READING III IS OVER

I want to thank my excellent students. Everyone passed the final exam and I received some great final papers. In the end, I think everyone made a lot of progress. Final grades are posted on line.

Happy Holidays to everyone. FYI the gift card was used to buy a gift for 10 year old girl who really needed it this year. 

I am teaching Grammar II next semester (not Reading I) on Monday and Wednesdays at 6 pm.

Above: gift grizzly attacking Bambi.

12/10/08

Whole Class read 

CR3 page 159

And answered the following questions:

How many kids were engaged in outdoor activities?

90% of obese children did not....

What is the significant message?

Was anything surprising to you?

Whole class read p160 and looked for funny/strange vocabulary and tried to identify what information was brand new. 

Short discussion of Chapter 29

Homework: Read last two chapters of La Línea. 

Be prepared to turn in Final project and Journals

12/8/08

Whole class Read pages 147 through 149 of CR3.

Afterwards students took a practice quiz on the following questions;

1. Name one fatal disease linked to Osesity.

2. What is happening in the developing world?

3. Your opinion: What is our government's role? What can the government really do to help with the problem.

All students offered a suggestion for question number 3.

Discussion of Final Projects

Demonstration of simplified Works Cited rules.

Whole class found most important events in Chapter 27 and together wrote a paragraph.

Individually students wrote a paragraph about the most important events of Chapter 28. 

Homework:

Read Chapter 29 of La Linea

Write your last Journal entry. 

12/3/08

The class met at Cañada's library

Homework:

Read La Línea Chapters 26 and 27 

Write in  your Journal

Class for 12/3/08 will be at the library (third floor of the new building). 

At 6 pm we will be meeting with: Librarian Margie Whitnah.

She will demonstrate some great research tips and strategies and then there will be time to do some research on your own. 

See you there!

12/1/08

Final Project

Link to Redwood City Data

Link to Census Data

Review and adaption of Syllabus. Final Project is now due on Dec 15th (instead of Dec 8th). 

Final Exam will include:

2 questions about race and ethnicity

2 questions about stress

2 questions about obesity

and will cover several techniques and strategies regarding "attacking" a text

The final exam will also include a timed reading of a brand new text. Students will use strategies and answering questions about new content.

Quiz on CR3 p 146

Self quiz on p 147. 

Discussion of the importance of identifying acronyms (or repeating vocabulary) and understanding their definitions. 

Class split in two Groups to discuss La Línea

Group A identified the two main events in Chapter 24 and 2 very important vocabulary words. 

Group B same for Chapter 25

Each group shared with the whole class

Homework:

Chapter 26 of La Línea (write in your Journal)

11/24/08

Whole class discussion of specific techniques for writing reactions to the reading.
It is so important to insert your personal experiences into your writing. It makes it more interesting for others and will engage your own mind at a higher level allowing you to retain more information.

With scaffolded beginning sentences students wrote reactions to Chapter 22 of la Linea.

Whole class discussion of CR3 pages 145-and 146. The importance of asking questions even before you read. We turned headings into questions. And also the importance of really understanding bulleted information and making it personal when ever possible.

Homework:

Read Chapters 24 and 25 of La Linea
Read CR3 pages 147 and 148
Write 2 reactions in your journal

11/19/08

Discussion of Journals:

All students have proven they are skilled at summarizing. The new goal is to make the journal entries interesting to the student (and therefore the teacher). The following suggestions were given:

Make your paragraph 90% reaction and 10 % summary. 

Write a paragraph that answers one of the following questions: 

Was the chapter realistic (or unrealistic) ?

Was the chapter or situation boring (or interesting)?

Was it well written (or poorly written).

Always support your opinion with reasons why.

Practice Quiz on CR3 P134 and 135. 

Pair discussions of the following Questions. 

Students then wrote their own structured response in the form of a paragraph to answer each question specifically and in order. 

Homework:

CR3 p141 Choose about 10 of the vocabulary words and define them in your journal.

Read Chapter 23 of La Linea

11/17/08

Preview of Chapters 3 and 4 of College Reading Three

Students participated in 2 speed reading comprehension self quizzes: 

From page 102 students were given 5 minutes to read 3 paragraphs. They then were asked to close the book and write a definition of Management. 

From Page 145 students were given 5 minutes to read the whole page and then asked:

1 What are the 2 key causes of Obesity?

2. What countries are at greatest risk? 

(students also discussed what question was easier, what strategies did they use with such limited time, how do you read fast and remember)

SLO Assessment Period on finding 2 inferences

Quiz on La Línea Chapter 22

Write a paragraph to describe: In chronological order what important events or decisions happen in Chapter 22? 

Homework:

Read CR3 p 134 to 138

Write 3 things that you learned

Re-write 2 corrected paragraphs from latest or other returned/corrected homework

11/12/08 Class Canceled (professor out sick)

11/10/08 Holiday

11/5/08

Reading selections of Obama's Victory Speech were distributed. Students were assigned one of 4 parts. There assignment was the following.

1- Read your section (page 1, 2, 3, or 4)

2- Identify the 2 or 3 most important points*

3- Use your own words to write a paragraph

use one citation (no more than 10 words long)

example: "we have never been just a collection of individuals"

The teacher circled to discuss with each student their impressions and paragraphs

Journals were collected.

La Linea Homework (3 questions on chapter 21) was collected.

Homework

Read Chapter 22

Prepare for a quiz on La Linea

11/4/08

College Reading 3   Test/Quiz

Whole Class Activity (or HOMEWORK):

Reading and Practice Quiz on La Línea Chapter 21

Make sure your answers make reference to chapter 21. 

1) Discuss one reason  that we can trust Javier?

2) Why does Javi think that the soldiers gave up looking?

3) How has Miguel shown he is mature?

JOURNALS ARE DUE ON WEDNESDAY

10/29/08

Discussion of paraphrasing (you can cut, cut, cut from the original wording, use your own words, or combine both techniques).

Whole class practiced paraphrasing the following definition of stress: "pressures or demands placed upon an organism to adjust or adapt to its environment."

As continued prep for test on Monday, we discussed questions 1,2, 5 and 7 of page 89. Also students practiced answering the following question in paragraph form. 

"What important aspects did you learn from CR3 chapter 2?"

Homework: study all the above for test/quiz on Monday. As you study re-write your paragraph and other insights in your journal. Journals due Wednesday. 

10/27/08

Discussion of Acculturative Stress

Small groups were assigned one of the 4 paragraphs. They had to decide what was the main idea of that paragraph. Each group reported to the whole class.

1. Acculturating is stressful and affects psychological health.

Homework:

From Quiz on Chapter 17 (returned corrected today) rewrite your answer to question #3

Read La Línea Chapter 20

Read and think about CR3, page 89 and respond in your journal

10/22/08

Political Discussion 

Viewing of Political parody: Amy Poeler sings Sarah Palin's Rap

 nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-palin-rap/773781/

Whole class discussion of Pages 79 and 81 of CR3

For La Línea individual students were assigned a chapter to summarize and also to look for repetitive or overly dramatic language. 

Calendar Syllabus was passed out and reviewed.

Homework:

CR3 pages 83-86

Write in your Journal about "Acculturative Stress"

10/20/08

Whole class review of CR3 pages 63-78

Students practiced identifying: topic sentence, example, explanation and concluding sentences in 3 different paragraphs

La Línea Chapter 17 Quiz

1. Why does Elena tell Miguel to forget about their mother's letters?

2. Why did Elena lie to Miguel about her money?

3. Who do Miguel and Elena try to call? How do they react to the phone call? Are they strong or are they weak?

4. Why can't Elena return to San Jacinto?

Final Project Interview Questions

Students brainstormed possible questions: 

Where are you from?

What did you used to do in your home country?

How long have you lived here?

Why did you decide to come to this country? Where your reasons good reasons?

How did you cross the border? Where did you cross?

Did you come alone or with others?

Did you come to find or be reunited with family?

Homework

Read Chapter 18 of La Línea

Read and write pages 79-82 of College Reading 3

"Secret" Instructions

Email your professor and type "Final Project" in the subject line. Dead line 5:00PM on 10/20/08

10/15/08

Students treated La Línea chapter 16 in an opposite manner. We focused on finding 3 unimportant events or details. Each student wrote 3 but reported to the whole class 1. We built a list of 5 unimportant events. Examples: 

Miguel saw 4 rats. 

Elena spread out her shawl.

Then the whole class refocused on the important events. 

Class discussed the significance of the word "Inference" (what was being said implicitly in the third to the last paragraph). In other words what did we learn about Colmillo, what might he do?

Posed with the statement that Ann Jaramillo's writing style is too dramatic, students individually rewrote the same paragraph to make it less dramatic.

To reinforce the lesson, students read the paragraph that starts "In a small monotone..." on page 51. They identified the following:

1. What is one unimportant detail?

2. Where exactly is Ann Jaramillo being too dramatic?

3. What can you infer from the paragraph?

Homework:

Check the Class's blog for "secret" instructions

Read College Reading 3 pages 77-79

Read Chapter 17 of La Línea

10/13/08

Students took a "pop" quiz on College Reading III pages 63-65.

These were the questions:

1. Who is Hans Selye? What did he contribute to psychology? (5 points)

2. Define the following words/phrases: (1 point each)

   Trigger:

   Fight or Flight:

   Arousal:

   Compare: Psychological and Physiological

3. Write a paragraph. Choose ONE of the following:

     

    A. What did you learn from pages 63-65?

    B. How many stages of stress are there? Describe them.

Whole class discussion of answers and the reading strategies that could have led students to some success even if they had very little time to read the selection:

     Read the first paragraph (question one could be answered in its entirety by reading only the first paragraph. 

     Read all titles and subtitles: Answer 3 B could have be roughly answered if only these titles were read. 

Class worked in groups of 3 to answer questions about La Línea Chapters 13, 14 and 15 on worksheet page 17.

Homework:

Read Chapter 16 of La Línea and finish worksheet page 17

Read Page 66 if CR3 and finish all five sentences. 

10/8/08

Following the format from last Monday. Students answered the following question by writing a paragraph

What important events happened in Chapter 14 of La Línea?

Students then worked in pairs to grade each other's work. They used a simple "matrix:" 

1 point for a clear introduction that echoed words from the original question above

1 point for each separate event ( total of 2) unless their topic sentence clearly stated that there was only one important event and then the 2 points could be gained if they showed in 2 or three sentences the importance of that one event. 

1 point for sounding like the paragraph was over for a total of 4 points. 

The teacher circled and asked each student to quickly justify the grade they assigned their partner. 

Return of Quizzes and paragraphs from last week. 

The class defined the following vocabulary and the teacher tied their use to events in chapter 12 and 13.

Singled out

Reckless

Conspicuous

Whole class discussion of CR3 pages 51 thru 61

Homework:

Read Chapter 15 of Laínea

Re-write your paragraph from today (see above)

Read pages 63 through 65 of CR3 (this time you must write in your Journal about this specific reading).

10/6/08

Quiz on Chapter 13 (with direct connection to chapter 12)

Whole class discussion regarding whether the actions of the Federal Agents was realistic or perhaps stereotypical. 

The class built a list of descriptive adjectives for Captain Morales.

Handouts were given with instructions for the classes Final Project (check back for a posting here).

Whole class discussion on CR3 reading regarding Stress. 

Homework:

Read Chapter 14 of La Línea

Read up to page 61 of College Reading 3

Remember to keep writing in your journals

10/1/08

Students asked to write a paragraph to answer the following question:

"What important events happen in Chapter 12 of La Línea?"

Students worked in pairs to "grade" each other's work with the following criteria:

Does the introductory sentence answer or address the question (look for the key words "important" and "event")? Give one point.

Does the paragraph discuss at least 2 seperate events? (unless the intro sentence states one important event) Give one point for each.

Does the paragraph have an ending? Look for an opinion, a dramatic statement, or phrases such as: "Finally..." "In the end..." or "By the end of the chapter..." Give one point. 4/4 is a perfect score.

Students were shown their current grades.

Whole class discussion of pages 51-53 of CR3.

Homework:

Re-write today's paragraph (see above)
Read pages 54-57 of CR3
Read Chapter 13 of La Línea
Continue writing in your Journals

9/29/08

Short exercise on Do/Does/Doesn't. Students interviewed each other, and responded in a whole class format. 

Small groups discussions of chapter 10 and 11 of La Línea. 

Homework: 

Read CR3 P 51 through 53

Read La Línea Chapter 12.

9/22/08

CR3 Quiz

1. What is one way that Meri Nana-ama Danquah tries to change her identity?

2. What marks* Meri as African and Not African- American?

*"marks" means made to feel or look a certain way. 

3. Define: Nostalgia

4. What does her daughter teach or show her?

5.  Respond to the passage "My Life as an Alien": try to write a paragraph.

Whole Class: Discussion of Quiz answers and the reading.

Return and Discussion of Linea Chapter 1-9 Test. 

From students own journals, students chose 3-4 vocabulary words, wrote them on the board and the whole class corrected spelling, eliminated some words and changed others to their root forms. This vocabulary list will be used for future exercises and quiz.

Homework:

1 day extension: Journals due on 9/29/08

Read Chapter 11 of La Línea.

9/22/08

Test on Chapters 1-9

Discussion of Hours by Arrangement including displaying the assignments turned in so far. 

Hours by Arrangement Link: http://elt.heinle.com

Students in pairs discussed some examples of Summaries and Responses necessary for the Hours by Arrangement assignments. 

Whole class discussion of the first part of "Life as an Alien"

Homework:

Read all of "Life as an Alien" (to page 42) and 

Remember to write in your journal. Journals are due on Wednesday, 9/24/08

9/17/08

Students worked in pairs to discuss chapter 9. They were asked to work together to write a paragraph to explain all Miguel's emotions by the end of his going-away party. 

The whole class reported out the various emotions that he was feeling. I wrote a chart of the emotions as Noun and as Adjective. Two groups volunteered to read their paragraphs. 

Same pairs then discussed the 3 or 4 most important events that have happened since the beginning of the novel. They built a list and then had to agree on a topic sentence for a paragraph. 

As a whole class we built a list and then decided on the most important events (and grouped some events together): the letter asking him to come, confronting his sister, learning from Don Clemente that he could have gone earlier, and realizing the danger of his trip. 

Students than read Chapter 10 and had to answer the following questions:

- What does Miguel see in the mirror (big picture)

- Where is Elena?

- What does his Abuela give him?

 

Homework: Read CR3 pages 35-39

Review Chapters 1-9- fill in Journal. 

9/15/08

Class began with the Question:

When and where do you find time to read? As a whole class we practiced the bubble/brainstorm technique to pull out and connect ideas. As a whole class we constructed one possible paragraph to answer the above question.

Hand back of Quiz #2 on Chapter 7. Students also received two copies of good paragraphs and the edits that they required. Students asked to read both and pick one and rewrite it. 

Whole class discussion of CR3 P 23 and 29. Students read and constructed a Paragraph using the excersises on pg 31 and 32. 

Homework P 9 and 10 of La línea work sheets

So, yes, read chapter nine of la línea. 

We had a quiz on CR3 pages 14 through 19:

Name one thing the dominant group did in 15th Century Spain

Do Sociologist care about the race of Biology? Why or Why not?

What are two Characteristics of a Minority Group?

Write a paragraph: what did you learn from the CR3 reading?

We then discussed the reading including pair groups on the subject of Melting Pot vs Salad Bowl.

Whole class: we listed adjectives to describe Elena.

4 Groups discussed and listed adjectives for Abuelita, Lalo/Chuy, Don Clemente, Juanito

Home work: Read Chapter 8 of la Línea.

Home work: Read and answer questions in CR3 Page 23, 29- 31 (all). Preview and Practice exercise 15 on Page 34

9/8/08

Here is a Summary of what we went over in class today. 

I showed students more specifics about how to do their "Hours by Arrangement" assignments. In assignment #1 for example the trick is that after going to the Census link the student choose what to read. The "Summaries" be in any form (bullets, incomplete sentences) but the "Responses" should always be in the form of a paragraph. We practices examples of generic or standard introductory sentences. 

We had pair discussions of chapter 5 and 6 (Refer to pages 9 and 10 of the La Línea worksheets).

We also discussed pages 10-13 of CR3 (College Reading 3) and a practice quiz. Make sure you understand what sociologists mean when they talk about "dominant groups."

Homework is to read all of CR3 chapter 1 #2 (pages 14 through 19). Make sure you understand the vocabulary. Also Read Chapter 7 of La Línea. 

See you all Wednesday. 

Attendance was 70 percent.  Attending every class is important.