Aiden's Short Story

What do you like about your finished product?
 What I like about writing this story was that I could be super creative.

What would you change about it if you were to do again?
 What I didn't like about writing this story was I had to write the story around what the images in the    story where.

What did you learn from doing it?
 Next time I write a story, I would write the story fist and take the images second.  

Denver's Epilogue for "The Giver"

After reading Lois Lowry's The Giver the grade eights were left with a lot of questions. If you have read the book you will likely share the students' bewilderment at Lowry's ending. Students were asked to write a new epilogue for The Giver.
     After moving through the writing process, students were asked to reflect on their own work in hopes that the process of reflection will help them become better learners.

Here is Denver's epilogue from beginning to end.

The Popplet

The First Draft

Formative Feedback with the Teacher through Google Docs

The Final Draft

Janine's Epilogue for "The Giver" from Start to Finish

After reading Lois Lowry's The Giver the grade eights were left with a lot of questions. If you have read the book you will likely share the students' bewilderment at Lowry's ending. Students were asked to write a new epilogue for The Giver.
     After moving through the writing process, students were asked to reflect on their own work in hopes that the process of reflection will help them become better learners.

Here is Janine's epilogue from beginning to end.

The Popplet

The First Draft

Comments for Janine's Writing

Janine's Second Draft

Janine's Final Draft

Reflection:

After reading your own work, think about then comment on the following. What you like about your writing? What would you change if you did it again? What did you learn from doing this assignment?

January 19 - 23, 2015

Here is a look into what we did this week at school. Be sure to check out the students' work in  the Student Portfolio section of the Blog. They worked long and hard on the Epilogues and would appreciate some feedback!

A Week in Mr. Di Donato's Grade 8 Class

Aiden's Epilogue for "The Giver" - From start to Finish!

After reading Lois Lowry's The Giver the grade eights were left with a lot of questions. If you have read the book you will likely share the students' bewilderment at Lowry's ending. Students were asked to write a new epilogue for The Giver.
     After moving through the writing process, students were asked to reflect on their own work in hopes that the process of reflection will help them become better learners.

Here is Aiden's epilogue from beginning to end.

The Popplet App

Aiden's First Draft

Comments from the Blog

Aiden's Final Draft

Reflection:

After reading your own work, think about then comment on the following. What you like about your writing? What would you change if you did it again? What did you learn from doing this assignment?

Transitioning to High School with an LD

Here at Sagonaska one of the most important jobs teachers have is to prepare students with learning disabilities for their future by teaching them how to self-advocate. Self-advocating is in fact the second of three overarching goals we have here at Sagonaska. I always explain the idea that "everyone needs help, and everyone can give help". I try to teach my students to be aware of when they need to both ask for help, and when to give help. Being an elementary teacher, students often become solid self-advocators rather quickly, perhaps because they feel comfortable with their teachers and peers. Unfortunately this is not always the case in a high school setting. Enter the LDAO!
     The hard working, knowledgeable people at the LDAO (Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario) realize that transitioning from elementary to high school can sometimes be an overwhelming process for students. To make self-advocacy skills better in a more unfamiliar setting, they are hosting a FREE webinar Wednesday, January 21^st from 6:30 – 7:45pm EST. Whether you are a student, parent, or advocator this is a must see webinar.

Building Your High Schoolers Self-Advocacy Skills

A Water Conservation Challenge!

Lessons Learned from a Year without Showering

In grade 8 science, students are learning about water systems. Part of the Ontario curriculum states that students need to evaluate their personal water consumption and compare it to other populations around the world. I read Lessons Learned From a Year Without Water by, Rob Greenfield to the students to get them thinking of different ways to conserve water. 

Challenge: What suggestion of Rob's will you use for the rest of the week in the name of conservation?

Using Blogs to Help Become Better Writers

One of the great things about using a blog in the classroom is that we have access to 40% of the World's population - that's about 2.9 billion people if my math is correct! Here in grade 8 we are going to try and harness the power of the internet and all of its users to help us bump up our writing.

Please use the "Positive, To, and Try" model of leaving formative feedback (you can find an explanation for the "Positive, To, and Try" in previous posts). We hope that you can help! Please posting comments that will give us direct ideas on how to bump up our work.

Thanks in advance!

We used the mindmapping app called Popplet...

Haley:

Here is the first draft...

Popplet

Aiden

First Draft:

Aiden

Janine

Janine's First Draft