Twitter+Minilessons


 * Ideas for Minilessons using Language_Today:**

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

//Trial of the Century! Banned Books to Have Their Day in Court// or //Law and Order: THSLBBC (The High School LIbrary Banned Book Collection)//

After assigning 12 jury members, a prosecution, defense, and some witnesses, you (the teacher and judge, too) are to hold the trial of one of the banned books from the list of most-frequently banned books (vote on it as a class after you offer some brief descriptions of the most frequently banned books for your grade level). The prosecution's job is to spend some time researching the history of this banned book and why the ban should be upheld. They will call to the stand two expert witnesses to verify the book is inappropriate in some way and to uphold the ban. They will also present any pieces of evidence to help their claim.

The defense will do the same, calling their own witnesses and cross-examining the prosecution's (each witness testimony lasts about 2-3 minutes for both testimony and cross-examination). They, too, will base their defense on research about the banned book. The defense should enter into evidence any items they see fit to aide in their defense.

As the judge, you will be responsible for maintaining order in the court. You must keep the proceedings moving at an appropriate pace and must decide when to sustain or overrule objections, or even hold members of the defense, prosecution, or jury in contempt! A robe and gavel are optional (but highly suggested).

In the end it is up to the jury of students (and readers) to determine whether the ban should be upheld or revoked. And as judge, you must issue a sentence if the book is found guilty of being inappropriate for the classroom.

//Gavel bangs!// Court is adjourned!

KYLE GOODSON

What am I looking at? Mini-lesson

Examples: -news -opinion -personality blog -gossip -advertising -propaganda

Reflect and discuss differences among the tropes of each (students add to these):

News Blog Advertising news agency (AP) recurring dates opinions expressed as facts "best" "greatest" Washington personal pronouns NY times CNN News observer BBC

Independent practice: work together to find 3 examples of each (students are in groups based on news, blog, and advertising)

-Michael and Terry ([])