ELA Weekly:
January 25 - January 29
Curriculum Manager Announcements
ELA Webinars this Week!
7th Grade Essay Benchmark Added!
Course Specific
6th Grade ELA
Webinar: Teachers will receive support as they begin to integrate expository texts and poetry in the Holes novel unit. Strategies and key opportunities will be discussed, as well as examples of expository texts and poetry will be shared with teachers.
SpringBoard: Students will continue reading Holes this week, focusing on character analysis and plot development. As students are reading the novel, they should continue to write in their Double-Entry Journals as well. Activity 3.16 prepares students for the literary analysis they will write for the EA, and students will probably need explicit guidance as they begin analyzing Stanley through a topic sentence-details/commentary-concluding sentence paragraph. Since an analysis essay will be new to most students, teachers should anticipate limited knowledge around this writing genre, and should plan for modeling the thinking process (using a graphic organizer to develop a draft of the character analysis) and writing process at each step. The key to a strong literary analysis essay is the use of textual evidence to support ideas, so students should always be referencing text when discussing or writing about what they read.
Do-Nows: In Quarter 3, teachers will choose the focus TEKS for the Do-Nows that meet the needs of individual classrooms. Teachers should continue to use the template for the Do-Nows, located on the Hub in the Quarter 3 folder. The curriculum Unit Map outlines which TEKS teachers should focus on each week, and teachers should use this list to choose from as they decide which skills to reteach during the Do-Nows. This week’s focus should include one of the following TEKS: (EDITING): 6.20A (capitalization); 6.20B (punctuation); 6.19A (verb tenses and subject/verb agreement); 6.14D (homophones, pronoun usage); 6.21A (commonly confused words)
Assessments: The next Bi-Weekly Assessment will be this Friday, January 29th. The scanning deadline is also Friday afternoon by close of business.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8@hm/
- December 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Thh/
- November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Okg/
- October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kvp/
- 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
Webinar: Teachers will receive support as they begin to integrate expository texts in the Tangerine novel unit. Strategies and key opportunities will be discussed, as well as examples of expository texts will be shared with teachers.
SpringBoard: Students will continue to read Tangerine, and will begin exploring the themes in the novel. On Monday, students will write a compare/contrast essay, which is a perfect tie-in to the expository text structures. Teachers can review the compare/contrast key words prior to this activity, reviewing lessons from Quarter 2 around the compare/contrast text structure. Students also have another opportunity to read an expository text during Activity 3.14. Teachers should capitalize on these expository reading and writing opportunities by reviewing text organization, supporting ideas, and strong thesis development. As students are reading the novel, their analysis will focus on character development, and how the reader’s understanding of a character is influenced by the novel’s point of view. Students will also explore how the setting of a novel greatly influences the plot development.
Do-Nows: In Quarter 3, teachers will choose the focus TEKS for the Do-Nows that meet the needs of individual classrooms, based on IA2 data. The curriculum Unit Map outlines which TEKS teachers should focus on each week, and teachers should use this list to choose from as they decide which skills to reteach during the Do-Nows. This week’s focus should include one of the following TEKS: (EDITING): 7.20A (capitalization); 7.20B (punctuation); 7.19A (verb tenses and subject/verb agreement); 7.14D (homophones, pronoun usage); 7.21A (commonly confused words). During Course Collaboration, teachers created Do-Nows for Quarter 3, and all of them have been uploaded to the Hub. Teachers will need to go to ELAà7th gradeàQuarter 3àDo-Nows to download the power point for the skill they plan to teach, and adjust the Do-Nows (if needed). This sharing opportunity means that we now have a whole Quarter worth of Do-Nows after just a few hours of work from all of the 7th grade teachers! What awesome collaboration!
Assessments: Students will take BWA 8 (Revising & Editing) on Friday, January 29th. The scanning deadline is close of business on the same day.
Archived Webinars:
January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8@hA/
December 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Thi/
November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Okf/
October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kw6/
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
ELA 8 Webinar: Just a friendly reminder, the ELA 8 Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2016 from 4 pm to 4:45 pm via BlueJeans.
- It is expected that all ELA 8 teachers attend.
- Please ensure your technology is working (microphone and video camera) so that 100% of the team is following the norms set.
Content: This entire week is dedicated to providing individual instructional time for areas specific to our student's and our data. Plan according to data gathered from IA2 and BWA7, as well as meetings completed with your Campus Manager/Instructional Coach. Remember, you are the driver of the review. Make is purposeful and tailored to the needs of your students.
Upcoming Exam Dates: Note, IA3 is a full STAAR Release exam. Speak to your Campus Manager and Academic Counselor to finalize your testing schedule for next week. IA3 is a testing window that begins on Monday, February 1 and closes Wednesday, February 3.
Grammar Focus/Do Now: This week's GF/DN focuses on subject/verb agreement (8.19A-Ai). When preparing for the GF/DN, think of this process as an entire lesson cycle.
- Note: The GF/DN should take no more than 10 minutes.
- 2 minute: Assign Yourself/Take-Out Materials/Attendance
- 2 minute: Teacher direct teach
- 2 minute: Teacher model
- 2 minute: Student practice (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
- 2 minute: Student create/explain (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
Additional STAAR Resources: Two additional resources have been provided to ensure success on IA3 and STAAR. They include the following: 1) STAAR Question Stem Resource and 2) IA2 Data Reflection. Both of these documents provide information to help with planning and execution. Refer to these documents frequently to ensure effective action is taken each day during instruction.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars:
- January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8_9A/
- December 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Xoz/
- November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Oln/
- October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kvb/
- October 14th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kva/
- September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_S/
English I Pre-AP
ELA 9 Webinar: Just a friendly reminder, the ELA 9 Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2016 from 4 pm to 4:45 pm via BlueJeans.
- It is expected that all ELA 9 teachers attend.
- Please ensure your technology is working (microphone and video camera) so that 100% of the team is following the norms set.
- 1) SB Activity 4.12 challenges students view film interpretations of a scene and compare how different author's conveyed their interpretation of a specific scene. This activity infuses media evaluation, interpretation, compare/contrast, and theatrical elements into one cohesive lesson.
- Additional Suggestion: Insert multiple think-ink, pair, shares to ensure students have the opportunity to both write and share their notes. Not allowing them to discuss is skipping that critical step of understanding.
- Note: Time is critical in this lesson. Ensure you have planned ahead and hold yourself accountable to the time stamps you have set. For additional suggestions regarding TE Steps, please refer to the Unit Road Map found on The Hub.
- SB Activity 4.13 challenges students identify and analyze literary devices within a text. Review the lesson beforehand and adjust steps as needed to ensure students have the maximum amount of time completing the "at bat."
- Additional Suggestion: This is a strong opportunity to spiral in previous TEKS, as well as terms that students are still have difficulty with. Use the Stop and Jot strategy learned at Course Collaboration and the ELA Webinars to provide students with true and rigorous "at bats."
- Note: Simply telling them about the term is not truly teaching them the skills to analyze text. Think of the following process: 1) Can students provide the definition for the term? 2) Once they can define the term, can they identify it within a text? 3) Once they can identify where the term is used, can they provide an analysis of the term and its effect on the reader or the overall work?
Grammar Focus/Do Now: This week's GF/DN focuses on subject/verb agreement (9.17A-Ai). When preparing for the GF/DN, think of this process as an entire lesson cycle.
- Note: The GF/DN should take no more than 10 minutes.
- 2 minute: Assign Yourself/Take-Out Materials/Attendance
- 2 minute: Teacher direct teach
- 2 minute: Teacher model
- 2 minute: Student practice (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
- 2 minute: Student create/explain (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
Additional STAAR Resources: Two additional resources have been provided to ensure success on IA3 and STAAR. They include the following: 1) STAAR Question Stem Resource and 2) IA2 Data Reflection. Both of these documents provide information to help with planning and execution. Refer to these documents frequently to ensure effective action
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8_9A/
- December 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Xoz/
- November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Oln/
- October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kvb/
- October 14th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kva/
- 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
ELA 10 Webinar: Just a friendly reminder, the ELA 10 Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2016 from 4 pm to 4:45 pm via BlueJeans.
- It is expected that all ELA 10 teachers attend.
- Please ensure your technology is working (microphone and video camera) so that 100% of the team is following the norms set.
SpringBoard: 1) SpringBoard Activity 4.6 and 2) SpringBoard Activity 4.7 are this week's critical lessons
- 1) SB Activity 4.6 challenges students to recall the three rhetorical appeals - ethos (ethical), logos (logical), and pathos (emotional). This activity is broken up over two-days to ensure maximum and effective coverage of the rich content available in this lesson. When preparing for this activity, think about each TE Step and adjust to ensure coverage of the critical step(s) within the lesson. Students will also be challenged to use the SMELL graphic organizer: S (Sender-Receiver Relationship), M (Message), E (Emotional Strategies), L (Logical Strategies), and L (Language). Requiring students to infer based off of textual evidence is key in this lesson.
- Additional Suggestions: Annotations and questions are also key for this activity. Set clear expectations for annotating and use the STAAR Question Stem Resource to build in IA/STAAR questions that mirror the language and rigor of the assessment.
- Note: As the teacher, it is your responsibility to ensure the questions you are presenting to students mirror the language and rigor of the assessment. Simply asking students questions that do not mirror the exam is not truly preparing them for the standard of the assessment. Use the resources provided to ensure true preparation is taking place as you conduct the lesson. #noexcuses
- 2) SB Activity 4.7 challenges students to analyze and annotate two texts and take notes on specific information identified such as thesis, summary of support, persuasive appeals, etc.
- Note: Providing multiple Think-Ink, Pair, Share activities within this lesson is key to allow students with adequate think, write, and share time. When planning for this two-day lesson, be strategic on where you can embedded this practice into your lesson to ensure maximum coverage and effectiveness.
Grammar Focus/Do Now: This week's GF/DN focuses on subject/verb agreement (10.17A-Ai). When preparing for the GF/DN, think of this process as an entire lesson cycle.
- Note: The GF/DN should take no more than 10 minutes.
- 2 minute: Assign Yourself/Take-Out Materials/Attendance
- 2 minute: Teacher direct teach
- 2 minute: Teacher model
- 2 minute: Student practice (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
- 2 minute: Student create/explain (ensure students share responses with a partner before whole group)
Additional STAAR Resources: Two additional resources have been provided to ensure success on IA3 and STAAR. They include the following: 1) STAAR Question Stem Resource and 2) IA2 Data Reflection. Both of these documents provide information to help with planning and execution. Refer to these documents frequently to ensure effective action is taken each day during insruction.
Archived Webinars: Please visit the links below to view previous webinars.
- January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8_9A/
- December 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Xoz/
- November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Ols/
- October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kvb/
- October 14th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kva/
- September 30th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8D_X/
- September 16th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Avc/
- September 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Avb/
AP Language
Webinar: Teachers will share strategies for reviewing for the Mock Exam with students. The Course Leader will review curriculum documents that outline a review sequence that is designed to prepare students through a review of all three essays on the AP Language exam. While review materials for all components of the Mock Exam have been provided on the Hub, teachers should choose materials that are appropriate for the needs of their classroom, focusing on the areas where students need the most support going into the Mock Exam. Also, remember that this Mock Exam is not an assessment of “student readiness” for the AP Exam. We still have three months of school before students will take the real AP Exam! The Mock Exam should be used to focus instruction throughout Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, identifying areas where students are weak, and need the most support.
Content: Students will continue deconstructing the Rhetorical Analysis essay through Wednesday of this week. Teachers are working with students as they complete each of the steps of analysis and construction of the essay. Thursday and Friday are focused on the Revision process, specifically thesis construction and appropriate body paragraph organization. Odell provided a fantastic peer revision activity for teachers to use for Friday’s lesson! Check out your email for the details.
Assessments: Mock Exam window is February 8-10. The mock grading will be on February 19th. Teachers are responsible for grading the Multiple Choice (in SchoolNet) and the Synthesis essay. The Argument and Rhetorical Analysis essay will be graded at the Mock Reading on February 19th. The next BWA will be Friday, January 29th (Rhetorical Analysis Essay). The scanning deadline for the BWA Rhetorical Analysis essay will be Friday, February 5th.
Archived Webinars: Please use the links below to view previous webinars:
November 11th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Okk/
October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Kwa/
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
Webinar: The Course Leader will share key lessons that are designed to build student investment in Shakespearean plays. Teachers will discuss key lessons that should be emphasized during the Othello unit.
Content: As students are reading Othello, they will conduct several close readings of specific scenes and monologues in Act I. These scenes and monologues provide opportunities for character analysis and application of the critical perspectives. In addition to reading the scenes and monologues, students will view several films’ interpretations of these scenes.
Assessments Mock Exam window is February 8-10. The mock grading will be on February 19th. Teachers are responsible for grading the Multiple Choice (in SchoolNet) and the Open-Ended essay. The Poetry Analysis and Prose Analysis essay will be graded at the Mock Reading on February 19th. All information about the Mock Exam is posted on the Hub: ELAàMock Exam InformationàAP Literature & Composition.
The next BWA will be Friday, January 29th (Open-Ended Essay). The scanning deadline for the BWA Open-Ended essay will be Friday, February 5th.
Archived Webinars: Please use the links below to view previous webinars:
January 13th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8@jk/
December 2nd: https://bluejeans.com/s/8Thm/
October 28th: https://bluejeans.com/s/8KwI/
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/