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The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher

The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher
Part I: Introduction--What inspired my argumentative response? For decades, too many high-school teachers have been instilling persuasive writing skills by teaching students the five-paragraph essay. You know it: Introduction with three reasons Reason #1 Reason #2 Reason #3 A summary of all three reasons It's bad writing. The five-paragraph essay is rudimentary, unengaging, and useless. If I were using five paragraphs to convince you, based on the argument above, you wouldn't need to read any farther. Aristotle became one of the godfathers of rhetoric by creating structures for persuasive writing and speaking that--if taught to young people today--would transform writing instruction and facilitate the implementation of the Common Core, proving that students--when guided appropriately--can succeed with critical thinking in the 21st century. Part 2: Background--What preceded my argument and / or what needs to be clarified? Part 3: Confirmation--What supports my argument? I know. Related:  Library

Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies The School Library Media Specialist: Library Media Program: Introduction Whether you're planning a Reading Month promotion, designing a new layout for your nonfiction book collection, or developing a technology plan for your entire school district, the problem solving process is the same. Of course the length of the process and complexity of the solution will vary depending on the project, but the data that you collect and the stages you go through will be similar. When is planning important? Program planning is not a "one shot" activity done at the beginning of the year or when applying for a grant. Example - as you design your materials collection, you'll need to identify the strong and weak areas of your collection, establish program goals, make selection decisions, acquire materials, and evaluate the collection. Example - as you develop a volunteer program, you must identify where you need help, recruit potential volunteers, match people with tasks, provide training, and examine the results. What are the steps in planning? Connect to Mission. Analyze Needs.

Object(ive) Writing: A Creative Exercise for the Composition Classroom At the 2012 Conference on College Composition and Communication, three well-known writing scholars led a discussion on a writing exercise they'd assigned themselves. For 30 days, each wrote for an hour about a different everyday object. After CCCC, three of us -- all friends, teachers and writers -- were energized by the idea of this activity and decided to try it out. Our Rules On each day for one month, each of us wrote for 30 minutes on one of the 30 objects we chose in advance -- each of us had selected 10. We didn't confine ourselves to any particular writing process or genre. Patrick's Ladle Laura's Retort The exercise proved to be powerful, helping us to engage one another in writing as we learned about each other, ourselves and the objects with which we interact every day. Reflections All three of us agreed to reflect on his or her experience during the process and to contribute to a final reflection blog. Writing as Praxis Objects in Composition Classrooms

Argumentative Thesis Statement Examples Before going into the argumentative thesis statement examples, we shall first find out what a thesis statement is. If you have been assigned with the task of writing a thesis paper, then its statement holds a significant position in the entire content. Thesis statement is an abstract, where you explain your subject in short. A dissertation containing a well written statement is appreciated much more by reviewers, than those without a statement. In this article, the argumentative thesis statement examples will be put forth that will help you to understand how to write a statement for a debatable topic. Examples of Argumentative Thesis Statements Understanding what is a thesis statement, will foster your ability to write any kind of statements. Example 1 Topic: Animal Testing Although, a subject of substantial ethical concern, I support my views for the topic animal testing. Example 2 Example 3

Teaching Authentic Writing in a Socially Mediated World - Getting Smart by Susan Lucille Davis - common core, DigLN, engchat Email Share June 28, 2012 - by Susan Lucille Davis 122 Email Share I need to confess. What I Know and What I Don’t Know I know that a focus on building skills to communicate effectively in our media-driven, socially-networked world is more essential than ever. I should say, actually, that the problem is that I don’t know where to start. What about the Common Core State Standards? As I understand them, the Common Core standards still generally address writing in very traditional ways: as exposition, as narrative, and as analysis. My List of Contemporary Writing Activities A recent conversation at SocialEdCon/ISTE Unplugged about online writing (let’s face it, most of the writing our students will do will be online in one format or another) led me to start the following list of contemporary forms of writing we need to address with our students. Note that the Common Core emphasis on traditional rhetorical modes can be employed in many of these arenas. A Conundrum and a Sign of Hope

Services to Libraries Jump to Content Services to Libraries Statewide Projects and Initiatives Grants Information Development of Libraries Microsoft IT Academy The Washington Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) will provide the people of Washington access without charge to a wide range of Microsoft online courses and learning resources through their local public, community college, or tribal libraries. Training and Certification Additional Services We encourage your feedback. Funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Why the Washington State Library Matters Read the summary detailing what we do here at the Washington State Library and why it's important to you. Legislative Session Updates Find out about legislation affecting libraries passed in 2015 as well as previous end of session reports on our Publications page. New Washington Rural Heritage collection: Colville National Forest Collection Digital Literacy in Washington State Källtext

Dream Moods A-Z Dream Dictionary Symbols are the language of dreams. A symbol can invoke a feeling or an idea and often has a much more profound and deeper meaning than any one word can convey. At the same time, these symbols can leave you confused and wondering what that dream was all about. Acquiring the ability to interpret your dreams is a powerful tool. In analyzing your dreams, you can learn about your deep secrets and hidden feelings. Remember that no one is a better expert at interpreting your dreams than yourself. To guide you with your dreams interpretations, we have interpreted over 5900 keywords and symbols and over 20,000 different meanings in our ever expanding dream dictionary. Every detail, even the most minute element in your dream is important and must be considered when analyzing your dreams.

Quality Rubrics / Checklist_v_Rubric What deserves a rubric? A good starting point when thinking about what tasks deserves a rubric, is to reflect on the nature of the task. What are your goals for you and your students? If your goal is to provide answers to the following questions, a checklist or scoring chart may be the best assessment tool: What do I need to do to pass? If your goal is to provide answers to the following questions, a rubric is probably the best fit: What does quality look like for this task or process? You may find these questions helpful if you've already created a document and are wondering if it "counts" as a rubric or it can better be classified a scoring chart. Designed with the goal of communicating expectations, Quality Rubrics take time to write, requiring student input, the use of anchors and exemplars, and most likely, multiple drafts. Finally, use point systems for items that can only be right or wrong, such as computation problems or spelling words. Checklist versus Rubric versus Point System

School libraries help students learn Twitter fiction: 21 authors try their hand at 140-character novels Geoff Dyer I know I said that if I lived to 100 I'd not regret what happened last night. But I woke up this morning and a century had passed. Sorry. James Meek He said he was leaving her. Jackie Collins She smiled, he smiled back, it was lust at first sight, but then she discovered he was married, too bad it couldn't go anywhere. Ian Rankin I opened the door to our flat and you were standing there, cleaver raised. Blake Morrison Blonde, GSOH, 28. David Lodge "Your money or your life!" AM Homes Sometimes we wonder why sorrow so heavy when happiness is like helium. Sophie Hannah I had land, money. Andrew O'Hagan Clyde stole a lychee and ate it in the shower. AL Kennedy It's good that you're busy. Jeffrey Archer "It's a miracle he survived," said the doctor. Anne Enright The internet ate my novel, but this is much more fun #careerchange #nolookingback oh but #worldsosilentnow Hey! Patrick Neate ur profile pic: happy – smiling & smoking. ur last post: "home!" Hari Kunzru I'm here w/ disk. SJ Watson OK.

"7 Elements of a Differentiated Writing" Teacher modeling of writing is missing in most of the classrooms I observe. I'm out to personally change that. I learned the amazing power of sharing your own writing process with students many years ago, and I haven't looked back since. In the fall of 1996, I returned to my classroom a changed teacher. I had a brand new car with both lots of horsepower and an electric sunroof--a personal dream fulfilled! The most important trick learned was this: be a writer too. I have to tell you it was amazingly hard, but I did it. As teachers, we're funny; we model reading strategies, and that's not hard for us. At right, you will find the first piece of writing that I shared with my new poetry elective class that Fall. That summer institute I took back in 1996 actually started my path to my Master's Degree. For that mythology elective, I had my best experience with sharing writing I was doing for my Master's Program. There's such simple power in sharing your own writing with your students.

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