The Art of Language and Middle School

  

Middle Schoolers communicate...

A description of middle schoolers may be experienced readers, burgeoning writers, and developing speakers. If you fall into any of these categories, you are probably one of my students who have come to this blog as a requirement for your first assignment, which is written below:

1. Follow the link from teachersease to go to Teacher Z’s blog post at: http://www.teacherzaynabs.blogspot.com/
2. Read the whole blog post before you complete any assignments
3. Write a comment for the blog with the following information:
• What is the main idea of TZ's blog?
• What are 3 supporting details that prove the main idea?
• How is this blog organized?
• Who composed the poem for this blog?
• What type of writing is this blog? 
4. Be prepared to discuss the main ideas for the blog in class on T, Day 3.

Now that you are here, go ahead and scan the blog to finish the HW assignment. Once that is done, fill in the questionnaire directly left of this post.

 THIS WEEKS NEWS:


Visit Teacher Z's blog daily

This is the first week back to school after the Ramadhan/Eid vacation. Everyone should be rested and ready to read, write, think, and experience English Language Arts. Here are some poetic thoughts I want to share with you this week. Each thought is posted beside the day I want you to think about it. The days are written as numbers in accordance with the way Prophet Muhammad (saws) and the Arabs recorded the 7 days. The abbreviated letters for the Greek-Roman names are written in parentheses for your rememberance.


Main Idea: Is language like a tree?

English Language Learning

by

Teacher Z.

     DAY 2(M) Blog Comment: Language is like a tree...


     DAY 3 (T) Blog Comment: The roots are sounds we hear...


     DAY 4 (W) Blog Comment: Sprouting letters that suddenly appear...
    
     DAY 5 (Th) Blog Comment: The trunk is words formed with meanings understood...
    
     DAY 6 (F) Blog Comment: And outstretched branches emerge where sentences unfold with thoughts so dear.
    
     DAY 7 (Sat) Blog Comment/Journal Entry: Groups of sentences combine as fruits identify that tree...
    
     DAY 1(Sun) Blog Comment/Final Journal Entry: Sending paragraphs, extending messages --- yielding variety with forms, you send      messages to me.


According to the rubric, write a blog comment for a verse each day with Qs. 1-3. On Days 7 and 1 respond to Qs. 4-5 in a blog comment and in your Reading/Writing Journal as TZ's Blogspot: "English Language Arts". Date the entry in a proper heading. Write a complete accurately structured paragraph to answer both questions.

 QUESTIONS

1. What does the verse mean to you?
2. Is this a narrative poem, a lyrical poem, a limerick, or a ballad?
3. What literary element of poetry is most common to all of the verses?
4. If you were to give the poem a title that alludes to the message the poem is delivering, what would it be?
5. What plant does learning language remind you of and why?

The bolded words are key to understanding the main idea your response should reflect.
Read and respond all 5 days. Complete Q. 4-5 Days 7 (Sat.) and 1 (Sun.).


Why is language called language arts?


By the time you finish this weeks' activities, you should realize that the same effort it takes to paint a picture, is the same effort it takes to compose a poem, and to create responses to it especially when the questions are given. In order to respond to someone else's writing there are preparations that have to be made. The first activity you have to do is think about who's writing the piece, what was the purpose for he or she to write the piece, and what major message was the author attempting to convey by writing the piece. Asking the questions are easier than answering them, because the answers are not out in the open and right there. Responding to literature requires critical and creative thinking including:

•  drawing conclusions
•  inference
•  logical deductions
•  prior learning
•  personal experiences
•  insinuations  

But which one or ones? Now, here comes the artistry of language. Just like a painter or a planter, you have to decide which tools to use in order to convey a message.


Ho hum... isn't it clear what the purpose of a tree is? You can see it, touch it taste it, and sometimes smell it. Upon observation the first thought is -- it's beautiful, or not. Then as you go closer, you notice its parts. Finally, a curiosity comes over you and you want to find out: what does each part do? Voila! -- you have language, the art of communication is a process of creating ideas and unfolding them into meaningful forms so that others can receive your message and respond.


These are my thoughts for you for this week. Next week the post will be "Painting Language Pictures with P.O.S (Parts of Speech)".


Read, believe, and enjoy.

Image from http://www.lactamme.polytechnique.fr/Mosaic/descripteurs/Commentaires_EspaceLyapunovComplexe.01.html