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WeekMP1 Pacing Activities (Detailed)1 (Sept. 8-11)Create electronic or paper writing portfolios depending on your plete a preliminary writing assessment with a persuasive, state-released prompt. Complete a preliminary grammar assessment that has a specific focus on the following items:-S/V Agreement-Homonyms and homophones-Punctuation (focused on the various uses of commas, semi-colons, and colons)-Sentence combining-Sentence clarity2 (Sept. 14-18)Vocabulary: Introduce students to vocabulary using Greek and Latin word parts (vocabulary list 1)-Students can create an interactive notebook to encourage word development throughout the week -Choose 1-3 words that students must understand that match the week’s readingsReadings: Introduce students to a short fictional piece, a poem, and a non-fiction article that all handle the same topic. The goal this week is to have students make connections with the text via text to self and text to text this week. Readings should be engaging with an appealing topic to the students. Introductory, content-specific vocabulary should be familiarized prior to each text being introduced.-Have students complete a story plot chart for the short story, particularly reinforcing the exposition and the climax to resolution.The students should annotate the elements of plot either electronically or physically.-Have students annotate the non-fiction article by summarizing the author’s position. Then, students will highlight sentences that support the author’s position. -Have students read the poem and complete a TPCASTT as a class to walk through breaking the poem down. -To complete the activity, students should complete a graphic organizer to compare the major themes of each text.Writing: After completing the graphic organizer that compares texts, students should write a summary paragraph that unites them comparatively. Grammar: Review parts of speech via whole class instruction and have students pick each part of speech from an excerpt of text that was read this week.3 (Sept. 21-25)Communication: Find specific media examples that will highlight the use of ethos, pathos, and logos. Vocabulary: Vocabulary list 2 should contain content-specific vocabulary. Use vocabulary activities that reinforce word knowledge and the student’s ability to use the words in context.Readings: Have students find examples of ethos, pathos, and logos in famous speeches, like the ones from ReadWriteThink. Students should be able to see how each term is used in visuals and in text.-Introduce a 2-week long thematic unit through whole-group discussion by asking essential questions. The focus this week is finding main ideas/supporting details in persuasive and informational texts. Choose one fictional piece as your anchor text; then, pair the text with a persuasive piece, an informational text, and a dictionary entry.-Thematic units should have differentiated reading levels to meet the needs of the students in your class. Remember that using excerpts of novels or dramas could be as effective as reading an entire text.-Sample thematic unit 1 could include the following:“The Curse of the Lotto” (Non-fiction article)“The Monkey’s Paw” (Short story)“The Monkey’s Paw” episode of The Simpsons (Media)Writing: The goal for their writing is to give them a structured process to follow each time they approach writing until they have mastered the basics. Regardless of how a teacher introduces brainstorming and outlining, make sure it is consistently modeled for the students the same way each time they approach a new prompt. Note an example of a non-cluster brainstorming idea here.Grammar: A great way to have students practice crafting sentences is to take a model sentence for each type, write parts of each sentence onto sentence strips, and have the students unscramble the sentence parts based on the lesson. Then, have students craft their own sentences by imitating the model sentence.4 (Sept. 28-Oct. 2)Communication: TedTalks scripts would be a great way to incorporate diction, tone, audience, and purpose. The talks are divided by subject, so it would be ideal to find two talks that handle one issue distinctly differently (or even two talks that have different audiences) Have the students analyze the text before viewing the TedTalks, so their analysis won’t be skewed by the media. What did the students notice about the talk that they missed in the text (or vice versa?)Writing: Introductory paragraphs are so difficult for a student to master because they often state that they never know what to say in the beginning or the end. Every aspect of the writing process must be structured and organized, especially for your weakest writers. A strong and organized introduction must contain a hook and a thesis and should average 3-5 sentences. 5 (Oct. 4-9)Readings: The topic this week is universal themes. An innovative way to introduce universal themes is incorporating their background knowledge of Dr. Seuss.Grammar: Basic uses of a comma (such as with a list & joining two sentences together) should not need much practice; however, the other uses of the comma can really stump students. Make sure commas are reinforced weekly in some capacity. The EOC Writing tests the students by having them choose appropriate punctuation for a sentence. Practice giving students sentences without any punctuation, having them insert the appropriate commas to assess their understanding of the comma rules. Try this sample lesson.6 (Oct. 13-16)Reading: With fiction, students are relatively familiar with following the story plot chart to decode meaning. However, nonfiction can be more difficult for students who have not developed a plan for approaching informational/persuasive/analytical texts. Try these resources to help develop a model lesson for students of decoding nonfiction texts:Strategies: : Strong Readers Ask Themselves: (Oct. 19-23)Writing: Students love to critique other people’s writings. Start by focusing on a poorly written introduction and allow the students to tear the text apart. While this will entertain them, have students verbalize the reason for their critique. Have students offer suggestions of how to improve the paragraph. For homework, have the students take their edit and rewrite the introduction to improve it. By focusing on a paragraph, the goal is less daunting for struggling students and gives your stronger students an opportunity to work on improving sentence variety and making the diction more sophisticated with a higher vocabulary. Students can post their revisions on a class blog.8 (Oct. 26-30)Writing: Use the released papers from the VDOE for students to practice editing. Last week, students edited a paper via the whole class. Now, have students work in pairs to analyze a paragraph before editing a different paragraph independently. This gives the students multiple opportunities to provide feedback and evaluate other students’ writings. Students need plenty of opportunities to practice writing, especially transforming a poorly written piece into an excellent one.9 (Nov. 2-6)Communication: Work with your school’s ITRT to create a technology integration into the students’ projects. Give them plenty of ways to showcase the information they have learned: a Prezi, an Infographic, a video from Windows Movie Maker, etc. Marking Period 2 PacingWeekMP2 Pacing Activities1 (Nov. 9-13)Communication: Speaking and listening is a difficult strand because students are unsure of how to take notes from a lecture or a speech by noting the key points without some type of a visual. A great speech to use would be an engaging (and short) TedTalk that coincides with the lesson’s themes. Have students listen the first time to gain a general understanding of the talk by addressing their initial impressions. Then, have students listen again to note the speaker’s key points that support his/her argument. Engage students further by having them write a persuasive letter to the speaker to address the speaker’s arguments.2 (Nov. 16-20)Grammar: Colons and semi-colons should be introduced and reinforced with both small group and individual practice. Students should do activities where they must practice inserting and removing punctuation based on the needs of the sentence. Students should be able to explain the purpose of each piece of punctuation.3 (Nov. 23-24)Communication: One way to approach the persuasive topic is to give students the persuasive prompts that have been released from the VDOE has potential prompts. Choose only the prompts that can easily be researched for this activity because students should pay particular focus to the types of evidence they are using to support their position. Consider different formats for students to present their information above and beyond writing an essay, such as a debate or a small-group presentation.Readings: Choose several excerpts from the longer work being studied in this unit. Pull one paragraph as a mentor text to guide students through their analysis of the author’s style. In particular, analyzing syntax will need plenty of opportunities for practice because many students struggle to connect syntax to meaning.Writing: At this point in the year, be vigilant in addressing any students who are still struggling to develop strong pieces of evidence for their essays. Editing for syntax and clarity will come with reinforced practice, but there should be additional practice for any student who struggles with support for his/her arguments.4 (Nov. 30-Dec. 4)Readings: When comparing literature from different cultures/eras, consider pairing an excerpt from a text from the literary canon with something more contemporary and accessible. Make sure the texts can be easily compared. For example, consider comparing strong female protagonists who go against society (i.e. an excerpt from Antigone paired with an excerpt from The Hunger Games).5 (Dec. 7-11)Writing: Students need plenty of multiple-choice practice in this area because revising sentences for clarity and relevant evidence are some of the most difficult test questions. To scaffold instruction, use released EOC SOL Writing exams from 2000-2008 from the VDOE website, pulling specific test questions where students have to choose the “best revision” of a sentence or how sentences can “best be combined” without changing the meaning.6 (Dec. 14-18)Readings: Julius Caesar and Antigone are both in the text book. Depending on the class needs, consider which text would be most appropriate. Consider using a one-act play, such as Trifles or the dramatic version of Flowers for Algernon.Grammar: Spelling is no longer tested in EOC Writing. Instead, students are tested on commonly confused homonyms. Many students already know the difference, but they could benefit from a quick warm-up that reinforces the differences once again. One activity would be to give students a list of 20 commonly confused homonym pairs; then, have the students choose 5 pairs (10 words total). Create an assignment where students will have to write a piece and use each of the 5 pairs correctly.7 (Jan. 4-8)Readings: A great website to find texts that have already been paired with poetry can be found at the following address: : Use a self and a peer checklist like the one found on . This is an editable document where students can make their edits, and send them to each other and the teacher electronically.8 (Jan. 11-15)Writing: Writing conferences can be overwhelming, and there rarely seems to be enough time in the day to meet with students quickly. Check out the following article that highlights how to effectively use writing conferences to guide instruction: (Jan. 25-29)Midterm Exam WeekMarking Period 3 PacingWeekMP3 Pacing Activities1 (Feb 2-5)Readings: Consider having students create an interactive notebook for literary terms with a definition, a student-provided example, and a literary example from a text read this year or from independent reading. 2 (Feb 8-12)Readings: Collaborate with your school librarian to find a student-friendly critique and summary of a text being studied this week.Writing: At this point, students should be able to move through the writing process independently. Mimic how the prompt will be presented to them, and have the students practice how they would attack the prompt.3 (Feb 16-19)Vocabulary: Add a section to the literary notebook for allusions. Introduce archetypes and the Heroic Journey to help students see patterns throughout texts.Readings: Now, students should be making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections each time they read. Students should be familiar with an atlas, farmer’s almanac encyclopedia, informational texts (including applications), and how to summarize the main points of a variety of texts.SOL Prep: Students should have daily practice with reporting category 2. Incorporate as many interactive activities as possible. Kahoot! is an excellent resource for practice that extends beyond countless worksheets. Form small groups for remediation purposes based on the feedback for this reporting category.4 (Feb 22-26)SOL Prep: One excellent resource to use to supplement test questions for additional practice would be the STAAR assessment from Texas. You can use both the 8th grade and the EOC Assessments for Writing.5 (Feb 29-Mar 4)Readings: The majority of the readings from this week should be focused on non-fiction and the various forms of text students could encounter. Be sure they are familiar with the different types of non-fiction texts and the appropriate reading strategy that matches each text.Writing: Take the students online and make sure they fully understand how to use the tools in Pearson. Make sure students copy and paste their typed essay into a Google Doc, so the teacher has it for review. The website does not allow students to submit their essays.SOL Prep: Considering doing a testing carousel with test questions. At this point, students should practice with the VDOE released EOC Writing test.6 (Mar 7-11)SOL Prep: Ensure that students feel comfortable with the Pearson tools, review M/C strategies, and how to use the scratch paper in a meaningful way. Some teachers have found success by having students trace the main idea and supporting details on the scratch paper while reading on the computer screen. 7 (Mar 14-18)SOL EOC WRITING ADMINISTRATION ................
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