Christopher Buttimer
8th Grade English Teacher
Baldwin K8 School

Should secret wiretapping by the U.S. government be legal? Below are three video clips from Mr. Buttimer's English classroom in Cambridge, MA as his students draft essays at the close of Series 3 Unit 5 in the Word Generation program:

Clip 1 Mr. Buttimer assigns the "Taking a Stand" open response portion of Word Generation unit and discusses other class assignments. transcript
Clip 2 Student reflects on the topic of the week. Student shares an early draft of the assigned essay. Student also describes his plans for completing the essay. transcript
Clip 3 Two students describe their differing opinions regarding secret wiretapping. Student 1 strongly opposes wiretapping based on constitutionality. Student 2 feels the government will use discretion so the invasion of privacy is minimized. Students acknowledged that their opinions differ and describe how it feels to disagree with a classmate. Student 2 described what she plans to write in her essay. Student 1 also shares her essay-writing plans, including her feelings about a principle rather than a particular practice. Each student restates her partner’s position using her own words, describing their differences in opinion. transcript

Sophia Hibbs
8th Grade English Teacher
East Palo Alto Academy

Who is responsible for children's health? Below are four video clips from Ms. Hibbs' English classroom in East Palo Alto, CA as her students draft essays at the close of Series 2 Unit 8 in the Word Generation program:

Clip 1 Clip shows a detailed introduction and discussion of a rubric for Taking a Stand essay-writing assignments. Areas of emphasis include the following: Use of New Vocabulary; Thesis Sentence; Body Paragraph; Conclusion Sentence; Conventions of writing (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, indented paragraphs, etc.) transcript
Clip 2 Students begin writing Taking a Stand essays. Student-teacher writing conferences begin. Ms. Hibbs reads student work aloud, which prompts student to identify errors. Teacher frequently refers to the rubric when conferring with students. transcript
Clip 3 Ms Hibbs assists a student as he composes. transcript
Clip 4 Videographer asks student to share essay draft. Student briefly discusses topic. Student meets with teacher for writing conference. Ms. Hibbs uses rubric to evaluate the progress of the draft. transcript