End of Year Social Studies Review

Friday:  Quiz Show

 Pear Deck: How to Read a Dramatic Work

In-Person: May 19 and 20

 Pear Deck: Types of Evidence

Research for Body Paragraph:

Clean Energy Jobs (REW.com):

Write down three of these jobs - 

wind turbine engineer

wind turbine technician

wind turbine construction

solar energy engineer

solar energy technician

solar energy construction

electric automobile engineer

electric automobile technician

electric automobile assembly

In-Person May 14 and 18: Social Studies

 Pear Deck: Huexotzinco Codex

May 12 and 13 In-Person

Ms. Vacasotelo's Students:

Please click on the link, then

FILE > Make a Copy

Addressing Opposing Arguments

Climate Essay Organizer

In-Person Instruction: May 5th and 6th

 1. Pear Deck: Opposing Claims:

Please click here to participate in the Pear Deck.

If you teacher assigns this to you later, you may write a comment to the teacher that you did this assignment with Ms. Rainey.

Ms. Vacasotelo Students Only

Nobel Speech Evidence

Click on the document here. Please go to FILE > MAKE A COPY so that you can write on the document. 

If your teacher assigns this to you later, you can submit a link to the completed document.

Endangered Animals and Climate Change

Click on the document here. Please go to FILE > MAKE A COPY so that you can write on the document. 

If your teacher assigns this to you later, you can submit a link to the completed document.

Argument Essay Plans

Planning Your Essay

Last week, we looked at two versions of the same argument. In both versions, Elizabeth did a great job of addressing the opposing position. Remember: we write arguments to convince an audience that does not agree with us, so presenting the opposing claims and  your counterargument to those claims is vitally important! 
We do have choices in deciding how we will organize the ideas and where in the essay we will address the opposing claims.

Here is  a short review of Plan A:

                       If you select Plan A, please make a copy.

Here is a short review of Plan B:

                       If you select Plan B, please make a copy.

Addressing the Counterarguments

Writing to Convince
The purpose of argument writing is to change the minds of people that may not agree with you. In order to convince others that your argument is more reasonable, you will need to show your reader the weakness of their argument. Today, you will learn how to address the counterarguments in your argument essays. Let's analyze an example.
Bug Cafe
You are a famous chef. Your restaurant needs more business. You want to convince the owner to serve some big dishes on the menu. This is the problem:

 
Read the infographic, "The Perfect Meal." You will be using facts from the infographic to convince the owner of the restaurant to allow you to serve bug dishes at the restaurant. However, you will also need to address the opposing opinions about bugs: they sting, bite, can carry germs, and can destroy property.

Let's see how good writers use transitions to signal that their evidence is superior to the opposing evidence. In your classroom folder, you will find: Using Transitions to Address Counterarguments.

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence has a dependent and an independent clause. The dependent clause can come first or last in the sentence. If it comes first, a comma is needed to separate the two clauses. The comma allows for the natural pause we make when saying the sentence aloud.

Dependent clauses tend to begin with a special type of word called a subordinate conjunction. Here are the most frequently used subordinate conjunctions:

as
although after when while unless until because before if since
Notice that the dependent clauses below all begin with a subordinating conjunction. Knowing the list by memory can help you to identify dependent clauses. This will help you avoid sentence fragments. It will also help you know when your complex sentence will need a comma. Practice with the song: AAAWWUUBBIS.

Scapegoats in Fiction and Reality

Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9

There is no scientific evidence that aliens have visited earth, but have events like on Maple Street ever occurred?

At the end of the epilogue, the narrator states:

“For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children...and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is... that these things cannot be confined to...the Twilight Zone.”

The makers of the Simpsons also addressed the issue of scapegoats. View this short clip. Who are the scapegoats? Why are they being targeted?

The Simpsons episode is inspired from the true Salem Witch Trials that occurred in what is now the United States in the year 1692. Go to Edpuzzle and view "The Story of the Salem Witch Trials." Answer the questions as you go. 
Now open the document, Scapegoating: Fiction and Reality, in your Google classroom folder. Complete the chart as you compare the science fiction story with the actual historical events.

The Salem Witch Trials

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

C

1. Complete the Agree-Disagree statements. Be prepared to share your responses with your group.

2. The Twilight Zone was a television series created by Rod Serling in the 1960's. As you view the opening for this science fiction series, think about the mood that Rod Serling was trying to create.

3. Read along with the audio of the teleplay for "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." As you read, think about a possible theme or message about human behavior that Serling is trying to convey.

4. In each of the Twilight Zone episodes, screenwriter Rod Serling, would narrate a short epilogue. Often, his epilogue provided hints as to the episode's theme, or message. Listen to and view the closing of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."

4a.  Follow the directions on your document to reread the last scenes with your group. 
4b.  Compose a statement of the theme. What is the point that Serling is trying to make about our flaws as humans?
Possible sentence starters:

People tend to...       if...
                        when...
                        so...

One of our flaws is that 
   we have a tendency to...    if...
                               when...
                               so...

5. Reread the teleplay to collect evidence about the theme. Use the Evidence Chart to record text evidence and the inferences that you make.

Make a Scene!

Scene Building

Dialogue is an excellent technique for bringing your narrative to life for the reader. You can also combine dialogue with other techniques to create more intense and lifelike scenes.
After viewing the presentation, revise your dialogue to make it into a realistic scene that plays like a movie in the mind of the reader.

Using Dialogue

Dialogue is an excellent technique for bringing your story to life. As you continue your drafting today, use dialogue to show what was being said at those most important moments in your nonfiction narrative.

Here is Geo's dialogue from "Burnt Memories." What does the dialogue show about Geo's neighbors and family?

Leslie also uses dialogue at that most important moment when the tragedy is revealed.

View the short video as a review on how to correctly punctuate dialogue.