Compare/Contrast Writing Assessments

We have spent the past week and a half preparing for our compare/contrast paragraph assessment.  After a few practice pieces, today was the day to show what we can do!

Students spent last class reading two pieces: the poem, "Students" and the short fiction piece "Crow Lake."  After reading each piece, students completed multiple choice questions in response.  Today, students were given a paragraph topic and asked to write a compare/contrast paragraph in response.  We will complete these on Tuesday, and Ms. Barsky will mark them.

Making Connections when you read

Today I began with a short mini-lesson on making connections.  We discussed that when you read, you can make connections between the text and your own life, the text and the world, and/or the text and other texts.  Then I asked students to consider connections when reading the chunk for Wednesday.  Students are going to bring charts detailing their connections with them on Wednesday to share.

We spent the latter half of class completing compare/contrast paragraphs.  Please see me if you still need to complete this assignment.  (This is the paragraph comparing/contrasting Julia in "My English" to the speaker in "How I Learned English" in terms of their experience learning English).