The Lighthouse Diary Entry #89: Our Wonderings and Our Ways of Knowing

July settled in quite quickly while I was still experiencing separation anxiety from our 7-day, 6-night trip to South Korea for the 2026 FESTA celebration. I have yet to post my travel logs here on the blog as part of my coping mechanism, but life goes on.

Indeed, it does in the form of work and responsibilities. Having made and forged new memories and lasting relationships with my grown up children weeks ago, I face real life with tenderness and, more importantly, gusto. I surprise myself because I am enjoying my summer classes a little extra this year!

For the first time, I am running our bridging program for incoming Grade 7 and Grade 8 students. It's a program that the school entrusted me to design and implement. I followed the basic principles of Reading into Writing and Inquiry-Based Learning. A component of the program is Research Skills, an area I am always excited to teach.

After having the class read a nonfiction text about Tetris and using the framework READ, NOTICE, WONDER, DISCUSS, WRITE, and REFLECT, I extracted their questions from the WONDER part of the framework because their questions were authentic forms of inquiry. I then presented four categories of knowledge: Design, Technology, History, and Impact. What we did next was explore these categories by associating words and connecting them to ideas the students were able to think about. We had enough words to come up with a definition for each category of knowledge.

It did not end there. We turned to a dictionary to establish each definition based on a credible reference source. This proved that knowledge is something we can build, create, validate, question and communicate. After establishing the terms and definitions, I showed the students where each question fell, modeling the classification and organization of knowledge. A word is not just a word.

This entire exercise is preparatory to learning search strategies for using online databases, search engines, and AI-powered tools. It is also one way to activate prior knowledge and expand vocabulary. The next class is a full-on session on types of sources, establishing their credibility, and applying keyword strategies for searching. This is love!

Reading Into Writing: On Character Development

In my reading and writing workshop this summer, I had my students pick books they want to read. I have four middle grade students and I meet them separately. In our meetings, we read, discuss and write our responses to their chosen book. We read aloud together. We think aloud together and in some cases, we argue. In the end, we learn together.

One of our favorite activities is the character map. We make a chart or a map of the character's journey. We use the Beginning-Middle-Ending framework as a final map but, in between reading of the chapters, we take note and become more aware of events, words and langauge that struck us while reading.

Here is a character map of "Lu" on Alvin, the main character in the middle grade novel, The Land Without Color by Benjamin Ellefson.

The simple character map was made over a period of six weeks. Lu and I discussed what Alvin is like with friends, with family and with strange people he met in the Land of Color. The discussion was done after reading the first parts of the novel. In one sentence, I asked Lu to write Alvin's remarkable characteristics.

Towards the middle part of the novel, after several slides and notes on our responses to the story, we took a pause and sorted out the exciting adventures Alvin was having at the Land of Color. I then aske Lu to write 2-3 sentences of the changes he observed of Alvin when interacting with other characters and in making decisions. A few days ago, we finished the book and as one of the closing or culminating activity, I asked Lu to describe what became of Alvin in the end. 

After making the character map, I challenged Lu to write one paragraph that shows the character development of Alvin. Using the sentences he wrote on the graphic organizer, he was able to write a description of Alvin.

My next activity for Lu is to improve the paragraph he has written.

Writing Workshop Notes: Criteria : Focus and Detail and Organization

In my writing workshop this summer, I focused on teaching my students two criteria in writing the essay namely, Focus and Detail and Organization. My approach for this module is a Reading into Writing Approach where in my students and I are reading essays and articles with an awareness of the different text structures. We are learning five structures: process/step by step; cause and effect; problem-solution; chronological order; and compare and contrast. 

A knowledge of these text structures enable stduents to uderstand the text and the author's purpose a litte better. It is also a learning experience in analysis and critical thinking especially when questions and inquiry are integrated when reading the texts. Constant exposure and regular practice in identifying the text structures is a strategy in reading comprehension which flows into writing.

Our output this week is an outline + text structures in the form of graphic organizers. Combining my students' prior knowledge on the traditional framework of an essay, Introduction; Body; Closure/Generalization, with their new knowledge of text structures, they were able to focus on a specific topic, provide details for the topic and develop, expand or extend the body of the essay using  graphic organizers. Also, my students have access and experiences on the topics of their choice. Content is not a challenge but documention and referencing are needed skills as well.

As always, I first model the process and guide my students in wiritng their own. Here is what I modeled and demonstrated for my students during one of the sessions.

Topic: Jhope’s New Single MORE

I. Beginning/Introduction – 2 paragraphs – 300 words

• Jhope’s new single, More, dropped last July 1, 2022 causing a stir among casual fans and listeners, intriguing and exciting ARMYs along the way.

• Supporting sentences for this claim and observation

• Jhope is known to ARMYs as the ray of light in BTS. He is the sunshine of the group whom Suga endearingly calls vitamins at one interview.

• Jhope’s first mixtape, Hope World is a burst of colors that reflect his cheerful and positive personality.

• More is the complete opposite, as many fans and reactors on YT have expressed.

II. Middle / Body – 3 paragraphs – 500 - 800 words

• Compare and Contrast: Hope World and More

• Discuss Jhope’s message in More based on the lyrics of the song (step  by step)

• -> Slected lyrics from 1st stanza / chorus or break /2nd stanza

III. Ending/Closure/Generalization – 1 paragraph – 150 words

• The new single More is darker in tone and theme but its message is similar and familiar to Jhope’s art, style and aesthetic.