Who Are We?1st Six-Weeks

Day 1 – August 26th – C-Day • Introduce Class/Purpose/Syllabus• Introduce workshop format/seating• Hand out journals/Put name only on journal• Writing cycle activity in journal• Put up materials.

Day 2 – August 27th(a)/28th(b)• First full class• Diagnostic writing assignment (30 minutes/timed) – • On separate sheet of paper given to students by teacher:

Prompt: Explain how the way someone looks affects how people treat them. Provide specific explains and supporting details.

• Class discussion – from journals and diagnostic - what defines us?• Portfolios – hand them out, decorate, put diagnostic inside, put all

portfolios in relevant case.• Get a list from above discussion to use as springboard for activities• Introduce ‘reflective statement’• Journal (reflective statement) – I think that what defines a person is…• Put away materials

Day 3 – August 29th(a)/30th(b)• Decorate/personalize portfolios (collage/art/etc). Be prepared

to show and discuss in workshop (30 mins)• Workshop/Discussion – Discuss decorations on portfolios• Read – “Hairs” (p.6-7 House on Mango Street)• Small groups – Make a list of the people she describes on one

side of a chart, on the other side group the adjectives (diction/word choice and its effect on tone/attitude)

• Review charts regarding descriptive adjectives/unusual descriptions.

• Workshop – Share some of the ideas from journaling. What are some differences between how we see ourselves and how others see us?

Day 4 – September 3rd(a)/4th(b)• Journal – 2-3 pictures of women with wildly different hair.

Prompt reads: What’s the difference between these people? If possible – tell the ironic real story of the people.

• Reread Hairs – Discuss the choice of Hairs as a title, why it is unusual, and what ‘hairs’ might mean compared to ‘hair’.

• Oprah article excerpt• Selection of Chris Rock

Day 5 – September 5th(a)/6th(b)• Pairwork (writer’s voice) – With a partner, answer the

following question in your journal: three different people talk about the subject of hair. What are some similarities and differences in the WAY they talk about it? Think about: audience, word choice (diction), formality, format.

• Journal – What is ‘beautiful’ to you? Why are people so worried about being beautiful? What are some differences between the way men and women think of beauty?

• Chart Paper 2/3 people – From your journal, come up with only 6 factors that make a person “beautiful”. Be prepared to defend or explain your explanation.

Day Six – September 9th(a)/10th(b)• Read Dave Barry’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’.• Workshop - SOAPSTone the article – take large amounts of

time to be thorough, carefully explain each aspect of SOAPSTone, and model specific examples.

• Journal – As a class – What is Dave Barry’s central idea in “Beauty and the Beast”? How does he communicate that message? (model a proficient answer sentence that contains both the message and the device. Barry communicates X by using Y.)

Day Seven – September 11th(a)/12th(b)• Discuss and define expository mode• Look at rubrics and standards• Apply rubrics to Hairs and Beauty and the Beast • Calibrate sample essays

Day Eight – September 13th(a)/16th(b)• Timed write – 30 minutes – In portfolio

What object or thing that you own defines you the most? What does it say about you? How is it important in your life? • Keep papers out – SOAPSTone them in our journals. This will

take substantial guidance from the teacher.• Remind students that SOAPSTone is an idea that can help

them get started in pre-writing.• Watch Touchscreen by Marshall ‘Soulful’ Jones on Youtube.• SOAPSTone as a class.• Journal: What is Jones’ controlling idea and how does he get

his point across?

Day Nine – September 17th(a)/18th(b)• Timed Write – For Portfolio – 30 minutes –What is more

important: how you see yourself, or how other people see you? Why? Use specific examples.

• Have students take out their journal and write their answer to the above question in one sentence (if it’s not already that way).

• Model various answers that show thesis statement form (traditionally a straightforward answer followed by a specific example).

• Prompt deconstruction/thesis practice (don’t use these English-y words) – take examples of expository and essay prompts, as a class workshop answering them in thesis statement form. Model good thesis statements.

• Discussion – explain that at the heart of writing lies good, simple, solid answers that are not overly complicated or difficult to state.

Day Ten – September 19th(a)/20th(b)

• Journal – Take out your portfolio and journal, rewrite the intro/thesis to your timed write from the previous class

• 3 different pieces (preferably about identity and also in essay format) with different intros (don’t say “intro”) – discuss what are they going to talk about, and, more importantly, how do we know that?

• What is an intro, is it necessary, how do we come up with ideas for it?

• Pairwork – Take prompts from previous class’ thesis activity and, as small groups, come up with some intro sentences (do not write paragraphs)

• If time, workshop ideas to fuse together the intro sentences with the thesis statements and make sample intro paragraphs.

Day Eleven – September 23rd(a)/24th(b)

• Geraldo No Name• Journal: How can our name determine our identity?

Day Twelve – September 25th(a)/26th(b)

Day Thirteen – September 27th(a)/30th(b)

Day Fourteen – October 1st(a)/2nd(b)

Day Fifteen – October 3rd(a)/4th(b)

• Last day of 1st six-weeks