Argumentative Writing Unit

Hello Students and Parents,
     It was nice to meet with many of you for Conferences.  I hope you all had a restful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.  We are finishing up our short story unit with a final chance to edit our own short stories on Monday, Nov. 27. Then we will have three weeks until Winter break to complete our argumentative writing unit.
     We will be looking at several articles each week which present two-sided issues.  Our task will be to take a side and present our claim using evidence and support.  We will continue to write our ideas in our journals and then revise and edit our writing at both the classroom level and with peers.   Argumentative writing is a skill that will be useful in all aspects of the world of work where employees generally work in teams.  We will learn how to present our ideas with evidence and support in order to make a difference it our world.
     Don't forget that your Book Talk is due on Dec. 4.  You have three options for presenting your outside reading novel.  Please look at the upper right side bar as a reminder of the options.  You will want to be working on this as homework to be turned in hard copy at the time of your presentation.

Go to Kansas - There Will Be Soft Rains

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Learning Community: Speaking and Listening Skills

Hello Sophomores:
One of the most important skills you will learn and practice in high school is communication through speaking in front of and listening to your peers.  In order to practice this in class, we must agree upon some norms:

NORMS for Participation in the Classroom

Here are my suggestions, originated from my observation of classrooms that have modeled this skill at a high level.

When someone else is speaking (front of the classroom/acknowledged at desk), the rest of us will:

• LISTEN - note how LISTEN has the same letters as SILENT
• L - LOOK at speaker - LOOK interested
• I - INVOLVE self by getting INFORMED
• S - SIT UP - STAY FOCUSED - offer SAFE environment
• T - TEST understanding - jot questions
• E - EVALUTE message - jot summaries
• N - NOD - please refrain from cheers,  jeers, claps, snaps, taps - other noise makers
• PARTICIPATION POINTS - 5 per discussion
• Speaking 2
• Listening 2 and Respect 1
• ACADEMIC CONVERSATION Guidelines to be discussed and practiced soon, i.e., How do we respectfully AGREE-DISAGREE-ADD-CLARIFY-QUESTION-SUMMARIZE ?                                                                                 

August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains