Great Job Kate on Dystopic Traits!

Notice how every comment has a purpose: clarifying and deepening her response to the prompt. Lights out work, Kate from period 1.

Nicely Done, 2nd Period Ninja

Lots of things to like in the below introduction and its 3 parts (hook, pivot, thesis). The anecdotal lead to the below introduction is just lights out good. It includes the essence of good story element (character, plot, mood, setting, rise/fall, theme, etc.). The hook transitions to the thesis while establishing the position of the writer. The thesis is much more than a topic. Nicely done, Luke, period 2, Mr. Mauel, 2012!

Hooks! Different Ways to Lead into an Expositional Essay

Compare and Contrast LT#6

More Theme and Main Idea (LT#1)

Great Skill Melissa! Attaway on Theme and Main Idea (LT#1)

LT10: Provide One Example from the Story that you could use to convince someone to do something

Look at These Skills!

Character Analysis!

The Skill of Compare/Contrast

What a Great effort! The skill of compare/contrast is on display here. Can you find all the elements to complex thinking? Is there an observation? Is there evidence from both sides? A perfect triangle! Is there commentary that explains why the evidence meets the restatement of the prompt? Attaway Team Risa!

Period 5 Name Tag Winners!

Congratulations for Understranding Symbols and Helping Class Get to Know You!

WITI and Importance -- A tool to help you think with complexity

For those that seek to visit the Land of 5 out of 5: An excellent tool for creating elaboration and complexity of thinking is to ask yourself WITI. (See the thought balloon?) WITI: Why Is This Important? WITI is a "thinking tool" that helps you systemically connect your evidence (in this case a quote and source using MLA) to the prompt. It does this by encouraging you to (a) reflect on the prompt and your evidence; and then, (b) after each progression of your thinking, ask yourself, "Why Is This Important (to answer the prompt completely)?" WITI helps generate commentary and comments on evidence/commentary to deepen your reply and the significance of your response. You will see some great examples of WITI (look for words or phrases circled in clouds!) in student work here. Attaway writers and readers!

There is a LOT in a Name!

Red Robin Restaurants has been a sponsor of numerous skills-related contests in Mr. Mauel's classroom! None start us off faster and better than our world-famous (well, school-famous) name tag contest. Students learn about symbolism as well as facilitate a more welcoming community by sharing their interests and ambitions with each other in a non-verbal way. Congratulations to Megan, Megan and Sara for winning the contest as voted on by their peers! Thank you once again to Red Robin for your recognition of this important activity in these young peoples' lives!!

LT#7: Explain Why One of the Places You Drew on Jonas's Map is important to the story. Include one detail from the story to support your answer.

Ruby from 1st Period hit a home run on her first try at constructed answers. Note all the items she included to set herself up for success: (1) She restated the prompt; (2) She found evidence to support her answer (including the source in MLA format); (3) She explained her thinking and (4) she deepened the complexity of her reply with a comment on her own comment. Way to Go Ruby! - Mr. Mauel

Why Are Agendas Important in Mr. Mauel's Class?

Students in Mr. Mauel's class earn professional points for documenting their understanding of the Learning Targets of the Day in 3 Areas: Skills (EALRs/GLEs, etc.) Habits of Mind/Thinking Skills and Quality Producers (a tangible product to be turned in and assessed for continuous quality improvement. They are also expected to symbolize/memorialize their learning with an image and also access their background knowledge on the learning targets for the day. Can you see the correlations between this activity and District Classroom10 Goals? Attaway Students!

Scholastic Book Fair Fuels Mr. Mauel's Outside Reading and Skills Development!

Students and families purchased 23 Scholastic Books at the 2011 Book Fair! This supports our classroom's outside reading goals and skills development. Attaway!

More Compare-Contrast!

Mapping Jonas' World! Here are the Must Haves!

Making Meaning of Differences...

Tyler!  Did a great job of making meaning of the differences between Jonas's world and our own.  Can you see how he "extended the meaning of the text" into some observations about the significance of the differences between our world and Jonas's?  Note the text-to-self connections (for example, how he would feel if such rules governed his own free will).  Attaway Tyler, Mr. Mauel

Comparing the world of Jonas to our own -- The Skill of Compare Contrast

Kevin demonstrated several skills on his compare/contrast assignment. (Attaway Kevin!) First, he commented or made an Observation of a difference (in other words, he responded to the prompt). Second, he provided two pieces of evidence (one from the text, the other from his own world). I liked how Kevin organized his logbook too -- it set the problems up so that as he read, he simply made observations and provided evidence throughout. Well done! - Mr. Mauel