Seventh+Grade+Weekly

=Weekly Point of View...=

Teachers in attendance: Sumter, Jenkins, Kolb (Brown-absent) Date: 10-14-10 Sumter, Brown, Jenkins, Kolb (10-22-10) Sumter, Brown, Jenkins, Kolb (11-4-10) Sumter, Brown, Jenkins, Kolb, Swetnam (11-11-10) Sumter, Brown, Jenkins, Kolb (11-18-10) Brown, Jenkins, Kolb, Sumter with yearbook rep. (12-9-10) Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins (12-16-10) Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins, Freeman (student teacher) 1-20-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins Freeman 1-27-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins, Freeman 2-10-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins, Freeman 2-17-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins, Freeman 2-24-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter (AVID field trip) Jenkins absent 3-3-11 Brown, Sumter, Jenkins, Kolb (absent) 3-10-11 Brown, Sumter, Jenkins, Kolb 3-17-11 Brown, Sumter, Jenkins, Kolb 3-24-11 Brown, Jenkins, Kolb 4-14-11 Sumter (absent) Brown, Jenkins, Kolb 4-21-11 Sumter (absent) Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins (absent) 5-5-11 Brown, Kolb, Sumter, Jenkins (absent) 5-19-11

**__Where are you on your long-range plans, pacing, and content standards?__** 10-14-10 We are continuing to read novels. We are teaching and reviewing the concepts/skills of plot, conflict, characterization (direct, indirect, round, flat, static, dynamic), theme, and point of view. 10-22-10 We are continuing to read novels. We are teaching and reviewing the concepts/skills of plot, conflict, characterization (direct, indirect, round, flat, static, dynamic), theme, and point of view. For the second nine weeks we will focus on key details and supporting ideas, theme, point of view, research skills and writing research papers. 11-4-10 We have planned lessons to incorporate grammar skills. We will focus on parts of speech, sentence structure, and subject verb agreement. We also discussed with the social studies and science teachers ideas for research that we would could integrate. We will look at these ideas again next week in order to further plan these lessons. Please share minutes from your discussion. Be sure to include feedback on the levels of bloom’s being utilized in your classes/assessments each day. 11-11-10 We are planning our research unit. This will begin next week and will be due before Winter break.11-18-10We have started our research papers. We are working in collaboration with the science teachers to have the students research diseases, disorders, and illnesses. We will be taking advantage of the noodletools.com program that was purchased!!!!! Our stems and vocabulary cumulative test will be given Thursday, December 2, 2010. Stems will be picked up again after Winter break. 12-9-10 We are wrapping up our research unit. All students are currently working on rough drafts and revisions. Final papers are due the later part of next week. After break we will be beginning a new novel study and a unit on various Cinderella stories focusing on theme, plot, point of view, figurative language, and characterization. 12-16-10 We are done with research projects!!!!! We are planning to focus on literary skills after the Christmas break through the use of various Cinderella stories. We will distribute stems list 11 on 1-13-11 and give the quiz on 1-20-11. For our Schools to Watch visit we will all be working on the skills of characterization and point of view. Students will be creating poems from the perspective of another character. Students will also create life-sized character maps, based on the novels or short stories that they are reading in class. 1-20-11 Each teacher is currently reading/analyzing a novel. Kolb- The Outsiders, Brown- Touching Spirit Bear, and Jenkins and Sumter- Freak the Mighty. We are reviewing plot, characterization, point of view, conflict and theme. We are also working on literary terms such as flashback and foreshadowing. 1-27-11 We are all focusing on characterization and theme in various novels and short stories. 2-10-11 We are going to begin on problem/solution essays, poetry, figurative language, and parts of speech. 2-17-11 See above 2-24-11 We are continuing with problem/solution essays, figurative language, tone and mood, poetry, and parts of speech. 3-3-11 We are working on problem solution essays and poetry. We are also preparing for MAP testing on Tuesday. 3-10-11 We are continuing our units on figurative language and poetry. We are also continuing to revisit literary skills through the use of novel studies and short stories. 3-17-11 We are continuing our units on figurative language and poetry. We are also continuing to revisit literary skills through the use the novel studies and short stories. 3-24-11 We are continuing literary skills through the use of short stories and novels. 4-14-11 We are continuing with stems and vocabulary lists, literary skills, and writing essays and poetry. 4-21-11 We are working on literary skills, writing essays, and stems using vocabulary 5-5-11 We are working on PASS reviews which include literary skills and concepts. 5-19-11 We are finishing up any skills and concepts that we need to review for the benchmark.

10-14-10 Today we revisited our benchmark and doubled-checked to ensure that we had covered all the skills taught in this nine weeks- plot, conflict, and characterization. Our test uses all six levels of the revised Bloom's. After the test each teacher will run an item analysis of their students responses and then plan lessons that will reteach the skills that are lacking. In addition, we discussed our progress with our novel studies and work on further analysis of skills students are struggling with as a result of the benchmark and end activities of the novel studies. 10-22-10 We are continuing to look at our benchmark exam to find areas of weakness. We have already determined that our students need to work on finding key details and supporting ideas. We also realized that our essay question needed more detail to clarify the question. We will continue to revisit the passages used in order to model and reteach the concept of key details and supporting ideas. We also discussed persona writing and ideas for teaching various novels. 11-4-10 We discussed how to integrate science and social studies contents into our research projects. We also discussed using readers response journals and novel projects. We are continuing to design test and assignments that reach all levels of Bloom's. Our most recent test was a stems quiz that addressed levels 1, 3, and 4. 11-11-10 Today we meet with Mrs. Swetnam. She should us how to use noodle tools. We discussed due dates and goals for our research project. 11-18-10 We discussed the integrated science unit. We are concerned about the timing of this unit. It may be better to use this unit in the late spring, after PASS testing. We understand that this ties directly to the current unit of study in science, but our concern is that this unit does not correlate to what we are currently teaching. We are concerned that we would be doing an integrated unit just for the sake of doing it. We also discussed the need for reteaching plot. 12-9-10 We discussed our research papers. We are all on target to complete this assignment before winter break. We also discussed plans for after winter break. We will be focusing on reviewing literary terms in short stories and novels. 12-16-10 We discussed plans for the Schools to Watch visit. We also discussed using the MAP survey as our second nine weeks exam/benchmark. We need confirmation and approval for this idea. 1-20-11 We discussed using a variety of stories and novels that are told from various points of view. We also discussed ways to teach internal conflict. We also discussed our plans for the Schools to watch visit. Most of us are keeping our plans the same with some minor changes to reflect where we currently are in the curriculum. 1-27-11 We discussed our plans for the STW visit. Brown's students will be creating Facebook pages to analyze the characters of //Touching Spirit Bear//. Jenkins' students will be analyzing Cinderella stories and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. Sumter's students will be focusing on characterization in //Freak the Mighty// and analyzing the author's use of various character types. Kolb's honors students will be writing a RAFT based on the characters and themes in //The Outsiders//. Her general students will be creating visual character sketches. 2-10-11 We discussed David Lubar read aloud for March 2nd. Jenkins' students began Cinderella writing assignments and working on parts of speech through vocabulary analysis. Sumter's students will be reading various short stories and concentrating on reading literary skills. Kolb's students will be reading Cinderella trilogy and working on parts of speech. Brown's students are working on //Touching Spirit Bear//, focusing on themes and reseach skills. 2-24-11 We discussed and are continuing reading Hidden Talents to prepare for the Read-Aloud scheduled for March 2nd. Kolb's students are working on parts of speech, RAFTs, figurative language, poetry, and problem/solution essays. Brown's students are working on figurative language and poetry. Jenkins' students are working on point of view, compare and contrast, plot. Sumter's students are working on various literary skills using short stories and poems. 3-3-11 We discussed topics for problem solution essays and shared resources for our poetry unit. We really enjoyed the read aloud for Read Across America day. Lots of our students are interested in the sequel. 3-10-11 We discussed where we are in our classes. Brown is finishing up a unit on poetry. Sumter is doing a unit on poetry, figures of speech and a novel study on //Fire from the Rock//. Jenkins is doing a novel study on //The Outsiders// focusing on literary skills and author's craft. We also discussed a school wide writing and our preference to use a prompt athat could be revistied in ELA classes. 3-17-11 We discussed the PASS writing- persuasive letter and/or complaint letter response to the movie. Jenkins is working on persona writing using The Outsiders. Sumter is working on novel Fire from the Rock. Brown is finishing poetry and will begin propaganda. Kolb is working on poetry and problem/solution essays. 3-24-11 Brown is working on Freak the Mighty read-aloud with advanced and regular, propaganda for honors; working on grammar review; Kolb is working on figurative language and poetry with regular and legends and mythology with honors; Sumter is working on figurative language in poetry and the novel Fire from the Rock; Jenkins is working on author's craft and literary elements with The Outsiders. 4-14-11 Brown is working on writing problem/solution essays and compare/contrast essays; Kolb is working on myths, legends, and folktales; Jenkins is working on PASS review, writing and poetry. 4-21-11 Brown has finished problem/solution essays and compare/contrast essays; will begin analysis of multiple works essays; Kolb is continuing with myths, folk tales, and legends; beginning with analysis of multiple works essays; Jenkins is continuing on free writing essays and finishing The Outsiders. All teachers are continuing with PASS review. 5-5-11 Brown and Kolb are working on multiple works essays; Sumter is working on The Outsiders; All are continuing reivewing stems, vocabulary, and literary skills learned through out the year. 5-19-11 Brown and Kolb are working on the intergrated unit journal entries; Sumter is finishing The Outsiders and novel projects

Comments ~ Concerns ~ Needs (resources) Are we going to have money to purchase new novels or replace existing ones? (2-10-11) ** *Post a completed electronic copy of this form by the end of the school day on Thursdays. **