Unit Three Essential Question!

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath....

"What IS the new essential question, Mrs. Levin? I must know!"

Well, wait no more my lovely ones.

Here it is.

The NEW Essential Question !!!!!

Is here!

Just below!

To what extent can words create a new reality?

Friday's class: Quote Sandwich Revisions and Our New Essential Question!

Our essential question for Unit 2 is:

·         How does an author use words to create a good story?

We also spent some time planning out revisions for our "quote sandwich" paragraphs about mood. 

Homework was to write the revised paragraph on a separate sheet of paper.

-Mrs. L.

 

 

Words We Love

Check out these quotes from Marilyn Chandler McEntyre:

“It is hard to get people to look at words instead of through them.”

And sometimes words become objects of interest in themselves. Suddenly we notice them. We see and hear them the way poets do, as having vitality and delightfulness independent of their utility.

We talked about words a lot today, starting with an article entitled "Mother's the Word." If you'd like to read it, you can find it here. 

What does it mean to look "at" a word, instead of "through" it? I used the analogy of a window: usually, words function like a window, to show us something beyond. Like the quote says above, I want us to sometimes pause and look at this "window" itself. What happens when you look at a word as something vital, something delightful? Maybe what the guys in this video do:

Most classes then thought of their own favorite words, and we created a "Word Wall" with them. Some classes even had time to answer our essential question for this unit, which is, "How do we use words to communicate who we are?"

Have a great weekend!

-Mrs. L.

Student Dictionary Interviews

On Wednesday and Thursday, we conducted interviews to create an entry in our "Student Dictionary." Students wrote up their interviews like a dictionary entry and presented their partner to the class.

At the end of class, students wrote down three words they thought describe them. These words (several hundred across all five classes!) are now up in our room. You can read some of the words in the picture below!

-Mrs. L.