Thursday, December 15, 2011

A Letter to 806

Dear 806,

I feel like I need to write this letter to different halves of the class: the half who is actively writing thought provoking posts on their blogs and the half who has missed either one or both of the last two posts (or more).  You are such a smart class and it is disappointing to see students blowing off not only homework credit, but an opportunity to really think through your independent reading book.

Overall, for the people who *are* updating their blogs regularly, I am noticing readers picking out micro details and making inferences about them, which is great.  The next step is either writing LONG about those micro details or stringing a few together to come up with a theory.

Beyond writing long, I want you to focus on EXTENSION.  Remember our the "Process of Critical Thinking in Literature" display in our room.  This is the last part of the critical reading process. Ask questions like: Does this relate to me? people my age? What is the author trying to tell me about this? I will be looking for smart extension work for your next post.

Here are some All Star Mentors to inspire you to write.  I encourage you to read these posts and see what they are doing not only as writers, but what does it seem they are doing as active readers while in their books?

Nathan is reading Linchpin by Seth Godin,  a nonfiction book about creativity and wrote some seriously thought-provoking posts about it.  It inspired me to want to pick up the book!

Talyah wrote about the book Something Like Fate and had some really interesting thoughts about friendship.

Adam came up with some great theories about the character Jack in The Lord of the Flies. I would love to now hear a bit of extension...what do his thoughts and these characters teach us about people? Life? Leave him a comment with your opinion when you visit.

I'm looking forward to being inspired by your next round of posts!
Ms. Robbins

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