Make Your Case!

Today, our word of the day was THESIS, which essentially is a statement that makes an argument. We explored why some statements are strong examples of a thesis, and some are not, and you each write a thesis about anything in the world that interested you.

You stood and shared your thesis with the world! (Okay, at least with Room 340.) Then, we dove into a brief clip from the film A Few Good Men. Together, we watched as Tom Cruise provided a strong thesis and tried to support that thesis with powerful, passionate, and purposeful evidence.

After we explored the film clip, you shared some ideas on how being a lawyer is an analogy for a writer making a case with a thesis. Here's the board from our discussion on these ideas:

Finally, we explored our next writing mission--a book review! Here is the link to the assignment in case you need another copy. Or, in case you would like to print off 100 copies and cover your bedroom walls with this writing mission. Or, in case you would like to print off 1,000 copies and wallpaper your entire house with this writing mission. (*Check with your parents first.) 

Just in case you missed that link, here is the link again. 

Did you miss the link again? Really? If so, we will have to build a strong thesis statement that argues why you may be missing so many links. Perhaps space gnomes are invading your ability to click on important links. Watch out for any space gnomes who steal clickable links!

And, in conclusion, the goal for tonight is to write a single thesis statement for The Absolute Value of Mike. Tomorrow, we will roll up our sleeves and work with these thesis statements (after we defeat the space gnomes!). 

Peace,

Mr. R. 

The Unwritten Chapter

Today, we finished our first class novel, The Absolute Value of Mike. But many authors sometimes end their novels with small cliffhangers--questions we have about the characters and about what will happen next.

A novel is often like a life: we wonder what is going to happen next. What will the next chapter of YOUR life look like? What characters will you meet in the next chapter of your life? How will those characters inspire or challenge you? What does the plot of your life-novel look like?

These questions apply to Kathryn Erskine's novel as much as they apply to our own lives. What will happen with Gladys? Will she go back to Numnut? How about Misha--will Mike and the town of Do Over raise enough to help Karen adopt him? And will Mike and his dad's relationship look different from this point onward?

In class, we are writing CHAPTER 32--the unwritten chapter! You are all sharing your visions, ideas, and hopes for what these characters will encounter next. And as you write the next chapter for these characters, always remember that your next chapter can always be written fresh--imbued with hope and possibility.

Our word for the day, today, is TUMULTUOUS, which means chaotic, in a state of uproar. It is an adjective, and here's an example of the word in a sentence: The birthday party for the six-year old became tumultuous after the pinata broke up and candy fell like a downpour of rain!

For tomorrow, we have a creative vocab quiz on the following words: obliterate, copious, neuron, impervious, transformation, and tumultuous.

Have a marvelous evening!

Breaking Free!

Today, we crafted inspiring and creative folders for all of our formal writing that we'll do this year. Prior to getting elbow deep in paper scraps, inspiring quotes, construction paper, glue sticks, and New Yorker magazine clippings, we also shared one of our four powerful quotes that you found last night.

Your writing folders are incredibly beautiful and inspiring to me! I loved watching you create with cleverness and joy.

Over this weekend, be sure to read through the end of Chapter 24 in The Absolute Value of Mike.

Our word for the day, today, was OBLITERATE, which means to destroy completely. An example of the word in a line is: Every summer, when I was growing up, my brothers and I would create the biggest sandcastle we possibly could; then the tide moved in to OBLITERATE it.

Our word for the day from yesterday was COPIOUS, which is an adjective which means very plentiful. An example of the word in a line is: You all have COPIOUS amounts of insight when we discuss our class novel.

After reading through Chapter 24 in Mike, share your insights regarding this question: What do you think enables people who are stuck--like Poppy--to break free? What inspires them to move past their walls?

Rewiring the Brain!!

What do neurons have to do with reading a novel? What do synapses have to do with English class, anyway!? Today, we began a small project in imagining what the brains of our characters look like.

Our word for the day was NEURON, which is what we call the tiny greyish / reddish cells within our brains (we have anywhere from 100 to 200 BILLION of these little things!). We explored how our brains make connections, and how each of the neurons talks to other neurons.

In preparation for our activity, we read and annotated this article entitled, "Rewiring the Brain." (Click on the link in case you need an extra copy, or if you were absent.) Then, we discussed key lines from the text and shared confusions about other passages within the text.

In pairs, you each chose a character from our novel and began to sketch out the brain (ooey! gooey! neuron-saturated!) of this character, complete with what connections you think this character's brain focuses on. 

We'll continue with our brain project tomorrow, after our vocabulary mission. Be sure to be comfortable with these five words for tomorrow: Outlier, Epiphany, Saunter, Initiate, and Intrinsic. 

Have an awesome evening--and remember to let the neurons on your brain build a new road! 

Finding (and Being) Our True Selves

Today in class, we explored the characters of Gladys, Mike, and Poppy. We discussed whether these characters feel confident, and whether or not they are able to show others who they truly are. Each character feels fear in certain relationships--and we wondered what it will take for these characters to show their true (intrinsic!) nature.

We watched a fascinating talk by research Amy Cuddy, and then compared and contrasted Cuddy's ideas with what we see in the characters' from our novel, and in ourselves. Here is the talk in case you were absent or would like to watch it again:

Our word for the day from today was INTRINSIC, which is an adjective meaning inner; belonging to the essential nature; deeply natural. Here is an example of the word in a sentence: Mike's intrinsic sense of self is all about using his hands and his heart to create, but his father doesn't (yet) recognize this.

Over the weekend, we are reading Chapter 20 in The Absolute Value of Mike. After reading, share your reflection, below, about this question: What do you think inspires people more: intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? Why? 

Have an awesome evening and a wonderful weekend!

Rescue Mission!

Today we acted out Chapter 19 from The Absolute Value of Mike. We explored big themes like: what does it mean to rescue someone from a bad decision? Can others be truly rescued, or do they need to learn certain things on their own, when they are ready? How do we truly help others see their worth?

Today, the ragtag MOO-TEAM arrives at Big Dawg's and tries to help Gladys escape from the clutches of NUMNUT, only to be refused by the bouncer at the door. However, Moo is undaunted. Eventually, Past finds his way in, and we are left with a cliffhanger as we wait to see what Gladys will decide.

Be sure to finish your top-down webs for tonight--and remember that we are thinking both creatively AND critically about the events and characters of the novel. What are the key messages and moments we see in chapter 19? Here is a picture of our board from today to help you:

Our word for the day was SAUNTER, which means to walk lazily along; to stroll. An example with our word in a line is this: When exploring the woods, I prefer to saunter so that I can soak in all the colors. 

Our word for the day from yesterday was OUTLIER, which means a value outside the normal set of data or a person far from average. Here is an example of the word in a line: Moo acts as an outlier in every single one of her interractions with other characters in the novel. 

Have a fabulous evening!

Bringing Words to Life with Love (or Laughter)

Today, you explored Mike and his dad's relationship from The Absolute Value of Mike. You each wrote a scene--in true theater format--that envisioned what a meeting of Mike and his did would be like at this point in the novel.

Your scenes have been creative, funny, heartbreaking, sad, redemptive, and joyful. You used all of our words for the week within your creative scenes, and you began acting out your scenes in pairs today. Tomorrow, we will finish performing our scenes.

Our word for the day was EPIPHANY, which is a noun. An EPIPHANY is a sudden insight, a moment of tremendous clarity, or a great awakening of the mind. We don;t use the word epiphany for any small growth or understanding--but it is used for something truly life-changing. I shared with you all my own epiphany about what it means to succeed--but this epiphany did not occur until college!

Here's my example with the word in context: When I was a senior in college, I had an epiphany: success meant far more than obtaining great grades and winning sports' games. Success was about the kind of relationships I formed and the kindness and boldness with which I tried to live life.

And....3--2--1...our board from today!

For tonight, be sure to read Chapter 18 in the Absolute Value of Mike. Have an awesome evening--get outside and enjoy some of this warmth and sunshine!

Get Ready to Move!

Today, we explored Chapter 17 in The Absolute Value of Mike. We talked about the weight of grief (as in Poppy's case) and how humans are all connected in that we each struggled to carry different kinds of burdens.

But Mike shows us that friendship and community can make those burdens easier to carry.

In light of today's chapter, our vocabulary quiz tomorrow will be highly interractive, and you will need to depend on each other to complete the mission. Come ready to get out of your seats and MOVE!

Our five words for the week are: Redemption, Attribute, Segue, Hyperbole, and Unanimous. Scroll down through the previous blogs for definitions and examples of the words. Also, look through our class activities and discussions to help prepare.

Have a wonderful evening, and get outside and be active today!

Peace, Mr. R.

Redefining Success!

Today, we explored the question, WHAT IS SUCCESS?

You all wrote for a quick two minutes about what you think success is, and then we did a word splash (waves! water! words!) on the board as we shared our ideas about success.

IN the novel The Absolute Value of Mike, we have explored how Mike's father views success for him, and we've talked about homelessness and stereotypes about the homeless in society. We also applied the iceberg theory to characters in the novel--and to ourselves--as we've thought about what it means to be authentic and real.

Many of you shared definitions of success that connected to achievement, reaching a dream, or having what you want / desire.

Here was our board--with all of your ideas in purple, and all of what you shared after a brief film clip and discussion in black and blue.

We segued (remember our word of the day from yesterday?) into a brief clip from the 1992 400-Meter run at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Something fascinating occurred at that Olympic race that revealed a different vision of success.

Here is the footage of the race, which we watched in class and then discussed:

VIDEO OF 1992 OLYMPICS WITH DEREK REDMOND'S RACE

We then explored success using a more complex idea of what it might mean, and we connected this to our novel, and to ourselves.

Our word of the day was REDEMPTION, which means the process of winning or getting something back that was either lost or assumed gone. 

An example of our word in a sentence: By the end of the novel we hope that Mike and his father will find redemption in their relationship with one another. 

A Genius in Real Life?

Today, you all handed in your second drafts of your creative short stories. Huzzah! I am so excited to dive back into these drafts, and to see the revisions that you've made. Now that we've gone through a round of revisions on grammar and form, the third drafts will focus on character and plot development.

As Mike would say, Sweeeeeet!

We also read Chapter 13 aloud together. Mike is fully engaged in trying to help raise the $40,000 to adopt Misha from Romania--but we are wondering if his plans will succeed.

Our word for the day was attribute, which is both a VERB and a NOUN! As a noun, it simply means, qualities--as in this example: My wife has many attributes: she is kind, bold, courageous, and energetic. But as a VERB, it means to explain the cause of something--as in this example: Some people attribute feelings of boredom to watching too much television!

After reading chapter 14 in The Absolute Value of Mike, share your insights, below, on this question: In Chapter 14, Mike replies to Past that his dad is not a genius " 'when it comes to real life,' " (p. 116). What do you think it means to be a genius in "real life" and not just according to math or any academic subject? 

Ideal? Or Real?

Today, we explored the parents we see populating the pages of The Absolute Value of Mike. We explored and discussed Poppy, Moo, Mike's Dad (James), Mike's Mom, Karen, and Gladys's parents. With each parent, we tried to think about the iceberg, and what might be going on beneath the surface and why these parents act the way they do.

I really appreciated all your insightful comments--and how you used the text to support your ideas and inferences!

We also did a Quick Write from the prompt, The best parent would... You wrote for six minutes without picking your pens up off the page, and we encouraged tangents and let our gooey, mushy brains take our hands wherever they wanted to go!

Towards the end of class, in pairs, you each created a list of seven attributes you believed an ideal parent would possess. Then, we discussed how those apply (or do not apply) to the parents in Mike. Finally, we wondered as a class whether the ideal was even possible--or whether we all deal with the real, while we constantly grow and yearn for the ideal.

Our word for the day was SEGUE, which means to make a smooth transition from one topic to another (verb). An example of the word in a line would be: Harold began by talking about honey and then segued into a discussion of why he loves bees.

Have a great night, and remember that Draft # 2 of your short stories are due tomorrow. Be sure to staple the first draft on the back, and include the cover page (here's the link to how to do your cover page, in case you need a refresher). 

Rock on!

Making Characters Real

Today you all dove into an interactive vocabulary quiz, whereby you pretended to be one of the characters from The Absolute Value of Mike and wrote a letter to another character from the novel. You shared your writing with a partner, and then read the response your partner wrote. And you powerfully used our lovely words: boisterous, despondent, jovial, aspire, and mosaic.

Awesome!

Over the weekend, we are reading through the end of Chapter 12 in The Absolute Value of Mike.

Our word for the day, today, was hyperbole, which means an extreme exaggeration. An example would be: Authors love using hyperbole in their writing because it helps to poetically show character and scene. And, an example of hyperbole would be: Jehoshaphat ran faster than a locomotive in the one-million meter dash!

Share your thoughts, below, regarding this question: In the novel, we see a lot of imperfect people all trying to love and be loved. After reading through Chapter 12, what would you say it means to love another person? What does authentic love look like?