ICS, meet ANS!

Greetings to both ICS and ANS students!

This week I am very excited to announce the start of a blogging partnership between students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and students in Managua, Nicaragua.  Our individual blogs this week will be read and commented on by students who attend the American Nicaraguan School in Managua. This is an exciting way that everyone, not just our Take Flight student ambassadors, can participate in this exciting opportunity for cultural exchange and new friendships!

This week's assignment: Use the prompts below to write a post that introduces yourself to students in Nicaragua. You may use one or more of the prompts, but make sure, as always, that your post is thoroughly proofread and is an example of your best writing.

For any of these prompts consider using digital images, or even video, to provide as much information as possible!

 
Image Source: http://www.agent215.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/City-Hall.jpg

Describe a typical day. Take us through a day in your life. Make sure to include lots of details and information. You could include information about your home and family, neighborhood, school, classes, after school activities, etc. You might use the profile we read in class of a Nicaraguan student as a model.

Life in Philadelphia. What is life in Philadelphia like? Provide the students in Nicaragua with a tour of where you live. What places do you think are important to know about in Philadelphia? Tell about your city's (or neighborhood's) history and culture. What are you most proud of about your city? What would you most like to change if you could?

Food and Festivities. What Philadelphia foods do you most enjoy? Are there any traditions in your city or neighborhood that are important to you, your family, or your culture? Consider sharing a recipe and describing the food in detail.

What do you love to do? Discuss your favorite hobby(ies). Describe where you do this activity, how long you've been doing it, etc. Provide lots of details and explanation.

*Make sure to include questions for our friends in Nicaragua. What would you like to know about their lives?

Where in the world is Nicaragua?

This Week's Assignment: Write a Book Review

Students,

For this week's blog assignment, choose a book that you finished recently that you would like to recommend to the entire 7th grade. Then, get started on your review using the tips below from Scholastic. We will peer review these posts next week in class, so be prepared to share your (completed) draft with a peer!  You may choose to hand write or type your draft on the blog.

Click here to learn more about writing a book review and read an example of a book review on To Kill A Mockingbird with Rodman Philbrick.

Due: Wednesday, January 9

Good luck!

Final Projects - American Born Chinese

This week we have been celebrating the hard work of 7th grade students as they completed and presented self-designed projects that show off what they have learned reading the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Yang.

The presentations have been entertaining, creative, and also full of new understandings about the themes at the core of this book.  Check out some of the pictures and videos below and feel free to leave a comment!

What did you learn watching the presentations of your peers or performing your own?  

Which presentations were you particularly impressed by and why?

Narrative Leads

Students,

This week you will be working on a blog post of your choice and experimenting with narrative leads. A narrative lead you love, the beginnings of our fictional stories, memoirs, or personal essays, will fuel you as writer.  Choose to begin a narrative with a lead that you love and makes you happy - this will make the reader happy too!

 Your narrative blog post is due Wednesday, December 20, 2012

Here are some narrative lead options from Nancie Atwell's classroom to consider:

Typical (Try to avoid a typical lead)
It was a day at the end of June. My mom, dad, brother, and I were at our
camp on Rangeley Lake. We arrived the night before at 10:00, so it was dark
when we got there and unpacked. We went straight to bed. The next
morning, when I was eating breakfast, my dad started yelling for me from
down at the dock at the top of his lungs. He said there was a car in the lake.
■ Action: A Main Character Doing Something
I gulped my milk, pushed away from the table, and bolted out of the
kitchen, slamming the broken screen door behind me. I ran down to our
dock as fast as my legs could carry me. My feet pounded on the old wood,
hurrying me toward my dad’s voice. “Scott!” he bellowed again.
“Coming, Dad!” I gasped. I couldn’t see him yet—just the sails of the
boats that had already put out into the lake for the day.
■ Dialogue: A Character or Characters Speaking
“Scott! Get down here on the double!” Dad bellowed. His voice
sounded far away.
“Dad?” I hollered. “Where are you?” I squinted through the screen
door but couldn’t see him.
“I’m down on the dock. MOVE IT. You’re not going to believe this,”
he replied.
■ Reaction: A Character Thinking
I couldn’t imagine why my father was hollering for me at 7:00 in the
morning. I thought fast about what I might have done to get him so riled.
Had he found out about the way I talked to my mother the night before,
when we got to camp and she asked me to help unpack the car? Did he
discover the fishing reel I broke last week? Before I could consider a third
possibility, Dad’s voice shattered my thoughts.
“Scott! Move it! You’re not going to believe this!”
When beginning a story, craft several leads. Experiment. A lead you love will fuel
you as a writer. Choose the way in that makes you happiest; it will make your
readers happy, too.
© 2002 by Nancie Atwell from Narrative Leads Lesson 12
Lessons That Change Writers
(Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann)

Resources for American Born Chinese Final Project & Extra Credit Blogging Opportunity

Students,

This week we begin working on American Born Chinese final projects.  If you are doing a research project on the Monkey King or Chin-Kee and stereotypes, please check out the resources below.  Students who are interested in learning more about Gene Yang might also want to explore these links.

**Extra Credit opportunity - This week you will not be required to blog so that you can spend more time working on your final projects. If you would like to complete a blog post you may blog about a TeenBiz article of your choice on your blog.  Please provide a summary of the article that lists the main points and your response to it: What are your thoughts, opinions, questions, and reactions to the reading? You could also do more research about the topic and inform the class about what you learned.  To find an article of interest to you, use the search function on TeenBiz.  Minimum two paragraphs.

The Monkey King

• Gene Yang's helpful website on the Monkey King: Humble Comics

Chin Kee

• Radio show about Chinese stereotypes in Hollywood: Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?
• Interview with Gene Yang on why he created Chin Kee
• Webquest that details prevalent stereotypes in the ABC

When taking notes on your reading research, whether online or in your book, make sure to keep track of page numbers and sources!  Use a graphic organizer like this one:

Evidence or Examples	Page number or source
Suzy says, "Today when Timmy called me a...a chink, I realized...deep down inside...I kind of feel like that all the time"	ABC (188).

Blog Self-Assessment!

Now that we have written at least five blog posts this trimester, it is time to assess our blog writing skills!

Students,

Please open the emailed form from me titled: "Blog Self Asessment ~ First Trimester" - then honestly and thoughtfully reflect on you performance on the blog thus far.  This is your opportunity to persuade me what your overall grade for blogging should be this trimester.

Read each question and all of the directions carefully!



Image source: http://patriciazaballos.com/2012/05/31/how-do-kids-really-learn-to-write-2-0/

Mining Our Heart Maps

This week, the 7th grade has been working on mining their heart maps in their writer's notebooks to come up with a choice topic to write about this week on the blog.  We've  been talking about how certain topics call for different genres.  For instance, the story that I told about losing my phone during Chirstmas time and meeting Pam might make a great short story, memoir, poem, or letter, while my passion for teaching and beliefs around how I believe learning happens in the classroom would make a good essay.

We also talked about writing essays and how they could be either personal or informational.  Maybe you have a hobby on your heart map that you could inform the class about?  Perhaps you have a hidden talent that you could provide "How To" instructions for.

This week's blog is a chance for your passions, interests, and curiosities as a writer to guide your way!

Blog drafts are due on Monday 11/19 for my revisions.  Please submit for review if and only if you are ready for me to suggest revisions and corrections.  As always, your blog should reflect your best efforts and be proofread thoroughly before submitting.