Today we shared and discussed the notes that students made on the Paul Tough chapter (homework from Tuesday). We focused on identifying examples of grit and zest in the story of Kewauna Lerma.

Then we watched 2 short Youtube videos video #1 and video # 2 read the article from the New York Times about 11 year-old basketball protege Julian Newman.  We will finish our discussion of this article on Monday.

On Monday, we wrote a Free Write about failure and then read a short article about "Grit" and how failure can help you to succeed.

On Tuesday, Feb 26, we read through and discussed a list of Character Strengths.  Then we started reading a chapter from Paul Tough's book called "How Children Succeed".  Finish reading this chapter and do the following: highlight or underline places that are interesting to you, or where you have questions or are surprised.  ALSO, highlight/underline and make notes about where the character (Kewauna) exhibits the character strengths of zest and grit (refer to the list of character strengths for this).  This is due in class on Thursday, Feb. 28.

On Monday, we wrote a Free Write about failure and then read a short article about "Grit" and how failure can help you to succeed.

On Tuesday, Feb 26, we read through and discussed a list of Character Strengths.  Then westarted reading a chapter from Paul Tough's book called "How Children Succeed".  Finish reading this chapter and do the following: highlight or underline places that are interesting to you, or where you have questions or are surprised.  ALSO, highlight/underlight and make notes about where the character (Kewauna) exhibits the character strengths of zest and grit.  This is due in class on Thursday, Feb. 28.

On Thursday, Feb. 21, we grouped up and discussed the articles and homework on the "Marshmallow" articles.  Then we took a "Grit Survey" and watched a short video about the concept of "Grit."  There is no homework over the weekend.

Today we followed up on the TedTalk from Thursday, Feb. 14 and read two articles and responded to sets of questions about them.

These are the articles:

"Marshmallows and Public Policy"
"Reconsidering the Marshmallow Test"


And these are the questions for each article:

Responding to "Marshmallows and Public Policy"
Responding to "Reconsidering the Marshmallow Test"

These articles and questions should be completed for Thursday's class.  We will discuss these pieces in class on Thursday.

On Thursday, we finished the presentations of the group essay and then completed a self-evaluation.  We then wrote about "What it Takes to Succeed" in the free-write section of the notebook and we shared and discussed these free-writes in class.  Then we watched a TedTalk about a key to success. There is no homework.

PERIOD 1 WRITING WORKSHOP: We will complete the self-evaluations on the group essay IN CLASS (not as homework for Thursday) on Thursday.

Today, we reviewed the checklist for all of the requirements for the group persuasive essay and then went to the library to finalize the essay and prepare for the presentation.  The essays will be presented on TUESDAY, FEB. 12.  THERE WILL BE NO MORE CLASS TIME DEVOTED TO THE WRITING/EDITING/PREPARING PRESENTATION OF THIS ESSAY.  It's now on your own time!

DUE DATE: TUESDAY, FEB. 12: final draft of the group persuasive essay and presentation

On Monday, we compiled a Writing Portfolio, which we will finish next Monday, Feb. 11.  On Tuesday, we reviewed the requirements for the group persuasive essay  (on an education topic) and we reviewed a model body paragraph.  For the remainder of class, groups worked on writing their essay.  On Thursday, we will have about the first 40 minutes of class in the Library computer lab to finalize and edit/proofread the essay.  Groups will then present their essays to the class in the second half of class on Thursday, Feb. 7.

NOTE: DUE DATE FOR GROUP PERSUASIVE ESSAY IS THURSDAY, FEB. 7