morrellr

To reinforce effort the students recieve a participation grade ranging from 1-5. The 5's represent the excellent effort acheived per day. These students who acheive this number grade are read aloud before the start of class each day. I think this gives them a goal in mind.

After reflecting on today's group discussion, it made me see that I could be doing more to reinforce effort. Especially when I was assigned the teacher role in our group discussion. I just didn't know how to motivate the underachiever. I plan on researching more and discovering new ways to reinforce effort in the classroom.

To give the students recognition for a job well done, I have something called The Head of The Class bulliten board. This presents the students with the highest GPA at any given point during the marking period. Each time I input grades and it changes, the bulliten board changes. Not only are the high acheivers posted but also they know that this means they will recieve a positive phone call home in response. This really motivates them for success.

After reflecting on today's group discussion, I found that the board names are not changing as much as I'd like. In order to remedy this. I could perhaps have one week in which the best effort grade reciepents were posted instead of the highest GPA.

OBJECTIVES: SWBAT punctuate dialogue correctly in their own writing.
                            SWBAT recognize incorrect punctuation and correct it.

MATERIALS: Writing and Grammar book, smartboard, list of quotes that are unpunctuated, Same types of dialogue on the whiteboard.

PROCEDURE: 1.) Bellwork: Please punctuate these six quotes correctly. (There will be one of each type of quotation question, exclamation, interrupted speech with who said it..etc) 2.) Student will be asked to tell what they have done with the smartboard example and another student must correct the whiteboard example in the same way. Until all six examples are corrected and discussed. 3.) Students will be broken into groups of three in which they will be told to summarize today's lesson in their writing notebooks. 4.) Groups will decide on six rules of dialogue punctuation and two overall rules for any situation (ex. Make sure everything that is said is put into quotes.) 5.) Teacher will be available to any group that needs assistance.

ASSESSMENT: Teacher Q/A with students, Teacher observation of all group activity.

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Lesson plan for Tuesday November 6:

OBJECTIVES: SWBAT compare and contrast the novel and the film version of the novel.
                            SWBAT demonstrate that knowledge by taking notes during the film.
MATERIALS: The Outsiders film, DVD smartboard etc.
 
PROCEDURE: 1.Bellwork. Go over Bellwork. 2.) Students will be given a venn diagram chart to organize their thoughts to eventually write a compare and contrast essay. 3.) Teacher will show the film version of The Outsiders to the students. 4.) During the film, the students will be taking note on a venn diagram as to any similarities or differences from the novel to the film.

ASSESSMENT: Teacher observation during student note-taking. Teacher Q/A with students before the movie to review what it means to compare and contrast.

Lesson plan for Wednesday November 7:

OBJECTIVES:  SWBAT write an effective descriptive essay that includes all components (figurative language, vivid verbs, expensive adjectives, sensory images)
                            SWBAT use venn diagram plan for a comparison and contrast essay.
                            SWBAT recognize similiarities and differences from novel to the film of The Outsiders.

MATERIALS: The Outsiders film, Student's venn diagram.

PROCEDURE: 1.) Bellwork. Go over Bellwork. 2.) Student descriptive essays are checked in. 3.) The movie version of The Outsiders will be finished. 3.) Students will be taking note of the differences and similiarities of the film in regards to the novel we have just completed. 4.) Students will discuss with the teacher their findings.

ASSESSMENT: Teacher observation during student note taking. Teacher/Student discussion.

The main objective of the lesson was that the students should be able to recognize similiarities and differences in regards to the novel The Outsiders and its film counterpart. When organizing themselves, they should also be able to use the Venn diagram to note the diffferences and similiarities we noticed. We also held class discussions about particular scenes which were reread before viewing that piece of the film. The closure activity was done on the following Monday after Teacher Convention break. We discussed briefly as a class what we noticed, then the students were asked to complete a five paragraph essay to compare the film to the novel.

The strategy I chose to incorporate into my lesson was identifying similiarities and differences. Although we are constantly looking at this idea in Language Arts, I felt that in order to organize their thoughts the students would need a graphic organizer. I chose a venn diagram for this.

The activity was teacher-directed, because I chose the graphic organizer they would use and chose what they would be classifying. I chose this Venn Diagram, because they would be looking at the novel and a movie based on the novel and I felt that they could best organize their thoughts by using this. I could have also had them incorporate a short story with similiar themes and have them compare that as well with a triple venn diagram.

I assessed them by having the students write a five paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the novel and film. I felt that it was most successful to use the graphic organizer, because if I would have just said "take notes" I probably wouldn't have gotten anything back from them. Also, since we were about to go on a break, I felt this organized their thoughts enough for them to revisit the comparison in a couple of days. I believe those points were achieved and it was a successful lesson. Not a single student had trouble with identifying similiarities and differences. I am not sure how I could have gotten the students to think at higher levels.