ELA Weekly:
October 13 - October 16
Curriculum Manager Announcements
ELA Webinars (Grades 6-12)
7th Grade Writing: Changes to the 2016 STAAR Blueprint
The 7th grade Writing STAAR will now be shortened to 1 day, 4 hour assessment. Students will write one expository composition and will answer 30 Revising and Editing multiple choice questions. The breakdown of the test components is below:
Revising 13 questions, 13 possible points, 28% of test
Editing 17 questions, 17 possible points, 37% of test
Expository Essay 1essay, summed scorex2=16 possible points, 35% of test
TOTAL 1 essay, 30 MC, 46 possible points
This breakdown makes the expository essay worth more of the overall percentage of the exam than it was prior to the assessment changes. Students will need to score a 3 or 4 to be on track to pass the Writing STAAR.
Course Specific
6th Grade ELA
SpringBoard: Students will move back into the fiction genre through their SpringBoard Unit 2 this week. This week's lessons focus heavily on plot structure, story elements, and character development. Conflict and resolution are a key areas of focus this week, specifically in lessons 2.3 and 2.4. If students are struggling with the concepts of conflict and resolution, teachers can repeat the activities in lesson 2.4 with additional short stories from SpringBoard or other campus resources. As students read short stories, they should annotate plot elements (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). The plot diagram on TE page 69d can be completed at the conclusion of every short story reading, which will reinforce student identification of the elements of plot development.
Do-Nows: The focus TEKS for this week is 6.14D (homophones). The homophones students will encounter this week are commonly-misused words, such as their, there, they're, your, you're, etc. Students will need more practice outside of class with these words, and a 10-question homework assignment is a great way to continue the practice introduced through the Do-Nows.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8E2z/
September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8AMZ/ (SpringBoard 1.14/Expository Rubric and exemplars for EA 2)
7th Grade ELA
SpringBoard: Students will begin the expository unit this week. In order to adequately prepare students for informational text analysis in SpringBoard, teachers will use the next 14 days to explicitly teach the expository genre through reading and writing workshops. During Course Collaboration 2, teachers explored Achieve 3000 and NewsELA for Lexiled non-fictions texts. These two resources are highly recommended as teachers are planning the next 14 days. Students should be exposed to the five organizational patterns described in the curriculum documents with close readings of several expository texts.
Do-Nows: The focus TEKS for this week is 7.14D (homophones). The homophones students will encounter this week are commonly-misused words, such as their, there, they're, your, you're, etc. Students will need more practice outside of class with these words, and a 10-question homework assignment is a great way to continue the practice introduced through the Do-Nows.
Assessments: Interim Assessment 2 was adjusted to reflect the changes to the Writing STAAR. Interim Assessment 2 is the adjusted 2015 released Writing STAAR, and does not contain any reading multiple choice passages or questions because we will have a simulated Writing STAAR examination (1 day, 4 hours). However, IA 3 will be the 2015 released Reading STAAR. Students will continue to take Reading BWAs throughout Quarter 2 so teachers can monitor progress toward Reading skills.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8E2D/
September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8AN7/ (Strategies for teaching mythology)
September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zrR/
August 19th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zrU/
8th Grade ELA
New Addition to the ELA 8 Team and Family: Please help in giving a warm welcome to Ms. Claudia Pena! She will be the ELA 8 teacher at IDEA Mission. We are so excited to have you as part of our incredible team and we know you are going to do a wonderful job!
SpringBoard: SpringBoard Activity 1.21 and 1.22 are critical lesson this upcoming week. Both lessons focus on the skill of identify and selecting textual evidence when creating a response. This skill is key as students will need to effectively select textual evidence for Bi-Weekly Assessment 4 and 5. Make sure proper checks for understanding and annotations are taking place throughout the lesson. Some suggestions include the following:
- Select evidence from the text and display it on the board.
- Have students infer the meaning of this evidence as it relates back to a specific skill students need to master (i.e. imagery, author's purpose, tone, mood, etc.)
- Have students write their response in complete sentences with proper grammar.
- Have students conduct a Think-Pair-Share.
- Then outline follow up questions that you will ask students once the T-P-S is complete.
Literary Device Review: All literary devices resources have been upload to the The Hub under the Literary Devices tab. Please ensure proper planning and coverage of all literary terms. Some suggestions for mastery include the following:
- Level 1 Identification questions on Exit Slips to assess student knowledge of the term.
- Entrance quizzes that challenge the students to identify definitions to multiple literary devices (this can vary in length and time).
- Flashcards that students create at home and practice to ensure a tool is given for student usage.
- Clearly outlining study time in the Assign Yourself and communicate to parents the importance of independent review.
- Rationale: If students do not know the language of the question, they will not be able to effectively infer the correct response.
- Example: What was the overall tone of the selection? If students do not know what tone means they will be trying to answer a question they have no context or understanding about.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_S/
English I Pre-AP
SpringBoard: Unpacking the Assessment and SpringBoard Activity 3.2 and 3.4 are critical lessons during this week.
- Unpacking the Assessment is a critical step in this week's plan. As you unpack the assessment with students ensure that you are modeling the knowledge (what students should know how to do) and the skills (what students will learn) throughout the upcoming lessons.
- Please note: All teachers unpacked their upcoming EA at Course Collaboration 2. It should be posted in your classroom by Tuesday, October 13 Close of Business.
- This is one of the aspects Curriculum Mangers will be looking for during October and November observations. If the Unpacked Assessment is not present, the specific teacher will attend a differentiated session for this skill at Course Collaboration 3.
- SpringBoard Activity 3.2 introduces the components of a poem to students. Please be prepared to answer additional questions regarding poetic structures that arise in class. Annotating the poem and having students identify the components outline in the lesson is key to providing them with a visual of the term. Take the time to plan effective checks for understanding during this lesson.
- SpringBoard Activity 3.4 has students define terms and should be done for homework. Assign on Tuesday and Wednesday so that students can have the complete list of definitions as a resource for Thursday and Friday's lesson.
Literary Device Review: All literary devices resources have been upload to the The Hub under the Literary Devices tab. Please ensure proper planning and coverage of all literary terms. Some suggestions for mastery include the following:
- Level 1 Identification questions on Exit Slips to assess student knowledge of the term.
- Entrance quizzes that challenge the students to identify definitions to multiple literary devices (this can vary in length and time).
- Flashcards that students create at home and practice to ensure a tool is given for student usage.
- Clearly outlining study time in the Assign Yourself and communicate to parents the importance of independent review.
- Rationale: If students do not know the language of the question, they will not be able to effectively infer the correct response.
- Example: What was the overall tone of the selection? If students do not know what tone means they will be trying to answer a question they have no context or understanding about.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_U/
- September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Av6/
- September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_V/
English II Pre-AP
SpringBoard: Unpacking the Assessment and SpringBoard Activity 3.2 - 3.4 are critical lessons during this week.
- Unpacking the Assessment is a critical step in this week's plan. As you unpack the assessment with students ensure that you are modeling the knowledge (what students should know how to do) and the skills (what students will learn) throughout the upcoming lessons.
- Please note: All teachers unpacked their upcoming EA at Course Collaboration 2. It should be posted in your classroom by Tuesday, October 13 Close of Business.
- This is one of the aspects Curriculum Mangers will be looking for during October and November observations. If the Unpacked Assessment is not present, the specific teacher will attend a differentiated session for this skill at Course Collaboration 3.
- SpringBoard Activity 3.2-3.4 introduce key concepts that will be presented within Things Fall Apart. It is critical that you as the teacher plan effective and frequent checks for understanding and questioning that will help students prepare for the rich text they are about to engage with. Your questions should vary in difficulty and build up to the rigor that AP requires.
- Levels of questioning for these activities are key. Think of your questions in three levels - 1) Identify, 2) Analyze, 3) Create/Multiple Connections.
- Example: 1) Describe the setting. 2) How does the setting of Things Fall Apart effect the mood of the chapter? 3) How did the author's description of the setting and creation tone effect the audience. What role did the components play and why did he select them?
Literary Device Review: All literary devices resources have been upload to the The Hub under the Literary Devices tab. Please ensure proper planning and coverage of all literary terms. Some suggestions for mastery include the following:
- Level 1 Identification questions on Exit Slips to assess student knowledge of the term.
- Entrance quizzes that challenge the students to identify definitions to multiple literary devices (this can vary in length and time).
- Flashcards that students create at home and practice to ensure a tool is given for student usage.
- Clearly outlining study time in the Assign Yourself and communicate to parents the importance of independent review.
- Rationale: If students do not know the language of the question, they will not be able to effectively infer the correct response.
- Example: What was the overall tone of the selection? If students do not know what tone means they will be trying to answer a question they have no context or understanding about.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_X/
- September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Avc/
- September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Avb/
AP Language
SpringBoard: Students will begin Unit 2 this week, which focuses heavily on the argument essay. Argument was introduced at the beginning of the year, so students will have a basic understanding of this writing genre. Students will analyze media and targeted audiences, and begin to explore reasoning (inductive & deductive).
Archived Webinars: Please use the links below to view previous webinars:
September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8E2G/
September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8ANu/ (Norming the Synthesis Essay for IA 1)
September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zsh/
August 19th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zsi/
AP Literature
SpringBoard: Students will begin their study of three critical perspectives this week (Archetypal, Marxist, and Feminist), which will carry through Quarter 2. Students will also begin reading Pygmalion, exploring the text through a critical perspective. Lesson 2.5 introduces Pygmalion and analysis of archetypes. Teachers will need to develop a reading plan for students (or guide students in their development of a reading plan) to ensure that students are reading Pygmalion for homework in preparation for class discussions and activities. For guidance, teachers can view the reading plan on TE page 85d.
Archived Webinars: Please use the links below to view previous webinars:
September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8E2W/
September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8ANI/ (Implementing timed writings in class/Integration of poetry during prose lessons)
September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zsn/
August 19th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8zsm/