story is to demonstrate an understanding of the plot chart, so I make them begin by mapping out their story using a blank plot chart. They have to decide beforehand where their story is going. The stories they write for this assignment are usually extremely and wonderfully weird. Taylor Swift and her unicorn sidekick (because if they picked Taylor Swift, they almost certainly chose the unicorn on the second slide) take on the evil villain Barney in the creepy abandoned amusement park with nothing but the all-powerful magical egg.

Some of the stories are written well, some of them are not. But overall, the students are very happy with what they’ve produced. The day they’re due, I have them share their stories in small groups and discuss the stories with each other. See if their classmates can pick out the initiating event, the climax, etc.

One thing I’m going to do this year is work in some grammar lessons using these stories. I noticed that most of them aren’t capitalizing proper nouns, so that will be something we will address. Since we are doing a graphic novel unit, I’m also going to have them turn their story into a one-page mini-graphic novel.

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The Plot Chart thickens (Part 1)

9/14/2016

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Teaching (or reviewing) the plot chart is usually one of the first things I do with my 6th grade English students. It provides a framework and vocabulary that we will use the rest of the year. Most of the students are familiar with it, but I’ve found it’s worth spending a couple of days on just to ensure we’re all on the same page. There are a million creative ways to teach it, but after much tweaking, I’ve landed on a way that I’m going to stick with. At least for one more year.

I begin by showing them this Oscar-nominated animated short. It’s six minutes long. You should watch it before you read the rest of this post. Do it. It’s that good​.​ ​

​After the video, and the certain emotional scarring that comes with that ending, I ask them to take a few notes. The only thing I have them do is write down the parts of the plot chart that we’ll be discussing during the year. I briefly explain each part and what I want them to know about it. Once the blank stares have turned into silent nods of comprehension, we watch the same short film again. This time, I pause it as we go so we can talk about the film and elements of the plot chart that we notice. It’s the same way I pause football games so I can point out things to my wife who is far more apathetic about that than my students are about the plot chart.

The video is great because there are so many discussions to have. We can debate about the antagonist. There are students who say it’s the bird and then the kids who are certain it’s the cocoon will speak up. I introduce the idea of characterization and we discuss how the filmmakers gave us information about the protagonist (mainly that she’s fat but determined) through the caterpillar’s actions. Information that would be relevant to understanding the main conflict of the story. There’s even foreshadowing in the exposition in the form of a literal shadow.

Once we’ve watched and discussed the video the second time, and after it’s clear the students have a good grasp on the plot chart, we move on to a writing assignment. I’m going to wait until the next post to explain the writing assignment to avoid any tl;dr comments.


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Google Homework Calendar

9/7/2016

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Picture
​Google Homework Calendar
  Homework is pretty controversial these days. Some give it. Some don’t. There are lots of articles out there about why it’s good and why too much is harmful. Google it.
  In years past, our 7th grade ELA team didn’t assign much homework. Basically, we ended up giving homework for any classwork that wasn’t finished on time. So yeah. Not much homework.
  This year, it’s not that we WANTED to give more homework, but we did want to create some meaningful learning experiences for our students outside of the classroom. We wanted to really meet them in some mediums they enjoyed, but also push them to make connections and think a little more deeply about their experiences.
  We decided to assign some purposeful, meaningful learning to take place at home. Some may call it homework, but we’re confident that our new Google Homework Calendar will have some great benefits!

The Plan
So, we created a rotation of 4 assignments per six weeks to be distributed through Google Classroom. Here’s our outline:


Picture
  As you can see, our rotation is hitting mediums that our students are usually already interested in: we’re watching/listening to music videos, we’re watching YouTube videos, we’re reading about current events, and we’re writing about issues that are important. And since we’re teaching ELAR skills, we can really choose topics that interest our students as well.

How it works
  So, each Friday an assignment is posted on Google Classroom, and it is due the next Thursday night. That’s one daily grade a week for the six weeks, and then on the fifth week, they’ll have no homework if they’ve stayed up-to-date with their assignments. If they haven’t, they’ll have that week to do some make-up work. Those 4 daily grades are then averaged together to create a major grade for the six weeks. This grading system really helps put emphasis on these assignments and the fact that they’re not just dumb and meaningless. We actually want the students to work hard on these.

  Additionally, we’ve built in some safeguards to differentiate and help our students become successful on these assignments. The first safeguard is that this first six weeks of school, we’re going through and modeling each type of assignment. This will help reinforce and clarify our expectations. Secondly,  on Thursdays, we’re using our Bellwork time at the beginning of class to go over the week’s assignment. That way, students can ask clarification questions and still have a chance to assess and adjust their own answers before they’re due that night.

  As far as grades go, we’re really pushing them to think deeply and defend their answers with text evidence. Here’s our grading rubric:
Google Homework Grading Rubric
  • Did your responses show a thoughtful understanding of the assignment?
  • If required, did you provide reflective and meaningful examples?
  • Are your thoughts properly organized in a way that makes sense to the reader?
  • Is your assignment complete?
  • If written responses were required, did you use complete sentences and show appropriate grammar usage?
  • Are you proud of the work that you are submitting?

Benefits
  Since we just started, we’re still adjusting, but I’ve already noticed some positive outcomes. The first being that we’re giving and taking a grade on much more meaningful assignments. As teachers, I hope I’m not alone here in saying, sometimes grading meaningful work is SUPER time consuming, often exhausting, and sometimes overwhelming. I like these assignments because they are short enough to grade, but deep enough to really assess the mastery of skills. I just finished grading the first Music Musing, and I felt really good about it. I felt like their time wasn’t wasted on a stupid assignment, and my time wasn’t wasted grading it. I learned more about them and their skills from grading this assignment, and to me, that’s a victory. The second benefit I see is this reinforcement that we really do use our ELAR skills in every aspect of our lives. We’re constantly reading things, analyzing videos, making connections, and drawing inferences. Having assignments where the students can transfer reading and writing skills to real-world activities is invaluable.

  Overall, we’re happy to test out this new plan. I’ll be giving you updates throughout the year--what’s working and what we’ve tweaked.

  But now I want to know. What are your thoughts on homework? Good? Bad? What do you do to create meaningful, gradable assignments in and out of the classroom? Let us know!

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