Floods and Travel Narratives

Last Friday, my Soph LA classes read a selection from the Bible (included in their textbooks) to compare to the "Story of the Flood" from The Epic of Gilgamesh. Many of them had already made the connection between Utnapishtim's story and Noah's story. So, as they read, they took notes on their graphic organizer table about the details of differences between these two ancient tales. Then, on Monday, I handed out a graphic organizer to help them organize their ideas for a compare and contrast essay. They used the table from the previous week to consider similarities and differences and also rewrote 3-4 particular details for each story that they thought they'd like to focus on in their body paragraphs.

On Tuesday, I told them exactly how to organize their essay and what to include in each paragraph: Intro - Hook, Background (Similarities), Thesis (3-part w/ differences); 3 Body Paragraphs - Topic Sentence (one difference each), Concrete Details from text, Commentary/Analysis, Transition sentence; Conclusion - Thesis Restatement, Summary of Main Points, and Final Thoughts. Then, I showed them an example of what a good compare-contrast essay looks like. Afterward, they had about 35 minutes to get started on their own essays. Many of them wrote at least an introduction, and some had one or two body paragraphs written. Most of them struggled to get started. I think this is normal for many students, so I don't mind if they take a while to think things through. Sometimes, if they can't get started right away, they get distracted from their task and start talking to their neighbors (thereby distracting THEM from their assignment), so I am always careful to circulate around the desks to keep a constant check of each student's progress. At the end of class, I told them to have their rough drafts done by the time they get to class the next day.

One cool moment: one of my lowest performing students stared at the assignment for a few minutes, and then said, "Miss, you should give us that paper that you gave us before to organize our essay."
"Which one, C_____?"
"You know, the one with the boxes and lines for each paragraph?"
"Oh yes! Would you like one of those?"
"Yeah. It helps me."
:)

Today, most students had their rough drafts on their desks when class began. Before I spend my time reading their work, though, I wanted to give them plenty of opportunity to self-correct. So, I put another example up on the overhead projector so they could see an "A" paper and compare their own to the example. I told them point blank: "If your paper does not look this good, you probably need to work on it a lot more." In addition to this, I also passed out a handout on a revision technique called ARMS: Add (what information should you add to benefit your reader?), Remove (what should you remove to improve the flow of your essay?), Move (can you improve the organization of your essay by moving words, sentences, or paragraphs?), Substitute (are there words, phrases, or sentences that could be improved by substituting better versions?). Each student had to read through his or her own essay and consider the ARMS, then pass it to a neighbor so they could consider the ARMS. Whatever they found that needed improvement, they had to work on it in class or as homework. They must turn in their rough drafts tomorrow for me to edit. I'll give these back to the students on Friday so they can work on their final drafts and bring them to me on Monday.

With my Jr LA classes, I've been teaching early colonization and travel narratives. We're a little behind the other classes (big surprise!), so I put together a slide show to present the 3 main types of travel narratives in the unit. First, there is the slave narrative: an excerpt from Equiano's narrative. Then, there is the journal: an excerpt from Columbus's notes on what he saw during his first voyage to America. Finally, there are narrative accounts: one excerpt from John Smith's stories of what happened at Jamestown, and the other by William Bradford about what happened at Plymouth in their first years. To get the students more interested in these people, I used photos and interesting facts about their lives to which the students could relate. It was great! They were asking questions, making comments, and telling what they already learned about the people or places in their World History class. It was a lot of fun, and it only took me a couple of hours to put together!

We started reading William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantations afterwards, and I gave them a handout of comprehension questions to answer as we read. We've only read about half of it, and I'm already questioning whether this is the best selection for them to read. The language is pretty complicated, so they get frustrated quickly. I might do Columbus's and John Smith's excerpts next year instead....

After we finish with the travel narratives, we'll being Puritan poetry and The Crucible, which is always very exciting for me. :)

Quote of the Day:

"Miss, what are those living-skin thingies that Utnapishtim and Noah took in their boats?"
"Living-skin thingies?"
"Yeah, they took their families and..."
"Animals?"
"Yeah! Animals! ...I'm sorry, Miss. I don't know what I was thinking. Living-skin thingies! What does that mean???"
"I don't know, but it sounds pretty scary to me."