Words

Words
Ms. Favolise's English Class

Monday, November 25, 2013

The 7 Laws of Success/Accountable Talk

Good Afternoon fellow bloggers!

6th Graders have been busy finalizing their six word memoirs.

7th Graders have been writing their first pieces of flash fiction.

8th Graders are about half way done with their "My Name" assignments.

While working on these assignments students have also been learning and implementing accountable talk in the classroom:

Accountable talk is used to help students learn through discussion. It asks students to listen to other students and be able to respond or counter argue what other students have said. The talk must also require prior knowledge to the subject and rigorous thought.I have been asking my 7th and 8th grade students to conduct accountable talk in circle style seating about a text that all students have read. I provided my students with accountable talk sentence starters and a poster to get started:


7 Laws of Success:

As teachers here at WSMS, we have been asking ourselves, how do we help students build their character? It has come to our attention that character building has become more important to a student's success in the future than perhaps, their IQ, for example. The 7 characteristics of character that are most important are: 

1.) Zest
2.) Self-Control
3.) Grit
4.) Optimism
5.) Curiosity
6.) Social Intelligence
7.) Gratitude

Students learned about each term and then, with a group, we asked to write on each poster with each term on it, an example of how to display the characteristic or the first thing that comes to mind. Below are just some of the finished posters: 









This week is a short week because of the holiday. I sincerely wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and remind all to express their GRATITUDE this week! 

Secret Words: 

6th Grade: Zest
7th Grade: Optimism 
8th Grade: Self-Control 



Thursday, November 7, 2013

Identity Poems! End of Term!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

7th Graders turned in their identity poems for the end of the term and they look great! Students analyzed "Identity" by Julio Polanco is an extended metaphor poem that is below: 

Identity
by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed,
beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

Polanco tells us a lot about his character by comparing his own personality with that of a weed. Polanco explains that he’d rather be a “tall, ugly, weed” than a “pleasant-smelling flower” because a weed is free in the wild. Our students did their own extended metaphor poems by finding something that they could identify themselves with and writing about it. From cars to animals to food, our students were very creative!








Great Job 7th Graders! 

Now it's time for the secret word!!!

8th Grade: Grit
7th Grade: Perseverance
6th Grade: Overcome