American Street - Day 15

Happy Friday! We'll start with this short activity:

• What's Up This Weekend?

We will turn our attention to quote selection and use, including the "quote sandwich" and "show-mean-matter" approach. Use this worksheet to guide your work.

• Quotation workshop

You'll have the rest of the time to work with your thesis statements.

Over the weekend you should (but nothing is required):

• Revise your thesis
• Complete the evidence selection
• Organize your essay
• Start writing?

American Street - Day 14

Happy Wednesday!

Today we will focus on writing a thesis statement. To guide our work, we'll use this handout. Please make a copy of it - you'll be working on your thesis statement later in the period.

• Crafting a Thesis

Here's another example:

Tonight you will continue to work on your thesis statement and begin the collection of evidence. Please use this handout to guide your work - it is due at the start of class tomorrow.

• Thesis and Evidence Worksheet

American Street - Day 13

Happy Tuesday!

We will start off today with some time to review the paragraphs you wrote two weeks ago. Please be sure to read the comments and the rubric. I will discuss these points:

• Informal language
• "Don't mess with the bull or you'll get the horns"
• "A good quote to show this is..." - "The topic I'll focus on is..."
• Introducing quotations
• "On page 56 it shows..."
• Thesis statements
• Observations vs interpretations
• Evidence - be sure your evidence proves your point and is not just an example
• "When Dray reaches the singing man, [he] grabs the collar of the old man's dirty coat and punches him until his body is limp" - violence has a negative impact on Fabiola and her view of the United States and those who live in it

Next, we will review the assignment and start the process of writing it.

• American Street essay assignment
• American Street brainstorming activity

You'll start the brainstorming activity during class today and then finish it for homework tonight. It is due by the start of class tomorrow.

American Street - Day 12

Happy Monday!

Congratulations on finishing the novel!

We'll spend some time today talking about the last chapters of the book and our impressions about where the story ends.

Your homework for tonight is to read the essay assignment and think about what questions you have about it. We'll talk about it and get the process started tomorrow!

• American Street essay assignment

American Street - Day 11

Happy Friday!

We'll start out the day with time to read "Kasim's Story" and chapter 29. You're going to read them on your own. While you are doing that, I will come around to check in the las set of journal responses.

Then we will have time to discuss what has been happening in the book as the action has been building over the past several chapters. I will give you three slips of paper:


Question - something you want to clarify, something you want to explore further
Text - a specific quotation from the book you want to include in our conversation
Response - a comment you want to make about a question, piece of text, character, part of the story, or just about anything else you think will be a positive contribution to our conversation
In our discussion you will have three opportunities to speak, using the structure of those slips of paper.


Over the weekend, your homework is to finish the book and write a journal response to those chapters.

American Street - Day 10

Today you will have a chance to view the slideshows created by the other groups:

1. Haiti - Earthquake
2. Haiti - Voudou culture and beliefs
3. Haiti - Immigration
4. Detroit - Geography and Race
5. Culture - Alvin Ailey Dance Company / J. Dilla

You will also have the opportunity to rate the other slideshows using this GoogleForm.

We will read chapters 23 and 24 together later in the period.

Things are getting busy! Be sure you are keeping up! You are reading chapters 25-28 for Friday.

American Street - Day 9

Happy Tuesday! We'll start by listening to chapter 20.

Then, you'll work in your groups. The goal today is to research some background information to deepen our understanding of the novel. Your group will focus on:

1. Haiti - the earthquake of 2010
2. Haiti - voudou culture and practices (especially those named and used by Fabiola)
3. Haiti - immigration - policies, practices, challenges
4. Detroit - where in the city does the story take place? what role does race play in the story of contemporary Detroit?
5. Culture - Kasim takes Fabiola to see the Alvin Ailey dance group - who are they? Why is that significant? Kasim is also listening to J. Dilla in his car - who is that? Why is he significant? What other aspects of Detroit culture appear in the book and what role do they play?

• How should you research these? It's up to you! I recommend starting with where you would typically start - a Google search, a YouTube search, or even Wikipedia.
• Watch videos, read articles, listen to recordings - build your knowledge about the topic.
• Discuss your findings with your group - in what ways does your new knowledge help you to better understand the world of the novel?
• Present your findings in a digital format. I'll give you a quick tutorial about some good ways to use Google Slides - have you ever used the "Explore" button before?
• Share your presentation with me - I will be posting them on the blog.

American Street - Day 8

Happy Monday!

We'll start today by reviewing the journal responses I collected from you last week. Here are a few notes and reminders (I'll add these to the "Journal Responses" document to the right):

• A title is not just the name of the chapter. Maybe it is helpful to think of it as more of a headline. In a newspaper you would not see a headline that simply says "Chance the Rapper" - instead you'd see something like, "Chance the Rapper says Cardi B. and Nicki Minaj's Beef was Fake." That tell you a whole lot more!
• When you use your personal voice, avoid generalizations - statements anyone could make - statements you could write without actually having read the chapters. Here are things to avoid saying:
• "These chapters were interesting" - instead, write about what was interesting to you and why
• "Nothing happens" - that's certainly not true - look at all of those words! What do you really mean by saying that? What does it add to your understanding of the book?
• "It was great" or "it was boring" or any sort of judgment about the book. Why are you writing this? Your goal is to understand and work with the book regardless of your feelings about it. Take the time to explain your opinions!
• Do not just summarize. Name events or thoughts or details and then take the time to explore what they add to the narrative. Do they add to your understanding of a character or a situation?
• Make sure your comments go along with the details you note about the book. Don't just say Fabiola's first day of school must have been tough. Was it? What did you point out about it?
• Use quotations. 
• Don't just stick them in without context or explanation. 
• Do cite the page number in the correct format.
• Your quotations do not need to be full sentences - key phrases and words are often just as valuable!

Next, I'll read chapter 16 and "Marjorie & Valerie's Story" out loud. We'll have a little time to discuss the chapters after you take some notes in your journal.

Your homework for tonight is to read chapters 17-19 and write a journal response.

American Street - Day 7

Happy Friday!

Today we'll meet in the library classroom. 

The goal of today is for you to check in with various characters to get a sense of how the story is developing for them. You will not be doing this with your group or a partner, or anyone else in the class. Instead, you will go into the ARC for a short conference with one of the tutors there. 

Look next to the name of the character to see where I have assigned you:

• Fabiola  (Aaron, Lily, Gavin, Matt S.)
• Pri    (Matt F., Morgan, Gracie, Ben S.)
• Donna    (Maggie, Ben G., Jared)
• Chantal    (Augie, Caroline, Josh M.)
• Kasim   (Lauren, Ethan, Hannah)
• Dray   (Emma, Eli, Jessica, Sophia)
• Imani   (Josh D., Adi, Daryn, Keshav)

Here are the points you need to identify for your character:

• Major concerns - what things are most important to this character? how do you know this?
• Personality traits - what emotions or other aspects of their personality do they show? To whom? does their behavior / personality change?
• Quotation - something said about your character and/or something said by your character
• When you are ready, you will go to the ARC for a short conference with one of the teachers there. They will ask you about these aspects of your character and you will explain it to them.
• You do not need to write out anything formal but my expectation is that between your annotations and notes you are prepared for the conference and you keep track of your work

After your conference, you may use the rest of the period to start your homework - read chapters 14 & 15 and write a journal response.

American Street - Day 6

Happy Wednesday!

We'll start today with some poems about 9-11 and the events of that day 18 years ago.

Then we'll turn our attention back to the novel and the set of chapters you read leading up to today. We'll discuss three new characters: Bad Leg, Detective Stevens, and Kasim.

We'll also take some time to read chapter 11 & Chantal's story in class.

Tonight you are reading chapters 12, 13, & Donna's story and then writing a response.

Asson gourd

American Street - Day 5

Today you'll start with your groups to discuss the chart you worked on yesterday.

After some group time and some discussion, you'll be writing a paragraph about one of the rows from the chart.

First, we will review this sample paragraph.

Then, it is time for you to write. This handout explains your assignment.

As a reminder, tonight you are reading chapters 9 & 10 and writing a journal response.

American Street - Day 4

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend.

By now you should have submitted your journal response from the weekend.

Before we get into group work, please open Schoology and review the rubric and my comments about your paragraph analysis of the Vonnegut stories. Since there is another in-class assignment tomorrow, I want to be sure you have a good sense of what to work on with your writing.

Then, you'll meet with your group. Here is a link to the chart you'll use to keep track of your work for today. The second person on the group list is the secretary for today (Morgan, Hannah, Lily, Jessica, and Sophia). Please make a copy of the document and share it with everyone in the group, including me. You'll have about 20 minutes to work on the chart.

• American Street - topics

After group work, we'll move to an all-class discussion. Part of the goal of this exploration is to prepare you to write a paragraph response, focusing on one of these topics, in class tomorrow.

Tonight's homework is to read chapters 7 & 8 and add to your group chart. Spend time reviewing the chart in preparation for tomorrow's writing. There is no journal entry to write tonight.

American Street - Day 3

We'll start today in groups for about 10 minutes to finish the posters from Wednesday.
Please try to add something from the chapters you read for today.

After brief presentations of the posters, we'll move to a discussion of rituals and traditions. We'll write about our own rituals and traditions, then look at the ways in which they appear and play a role in the book. What are the rituals Fabiola performs? Why? In what ways are these similar to / different from our own?

---

For this weekend, you will be reading chapters 5, "Matant Jo's Story," and 6.
Please write a journal response as well.
Note - you will type up this journal entry and submit it to Schoology by the start of class on Monday.

American Street - Day 2

Happy Wednesday! Here are the groups for our unit on Zoboi's American Street.

Today you will work with your group to explore the characters and settings of the novel:

1. Fabiola
2. Donna & Dray
3. Pri & Chantal
4. Manman and Haiti (Haitian things)
5. Aunt Jo the house

The first person on the group list is today's secretary. This person will create a document to keep track of your work for today and share it with everyone else in the group. 

• Read your journal responses to chapter 3.
• Spend time looking through the first three chapters for information about your character/setting. Talk with your group - did you write about your character? What did you say? What questions do you have?
• Start your document with a list of these details and questions
• Gather 8-10 quotations - these can be things said by your character, descriptions of them, or actions described in the narrative. Type these, including page numbers, into the document.
• Everyone can help with this part by typing in a quotation or two
• The secretary will submit this document to Schoology

Poster time! Once you have completed your column of the chart, it's time to take that information and turn it into a poster about your character/setting. Your poster needs to include:

• The name(s) of your character/setting in big letters
• A central image - this does not need to be a drawing of a person - maybe there is an object or another type of illustration you create. It should be based on descriptions, details, and even colors mentioned in the text. If you'd like, I can project an image for you to trace.
• All of your quotations. You can organize these and write them out any way you'd like

We will be presenting these towards the end of the period and then hanging them in the classroom!

Your homework for Tuesday is to read chapter 4 & Princess's story, then write a journal response. Enjoy the carnival and the long weekend!

American Street - Day 1

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a great weekend!

Today we'll start our first novel together: American Street

To help us prepare for our work with the book, here's a link to information about the author, Ibi Zoboi

Here's a map of where Haiti is:

Here's a map of where Detroit is:

We'll read chapters 1 & 2 in class together today. Along the way, the expectation is for you to be annotating and/or taking notes.

Tonight, your homework is to read chapter 3 and write a journal response.