WORK TOGETHER in groups to answer the following questions:

1. List three qualities of a good reader.  What kinds of things do good readers think about or do when they read?

2. Make a list of the kinds of things people in your group read.  Be specific.

3. Finally, work together to write a “reading profile” of your group.  Only one needs be written per group.  Put all of your names at the top to turn in.

Be prepared to share.

Good Readers:

-Comprehend (understand) what is read

-Concentrating/focusing on what is being read

-Remembering what you have read (get into the story, imagine what is happening in your mind, like a movie)

-Summarize what you have read

-Annotate or write notes or questions on the side of the page

WEEK 1

For Friday

Read “Math: the Not-So-Universal Language” by Sean Cavanaugh.  Write a journal response to the article.  The response should be at least 200 words.  In your journal discuss the challenges you have faced with language learning of any kind (English, math, science, Spanish, etc.).  How did you or are you facing these challenges?

In groups:

Do a read a round with journals.  Respond in the margins (annotate) the journals you read. 

When finished, as a group, on a single sheet of paper, note the different kinds of languages people have had challenges learning.  Was there a strategy for overcoming challenges that appeared in more than one journal?

Be prepared to share.

WEEK 2

For Monday:

Read “Teaching Math Requires Special Set of Skills” and write 200 word journal response on your best and/or worst teacher.  What made them the best or worse teacher for you?  Did they do anything mentioned in the article?

In groups:

Do a read a round with journals.  Respond in the margins (annotate) the journals you read. 

When finished, as a group, on a single sheet of paper, make a list of the qualities and characteristics of the good teachers and of the bad teachers.  What about the positive qualities made it easy to learn?  What about the negative qualities made learning challenging?

Be prepared to share.

Group Work

On a separate sheet of paper, one per group, define the following:

1. What is a topic sentence?  Find one in the first paragraph of the first article.  Write it on your paper.

2. What is a controlling idea?  How do you identify a controlling idea?  What is the controlling idea of the first article?  State it in a sentence.

Present your information to the class and turn in group work.

Group Work

On a separate sheet of paper, one per group, define the following:

1.    Define support (53), primary support (56), and secondary support (59). 

2.    Using the second article, identify the controlling idea.  Next, make a list of the primary support and then the secondary support the writer uses to develop the article.

Present your information to the class and turn in group work.

Controlling idea: “Teaching mathematics requires special skills and Deborah Ball discovers some of these skills and other teachers begin to be tested to whether they have them too.

Primary Support:

·     Ms. Ball and Lee Shulman, the experts on teaching

·     How teachers teach to the students

·     Researcher’s testing teachers’ math teaching knowledge

·      Observed classrooms

When finished reading:

Identify topic, controlling idea and primary support.

Then, connect, question, and analyze:

Connect: What do you know about this topic?

Question: Why did the author write this?

Analyze: What could this mean to us, here, today?

Group Work

Read and annotate each others’ journals.  As a group, on a separate sheet of paper, note the following:

1)           What connections were made?

2)           What questions were asked?

3)           What your group thought this article might mean to us today, in this class? 

WEEK 3

Begin my making a list or writing a paragraph about what you know about essay writing.

An essay is:

Not a summary, not just repeating what you read

Writing that has a beginning, middle, and end

Based on a topic

Comparing similarities and differences, an expression of your self

An explanation

Something written for a specific SCHOOL audience, different from the audience of friends, neighbors, family.

Persuade/argue, entertain

Topic sentences that provide a framework

Have a controlling idea (main idea, thesis statement, central idea)

The Thesis Statement:  A single sentence that expresses the overall idea of the whole essay.

Relates to the topic.  Can be in the beginning, middle or end.  For this class, it will be the last sentence of the first paragraph.

Essays are:

·    Organized logically, that is, in a way that makes sense

·    Have multiple paragraphs

·    Are developed using specific examples and details, showing rather than telling

Group Work:

1.    Read the drafts of each others’ essays.

2.    Annotate in the margins.  What do you like the best?  What is confusing?

3.    At the end, write down what you think the controlling idea is.

When finished, have a conversation about each person’s essay.  While the group is talking about your essay, take notes on the suggestions and feedback given.  What kinds of things would make this essay better?

5 paragraph essay:

Introduction

At least three supporting paragraphs

Conclusion

An 5 paragraph outline would look like this:

I.                          Introduction

II.                     Body

a.   Paragraph 1

b.   Paragraph 2

c.   Paragraph 3

III.               Conclusion

Write a single sentence that summarizes your overall experiences with math education, education challenges, teachers, etc.

This is called your working thesis, a main idea that gives you a starting place, but that can be changed over the course of the writing process.

I believe/I feel/I think that my best or worst experience in math was when…

The body of your answers the question Why?