September
12
ELA 30: Sept 12 Reflective essay writing, “Penny in the Dust”…
- Students had this class, the third of three classes, to continue working on their essays and conferencing with their peers. I am pleased with how invested the students seem in how they are doing in their work and their interest in writing in a manner that will maintain the reader’s interest.
- I handed out to them the actual assignment handout, including the details we have already discussed but, for clarity, they have a copy of it. I also gave them a different essay rubric than the one given the other day. (This one focuses more on the parts of the essay that they have been working on developing, like a catching opening line.)
- We discussed the importance of transitional phrases in writing, the types there are, and where in the sentences they belong. I am hoping to see students branch out from only using transitions at the beginning of sentences, but also in the middle or at the end.
- We had two classes today. They were given another twenty minutes into the second period to work on the essay. Then we had a listening activity. I read aloud a short story titled “A Penny in the Dust.” As I read, students were to listen for phrases that discussed either characters or the setting. I paused, just before the climax of the story, to see that students understood what was happening in the story. Kristie did a great job of paraphrasing the important points of the story for everyone. Then I continued, reading to the end, and students wrote a response, based on their impression of the story or the ending. We discussed the questions, the ideas of objects being used as symbols in storytelling, and the value in using “flashbacks”. We will continue tomorrow.