Screening a Media Piece on the Vietnam War

Goal: Watch an episode of This is Us directed by the author of our story, Tim O'Brien and compare to his autobiographical narrative account of Vietnam

Agenda: 
Watch Party
Journal
Reminders

1. Watch Party 

• We are going to watch the episode of This is Us. 
• No phones during the screening of the episode. 
• Pay special attention to similarities and differences between the written story and this episode. 

Reminders: 

• Today is 9/11. For those of you interested in learning more, there is an episode of CNN 10 I am watching with my government class that gives a timeline of the day's events as well as the media coverage that followed the event. (Warning: There is traumatizing footage from that day in the video.) 
• Soccer after school today at 12:30. All are welcome! 

Essay Support

Goal: Workshop our essay responses

Agenda: 
Journal
Essay Work
Peer Support
Self-Reflect

1. Journal 
When are you at your happiest? Why?

2. Essay Work

• Yesterday, we started our essays in Google Classroom. 
• You are responding to the questions on the Google Doc, and that is turning into your essay. 
• Some of you are ready for intros and conclusions. 
• Your intro must have a thesis statement (roadmap for your readers):
• SAMPLE: 
• After receiving his draft notice, O'Brien goes on a journey where he is impacted by Elroy Berdahl, a man with the great qualities of a listener, who supports him quietly as he makes one of the biggest decisions of his life.
• You can find fill-in sentence frames for your thesis statement HERE. (Only use these AFTER your three body paragraphs are finished.

3. Peer Support 
If you are done, find a classmate who could use your help.

TRY THIS: 
If you've finished everything else, try writing a precis for the story!
It's different than the essay format since it's just 4 sentences.

Reminders:
If our essays are complete, tomorrow we can watch an episode of This is Us all about getting drafted to fight in Vietnam (directed by our author, Tim O'Brien.)

Finish Our Timelines

Shoutout to Gavin and Jerry for the great work in
3rd period! I can't wait to hang all of your work! 

Goal: Finish your chronological timelines for "On the Rainy River"

Agenda:
Journal
Timeline
Precis
Essay

1. Journal: 
How are you feeling today? Explain why.
(Give detail, and look at the feedback I gave you from last week (Your Week 2 score is in PS)).

2. Finish your Timelines

• On Friday, you worked with a partner to put the events of "On the Rainy River" in chronological order.
• Today, your goal is to finish.
• It is important to understand the turning points of Tim's Decision Making.

3. Essay Response

• I've created an assignment in Google Classroom.
• It is titled "Essay Response: 'On the Rainy River'"
• Use the template provided to formulate the response to the question posted: 
• What role did Elroy Berdahl play in O'Brien's decision-making process? 
• What was it about the character of Berdahl that allowed him to have such an influence on O'Brien in this situation?

4. Learning Extension: Write a precis! 

• Only do this if you have totally finished your essay in Google Classroom! 
• We practiced precis writing with nonfiction research article, but what about an autobiographical narrative?
• It is possible to write a precis about an autobiographical narrative. 
• Need help with tone words? Check this out: 155 Words To Describe an Author's Tone

Reminders: 
Catch up on your English Journal. Make sure Week 3 is off to a solid start! 

Continuing with our Reading PALS

Goal: Keep Reading "On the Rainy River"

Agenda: 
Self-Score Journal
Reading PALS
Create a Timeline
Tone
Questions

1. Self-Score Journal
Use this SCORING GUIDE to let me know what score you think you deserve on your English journal this week.

2. Reading PALS
We are continuing with our reading PALS today.

3. Make a Timeline: 

• When you have finished, you are going to make an illustrated timeline of the story you just read. 
• I'm going to give you a sheet of paper, and you will make a timeline with as many events and illustrations as you can. 
• (HINT: The story is not really told in complete chronological order) 

Draft notice from Illinois man Tom Bowman

Learning Extension Opportunity: 
Look at the "Navigating the Waters" questions at the end of the story. Begin to think about how you would answer them - we will be discussing those next week.

Reminders: 

Have a great weekend!

Reading PALS: Peer Assisted Learning Strategy

An actual photo of Tip Top Lodge where Tim stayed
when he was trying to make his decision: run
for the border or stay in the US? 

Goal: Keep reading "On the Rainy River"

Agenda: 
Journal
Keep Close Reading

1. Journal: 
If you had a tough choice to make, would you make it alone or would you want someone to talk to about it? Please give detail.

2. KWL Chart 
We are going to make a KWL Chart for this reading. What do we already know about Tim?

3. PALS: Peer Assisted Learning Strategy

• Instead of reading as a whole class, I'm going to show you a new strategy for reading. 
• Your partner is the person sitting next to you at your table. 
• I will use the timer to keep track for you. 
• Partner A will read for five minutes, then Partner B will retell what Partner A read. 
• Then Partner B will read for five minutes, and Partner A will retell what Partner B read. 
• You should feel free to help each other through this. If neither of you know a certain word, ask me. I'm here to help!

4. Draft Dodgers

To extend our knowledge, let's learn more about people who escaped the draft by fleeing to Canada (hint: they're now Canadian citizens and have lived in Canada since they fled the US).

5. Would you have been drafted? 
Put the month and day of your birthday in on this website. It's a pretty accurate measurement of whether you would have been drafted or not. 

Reminders: 
ASB meets today after school. Come check it out!

Reading "On the Rainy River"

Our next reading is a story from this book,
which is told in autobiographical narrative style. 

Goal: Introduce our new reading, "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien

Agenda: 
Journal
Quickwrite
"On the Rainy River"

1. Journal 
1st period: 
What do you know about the Vietnam War?

3rd period: 
Write about someone who has been there for you when you have had to make a tough decision in your life. What did this person do to help you?

2. Quickwrite 
1st period needs to catch up on a QuickWrite that 3rd period finished yesterday.

3. Reading "On the Rainy River" 

• We are close reading today 
• Grab a highlighter or a light colored marker (put back supplies if you borrow them from our classroom) 

*Lesson Extension: 

Check out these videos to further your understanding: 

• Many Vietnam veterans still suffer from PTSD decades later
• Tim O'Brien tells a true war story 

? Ask Yourself: 

What do you think Tim O'Brien is referring to in the second video when he says "the things they carried?" 

Reminders: 
Today is a modified day. We get out early, but there is still lots to do!

Precis + New Reading!

Goal: Finish the precis we worked on last week, review, and start a new story

Agenda: 
Journal
About You
Syllabus Review
Unscramble a precis
Submit handwritten precis
New Story

1. Journal 
Your journal assignment today is to finish telling me three things about yourself (from 8/30/19).

• If you already gave me three, add more details. 
• EVERYONE must finish this. 
• I gave you feedback over the weekend. 

2. About You 

Please fill out this ABOUT YOU FORM.
Make sure I receive it by the end of the period (if I have you for both English and Government, please fill it out in both classes).

3. Syllabus Review 

• The course syllabus is linked on the blog (above). 
• It's infographic style, and I'm working on a PDF style for those who prefer to just read a document. 

4. Unscramble a Precis 
To review what we did last week, you will be unscrambling a precis.

5. Submit handwritten precis 
You are submitting your own handwritten precis today. I will help you through it individually, but you should think about this like a test.

6. New Story 
We are starting a new story today. You will need your binders, but you can close your computers.

Reminders:
Welcome to the second week of school! I'm proud of you.