The Teacher's Almanac

In 7th grade, we are working through the book The Lost Tools of Writing. If you haven't heard of this book before I highly recommend it. The book instructs students on how to write a persuasive essay. As the year progresses, they learn new concepts that help with invention, arrangement, and elocution.  Last week, we discussed the idea of agreement . First, the class learned that while it is necessary to state your thesis statement, it is also important to address those who might disagree with what you are claiming; so you need to include a  counter-thesis. Then we addressed the idea of agreement.  Agreement is the process of thinking through something that both groups agree on. What is something that those who agree with your thesis AND those who agree with your counter-thesis would agree on? The book has students work through a brainstorming process so that they can come up with an agreement.  The idea of agreement is something that we should all understand. I wo...

Today in 7th grade we read the poem First They Came by Martin Niemoller. If you've never read this poem before it goes like this:  FIRST THEY CAME  First they came for the Communists  And I did not speak out because I was not a Communist  Then they came for the Socialists  And I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist  Then they came for the trade unionists  And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist  Then they came for the Jews  And I did not speak out because I was not a Jew  Then they came for me  And there was no one left to speak out for me. The students read an article about Niemoller independently and then we formed a socratic circle and discussed both the author and the poem itself. Niemoller was a German pastor who was initially excited about a strong leader like Hitler rising up and saving the country he loved. After a few years, once the Natzis began controlling the churches and what they could an...