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 information (click this – it’s the PowerPoint – Inferences) I found in minutes, we took a look at inferencing.

This should appear as assignment #38 in the Reader’s Notebook for any Language Arts student of mine. 9th Block students did this as well.

Basically, we used the powerpoint referenced above to go through some practice passages frothing with clues that lead to logical conclusions.

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

It was great.

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