Mr. Moshé’s Critically Thinking . . . Are You?

What you will find below are resources that I have used in regular education and in my enrichment class. Check ‘em out. They’re all useful.

• Good Discussion Questions - This presentation will take you through what good discussion questions are, how to write them and why they’re important, but not necessarily in that order. You’ll also get some valuable question stems that you can take and modify to suit your needs. Enjoy. Reflect. Grow.
• ReadingPictures - This powerpoint will take you through the meticulous process of learning to READ a picture. In reality it is much more natural than this ppt presents it.
  • We took cornell notes while we went through the ppt.
  • We practiced READING 2 pictures.
  • We reviewed the Steps to READ a picture.
  • We practiced READING 1 picture.
• DISSECT - Word ATTACK!!!!!!!
• SQ3R -   Students grasp a greater amount of content from their textbook readings when they use the highly structured SQ3R Process.

Follow the link below to a short list of questions.

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

I began class as usual, with DEAR or SAFARI or whatever you want to call silent reading. THen we all logged our reading and journaled about what we read. THEN, we got out our notebooks and talked about the 8th grade’s performance on the recent Stated/Implied Main Idea common assessment. OUCH!

I explained that ther were two possible reasons for the poor performance: they were unwilling to perform well, or they were unable to perform well. then the fun began.

Using a powerpoint I created from web resources I found in minutes, we took a look at inferencing. PAGE 38 in the Reader’s Notebook.

I do not have the powerpoint with me now as I type this, but I will post it tomorrow; it’s in my classroom. Basically, we used a powerpoint today to go through some practice passages frothing with clues that lead to logical inferences.

Easily more than 90 percent of my students excelled in class today. This showed me that tey have the skill, just not the willingness. Willingness can come. But only through honest asessment, and at ths I mean self-assessment.

It was great.

Reader’s Notebook Page 37.

We continue to delve into literary elements and styles by focusing on multiple pieces of literature: Author’s Purposes (inform, entertain, persuade), Author’s Perspective (attitude and/or beliefs toward a subject) Regular News Article vs Feature News Story, Reader’s Purpose. We looked  at these literary topics through working with the following pieces:

• Flying by Reeve Lindbergh – Author’s Purposes: Anecdote, KWL (flying); Follow-up Questions 2,3,4,5,6
• from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad – Author’s Purpose: Biography; Active Reading: Write down questions as you read, and find answers as you read; Follow-up Questions 2,3,4,5,6
• The Story of an Eyewitness by Jack London – Author’s Purpose: Feature News Story vs Regular News Story; Author’s Perspective; Chronological Order Graphic; Follow-up Questions 2,3,4,5

Reader’s Notebook Page 36

We began to delve into literary elements by focusing on multiple techniques: Point of View, Main Idea/Theme, Inference, and Mood. We looked  at these literary topics through working with the following stories:

• Stop the Sun by Gary Paulsen – Genre: Historical Fiction
• The Great Rat Hunt by Laurence Yep – Genre: Memoir; Active Reading Questions
• The Treasure of Lemon Brown by Walter Dean Myers – Active Reading Questions

Hey, here is something really cool, and it will be one of the most useful things you get from me this year.

You can have the entire Language of Literature book, well almost the whole thing, anywhere you are as long as you have access to the internet.

Click the link below to download a PowerPoint presentation that will guide you through registration for the book online. This is not optional. THIS IS REQUIRED.

OK, so click the link, watch the PPT, and get registered.

Language of Literature eServices Registration

Well, for starters, we’ve been getting to know what reading strategies are, how we use them, and how they are actually skills we put to use all the time…not just when we read. The core strategies are: Predicting, Questioning, Visualizing, Connecting, Evaluating, and Clarifying.

We have also begun our deep dive into the Elements of Fiction. We started today by getting this list down, and looking up the definitions: Short Story, Novel, Plot, Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Resolution, Setting, Conflict – Internal & External, Characters – Dynamic/Protagonist, Antagonist/Static -, Theme.

Ah, yes, and I collected everyone’s Reader’s Notebooks today. I am very impressed with what I’m seeing. Keep up the great work!!!!

But the COOOOOOLEST thing going on right now is that students have begun creating their own websites. How awesome is that? You can check them out at your leisure whenever you like. We will be visiting the computer lab again this Thursday to work hard on customization, About Me pages, and an initial discussion question (or two). Stay in touch to find out how you can get in on the discussion.

If you are a participating student, keep up with what’s gone on, what’s going on,a nd what’s ahead by looking at the Classroom Rules Project Pages.

If you are a visiting teacher, check out the pages detailing the way this project can be rolled out in your classroom. This project gives children the chance to work independantly, in pairs, in small groups, and as a whole class.

Whether you’re a parent, student, colleague, past student, administrator, or visitor – please contribute here.

1. What do you see a teacher website being used for?
2. How do you want Mr. Moshe to put this website to use?
3. How do you plan to put this website to use?

DEVELOPED FROM THE “Student Code of Academic Integrity” OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX (2007).

Student Code of Academic Integrity

“Mr. Moshe’s class” is an academic community whose fundamental mission is the pursuit of emotional, spiritual, and intellectual growth – physical growth will take care of itself. Achievement of this mission is dependent upon the development of autonomous thought and respect for the ideas of others. Academic dishonesty threatens the integrity of individual students as well as Mr. Moshe’s academic community (the classroom). By virtue of membership in Mr. Moshe’s academic community, students accept a responsibility to abide by this Student Code of Academic Integrity, which is a part of the Student Code of Conduct for his classes.

Academic integrity violations include all forms of academic dishonesty, including but not limited to:

a. Plagiarism – Intentional or unintentional representation of another’s words or ideas as one’s own in an academic exercise.

Examples of plagiarism include but are not limited to:

● The exact copy of information from a source without proper citation and without use of quotation marks or block quotation formatting. If any words or ideas used in a class posting or assignment submission do not represent the student’s original words or ideas, the student must distinguish them with quotation marks or a freestanding, indented block quotation (for a quotation of 40 or more words), followed by the appropriate citation in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. When a student copies information from a source, he or she must acknowledge the source with quotation marks or block quotes irrespective of whether or not the source has been formally published.

● Paraphrasing statements, paragraphs, or other bodies of work without proper citation using someone else’s ideas, data, language, and/or arguments without acknowledgement.

● Presenting work as the student’s own that has been prepared in whole or part by someone other than that particular student. This includes the purchase and/or sharing of work.

● Failure to properly cite and reference statistics, data, or other sources of information that are used in one’s submission.

b. Self-plagiarism, double dipping, or dovetailing – Submission of work that has been prepared for a different course without fair citation of the original work and prior approval of faculty.

Students who submit assignments that were previously submitted in another course are subject to the same consequences they would face if they plagiarized these assignments. The use of one’s previous work in an assignment requires prior approval from the current faculty member and citation of the previous work.

c. Fabrication – Falsification or invention of any information, citation, data, or document.

This includes the invention or alteration of data or results, or relying on another source’s results in any assignment without proper acknowledgement of that source. Fabrication includes citing sources that the student has not actually used or consulted.

This sort of plagiarism may be allowed in practice writing situations as explained by Mr.Moshe.

d. Unauthorized Assistance – Use of materials or information not authorized by Mr. Moshe to complete an academic exercise, or the completion of an academic exercise by someone other than the student.

Students must rely upon their own abilities and refrain from obtaining assistance in any manner that faculty does not explicitly allow. This includes but is not limited to providing or receiving answers to an exam, use of faculty materials or answer keys, or a student having someone take his or her exam.

e. Copyright infringement – Acquisition or use of copyrighted works without appropriate legal license or permission. Read about copyright as related to blog posts here.

f. Misrepresentation – Falsely representing the student’s situation to faculty when (1) justifying an absence or the need for an incomplete grade; or (2) requesting a makeup exam, a special due date, or extension of a syllabus or class deadline for submitting a course requirement.

g. Collusion – Helping or allowing another student to commit any act of academic dishonesty.