1. Who Are We? 1 st Six-Weeks

2. Day 1 – August 26 th – C-Day Introduce Class/Purpose/Syllabus Introduce workshop format/seating Hand out journals/Put name only on journal Writing cycle activity in journal Put up materials.

3. Day 2 – August 27 th (a)/28 th (b) First full class Diagnostic writing assignment (30 minutes/timed) – On separate sheet of paper given to students by teacher: Prompt: Explain how the way someone looks affects how people treat them. Provide specific explains and supporting details. Class discussion – from journals and diagnostic - what defines us? Portfolios – hand them out, decorate, put diagnostic inside, put all portfolios in relevant case. Get a list from above discussion to use as springboard for activities Introduce ‘reflective statement’ Journal (reflective statement) – I think that what defines a person is… Put away materials

4. Day 3 – August 29 th (a)/30 th (b) Decorate/personalize portfolios (collage/art/etc). Be prepared to show and discuss in workshop (30 mins) Workshop/Discussion – Discuss decorations on portfolios Read – “Hairs” (p.6-7 House on Mango Street) Small groups – Make a list of the people she describes on one side of a chart, on the other side group the adjectives (diction/word choice and its effect on tone/attitude) Review charts regarding descriptive adjectives/unusual descriptions. Workshop – Share some of the ideas from journaling. What are some differences between how we see ourselves and how others see us?

5. Day 4 – September 3 rd (a)/4 th (b) Journal – 2-3 pictures of women with wildly different hair. Prompt reads: What’s the difference between these people? If possible – tell the ironic real story of the people. Reread Hairs – Discuss the choice of Hairs as a title, why it is unusual, and what ‘hairs’ might mean compared to ‘hair’. Oprah article excerpt Selection of Chris Rock

6. Day 5 – September 5 th (a)/6 th (b) Pairwork (writer’s voice) – With a partner, answer the following question in your journal: three different people talk about the subject of hair. What are some similarities and differences in the WAY they talk about it? Think about: audience, word choice (diction), formality, format. Journal – What is ‘beautiful’ to you? Why are people so worried about being beautiful? What are some differences between the way men and women think of beauty? Chart Paper 2/3 people – From your journal, come up with only 6 factors that make a person “beautiful”. Be prepared to defend or explain your explanation.

7. Day Six – September 9 th (a)/10 th (b) Read Dave Barry’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Workshop - SOAPSTone the article – take large amounts of time to be thorough, carefully explain each aspect of SOAPSTone, and model specific examples. Journal – As a class – What is Dave Barry’s central idea in “Beauty and the Beast”? How does he communicate that message? (model a proficient answer sentence that contains both the message and the device. Barry communicates X by using Y.)

8. Day Seven – September 11 th (a)/12 th (b) Discuss and define expository mode Look at rubrics and standards Apply rubrics to Hairs and Beauty and the Beast Calibrate sample essays

9. Day Eight – September 13 th (a)/16 th (b) Timed write – 30 minutes – In portfolio What object or thing that you own defines you the most? What does it say about you? How is it important in your life? Keep papers out – SOAPSTone them in our journals. This will take substantial guidance from the teacher. Remind students that SOAPSTone is an idea that can help them get started in pre-writing. Watch Touchscreen by Marshall ‘Soulful’ Jones on Youtube. SOAPSTone as a class. Journal: What is Jones’ controlling idea and how does he get his point across?

10. Day Nine – September 17 th (a)/18 th (b) Timed Write – For Portfolio – 30 minutes –What is more important: how you see yourself, or how other people see you? Why? Use specific examples. Have students take out their journal and write their answer to the above question in one sentence (if it’s not already that way). Model various answers that show thesis statement form (traditionally a straightforward answer followed by a specific example). Prompt deconstruction/thesis practice (don’t use these English-y words) – take examples of expository and essay prompts, as a class workshop answering them in thesis statement form. Model good thesis statements. Discussion – explain that at the heart of writing lies good, simple, solid answers that are not overly complicated or difficult to state.

11. Day Ten – September 19 th (a)/20 th (b) Journal – Take out your portfolio and journal, rewrite the intro/thesis to your timed write from the previous class 3 different pieces (preferably about identity and also in essay format) with different intros (don’t say “intro”) – discuss what are they going to talk about, and, more importantly, how do we know that? What is an intro, is it necessary, how do we come up with ideas for it? Pairwork – Take prompts from previous class’ thesis activity and, as small groups, come up with some intro sentences (do not write paragraphs) If time, workshop ideas to fuse together the intro sentences with the thesis statements and make sample intro paragraphs.

12. Day Eleven – September 23 rd (a)/24 th (b) Geraldo No Name Journal: How can our name determine our identity?

13. Day Twelve – September 25 th (a)/26 th (b)

14. Day Thirteen – September 27 th (a)/30 th (b)

15. Day Fourteen – October 1 st (a)/2 nd (b)

16. Day Fifteen – October 3 rd (a)/4 th (b) Last day of 1 st six-weeks