Persuasive Writing

We have been getting opinionated over the last few weeks, taking stands and making strong points.  It is time again for persuasive writing!

We have reviewed the proper format and a number of persuasive techniques that are used to make people agree with our point of view.  We also reviewed the difference between a letter (Grade 6 task) and an essay (Grade 7 task).  The students came up with 20 different prompts that we could write about, and we worked our way through some graphic organizers that helped us get everything in the right order and not leave any parts out.  We have done modeled and guided writing (together and with feedback), and we are about to embark on our independent writing task.  With that in mind, here is a link to the wiki with copies of the main tools we used in class, including the organizers, checklists and the Grade 7 counter-argument anchor.

https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/25896205/Persuasive-Writing

Reading Response

We are also working on our reading responses to "making connections" questions, and are seeking to show deeper understanding in our answers. We have been putting together some steps that will help guide our paragraphs for this purpose. A full list of the steps and some extra information have been provided on the wiki at: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/25998659/Reading-Response.

Reading Response Guide

Step 1: Snap the question - what information does it give you, and what information is required to answer it? Brainstorm possible answers to what is required.
Step 2: What is the "Big Idea" from the story (what message is the author trying to get the readers to think about)? How does the "Big Idea" relate to the question? Which of your possible answers do you think works best with the "Big Idea"?
Step 3: Brainstorm possible support from the text that will back up your own thinking and the "Big Idea". Make sure your text support relates directly to the question asked.
Step 4: Brainstorm ways to compare (show it's the same) or contrast (show it's different) the message to something in your life. Make sure your ideas relate directly to the question!
Step 5: Organize your response according to the Reading Response anchor.

Learning Goal

• We will learn how to deepen our understanding of the “Big Idea” of a text by comparing or contrasting and making connections to our own knowledge, experience, world or other texts.

Speeches

One of our major projects for January will be our class speeches.  These speeches will be 3-5 minutes on a topic of the student’s choosing, and will be delivered to the class at the end of the month.  We will be going through the writing and delivery process throughout the month, but a lot of the writing and practicing will have to be done at home.  A link to the information we will be going through in class, as well as rubrics and timelines, can be found here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/34367723/Speeches.

Learning Goals
Oral Communication
- use vocal skills such as tone, pace, pitch and volume, as well as non-verbal cues including facial expressions, gestures and eye contact to appropriately communicate with a specific audience
- reflect on and identify their strengths as speakers and areas for improvement

Writing
- generate, gather and organize ideas and information to write for an intended audience
- revise their writing to create an appropriate voice and point of view

Remembrance Day poetry

In the next few days we will be working on our Remembrance Day poetry.  The Grade 6/7 class is responsible for the Remembrance Day assembly every year, and part of our contribution is a collection of Remembrance Day poems.  We have been talking over the last few weeks about different features in poems that make them special, like using the five senses, including comparative images like similes and metaphors, using descriptive, strong verbs and adjectives to create vivid pictures in the reader's mind, and various techniques like alliteration, repetition, rhyming and personification. Today we talked about big ideas, moods and symbols related to Remembrance Day, as well as watching some film clips from World War 1.  Students are to brainstorm ideas for their poem tonight, and start work on a rough draft.  On Thursday we will be sharing our rough drafts and deciding what features we could add to make the poem more descriptive and vivid, and then we will be submitting our good copies on Monday.  The ideas and word walls we looked at today, as well as a checklist and rubric and some sample poems from last year that students agreed to share are all available here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/Poetry.Get writing!

Taking descriptive writing to the next level!

We have finished for the moment with our descriptive paragraphs, and will be exploring our creative side with poetry for the next few weeks.  We have read over some poems to remind us what they look like, and then we will be identifying some features that good poetry should have.  We will also look at various forms of poetry, like freeverse and concrete poems.  We are just staring out, but if you want a peek ahead at some of the things we will be talking about, you can check this out: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/Poetry.  More will be added as we move through the unit.  As we learn new elements and forms, students could practice writing at home.  Any topic will do - I bet you could write a great poem about toast!

Open Reading Responses

Another English focus will be in our reading responses this term.  We are trying to get past the literal level (the information you find directly stated in the text) in our responses, and work on developing deeper answers to the questions by breaking down the question, stating our general (or gist) answers, and then supporting our idea with some info from the text and also from our background knowledge.  Background knowledge might come from our experiences, or things we have read in books or in magazines, or things we have seen on TV, or things we have learned from parents or in class, or things we have found on the internet.  One component of this unit will involve critical media literacy, which means we evaluate the information we find on the internet or TV and decide whether or not it is a credible source of information, and what biases the author might have.We will look at how to best organize our paragraphs, and how to decide which of our ideas best answers the question and is most appropriate to our audience.  For more ideas and examples of what this means, look here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Reading-Response.

Descriptive Writing

One of the styles of writing we will be focusing on in the next month will be descriptive writing, in both paragraph form and poetry.  Descriptive writing uses the five senses, vivid action words and imagery (similes, metaphors, and personification, for example) to create clear pictures in the reader's head.  We will be developing these skills in stages, but a quick overview that explains what this might look like in paragraph form can be found here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Descriptive-paragraphs.  Examples of the different styles of poetry can be found here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Poetry.  It will be a good idea to keep checking in, as we will be adding to these pages as we work together in the next month.  At home, students can look for examples of descriptive writing in the material they read for pleasure, and point them out to parents.  They can also practice their writing skills by describing the world around them.  As an example, we are starting our work by describing a favourite room in the house.

Spelling Units

We are returning to our spelling texts this year as a way to improve the overall spelling skills of the students.  We have all grown used to spell checkers; however, as the students spend more of their life online, both school-related and otherwise, more of their writing is "live".  In other words, they are typing and sending out their thoughts without the benefit of editing.  This means that it is even more important to try to spell things correctly the first time, as your writing online is part of the image you project to the world.

Spelling units will generally be assigned each Monday, with a period or so of class time to get started.  The lists words should be copied 3 times each in the spelling notebooks, and then there will be a series of questions from the text for the students to complete over the course of the week.  Neatness will be important.  Finally, the dictation will take place on Friday afternoon.  The week's assigned work should be written in to the Notes section of the agenda each week.

This is primarily an independent task for the students to complete over the course of the week.  They will be expected to manage their time appropriately, and not leave everything until the last minute.  Their ability to get their work done without constant reminders from staff and parents will be part of their Learning Skills mark each term.

Experiment 1

I`m trying to make this obviously about English.