Thursday. Ninth grade English, special ed. Eighth period.
It's district writing assessment time (as I've mentioned in previous posts). While the other classes I've been in have been in the midst of writing these or finishing them up, this class was just getting started.
Their essay was to be an argumentative one. They had studied the structure of the thing. This day was for the introduction of the topic. It had to do with climbing Mt. Everest and whether or not they should block people from doing so. (The kiddos get to pick a side and argue it.)
I showed them a quick video that the teacher had assigned. Then they read the first two of the three articles that were to be their sources. We read the articles together, looking at statements for allowing climbers in and statements against.
In the second article, one of the arguments against described how people did this thing in Moab, Utah with ropes and slingshots and... The description sounded horrifying.
"That sounds like Angry Birds in real life."
Absolutely brilliant statement, and totally funny. The whole class erupted in laughter.
Oh, I should probably mention that there were a total of four students in the class. But yeah, all four of them busted up laughing.
Me too, really.
Because yeah, that sounded suspiciously like Angry Birds.
I was now curious, so I went looking. Yeah, there's video...
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not tempted in the slightest. Nor did the class seem tempted either.
Once they were done laughing, we finished up the article. They'll spend more time reading a third article and figuring out what they're going to write, but I won't be there for it.
These essays are interesting as the teachers really go into the nitty-gritty of how to write. And part of it is how to think for oneself. Important lessons, truly.
That is a very cool essay activity. I like that subject, the video, and the music in it. (I used to play Angry Birds when it just came out).
ReplyDeleteThey do it four times a year, every year. Different topics. Different essay types. By the time they graduate, they should be comfortable setting up and writing an essay. Good college prep.
DeleteThe essay sounds great. And NO NO to the swinging!
ReplyDeleteThey do really well teaching the kiddos to write.
DeleteI used to play Angry Birds,too. No desire to emulate that in real life.
ReplyDeleteHard pass on the Moab activity. I never was a video game player, and I never even knew Angry Birds had been discontinued. I probably would have enjoyed this class in high school.
ReplyDeleteNope nope nope nope for me too!
ReplyDelete