Week 8 Syllabus: October 9-12

THE TRIDENT OF ENGLISH SKILLS WE’VE WORKED on include: a) reading—for academic study and for pleasure; b) annotation—how to take notes while you read, in order to become a better reader; and c) writing (argument) paragraphs—using a claim, reason(s), and evidence. These skills we will practice and hone all year. We’re moving out of our study of Curious Incident and Sherlock Holmes into our short story unit. For each story, we will practice these skills, annotating, discussing, and writing for each story. Our first is set in NYC post World War 2, and describes two young girls, one Jewish and one Catholic.

TUESDAY, October 10

• Starting with SSR. Post an update to our google sheet about your book, adding a second book if you have started one—and even if you haven’t.

• Re-reading “The Wrong Lunch Line.” While doing so, remember to annotate:

  • Circle vocabulary;

  • Write out the questions you have as a reader;

  • Take notes on passages that would help you answer this question: How are both Yvette and Mildred in conflict with their school and the adults in their world?

• Small group read-around: “East Harlem’s Nicholasa Mohr One of the First Puerto Rican Writers Published by a Commercial House,” by Harlem World.

• Time permitting, we will begin work on the google spread sheet.

• HW: Working on a google sheet to pre-write a claim for your paragraph on “The Wrong Lunch Line”—check your NT school email account for the link to the document. Complete parts A, B and C.

6th Period discussion notes on “Run”

WEDNESDAY, anchor day

• Viewing clips for the new Burns documentary "America and the Holocaust," background for the Nicholasa Mohr's story about Jewish and Catholic girls who are friends in 1946 America:
  Introduction to Jews in America
  Later selection about Jewish immigration

• HW: Revisit your google sheet, adding to it background that you discovered about the story via today’s documentaries.

Thursday, October 12—”Back to School” Night

• No independent reading tonight!

• Quick introductions by myself and Ms. Tamvakis.

• Overview of the google-sheet, and then writing a paragraph on the short story using our “cheeseburger” structure. You will use the claim from the A-B-C google sheet for a topic sentence (adding Nicholasa Mohn, “The Wrong Lunch Line,” and short story).

• HW: Submit your paragraph to Canvas after finishing it. Then, read everyone’s paragraph, selecting the THREE best from all the students (6th and 8th period combined).