Language Objective: Join small group discussion about a reading passage and corresponding questions; discuss O. Henry's use of irony.
Essential Question: What is an analogy and can I create one?
Class began with a review of yesterday's viewing of Jimmy Valentine, a video version of O.Henry's short story, A Retrieved Reformation. Students had the opportunity to demonstrate their skill in making connections and comparisons. We discussed the instances of irony (at least five); this discussion led to a greater understanding of the concept and a greater appreciation of the story. Next, students formed pairs; together as a class we read a reading comprehension practice selection. Students worked together to answer related questions; follow up discussion revealed a higher level of success than on last week's reading comprehension quiz. If I could read each passage aloud and have similar level students work together to reach consensus on answers, our EOG scores would be much higher. This embodies cooperative learning at its highest level, yet the suggestion would be not only unacceptable, but laughable. Some students had time to go to the board to add their created analogy. I asked them to leave out two of the words in order to stimulate higher level thinking and discussion.Some examples:
AC/DC is to rock as _______ is to __________.
Cake is to __________ as chili is to _________.
Lead is to pencils as _________ is to ________.
Gun is to _________ as knife is to _________.
Bug is to monkey as _________ is to _______.
Plus, we went to the book fair, and some students continued filming their commercials.
Homework: Reading comprehension practice #11; SSR.
