May 9th Daily Plan

9th Grade - Freshmen worked on a worksheet in class that compared the PLANNED actions of various characters to the COMPLICATIONS that occur in the plot that don't allow the plans to unfold.

We discussed that this is necessary for a plotline to move forward - if character's plans are easily completed, then there is no real conflict in the story and the plot does not move. This is increasingly complex because most stories will have many characters, each with their own plans and motivations.

To see how this plays out in "Romeo and Juliet," students broke into small groups to look at the plans and complications that each character faces in the story. To reinforce this, students also needed to find evidence from the story that proves their points.

10th Grade - Sophomores are shifting gears to start the final project for the Critical Thinking Unit. The way this assignment will work is that students will take a topic discussed in the last three weeks, and expand it into a full length essay. There is an incredibly wide range of topics discussed, and part of the goal is that students choose a topic that they have some personal interest in.

To help students work through figuring out what to write about, classes also broke into small groups to create lists of topics that we have discussed. The full list of potential writing subjects will be attached to this site as well.

Sophomores also looked at a list of common writing problems and we brainstormed solutions to them. Basically, when students start drafting tomorrow, I expect that everyone has an idea of what they want to write about, and the tools to start writing.

With participation credit for today - I explained to the class that they are working in groups to be able to help each other and come up with more ideas than they would have individually. However, if it is clear that group work is a distraction and students are not able to gain further understanding than they would individually, then it is not using our time efficiently and they will work on it individually.