tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684639278116003661.post-40158027256443473212008-03-03T12:26:00.005-05:002008-03-03T12:56:50.574-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_sPiRkVGOQL4/R8w2wFz-MZI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/5xCI9uA9dGk/s1600-h/Writing+Workshop.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 153px;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_sPiRkVGOQL4/R8w2wFz-MZI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/5xCI9uA9dGk/s200/Writing+Workshop.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173570271763640722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);">Today we are focusing on the</span></span><style type="text/css">!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><b><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> HOT SPOT</span></b></span></span></span></span> of an article. This idea was adapted from <a href="http://www.ralphfletcher.com/">Ralph Fletcher's</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Workshop-Essential-Ralph-Fletcher/dp/0325003629/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1204565447&amp;sr=8-1">Writing Workshop, the Essential Guide</a>. Fletcher talks about identifying the <span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><b><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">HOT SPOT </span></b><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">of a story as a writer. We looked at using this same skill as a reader. <br /><br />We used our <a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/magazines/senior/current/index.asp">Scholastic News</a>, and tried to find one or two sentences in each article that contained the gist of the article. Usually these included at least two W's. This </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><b><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">HOT SPOT</span></b></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> is the key to comprehending the article. We also discussed the importance of slowing down and thinking about this part of an article, because this is the most important section. <br /><br />Students skimmed each of five articles, and then highlighted what they felt was the section that contained the key. Then, we used the doc camera to project articles and discussed the differing opinions, until we decided on the </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><b><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;">HOT SPOT</span></b></span></span></span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-family:Century Schoolbook L, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> for each article.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6684639278116003661-4015802725644347321?l=www.thereadingworkshop.com'/></div>Mr. McGuirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02922744477241266679noreply@blogger.com9