Of Picture Books and Perspectives...

Today, we are handing in our final drafts of the SYNTHESIS essay. You made it! I really appreciate your hard work on an arduous skill--and I am very proud of each of you writing and revising these essays paragraph by paragraph.

Yes!

Yesterday, after reviewing the proper heading and workshopping engaging titles, we had the chance to channel our inner five-year old selves. We left our seats and gathered on the floor in the center of the room for a reading of the awesome picture book Emmanuel's Dream by Laurie Ann Thomspon. Since we had just finished writing our synthesis essays based on the documentary about Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah and the novel The Breadwinner, it was a great time to read a fabulous picture book.

WE ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR PICTURE BOOKS! 

Our word of the day yesterday was ANTIQUITY, which simply means ancient times. An example of the the word in a sentence is One of my favorite people is Socrates, who lived in antiquity, but whose wisdom still resonates today.

Our word of the day for today is DUBIOUS, which means causing doubt or untrustworthy.

Today, we are beginning our new novel, Nothing but the Truth by Avi. We read aloud from the opening pages and for tonight, share a couple of sentences on the class blog with your response to this question: WHAT IS PATRIOTISM, AND HOW IMPORTANT (or unimportant) IS IT?

Examples of Synthesis...Yes!

Hello Class!

Yesterday, we dove into our Synthesis essays, but we did so backwards. Instead of beginning at the, well, beginning,, we began with our second and third paragraphs. Even though it seems crazy, the easiest way to write a synthesis essay is to figure out each part first, and THEN combine them together to make the whole.

So, yesterday we write our theme paragraphs about Emmanuel's Gift and then about The Breadwinner.

Here is a snapshot of one example from our board on how to craft the paragraph about Emmanuel's Gift:

And today, we are building our Introductions--complete with our actual synthesis statements! Here is a link to the examples we'll discuss in class today on how to find your synthesis statement. 

And finally (finally!) here is a video that explains how to get your synthesis statement in case you need a refresher, or you love synthesis SO much that you just can't wait until school tomorrow to hear all about it again!

Our word of the day yesterday was PERPETUAL, which means continuing on forever. And our word of the day today is ARDUOUS, which means incredibly hard!

Have an awesome day and evening!

Peace,

Mr. R

Emmanuel's Gift: HOPE

We are getting towards the denouement of our remarkable documentary Emmanuel's Gift. In watching, we are preparing for our SYNTHESIS ESSAY for the upcoming week, as we combine the theme of Emmanuel's Gift with the theme from The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis to create a BRAND NEW IDEAS about what matters most in life.

Here is the link to our synthesis essay assignment.

Our word of the day from Wednesday was NEFARIOUS which means having a desire to hurt; wicked; evil. And our word of the day for today is RUMINATE which means to think deeply.

Today in class, we also crafted some possible thematic statements fro Emmanuel's Gift, and you came up with great examples such as: The theme in Emmanuel's Gift is that one must always keep pushing forward even when it seems or feels impossible. 

Another example from class is: The theme in Emmanuel's Gift is that because society calls one 'disabled' does not make a verdict that one is unable.

Thanks for your thoughtfulness and excitement today.

Have an awesome weekend!

Peace,

Mr. Reynolds

Finding Meaning and Connecting Messages

Today, we continued screening our documentary film, Emmanuel's Gift. The documentary explores the life of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, who first rode 400 miles, across the entire country of Ghana, to change perceptions about people with physical challenges.

As we finish the documentary tomorrow, we will begin to connect the film to our novel, Habibi, and start to practice synthesis for our next writing assignment. How do these two powerful, remarkable stories work together to create a new message?

Along with our synthesis essay, we will be exploring how change actually occurs in the world. How do people, perceptions, and policies authentically change to become better?

There was no word of the day today as we were progressing with the documentary. See you all tomorrow for the finish!

Peace,

Mr. R

Synthesis Essay! (And Changing the World)

Today, we began a discussion of our next writing project: the SYNTHESIS essay! After our reading of HABIBI, we will screen a remarkable documentary entitled EMMANUEL'S GIFT, which reveals the story of Emannuel Ofosu Yeboah. Born with a deformed leg, Emmanuel's mission is to change the country of Ghana's perceptions and laws about people with physical deformities.

After we screen the film, we will begin our SYNTHESIS ESSAY (click here for the essay assignment in case you need to review it, lost a copy, or would like to use it for wrapping paper, love notes, or wall paper for your bedroom walls). 

In unison with our essay assignment, our word for the day is SYNTHESIS, which simply means the combination of two things in order to produce a new, fresh, whole thing! Yes! Think: A + B = C. An example of our word in a sentence is: my wife and I ran a half-marathon recently; alone, we would have quit, but the synthesis of our energy and hope helped us both to finish!