We continued to read in 'The Outsiders," by Hinton, and discussed the language Hinton uses to depict teenagers. The Outsiders is written in a colloquial style. and discussed how Hinton employs slang, dialogue, and repetition to create an informal style that is a realistic representation of how teenagers in 1960s Oklahoma, specifically the greasers, communicated with one another. As we read, Chris made personal connections to some of the characters depicted and associated his friends with the personalities the author mentioned. He was interested in the plot, but refocusing techniques facilitated his ability to sustain attention.
We reviewed the narrator and protagonist's family situation - specifically his two older brothers. We re-read the paragraphs describing their familial order and Chris was queried on their personality traits and attributes. We identified the structure and parts of language Hinton uses that are integral to facilitating Chris's inferential skills.
I queried Nico on material about Rosa Parks that we covered yesterday. He demonstrated good recall of material. Nico then read pages 8-13 in "Take a Stand Rosa Parks!" It discussed Rosa's early childhood. Nico listened attentively initially. His ability to sustain attention for a sustained period of time was facilitated with refocusing techniques to channel and redirect his focusing skills.
Nico participated in a guided reading exercise and read chapter 1 in a scholastic chapter book biography "Take a Stand, Rosa Parks." He made an effort to decode the words with which he was familiar and then continued to work on a writing assignment.
Christopher was encouraged to recall and describe the character traits and attributes of the characters introduced in the book - the narrator's brothers - from the narrator's perspective. He was permitted to refresh his memory by using the book. Chris was also encouraged to infer the character's feelings or thoughts and make a prediction.
Chris was introduced to the coming-of-age novel "The outsiders," by S.E. Hintin - which is on the suggested reading list for eigth graders. Chris selected this book primarily based on its title and he was queried as to what the title suggests to him. We then read a note from the author to gain insight into his feelings about the book and examined the statement, "Apparently, feeling like an 'outsider' even in your own group is universal" - and the quote "us versus them." This piqued Chris's interest and so we began reading the beginning of the first chapter and discussed the narrator's point of view. Chris remained interested in today's discussion and readings. He was responsive to strategies offered to help him use contextual clues to help him figure out the author's intent based on language and structure.
Nico participated in a guided reading exercise . Working out of his Wonders text, we read about earthquakes - predicting, planning for them, and what to do during an earthquake. Nico read eight bullets giving instructions about what to do if indoors and outdoors during an earthquake, effectively reading the material with good fluency and minimal prompts. It helped him to keep his place to use my finger or a ruler to help him read each consecutive line without4 skipping; he made a personal connection to earthquakes explaining his experience being woken by one once in California. We practiced some spelling words before the session ended. Nico asked who Rosa Parks was and I gave him a summary, however, we will read a biography about her in our next class. This is especially significant as we are celebrating Black Americans this month during Black History month.
Nico participated in a guided reading exercise . Working out of his Wonders text and read about earthquakes - predicting, planning for them, and what to do during an earthquake. Nico read eight bullets/instructions about what to do if indoors and outdoors during an earthquake, effectively reading the material with good fluency and minimal prompts. It helped him to keep his place to use my finger or a ruler to help him read each consecutive line without4 skipping; he made a personal connection to earthquakes explaining his experience being woken by one once in California. We practiced some spelling words before the session ended.
