Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Paintings Are Texts, Too: August 20, 2015

Focus: What strategies do we use to understand visual texts?

1. Warm-up: Setting a concrete goals for this unit by revisiting yesterday's pre-assessment and the overview of Critical Reading Boot Camp 

Please post the goals below on today's class blog.

a. Looking over your pre-assessment, what's one thing you think you're doing well that you'd like to continue improving upon over the next two weeks?

b. Looking over your pre-assessment, what's one thing you're struggling with that you'd like to improve upon in the next two weeks?

c. After reading the Critical Reading Boot Camp overview, what is one, specific way in which you hope this unit will help you achieve the two goals you listed above?


2. Establishing your main reading strategy with a card trick from Ms. Leclaire: Using little clues to develop the larger picture

3. Applying your new reading strategy to a few paintings by Norman Rockwell

a. Inside your English 10 folder, please set up a folder with your last name and "Reading Boot Camp" in the title.

b. Inside the "Reading Boot Camp" folder, set up a document called "Class Activities." Please put all of your in-class work today (and throughout the unit) inside that folder.


HW:
1. Please complete the NEW homework blog by tomorrow ("Feast Your Eyes on This!"); try the reading strategies we practiced in class today.

2. Remember that you need a physical copy of your independent reading book, your short proposal, and your signed permission form in class on Friday, August 28.

65 comments:

  1. I am doing well with writing. I am good at it and I would like to keep writing for as long as I can. I would like to get better at reading because I don't read a lot. I think it would really benefit me to read more for the sake of writing writing better. I would like to get better at reading and writing. I think this because if I read, I can widen my vocabulary, and I can use that vocabulary in my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. One thing I think I'm doing well is with my overall reading ability. One thing I struggle with is being able to choose how I want to record my thoughts while writing. Sometimes and I can't decide what words or ideas best describe what I'm thinking. One thing from the Boot Camp Overview I think will help my ability as a reader overall is the independent reading time we will have.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I feel like I am a pretty good writer and I can easily put my thoughts on paper. I struggle with reading for long periods of time because I lose focus and get distracted easily. My goal is to have a better attention span in reading and to understand the texts with a deeper meaning. I hope this unit, Critical Reading Boot Camp will help my achieve my goals.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am doing well with writing. I am good at it and I would like to keep writing for as long as I can. I would like to get better at reading because I don't read a lot. I think it would really benefit me to read more for the sake of writing writing better. I would like to get better at reading and writing. I think this because if I read, I can widen my vocabulary, and I can use that vocabulary in my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. a. One thing that I feel I am doing good at in writing is using textual evidence, such as a set up for the evidence, what the author means and my explanation.

    b. One thing that I feel I struggle at is writing a strong transition sentence and a concluding sentence, I want to improve on these things the next two weeks.

    c. I hope to improve on reading a variety of texts, I usually struggle with poems so that would be great to improve on reading it and writing it.

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  6. A. I think I would like to continue improving on transitioning from specific text citations to explanations of how it ties to the theme.

    B. I need to get better at writing the concluding sentence for a paragraph.

    C. I think that by practicing the same type of paragraph with an outline or helper will help me improve the two goals above greatly by giving me more experience.

    ReplyDelete
  7. One thing that I saw in my pre-assessment was that I did a good job with quotes from the passage, and explaining them. One thing that I struggle with is just making the writing flow, because in the past my writing has been very choppy, and i explain something more than I need to. I am also a slow reader, and my one specific way of how this unit can help me, is to use context clues and to become a faster and better reader

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  8. 1. Something I am doing well and would like to keep up is my understanding of poems and how I annotate them.
    2. One thing I am struggling on is reading fast I would like to speed up my reading speed but not to the point where I don't comprehend the text.
    3. One way I can achieve my goals above are by reading more poems but at a faster rate to work on both goals at once.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1) Something that I have been doing well and would like to keep improving on is my grammar skills in a piece of writing.
    2) Something that I have been struggling with and would like to improve on it is my reading comprehension or understanding what the book or short story is saying.
    3) One way that I can achieve these goals is to keep practicing and asking questions that I have and to go into deeper thinking for every book I read or the piece of writing that I wrote.

    ReplyDelete
  10. One thing that I think im doing well is breaking down the text to understand it more. Ive noticed trying to split up the text makes it a lot easier to read. One thing I may need to improve on is my reading of poems, I noticed finding the meaning of the poem was a big struggle for me. I would like to have more diverse reading strategies and a better understanding of how and when to use them in my reading. So then i could understand the poems.

    ReplyDelete
  11. a. One thing I am doing well that I'd like to keep improving is my reading skills
    b. One thing I am struggling with that I'd like to improve over the next two weeks is my writing
    c. One way I will achieve these goals is by working on these skills everyday couple days, and reading a book every time I finish one

    ReplyDelete
  12. a) I'm doing well on bringing in evidence from text to support my ideas/opinions.
    b) I'd like to improve upon overall effectiveness in the style and steps I present my work in
    c) This unit will help me achieve these goals by presenting me with very similar pieces of work so that I may continue polishing my writing throughout this unit.

    ReplyDelete
  13. a. One thing that I am doing well on is punctuation but I would still like to improve on it throughout the year.
    b. I need to improve analyzing the texts in writings where the purpose is not obvious. For the pre-assessment, I was split between two ideas and I want to be able to have a positive feeling when it comes to the purpose.
    c. I hope that throughout the year, I can achieve these two goals by practicing punctuation and really focusing on the purpose of the writing. Also, by reading complex pieces of text I will be able to achieve a better understanding of the piece.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 1.) I feel like I did a good job picking vocab words, I think that I can continue improving on choosing more descriptive words.
    2.) I think I had trouble understanding the text in depth and I think that if I could better understand the text I would be a better writer.
    3.) I hope that each week I can keep getting better at understanding the text and by the end of this unit I can clearly understand the text.

    ReplyDelete
  15. a. I have a pretty solid structure in my essay so it sounds pretty professional and the wording is nice, I'd like to keep working on that.
    b. One thing I'm struggling with is fully understanding the poem, I didn't fully grasp every word of it so my essay may be a little bit off if I misinterpreted it. I want to work on that so I will be more confident in my interpretation.
    c. If I learn some general poetic rules, I can interpret poems better, so that will help me with one of my goals. I also believe after the boot camp, I will have read enough papers to get some better structure in my own paper.

    ReplyDelete
  16. In Language Arts, I would say that the one thing I do really well at is evaluating my reading, I think when I read, I can really think deep in what the message is trying to say and I do pretty well on explaining it to other classmates. I would love to improve this skill to make myself an even better at evaluating my reading.

    One thing that I am not very good at and that I'd like to improve on is brainstorming ideas and beginning an essay on that topic. I find it hard for me to think of good ways to put my writing and thoughts down at the same time. I think by practicing and writing more in class would really help me to improve greatly on my two goals for this year.

    ReplyDelete
  17. a. One thing that I do well when reading is recognizing themes in literature and connecting them to other texts.
    b. One thing I want to improve on is the structure of my writing so that it reads smoothly.
    c. I really want to work on analyzing a variety works whether it's poetry, diverse texts, or video segments.

    ReplyDelete
  18. a. I felt that it was easy to pick out key elements in each of the texts that resembled each other (annotating)
    b. I feel that I struggle with how to cite my sources
    c. I want to understand not just what I'm reading but how I'm reading it. I'm just not really sure how I'm actually reading now, i thought there was only one way to read

    ReplyDelete
  19. After to reading over my pre assessment I noticed I'm doing well at adding fact and quotes to support my thinking.
    One thing I noticed from looking over my pre assessment was that I didn't have a lot of strong vocabulary to back up my thinking.
    I am hoping Critical Reading Boot camp will give me a better vocabulary that I can use when I am writing pieces like these.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I feel like I am reading very fast while still comprehending the text and I would like to keep working on maintaining that fast pace of reading. One thing I might want to work on is asking questions about the text to help me understand more of the background and the main plot. This unit is going to help me achieve my goals by forcing me to think deeply and ask questions about the text, it is also going to give me a chance to speed up my reading while understanding the text at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  21. A.One thing i'm doing well at is i am good at putting quotes in my writing to back up what i am writing about.
    B. I would like to improve on expanding my ideas so i can write more about them.
    C.I hope that when i become a better reader it will help me fine better quotes and give me new ideas to expand on my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. A. One thing I determined that I was doing well in but still want to improve upon is my descriptive word choice.
    B. One thing I believed I was struggling with for the pre-assessment is how smooth my sentences flow.
    C. One specific way that the Critical Reading Boot Camp will help with my goals is informal assessments

    ReplyDelete
  23. One thing I'm doing well at is breaking down the text and really getting a good understanding of what I'm reading, my problem is that It takes me a really long time to read so I would like to improve my reading ability. Critical Reading Boot Camp will help me accomplish my goals because I will be reading more complicated and different text then I usually read, so hopefully it will improve my reading ability.

    ReplyDelete
  24. A.One thing i'm doing well at is i am good at putting quotes in my writing to back up what i am writing about.
    B. I would like to improve on expanding my ideas so i can write more about them.
    C.I hope that when i become a better reader it will help me fine better quotes and give me new ideas to expand on my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  25. a) I'm doing well on bringing in evidence from text to support my ideas/opinions.
    b) I'd like to improve upon overall effectiveness in the style and steps I present my work in
    c) This unit will help me achieve these goals by presenting me with very similar pieces of work so that I may continue polishing my writing throughout this unit.

    ReplyDelete
  26. One thing I think I'm doing well is with my overall reading ability. One thing I struggle with is being able to choose how I want to record my thoughts while writing. Sometimes and I can't decide what words or ideas best describe what I'm thinking. One thing from the Boot Camp Overview I think will help my ability as a reader overall is the independent reading time we will have.

    ReplyDelete
  27. 1. One thing I did well was comprehending and understanding the text that Anne wrote. I'm struggling at is staying on topic and finding words to say when writing about something. I usually have an idea but can't find the right words to fit the idea. After reading The Critical Reading Boot Camp overview, I hope that reading the other short stories, and poems, will help me stay on topic but it will also help me comprehend and understand reading like I should be.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I feel like I am reading very fast while still comprehending the text and I would like to keep working on maintaining that fast pace of reading. One thing I might want to work on is asking questions about the text to help me understand more of the background and the main plot. This unit is going to help me achieve my goals by forcing me to think deeply and ask questions about the text, it is also going to give me a chance to speed up my reading while understanding the text at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  29. 1.) One thing that I think I'm doing well is on spelling and grammar because I know where punctuations go and I'm good at spelling things and I also want to continue improving on those.
    2.) I'm struggling with reading and writing because when I write, its hard for me to think about ideas that I want to write about and when I read, its hard for me to think about what I just read.
    3.) This unit will help me achieve my two goals because we will be working on reading and we will have more diverse reading strategies and we have the ability to read a variety of texts.

    ReplyDelete
  30. 1.) I want to read more about science fiction and dystopian novels.
    2.) I need to read more often.
    3.) This unit will allow me to read more day in and day out.

    ReplyDelete

  31. A.One thing I am doing well is making connections between different writings like in this case a short story and a poem.

    B.I am struggling with understanding and thinking about deeper thoughts and deeper meanings in a text.

    C.One specific way Critical Boot Camp will help me is with showing more textual and specific evidence from a text.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  33. 1. One thing I think I did well on is spelling and grammar. I am very good at spelling and making sure I have the correct form of a word. Such as to, too, two.
    2. I think I struggled with understanding the text in depth, I just didn't necessarily find it interesting to write about so it was hard to come up with good ideas.
    3. This unit will help me achieve my two goals by making me work on adapting to my assignment, find some sort of silver lining. And it will give me the ability to understand deep and complex texts

    ReplyDelete
  34. a) One thing I strive in is being quick and thorough with my work and finding quotes so support my text
    b) I struggle with making my sentences flow and sometimes I repeat myself
    c) I hope the Informal Assessments and Pre-tests will help my writing skills improve

    ReplyDelete
  35. I'm good at writing, but I want to get better at writing in a set format like an essay. I'm bad at anything poetry and want to get better at that. This unit will probably help me because we'll probably be writing essays and poetry

    ReplyDelete
  36. I would like to maintain my critical thinking of my text. But I would like improve how fast I read and comprehend because I critical think really slowly. I think that this unit will help me because I an really work on critical thinking and comprehend faster.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I think one thing I do well is vocabulary choice because I like looking up synonyms to bland words and making them better.
    I struggle a bit with sentence fluency. I sometimes feel my writing is a bit choppy and it doesn't flow.
    This unit will help me achieve my two goals because when we write I will ask questions on how I can make my writing flow and I will extend my vocabulary.

    ReplyDelete
  38. 1.I feel that I am reading fast and understanding the materiel but I would like to improve on that.
    2.I'm struggling with spelling words and I have always have had trouble.
    3.I will working on it while I read and I can practice at home.

    ReplyDelete
  39. 1.) One thing that I am doing well is breaking up the text to help myself comprehend it better.
    2.) One thing that I am struggling with is being able to put my thoughts into writing while using proper grammar, and punctuation.
    3.) This will help me comprehend what I am putting into words better.

    ReplyDelete
  40. 1: One thing I think I do well is look at a piece of text and focus on the big picture then go back and pull out the small details.
    2: One thing I want to do better is read at a faster pace and still get the same amount of info I need for my writing.
    3: I think reading more is the best way for me to develop better reading skills

    ReplyDelete
  41. I am doing a good job of dissecting the text that I read but I am struggling with putting back together all of the things that I dissect. This unit will help me to achieve my goals because we will be doing a lot of reading and writing of all different types of texts over the next few weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  42. 1) I think that I am good at asking questions when I read and I would like to improve on the quality of those questions.
    2) I am struggling with my reading pace. I want to learn how to comprehend things at faster rate.
    3) This unit will help me because I will be reading lots of different texts not just novels and I think that will really help.

    ReplyDelete
  43. a) One thing I'm doing well is using descriptive words and I really want to improve on that to make my writing stronger.
    b)I'm struggling with (kinda like) leveling up on my writing. I've seen my sisters writing and it's amazing on how she can use her words to complete her assignment and I really want to learn how to have more professional style of writing
    c)I believe if I can read like a good book it will give me a lead way on how to use more intricate writing, as well as elaborate on my descriptive word usage.

    ReplyDelete
  44. 1.)One thing that I do pretty well that I was doing good on is getting to my point and explaining it with facts/lines from the text.
    2.)One thing that I am struggling with that I’d like to improve is with my lead in and concluding sentences.
    3.)My main strategy when it comes to reading is being a very involved reader. Asking questions in my head and writing down my thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  45. One thing I was able to take my knowledge of the story and relate it to the response of Anne Sexton. I understood the main things she was saying but I can go deeper and understand what she is saying in smaller terms and see her opinion more. One thing I struggled on was reading the text and understanding it right away. Sometimes I had to really it multiple times to understand what was going on in the story. Reading bootcamp will hopefully help me by helping me understand the text as I'm reading it and being able to ready more fluently.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Looking over my pre-assessment I have found that I am pretty good at bring in evidence from the text into my writing. I have found that I am struggling with keeping my writing organized and would like to approve upon that in the next two weeks. After reading the Critical Reading Boot Camp overview, I hope this unit will help me achieve my goals by learning how to think as I read so I can think of evidence in advance and learn to organize my text.

    ReplyDelete
  47. a. One thing that I am doing well on Is spelling and grammar which is one of my weaknesses, but format is probably one thing that I will improve in the next few weeks
    b. Trying to form a good topic sentence, along with making a straight story, and or text
    c. help with comprehending what I am reading

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  48. 1. One thing that I believe I am doing well with, is how I write my sentences. I would definitely like to continue on improving sophisticated sentences and word choices.
    2. I think I struggle with interpreting readings and poems, based on the author's word choice. I would like to improve on that so that is isn't such a dreadful and nerve-racking task to interpret writing pieces and poems.
    3. I think Critical Reading Boot Camp will help me to improve with be able to read and understand a variety of texts, rather than just the small genre that interests me.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I think I'm going a really good idea identifying textual evidence and picking out specific details, but I want to continue to learn how to find some of the more complex ones. One thing I do struggle a bit with is zooming out and seeing the big picture, which has to do with how I am too busy looking for the little bits of detail. I think that this unit will help me with these because it can teach me strategies to help find both the little and big textual ideas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I have a really good idea of how to identify textual evidence and pick out specific details*

      Delete
  50. a. I have a pretty good vocabulary and I'm pretty good at concise word choice, but I'd like to keep improving on these things to make my writing easier to read.
    b. I definitely need to get in the habit of reading more often.
    c. I think this unit will help me read more often, as well as help me improve my writing skills when I read and respond to a text.

    ReplyDelete
  51. What I have been doing well in my writing is writing at a fast pace. I would like to keep this up and get faster at thinking and typing. One thing I am struggling with a bit is understanding difficult texts like the one we read. I would like to get better at this. I want to improve my level of reading, also. My main goal is to read more complicated texts.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Something that I am doing well is grammar and punctuation and I am a good speller and want to improve more.

    It is sometimes hard for me to think of what to say when I write. I run out of Ideas very quickly and struggle to think of new ones. I also need to put more evidence in texts.

    This will help me read day to day and be forced to think of new ideas. I want to get the bigger picture out of these.

    ReplyDelete
  53. 1. I would like to continue improving on the details I put in my writing. 2. I struggle with my sentence fluency and hope to improve in two weeks. 3. I hope that this unit will help me learn from different authors and use what I learn on my goals.

    ReplyDelete
  54. A. I did good on bringing evidence from the text into my writing to prove my point
    B. I struggle with is how my sentenced came together I didn't' feel like they came together well they need to flow better together and fit together
    C.I hope that once I fix my sentences it will make it easier to write

    ReplyDelete
  55. A. I'm doing well on writing, but I think I can improve on making things longer and a little more detailed.
    B. I'm struggling with using examples from the text without it sounding funny. So, I would like to improve on how I word those things.
    C. I think that using a variety of texts will help me.

    ReplyDelete
  56. 1.) One thing I think I am doing well with is spelling and grammar. I feel like I am doing decent at that.
    2.) Something I need to improve on is using more evidence. I did not really give much evidence in my response. I hope to change that in the near future.
    3.) This unit will help me because we will be doing more writing works and reading.

    ReplyDelete
  57. a. One thing I think that I'm doing well at is that I am able to read at a fast pace and still understand the text.
    b. One thing I want to improve upon is my overall writing and being able to give more examples in my writing.
    c.This unit will help me achieve my goals by making me write so that I can practice giving more examples.

    ReplyDelete
  58. 1. i Need to learn how to read faster.
    2. I also want to fix up my writing and make it cleaner and stop using summer texting slang.
    3. I think this unit will help me because we need to read our own independent book, It will also help because we are writing all the time in this class.

    ReplyDelete
  59. I think i do very well with my spelling and the ideas I come up with, I think they're creative and interesting. I have a hard time with organizing my writing... I often find myself just writing and not necessarily looking at where i am writing things and becomes confusing. I hope this unit helps me put more evidence into my text and help me organize my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  60. 1) I think that I'm good at comprehending what I read.
    2). A disadvantage is that I am a slow reader
    3). A goal is to become a better over all reader

    ReplyDelete
  61. A. One thing I am doing well is making connections between the poem and the myth.

    B. One thing I am struggling with is I need to understand the readings better, so it would be easier to write about them.

    C. This unit with help me with reading more books and understanding the text better.

    ReplyDelete
  62. 1.) One thing I think I am doing well with is spelling and grammar. I feel like I am doing decent at that.
    2.) Something I need to improve on is using more evidence. I did not really give much evidence in my response. I hope to change that in the near future.
    3.) This unit will help me because we will be doing more writing works and reading.

    ReplyDelete

  63. A.One thing I am good at when writing is the organization and research


    B.I would like for my sentences to flow better and for my writing process to be faster

    C.This unit will help me achieve my goals because we are going to go over a variety of texts that I will be able to see sentences flow and take that into thought when I write

    ReplyDelete

  64. A.Two things that I am good at when writing is the organization and research I put into the project


    B.I would like for my sentences to flow better and for my writing process to be faster

    C.This unit will help me achieve my goals because we are going over a variety of texts that I will be able to see how the sentences flow and I will take that into thought when I write

    ReplyDelete