Speak pp. 110 -125

How do we compare motives of characters?

Wordsmiths: Define these words: obnoxious, mute, dynamics, misdemeanor, cubism. Why doesn't Melinda want to talk during the meeting with her parents, the principal, and the guidance counselor?

Character Hunters: Why does Melinda cut school after the meeting with her parents, the principal, and the guidance counselor? What has the guidance counselor given Melinda as a result of the meeting?

Historian: Melinda meets someone in MISS; who is it? How does she feel towards him and what does he do to make her want to kill him? Have her feelings toward him changed since the last encounter and why is he in MISS?

Deep Thinker: What is the symbolism of the Picasso chapter and how does Melinda get it? How is Mr. Freeman trying to motivate her to express her feelings?

Memorable Quote: "When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time."

Speak pp.95-110

How do we make, confirm, and revise predictions?

Wordsmiths: Define these words: conundrum, symbolism, humiliation, vespiary, conjugate. After reading "Code Breaking" what words have you read so far that describe Melinda's feelings? How is color used to describe her feelings?

Character Hunters: Make a prediction of who sent the Valentine to Melinda? Was your prediction correct? How does Heather describe Melinda during their lunch chat? Why does Melinda run into the janitor's closet on Valentine's Day?

Historian: What clues do we get that Melinda really can't stand Andy Evans? Give evidence. Make a prediction why she doesn't like him.

Deep Thinker: Just as Hawthorne left clues, Ms.Anderson has left clues about Melinda and what she's going through. Give at least 3 examples of these clues and her use of symbolism.

Memorable Quote: " Every word chosen by Nathaniel, every comma, every paragraph break - these were all done on purpose."

Speak pp. 80 -92

How do you interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from the text?

Wordsmiths: Look up and define: retention, tubercular, demented, fringe, abysmal
Melinda is having fainting episodes. Why do you think she gets sick when she sees David spreading and pinning the female frog's legs?

Character Hunter: IT has been given a name. What is his name? Describe him as Emily described him on page 90. What does Melinda do after her encounter with him? What did he call her when he met her in the hall?

Historian: How have Melinda's marks changed since the last marking period?

Deep Thinker: How has Melinda been sending silent messages that she's in a great deal of pain and why do you think she feels this way? Give evidence.

Memorable Quote: "It feels like the Prince of Darkness has swept his cloak over the table."

Speak pp.66-80

How do we make connections between the fiction in books and the reality in our own lives?

Wordsmiths: incompetence, multicultural, wombat, demure, vermilion. Look up these words, put them in sentences and answer the question: Why does David Petrakis set up a videocamera in Social Studies?

Character Hunters: Why does Melinda become the center of attention in gym class? How does this affect her grades?

Historian: Melinda talks about Christmases past. How are they different from the Christmas she just spent with her family? Why does she get so angry at her dad?

Deep Thinker: Looking at the chapters you have just read, are there any similarities in the story to your own life? What are they? If there aren't any similarities, what's different?

Memorable Quote: "Democracy is a wonderful institution." p.70

Speak pp.53-66

Aim: How do I compare and contrast characters?

Wordsmiths: xenophobic, harried, commercialism, sensibilities, trigger. Define each word and put it into a sentence.

Character Hunters: We find out more about the following characters: Mr. Neck, Mr.Freeman, Ms. Keen who are teachers; Mr. and Mrs. Sordino, Melinda's parents; Ivy and David Petrakis, fellow students. Pick one group of characters and compare and contrast them.

Historians: Using the First Amendment chapter, find out how long Melinda has lived in the school district and whether she considers herself an immigrant or not and why?

Deep Thinker: Melinda has been working on her art project. How does she show pain in her newest creation and why is Ivy afraid to look at it for too long a time?

Memorable Quote: "The Constitution does not recognize different classes of citizenship based on time spent living in the country."

Speak pp.39 -52

Aim: How do we draw conclusions?

Wordsmiths: These are your challenge words: abducted, probation, irony, forum, refurbished. These words are found in story. Use them in a sentence that will help you draw conclusions about the story so far.

Character Hunters: Heather is really the featured character in these chapters. How is her character developing? What clan has she joined and why? How does this affect Melinda?

Historian: Why does the name of the high school mascot keep changing? Why does Heather stay friends with Melinda?

Deep Thinker: There's a chapter called "Nightmare" and IT is mentioned. Who do you think IT is? Why is this one of the shortest chapters?

Memorable Quote: "weareheretogetagoodfoundationsowecangotocollegeliveup toourpotentialgetagoodjoblivehappilyeverafterandgo toDisneyWorld."

Speak pp.26 - 39

Wordsmiths - Words for today: blathers, mayhem, simultaneously,interrogation, interim. Look them up in your word dictionary and put them in sentences.

Character Hunters - Answer these questions: What do we find out about Melinda from her watercolors of trees? Why does Melinda consider herself a good actress?

Historian: Answer this question: What kind of a student was Melinda last year? How do you know?

DeepThinker: What clues do you have that tell what happened to Melinda during the summer party? Give examples.

Speak pp.13-26

Wordsmiths- These are the words you are to look up: demented, potential, dryad, errant, intimidated
Find their meanings and put them in sentences. What do these words describe? They are used as adjectives in the book.

Character Hunters- We meet Heather. What do we know about Heather besides the fact that she comes from Ohio? Answer in complete sentences. We find out more about Rachelle. Why is she hanging out with the foreign exchange students?

Historians- We know that something has happened to Melinda and she has changed in the past two months? What was she like before the incident two months ago?

Deep Thinkers- Taking all the information from the members of your team, come up with the reason why Melinda feels better now that she's found the abandoned janitor's closet. Use the challenge words in your answer.

Developing Our Book Club Teams

1. Each team should be made up of at least four members. They are to pick their roles and they are to realize that their roles are interdependent. (Wordsmith look up that word if you don't know what it means.)

2. The members of the team don't have to strictly adhere to their roles, but they are responsible for typing their part into the log template.

3. The choice of the first book is going to be mine. I'm going to model what I expect to see on this log and if I see success, you may pick subsequent books.

4. Blogging is to be done every Thursday and I will go into more detail about that on next Wednesday.

Book Club Strategies

WHAT ARE BOOK CLUB STRATEGIES AND HOW DO WE USE THEM?

1. Readers stop after a chapter or section of text and tell the important parts of the last chapter while the writer records them so they aren't forgotten. They could post some of the difficult words they have encountered. (Wordsmiths)

2. Readers stop after each chapter or section and tell how that part fits in with what they've already read. Is there anything that implies a theme? What is it?(Historians)

3.Readers keep track of the characters in the text by naming each character, telling their relationship to the other characters in the story?(Character Hunters)

4. Readers stop after a big event in the text and explain what pressures the character is facing from other characters or from society. Try to form a theory about how these pressures are influencing their actions, thoughts and words. (Deep Thinkers)

It's A Toss-Up

Would you like to read your editorials aloud or fine tune them?

1. Some students are really proud of their editorials and would like to get up and share them with the class. They will get 10 coupons for Friday's drawing if they do.

2. Some students feel their editorials need a little more work and they need this time to work on them. If I see a finished product before Friday, they will get 5 coupons for the drawing on Friday.

3. Some students don't feel they are ready to finish their editorials. They will see me during AIS and during my preps until they are finished.

4. All students will save their editorials in their portfolios.

What are Book Clubs?

What are book clubs and how do we pick a book to discuss?

1. Book clubs are reading groups that discuss a book that the group has picked out and enjoys reading.

2. This unit is Realistic Fiction. It's nice to read about young people your own age who have similar problems to yourselves. It's enjoyable to find out how they solved their problems and whether or not you agree with their solutions.

3. There is a reading record in google docs where you can give each person in your group a job and track your reading progress and make comments. It's a current reading journal worked on by the group, so your mark depends on the entire group.

4. This will give you an opportunity to voice your opinion daily with the help of the other students in your group. It's a lesson in cooperation as well as reading and writing. Good Luck and Have Fun!

Today's a Test Day

1. All students need to take a deep breath and relax.

2. All students need to know that this test is to show what they learned this year and that some of the questions can be worked out any way they know how. There isn't just one right way.

3. Don't panic. If a problem or example seems too hard, go to the next one but don't lose your place. Sometimes there are clues to how to solve examples or problems in other examples/problems.

4. Go over the test and try to do the easy problems first. They aren't always in the beginning. Make sure to keep your place if you skip around.

5. Don't give up if a problem looks hard. Read it over again two or three times and use your common sense. You can do it!

Revising, Revising, and Reading

How do you revise and fine tune your editorial for reading it out loud?

1. Look at your paragraphs. Are all the capital letters there? How about the periods and commas. They're there so when you read, you know where to take a breath. You pause briefly at periods.

2. Reread your editorial. Are you happy with it? Are you excited to read it to someone else? If not, why? Did you prove your point? Did the real you come through?

3. If you can't answer yes to any of these questions, you still have time to revise!

4. Go over the previous blogs, see if they can help you. You can always see me during class or during AIS.

Tightening Up the Editorial

How do you tighten up your writing?

1. Read your paragraphs. Does one seem longer than the others?

2. Look for unnecessary information. Did you write too much to support a detail? Does the information really pertain to the topic?

3. Sometimes you copy and paste a little too much. You have to read very carefully to make sure you are on target.

4. Make the necessary cuts and explain to me why you made the cuts.

5. Reread the editorial again. You want it just right.

Using Articles to Back-Up the Editorial

How do you use non-fiction articles to back up your editorial?

1. If you feel strongly about something, you want to find articles that support your argument. Read the article carefully before you use it as a quote.

2. If you can't find articles to support your position, maybe you should think about your argument or approach it from a different point of view.

3. An opinion is like a hypothesis that you're trying to prove. Finding articles is like doing an experiment and trying different solutions. You keep trying until you find the right article that will prove your point.

4. You can always cut, paste,insert, and erase. See me if you have any problems.

Adding Quotations and Supporting Information

How do you add quotations and supporting information to my editorial to back-up your argument?

1. Look at your opening paragraph. This is what you want people to agree with when they finish reading your editorial. Do you have enough direct quotes from articles to back it up?

2. Make sure you have at least a direct quote in the introduction. Use indirect quotes, which are other people's words that are paraphrased, in each of the other paragraphs.

3. Read it out loud and listen to the rhythm of it. Does it flow from one sentence to the next? Is it jumping all over the place? Make any corrections and if you have a question or need help, see me.

4. Read your editorial to a fellow student. Did they find it interesting? Ask their opinion. Help each other to make strong arguments.

Revising the Voice/Tone of the Editorial

How do you revise the voice or tone of your editorial?

1.Read your editorial to yourself. Is it engaging you in a conversational tone? Do you hear your personality coming through the words and sentences?

2. Reread your editorial. Is the writing too academic? Is it boring? Maybe it's too informal and you have to put in a few direct quotes and a linked article or two.

3. Add, cut, or modify to make your editorial more convincing and audience friendly.

4. Check with me if you have any questions and we'll go over it together.